This rant has been a long time coming...
What do Americans have against walking? I mean, yes, I get that some things are too far to walk, and sometimes there are no sidewalks or pedestrian crossings that'd make crossing the streets safe.
I'm not talking about those instances.
I'm talking about simply outrageous instances where Americans seem to be unable to walk and have to take their bloody car *everywhere*.
The most outrageous demonstration of that was at Ocean Shores. Ocean Shores is a little town at the Washington coast.
We parked at the Visitor Centre, then walked to the beach. It was maaayyybe 500 metres (0.3 miles) to walk, if it all. Probably less. There were safe pedestrian crossings. Falling that, there were parking spaces in front of the dune.
From there led a PAVED road through the dune (so no one would've had to climb the dune). You were allowed to drive on the beach. You could've parked your car right BEHIND the dune on the beach.
But nooooo, what did all of the Americans do? Drive their car RIGHT UP to the waterline. To then sit RIGHT NEXT to their car to picnic/go swimming.
Seriously, people, WHY? Why do people have to do that? The water was *dirty*, there were bloody bubbles in the water. Really, I hope the next flood came in faster than you expected and your bloody cars got stuck in the sand.
(heh, according to Jake, my "Seattle hairdresser" that actually happened on July 4th. Schadenfreude!)
We drove just 5 miles down the road and found not only a very lovely interpretative centre, that was full of information about the ocean and the local flora and fauna, but also *natural* beaches. No cars were allowed. There were still roads cut through the dunes, but those were merely for walking.
We found crab shells, sea shells, sand dollars... and most of all NO CARS. Bless. And a lot less people.
PS: Actual travel report will take a while, I have 400+ pictures to sort through! But it'll come, probably in 3 parts.
I'm not talking about those instances.
I'm talking about simply outrageous instances where Americans seem to be unable to walk and have to take their bloody car *everywhere*.
The most outrageous demonstration of that was at Ocean Shores. Ocean Shores is a little town at the Washington coast.
We parked at the Visitor Centre, then walked to the beach. It was maaayyybe 500 metres (0.3 miles) to walk, if it all. Probably less. There were safe pedestrian crossings. Falling that, there were parking spaces in front of the dune.
From there led a PAVED road through the dune (so no one would've had to climb the dune). You were allowed to drive on the beach. You could've parked your car right BEHIND the dune on the beach.
But nooooo, what did all of the Americans do? Drive their car RIGHT UP to the waterline. To then sit RIGHT NEXT to their car to picnic/go swimming.
Seriously, people, WHY? Why do people have to do that? The water was *dirty*, there were bloody bubbles in the water. Really, I hope the next flood came in faster than you expected and your bloody cars got stuck in the sand.
(heh, according to Jake, my "Seattle hairdresser" that actually happened on July 4th. Schadenfreude!)
We drove just 5 miles down the road and found not only a very lovely interpretative centre, that was full of information about the ocean and the local flora and fauna, but also *natural* beaches. No cars were allowed. There were still roads cut through the dunes, but those were merely for walking.
We found crab shells, sea shells, sand dollars... and most of all NO CARS. Bless. And a lot less people.
PS: Actual travel report will take a while, I have 400+ pictures to sort through! But it'll come, probably in 3 parts.