After Ocean City we moved a few miles north to an even smaller town and stayed at Pacific Beach State Park.  This was, hands down, our best campsite based on the view alone.  We didn’t have much privacy, there was zero cell service, and no electric or water….but our campsite sat RIGHT ON the beach.  As in our trailer, a few boulders and sea grasses, and then 150 feet of sand to the ocean.   We pulled in, set up, and spent the rest of the day playing in the sand.  We definitely didn’t fit in though…because we didn’t have any bling.  As in, kites, windsocks or pinwheels.  Most of the sites had HUGE windsocks decorating their sites, and lots of them.  Some sites had 15 or 20 windsocks and pinwheels!  And, during the day, they flew enormous kites on the beach.  After a few days, we caved to the pressure and let Maya pick out a kite in the local kite store and found out that that the weekend we were leaving there would be a huge kite festival at the park.  We were witnessing some of the run up to the big event and it was terrific.  One day a man came out to the beach and set up a kite “train” that had over 50 kites strung together up into the sky.  Another group set up four huge octopus kites, the largest one over 100 feet long.  

Down the road from Pacific Beach was a planned community called Seabrook that reminded us a lot of the Northwestern version of Seaside on 30A.  The houses were all gorgeous shake shingle beach homes with metal or shingle roofs.  There was a small “downtown” with a few cute shops and one really good pizza place that reminded us of Coals Pizza back home, which is one of our favorites.  The town was cute, but it was a bit “disneyland” if you know what I mean.  Too perfect.  But that style of home — the shingled sea cottage— is one we have admired all up and down the coast up here.  Surrounded by tall pine trees and bordering the ocean crashing against rugged boulders, they are the kind of houses that makes you think maybe you’d want to retire here.  Until you start thinking about what winters must be like.  

We spent a long day driving back up to Olympic National Park, visiting Ruby Beach, the Hoh Rainforest and Quinnalt Lake to have dinner in the Roosevelt Lodge  all in one day.  Our split visit (including the stops at Crescent Lake and Sol Duc Hot Springs from a few days prior) weren’t the ideal way we’d like to visit one of the national parks, but maybe it’s fitting for Olympic.  It’s a park with so many different features — hot springs, rain forest, snow covered mountains, beaches, etc — and is even not all within one contiguous boundary.  Most is in a huge block of land around Mt. Olympus, but there is also a skinny long sliver that runs all way up the coast of the Pacific.  

We lucked into getting to Ruby Beach right at low tide, which was perfect because one of the main attractions there is the tide pool wildlife.  Again, the very long stretch of sand with ripples and the tiniest bit of standing water resting on top stretched out from the shore, showing low tide.  We walked left down the beach to some of the larger outcroppings (but not the biggest one that was surrounded by a lot more people).  On the way out we passed some people coming back and asked if they’d found anything cool in the pools.  One person said she only saw two sea stars and another said he hadn’t seen any.  Well, I can only say that those two people didn’t try very hard.  We almost immediately spotted a few sea stars, and by the time we left we’d seen a couple dozen.  From what I’ve read, that’s low in comparison to a few years ago, but the stars are suffering from a wasting disease caused by the quality of the water degrading.  We also saw countless anemones and mussels, and a few cute hermit crabs.  

From the beach we headed back to Hoh Rainforest and took a few short hikes through the giant trees covered in moss.  Some of the moss drapes from the branches like long pieces of fabric or hair, and some of it completely coats a branch in fuzz, making it look like the tree is wearing a sweater.  There were patches and drifts of ferns under the trees, and the combination of the ferns and the moss and the giant trees gave everything a quiet, peaceful feeling.  It also felt ancient and pre-historic.  Along the path was a creek that was filled with bright – almost neon- green pretty little grasses and plants that were swaying along underwater with the current…and with the light shining on the creek made it mesmerizing to look (stare) at.  

After Hoh, we worked our way back down the coast toward our campground, stopping at the Quinnalt Lodge for dinner.  We expected a cafe or simple dining room, but it was obvious when we were seated that it was a bit nicer that we’d thought.  First, no kids.  Second, it was really quiet.  And third, it was pricier than a cafe.  Luckily the kids clued in too and put on their good behavior.  The lodge itself was beautiful.  In fact, we have found that national park buildings in general are worth checking out as much as the parks.  Many of them were built in early 1900’s, and some of them were CCC or WPA projects.  The main style we’ve seen is a rustic log or timber-style building with lots of stone fireplaces and huge doors and windows allowing the outside in.  The Quinnalt Lodge was also decorated in deep green and rich brown leather couches, which together with the wood and stone could have basically defined “lodge style.”   

Back at Pacific Beach for a few more days, we enjoyed the kites and played in the sand, and also did something I’ve never done at the Florida Beaches — built a fire on the beach.  I’ve just never been to a beach that allows it, but it’s clearly the thing to do here and we all loved sitting on the sand waiting for sunset with the ocean and the fire together in one scene.