Washington coast

May 26, 2019

"The Sea was angry that day, my friend."

WESTPORT, WA – It's a five-hour drive west from the irrigated desert of Grandview to the coast of Washington at Westport. The trip takes a lot more time if you stop to do some browsing at the outlet mall in North Bend and at Shipwreck Beads at Lacey.

Shipwreck Beads is advertised as being the largest bead store in the world. I've got a suspicion that there are at least 80 larger bead warehouses in India, but no way am I going over there to find out. Especially not with Kay and Rhonda. – "Criminy, people! Can we get a move on? The beach house is calling!" I came this close to becoming the 2047th man booted out of the largest bead store in the world. Supposedly the largest.

So, it took us closer to three days to arrive here, at least it seemed like that to me. Had Curt not been there, I would've come unglued. -- That's what my Dad used to say when he got upset. "I'm about to come unglued, here!" – Curt is Rhonda's husband and the most calming non-Buddhist on the planet. – He comes up with stuff like, "Calmness is the cradle of power, Mark. So, chill out, before I give you a wedgy bad enough to make an emergency room surgeon weep." -- See? That's all I need.

What say we put all of that past us and focus on our stay here at the beach. We are lodging in this incredible house on the beach. If I could afford a place this nice, no way would I register it on "airbnd". The only people I would trust alone in my beautiful beach house would be nice, old people who would have no inclination to mess stuff up. That pretty much sums up the six of us. Along with Rhonda and Curt, Kay and I are joined with my sister Susan and her husband Col. Don. I call Don "Colonel" because he's a Colonel. If I were a Col. it would be cool if someone addressed me as such.

The Col. wanted us to have a tangible memory of our stay here in Westport, so he bought us each a hoodie with "Westport" emblazoned on the front. Those are the kind of people who are staying at this house. Thoughtful, wonderful… the best. And speaking of Curt, when we got here, the man insisted that Kay and I get the biggest bedroom in this three-bedroom, three bathrooms large living space with a super view of the Pacific. He insisted upon it before Susan and The Col. showed up, or else The Col. might've tried to pull rank on him. Then the entire trip might've gone down the flusher.

In fact, had I not have saved Kay's life, it would've gone down the flusher anyway. The incident happened in one of our beachcombing expeditions. Kay and Rhonda collect shells, rocks, and sticks that wash up on the beach. – By the way, this is the cleanest beach I have ever seen. We've been here three days and the only piece of noticeable trash that I can remember was a carton of one of those protein drinks. Peach flavored. Have you ever had one of those? Not bad.

Okay, so we're walking along the beach the morning after a 3.4 earthquake was registered not 30 miles from here. I didn't feel the tremor, but the wave action was somewhat squirrelly… to the point where alerts were surfing and boating alerts were issued along the coast. Not to worry, we're walking along the beach. Kay had assumed her walking-in-a-stoop posture while looking for sand dollars. We collected dozens of ‘em.

Rhonda and Curt were further down the beach, and Susan and Col. Don were lollygagging back there. They walk in a much slower stoop. I was more inland than Kay but kept an eye on her. The tumble on the airport escalator three weeks back had made me a bit more cautious of unexpected stuff. Speaking of which, a rogue wave suddenly came rushing in and caught Kay completely off guard.

The wave was actually relatively shallow, but fast. When Kay started running beachward, the undercurrent knocked her off her feet and started dragging her out. She laughed at first but then recognized the seriousness of the situation. Scary story made short: I managed to get to her before the next wave hit. While Curt was charging through the surf to get to us, had the next wave hit, He would've had to choose which one of us to grab onto. The one kicking and screaming… or Kay.

It would be quite natural to contribute the happy ending here to fate. However, I have confidence that our survival was covered by something mentioned in Hebrews 1: 14. Kay and I are both very appreciative of that assurance.

We've got a couple of days before we have to drive eastward across the mountains. Chinook Pass is supposed to be open tomorrow, so we'll get to drive right past Mt, Rainier on our way home. Susan and Don live in Tacoma, but they will be following us back to Grandview for the brief time Kay and I have remaining on our vacation. Kay and I will give Susan and The Col. the big bedroom. After all, it's her house. But, more than that The Colonel would pull rank on me if I didn't… and I am completely without rank. In military circles, it's called "rank-less." Sounds about right. – Next time.

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Contact Mark at hayter.mark@gmail.com