Nothing clears up the blues like a visit from your kids — and I got a two-fer this month as my son, Garrett, and my stepson, Sam, traveled to the Harbor about a week apart. It was a genuine pleasure showing them both around my new home!
Sam came up from Oregon specifically to go with me to the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire in Bonney Lake. We’ve both always enjoyed those events, and we had loads of fun getting our geek on at this one. He had put together an excellent “plague doctor” costume, which got lots of positive feedback from fair-goers. I wore the ensemble I’ve been augmenting for the past decade or so — peasant shirt, bustier, flowing skirt, the works. You know, the kind of garb that makes big gals like me look good.
Sam was only here from that Friday night through Sunday morning; and since we spent most of Saturday in Bonney Lake, I didn’t get to show him much here on the Harbor — though we did get to Westport for a few hours that Friday afternoon to walk around the marina. Sam enjoyed chatting with Michael Bruce at the fishing derby weigh station, and watching several of the charter boats return to port for the night. As it was high tide, we also got to see a couple of the large commercial vessels head out to sea from our vantage point at the end of the boardwalk.
In the blink of an eye, it seemed, he had to go back to Oregon. But I wasn’t alone for long.
A week later, Garrett drove up from California to spend four days with me and pick up a few things in preparation for his fall college classes. With that much time, we managed to see a lot more. In fact, we worked our way around the entire Harbor.
First, we spent most of that Friday in Ocean Shores. We walked all the way out to Damon Point and back — watching a gull stalk a fishing pelican, smiling at the peeps of a herd of sandpipers, and picking up agates and petrified wood. We also visited the Gallery of Ocean Shores and had a yummy dinner at Galway Bay, which I’d been meaning to check out but hadn’t gotten to before then.
On Saturday, we went to the Pride Festival in Hoquiam. It was a tiny gathering, but warm and open and colorful. We noshed on the front porch of the 8th Street Alehouse with my dog, Rose, for an hour or so, people-watching and listening to live music.
After that, we walked Rose on the Lake Swano Trail at Grays Harbor College. She flushed a few forms of wildlife: birds, garter snakes, even a pair of juvenile humans that had (ahem) shed their plumage for a mating dance. By the time we got back to my house, we were too tired to return to Hoquiam for the drag show — both from the hike and from laughing so hard!
On Sunday, we took Rose along for a day in Westport, where we walked around the Maritime Museum, visited the Sea Scouts’ boat in the marina and browsed the art festival. Garrett spotted a good-sized jellyfish moving gracefully through the water near the boats — a first for both of us outside an aquarium. Later, I showed him the site where my brothers plan to build a vacation home, and we had a lovely dinner on the patio at Cranberry Road before heading back to Aberdeen.
And finally, on Monday, there was the eclipse. You’ve already read my column about our adventure at Radar Ridge. (Be sure to check out Marcy Merrill’s blog about it, too.)
Garrett left that evening to go visit his uncles in Seattle before heading south again. Once again, my nest was empty.
But, having shared my love of the Harbor with him and with Sam, my heart was full.
Kat Bryant is lifestyle editor of The Daily World. Reach her at kbryant@thedailyworld.com or on Facebook at Kat Bryant-DailyWorld.
