Wet and Sandy

In early January, the Nooksack river in Ferndale flooded it's banks and swept across fields, parks, a golf course, roads and unfortunately, even made it's way into a few homes and businesses. You can see the photos from the Bellingham Herald here. When the waters had receded, The Mr. and I took Petra for a walk and couldn't believe how high the river was. The sandy beaches were completely covered with water, sturdy trees and signs were wrapped with grasses that had caught while the waters were rushing by, sometimes 5 or more feet off the ground! At one point we saw a shoe and a buoy on a rope, both caught in a riverside tree. The items were caught at least 12 feet from the current water height. The gravel walking path was pretty beaten up, full of puddles and pot holes with areas that were washed away, but that didn't keep people away from using the path to jog and walk their dogs. The park has a large off leash walking area so it's a nice place to take Petra. These first photos were taken on January 15th and I think the flooding had taken place some time around the 8th. If you didn't click the link above and look at the photos, you should. I had no clue the flooding had been that bad, but seeing weeds and garbage wrapped around a tree trunk 12 feet above the height of the water really was strange to see.

Part of the path washed away.

The river over double it's usual width and no beaches in sight.

I circled the buoy in the tree, but I didn't do a very good job. This was seriously high because between the water and where I was standing there was at least a 4 foot drop to the water.

Here you can see how the water swept all the grasses into strange shapes.

Time to go home Petra! Sorry you couldn't run on the beach this time.

This week (Monday) we decided to go back to the park and see if the Nooksack river had receded enough to have beaches to play on again and we weren't disappointed. Petra got to run and run and run and get all sandy and wet and gritty. She just loves it there and never seems to tire of running on the sand.

She likes the water and we don't have to worry about how much she drinks because it is fresh water, unlike the water she visits more often- the ocean.

I think she looks so graceful running in real life, but the photos just look so hilarious!

You can see that the beach has a lot of debris, but that only makes it more fun for a dog!