Happy Anniversary

M and I made a last minute decision to spend our anniversary this year at Ocean Shores. Like a lot of people these days, money is a little tighter for us and while the summer rates at the Quinault Casino and Hotel are not exactly cheap it is fairly reasonable and we truly needed a get-a-way. We decided that if we won at the Casino we would stay another night, but trust me...that did NOT happen. We didn't have to take the drive of shame home, but still it wasn't pretty! In the interest of staying within our budget we spent the second day of our trip touring the Peninsula. No good road trip should ever start without the Breakfast of Champions...a good Bloody Mary! Believe me, Emily's at Ocean Shores makes a FABULOUS Bloody Mary.


The loop around the Olympic Peninsula is one of our favorite trips to make. Twilight fans (one of which I am not) enjoy the town of Forks and one of the areas I envisioned while reading the book was my favorite wild beach...Ruby Beach. We were fortunate enough to be there when the tide was out so we could really walk this remote, unspoiled beach for quite a ways. It is rugged and remote and always beautiful. You can only get to the beach by taking a short hike through the rain forest.
The lush green foliage, wispy moss hanging from the trees and salmon berry bushes soon give way to the rugged and rocky beach. It is often shrouded in misty low clouds which gives it an enchanted or haunted aura depending upon your perspective I guess. The huge piles of driftwood on the shore are remnants of past storms and many of the locals create works of art from them.

Which Reminds me of Abbey actually. I have no idea who Abbey is but carved in the midst of the piles of driftwood were the remains of a campfire whose flames had been smothered long ago and all that remained were the ashes within and the rocks surrounding it...one of the rocks had the inscription: Abbey was here....
I imagine that Abbey was one of a group of high school or college age kids...spending a weekend down at this remote beach drinking and smoking pot, appreciating the rare beauty of the wild beach. I think that the environment and the comaradarie inspired them to create something unusual from the medium that was readily at their disposal. I want to believe that Abbey and her friends were responsible for these rock sculptures placed randomly yet purposefully on the driftwood. I hope it was a weekend of discovery and freedom that all young people and people who are young at heart should experience. I wonder if she hoped someone would see the art she left behind and appreciate it, would it get washed away with the next tide...would anyone notice?


ABBEY'S ROCK SCULPTURES? We Noticed