The State of Washington has legalized marijuana and is working on administrative guidelines for distribution and sales. The legalization of marijuana has marketing implications for the Bed and Breakfast industry, of that we’re sure. B&B’s certainly are known for “Winemaker’s Weekends” and wine-tasting afternoons…but wait a minute! The rules have changed!
Nobody we know of has had the nerve yet to market a “lost weekend” theme for pot smokers and “green butter” eaters. Our fantasies have left us giggling and wondering about what could, in reality, be a huge marketing advantage in the B&B business. Cooking with “green butter” could leave willing participants wondering what happened to their weekend. Having pot sampling reminiscent of the cafes in Amsterdam has many of us wondering how that might be done. Smoking is not allowed inside commercial buildings, but 25 feet from the inn, it is legal. But foods made with “green butter” certainly do not pollute the air!
In our “Lost Weekend at Boreas” fantasy, we can imagine guests ruminating, “We do remember checking into Boreas Inn, having a blissful nights’ sleep in their amazing beds, eating their legendary breakfasts, dining out at The Depot, Pelicano, the 42nd Street Cafe, all on Saturday night, but more than that, we can’t remember a thing!” Well–that’s probably not going to happen, but then again, it could. Would that be different than guests being intoxicated with alcohol? Yes, it would be very different. We do not have experience with super intoxicated guests so we don’t imagine that our pot-smoking, “green butter eating” guests would have inappropriate behavior. Stoned guests would be peaceful and definitely more food-oriented and we certainly can cater to that! Would we have to transport guests to and from their culinary adventures if they are high? Yes, we would! Is there potential for B&B’s to attract more guests? Yes, there is. So the question is raised since we have a complimentary beer and wine license, meaning we can buy wine and beer and serve it to our guests at no extra charge, would that translate to marijuana too? I suppose we will soon have answers! Until then, we can continue to dream up our “Lost Weekend at Boreas” themes. And giggle.
Is it because of our (wonderful) warm dry spell on the Long Beach Peninsula that lasted almost 100 days without much moisture? Or is it because we are having our Wild Mushroom Celebration this weekend at Boreas that the higher power has halted the handsome King Boletus (porcini) mushroom from peaking up from the soil? Even last year, a very dry summer into fall, we had porcini’s and matsu’s. Veronica Williams, our friendly forager and queen of the woods, has been unable to find any mushrooms in her favorite productive spots. We are sad. Maybe today will be the day, after a week of some moisture, that the beauties will show their domes and emerge from hiding. We can only hope! So it’s out with the dehydrated porcini’s and perhaps at Pelicano Restaurant tonight, we will dine on five courses of mushrooms–they just might not be WILD ONES!
We normally worship the King Boletus this weekend. Alas, the King is in hiding!
Personally, New Years’ Eve isn’t my favorite holiday. I think of doing taxes, of what I haven’t accomplished this year, what I need to accomplish next year… but every year, our guests jolly me into appreciating the holiday more than I would were we not innkeepers. After all, 2012 sounds more well-rounded than 2011. I like even numbers. THERE WILL BE FIREWORKS at the beach, in view from Boreas, on New Years Eve!! I almost forgot!
The Christmas tree is still fresh and lovely for some reason (Bill takes good care of the tree!) and we haven’t tired of the decorations so prettily placed by our decorating crew the first weekend in December. We had a great time decorating this year. This year was extra special with a sweet blend of family and beloved guests who are now family too. We are hoping that we fill up for New Years’ weekend. We are always filled up after Christmas but not this year! Groupon and Living Social may be the reason—people shopping for bargains. Frankly, for what Boreas offers, we are a bargain! But we’re offering the Carpe Diem, Walk-in Special rate starting today. $150 for luxury and pampering! Even the cottage is open this weekend.
Our guest list so far is a fun one and Odell will be here to help us dismantle the decorations if we can work around our desire to watch football…at Mark and Helen’s Lost Roo, of course! Go DUCKS! Everyone is invited to take DOWN the decorations with us and go to The Roo!
Fresh Dungeness Crabcakes and Champagne on Sunday morning, New Years’ Day, sounds pretty perfect for one of our FOUR courses, and Bill will do beautiful work on the crab cakes as always and I will bake pastries, whip up sauces and make the fruit entrée glow so that consuming all that vitamin C seems very sexy. Well…it is! But I hope that if it’s going to be cloudy this week end, that it is also stormy so we can feel comforted by the fireplaces. But I also hope that there is a break in the weather so we can go for a fresh walk to start the New Year. We have been fortunate with fine weather this fall.
Come stay with us this weekend at the prettiest inn on the Long Beach Peninsula—featherbeds, down comforters, fireplaces, fine and fancy breakfast fare, freshly baked brownies, and the incredibly-wonderful-almost-brand-new hot tub for two with a little aromatherapy—mint and eucylptus, to soften your skin. Boreas Bed & Breakfast Inn is posh but hip, fun, but mellow and very food-crazy with a great location on the beach in Long Beach Washington. Relaxation is the best way to start the next banner year—2012! Happy New Year!
