Ocean Shores, Part 1: The Beach

 

9/14/21 North Bay from our cottage deck

Ocean Shores on the Washington coast is one of the most easily accessible beach towns from Seattle, and yet we had never explored it before last week. Our first trip out of town in two years, it was a much-needed getaway.

Our Airbnb cottage

The sweet cottage we found on Airbnb was exactly what we were looking for: A water view, a quick walk to the shore, and a kitchen so that we could eat all our meals in. It was also extremely clean, comfortable and quiet (which we always hope for but don’t always get).

When we weren’t on the beach, I spent happy time sketching from our deck facing North Bay. The panorama at the top of the page was from our first morning. I took advantage of both morning and afternoon light, which created intriguing shadows and silhouettes.

9/15/21 morning

9/15/21 afternoon

9/17/21 Through the sliding-glass door during a squall right before we came home.

Our only agenda for Ocean Shores was hiking and exploring its beaches. Our FitBits showed that it’s easy to put in 10,000-plus steps a day when your reward is miles of fresh air and the sound of the surf. Although it lacks mammoth stone formations like Haystack at Cannon Beach, Oregon, Ocean Shores has its own charms. For example, many more shellfish seem to wash up there compared to Cannon Beach, so we had as much fun exploring the sand as the surf. (Tomorrow’s post will show some shells I sketched.) A major downside to Washington beaches is that cars are allowed to drive on them – one reason we favor Oregon. We knew, however, that the area in Ocean Shores where we stayed prohibited beach driving, so the traffic was people, dogs and shore birds only. (Apparently deer also hang out near the shore, but we didn’t see any. We did see plenty near the roads, though.)

9/16/21

Although I made one full-size color sketch from the beach (above), one thing I’ve learned from my travels is the value of thumbnails – and not just as a compositional tool. Perhaps thumbnails isn’t even the right term: All I mean is small, simple line drawings that take no more than a few minutes. Whenever I’m in a new place, I want to sketch everything I see, which, of course, is impossible. Instead of spending time on a few large drawings and feeling frustrated that I can’t do more, I opt for many smaller sketches. Each of the sketches below is 2 to 3 inches wide. Collectively, they tell a more complete story of my first trip to Ocean Shores.

9/14/21

9/15/21

9/15/21

9/15/21

9/16/21

9/16/21 The cormorants in the top sketch were sketched from our deck -- the first time I tried sketching through binoculars.

Other than to pick up takeout one evening, we made only one trip into town. On a drizzly afternoon, we stopped at Sharky’s gift shop, which is listed as an attraction on Roadside America. While I sketched the well-known storefront from the car, Greg took a brief look inside and reported many, many T-shirts and other souvenir items festooned with sharks. He resisted. I’ll save shopping for next time; I think the best part of the store is outside of it.

9/14/21 Sharky's

Since I can't fit the whole panorama (partially shown at top of page) on my scan bed, here's a photo of it. (Someday I'll learn to stitch together images.)

Nothing rejuvenates the pandemic-weary soul like the ocean!