Tent camping on the Oregon Coast #8

KITES!
Sandlake & Pacific City (this is a picture of Cape Lookout, our campground is down in the pines by the beach.)

In the morning the rain had slowed to a drizzle and we were able to survey our camp area. Many small limbs were on the ground and water had puddled in every camp site but ours. Other than a 3 foot long 1.5 inch diameter branch that hit our tent in the night, we were unscathed. Our cell phone didn’t like all the humidity and quit working all-together.

Our adventures of the day took us inland about two miles and up into the mountains. Fog still lingered, the trees and undergrowth were so dense it was like driving through a semi-dark, humid tunnel.

Coming out of the thick forest and fog, we noticed the trees were growing out of sand dunes. We stopped at a view area and overlooked Sand Lake – a huge sand pit surrounded by a forest of pines. “I recognize this!” Dale said. “A lady at Micron came up here every year with her family with their 4-wheelers, and she showed me her pictures.”

Camp sites were scattered amongst the trees around the sand lake and folks were having a great time running up and down the dunes with their sand buggies. The first thing Dale noticed when we approached Pacific City was the gigantic rainbow-colored windsock trailing in the sky. He couldn’t get parked fast enough! He was out of the car and down on the beach before I could even get unbuckled! It wasn’t 5 minutes before he had made contact with Doug, the kite guy, and was flying a para-foil.. I found a log to sit on and watched him through my binoculars. He and Doug talked and laughed like they were the best of friends for more than an hour. Finally he let the kite down and while Doug wound up the string, Dale turned toward me and held up 2 fingers. Then his thumb and fore-finger formed an “O” twice. Well, I knew when we stopped that he was not going to leave the beach without a kite, but I really didn’t expect him to pay $200 for one, but then why didn’t I expect it? He’d paid that much for his Hawaiian Competition kite in Hawaii. Again he flashed his two fingers, and two “O’s” at me. And I watched as he reached in his pocket, removed his wallet, and money and kite exchanged hands.

Then I walked over to the two men. They were both having the time of their lives, talking about kite adventures.

Trudging across the beach back to the car, Dale was so excited. “That is the funnest kite, and it doesn’t pull on my chest too hard,” he said. “And it only cost me $20, and he threw in the string.” “Twenty dollars!” I exclaimed! “I thought you said $200!”

So we came home with a kite. Now we’re sitting in Boise waiting for a breeze . . . .