Are you looking for something absolutely unique to do April 26th -28th? Come to the Long Beach Razor Clam Festival! Oh the nostalgia! My earliest memories of clam digging on the Long Beach Peninsula, when I was a toddler, were of cold, bare wet feet, soon to be numb, in the early morning. Out on the wide beach, in the wet sand, with my parents and two older brothers, I trotted around looking for dimples in the sand. “There’s one, Dad! There’s one, Mom!” I was too little to dig. My brothers had clam guns. We got a gazillion clams and then, the inevitable. We had to clean the clams. I was too little, for years, to touch a knife, and if you know me now, sometimes I am still too little to touch a knife! But I had to rinse the clean clams free of sand under the cold tap water in the clam cleaning rooms at whichever old motels we stayed in. My frozen fingers now matched my frozen, wet sandy feet! In the Boulevard Motel or The Lighthouse Motel…wherever our family could stay, the clam-cleaning rooms smelled the same–salty, slightly musty, very damp. Back then, we could dig all the clams we wanted. So we would clean then for what seemed to me like hours. So the razor clams we loved so much would be ground up and made into clam chowder. I turned the crank of the old food grinder–I still have one. I was never too little to grind clams. The razors made the best clam chowder in the world and my dad always took all the credit. The fried clams he produced were always considered a huge treat–way back then. I remember Long Beach’s World’s Largest Frying Pan being used for frying clams. It was clearly a good time.
Well- the GOOD TIMES ARE BACK! They say 20,ooo people came to the 2nd Razor Clam Festival in 1941! The last Razor Clam Festival was, we think, in 1968. Well it’s BACK! The first Razor Clam Festival in around 45 years will happen in Long Beach, WA on April 27 and 28 this year! This event brings back such sweet childhood memories for me and perhaps it will be a new memory for you.
So who is the genius who re-created the The Long Beach Razor Clam Festival? Well, Randy Dennis of The Dennis Company, who happens to be one of the State’s most inventive, entrepreneurial, forward thinking and nicest guys we will ever know! Events of the Festival include:
Clam Festival Court–Francis O’Neil was the “Clam Festival Bathing Beauty” in 1948–the QUEEN of the court will be here to re-start the tradition!
Razor Clam Digging Lessons- You have to pre-register for Saturday and Sunday morning lessons in front of The Breakers Hotel.
WA Department of Fish & Wildlife will judge “Biggest Clam Dug” and “Best Looking Limit” for $100 prizes!
Chowder Cook-Off–Local restaurants will compete for “Best Chowder” Trophy accompanied by music from the North Coast Blues band.
There will be Tummy Warmer Stations at the Pavillion at the foot of the Bolstad Beach Approach with cookies, hot cocoa, coffee & tea.
Vintage Clam Festival postcards, t-shirts, mugs, magnets, the Official Razor Clam Festival Poster by Don Nesbitt and other swag will be available!
There will be street entertainment by Dennis Duck, the Beard’s Hollow Pirates and Queen L DeDa’s Mermaids downtown on Saturday!
There will be clam supplies, weather gear and more available at the Dennis Company in Long Beach on both days.
A Clam Gun Decorating Contest is being held at the local elementary schools, the Long Beach Boys & Girls Club with public voting.
This photo courtesy of Wayne O’Neil collection! This is the 1948 Clam Festival Court!
So where will you stay for this grand occasion on the weekend of April 26th? Currently there are openings at beautiful Boreas Inn, just a few short blocks from this much anticipated event! You can re-warm your frozen tootsies and laze around after your invigorating participation in this historic event–the Razor Clam Festival in downtown Long Beach, WA!
So if you’re thinking of coming to this really fabulous event, make your reservations now!!!
Bill and I just returned from our brief weekly disappearing act to eat Serious Pizza at Cape Disappointment State Park in Ilwaco on the Long Beach, Washington Peninsula. First of all, this park is NOT a disappointment–it is our favorite Washington State Park. It was named “Cape Disappointment” because in 1788, Captain John Meares, a fur trader, was disappointed because this was not the opening to the river–and is, in fact, is located just north of the infamous Mouth of the Columbia River! Cape Disappointment is also home to the National Park housing Maya Lin’s “Confluence Project” honoring the Indian tribes Lewis and Clark encountered at the confluences of the rivers on their journey west. Captain Clark and 11 of the “Corps of Discovery” hiked all over the land that is now Cape Disappointment State Park and from McKenzie Head, saw their first panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean! Then they proceeded to hike north up the Peninsula, right across the property that is now Boreas Inn, located on the 1805 high water mark. So you get to sleep right on the Lewis and Clark Trail!
