My Visit to Seabrook — Reflections

My visit to Seabrook (NOT Seabeck)

During my childhood, vacations meant staying with relatives, tent or trailer camping, or squeezing two adults and two kids into a 2-bed motel space. As an adult and with my own family, our usual holiday accommodations consisted of four of us in a hotel or motel room. At our summer camp, we often got two small adjoining rooms to allow us to separate the kids from each other. A couple times we arranged to stay in private cabins or trailer homes, with mixed success. Once the home was in an inconvenient location and cluttered with personal possessions of the owners. Another time, there was so much dust and/or mold that several family members had their allergies act up. In recent years, we’ve tried staying in bed and breakfast homes, with numerous challenges. Twice we experienced infestations of ants. Once we were offered breakfast by our hosts and the use of the kitchen to make morning beverages, only to discover that the kitchen was filthy, taking away any desire we might have had to eat there. In addition, that home had so many decorations in our sleeping room that there was no place to put our things, and the bedroom, which faced the street, had no shades or draperies. What were they thinking? We also learned that the cost of bed and breakfast was more than originally anticipated, as extra cleaning charges and other fees got added to the bill. Despite the name, breakfast was often not included.

Facebook allows me to see beautiful pictures posted by friends of homes they have rented for their vacations, but we have had no similar pictures to post until our recent visit to Seabrook. Don’t confuse Seabrook, which is at the Pacific Ocean, with Seabeck Conference Center, on Hood Canal. Seabrook is a recently-created small town on the Washington coast, just south of Pacific Beach, and about 15 miles north of Ocean Shores. Seabeck is a small historic milltown with actual historic buildings dating to the 19th Century. Seabeck is the location of a non-profit conference center, which has operated for over 100 years, and which hosts many events, especially church and quilting retreats. Seabrook, on the other hand, currently includes about 500 modern homes, most designed to look old, and a small business district of shops and restaurants. It is a planned community which was established in 2004 and is continuing to expand, consistent with a master plan of the private developer. There are no motels, hotels, or other small spaces to rent, that I am aware of. While a small percentage of the homes, often referred to as cottages, are owner-occupied year-round, most are rented out as vacation homes, with minimum stays of 2 to 4 nights, depending on demand.

Seabrook’s setting and design appeal to me. The property adjoins the ocean, but the homes and shops are on a bluff, ensuring they will not be washed out to sea and creating many opportunities for ocean views. The community incorporates many walking and biking trails and small parks are located throughout the development. There is an indoor swimming pool for the use of owners and renters and a second pool is in the development stage.

I liked everything I saw when I did a drive-by visit to the community a few years ago and hoped to someday have an overnight visit. The development has a modern, high-tech reservation system. Each home available for rent has its own website listing, complete with a map of the location, multiple photos, and a list of all its special features. The website also shows the dates each home is available and lists the cost for the desired stay. The primary problem was the sticker shock of the price. For the three nights I was interested in, the cost of the home I selected was reported to be $1410. When tax and insurance were added, the price became $1688, $562 per night, about twice as much as I’d ever paid per night for overnight accommodations. The entire fee was due in advance because my selected dates were within 30 days. The payment was not refundable in the event of a change of plans.

As I tried to overcome my shock at the price, I considered all the benefits of the selected home. It had three bedrooms and could accommodate eight guests. Two of the bedrooms contained king beds and there were four bathrooms. It was also modern and appeared to be well-maintained. The house we picked did not accommodate pets, helping to ensure that allergies would not be a problem. Because of the size of the house, I was able to invite other relatives to join my husband and me. My niece and her 4-year-old daughter would have the entire second floor of the house, while we enjoyed our master suite on the main floor.

It rained almost the entire time we were at Seabrook, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying our week-end stay. The four-year-old loved walking through mud and puddles in her rubber boots! We hiked trails to the beach, watched the seagulls and other birds, sat on logs, watched children play in the sand, looked for shells and other items on the beach, and climbed back up the side of the cliff, using the sturdy wooden stairs installed by the developer. Benches are conveniently located at several spots to allow stops to admire the view and catch one’s breath on the way back to the residential area.

I would happily return to Seabrook, preferably with friends or family in tow to better make use of the housing accommodations. There were a few surprises and challenges, but nothing serious enough to make me not want to return:

1. The house we stayed in had a driveway with space for two cars. It appeared that most houses did not have designated parking. Parking for some homes was in a private garage but more commonly it was just on the street wherever a person found a spot. Some neighborhoods have small parking lots to accommodate the cars of several homes.

2. Some of the trails we walked on were in poor condition – very muddy and with exposed trip hazards of many kinds. It appears there is good maintenance on the primary trails but some of the less used trails were a challenge, especially in rainy weather.

3. Staying in an unfamiliar home has its challenges. We had to figure out the electronic door lock, the electric fireplace, how to open and close the doors to the deck, and how to operate an unfamiliar dishwasher. We worried that we might not return all items to the correct storage spaces, since there were several of us taking things out of cupboards and often a different person putting them away.

4. Some included items didn’t seem to work. There was a non-functional phone, and a teapot that did not work when plugged in to our first choice of outlet, but that did work at a different location. There was good wi-fi, but outside of our rental house or the restaurants we patronized our phones had no connectivity.

