In my previous post, I mentioned some Christmas tree ornaments I got at the Sandpiper Beach Resort in Pacific Beach, Washington. Here are some photos from some of my visits there.
Me and the offspring in the playground in the dunes next to the Pacific Ocean beach, New Years Eve/Day 1994-95, with one of the two main Sandpiper buildings in the background.
Sandpiper was discovered a bit by accident. My family had been going to the Forks Motel jacuzzi suite and the Olympic National Park Second Beach area for short vacations twice a year in 1992, 1993, and 1994 (more about those trips in a future post). We decided to take the long way home on on summer 1994 trip and explore the rest of the Olympic Peninsula. That's when we discovered the Sandpiper on the southern Washington coast, where the beaches are wider and ideal for flying stunt kites. Our first stay, in a suite with an ocean-view balcony and kitchen, was in mid-August 1994.
Best of all, no driving was allowed in a huge section of the beach in this area, making it very safe for kids - and very likely that any sand forts or castles you built - assuming they were above the high tide line - would still be there the next day.
Above: The offspring and some friends work on a sand fort on a New Years' Eve/Day visit in 1994-95. You can see some of the Sandpiper buildings in the background.
Below: Not sure if the offspring built this sand castle or not, but the photo shows some of the larger individual cabins that were also part of the resort.
We ended up visiting five times in 1995 - once for New Years' Eve and Day (the weather was cold, but nice), during spring break, and three times during the summer - some of those with relatives on my ex-husband's side. Some of the trips qualified as business expenses for my ex (he was working on a consulting job in nearby Aberdeen), so we were able to stay in one of the two-bedroom-with-loft suites (11 or 12) on the top floor of the second main building (pictured below, a nice distance north of the other buildings).
Above: the second building, nestled in a grove of spruce, a nice distance north of the other buildings. Our favorite suites were 11 or 12, on the top floor, with lofts.
Below: Sandpiper logo, which hasn't changed since the resort opened in 1973.
Besides building sand forts and castles, flying kites, and swimming (or in my case, wading, as the water was pretty cold for this Texas-bred girl), one could go beachcombing (sand dollars were prolific) or for long walks on the traffic-free beach (sometimes as far as Copalis Rock, three miles south). Digging for razor clams and surf-fishing were popular with some guests.
Above: yet another sand fort, this one at either spring break or on one of our three summer visits in 1995. More of the individual cabins of the resort, including an A-frame, are in the background.
Below: The offspring in the garden area of the resort, summer 1995.
There was no television, but you could have a fire in the woodstove on a cold night, play board games or work puzzles, read, and watch (and photograph) storms and beautiful sunsets. One of my favorite memories was waking up in the middle of the night on one visit (probably in the summer of 1995), looking out from the balcony - and seeing bioluminescence in the waves. The blue-green light emitted by plankton on a new-moon night was mesmerizing - wish my photos of that had come out!
Above and below - sunsets in mid-August, 1994, and sometime in the summer of 1995.
I was sad to learn while researching for this blog post that the Sandpiper closed at the end of 2021. The property has been sold to a developer who likely will tear down the existing cabins and four-story suite buildings, and put in something far less affordable for average folks.
