We arrived at Ocean Shores RV Resort in Washington on July 8th. The resort is located on highway 109 only one mile from the beach. Although it's summer, we found the weather to be cool and balmy to say the least (days/60's and nights in the high 30's) with fog constantly rolling in causing the temps to drop 10 degrees or more. In New England, we call it fall "sweater weather." Again we made
the best of it by locating over 10 geo-caches in the area. (Yeah....we finally reached 100 caches!)
Pacific City celebrated the 4th of July with fireworks on the beach. The following day our nephew, David Ingram and family who live in McMinnville, Oregon visited us at the campground. It turned out to be a typical, north- western rainy day so the picnic was moved indoors with board games and conversation followed by a dip in the hot tub. Ashley is now 16 and will be entering her senior year of high school.
Don and I have become avid geo-cachers so that was how we spent our week.
One attraction at this beach is the giant sand dune formed by the turbulent
currents which over time delivered huge amounts of sand on the shores which
eventually formed a "sand mountain" of sorts.
We visited McMinnville which boasts over 200 wineries. Amity Vineyards,
one of the oldest wineries which began operations in 1974, produces an award-winning Pinot Noir. We drove to Red Ridge Farm, a nursery that specializes in herbs, lavender plants and unusual flowers. They have the most spectacular view of a neighboring Olive Orchard and Mt. Hood.
We drove up the coast to a coastal town called Pacific
Beach. The state park is right on the shore. It fit the
bill for a little R&R so we stayed for four nights. A
friend told us about a lavender festival held on Vashon
Island near Seattle, so we decided to go. It was a
beautiful day and each of the three farms, Fox Farm, Lavender Sisters, and Lavender Hill Farm had something different to offer. Fox Farm even offered a Lavender Margarita mix? There were edible baked goods and lemonade as well as sachets, soaps, and oils. The island is 20 miles long and about 8 miles wide and can be reached by ferry from Southworth/Fountleroy. It was a good day!
