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Sun(&Rain)day
April 3, 2005

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There's not much to do at Grayland State Park--
which is why Sarah and I went there for 2 nights.
150 miles southwest of Seattle on the WA coast,
the park sits on low flat land which is pretty un-
remarkable by Pacific beach standards--no big trees,
no rock stacks, pretty tame surf, few drift logs. But
it did have awesome weather. And by "awesome" I
don't mean excellent, but awe-inspiring. The wide
horizon was top-heavy with a changing mix of sun
and clouds, you could see black sheets of rain
approaching. Grayland really lived up to its name.
Our first night there, it poured and poured all night,

the rain beating down on the dome of our yurt (a
real bargain at $40/night with heat & electricity). I
woke up wishing I'd studied the area's topography
better, wondered whether we'd get flooded out by a
rising river. (The worry, as most are, was unmerited.)
One thing the beach did have was cars zooming up
and down its hard-packed flat sandy shore. What a
way to get back to nature. On our second night, after
Sarah was asleep, I went down to the beach and was
startled to see the illuminated lines of white breaking
waves under a dark clear sky messy with stars. Was it
bioluminescence? Then I saw the pickup truck parked
close to the water, its headlights lighting up the ocean.
It was actually quite beautiful (in a cheesy kind of way.)