Rockaway Beach

50 Comments

After leaving the kite festival we made a quick overnight stop in Astoria, hung out with friends there, and then zipped down the Oregon coast a little way to Rockaway Beach. We hung out there for a few days with friends at their family cabin, with a small lake out the back door and the ocean out the front. Pretty sweet.

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I forgot my credit card here. Not saying it was the Vortex IPA, but not saying it wasn’t either.

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This sign just made me picture a small bespectacled man hovering over a bible with a yellow highlighter between his teeth.

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No vacancy signs don’t faze us. After a sold out state park (400+ spaces), and a sold out KOA across the street (200+), we pulled in to this place with another 150 spots. We literally snagged the last spot minutes after a cancellation came through. Camping has been utter mayhem in Washington, whether it is a Friday night or a Tuesday like it was here.

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In an effort to head off the flurry of life jacket e-mails, I could have stepped out of the boat and stood up anywhere in this little lake. The kids really digged paddling around—Lowe even asked me if we could bring the boat with us.

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50 Comments on “Rockaway Beach”

  1. Sorry, I have to say it. Water depth means nothing. Children can and do drown in as little as 20 seconds and in 2 inches of water!

    If the boat should happen to tip and both kids wind up in the water, whom are you going to save first? I pray you never have t o make that choice.

    703 children under age 14 drowned last year.

    Please, please,please, use a proper fitting life jacket whenever you are on the water.

      1. Sorry, did not mean to interfere with your life or criticize your parenting.

        703 children died from drowning last year makes me say it.

        I have done so and I know you will do what you want.

        1. Statistics like that are meaningless. How many of those were with an adult paying exclusive attention to them? How many were in water four feet deep? How many were in unattended bathtubs? How many four year-olds drowned in two inches of water? The conditions of the drownings matter more than a blanket statistical statement.

          1. Pat, as intelligent as you are, I am shocked by your causal and cocksure attitude towards drowning.

            I can think of at least 5 common scenarios with a small boat like you were in, that could happen. You would not be able to jump in like superman and save both kids.

            I don’t wish to debate further, so I won’t.

            I will answer one of your questions:” How many were in water four feet deep?”

            In lakes, ponds, etc. a full 50% of drownings were in less than four feet of water.

            It is a free country. Do what you wish.

          2. Joe,
            An order of magnitude more kids die from falling down stairs every year than drowning. Do you make your kids wear a helmet when they go up and down stairs? It looks like a cloudy day and the kids are in the water in an open boat, where’s their lightning protection? You know by that time you hear the first thunder it might be too late.

            If Pat had put life jackets on the kids would have had to stop following this blog. I’m so sick of our overbearing safety culture. My township is considering banning treehouse because of safety concerns. The whole thing makes me want to puke and so did your comment. This topic didn’t warrant any further discussion, but I felt like I had to say it.

    1. Hey Joe, I’m not trying to be a dick about it, all I’m saying is that I am capable of discerning the difference between paddling in a millpond and racing across a lake in a bass boat or swimming in the current of a river (or a million different scenarios. If “I” feel that conditions are unsafe or warrant a lifejacket I would put them on. Or more likely, I would simply not go out. My whole life has revolved around statistics, but that doesn’t mean that they always tell the whole story.

    2. The obvious question then, Joe, is shouldn’t kids also have to wear life jackets when they’re at the beach? If you answer, “No”, then why not? They’re “on the water”. My kids were jumping off my shoulders into 4′ of water at the beach when they were the same ages as Ouest and Lowe. Lots of dangerous things could happen in that scenario as well, yet no life jackets were required (by convention, consensus or by law). Common sense has gone out the window in the past 20 or 30 years.

  2. SO bummed to have missed you guys a few weeks ago! I’m back from my boating work adventure in Alaska and we have more goat babies on the way….just in case you guys want to take another drive north. We’re having an amazing Indian Summer up here in Bellingham!

    – Katie

  3. if you come to California it is the law to have life jackets on all aboard.coast gard approved to boot

  4. For the love of all that is sacred, I have NO doubts you and Ali are as safety conscious as the best of the best. So, I for one, am thankful you are not raising children with fear, but for awesome reverence and respect for nature. I am sure if life jackets were warranted, Lowe and Ouest would have been wearing them! Keep up the great parenting!

