Megan's visit

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Megan and I had another beautiful day to look forward to. The weather man's predictions were for 60s in the morning and climbing to around 80 by the afternoon. We moved slowly this morning and had a leisurely breakfast of bacon, thank you Megan, and cereal. We drove the 2 miles into the little sleepy fishing village of Ilwaco to checkout the boardwalk and someplace for lunch. Ol Bob's had been recommended to us so we ordered lunch and waited for it to be served while overlooking the docks. There was a lot of activity there because of the salmon run and it was pleasant watching the people and boats come and go. I had fish and chips, Megan had a sandwich and salad. We walked the boardwalk and went into a few shops all the while trying to find someone to take us on a short boat ride. But all the charter services were busy with fisherman so we'll have to take to the water next visit.

We drove into Long Beach and went to the visitor's information center and they told us about a quiet little town up the coast. We wanted to explore the peninsula more so we headed in that direction. We found Oysterville.

The Chinook Indians used to camp where the town now sits and harvested oysters from the Willapa Bay. Two white settlers were shown the oyster rich reefs and in no time they were selling the oysters to the gold rich in San Francisco for a silver dollar per oyster. The town was started in 1854 and became a rowdy and lusty boom town. It didn't change until 1872 when the first church came to town. Then in the late 1880s the railroad stopped an isolating 4 miles from Oysterville and the oysters became scarce so the town quickly declined into the sleepy little villiage it is today, a town where time stood still. Pictures

We really enjoyed the town especially the licken that grows on everything. Pictures. We stopped at a store and the owner said the humidity is usually 97 % and all forms of life grow on everything. The store was a jewel and filled with local art work and odd treasures. There was a straw hat that the owner said he gave to a woman in town who proceeded to decorate it with feathers and crocheted barnacles over the crown. It was a strange looking hat, will take quite an eccentric to buy that one.

We then drove up to the tip of the peninsula to see Leadbetter State Park, filled with old trees and moss covered branches. Pictures

By then it was getting late so we drove part way down, found an ice cream store for some refreshment and headed back to the camper. We decided to find a nice restaurant for dinner, so after getting all dressed up we went to a place on the forth floor of a hotel and had a great view of the ocean. We wanted to watch sunset but again mother nature had other ideas. It got cloudy and overcast so no viewing of sunset tonight. But we did have a lovely meal and just enjoyed each other's company.

Then it was home and Megan packed up her things as she had to leave before the crack of dawn in the morning. Her flight from Portland was at 10 am and it was a 2 1/4 hr drive without traffic so we decided to leave about 5 am. So it was a fairly early night.

The next morning we were out of here about 5:15am and I brought Oscar with us because I had to get the tires on my car after the airport and he'd be alone too long. Poor dog couldn't figure out what we were doing at that hour, but he did get breakfast early so all was well.

It had started raining in the night so the roads were wet for the first time in 2 months so I was extra careful with the possibility of slippery roads. We made it to the airport about 7:20 am said our good-byes and off we went in our separate directions. I so enjoyed Megan's visit, I will miss her.

As we headed north on 205 the traffic was not too bad but then got busy as we merged with I-5. We were just about to go over a bridge when a dump truck in front and a lane to the right of me hit a bump and the tail gate popped open spewing clay colored dirt and rocks all over the road. I was not far enough away from the mishap and was pelted with rocks and debris, some direct hits, others bouncing off the road once before hitting me. I actually ducked and tried to get away from the hail of rocks but there was no place to go, just go through it. I was SO thankful none of the rocks came through the windshield and no one hit me trying to swerve out of the way. The truck driver did pull over so I pulled in front of him along with another car that had a damaged hood. It was on the bridge so there was just enough room to pull off the road and we got his information and his apologies for this happening. He was the nicest man, and he was thankful no one got hurt. I was still reeling from the incident but nervous about being on a 70 mph highway so I just looked the car over quickly and drove on.

I got to Astoria and the tire store and asked them to look under the car while they had it on the lift to see if there was damage there. They said they didn't see anything, all looked well, except the windshield which had a big ding out of it and was starting to crack. Right across the street was an auto glass place so I went there next and they fixed the ding, you can hardly notice it's there. My insurance paid for it on the spot, so again I was a very happy camper. While there I did notice the passenger side rear view mirror was missing part of it's support and I was concerned water would get into the wires so when I got home I gave it a good duct taping. There were also several dents in the hood and scraped paint and scrapes along the right side. Got some dog food for Oscar then went home and collapsed. It was 3:30 in the afternoon and I had been out 10 hours.

I was relating the story to our neighbors when I got home and they said what a bad day I had. I felt I had a good day, got the tires on, the windshield fixed and lived to tell about it. I'm very thankful to be in one piece.

I fed Oscar and myself and we each threw ourselves into bed.

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Comments

[Denise lipman]

Beautiful scenery and fun with Megan
So glad you had fun with Megan! Such beautiful scenery! Love the huge trees!