Road Trip part 3-Fort Stevens....

We left Hood River and headed for the Washington Coast. Plan A had been to drive the Oregon Coast, but we had to be in Penticton for a wedding Aug.13th and we wern't gonna have enough time to drive the Oregon Coast. Turns out the Washington Coast is not as picturesque nor as beautiful as the Oregon one, but the point of driving the coast was to see the Ocean and see the Ocean we did!!

Our first stop was Ft. Stevens State Park. OMG! Beautiful park!!! The kiteboarders at Hood River had told us about this spot. They said when the wind dies at Hood, they all go to Fort Stevens. What they didn't tell us was that the campground in this park books up a year in advance for the summer season! There was no camping when we got there, but that didnt' stop us from checking out the beach. The miles and miles of empty beach on the ocean! Scout and I were like animals who had just been released from a cage. We ran and ran and ran on that beach, enjoying the freedom of all that space!!!!!

Poor Scout couldn't figure out why the water tasted sooo bad. She'd run until she was dying of thirst and every time she'd take a huge gulp of water out of the ocean, you could see the question mark in her eyes: Why? Why does this water taste like shit??? Lol! She did it every time, she just couldn't figure it out.

Fort Stevens is an amazing state park with tonnes of beaches and paths and hiking and biking. We checked out a couple of the beaches in the park. On our way from one to the other, Marty didn't feel like taking Ryder out of the Baby Bjorn, so, for the first time, Ryder got to "drive!"

At Parking Lot B, the parking lot, the kiteboarders had told us about, Ryder touched the Ocean for the first time. It was damn cold, but he felt the waters, with Marty's help. Fort Stevens was the first place Ryder and Scout saw the ocean! It was as special time for our family and a super fun one!!!

Ryder, holding a crab claw...

All four of us made footprints in the sand

Since we were unable to camp at Fort Stevens, we drove until we saw a campground with vacancy. Near the town of Long Beach, Washington, we found an RV park. This was the kind of RV park that had all the hook ups you could ever want. The kind of RV park that handed you a TV guide when you pulled in. The kind of RV park that charged 40 bucks a night and had a fenced dog park. The kind of RV park that was 25 meters from 28 miles of beach!!!! WE could only afford to stay there one night and we only did because it was right ON the beach and because everything else was full. It was here I learned that the beaches along the ocean are WAY better than the beaches at lakes. These ocean beaches are fun and free and there are no rules! You can have bon fires, you can let your dog run free and you can even drive on them!!

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach. Ryder got to sit in the sand and take it all in...

There was an outdoor shower at the RV park, perfect for washing the sand off kids and dogs! After rinsing off, we headed into the town of Long Beach for some ice cream. Yummmy!! Ryder and I spent the rest of our 40 dollar night, up every 2 hours! His worst night of the trip..wonder if it had anything to do with the ice cream????