During a recent heatwave in Portland, my boyfriend, dog and I cooled off on the Long Beach, Washington Peninsula. You won’t find the Queen Mary here – that’s the other Long Beach. If you’re booking online, make sure you have the right Long Beach before entering any credit card numbers! Long Beach, Washington may not have an iconic 1936 ocean liner to draw guests. But there are plenty of reasons to visit. Here are a few we found.
Discovery Trail
This 8.3-mile paved trail takes you through seas of grass, forest, and gives you ocean views. History buffs will enjoy the Lewis and Clark markers along the way. This is a nice, flat trail for walking, jogging, biking or cruising in a wheelchair. We stayed at the dog-friendly Chautauqua Lodge, which was affordable and right on the trail. The Discovery Trail runs from Ilwaco to Long Beach.
Hiking
After we paid 10 bucks to enter the Cape Disappointment State Park, we decided we better make a day of it. This is an easy place to get your money’s worth, as you can admire an old lighthouse ($2.50 more to go inside), hike through ferns and forest, and look at a crazy amount of driftwood washed up on the beach. We took the North Head Trail for a quiet forest walk.
Dogs Love the Beach
Sand. Unpredictable waves. Kelp and smelly dead fish to roll in. Dogs love the beach! Rudy romped through waves, nosed kelp piles and dug himself a burrow under a piece of driftwood to cool off. But nothing beats getting wet and sandy, then having a good shake all over your people.
Oddities
Roadside attraction fans probably already have Long Beach on their bucket list. If you’ve ever seen an “I brake for Jake” bumper sticker, you have encountered Long Beach’s most famous resident: Jake the alligator man. Preserved in mummified form in Marsh’s Free Museum, visitors come from all over the world to ponder Jake’s twisted human scowl and alligator hindquarters. But wait, there’s more! Did you know Long Beach also boasts the world’s largest chopsticks, frying pan and replica of a razor clam? Insert a quarter and the clam squirts a stream of water.
Crab Pot Buoy Art
Some of my favorite people in the world are those passionate individuals who create bizarre works of art in their yards. Driving through the Seaview area of Long Beach, we came across a yard decorated with hundreds of crab pot buoys. What a colorful and fun display! The artist has collected them over a lifetime. They’ve washed up on the beach from Alaska, California, and even Japan.
Thai Food
Long Beach Thai provided us with an excellent dinner and were very accommodating about honoring vegetarian requests. No fish sauce? No problem. We got pra ram – noodles covered with spinach and peanut sauce, and a coconut-based veg curry. Delicious. We ate way too much.
Coffee
They call it “the best roast on the coast.” Well, I believe it. Long Beach Coffee Roasters lets you choose between four different types of brewed coffee, plus all the usual espresso drinks. And they had good, plain soymilk rather than the disgusting vanilla-flavored that some chains serve. The atmosphere is inviting and coffee-chic, with burlap coffee bean bags from around the world decorating one wall, and lots of comfortable chairs and a couch. But don’t come here for the food. They had two packaged cookies and two packaged pieces of fruit bread when we visited in the morning, and the same four items when we came back for a refill a couple of hours later. This place is focused on coffee.
