Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
trail for Lewis and Clark. Also within the park are several picnic areas, hiking
trails, a campground, and Waikiki Beach, the prettiest little beach between here
and Moclips. This tiny cove backed by steep cliffs is named for several Hawai-
ian sailors who lost their lives near here. The park is open from dawn to dusk,
and admission is free.
In the past 300 years more than 2,000 vessels and 700 lives have been lost in
the treacherous waters at the mouth of the Columbia River. Consequently, the
U.S. Coast Guard has its National Motor Life Boat School here. Lifeboat drills
can sometimes be observed from observation platforms on the North Jetty. This
jetty, completed in 1917, was built to improve the channel across the Columbia
Bar. A side effect of the 2-mile-long jetty was the creation of a much wider beach
to the north. This widening of the beach accounts for the town of Long Beach's
current distance from the waves.
If you're a kite flyer, or even if you're not, you may want to stop by the World
Kite Museum & Hall of Fame , 112 N. Third St., Long Beach ( & 360/642-
4020; www.worldkitemuseum.com), where you can see displays on kites of the
world. Memorial Day to Labor Day, it's open daily from 11am to 5pm; Sep-
tember through May, it's open Friday through Monday from 11am to 5pm;
admission is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and children.
Up toward the north end of the peninsula, you'll find the historic village of
Oysterville , an old oystering community that is a National Historic Dis-
trict and is by far the quaintest little village on the peninsula. Old homes with
spacious lawns cling to the edge of the marsh, creating a timeless scene. Oyster-
ville had is heyday in the days of the California gold rush, when the village was
shipping tons of oysters to San Francisco, where people were willing to pay as
much as $50 a plate for fresh oysters. Today Oysterville is a sleepy little commu-
nity of restored homes. In the town's white clapboard church, there are occasional
music performances. Here in Oysterville, you'll also find Oysterville Sea Farms
( & 800/272-6237 or 360/665-6585; www.oysterville.net), which has a seafood
and cranberry-products shop on the waterfront at the north end of the village.
Willapa Bay, which is one of the cleanest estuaries on the West Coast, is still
known for its oysters. Up and down the peninsula there are oyster farms and
processing plants. If you're interested in learning more about the history of the
area's oystering industry, drop by the Willapa Bay Interpretive Center ( & 360/
665-4547 ) on the breakwater beside The Ark Restaurant in Nahcotta. The
interpretive center is open Friday through Sunday from 10am to 3pm between
Memorial Day and Labor Day, and admission is free.
The peninsula is also a major producer of cranberries, and if you take a drive
down almost any side road north of Long Beach, you'll pass acres of cranberry
bogs. If you're curious to learn how cranberries are grown, stop in at the Pacific
Believe It or Not!
Children and other fans of the bizarre won't want to miss Marsh's Free
Museum , 409 S. Pacific Ave., Long Beach ( & 360/642-2188; www.marshs
freemuseum.com), a beachy gift shop filled with all manner of antique
arcade games, oddities a la Ripley's Believe It or Not!, and, best of all,
Jake the alligator man, who has been made famous by tabloids that rank
this half-man, half-alligator creature right up there with aliens, Bigfoot,
and the latest Elvis sighting.
Kids
Search WWH ::




Custom Search