This weekend Emily and I drove out to Oceanside to visit Lindsay. Originally, it had been a girls only weekend but many couldn’t go so they opened it up to Colin and I invited Chris along as well. It turned out to be one of the hottest days of the summer with temperatures reaching 102 degrees in Portland and near 110 in Corvallis so it was a great idea to head to the coast. It took us forever to drive there from our new place in Ridgefield, WA with I-5 southbound being closed around Portland, then an Air Show in Hillsboro and it seemed like everyone else had the same idea but most were heading to Seaside instead of the much smaller Oceanside. Unfortunately, even when we got on Route 6 over the Coast Range we got stuck behind a dirtbag in a truck with two dirt bikes in the back going about 40mph the whole way and refusing to pull over to let the 30+ cars behind them pass. 
When we finally got to Netards Bay where we were meeting everyone else we found Alexa and Dromi waiting in the sun at the boat launch for Lindsay who had ferried Colin and Cathy over to a sand spit in the bay and dropped the first round of crab pots for us. We had invited Chris but he was working on a bike project and met up with us later in the evening after we left the beach. The weather was about 90 degrees with bluebird skies on the coast, the best day of the whole summer according to Lindsay. After she ferried Emily and I over to the spit we spent the rest of the afternoon in the sun and going out to check the crab pots.
We threw and then harvested the pots 3 different times and ended up with 15 crabs for the 6 of us and had a few left over to bring back to the house for later that night and for Chris to eat. On the last haul the boat had drifted out a bit from the shore and I had to swim out to it to retrieve it. Lindsay then let me drive the boat to the crab pot buoys which gave me a bit of practice with the unfamiliar motor. We had a really good haul on the last go despite the strong tide sucking the crabs out of the area.
Colin and I were the first to rush into the water to cool off but later Emily and Alexa would also run in (Alexa entering a lot slower than Emily who ran in). We didn’t have any plates or utensils so after we cleaned the crab at the beach we just tossed the shells into the sand for the seabirds. Eventually, the wind started to pick up and it got cold so we decided it was time to head back to shore. This was good timing as Chris was at the boat launch by then waiting for us and followed us back to Lindsay’s for the night.
Lindsay’s place in Oceanside was amazing. It had 3 stories with a viewing deck on the roof accessible via a ladder from the 3rd floor. From there you could see over the steep hillside down to the ocean and out towards Three Arches. Chris and I climbed up to the top and caught a glimpse of a family of raccoons exploring a neighbor’s deck. Upon heading back down we then caught one exploring Lindsay’s compost bin in the backyard. 
We ate some more crab for dinner and played some dice and then card games for the rest of the night. I introduced everyone to Bullshit Pyramid and then started a game of Kings but by that point Emily had fallen asleep and everyone else was nearly on their way out. Even Dromi had given up on trying to play with Lindsay’s cat WB and had passed out on the couch. Chris slept outside in a hammock, Em on the couch and the rest on an inflatable mattress. It was just after midnight when Colin thought it was the perfect time to cook up his steak and eat more crab... and I wasn’t going to argue.
In the morning we had some waffles and Lindsay sent Emily and I off with a big chunk of Coho Salmon that she had in the fridge and couldn’t finish by herself. Clouds had rolled into the area as they typically do so we all decided it was time to head home. Chris had left earlier in the morning to go kayaking with some friends out of Corvallis. Nothing can beat a beautiful beach day on the Oregon Coast eating crab freshly caught just minutes before and spending quality time with good friends. I said a sad goodbye to my favorite little black dog and we headed back to Portland, thankfully with far less traffic this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment