Great Is Thy Faithfulness ~ West Coast RV Adventure 2023 ~ Day 22

Gosh, I loved my morning view today! Just think, last evening a deer was eating in these trees and brush. I sure wish she would came by and to say hi to me again. For some reason, I kinda relate to deer. I think we have a lot in common. Maybe a dear is my patronus, like in Harry Potter. 

So once again, they moved me off the bed so they could fold it up. Before we left Cape Disappointment, of course, Mom had to go take a peak at the beach. She said she was sad because today we were saying goodbye to the Pacific Ocean. That makes me kinda sad too. The huge pieces of driftwood were still piled against back part of beach. I wonder how long they’ve been there. 

 

We continued our trek north. Lots of signs said there were cranberry farms down a road, but we never saw any. All the fields had trees and bushes all around them. Mom was disappointed. Evidently, a lot of cranberries are grown in this area of Washington, but you couldn’t prove it by us! We saw lots of huge bays, rivers and creeks, big marshes and muddy sloughs. It was crazy diverse land with not much out here. Mom had to tell me what a muddy slough was cuz we don’t have any of those where we live in Texas. We passed Seaview, Ilwaco, Naselle and South Bend. 

 

 

Mom and Dad wanted more coffee, so we stopped at the Expresso Elixir. It was another one of those little drive up shacks, but we walked up again cuz those things weren’t made for LHOWs. The people in the northwest sure love their coffee because these little shacks are everywhere! And they have funny names like Stomping Grounds, Wild Brews and Twin Perks. But what I like best is that the people in the northwest love dogs too! Every time Mom and Dad get coffee, I get a treat! Yippee!! 

 

We kept driving through Washington’s crazy landscape mixture of water, mud, hills and trees until it was time to stop for lunch. Mom was trying to get us to a little beach but we ended up on a dead end street. While we were figuring out where to go, a deer walked right out in front of the LHOW. We just stopped and watched her. It was so graceful and SO cool to see another deer! I LOVED watching it! So we decided the deer was showing us where to stop. Thus, we had lunch in the LHOW at Cape Shoalwater.

 

After lunch, we continued driving north. Sometimes when Mom takes pictures, she rolls down the window. I REALLY like that cuz I get to smell the area and feel the wind on my face. We went through some little towns and then on a road that seemed to cut and wind through a forest. There were trees on tall hills on either side of us. It was pretty in a whole different way than the ocean. And then we went around a turn and there was the Pacific Ocean again!

We stopped at Kalaloch Beach, which is part of the Olympic National Park. It was another BIG, windswept, beach where the water is shallow for a long way out. That means the waves break several times on their way in. And there was the typical pile of driftwood against the cliffs. It was super windy and cold too!! Dad and I peaked out but then retreated back to the warm, sunny LHOW. But you know Mom, she wanted to walk the beach. 

 

When Mom got back from her walk, she was soooo excited! She said that God blessed her in a BIG way. She brought back a sand dollar that was so much bigger than the itsy bitty ones we found on Cannon Beach. This one was about 3 inches in diameter, and it was completely round, but the top was broken off. It was so weird that she was so excited about a broken sand dollar. She says is a long sweet story for another day. But suffice it to say, God showed up for my Mom today in a big way. So instead of being sad, she was overjoyed! Great is His Faithfulness! 

 

Then we went on to what was going to be our last Pacific Ocean beach stop, Ruby Beach, also in Olympic National Park. It was still really windy, and Mom was still glowing from Kalaloch Beach, and it was a really long walk down to the beach. So we decided to appreciate it from the scenic lookout before we headed on. 

 

So with that, we did say goodbye to Pacific Ocean and headed inland. We drove by fields, and over rivers and through hills that became forested mountains before reaching the Strait of Juan de Fuca. That’s the body of water between northern Washington and Vancouver island that connects the Pacific Ocean to the Puget Sound. It was big and blue with white caps from the wind.

 

 

Our stop tonight was a little fisherman’s RV park in Sekui. It was full of guys who love to fish in the strait, which I guess is really good fishing. A really nice man named Jim helped us when we got there. He’s a retired firefighter and spends every summer there with some of his friends. This year, he asked to rent a storage shed to live in instead of a RV. It’s 8’ by 10’. Yep, that’s it. He has a cot, little refrigerator, table, microwave and a lot of canned food. Outside of it, he has a deep freezer and a chair. He says he loves it! We think he’s kinda crazy, but Dad says that everyone gets to define their retirement. I’m sure glad Mom and Dad haven’t defined their’s in a 8’ x 10’ shed!!  Our LHOW is luxury living compared to that little shed!

So we’ve said goodbye to the Pacific Ocean. And God gave my Mom an amazing sand dollar experience.  I wonder what the next few days will bring? We just never know, do we? 

 

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