Sand and Sawdust

It seems we arrived a week too late in Ocean City as last week the city of Ocean Shores held their annual Sand and Sawdust Festival. I would have loved to have gone to this one as it's three days of sand castle building and chain saw carving. They held competitions in three divisions in the sand sculpting and even had a "family division" for folks to register and vie for prizes donated by the local businesses, plus they gave free sand sculpting lessons on the beach on Friday. Since all the competitors' sculptures were created on the high tide mark on the beach, they were gone by the time we arrived a week later although one sculpture was created in the parking lot of the Visitor Center and I got of snapshot of that. There was no sign of any of the chain saw creations, unfortunately.

Our brief foray into town was simply for reconnaissance for a later return. There was a gentleman at the Visitor Center who was very helpful, pointing out two beach access areas and the town's Interpretive Center and providing us with maps and schedules and information on local attractions. We drove down to the beach along Ocean Shore Blvd. and discovered that here the beach is considered a state highway so you can drive up and down the length of it. A string of horses stood ready for anyone wanting a beach ride; a group could be seen riding far up the beach. I was surprised to discover that there were no shells on the beach, but perhaps early morning risers get the good ones as the sand appeared to be picked clean. Then again, perhaps the constant surf wipes them away.

On the way out of town we checked out the Quinault Beach Casino. They don't appear to have a separate campground area as many casinos now have, but there were a few rigs parked off to the side. But there are a lot of campgrounds in the area for anyone wishing to visit Ocean Shores. We'll explore more after the holiday weekend but for the next three days we'll stick close to home avoiding the crowds.