Discovery Awaits on the Long Beach Peninsula

Named one of ‘America’s Favorite Beach Towns’ by ForbesTraveler.com and voted ‘Best Beach’ by the viewers of Seattle’s KING-5 TV, the Peninsula offers visitors blocks of colorful shops, great seafood, comfortable lodging, small museums, horseback riding, and an expansive beach. Southwest Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula: home to a new national park, two historic lighthouses, renowned restaurants, cranberry bogs, and oyster farms.

Many locals and visitors participate in the triannual Beach Cleanup effort, held in January, April and on July 5th.  The recent January cleanup was a resounding success and even offered sunny skies for the day as about 200 volunteers removed flotsam and jetsam from our 28 miles of Peninsula beach. 

As Jackie Ferrier, Deputy Project Leader of the Willapa National Wildlife Complex noted, “We didn’t find anything too out of the ordinary. Lots of pallets, light bulbs, rope and floats. But we did see and document the dead Sperm Whale and dozens of dead Rhinoceros Auklets, puffins and grebes. We also saw plenty of live Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons and thousands of shorebirds (Dunlin and sandpipers). What a great way to spend the day both bird watching and giving back to the beach that we all love.”

This spring’s effort coincides with both Earth Day and Washington Coast Cleanup Day, on April 21st, making the cleanup extend the full length of Washington’s beaches, from Hobuck Beach just south of Neah Bay,to our own Cape Disappointment in Ilwaco.  Last year, 1,158 volunteers helped during the state-wide effort, removing more than 23 tons of debris that included crab pot floats, plastic water bottles, tires, ropes, Styrofoam, carpeting, remnants of fireworks and discarded clothing.

Mark your calendar and join in on the fun.  In addition to the cleanup itself, there will be a lecture the evening before, and a soup feed immediately following the work on the beach.  Several local merchants offer coupons to participants as well, from free coffee to discounted lunch and other services.

To sign up to participate, visit www.coastsavers.org.
For more information on the local effort, head over to ourbeach.org.

During winter storms — or cold-season sun breaks — Cape Disappointment State Park offers some of the best viewpoints on the Washington coast.

If you’re a glutton for winter storms, and peering down from cliff tops into chasms of lashing saltwater makes you really feel alive; or if you simply love gazing out on a seascape of dimpled waves and watery blue sky swept clean by a howling nor’wester — Cape Disappointment is plainly misnamed.

“Cape D,” as locals call it, is no disappointment to the winter thrill-seeker.  Keep reading.

Visualize 209 kite teams of a dozen or more people each, with their own gamelan orchestras. No team is permitted in competition with a kite less than 3 meters wide. Showing you this celebration, Bali International Kite Festival or Lomba Layang-Layang International Bali, is what you can see at the World Kite Museum in Long Beach, WA, beginning February 4th & 5th.

Other details of life in Bali include sounds and pictures of gamelan orchestras, displays of batik fabric, the importance of masks, and of course kite making, plus myths about kites – BATS! MYTH AND REALITY, performances – 11:00 am, 1:30 pm & 3:00 pm both days.

SOURCE: WWW.BEACHTOCHOWDER.COM

“According to a variety of studies, a dash in the sand will boost your calorie consumption by about 1.6 times. Harvard University research indicates that while running a 10-minute mile, the average person burns between 300-400 calories per half hour. Smaller people of course (Wait, I have to have to run more and hold the mayo? Life is cruel) will burn less, while larger people will burn more. Running on sand, however, will earn you a 30-minute calorie burn rate of 480-640 calories at a 10-minute pace for the average person!”

“Another awesome calorie blasting beach perfect for running is the very long, very flat, Long Beach, Washington Peninsula, home to the World’s Longest Beach and the World’s Largest Frying Pan! After a 10-mile sand run, you’ll have earned that oyster omelet and fried spuds.”

Keep reading

These wonderful snow photos  from Janelle Hux inspired a Winter Weather Wonderland at the Beach photo contest on our Facebook page.
Looking East Toward the Willapa Hills From the Beach

The Long Beach Arch

The Worlds Largest Frying Pan

Sunrise Over the Snowy Willapa Hills

Winter Weather Wonderland at the Beach photo Contest

Please submit your winter photos taken on the Long Beach Peninsula to photocontest@funbeach.com and we will put them up in an album on the  Visitors Bureau Facebook page. Our fans will decide the winner by the amount of likes each photo gets. Please provide a mailing address in the email so we can get you your prize if your photo is chosen. You have until January 31st to get us your photos; voting closes February 2^nd.

Contest Rules

• By submitting your photo, you are stating that you took and own the photo as well as releasing it for use by the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau in any manner, without compensation to you as photographer.
• Please note that we reserve the right to enter your photo into competition for a month other than when it was submitted.
• We will not publish your address or email address but will use them to contact you regarding your photo. Please read our Privacy policy.

Prize:  1 vinyl funbeach.com decal and a certificate will be sent to the mailing address provided us when entering the contest. The winner will first be notified by email.

The annual Windless Kite Festival brings indoor kite pilots (or choreographers, or dancers, you name it) to Long Beach, Wash., on Jan. 14-15, 2012.

Check out the full story in the Seattle Times.

Below is the schedule of proposed razor-clam digs, along with evening low tides, announced by WDFW:

•  Jan. 20, Friday, 4:28 p.m. (-0.5 feet)  CONFIRMED
•  Jan. 21, Saturday, 5:17 p.m. (-0.8 feet)  CONFIRMED
•  Feb.18, Saturday, 4:13 p.m. (0.0 feet)  TENTATIVE
•  Feb.19, Sunday, 5 p.m. (-0.2 feet)  TENTATIVE

All digs are subject to the results of marine toxin tests.  We’ll post here as they’re confirmed.

• More info on razor clam digging locally.
• Read the full WDFW press release.

Washington State Parks has announced the following “free days,” when the Discover Pass will not be required to visit a state park.

Following are the 2012 State Parks “free days”:

• Jan 14 through 16 – Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend
• March 18 and 19 – In honor of Washington State Parks’ 99th birthday on March 19
• June 9 – National Get Outdoors Day
• Sept. 29 – National Public Lands Day
• Nov. 10 through 12 – Veterans Day weekend

Visit Cape Disappointment State Park here on our site, and at capedisappointment.org

The Grass Roots Garbage Gang organizes a beach clean up for the 28 miles of beach on the Long Beach Peninsula. Hundreds of locals and visitors come out to clean the beach. EVERYONE is more than welcome to join any of the events.

Free chowder included!

Just show up on any main beach approach between 9:30 and 12:30 on cleanup day.

More info: www.ourbeach.org

Chautauqua Lodge is proud to help this event by offering rooms starting at $69 for those assisting in the clean-up. Contact Chautauqua Lodge at 800/869-8401 or chautauqualodge.com