Long Beach 8/21-8/25, 2001

August 26, 2001-We returned from the Long Beach Kite Festival last night. We had a great time, but the first few days looked pretty bleak. We spent 5 days camping a few miles north of Long Beach on the Long Beach peninsula. After we purchased our tent trailer, Mary Ann and I signed up with a RV Resort club and we camped at their facility. We had gotten two sites and we set up camp with the two tent trailers facing each other. Between the two tents, we placed some picnic tables and Dave had rigged up some tarps to keep the wind and rain out. To say there was a lot of rain and wind the first few days would have been an understatement. Tuesday was a continuous rain with a lot of wind. The kite festival was actually canceled for both Tuesday and Wednesday because of the weather. Fortunately, the RV Resort had both a laundry and a clubhouse, allowing us to dry some clothes and a place for the kids and wives to get a respite from the weather. By Wednesday morning, we were contemplating leaving and going camping in Eastern Washington. Dave was steadfast about staying and we thought better of repacking everything.

By Wednesday evening, the weather had improved substantially and we were able to do some lighted night flying with our kites. I was up for about 30 seconds when Dave swooped into my lines and crashed our kites. It had completely shattered my center spur and I had to go back to camp to get another kite. 45 minutes I was back on the beach only to have a line snap 5 minutes later.

Dave ended up purchasing a buggy foil on Thursday in Long Beach. His has this desire for "more power", and this kite would certainly produce it, but the wind was just too great on Thursday.

The kite festival was in full swing on Thursday and Friday. We had a lot of fun walking around the festival, but ultimately headed back to our own beach to fly kites. Friday was beautiful, but the wind disappeared in the early afternoon and I had to make do with playing in the surf.

We ended up staying one more night and headed out Saturday morning. The trip was a lot of fun. Thanks go out to Dave and Nancy. I can't wait until next year.