From the Willapa Brewery, we made our way to the coast to another Hipcamp site in Ocean Shores, Washington. Other than the mosquitoes, this was a great spot outside of the touristy area but close enough that it was just a short drive to town or to the beach. The host was a super nice guy who came to greet us when we got there, and helped me help Harry back in through the fence to the back part of the property. He even brought us a gift bag filled with all the fixings for s’mores! Sadly, city ordinances forced this place off of Hipcamp … for now, anyway.
After we got Ilene all set up, we drove into town for a much needed drink! Our first stop was a quirky, little Irish Bar called Galway Bay Irish Pub, who surprisingly had our favorite whiskey behind the bar. (It’s The Sexton Single Malt if you’re curious). The pub was a bit crowded, and while we are up-to-date on our Covid vaccines, we weren’t comfortable sitting inside, and their outdoor patio was closed due to the labor shortages. Lucky for us, there was an open dive bar just down the street that appeared to be fairly empty, so we pulled up a seat at the bar at the Porthole Pub Bar and Grill.
Getting a couple drinks at the Porthole was an adventure in and of itself. First, I’d never done pull-tabs and didn’t really know what they were despite seeing them in bars over the years. The luck continued and the first one I pulled was a winner! Granted, it was only a dollar, but still, I won! I think the universe wanted to tell me to slow down a bit though because when I went to steal a sip of Harry’s drink, the biggest glassware mishap of our travels decided to happen. The bottom of the glass completely fell off, covering my sweater in Jameson. But, our lucky streak decided to make a comeback when the manager found one last t-shirt in my size that she gave to me for free!
Washington’s coastal beaches are a lot different than the beaches of Florida or southern California. You can drive on the packed sand, and you don’t see many people sunbathing or taking a dip in the ocean (at least not without a wet suit!). The temperature of the Pacific in this area is a cool average of 56 degrees Fahrenheit. It was mid-July, and we were still in long-sleeves and jackets!
One thing both Harry and I love is crab. And what could be better than a night at the local casino having all-you-can-eat Dungeness crab and playing Lord of the Rings slot machines?! Well, probably a whole lot, but we did end up with full bellies and a little extra money in our pockets.
The next morning, it was finally time to do our first loads of laundry while being nomads. Thankfully, Ocean Shores has a small laundromat in town across from a cozy coffee shop called Ocean Beach Roasters. The coffee was good, and they had a delicious breakfast and brunch menu.
Because Washington summers usually come paired with a burn ban, we weren’t able to have a campfire but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the goodies the host of the camp spot gave us … oven-roasted s’mores aren’t quite the same without the charred-from-the-flame marshmallow taste, but they worked in a pinch!
A lot of people might not realize just how delicate some of the things inside a travel trailer are – screws come loose from all the jostling, plastic pieces break off if you don’t handle them with kid gloves. You might guess where I’m heading here. Ilene got her first broken part … and it was a pretty important one. While some campgrounds have a public restroom, this spot was private property so it of course, did not. While Harry was out shopping for a tank hose extension so we could reach the sewer hook-up, I broke the trailer’s toilet. A part from the foot pedal came flying off at me while I was trying to press the pedal down. The water would not stop flowing! Remember that thing we said that we wanted to stay close to the dealership in case something went wrong? Close might be a relative term here since it was a 2.5 hour drive away, but somehow, it was early enough in the day that a quick call to them made sure we could get there before they closed.
Sadly, the part that flew off at me wasn’t replaceable that day, but thank goodness they had another model travel trailer on the lot with our exact same toilet. They replaced the entire thing for us, and we were back in business! We also found out that I didn’t actually do the breaking. There was a manufacturer’s defect in some of the pedals for this model toilet so it was just an accident waiting to happen.
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