Alligator Man

Yesterday I drove up to Long Beach, Washington to visit brother-in-law Scott and the two nieces. Nephew James had other obligations and mom Beth enjoyed a quiet, hopefully relaxing weekend at home. Maddy, Susan and dad were spending time with his in-law’s family at their beach house. Beth’s younger sister, her husband were there with their 2 kids, Luke and Eli. The kid cousins were having a great time together. There were about a dozen other older relatives, from my age and up, who I was introduced to. By the end of the day I had mastered everyone’s names, but their relation to each other never totally gelled.

I left home at 7:30 AM and returned home at 8:30 PM. Its a 2-1/2 hour ride up and the same on the way home, so I spent around 8 hours up there. I had lunch, which was leftover Mexican from Friday night and dinner was burgers and salmon on the grill, along with a half dozen picnic salad staples. Before lunch a lot of us went to the next small town over, Ilwaco’s “Farmers” market. After lunch was a trip into town to visit Marsh’s Free Museum and giant souvenir shop to see the Alligator Man and buy some trinkets. I bought a couple post cards and a sticker for the trunk of the Miata.

 
Right across the street from Marsh’s was the Chamber of Commerce with the World’s Largest Frying Pan, so, you just know I needed a photo of that. I was then tipped off to an arch a 1/4 mile away proclaiming “World’s Longest Beach”, so I walked over to photograph it too.

When I got home I looked these two “World’s Largest” thing to see if they were listed on Roadside America, and they were. Trouble is the frying pan may have been the largest when it was forged back in 1941, but it is no longer the largest. Rose Hill, NC has one that is 15′ in diameter, 5-1/2 feet greater in diameter than Long Beach’s. The arch’s claim is dubious as well, the beach it is a state park and is 28 miles in length. It doesn’t make onto Wikipedia’s list of the world’s longest beach.