Of course, one of the most scenic parts of the Park are the two lighthouses, The North Head Lighthouse and the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. The North Head is easily explored by parking in the lot and walking down to the lighthouse on a road alongside the rock face overlooking the Pacific Ocean and just north of Benson Beach. This is a place to linger. All day. The waves, huge in the winter but omnipresent, are hypnotic. The color of the water seems to change from blue to green to gray in a storm, but always a stunning contrast with the white tips of the peaks of the waves. Whale watching from the North Head is often rewarding. We look for the clumps of kelp offshore and occasionally see the spouts. The pelicans, eagles, many varieties of gulls, terns and a huge array of seabirds make this spot make for some of the best birdwatching in the West. Cape D lighthouse is a hike from the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (in winter and anytime, the best view of the Mouth of the Columbia and the jetties), around Dead Man’s Cove. Our guests come from around the world to see these two lighthouses, within miles of Boreas!
I mentioned Serious Pizza! Well–seriously now, take the combination of a wood-fired pizza oven, burning cherry and apple, the “00 fino” flour imported from Italy, imported cheeses, meats from a great Seattle butcher chop and a location at Waikiki Beach at Cape D (as we call it), and you have not only the recipe for the best wood-fired pizza in Southwest Washington, but a spectacular setting near the amphitheater at Cape D State Park. With eagles flying overhead (perhaps looking hungrily at your pizza-or maybe at your dog) and osprey circling around with crows and gulls harrassing them, you have an experience you will never forget. Our favorite pizza is, you guessed it, “The Boreas”–the vegetarian pizza with garlic olive oil base, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives and pepperoni. How special is it to have a pizza named after Boreas Inn? State Parks built Jim and Chi, the purveyors of this fine pizza, a permanent structure so that visitors to the park, including campers staying in the 240 campsites, can have pizza! We call ahead to avoid waiting perhaps an hour for the most memorable pizza. It’s truly Neopolitano–a thin delectable crust and just the right amount of cheese for a non-guilt producing light meal. They also have wood-fired oysters and mouth-watering wood-fired wings. Homemade ice cream and brownies….oh my! Watch for Jim and Chi’s Serious Pizza to come soon to the town of Long Beach!
I have attached a very fine video about Cape Disappointment State Park to this blog! It stars a few of our favorite State Park employees and some of the best scenery this area has to offer. The Park is located 10 minutes from Boreas Inn. We are soooo lucky to have Cape D State Park in our backyard. So come to Boreas Inn and we will direct you to our favorite park, Cape Disappointment! Enjoy the YouTube about Cape D.!
Boreas Inn still has a couple of really beautiful rooms open for the 4th of July holiday weekend! Since the 4th is on a Monday, a few of our guests coming for the weekend are actually leaving right on the 4th–so we have a couple rooms open on the 4th proper in addition to the 1st and 2nd of July. This is NEXT weekend–wow! We are asking for a three-night minimum over the weekend, but as we approach the holiday, we will compromise on two-night stays, if we must, but three nights is so relaxing at Boreas!
We love the 4th of July in Long Beach, Washington. Well–sort of. It is clearly the most exciting day of the year on the gorgeous Long Beach Peninsula. We would love it more if all the people packed out what they pack in. (Our Boreas guests are always perfect–it’s the other 20,0000 guests on the Peninsula who aren’t so perfect!) The Long Beach Peninsula is truly a place for amateur and professional pyromaniacs!
To address this post-explosive and partying beach clean-up problem on the 4th of July on the Long Beach Peninsula, there are now “Treasure Our Beach” volunteers at all the beach approaches, handing out trash bags and fliers encouraging everyone who comes to the beach to picnic and blow things up, to take their trash home with them! We treasure our Treasure our Beach volunteers. Thank you all! If any of our readers would like to help in this effort, please let us know. Shelly Pollock’s Grass Roots Garbage Gang will have hundreds of volunteers combing the beaches on July 5th to pick up after the 4th of July revelers and we are grateful to those volunteers also! This is a big beach clean-up and we always need more volunteers!
