Travel Tuesday: Ocean Shores

The vast expanse of sandy beach, waves a fringe between sand and sky.

Since we needed to move the motorhome anyway, we decided to plan a trip somewhere. Many times we had pulled the motorhome out for some reason, and not thinking beyond that, found ourselves wishing that we could just go somewhere while we were in travel mode.  Instead we just went back to our home park and settled in. Even though our home is mobile, it's a matter of an hour or two of preparation to switch from parked mode to travel mode, especially when we've been parked for a month or more. Things tend to migrate out to the deck, or inside and then I must remember which goes where for traveling. 

We started out with the idea of  two or three days at the coast. A quick getaway that would satisfy the former disappointment of not going anywhere. It rather annoyed me that we have lived less than 2 hours from the beach for four summers and had not made it over there yet!

Finally, off we went to Ocean Shores, parking at the Casino for $10 a night. Since it's only a quarter mile walk to the beach, that's a great deal. It doesn't bother me that it's nothing more than a gravel parking spot, but parking where you can hear the ocean? Smell the salt water? Oh, yeah. Happy Camper time.

After getting settled, I was off to the beach to get some sand between my toes. It was lovely weather, just the right amount of warm with a gentle breeze accompanied by the sound of the surf. Delicious. Walking in sand makes me feet happy--except when it's hot, then, not so much. But the hard wet sand near the surf is cool and inviting. We walked along for awhile, then Jerry went off to run his high intensity interval training (HIIT). I continued to beach comb, then chased the waves letting them catch me. The water wasn't as cold as I expected. Still, I wasn't going in past my knees. Finally I headed for a place to settle into the sand. watch the waves and listen to the ocean song. To me there is no more healing sound than the ocean waves pounding the sand. A God symphony reminding me of His greatness and shrinking my worries.

Right from the first, I knew two days weren't going to be enough time to let the sea-song settle into me sufficiently. In our debate about a third day, we noticed and email from our home park informing us of the road treatment being applied that day. We didn't want to drive on it freshly applied, so we debated some more. Then we read the weather report. With record highs expected (111?!)  it seemed silly to return to Olympia before the weather cooled. A few emails and texts later, we were set to spend a week. Not only would I be missing out on the heat, I'd be able to stay near the beach indulging in my favorite sandy pastimes. I'm pretty sure a Happy Dance was involved here.

We also happened to be there the weekend of the Sand and Sawdust Days where there are amazing sand sculptures and chainsaw artists in various places around Ocean Shores. We enjoyed watching the artists at work with the chainsaws, but we were also glad to duck into the Convention Center with their air conditioning to visit the vendor booths. Yes, even at the beach it got hot, but not as hot as inland.

Sand sculpture near Convention Center. The pop-ups behind are the wood carvers.

Wood carver checking the design.

Three charming bears keeping an eye on everything.

Our picnic lunch was consumed from our truck on the beach in what became a beach parking lot with rows and rows of cars. We were late comers to the activities and found a place one row back from the waves so we could watch them while we ate. We soon found out why cars had moved--the tide was coming in! We watched in fascination as a couple of cars whose occupants were somewhere down the beach were threatened by the waves encroaching. Finally we felt it prudent to move and drove to the back of the parking area to take pictures of a series of sculptures. Jerry had to go back and take pictures of the one little white car with waves lapping at its tires. It got as high as the axles before we left, still wondering when the owners would arrive to discover their dilemma. The heavy duty tow truck we had seen nearby was likely going to get more business rescuing the unwary.

We returned home to discover trees and shrubs whose western facing leaves were burnt, unused to the triple digit temperatures and relentless sun. I was thankful to only loose one plant in the heat wave, with only a few burnt leaves on a couple of plants. My neighbor did a great job of watering all my plants and giving them love while I was away. 

The saying "Timing is everything" was especially true for this jaunt to the coast. What a gift from Father God, showing the depth of His love and care. Sometimes He strengthens us to meet the challenges we face, and sometimes He whisks us away to a place of refreshing and rest. He's a good like that. And I am so thankful.

When I was sitting on the beach allowing the sand to flow through my fingers, I was reminded of the verse in Psalm 139:17-18:

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand

This thought arrested my attention: God, who knows me so well, loves me so much that He's thinking of me all the time. How many grains of sand were in just my hand? Looking up at the expanse of the sand stretching for miles, my mind was overwhelmed. Just one beach. Just one part of the world. Wow. His thoughts towards me are MORE in number than the sand. Jeremiah 29:11 says that His thoughts towards me are good! I love that. That's a LOT of good thoughts coming my way. Unfathomable. Delightful.

When I was younger I was unconsciously waiting for Him to strike me with lightning or something for messing up. Discovering that He's not like that has not only been a great relief, but a joy. His thoughts towards me are good. He loves me. I'm cool with that.

In His love I am secure and even when He must correct me, I know He has my best interests in mind. He does it so lovingly that I am strengthened and made better by it. Trusting His good plans for me, I don't hesitate any more to go to Him for everything and with everything. Peace, hope, wisdom. He has it all.

The beach is where I feel His presence the most. It is the place where I see this constant reminder of His love and how much bigger He is than my problems. In the pounding of the surf I hear deep call to deep; the deep of His love calls to the deepest part of me. This has been my best "YES" ever.