May, 2024
During the entire week that I was here, I never left the small town of Pacific Beach (except maybe to walk on that US Navy property right next door). Usually I’m off exploring in the big white truck most days. This week, I stayed put and just walked. And I loved it.
Here are a few photos from today, including a nice little sunset.
First off, very late morning … here’s a photo of my pickup truck and trailer in the campground (I’m looking north as I took the photo). Where is everyone?! Ok, I’m not complaining, but the weather was really nice and there was almost no one in sight, or in site. 🙂 Just me and that other van/RV rig. About half of the campsites in the photo do not have an electrical hookup, but the other half do have one, including some of the campsites that back right onto the Pacific Ocean beach, like mine did.
As a comparison, I walked up past my rig, past my campsite, and then turned around and took a photo of the campground as I was facing south. Keep in mind, this is not a large campground. But here’s the view looking south …
That southern half of the campground was packed! Side by side, cheek by jowl. Why? Here we were, we two campers (that van/RV and me) up here in the northern half of the campground all by ourselves. Well, I won’t complain, it was so quiet here. But gosh I sure wondered why.
Just the two rigs, pretty much all week, just us.
That van/RV rig had two women in it. I met them the first day. They are sisters-in-law … their husbands are brothers of each other. Over the years, the two women have become close, good friends. Their husbands have absolutely no interest in camping even in a rig that nice. The women purchased this van/RV rig about five years ago and the two of them go camping with their two dogs. They go all over Washington and love it.
The three of us chatted 2-3 times a day, when we ran across each other out and about. And we took a couple of short walks together too. They are really nice people.
At one point in the week, the women couldn’t get their water pump to work. They had checked the fuse, it seemed ok … and the pump did make pumping noise. They checked the tank, yep full of water, but no water would come out of any of the faucets in the RV. They had called a mechanic in the closest town (30-40 minutes away) and they were going to unhook the rig from the campsite and then drive the rig there. But they happened to mention it to me first. As a retired mechanic I couldn’t hardly wait to help them!
It turned out to be a loose connection in the line between the tank and the water pump (at the water pump), such that the pump was just sucking air. Tightening the connection fixed the problem in just a few minutes. They loved me! 🙂 They tried to pay me. I said, “please donate to women who are working their way through automotive schools or other trades.” And I told them of women in the gasoline and diesel technology programs that I have been in and how badly they/we were treated at times. One of them emailed me after the trip and said she had set up a monthly payment into a fund that is for women students in an automotive gasoline technology program near where she lives.
After my little mechanic job for my neighbors, I walked back to my trailer, pulled out my comfy chair and put it right up on the berm behind my trailer.
And I sat there and ate my lunch and watched the Pacific Ocean do its thing.
Oh, those are the two women out there on the beach with their two dogs in the photo above.
After I finished my late lunch, I had an unplanned nap right there in that comfy chair. 🙂 And then I headed out onto the beach too … and, more than once, very much on purpose, I walked right out into the Pacific Ocean. Yep, my shoes were soaked and full of saltwater and sand. 🙂
Whoa, that last wave was kind of scary. It was huge!
Then I just walked up and down the beach, just wandering, watching the sky, and everything else. And then I walked through the campground and chatted with a few people. Camping folks are really nice folks.
Back at my trailer I fixed my dinner and then went back outside to sit behind my trailer again on that berm to watch the evening light.
Gorgeous. And then off to the left (below) was this additional little present from the universe.
How can there be so many perfect days? This sure was one of them.
More adventures coming, stay tuned! 🙂
Love that ocean!!!!
Isn’t that ocean just amazing?!!!
Wow, yes, those ocean wave photos are powerful! I’m surprised you still have your shoes on! 🙂
Ha!! Well, Joe, must admit that I didn’t wear those shoes for several days after this adventure. I washed them a number of times to get the salt and sand out of them. I was surprised each time I washed them that there was STILL so much sand and silt in the rinse water afterwards. Rest assured, I didn’t walk so far into that ocean that those waves would have ripped my shoes off. Now THAT would have been an experience, eh? 🙂
I loved how you helped those women. I bet some other folks made assumptions about their friendship/relationship .. did they talk with you about that? Can you talk about that here? I think it was SO COOL that you fixed that water line to the pump. It’s exactly what we all should be doing for each other, no matter what country we’re from, no matter our ethnicity, no matter anything! Thank you for doing the right thing. No wonder I love your blog so much. 🙂
Absolutely, Ruth, we can talk about that here. Those two women did talk about how a few other camper folks assumed they were a lesbian couple, but then those folks “assured” the two women that that was ok. And both of these two straight women thought “well, yes, even if we aren’t, it’s ok if we are a couple and who are you to judge?” They told me how odd it was that some people thought lesbians needed “permission” to be who they are and to be in the world. For me to hear that from these straight women was really heartening.