Well first of all, on Saturday, the 2nd of July, to lead off the pyrotechnic displays, there is a stunning and sparkly professional fireworks show on the Port of Ilwaco over the harbor. We like to reserve tables for our guests at Pelicano on Saturday at the Port of Ilwaco, before the 4th so that they have front row seats for the Ilwaco Fireworks display. So in addition to wine pairings at Pelicano that evening, there are fireworks pairings also! If you have dinner at Pelicano, you will also have a place to park right on the harbor for the fireworks. It is truly inspiring to see the glittering on the water and this display just whets the appetite for the total pyrotechnic craziness that is the true 4th of July in Long Beach, WA. We’ve never seen anything quite like Long Beach on the 4th. So there is a method to our madness–we like our guests to dine on the best for breakfast and dinner and watch the celebration of our nation’s independence!
We brag about our 28-mile long beach. Well just about every foot of our very long beach will be filled with cars, families, picnics and We’d estimate–millions of dollars of fireworks that will blow your socks off. This doesn’t include the very fine professional show that happens at dark on the ocean-end of the Bolstad Beach approach five blocks south of Boreas Inn. It’s all FREE and quite insane. Stay on the boardwalk or sit in the back yard of Boreas Inn, (the hot tub has a great view) and stay a safe distance from all the pyromaniacs and you will have a great time in Long Beach, Washington on the 4th of July, 2011. I found a video taken by visitors to the Peninsula last year and you can get a little idea of what it’s like in front of Boreas Inn on the 4th. Hang onto your sparklers, baby!
Grab our last rooms and watch the 2nd and 4th of July shows at Boreas Bed and Breakfast Inn on the lovely Long Beach Peninsula!
Odell Hathaway, our guest/friend/budding videographer likes to take pics and video of me doing the “Food Tour” at breakfast time. You might be able to focus on the food in the video while I am focusing on my ever-drooping face! Both are entertaining. In this video, I have prepared breakfast for a small group of returning guests a couple of weekends ago. Bill was in Eugene for the weekend and I had our guests/friends all to myself! The baked apple french toast I am describing is an adapted recipe originally from The Shelburne Inn, our dear friends, David and Laurie. I love making this dish–something you can put together the night before and bake in the morning. Thanks to Odell for posting this video to YouTube! Come to Boreas Inn–we have availability over Memorial Day weekend—which is NEXT weekend. We promise to make you very happy indeed at our Long Beach Washington Bed and Breakfast. Boreas inn is upscale, but never pretentious!
We promise you a beautiful, lazy weekend at Boreas if you decide to visit us. We have room for you and would love to cook up a storm in the morning if it’s not stormy enough outside–and even if it is. Don’ t listen to the weather guys–they are usually wrong, unless they tell you it’s going to be wonderful–because sunshine, rain, wind…it’s always wonderful here. The fireplaces beckon and we’re offering our Walk-in Special at our romantic getaway by the sea. $150 a night including our “perfectly plated” 3 course or more breakfast (plus tax of course). We don’t want to be lonely–so come to Long Beach and we will fix you up with two fabulous dinners out at our fine dinner houses and promise you the most relaxing weekend with fireplaces blazing and our new hot tub beckoning. We hope to see you soon!
Not only will you be treated to sumptuous beds with the softest linens and feather beds placing goose down above and below your tired and deserving bods enticing you to sleep like babies, you will be treated to a weekend of culinary expertise starting with your daily candle light brunch feast by the fireplace! With only one guest room remaining, you can count on these “simple” pleasures continuing on for President’s Day weekend (February 18,19,20–we have rooms available!) and throughout the year. Boreas Inn specializes in romance, there’s no doubt about it! We consistently treat our guests like royalty, but with style and humor (at least we hope you will think we’re humorous!). Fine dining, whether at the breakfast table at Boreas Inn, partnering with our local restaurants, is of crucial importance to all of us on the beautiful Long Beach Peninsula in SW Washington State. We are in “foodie heaven”. That’s why we all have to work out at the gym a few times a week! (New Year’s Resolution #1!)
Valentine’s Weekend calls upon not just us, but also our restauranteurs, to “pony up” with the most wonderful special Valentine’s weekend menu’s. Sample the Shelburne Inn Restaurant’s menu–itself a beautiful piece, not to mention the cuisine that completes their package! Take a peek at the hotlink and then let us know if you would like us to book you a table at The Shelburne Inn Restaurant over Valentine’s or President’s Day weekend!
Valentine's Day at Boreas Inn will be the highlight of your February!
Winter months are the best for viewing the surf from your car at Cape D.
