Day 108

Kite Festival

Aug 22, 2013, 3:46 PM

Oh what fun we had. We picked up Bob and Lori and headed to the coast for the kite festival. It was a nice drive and we had plenty of time to talk and laugh, it was great. We got to the coast and went in search of some place to eat, go figure, that seems to be our MO. While we were driving through, checking out our options, we turned to see all the kites flying in the distance. It was just too cool to see the dozens of kites flying in the breeze. We found a nice place to have lunch and then we went to the beach to see the kites. 

There were so many different kinds and so many colors. We were able to get parking right up next to the beach then we walked out to the sand dunes to see the goings on. There was an announcer and kite festival this was a big deal in the kite world. There were contestants from all over the country. We were watching trying to figure out what was going on. There was a roped off section on the beach where when your category was called up they seemed to do an inspection of the kite and the announcer explained some of what was going on with the category. He told us, when the fighting kite category came up, that in some countries they would put broken glass on the strings of the fighting kites so if your string passed over or under a competitor's string, your string would cut through their kite string and I guess that meant you won. For some of the other categories the announcer was saying that the people made their kites, or they had taken a class, or if they'd made multiple kites, how many they've made, or even how many different kites they were showing in the festival. It was all very interesting to try to understand the ins and outs of the kite competition world, but it was beautiful and lots of fun just to watch. 

After the kites we did some sightseeing of lighthouses and the coastline. That was just the most cool thing. As we were leaving the beach we could see that the sky was looking a little dark and it made for the most amazing sights at the lighthouses. We were watching the fog roll across the water and up onto the beach and you could feel the chilly air it was bringing with it. Where the bright blue sky had been perfect for the kites is was actually perfect for the coast and lighthouses to have a fog come in. It looked and felt like the Pacific Northwest. It was another perfect day. By this time it was getting late and time to start our trip home. We treated ourselves to dinner at a nice little place we happened to find and the chef even came out to let us know he was new to this restaurant and he had lots of new specials planned and he was just checking to make sure we were happy with our meals. We didn't have the heart to tell him we were only traveling through and not likely to come back, he was so happy that we liked our dinners. So another day is in the history books. It was a perfect day and again we had wonderful tour guides, thank you so much Bob and Lori!!!!!

Aug 22, 2013, 9:43 PM

I may have to post the photos from today tomorrow, we are still 30 miles from home and I'm just not sure I can get them done tonight. It is already 10:00 p.m. Good night all, I'll be sure to check in tomorrow. 

Aug 22, 2013, 10:55 PM

OK, I couldn't help it I had to put just one photo.