10 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
School is out.
Summer is here.
Ditch the screens, and
have fun with your kids
this season old-school style
By DWIGHT CASWELL
y childhood was long ago and
quite different from those of
today. My friends and I played
sports, but not in leagues, and we
also did safe, constructive things.
Like teasing a neighbor’s bull
or making our own fi reworks.
Okay, maybe it’s a miracle we
survived, and perhaps it’s a good
thing that times have changed,
but do children today have to lead
the phone-dominated, busy and
exhaustively organized lives that seem to be the norm?
The kid I hang out with now is my 3-year-old grandson,
Eli, and with him I like to do the things I did as a boy. The less
dangerous activities, that is. Eli consulted on this article, and here
are some of the things we like to do best. Note that all of them
involve little or no money or organization and do not require cell
phones.
Beaches always rate high on Coast Weekend’s annual Read-
ers’ Choice Awards contest and with good reason. Who doesn’t
like a beach? There are things to collect, places to dig or to make
castles, games to play, driftwood forts to build, and picnics to be
consumed. And Eli’s best canine friend, Mojo, is welcome. We
have our favorites — Hug Point, Short Sand and Gearhart’s Little
Beach — but if there’s sand, water and sun you can hardly go
wrong.
A big part of the fun at Short Sand, located in Oswald West
State Park, is the half-mile trail from parking lot to beach. Our
other regional parks have a lot to offer as well. Fort Stevens State
Park has Battery Russell, the Peter Iredale shipwreck and the only
Civil War-era earthen fort on the West Coast. There is something
for everyone: various military re-enactments, a military museum,
lots of trails for hiking and biking, and beaches for birding and
whale watching.
The Columbia-Pacifi c region has two other forts that are well
worth visiting. There is Fort Columbia, less than a mile north of
the Astoria Bridge on U.S. Highway 101, and perhaps the area’s
M
PHOTO BY JOSHUA BESSEX
Above: Amelia Hillard, of As-
toria, uses a net to catch bugs
last summer at Netul Landing
in Lewis and Clark Nation-
al Historical Park. The park,
which includes Fort Clatsop,
off ers a Junior Ranger activi-
tiy book for children and also
hosts events with children’s
activities.
FILE PHOTO
Right: There’s always places
to explore, castles to build,
games to play and picnics to
eat on the beach.