It’s blowing hard in Long Beach, Washington. The weather is stormy, cold and for awhile this afternoon, the snowflakes were waltzing in all directions with the wind gusts directing their ballet! It was a joyful dance. Now it’s much warmer, 36, and rainy with gusty winds up to 30 or so. We had a relaxing holiday season with mellow guests and fireplaces crackling. Now it’s calm and far too peaceful, except for the weather. So the inn is getting painted, a little at a time by Bill. This weekend is looking quieter than most MLK weekends are. Ask for our Walk-in Special if you are very last minute in making plans! We are ready for guests…and we hope that they come! We have a few rooms remaining for Valentine’s Day weekend, February 11,12 and President’s Day weekend 18, 19, 20. I have been blocking out rooms for the Kite Festival and we have two upstairs rooms open for the week of August 14-21. The Stargazer is open the 18,19,20 of August for a three night stay. I know it’s far from now…but as they say, I’m just sayin’…!
Do you have three days over New Years’ Eve weekend to stay in the loveliest, most relaxing, and indulgent B&B in the State? Oh come on, pamper yourselves. Start 2011 with three glorious nights in our beautiful beds, eat three of the best breakfasts possible, including attending our 14th Dungeness Crab Cake and Champagne Brunch on New Years’ Day. We include the extra courses as our gift to you on January 1, 2011. (Can you believe it’s 2011?) We will make your dinner reservations for you–including New Years’ Eve! So come stay in luxury, dine in elegance and let us ease you into 2011. $595 includes tax for three nights, three perfectly prepared breakfasts and the best time you’ve had in years!! Invite your best friends and come to Boreas Inn for the celebration! The ocean is calling you….and so are Susie and Bill… “Come to Boreas!”
PS. Our newest restaurant and bar, The Lost Roo, has six large screen TV’s if you would like to watch football on New Years Day. Your innkeepers will go with you!
Boreas Inn’s 14th Annual Crab Cake and Champagne Brunch Weekend!
There is a three-night minimum over New Years Eve weekend, you pick the days and we will provide you with first class service, fine gourmet breakfast cuisine, the most delicious fresh Dungeness Crab Cakes ever and incredible relaxation!
Wet Winter Plants in the Rain Forest
Event Date: Saturday, February 13, 2010
Start Time: 10 a.m. End Time: Noon Maximum: 15 people
Fee: Free to members of Friends of Willapa National Wildlife Refuge $10 per person for non-members.
Location: Willapa NWR Headquarters, 3888 State Route 101 (Hwy 101 near Milepost 24) Ilwaco, WA 98624
Event description: This is a wet winter walk in coastal temperate rain forest along Headquarters Creek at Willapa NWR Headquarters.
After a brief orientation indoors, we will walk along and over the creek, and through rain forest to look at plants that grow during the wet season. The focus will be on lichens, mosses and liverworts. We may find a few salamanders and frogs, too. This walk is less than a mile long, on a naturally surfaced trail, with moderate slopes in some sections.
This walk will not be canceled due to rain, but it will be canceled due to high wind, if winds above 40 mph arrive along the coast. If you do not receive a message or phone call canceling the walk by 7-8 a.m. on the day of the walk, then it has not been canceled.
Gear & Equipment: Rain gear, including boots, is required. Bring a hand lens or digital camera to see small plants more easily. This will be a good site to take close-up shots of many small plants.
The Friends of Willapa National Wildlife Refuge will be announcing details regarding their 3rd annual photo contest in April, 2010. The winning photos will be included in the 2011 Willapa National Wildlife Refuge calendar.
To sign up: contact Kathleen Sayce, ksayce@willapabay.org (preferred mode) or by phone, 360-665-5292. To register for this walk, you must leave an email address or phone number that you will be able to access the day of the hike, so that if the walk is canceled at the last minute, you can be contacted by 7 a.m. the morning of the walk.
News flash! The Chinook Observer just released their reader’s survey results for the 2010 “Best of the Discovery Coast” and Boreas Inn scored in four categories! We were named “Coziest Bed and Breakfast” and “Most Romantic Get-away” and placed second for “Best Coffee” and third for “Best Omelette”. Wow! Kudos to Cafe Mam from Eugene, our organic, shade-grown, free-trade coffee with our own Boreas Blend– French, Italian and Espresso. We couldn’t be more pleased! We still have a couple of rooms open for our New Years’ Day Celebration with Crab Cakes and Champagne! Come to the beach! (And of course, we will be watching our Ducks win the Rose Bowl!)
