DUNE

Certainly not talking about some waterless planet far in the future.  After the occult Mt. St. Helens, we slushed down I-5 in the rain to WA4, and headed west to Long Beach.  We’re starting to use our Passport America membership (you get a 50% discount at member parks, with date restrictions) for the return leg, and there were a couple of PA parks in Long Beach, which is within scooting distance of our real objective, Astoria, OR, which lies just across the mouth of the Columbia.  The route along WA4 is quite nice, curvy, and mostly right along the Columbia.  We couldn’t see a whole lot because of the weather, but not a bad drive.  It started to lift as we pulled into Long Beach, which appeared to be your typical beach get-away town, with lots of rentals and shops.  The first of the PA parks was right in town, an older setup that, at this time of year, seemed half-full exclusively with long-term tenants in RV’s of varying states of decrepitude.  The managers weren’t there, but a mostly toothless denizen next door said they would return that evening, and I should proceed to space 21 and check in later.  We moved down the empty row to a string of four occupied spots.  Number 21 was at the end of these, which were very close spaces.  Our immediate neighbor in 20 had his awning out, with all sorts of junk stored under it, occupying all the would-be open space between us.  The crone denizen’s male companion came up to guide us in, but I said we didn’t want to be parked hard on to the neighbor’s junk, and couldn’t we take one of the 20 or so other unoccupied sites.  Uh, nope, the owners said to put any newcomer in 21.  Well, alrighty.  Put Albatross in gear, give a wave and a thanks, and pull away.  Another customer lost to mindless rigidity.

Turns out it was a good thing.  The second park, the Pacific Holiday RV Resort, although two miles further out of town, was quite nice, cheaper ($12!), and we almost had it to ourselves.  It stretched from the road all the way back to the start of the dunes that protected it from the ocean.  Here’s a shot from the dunes back into the park.  We’re sorta hidden way down on the right.

We took advantage of the break in the weather to head out to the beach as the sun was setting.  These dunes are pretty wide, and it was a nice little hike through them.

Finally, the beach!  This was really a gradual sloping beach.  You can see that the shallow breakers go way out there.  This was pretty much low tide, as best we could figure.

It ran for miles to the south, down to the mouth of the Columbia, which is where the hills are in this pic.  To the north, it just kept going as far as we could see.

The dune grass was quite pretty in the setting light.  It has to be tough stuff to grow in the saltwater environment, sand, and constant wind.

The rain came back in the evening, and kept up on and off throughout the night, but it was a nice sound on our aluminum roof.  Dawn brought clearer skies, so we decided to do our morning constitutional on the beach.  Big mistake.  (cue music from “Jaws”)  I got attacked.

Yeah, those are gloves and a thinsulite cap I’m wearing.  The skies may have been clear, but it was rather nippy out.  We had a great walk on the hard-packed sand, much needed after a few days spent mostly indoors.  There were several cars & pickups cruising the beach.  Not sure if they were clamming or just taking a morning drive.

Now, you might recall the “Dumping” tutorial from a few posts back.  One of the amusing things about going from rv park to park is seeing the often, uh, odd way that the various parks place their electric, water, and sewer hookups.  What you don’t want is for the dump drain to be right next to your fresh water supply, or for that matter your electric source.  Why?  Because it’s almost impossible to avoid being the tenant right behind the previous occupant who makes a mess and splashes junk all around.  Ideally, you want your drain to be all by itself, in a concrete basin with lips all around, to confine the stuff.  Well, as much as we liked the location, price, and general amenities of this park, they did everything wrong with the hookups.  Just how do you think this malevolent looking beauty got its nourishment, hmmmmm?