Grays Harbor - Ocean Shores

After a bit of research and reading reviews I chose the Best Western Lighthouse Suites  http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/US/WA/Ocean-Shores-hotels/BEST-WESTERN-Lighthouse-Suites-Inn/Hotel-Overview.do?propertyCode=48117&group=&srcPage=SelectHotel&isMapOpen=false&selectedHotels=

The stairs up to the Light house observation room which was ok but better just to go to the beach just a short walk.

After checking in we drove a short distance to the South end of Ocean Shores to the North Jetty of the Grays Harbor opening to the Pacific Ocean I took this video and then all the little black dots were actually Sealions:  http://youtu.be/ttT07CKv2Ms

Looking south across the mouth of Grays Harbor to Westport.

Lots of Sea Lions fishing along the Jetty

Lots of drift wood along the Pacific beaches as well, I learned that the Olympic forest sheds it's dead wood all along the coast as well as being washed down the rivers from the rain forest.

The couple that took this pic for us got married here on this beach, they now have two young children to enjoy the beach with. 

Lots of fisherman on the jetty as well as just offshore in all kinds of fishing vessels.

A person we talked to at Westport said everyone on the charter headboat, like this one, caught their limit on their trip

The beach was covered in these little Jelly like sealife that looked at first like miniature Portuguese Man of War

Only about 3 inches long they obviously had a little sail to move along with

We learned at the Coastal Interpretive Center that these are Velella Velella : http://jellieszone.com/velella.htm

A dead Velella Velella's skeleton

One of two weddings as we walked by within 100' of each other

It was a little windy but the wedding parties did not even notice.

The roads are bordered by pretty yellow wildflowers and little black tailed deer.

A must stop on Ocean Shores: http://www.interpretivecenter.org/

This is Damon Point which changes it's size and shape with the Pacific NorthWest Storms
 http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/damon-point-state-park

It was blowing pretty good by now with the afternoon offshore winds, since we were walking out the point with the wind we tuned around for a moment and decided at this point to trudge back.

Sand mixed with rock Beach

After Happy Hour we took a walk on the Beach for the Sunset

The Super Moon was already out on our walk back to the hotel

The Admiral said "Get UP!" we're going to go see the Sun rise. At first I complained but then I thought it was one more opportunity to maybe see the Green Flash. Did not happen. The tide was way out, at least 150 yards from the tide line on the beach.

Lots of Horseback riding here on the beach.

The dunes just out the back door of our suite offered a bit of bird watching.

Before Heading back to Seattle I wanted to take a drive down the Pacific Coast Road 109 to pacific Beach to check out more of the Washington Coast line.

The forest are incredible.

The low lying beaches give way to the high cliffs of the forest 

In the distance you can see huge rocks just off the shore. 

Do not park close to the water, the huge tides will consume everything.

Just one of the several access roads to the beach along 109.

Made it to Pacific Beach, but I still have not found the giant rocks on the shore line that you see inso many of the pictures along the Washington coast line.

Cedar Wax Wing

Pacific Beach

The Awe Inspiring Pacific

More to come.

Grays Harbor - Ocean Shores

Westport was for me, Ocean Shores for the Admiral.We both enjoyed all of it but we knew there was a lot more to the Washington coastline than what we were able to tour on this overnight trip. The huge tides in Washington especially on a full moon create huge super wide beaches. This part of the Washington beaches can be accessed by cars but you better not park near the water. I stepped off over 150 yards from the tide line to the waters edge at low tide. Ocean Shores is kind of a mix between Port Aransas Texas and the North end of South Padre island communities. We read that some come here in the off season just to experience the beauty of a Pacific Northwest Storm, sort of curious about that.
The Sea lions along the North Jetty were awesome to watch as they fished along the jetty, everything appeared to be so healthy and beauty in every direction. But just as on the Texas beaches the water this day was fouled by some unexplained source of pollution and there were warnings about entering the water. We did see some surfers in their wetsuits enjoying the waves, and several kids wading about. It was obvious that Locals enjoyed this part of the coastline. There were RV parks everywhere along the way. I guess everyone in the state owns a RV, boat or both. Lots of Tent camping as well. There are so many National and State parks in Washington and all the ones we saw along this trip were at or near capacity. Early on we bought a annual pass to the State Parks so we visited a few of these briefly along the way.
As we were leaving Ocean Shores I wanted to just drive North up the coast road to see a bit more. I wanted to see if I could find the area where you see all those pics of the huge rocky coast line with big rocks jutting out into the Pacific.While the coastline changed dramatically as we drove North I only saw a few small rocky areas and certainly not the ones famously depicted in so many pics of the Washington coast line. We drove down a couple of access roads, State Parks and all the way to Pacific Beach. I would have to leave that for another trip and a bit more research.