It has never happened before. A guest merely emerges from their bedroom for breakfast and the innkeepers are speechless and their eyes fill with tears. These tears were of surprise and joy. With almost a child-like wonder–our eyes must have been huge–two adults became children once again. On December 25, 2011, our only guests at Boreas Inn for Christmas morning were Lindley and Charlotte Mixon from Raymond, WA. When they came in the front door, it did occur to us that he was a lovely older gentleman with a white beard and how ironic that it wasChristmas Eve. Being polite, we said not a word about the resemblance. We were sure he’d heard it before.
But only when he emerged from his room on Christmas morning for breakfast, did we truly hold our breath and respond with actual childhood glee that we were in the presence of Santa and Mrs. Claus. Lindley was dressed in a red shirt, with suspenders holding up his trousers, and had a red hat on his head trimmed with white fur. My first words to him were, “My goodness, Santa, you must be exhausted and very hungry! Did you have a busy night?” Yes, this Jewish girl did say that…couldn’t help it. Lindley responded that yes, it was a tiring night but he had a good rest and was very hungry indeed. We posed in front of the Boreas Inn tree with Mrs. Claus, Charlotte, and I couldn’t resist a shot giving Santa a kiss. Lindley has never played Santa professionally! Bill and I were truly moved by Lindley and Charlotte. Lindley is an artist, a warm, loving man with phenomenal talent for throwing big pots and painting. He is currently recovering nicely from open heart surgery. So, sadly, Santa and Mrs. Claus won’t be with us this Christmas. We will miss them and keep in touch on Facebook. We will forever remember the wonderful holiday gift they gave to us a year ago. The richness of life in our 16 years as innkeepers never fails to reward, surprise and enrich us. Thank you, Lindley and Charlotte, for your friendship. Take it easy this Christmas, Lindley! Get healthy and come back soon.
On Christmas morning, 2011, Lindley Mixon and his wife Charlotte, emerged from The Dunes Suite at Boreas Inn and really, truly Susie and Bill were with Santa and Mrs. Claus!
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!
The hunt for the beautiful and delicious bivalve will resume this weekend on the Long Beach, Washington Peninsula. The digs are late afternoon/ early evening with low tide Saturday, Feb.18, is at 4:13 p.m. (0.0 feet), and on Sunday, Feb.19, at 5 p.m. (-0.2 feet). Plan on being on the beach one to two hours before evening low tide. You will truly feel you have earned your supper when you dig and clean your clams and then have the privilege of dining on the most gourmet clam of them all, the Siliqua Patula! Stay at beautiful Boreas Inn on the beach in Long Beach, Washington and we will loan you clam guns and Bill might even show you how to clean your clams and may, even, if you’re very lucky, show you how to cook and EAT them! The spring clam tides will be announced soon, so there will be many more weekends with a chance to dig those glorious bivalves!
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.!
SandSations, in Long Beach, Washington, was voted #1 Best Sand Castle contest in the USA by Coastal Living Magazine! The sand sculpture weekend is coming right up on July 20th-24th. Boreas still has rooms available if you would like to build castles and sculptures or if you simply enjoy marveling at the artistry of the masters, watching teams working together to achieve a goal and learn how the process works. I used to participate in the Cannon Beach competition for around 12 years and my team used to place #1 in our sand sculpting masters category. We sculpted completely by hand. We were consistently top prize winners–that is, until this group of architects from Seattle were added to our category and used sophisticated forms and packing devices…and we didn’t always place first after that. (Coincidentally, we had one of those Seattle architect/sand sculptors as a guest at the Inn!) But talking about immediate gratification–you take a plot of sand, dig up a pile, decide who on your team does what well (I’m good at packing, making hands and letters) then together, the team works magic and achieves a goal within hours. Nothing artificial…just sand and water. It is wonderful! We used to finish off our plots with perfectly smooth borders and beautifully worked lettering. I haven’t seen anything to match our fine finish work anywhere. We usually constructed the sculpture with a theme that was based upon a pun. We were so good and getting a blue ribbon was the icing on the cake. Our Captain’s mother, Betty Lou Tolan was the founder of the contest in Cannon Beach in the early 60′s. The party to celebrate our achievement afterward was always the best time of the year. Ah… those were the days.
This contest in Long Beach awards cash to the winners. We got only ribbons at Cannon Beach and maybe a printed certificate. It didn’t matter. The intensity of taking on a project with sand and sea water and coming up with a fine sculpture was reward enough. SandSations is a great event here in Long Beach, Washington and it’s growing every year. You can experience the great hospitality at Boreas Inn, dine on our feast at breakfast time, walk our trail to the beach and watch the SandSations competition! So come to the beach for a long weekend, July 21-24!
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!
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
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’…!
Boreas Inn can be ALL YOURS, decorated with love for the 2010 Holiday. Rent one room or all five for $595 plus tax per night for a three-night minimum. This is a $320 per night savings!! Boreas Inn’s ready-made holiday removes the stress and will let you relax and enjoy the Holiday–invite the people you want to be with and let Susie and Bill do the rest of the arranging. Just bring your gifts for under the tree! This price includes our signature breakfasts and champagne on Christmas morning! Starting December 21 and ending December 27, you can rent Boreas for a grand and luxurious escape for you, your family and friends. You pick the three nights you’d like to stay, and we will supply an inn full of warmth and wonder and of course, breakfasts to die for! Susie and Bill will arrange your Christmas dinner at one of our fine restaurants open for Christmas (and Christmas Eve of course)!
We ask for a maximum of 10 people and no children under 10. Wander the beautiful beaches, sleep in fine linens under down and on top of our feather beds. Maybe you will be held captive by a big Pacific storm by one of the fireplaces or maybe the weather will be warm and sunny! Wander the Discover Trail and look for whales from the North Head Lighthouse or the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, dine out in our fabulous restaurants, take naps and soak in our brand new hot tub! Before somebody else grabs the chance, make your reservation now! If you book online, just request all of the Inn’s guest rooms, put in the three nights you would like to request and mention the Ready-Made Christmas Special and we will adjust the cost! Or feel free to call us at 888-842-8069. www.boreasinn.com This offer is not valid with gift certificates and there is a 30-day cancellation policy. We will hold the first night (plus tax) as deposit. Make your request soon!!!
Blaine took this video last week and it’s so beautiful! It is whale-watching season and we’ve had some great days to look for the migrating gray whales, heading north to Alaska! When you come stay at Boreas Inn, we will set you up to eat dinner at Blaine and Cheri Walker’s 42nd Street Cafe. Unique dining, and the coziest, most romantic Bed and Breakfast in Washington State are yours for the asking! Come visit soon–the whales will be running up the coast for the next couple of months and the weather in the Columbia Pacific region is alternating between being warm and glorious and… not!
