Day 23 - Chetzemoka Park

Today we went to a lovely little city park in Port Townsend, called Chetzemoka. The main attraction of this park (for us) is access to the water, and to a sandy beach with wide tidal flats. We arrived lat in the morning, and the tide was way out. Initially it was foggy and eerie (as the wind blew over the sand, it would make misty wisps):

but then the sun burned off the fog.

Paul and the kids got to work building a castle/fortress, and a series of streams and reservoirs to drain the ground around the castle (I helped with streams - my favorite part). Notice the substantial sea wall:

Here are some of the hydro structures:

But no matter how well we build, we can't hold back the sea forever. Eventually the tide came rushing in; that's when the real fun began, of frantically shoring up the walls, trying to delay the swamping of the castle.

The sea won, as it always does in the end.

We followed up with a late picnic lunch in the park, then back to the house for more fun with cousins on the beach. I drove Jack and Sandy to the ferry to catch their flight the next morning; only one day left for us at the beach!