Saturday, March 5

Day Trip to Westport

We had planned on hiking down in the Columbia Gorge area but the weather was not going to cooperate very well.  The gorge generates its own weather just like the ocean and Mount Rainier does.  I told mom that by the time we got down there, which is like a 2.5 hour drive, the weather would start getting bad.  Plus, dad wasn't even ready to go that morning.  I added that we should go when the weather gets a little better and when all the gates re-open after April 1st. 

She got upset because she was really excited to go.  She really wanted to go somewhere that day so I suggested, we haven't been to the beach in a while, let's go there!  She agreed and picked Westport.  We motivated dad, called Grandma to see if she wanted to go, threw together some lunches, warm clothes and a query and headed out.

We picked up Grandma along the way and once we got to Grand Mound I filled the Escape up with gas.  I knew it was cheap there.  It didn't take us long to get to Aberdeen and dad criticized my driving the entire way.  I was too close, watch out for that person, leave some distance between cars, they might slam on their breaks, etc., etc.  It got really old and we deemed him the "Debbie Downer" of our beach day trip.

We hit the junction towards Westport over the draw bridge and into the south side of Aberdeen where the mall and Grays Harbor CC are located.  Dad wanted to stop at his gun store but no one told me where it was so we would have to stop on the way home.  I had no idea how long the weather was going to hold up.  I heard the rain was coming.

We got to Westport and saw all the familiar sites from when we came here twice a year on the school bus to compete against them in basketball and in fastpitch.  Fun fact:  Grandpa Dennis went to school here for a short amount of time when he was a kid.  We drove to the most northern part of the peninsula, parked the car and wandered around the shops, docks and the observation tower.  And I geocached. 


I walked out to the dock and enjoyed the scenery.  I also looked for Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus #1 (GC1TFG3) which was hidden on the south side of the gift shop.  In the summer I could see how this one would be harder to find with more people wandering around watching you.  I was the only one out here besides a lady who was on her phone.  She had no clue what I was doing.  I grabbed it and sat down like I was texting someone but I was really signing the log book.  I put it back and went inside the gift shop just to see what they had.


I went back to the Escape and dumped off a few things I didn't want to carry anymore and found out mom left her phone in there too.  No wonder she wasn't answering my phone calls.  I wanted to know where they were.  I managed to find mom and Grandma and asked if they wanted to go towards the tower to find the other cache in town.  They said sure.  I had been to this tower once before with Bob and Bev years ago.  The Let It Rain (GC201KF) was located underneath the ramp hidden in the rocks.  It was a quick find.


We then wandered around the area trying to find dad.  He wasn't answering his phone and we were getting hungry and needed to find a place to hang out while we ate the lunches mom made.  We finally found him and made everyone go potty before we headed to the state park up the road.


The last time I was at Westhaven State Park was when I came here with Bob and Bev at the start of the State Parks GeoTour back in June 2013.  We really didn't stay here that long because we had a lot of ground to cover that day.  This time we were able to relax and enjoy the area a little bit.  And this time the bathroom was done being built.  When we came three years ago they were in the middle of building it.


Dad and Grandma sat in the Escape while mom and I hung out in the parking lot.  We ate our sandwiches and talked about stuff.  There were more people at this state park then I thought there would be today.  Some guy had attempted to do some body surfing and was trying to get the shower to work over by the bathroom.


We finished our lunch and headed down to the beach.  It was really muddy looking, we found a couple of sand dollars and a crab that was still alive.  Someone was really cleaver and chain sawed this wooden log into a bull.





We walked down a good half mile or so and then turned around because dad was getting tired.  I took a detour and headed up to get a cache I couldn't find three years ago, Feckless Deck (GC2J6MR).  I think it was a different container then because it took me 15 seconds to find it this time.


I walked out to the jetty with mom and dad and had her find the state park cache.  We took a trackable out of it to move it on.  We used the restroom one more time and headed back out towards Aberdeen because the rain started to come down.  We stopped at the Westport Lighthouse before leaving town.  We got a group selfie with it.


We tried stopping at dad's gun place but it closed at 4ish.  We decided to take dad to Bi-Mart.  Mom bough some more Girl Scout cookies from the Aberdeen troop because she felt bad for them.  The Grays Harbor/Aberdeen/Hoquiam area isn't the best place to live in Washington.

Dad bough some bullets, mom got a new electric blanket, Grandma got a new calendar and I bought a HDMI cable so we could connect a computer to a TV.  I haven't been to a Bi-Mart since I went to one with dad in Yakima, which has been years and years ago. 

We left the harbor and headed home on Hwy 12.  Dad wanted to stop at Eagan's, which had a new Oakville location I've never been to, for dinner.  We all had some burgers and shared the large basket of fries. 

We got back, dropped Grandma off at home and headed to our home to unpack the car, shower and relax.  It was a quick afternoon trip.  Once daylight savings time kicks in we should be going on more trips this spring and summer.

Next Adventure:  Saint Patreaster's Day

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