In the summer of 2000 I took Susanna, Ilana and Naomi plus Jonathan to Ocean Shores for a few days. Jonathan lived next door and had been Susanna's best buddy for many years. Middle school age. He was always over so how could you leave him home? They both were doing the early morning athletic workout at the high school.
Ocean Shores is an odd place, a development of ocean beachfront hotels kind of in the middle of nowhere. No town at Ocean Shores that I could see. Unbelievably, the State of Washington considers beaches as part of the highway system. Yes, you can drive your car on the beach. Strikes me as unbelievably gross. The wide beach featured horses roped into corrals, you could go on horse rides along the beach (Ilana and Naomi loved that). If you didn't get run over by the idiots who brought cars onto the beach.
Susanna and Jonathan were there for the sand. The pair had long wanted the chance to build some REALLY GOOD sand castles. Uninterrupted stretches of time to build something really worthwhile. They had brought some tools, like spatulas and things you would use for painting. I thought they were from next door. You can imagine the state of these tools after they had been dragged in salt water and sand and then left around. Turns out they were our ruined tools.
Featured is Susanna's sand castle that she spent the entire day on. The double moat likely designed to stem the inevitable rising tide. We all know what happens to the sand castles when the tide comes in.
Me? I have a terrible confession to make. I found the beach windy and raw. Even ten years ago, I could not tolerate being out there. But I couldn't let the kids be out there by themselves. So (gulp) I drove the car out there and sat in the car on the beach.
Terrible!!!
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