What I've been missing lately is the beach. It seems that my friends and family in warmer parts of the world have been posting a lot of pictures of the beach, and pools, and of kids wearing flip flops.... I'm such a Florida girl and have been itching to get some sun on my skin for weeks now. However the weather has been up and down, bouncing between highs of mid-60s (yeah!) to low-50s (boo) and the lows in the 40s/30s. But have you ever known that to slow us down?
Luckily it didn't and I booked us a room out at Pacific Beach for Mother's Day weekend. We could not have asked for more lovely weather, more beautiful scenery, or a more relaxing time.
First, the weather was FANTASTIC! By the way, you'll have to get used to me and talking about the weather in these parts. While the PNW has a reputation for being rainy and overcast, which it is a lot of the time, the sunny days more than make up for the rain. And by fantastic I mean we finally broke into the 80s for the first time this year. Woohoo - Spring!!!
Pacific Beach is out on the coast and started as a sawmill town in the 1900s. Since the rails were going that way, word spread quickly about the wide areas of sand and the town started booming as a tourist destination for folks seeking to escape Seattle. During WWII, the Navy and Air Force moved to town and built facilities for anti-aircraft training. The base sat idle for a while until someone intelligent in the Navy decided to turn it into an MWR resort and set about a full renovation. Yes, folks, that's right - there is a Navy Lodge out on Pacific Beach.
We sure enjoyed our visit out there! The girls played on the beach, went beach combing and became sand dollar millionaires, flew kites, and went exploring in the dunes. We decided to have a cookout on Saturday night and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows over a campfire. The girls watched a movie while Ronnie and I watched the sun slowly sink into the ocean. Then we got up and did it all over again on Sunday.
Suffice to say that we will be back to take advantage of the Navy facilities.... They even have full up cabins you can rent for the week (otherwise known as remodeled base housing).
