WINDY DAY.
Day 28 – Very quiet this morning, 8 a.m., everyone sleeping in except the hunters who’d left very early. 47 degrees, sunny & breezy. We decided to go to the New River Nature Center, north of here, and go out in the kayaks before it got too windy. We waited until it warmed up some, then left here at 10 a.m.
At the Nature Center it wasn’t crowded, only 2 other vehicles & no sign of people. We launched the kayaks and headed into the wind, which was already beginning to pick up. Didn’t want to travel against the wind to get back to the boat launch site. It was beautiful out. We’d seen an Osprey at the campground & hoped to see more when kayaking. Lots of geese flew over in the standard V pattern, they looked like Canada Geese but didn’t sound like them; maybe they are a different kind. We saw a Northern Harrier, but no osprey, and some other birds, as yet unidentified. The River runs alongside a sand dune; the Ocean was booming away on the other side of the dune. Occasionally, you could see sea spray when a wave broke. If one of those tsunami’s did hit, you could certainly see how it would come over the dune, into the River, and beyond.
The temperature was comfortable except when the wind blew, then it was pretty cold. We worked hard to make headway against the wind, which was increasing. The River was fairly shallow, the waves weren’t bad, but eventually it got too windy & we turned around and let the wind take us back to the boat launch. We packed up; a truck drove up & out stepped a man & woman & a dog; the man had a large bird on his shoulder. They took a walk down to the boat launch. We asked, doesn’t the bird fly away? And he said, no, they’d had her for over 35 years & she liked to go for walks on his shoulder. Cool. The dog came up to us and said hello. The man said the dog was allergic to the bird & had to get shots weekly, every Sunday. They wished us a good day and drove on.
When we got back to the campground, the hunters had packed up & left. More people with wind-riding equipment had arrived & set up camp, oddly all of them were tall & thin, whether they were young or older – just wondering, that must be a physical requirement for this kind of sport?
Rob took a walk with the camera to check out the action on the Lake; the kite boarders were coming & going from their campsites, carrying their equipment to & from the water. I took a shower to warm up & wash my hair. Later as the wind continued to pick up & even more people were on the water, we both went out to watch. Beautiful kites & some really talented athletes – 2 sail-boarding, and maybe 9 kite-boarders on the Lake – the sand dune & crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean behind them. Awesome.
We made chili for dinner, a perfect end to a great day. The girls like it here, so do we. End of Week 4, Trip #3.