  5. All the sold out campgrounds is surprising. I guess my travels up there were not during school’s out season since I never remember such crowded conditions. Forge on, school’s back in session soon.

  6. “Camping has been utter mayhem in Washington, whether it is a Friday night or a Tuesday like it was here.” <– But you're in Oregon now, right? Lovely photos, as always. We'll be at Rockaway Beach next month, and I will look for that brewery, hanging closely onto my credit card, of course. 😉

  7. I Was reading through your archives today, very sentimental, to watch your family grow from 2 to 3 to 4……… Your hair seems to have changed color every year Patrick, from blonde to brown to black to brown to blonde again! My hair is like that too, i don’t dye it, but sometimes it’s blonde then it’s black or brown………

  8. Just one small point on the life deserver thing. Because the rule has been my grandkids always have to wear them, they never think about not wearing them. The discussion isn’t, do we have to this time? But then, I also go to some effort to have them be cool life deservers, with buckles and snaps and Mighty Power Rangers logos, or something like that.

  9. 44 school and college shootings since Newtown. Better put a flak jacket over that pfd. Geez people, he’s not asking you to remove the jackets from your kids. Let live. I wish these two were my parents.

  10. I would think the people offering Pat recommendations to use life vests do so with the best intents. In the long run it is Pat & Ali’s call. Having been around boats of all kinds in all kinds of water for 70 years, I have seen many unexpected things happen very quickly & unexpectedly. I wish Pat & Ali the best of luck in not having their children wear life vests. Again, it is their kids & their call.

    Paul Thomas

    1. True, they could just be gentle reminders just in case Pat and Ali forgot about the dangers of water. I only have 62 years on the water and I agree that crazy things do happen. A strong father sitting close to his children in waist deep water has high odds for survival. I am surrounded by people that put raincoats on their dogs so I might be a little jumpy on some of these topics.

      1. “I am surrounded by people that put raincoats on their dogs…” That made me laugh. It’s so true! I think maybe it’s time for me to get south of the border again.

        1. The family unit is so strong in Mexico. It is fun watching kids running, playing ball, riding bikes on the plaza, until way past dark. Perhaps the parents are somewhere close by, but they are not hovering over the kids, trying to protect them from all sorts of imagined dangers.

  11. Wow….well thanks for sharing your life with us Pat, now let us tell you what a horrible father you are. Sigh…. I love the way your kids are growing up and wish we had more freedom to do that. Those kids are so lucky and will have the best memories! Good for you.

  12. This is exciting – you haven’t caused an online debate in a while, it’s almost like you’re back on the cruising forums!

  13. After following you for years, eagerly awaiting the news of the birth of your children, I have no doubt you have your family’s safety as your number one priority. And Mike Anderson is my favorite person of the day. Where’s the “like” button on this thing?

    1. Thanks Beth but I was regretting my comments. These are just concerned followers that have learned to be really careful for good reason I’m sure. Sometimes with animals it has a negative effect though and that might be true for the little humanoids too.

  14. Sometimes these comments are more entertaining than the blog. Pat, in the immortal words of the legendary and mystical Taylor Swift (oh just you wait til Ouest is 5 years older!), “Players are gonna play, haters are gonna hate”….or something like that. Play on!

  15. There is probably a law in Oregon (and the other 49 states) that says its illegal to exceed the posted speed limit on a public highway. Pat and Ali might be the only drivers here that actually obey such laws.

  16. Jeez, with the opinions already! 🙂
    I was going to add my very important observation that the light there is so different than in Mexico.

  17. Put me in the “People are crazy” category. Putting your kid in a metal canister and hurtling them at 70 mph down an asphalt strip known to be traveled by drunks, stoners, and people with their heads bent over their phones while piloting one of these missiles strikes me as infinitely more dangerous. Just yesterday, a woman and her child were critically injured when they were tee-boned at an intersection on an urban street by a woman driving stone drunk, doing 70, wearing no underwear or pants. How she even got to 70 in a neighborhood I don’t know. The intersection is right by my kids’ middle school. Could have been us easily. Last week, a kid fell down an embankment off a major trail in a national park and was killed. You can’t plan for every eventuality. Go with the odds and your instinct. If you aren’t wrapping your kids in 4 feet of high density foam every time you put them in the car, then ease up on life jackets on a millpond. People can and do drown in the bathtub all the time. It was lack of common sense or wickedly bad luck that killed them, not lack of a life jacket. Hey, it’s a big country; somebody is dying of just about everything you can think of. Drownings on waist deep fishponds in a rowboat is not going to make the top 10 list. As a sample, in Texas in 2014 so far, the number 1 place kids drowned was in swimming pools. Bathtubs and natural waters are tied for second. One died in a septic tank and one in a ditch. If you aren’t strapping on a life preserver when they go in the tub, then again I think you don’t have any ground on which to stand. Just my opinion. Worth what you paid, maybe less.

