From Mt Rainier to the Washington Coast

 

August 17th,2022

Packwood where we stayed last 2 nights was a very small town, with a population under 1500. A couple of gas stations, a couple of restaurants, a visitor center, a gift shop, a couple of antiques shops, a general market on the Main Street and a few dozen homes in the back streets pretty much rounds up this place. We did see a herd of elk grazing in an open lot one evening and a few solitary elk crossing the main road on other occasions. 

The Wednesday morning we left our cabin, with a goal to drive to the coastal town of Long Beach in Washington State. ( There is Long Beach also in Southern California, in Orange County). We grabbed some pastries at the coffee shop in Packwood, gathered some tips about what to see on the way from a nice lady at the visitor center across from the coffee shop before getting onto the road.  A lavender farm she recommended in Randle was closed during weekdays. The next stop on her suggestion was a plant and bulbs nursery in Mossy Rock. It was truly a remarkable place. There were colorful flower baskets hanging all over. And a very beautiful show garden on the back side. Unfortunately we couldn’t have carried any of these beauties with us on our flight home so just appreciated it for the hour we spent there. The friendly lady there told us that the owners were in a process of closing the business and retiring. Then she pointed across the street for us to visit a blueberry farm. We stopped there briefly and saw several workers actively harvesting the berries from hundreds of acres of blueberry plants. The berries were really sweet but they weren’t selling them in smaller quantities so we couldn’t buy. It was a lovely stop to see their operation though.

Onward we drove to the city of Longview where we decided to stop for lunch. Found a Vietnamese restaurant with good reviews on Google. The Pho was really one of the best I’ve ever had. Longview happens to be at the border of Washington and Oregon. Our route took us over a small bridge into the state of Oregon and several miles from there to Astoria. Here again we had to cross a bridge, this time a really big bridge across the Columbia river on US Highway 101 to re-enter Washington state. Passing through Chinook and other smaller coastal towns we finally reached our destination Long Beach by 3:30 pm. 

We were here for something special. This town has an International Kite Museum and hosts an annual weeklong Kite Festival every August. As our luck may have it, this festival happened to be going on this week ! When we reached the museum they were getting ready to close by 4 pm but we could still see some kites flying on the beach until 5 pm. So we parked the car and hurried to the beach. 

It was an amazing sight! Kite enthusiasts from all over the country had come with their vividly designed handmade kites and the place was just buzzing with the activity. I had never seen these kind of kites ever before. There was a pirate boat kite, a Superman kite, a Cinderella kite, bird kite, football player kite and so many others. We were like kids watching all these with amazement. Nearby were several vendors with stalls selling everything from food, drinks, toys, clothes and official event goodies. We bought a couple of matching T shirts with the Kite Festival logos. Then headed to a place known for the best clam chowder in town. After the soup decided to indulge in the local ice cream. The line for ice cream was so long, seemed like everyone in town had decided to come here. By the time we picked ours and ate it, the sun was getting lower in the sky. So we walked back to the beach. By then the kites were all off the scene and the previously crowded place was entirely cleaned up. Except for some marine birds and a few people here and there it was a vast beach showcasing a beautiful sunset. We soaked in its beauty leisurely.

Until then we didn’t know where we were going to spend the night. This part of the tour was not on our itinerary until we had cancelled our third day in Packwood. Walking back to the car we opened the magical thing in the hand, the smart phone and looked up hotels. Found a decent one just half a mile from where we sat and booked it right there. Then drove around the corner to check in. The room happened to open to the beach. Post sunset tinge of orange was still visible in the distance when we entered our room.

All said and done, it had been a lovely day. 

Saree for the day was a cotton Bhujodi in deep blue with red in the striped borders and multicolored threads woven into the pallu and motifs on the body. The breeze on the beach had effortlessly made the pallu fly like the kites in the sky.