Something Special After All

It rained all night. The rivers went up and started down again. My mother called at 5:30 AM to wish me happy birthday and ask what I was doing to celebrate. Nothing, said I. I was abrupt. It was 5:30 AM for god sake, I thought somebody had died or something. My sister called at 7:40 AM. Asked the same question. At sunrise there was a rainbow.

Sunrise Rainbow 11/06/09 (Click for larger image.)

Later it rained a lot more, and there was sun, and rain and so on. Through the morning I was working at the tribe, putting together our 'new' bookcases (hand-me-downs from a remodeled branch library in Sequim). Turned out to be complicated, we didn't get as far as actually moving things into them by the time I left. Shouldn'ta left.

But the weather service was promising us GIANT WAVES, no joke, that's what the NOAA warning said. So I came out to La Push this afternoon to see what a 25-foot swell looks like. High tide, lots of surf, big splashes, really big splashes out on some of the islands, I think I saw a wave splash up and right over Dahdayla Island. Not looking too much like 25-foot walls of water by the time they get to the beach, however, at least not from up above on the point at the north end of the beach. But wow gorgeous. A lot of people were out looking.

Now I'm tucked up in the Pacific Inn Motel in Forks tonight. It will be low tide in the morning and maybe safe to get out onto Rialto. Only maybe. I'll be cautious. The NOAA warnings are quite ferocious about people keeping off the beaches until the swell diminishes.

(I decided why not, it's my birthday. So I got to stay until dusk, didn't have to drive the hour and a half home in the dark, can be out on the beach again early in the morning.

(Truth, it's pouring rain outside at the moment. I kind of wish I were home and didn't have to stir out in the morning and go watch GIANT WAVES in the rain. I keep checking the weather forecast to assure myself it isn't going to snow or anything like that, either here or back in Port Angeles.)

(Happy birthday, me.)

PS. What NOAA said: ".A LARGE AND POWERFUL LOW PRESSURE CENTER IN THE GULF OF ALASKA HAS GENERATED GIANT WAVES WHICH WILL REACH THE WASHINGTON COAST ON FRIDAY MORNING AND THEN CONTINUE THROUGH SATURDAY...A LONG SERIES OF GIANT WAVES WILL START TO IMPACT THE WASHINGTON COAST ON FRIDAY MORNING AND THEN CONTINUE THROUGH SATURDAY. POWERFUL WAVES OF 25 TO 28 FEET ARE EXPECTED TO IMPACT THE BEACHES DURING THIS TIME PERIOD. THE GIANT WAVES WILL BE SEPARATED BY ABOUT 15 TO 20 SECONDS OF TIME...SO DO NOT BE LULLED BY PERIOD BETWEEN WAVES INTO THINKING IT IS SAFE TO VENTURE CLOSE TO THE WATERS EDGE...THESE WAVES ARE POWERFUL ENOUGH TO SWEEP UNWARY BEACH WALKERS OUT TO SEA. PEOPLE CAN BE SERIOUSLY INJURED BY DEBRIS...SUCH AS LOGS...TOSSED ABOUT IN THE WAVES."