The night we spent a week on a ten minute drive.

July 4, 2021. We had a pleasant couple of days watching people stroll by on their way to the beach. As Friday evening closed in, more and more cars filed onto the short road leading out to the dunes. Small fireworks popped and sparkled.

We enjoyed the weekend, celebrating within the confines of our home and back yard. On Sunday afternoon, Heidi suggested we drive out to the casino and lose 20 bucks and have a sandwich. We put the pups in their pen, secured the doggie door so Yellow Foot wouldn’t escape, closed the windows, locked the doors and piled into our car. The town was bustling with revelers. Pickup trucks and motor cycles drove through the streets with Old Glory proudly flapping in the wind. We drove onto the beach where cars were parked in a neat line at the edge of the beach grass. Portable awnings of all sizes were enclosed in rope make-shift borders. Small camp fires flickered to life, as kids played in the sand. Older kids ventured out into the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean. Everything was calm and in order. As we turned inland approaching the highway, cars were streaming into town. Okay, whatever. Nice to see the folks enjoying the holiday. We entered SR 115. Billy was driving. He said, “Oh no! What have we done?

In one lane, there was a long line of cars coming into Ocean Shores. A second lane was bumper to bumper with cars heading to the beach. Eastbound traffic was light. Okay, this will be easy. Too late to turn around anyway. As we kept on, we soon got a glimpse of the line of cars. We could not see the end. They just kept coming. We approached the turn off to the casino. Now the view of the road coming from Olympia was staggering. No end in sight of the cars patiently moving towards us. We decided that we would take our time eating and maybe after a couple of hours, or a week? traffic would thin out. We collectively counted our cash, thinking we’d never get back home. We could spend a few days at the casino hotel.

Our departure from the casino was easy. Cars were still making their way towards our fair town. A kind man paused to allow us to get in line. Billy waved a thank you. We wondered what time we would get home. Actually, it wasn’t as bad as earlier. I wondered how many cars were now on the beach. Did they know that high tide would possibly wash their cars away, or at least bury them in sand? I hoped our tiny peninsula would withstand the weight of a zillion cars. We drove through town, more people, more cars, more fireworks. Later we watched a display of beautiful fire works from our upstairs balcony. There were reports of a few grass fires. Thank goodness for the many firefighters who canvassed the area, keeping an eye on it all. I hope everyone had a great July 4th this year. We certainly deserved it. *Population of Ocean Shores: 6,000+. Number of visitors over the holiday weekend: 125,000+.