Sock Summit Part VI, In Which We are Refreshed
Published On: September 3, 2011

I realized the other day that I never quite finished writing about the second half of our trip to Sock Summit.  Since this is my blog, and since I totally use it as a substitute for the whole scrapbook/travel journal/calendar thing organized folks did in the pre-internet days, I’m going to swoop in and do it now before I forget.  Though I warn you, this half of our trip was a bit less yarn-drenched than the first.  Feel free to wander away if you’re not interested.

On Sunday morning we got up and set out.  We stopped by the Sock Summit market for just a moment so I could pick up the things I knew I’d miss if I forgot them.  We headed out to Cannon Beach for lunch (and crepes), and then ventured north.  We stayed in a spot called Seabrook, which is an odd but charming place.  It’s a planned community right on the coast.  It’s being built in stages, and isn’t finished yet.  Most of the houses are available to rent for vacations.  It’s nice to have a whole house to spread out in rather than a single hotel room, and it’s great to have a kitchen and a washing machine.  All the houses are new and attractive.  But the whole thing has just the tiniest hint of a Stepford Wives vibe.  It’s fine to stay in for a week or two.  I’m not quite sure I’d want to live there as it stands now.

Monday morning we stopped by Pacific Beach to splash in the water.  The first surprise was that you could drive right on the beach.  And not in a ‘this is likely crime but there is no barrier to prevent it’ sort of way but rather in a ‘there are posted speed limit signs and this is totally legal’ sort of way.  It was odd, yet somehow entertaining.  The next surprise was the fog.  I’ve never seen anything quite like it.  I’ve read accounts where people talk about getting lost in the fog and always thought them rather over exaggerated.  But this…this I could see getting lost in.  The final surprise, and by far the best one, was the sand dollars.  They were everywhere.

I’d seen quite a few almost-whole sand dollars on our trek around Hug Point.  I’d picked up one or two, but they got smashed during our ill-advised venture.  I’d never seen whole ones on a beach.  Here there were dozens and dozens of whole ones and hundreds of smashed ones.  There were even a few live ones.  The live ones had a coating of wiggly purple spines (soft, not prickly), and they tickled if they touched you.  I made the executive decision that the live ones probably didn’t like being out on the dry sand and spent the walk chucking them back into the water–but not until taking a picture of one or two of course (click to see the bigger version and check out the wee spines).  They have that cool-yet-creepy vibe that only sea life and bugs can pull off.

Later that day we went into Olympia.  We had lunch at Fish Tale Brew Pub, popped into Canvas Works yarn and fabric store, and finished up the afternoon at Browsers’ Book Shop.  All three were excellent establishments.  Lunch was delicious and the beer and cider were very good.  The yarn store was beautiful, spacious, well stocked.  Even more impressive, they talked to both me and The Boy and didn’t assume he was just there to hold my shopping bags or fund my purchases.  They worked on the theory that either or both of us could be knitters which was very refreshing.  The bookstore was full of tempting goodies (even after having been to Powells a few days before), and both The Boy and I found some things to bring home.

Once again, this has gotten overly long and wordy, so I’ll have to come back later to talk about the last few days of our trip.  Apparently I run towards the chatty side.  Who would have guessed?

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