  18. To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing. You sailed around the world, but grey MOB poles warranted the most discussion. Your way, P&A, as always. Keep on.

  19. Because of your photos my kids now want to move to a marina with sea lions on the finger piers. I do too. Too bad we’re on the east coast. We only get ducks.

    I think that mill pond needed some DB that calls himself “coast guard auxillary” to patrol and inform everyone of the life jacket rules. Those guys are my favorite.

  20. Hey guys! I have been following you for years, have purchased your books, read them more than once or twice. Still trying to figure out the living on the margin thing. Years ago we took a trip to Annapolis and wandered around Ego Alley and my wife stated, in all seriousness, “Let’s buy a boat and retire from this mess.” After scrapping my jaw off the dock I figured why not? Fast forward fours years and we are closing on our first boat. Our plan is to have it in the water next spring and get started on learning how to sail. Yeah we don’t know diddly, but if Pat and Ali can do it, so can we! Thanks for the blog and the ideas. You and Ali are an inspiration in a world of helicopter parents and wildly over protective everything.

  21. So here’s what I wonder; If you hadn’t mentioned anything at all in the post, would this thread even have started? Doubt it. 🙂

  22. Pussification. This thread just screams pussification. Our whole country is so head warped about “How to keep your kids safe” these days that we’ve “safed” our lil Americans right outta the fun zone. That lil PSA should actually be called “How to protect your kids from fun at any cost”. In my not so humble opinion all that has led to is kids that no longer have that spirit of adventure. The days of kids playing in the dirt (eating it too) are gone (and those for me anyway were good times). Kids running around and playing outside are buh-bye. No more kick ball on the corner (unless EVERYONE gets a “you-win-even-though-you-lost trophy that is). Video games and mindless hours spent watching the tube have killed those possible treasured memories. What happened to taking a lil spill, getting a boo-boo and getting right back up on the preverbal horse we all probably remember? It’s gone. But I digress. Because really I just believe that if Pat and Ali’s children were in a moment, a split second of danger, that parental instinct would’ve kicked in and everything would have in the end been ok. I wish people would let their kids experience life like they and I remember experiencing. The good, the best, the bad AND the ugly. Because in the end really when the chips are down and these 2 lil weeklong warriors are adults, it’s those experiences that will make them stronger, better, happier people. But that’s just my 43-yr old, kidless, no experience on the subject opinion. Although I will say that I know I’m right. Keep your helmets for dirt bikes, skate boarding and riding horses but for these types of experiences I say let the wind blow straight through their helmet-free blond hair. Oh and for those of you slow types out there… The “helmet” was a metaphor for the “life-jacket”. 😉

  23. Pat, you might want to check the fuse for the clock in the motorhome. If the fuse is ok, consider removing the clock and soaking the gears in kerosene for awhile. More than likely the gears are gummed up with dirt and dried out grease. I wouldn’t submerge the clock face in the kerosene, it might dissolve the printing.

    1. No, I’ve got it all the way out. Everything is clean. I hooked it up to the battery directly, and it runs right up until these two contacts hit each other after one minute. Then it looks like something is supposed to happen, but doesn’t. It just stops there.

  24. On Ebay those old car clocks GO for a pretty penny or two.
    Oh to be able to edit your comment once you push the post button.

  25. Been reading you guys forever after I discovered your book about 5 years ago. If anything that these negative nellies on this comment thread say is a real threat I’m surprised my 16 year-old daughter isn’t dead. Your kids are incredibly lucky, you guys are awesome. I hope to run in to you one day – although we move around the East (Florida, Bahamas, Scotland, Italy) and you move around out west so I doubt it.

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