Long Beach

After we had our Lunch at SHIPS restaurant, we drove back across the Columbia River to the Washington Side, and turned Left towards Ilwaco and the Pacific Ocean. This was the road that followed the route that Lewis and Clark followed when they first saw the Ocean and knew that they had reached their goal. I had always assumed that they were on the Oregon side the whole time, as they wintered there and all of History has them at Fort Clatsop in Oregon. HOWEVER! They originally were on the North side of the River, and Pocahontas and Clarks slave York, both suggested that they stay on this side, and continue on to the Ocean. They did this, and then because of a need to establish a more permanent camp they crossed the river into Oregon.


shipwrecks

Ilwaco is right on the Pacific, and we turned North to drive up the Long Beach Peninsula, which forms the longest drivable beach in the world. 33 Miles of hard packed sand, with a very shallow reach out to sea. The tide was out, and there were clam diggers out everywhere. We stopped at the Boardwalk, and walked the ½ mile down the beach on the dune.


tsunami

Along this walk there are signs showing the natural history of the area, and how Tsunamis, had and will again, change the landscape of the area. Right behind one of these signs was a brand new condo being opened. I wonder who will be dumb enough to buy there? I would not, as much as I would love to live there, I would not invest in an area that it is predicted to be erased at any time. But what do I know?


whale skeleton

There was a whale skeleton on display, and the Gray whales were being sighted out at sea, on their way North for the summer breeding season. Barbara wanted to go get her feet wet, and as the tide was waaaaaay out there, I let her go alone, and I stayed up on the Boardwalk to document the event. (walking sticks and sand don’t work too well) The weather was wonderful, just a tad bit hazy, which put a chill into the air, but it was perfect walking weather. Bad hair day though.


Barbara


We then drove back along the beach to the other end of the boardwalk, and then continued down the peninsula to Oysterville. This is another story for another time, as We were running out of time and light and wanted to be home before dark. Leave it to say that there was way more history here than I ever knew about. All of the history deals with the settlement of the Seattle area, and Fort Vancouver, and the Mercer Girls, etc. But hardly anything more than a brief mention goes into the oystering, and fishing, and logging, and cranberry bogs that are all along this beautiful area. I will go back before Summer spoils it all and update you on it.


drive

Tomorrow I will talk about Barbs place and South Bend and Raymond. See ya..