Spring Break in Sunset Bay

 

It has been a busy couple of weeks! First off, thanks so much for the helpful suggestions about our microwave oven. Unfortunately, it was beyond repairing so a replacement was procured from WSports and two days later we had a brand new unit. Yes, I did manage to get my Mac & Cheese and I'm back in my comfort zone of cooking with buttons.

Around the middle of last week our coordinator, Stephanie, let us know she would be taking off for a couple of weeks of vacation. No worries, we were all stocked up in firewood there were no changes to the operation of the park and if we had any problems we could address them with which ever ranger was on duty at the time. As she turned to go she said “Oh, and by the way, the next two weekends before Easter Sunday are spring break so you can expect a few more people than usual.” Gulp!

Every horror story imaginable went through our heads and we couldn't escape the imagery of hordes of college kids descending on the park with little or no inhibitions, an over abundance of alcohol and of course no supervision whatsoever. Fortunately, reality brought us the opposite. Families from all over the northwest rolled into our little park via everything from bicycles to full sized motorhomes and 5ers. Sure, we had the small groups of students looking to let off a bit of steam but the atmosphere was less bacchanalia and more extended recess.

For two weeks our park is full. Not just more people than hosts full, but the serious not a site, yurt, or tent space available type full. Every couple of hours or so we would make the rounds to sell firewood and chat up the campers. And the campers were out in numbers and busy. Ignoring the rain and hail our day use area's two volleyball courts were in use for as long as there was light out and when the tide was right you couldn't swing a surf board without hitting someone. It was funny though, despite the mass of humanity trying to cram in as much fun as possible, there remained a sense of friendly orderliness to the chaos.

Sure, you had to look both ways when crossing the little streets – mostly for fear of being struck by a kid on a bicycle or an errant frisbee but the only loud voices we heard were kid's laughter and an occasional call to dinner. As the evenings progressed campfires provided intimate conversation rings which seemingly constrained the voices to within the light of the fires. By 10 o'clock you would be hard pressed to guess there was a park much less there were hundreds of people camping here.

That's not to say we didn't have our moments though. Chris and I got to see what turned out to be the shortest impromptu surf skimming, boogie board tournament on record when the contestants misjudged the speed of the retreating waves and attempted to skim on what turned out to be merely damp sand. Did you know the odds are 3 to 1 that a boogie boarder will fall face first if the sand is even partially muddy? I think this is along the lines as the dropped buttered toast theory.

So we survived our first spring break as hosts. We sold bundles and bundles of firewood, restocked the information kiosk at least daily, ran the batteries down in the cart and most importantly,had a great time enjoying our camper's enjoyment.

Our replacements have arrived so this Easter weekend will find us on the road. We plan on continuing our side-tracked journey wandering north toward our next hosting gig at Lincoln Rock State Park in Wenatchee, WA.