And yet, these two women also told about a few times when they were given what they thought was the “evil eye” and even a couple of times that they were told not to come back to a campground, a PUBLIC campground. Obviously some folks made an assumption and judged the women based on that assumption. That made these two women realize how it must feel to actually BE a lesbian and to feel the need to be careful. One of the women said “that’s so stupid! We’re all different from each other, every one of us. But we’re more the same than we are different. What the hell is wrong with some people?”
Yes, 🙂 like you say Ruth, let’s all just do the right thing for each other no matter. Thank you.
I wondered about whether those two women had troubles from other people making assumptions about them. I hope not. Who wouldn’t like people who like dogs? 🙂
Those ocean wave photos were stupendous! Glad you got a little nap in before you had to deal with those monster waves. 🙂
Hi Cindy. Nice comment! Fun reference to liking dogs. Ha! You can read my reply above to Ruth’s comment. Thanks for being here, thanks for being you and being in this world.
Gosh, I still think about those waves. I didn’t walk very far into them, but boy I sure remember the power of them.
Gorgeous ocean waves, and sunset. And how odd that people pack themselves in like that at one end of the campground when the other end is practically empty. People are sometimes odd, eh? 🙂 But those ocean waves were wonderful! Thank you.
Ah yes, people do the craziest things sometimes, eh? 🙂
Maybe your end of the campground had been under some sort of maintenance program and not available when all those people down there made their reservations. Because it’s weird but nice that you had your end to yourself.
Dawn, I didn’t think of that! That’s an obvious explanation and would make sense that they would shut the campground for maintenance in winter. More brains please, I need more brains. Thanks Dawn. 🙂
We’ve talked about reserving THREE spots in a campground, so we can park in the middle one and have quiet all around, but that would get expensive. And we’d probably have to reserve a couple campsites across the little road from us as well to keep them quiet. Ah well. You really lucked out!
Gorgeous waves. Magnificent sunset. And, yes, another place in WA that we haven’t been to, yet. It’s now on the list! 🙂
Janey
Janey, I’ve thought about doing the same thing! Reserving one or two campsites next to mine so my campsite will be more peaceful. But yes, too expensive. Ok, you two need to get down here so we can park next to each other and be quiet. 🙂
What Dawn said makes sense … or, we found that sometimes part of a campground would be closed for the winter so people are camped closer to each other so it’s easier to manage for the park staff, and then the closed part is re-opened maybe May 1? On the other hand, with a front row seat on the ocean, why wouldn’t this campground be full ESPECIALLY in winter with the storms? Really great photos, those waves are stunning!
Well, sure, I didn’t think of that either … that maybe some parks close parts of the campground in the winter when fewer people are camping just so it’s easier on the employees, and safer for the campers who do go there.
I’ve thought about heading back out to the Pacific Beach ocean campground during January/February storms, but beach walking would surely not be very nice during those storms. And, even on calm nights, like the nights were when I was here, that ocean is NOISY! So during a storm, it might be pretty uncomfortable. Still, I’m thinking about it. 🙂
That ocean! and that was a calm day?!? Wow. Gorgeous sunset.
Thank you for caring about other people.
Yep, that was a calm day. 🙂 Thanks for being here, Greg.
One of my sisters lives up on the hill there. I asked her if the State Park got flooded this week..(The Bomb)..She said the creek was high but she didn’t see any damage at the park.
Wow, I must have walked right by her house a couple of times, David, up on that hill next to Joe Creek? south of Joe Creek? What a gorgeous view those folks have. I would hope the berm around the edge of the campground (maybe 5-6 feet above the sand and maybe 8-9 feet above the water in the creek would prevent creek water from entering the campground. But if the ocean wind was “wrong” and the creek was flooding from uphill, it sure could have been a horrendous mess. Glad things seem ok there. It sure is one of my favorite campgrounds. I’ll wave at the hill next time I’m there. 🙂
Oh, but maybe your sister is on the north hill, north of town. I’m going to post some stuff about Joe Creek on this next blog post, David. Let me know what she thinks. 🙂