Beauty in Nature and Action

The beauty of Ocean Shores is constantly changing. A winter snow storm often reveals the gracefulness of a hawk gliding across the whitened dunes. A family of clamming enthusiasts gives us the charming sandy smiles of children and parents alike. A summer evening on a balcony facing the setting sun is a joy that can warm a memory across the years.

Ocean Shores is a great place for both professional photographers and regular people using their phones for a selfie or a scenic view. There is so much to see at Ocean Shores and enjoy.

Driftwood – Art Shaped by Nature

A bonus, while visiting Ocean Shores, is driftwood. A simple walk on the beach can deliver a treasure of simple and worn pieces of trees and fashioned wood. You never know what the tide will bring in. However, there is an honor among driftwood collectors. It’s not really a law, but you should only collect driftwood and other flotsam and jetsam if it’s lying below the high tide mark.

We see quite a bit of driftwood on our Washington beaches. There are many creeks, streams, and rivers on the Pacific coast. Tree trunks, limbs, and sometimes entire trees are swept out to sea and then return as pieces of nature’s left overs. Rough seas, sun, wind, and tides sometimes etch designs on the smooth and rough surfaces making attractive designs.

Tidal Delivery and More

Besides driftwood, many people collect shells, nets, net floats and old tennis shoes that wash up on shore. They put them in their car, although once home, you’ll see them as yard art, or as the beginning of an art project. Many are treasured just as the shapes and wonders of nature. The sand in the car stays around for a while longer, however. For large pieces, a photograph is a nice reminder of the collecting adventure. Ride around the Ocean Shores neighborhoods and see the locals’ ocean treasures turned to barriers, mail box posts and yard art. Ocean Shores is surrounded on three sides by water. The Pacific Ocean is the western side of our peninsula and North Bay is our eastern side. On the southern end is the jetty, our breakwater constructed to protect our harbor.

As you travel around Ocean Shores, you’ll see driftwood used for decoration and sometimes turned into real art. Actually, it’s impossible to miss driftwood art here. By our convention center there is a thirty-five foot tall seahorse made of driftwood. Artist Dan Klennert donated his time and ability to create this twin. The original driftwood seahorse broke in half during a winter storm here in 2015.

Klennert is best known for his “Spirit of Iron”, a Sculpture Park near the entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. His “The Angel from Hell” was a major hit when it showed up in Sturgis, South Dakota for the annual motorcycle convention. Our seahorse is the “spirit” of Ocean Shores, and people love to take photographs of the piece along with their family members.

Other driftwood animal sculptures portray horses and even deer, of which we have a lot. They inhabit our coastal dune scrub and the median on Ocean Shores Boulevard NW where they nibble and ignore the traffic.

Art by Design and Posing

Close by and welcoming visitors to our city and the convention center is “Making Memories.” It’s a beautiful statue of a family of a mother, father, and two children. All four wear slickers and boots. It looks like one of the children is carrying a burlap bag for collecting razor clams. They look like they’re wet and covered in sand from digging on the beach; the bag looks empty. This is a great sculpture for selfies and family photographs.

A really great photo to send to your neighbors and family back home is the wide open shark’s mouth at Sharky’s (699 Ocean Shores Blvd, Ocean Shores, WA 98569). Sharky’s is definitely a roadside attraction. Both kids and adults love to have their photograph taken inside the mouth of the huge shark entrance. They pretend that they are holding the mouth open or they are cowering in fear. Don’t forget to go inside to see the gear there. A Trip Advisor review says, “Excellent little shop to find amazing cute swim suits, flip flops, hats, toys and beach toys, stuffed animals, sharks stuff, souvenirs, gift ideas, shirts or whatever.”

Just north of Sharky’s on the opposite side of the street is the tavern Pirate’s Cove (great BLTs by the way). At Pirate’s Cove there are several different statues you can pose with. Gals may want to pose with the pirate, and guys with the wench (Pirate’s Cove terminology). They even have a canon outside for visiting big shots. Pirate’s Cove does breakfast well. Before posing, have a great breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Just across the street from Pirate’s Cove is an old boat that will never float again but it’s is a great backdrop for people who like to pretend. Some people pretend to be pulling the boat like Humphrey Bogart did in the African Queen classic movie with Kathrine Hepburn as his love, Rosie.

Nature and Our Fellow Visitors

For overall beauty in Ocean Shores, the golf course has ponds that attract ducks, geese, and other birds and wild life, notably the deer. The early morning fog and mist make evocative images. Between the scrub and the beach are dunes and little hillocks. It’s almost impossible to walk a straight line through the dunes. Often there is standing water that you’ll want to go around unless you’re wearing rubber boots. Birds of all kinds walk and fly around the puddles and ponds. When you walk around the scrub, it’s best to have your camera or phone your phone ready to shoot. You need to seize the opportunity.

The Oyhut Game Range and the southern end of Ocean Shores has reported these birds: Cackling Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose, Black Turnstone, Pectoral Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Horned Lark, and Lapland Longspur.

Each tide and each visitor brings more to enjoy. From ducks and sharks to clammers and pirates, looking back at your images, sharing them with friends and relatives, and reliving your memories is just part of the joys of visiting Ocean Shores.  Come explore the shores!