5. One of the shower stalls was a little too cramped for comfort. When I accidentally bumped the hand-held shower head, it fell down and was spraying water all over until I got it resituated, which was a challenge because I could barely reach its bracket. Fortunately, I was able to prevent it from spraying onto the ceiling.

6. Our instructions were to move no furniture, but we discovered an upturned edge to a carpet which presented a trip hazard. We moved the carpet by a few inches, so the edge of the sofa covered the damaged carpet edge. After returning home, we were concerned that we might be assessed a damage charge for “moving furniture,” but so far there has been no charge.

7. I can’t report on the washer and dryer, the barbecue, the fire pit, or the neighborhood swimming pool, since we didn’t use them. We also did not use the many televisions or any of their accessories. The child in our group did enjoy checking out the games found in the cupboards and enjoyed looking at shells and other decorations around the house. Of course, the games and puzzles often had items missing, but that’s to be expected. We still had fun playing with them.

We patronized several of the local businesses, having dinner in the Mexican restaurant and getting take-out pizza the next day from a different establishment. The candy store had many tempting treats that I was unable to resist as I waited for my pizza order to be ready nextdoor. We walked through the small grocery store, but didn’t buy anything. We had brought food from home in a cooler and picked up a few fresh items on a drive to Ocean Shores our first morning. Had we been staying longer, we would have checked out the book store, the toy store, and the wine bar and perhaps gotten a meal from the food truck which served various fried chicken items, only on week-ends, and only until their supply of food sold out, which it had by our second night there.

Some people will think of Seabrook as too artificial, with a Disneyland feel, and perhaps too crowded, with its homes packed together on small lots, but I liked the design for its efficient use of space, creative architecture, walkable neighborhoods, and parks. As someone who has never owned a vacation home, recreational vehicle, or boat, I enjoyed being able to utilize an attractive vacation home that I did not have to maintain or pay for, other than the rental fee.

There’s an active construction and sales program at Seabrook. Materials passed out at the information office show homes for sale at prices ranging from $749,000 (2 bedrooms and 2 baths) to $1,925,000 (5 bedrooms and 6 baths). I had the opportunity to visit an open house just two doors down from where we were staying. That 2-bedroom, 3 bath home, with 1,596 square feet of living space and no garage was listed for $930,000, furnishings included.

I have another trip planned to Seabrook for this summer. My friends and I will be enjoying a large ocean-view home. This time I plan to enjoy the pool and hike some additional trails. Then I’ll evaluate whether the benefits justify the expense and plan accordingly for future vacations.

If you decide to vacation at Seabrook, here are some things to consider when you select your accommodations:

1. Choose “pet (dog) friendly”, “no pets”, or “good for those with allergies”. Many homes that don’t allow pets nevertheless have owners who sometimes bring their own pets.

2. OK with stairs? Most of the houses have stairs. Only a few are listed as being “accessible.” Many houses do not have a bedroom on the main floor. A few advertise that they have elevators. Even if there’s a bedroom on the main floor, there may be stairs to get in and out of the house.

3. How far are you willing to be from the beach, the swimming pool, the restaurants and shops? None of these homes are directly adjacent to the beach.

4. Consider whether you need trip insurance. You will be expected to pay in advance for your accommodations and a refund may be difficult to obtain. The reservation system includes an optional insurance policy, but it was not clear what it would cover. You might want to consider other trip insurance to protect yourself from the need to cancel due to sickness or a family emergency.

5. The existing grocery store is tiny, more like a 7-11 than a supermarket. Larger conventional grocery stores are available in Ocean Shores and Aberdeen, so you will need to plan ahead for your shopping and may want to bring much of your food from home.

6. If you are staying several days, consider a visit to Olympic National Park to the North. You might want to plan a dinner out at the Ocean Crest Resort dining room, which is a short distance North of Seabrook. Children in your party will probably enjoy a visit to Ocean Shores, which offers a variety of family-oriented activities. At the Southern tip of the Ocean Shores peninsula there’s another community somewhat like Seabrook, but much smaller. It’s called Oyhut Bay Seaside Village and might be worth a visit to see how it compares to Seabrook.

I’m happy to see that there are lots of new vacation options for families wanting to be near the ocean. Seabrook appears to be ideal for large family groups or friends who want to share activities. For some people, there may be tax benefits to purchasing a Seabrook home, using it primarily as a rental, but still occasionally staying in it as a family. The rental arrangements and cleaning are handled by the Seabrook rental office, so the owner doesn’t have to deal with those details. Even if you are not interested in staying at Seabrook, it’s worth a drive through the community to see what’s there and maybe to visit its shops and restaurants or pick up information at the visitor’s center. It’s an unusual vacation choice for the Washington coast and worth knowing about.

Now if you think you prefer an authentic historic town to visit, check out the conferences scheduled by Eliot Institute at Seabeck Conference Center, on Hood Canal. The conferences are held four times per year for either four or seven nights and are attended primarily by members of the Unitarian Universalist Church. Meals are served in the dining hall, so no need to transport groceries. A full program of activities is offered for both adults and children, but you won’t have the modern conveniences of Seabrook or the sticker shock of Seabrook prices. There will also be no opportunity to watch television or play video games, unless you bring them yourself. Both Seabeck and Seabrook are walking communities with lots of room for kids to play and hiking trails in the woods. Both have beautiful views of water. They offer different lifestyles and may appeal to different people or the same people, depending on the purpose and timing of the visit.

Carolyn Hayek