Montesano and Lake Sylvia State Park

My little boy and I needed a break from the drive home between Aberdeen and Elma, so I pulled off the highway and followed a sign to Lake Sylvia State Park. It turned out to be a delightful park. A bridge crosses the lake and brings you to a lakeside picnic area and playground. The playground attracted several families on a sunny Sunday afternoon in September. My little boy enjoyed playing with all the other kids. The park has a campground, two boat launches for human-powered boats, and three trails heading off into the woods. We saw canoes and a fisherman out on the lake.

Next, we drove around the city of Montesano and stopped outside the historic courthouse. Montesano is the county seat of Grays Harbor. The courthouse is a lovely old building. I've read that there are murals inside, depicting the discovery of the harbor by Captain Gray. Nearby are historic neighborhoods with many old, attractive houses.

See more pictures at:

http://www.BobsPacificBeachHouse.com/pictures.html

Sunset Visit to Copalis Rock at an Extreme Low Tide

At sunset just before heading home to the Seattle area, we stopped by Copalis Rock. This is located four miles south of Pacific Beach by road, and another three miles south driving down the beach. There's a stream one mile north of the rock, but today it was low enough to drive across.

We arrived at the rock both at sunset and at an extreme low tide. On my last visit, the water kept me a few hundred feet away. This evening we could walk right up and touch the rock. The first thing you notice that close is that the rock is really a collection of about four rocks - perhaps more if you could see around the other side. There are also a few sizeable rocks further out on the ocean, which are perhaps mostly submerged by a higher tide.

The lower ten feet of Copalis Rock - the part that is normally submerged - is covered in big purple and orange starfish, tightly closed anenomes, and mussel shells. This coast doesn't have any tidal pools that I'm aware of, so the low tide is a special opportunity to see these animals.

I'll post more pictures here:

http://www.BobsPacificBeachHouse.com/pictures.html

NorthBeachVacation.com

A group of vacation rental owners along the North Beach (Pacific Beach and Moclips) have gotten together for some cooperative marketing. The new website describes every attraction we can think of that you can drive to from this area (between Westport and the Hoh Rain Forest). We are contemplating a public open house this autumn and a quarterly newsletter.

So far we have had fun visiting each other's houses, getting to know each other, and trading stories.

Give it a look!

http://www.NorthBeachVacation.com