Just got back from another great weekend in Long Beach (WA)! This is an annual trip for me and my friends. Some of them have been doing it 10+ years. I think this is my 6th trip to Long Beach with this group. It's funny to note that when we first started going, most everyone was single and had no kids. Back then we stayed in a crappy little motel that let us rent out all their cabins, have dogs, and have full reign of the place. As the years go by and we get older, we have moved upward as far as comfort and amenities. It's been a gradual change but a necessary one - especially for the couples with kids! We actually drove by the old "Boulevard Motel" last year and found that it had been condemned. This year, the whole place has been leveled - just a grassy knoll with one last pile of rubble. Ah, the memories there! ;-)The place we stay now is really nice. While it's got it's own more private beach area,
it's is actually a couple miles out of town. So we have to drive into "town" to see the main part of Long Beach. This year, it seemed the Kite Festival was a little lacking compared to last. Maybe it was because the weather report said "highs of 54" that some stayed home? Or maybe it was the lack of a better wind that kept some kite-ers from showing up? Either way, the sky was not littered with as many colorful kites as before. We had expected a cold weekend, but were pleasantly surprised with our luck. We actually had sun, and it got pretty hot, so we were happy! We did wander around town a little bit to see some shops. Long Beach is full of souvenir shops, kite shops and candy shops! They have world famous ice cream there - and the shop just keeps getting bigger and bigger every time we go in! In one such specialty chocolate shop, we actually found chocolate covered bacon! Of course we had to try a piece. It was interesting - but surprisingly good. The bacon was thick and chewy, and the comb
ination with the chocolate made for a chocolate, smokey, salty treat! We also sampled a chocolate covered Ritz cracker with peanut butter layers. Yum!Long Beach weekend is a fun time: road trip, dive-bar hopping, kareoke, dancing, drinking, group breakfast, beach-sun-fun, kids playing in water, fly some kites, group dinners, play dominoes, card games, shopping, site seeing, lunch, go-karts.... whew!