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.!
Bill and I take a lot of pictures of sunrises and sunsets wherever we happen to be. Bill is the sunrise and I’m the sunset specialist. He’s the more alert morning guy and I’m the evening person. We each think that the pics the other takes look a lot like the myriad of sunset and sunrise pics we’ve each taken, but to us they all look different and fascinating. So–this time of year at the beach is perfect for taking pictures–the light is beautiful, the rainbows sometimes are doubles and on the rare occasion, we have seen triples. We pull off the roads and whip out our cell phones if that’s all we have, and take pictures. We can’t help ourselves. From Boreas Inn decks and windows, if you have your camera ready, you can catch the eagles flying by and the marsh hawks cruising the dunes looking for prey. Wait for sundown, my favorite time and capture the beauty of the sun leaving for the day. At this time of year, the rebirth of my precious flowers in the (currently wild-looking) gardens , the wild weather and the promise of warmer days lift my spirits. Do you feel the same?
The Sky is on Fire!
Born in the Year of the Dragon, sometimes I see them in the clouds…
Come to Long Beach this weekend and get the best of both worlds–luxurious B&B, great food and razor clamming–which is getting right down to the real nitty gritty (to coin a phrase from the 70′s)! Crawl out of your beautiful, warm, cushy Boreas bed in the morning an hour or so before low tide on Sunday, then freeze your fannies off in the early morning digs and be back at the Inn with your limit of 15 razor clams, warming up by the fire with our great coffee by 9:30 am breakfast time! The first dig on Saturday is actually a late afternoon dig–so you can work up an appetite for dinner at one of our fine dinner houses! We will make all arrangements!
Long Beach, Washington will open for razor clam digging for FOUR days at noon March 19! Dan Ayres, WDFW coastal shellfish manager, advises prospective diggers to pay particular attention to the shift in digging times during this month’s razor-clam opening. “It gets a little tricky scheduling digs at this time of year, but the goal is to arrange openings during the best clam tides,” Ayres said. “The split schedule also provides an opportunity for back-to-back digs the evening of Saturday, March 19, and the morning of Sunday, March 20.”
Digging days and low tides for March are:
Saturday, March 19, 7:04 p.m. (-0.1 ft); Long Beach
Sunday, March 20, 7:36 a.m. (-0.5 ft); Long Beach
Monday, March 21, 8:23 a.m. (-0.9 ft); Long Beach
· Tuesday March 22, 9:12 a.m. (-1.0 ft); Long Beach So get your clam digging license, required if you are age 15 or older and come down and dig some razor clams. Ayres reminds diggers that WDFW is tentatively planning another razor-clam opening April 7-9 until noon each day at Long Beach and Twin Harbors if marine toxin tests show the clams are safe to eat. Licenses expire on March 31, so you need to make sure, for the April digs coming up, that you get a new license.
It was a beautiful, calm day of razor clamming at Beard's Hollow
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!
Where else can you behold such open space on a beach anywhere in the country with a glorious winter sunset as the highlight of your day? Tonight the full moon will glisten off the water…with clear skies and a winter nip in the air… Come to a place where you will find beautiful surroundings, a beach that goes on forever, culminating in headlands with lighthouses, walking trails and bicycle paths along the ocean and through the wooded parklands. There is always something to entertain you whether visually, physically or spiritually–or all three at once. When you tire of that, you can sleep like a baby in the most comfortable beds with down over you and under you, dine on a breakfast that will last all day long, and perhaps just do nothing…until dinner of course, when you again DINE at the finest restaurants on Oregon/Washington coast. You work so that you can play! So play in Long Beach, Washington….a seriously perfect place to escape from the rest of the world. Boreas Inn is here for you! Come enjoy the sunsets. (Or when those aren’t available, enjoy the sound of the rain and the cozy fireplaces!)
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!
remember checking into Boreas Inn, having a blissful nights’ sleep in their amazing beds, eating their legendary breakfasts, dining out at The Depot, Pelicano, the 42nd Street Cafe, all on Saturday night, but more than that, we can’t remember a thing!” Well–that’s probably not going to happen, but then again, it could. Would that be different than guests being intoxicated with alcohol? Yes, it would be very different. We do not have experience with super intoxicated guests so we don’t imagine that our pot-smoking, “green butter eating” guests would have inappropriate behavior. Stoned guests would be peaceful and definitely more food-oriented and we certainly can cater to that! Would we have to transport guests to and from their culinary adventures if they are high? Yes, we would! Is there potential for B&B’s to attract more guests? Yes, there is. So the question is raised since we have a complimentary beer and wine license, meaning we can buy wine and beer and serve it to our guests at no extra charge, would that translate to marijuana too? I suppose we will soon have answers! Until then, we can continue to dream up our “Lost Weekend at Boreas” themes. And giggle.
