Long Beach, Washington

I decided to stay a week in a "Northwest Pacific beach town" to see the lifestyle of the residents living there.  Long Beach is one of several small towns that are on a long peninsula on the Pacific Ocean, in the extreme southwest corner of Washington state.  Long Beach, Ocean Park and Ilwaco are three of the small towns on the peninsula.  Ilwaco is the port town with a small harbor that gives fishing boats access to the Columbia river and the Pacific ocean.  Long Beach is the tourist area and Ocean Park has Jacks Country Store (famous for having "what ever you might need").  There is one main street that goes down the center of the narrow peninsula through all three towns.  These beach communities are remote and somewhat isolated.  Tourists were here, but not in huge volumes.

Oysterville in the most historic community on the pennisula.  It was not an active town, but housing for the business "Oysterville Sea Farms".

The draw for me to the beach was the temperate weather.  At night temperatures were in the 50's and low 70's during the day.  We drove the length of the peninsula while driving on the beach Sunday.  Washington state allows vehicle traffic on the beach.  What a great drive it was.

The small towns on the peninsula exist from tourist trade.  On weekends, people from Portland come to the peninsula to enjoy the beach.  We saw numerous people in the cool waters onfthe ocean, but for us Texans, it was too "chilly".

Our time here is will be remembered with cool weather and good seafood.  Plus, we took our dogs on the beach for a day of play.  Both enjoyed the open beach.  Lucky was afraid of the waves.  She is soo funny.

We stayed at Anderson's RV Park in Long Beach.  It is located on the beach and in my opinion is the best game in town.  There are also other RV Parks on the peninsula.

Harbor at Ilwaco with all sizes of boats.  There was a seafood cannery located in the harbor.  This the only deep water harbor that connects to the Pacific on the peninsula.

Birds on the beach.  Seagulls and some other larger birds all mingling.

Lee, Goober and Lucky on the beach.  Both dogs enjoyed the beach.  Lucky was scared of the waves.

Goober loved to lay her belly on the cool sand.  Both dogs were covered in sand when the day was done.

On Wallapa Bay, oysters have been harvested for over 60 years.  The bay has huge tidal flats that are used to plant oyster seedlings.  Oysterville is a historic town that claims to have the oldest post office in Washington.

Here is is a group of mule riders on the beach.  They were leading riderless mules that were in training.

Click on the short video to see the sights of a small beach town located  in the southeast corner of Washington state.  The peninsula is on one side of the Columbia River where it joins the Pacific Ocean. 

From Long Beach, we will travel to Portland to replenish our stock of supplies, before traveling farther down the northwest coast.