Friday, April 01, 2011

Some of Our Favorite Beaches

Michael had his first day off in 3 weeks, the gas restriction has been eased, I felt we needed some "family care" time (as we've fairly well focused on tragedy and many friends are gone)....I wrestled with feeling "wrong" in taking time to go have fun...but we knew we needed to do so.

We packed a picnic lunch and headed out for some of our favorite beaches. We did NOT make it to Shipwreck Beach, but plan that as our next family outing. It was a great time to talk and reconnect as a family. The recent disasters, however, are never far away, even in RR times.  Some photos:

MOMOISHI BEACH -  a mile to mile and a half from us. We posted photos here and here last week.

SWIM BEACH - the road is GONE...it's simply GONE....may not be a local swim beach this summer...maybe they'll get it cleaned up but with so much pressing work to do be done, it may not happen this summer.  These are the boats directly outside the "fence" for the swim beach....






OVERLOOK PARK  - This is a little park, with Shinto Shrine, lighthouse statue and WESTERN TOILETS right off hwy 338.  I'm sure there are easier ways...but we climb down the big hill to the ocean here...Typically a nice walk along seawall etc.

The first thing we noticed is that the trees were all flattened where the big wave had come through

PARTS of boats are everywhere...

Roads suddenly end






 The boys found a cache of hundreds of sand dollars up in the rocks of the sea wall


We left the beach and climbed into the pine forest.....

This was a long ways from the ocean, over sea walls and into the forest....



MISS VEEDOL BEACH (not the swim beach) - Wrote about that here. There wasn't a ton of damage here, but the absence of Miss Veedol is huge.
  
Miss Veedol is simply missing



SAND DOLLAR BEACH is on up Hwy 338. We didn't see as much damage, but parking areas are gone - that sort of thing.


Once again, I'm reminded of Psalm 46.  God is our Refuge so  do not fear. God is our Warrior so trust in Him. God is our King so bend a knee.  Printed below from NETbible.


46:1 For the music directorby the Korahitesaccording to the alamoth style; 2  a song.
God is our strong refuge; 3 
he is truly our helper in times of trouble. 4 
46:2 For this reason we do not fear 5  when the earth shakes, 6 
and the mountains tumble into the depths of the sea, 7 
46:3 when its waves 8  crash 9  and foam,
and the mountains shake 10  before the surging sea. 11  (Selah)
46:4 The river’s channels bring joy to the city of God, 12 
the special, holy dwelling place of 13  the sovereign One. 14 
46:5 God lives within it, 15  it cannot be moved. 16 
God rescues it 17  at the break of dawn. 18 
46:6 Nations are in uproarkingdoms are overthrown. 19 
God 20  gives a shout, 21  the earth dissolves. 22 
46:7 The LORD who commands armies is on our side! 23 
The God of Jacob 24  is our protector! 25  (Selah)
46:8 Come! Witness the exploits 26  of the LORD,
who brings devastation to the earth! 27 
46:9 He brings an end to wars throughout the earth; 28 
he shatters 29  the bow and breaks 30  the spear;
he burns 31  the shields with fire. 32 
46:10 He says, 33  “Stop your striving and recognize 34  that I am God!
I will be exalted 35  over 36  the nations! I will be exalted over 37  the earth!
46:11 The LORD who commands armies is on our side! 38 
The God of Jacob 39  is our protector! 40  (Selah)



Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Miss Veedol is Gone

I've written before about Miss Veedol. She was the first successful trans-pacific flight in 1931. She flew from Misawa, Japan to Wenatchee, WA.  Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon had to drop their landing gear over the Pacific and belly landed in Wenatchee, WA. 


Misawa is famous for this plane/flight. There are parks with replicas, beaches named after it, plazas named after it, streets named after it..... Here is a photo of us at "Miss Veedol" the summer we arrived  ~ 2009. 


Photobucket

This  is the spot where we went cross country skiing earlier in the year.  Here we are today in the same spot....

She's gone....but not really...we saw evidence of her all over the area....




Fairly small in the scheme of things, but sad nonetheless. And so....even when we designate a day for "family care," the tsunami is not far from our thoughts. I'll share more photos later. We drove up the 338 a ways checking on some of our favorite beaches. 

Choosing Joy!
©2011
0 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...