Chelais Country

I drove southeast from Grayland Beach to Tokeland and then to Raymond.  The road travels along the edge of the Willapa Bay.  The low tide revealed immense blocks of sand in this very shallow Bay.  Over half the water in the Bay comes in and goes out each day.  

The countryside from Raymond to Pe El or Doty is very beautiful rural country.  I took back roads from Pe El to Vader, and from Vader to Longview along the Cowlitz River.  The main Chelais river goes through Pe El and Chelais while making its way northwest to Aberdeen and Grays Harbor Bay; and, the south Chelais river flows further southeast from Pe El.  The level of "green" is astounding!  

Traffic on Interstate 5 was quite light both driving from Vader to Vancouver.  The lack of traffic was very surprising to me.  

"I saw from the beach, when the morning was shining,
A bark o'er the waters move gloriously on;
I came when the sun o'er that beach was declining,
The bark was still there, but the waters were gone.

And such is the fate of our life's early promise,
So passing the spring-tide of joy we have known;
Each wave that we danced on at morning ebbs from us,
And leaves us, at eve, on the bleak shore alone.

Oh, who would not welcome that moment's returning
When passion first waked a new life through his frame,
And his soul, like the wood that grows precious in burning,
Gave out all its sweets to love's exquisite flame."
-  Thomas Moore