We took a drive into Washington today, along the Long Beach Peninsula. When we head into Washington proper next week we are heading up the I5 which doesn’t go anywhere near the coast, so we thought we’d take the drive today and at least see a little of the coastline. We headed back towards Astoria but instead of going into town we made our way over the Astoria-Megler Bridge and before we made it to the other side we found ourselves in Washington State.

Astoria-Megler Bridge

Columbia River from the Astoria-Megler Bridge

The drive up the Peninsula was lovely, we passed through several small seaside towns before getting to Oysterville, which is a small village right at the northern end of the finger of land. We discovered that Oysterville is one of the oldest towns in the whole state, having been settled in 1854, and many of the restored homes there date back to the late 19th century; Red Cottage is the oldest building in this little village. Oysterville, as it’s name suggests, made its money from the oysters that were caught from the surrounding area, and there are still plenty of them available today if you fancy slurping them down.

Red Cottage built 1863-64

Willapa Bay

After leaving Oysterville we headed to the very tip of the peninsula which happens to be Leadbetter Point State Park. The drive in to the park was really pretty and we met a couple of gorgeous Airedales in the car park who were heading out on a hike. We did walk to get a look at the bay but we didn’t stay very long as there were a gazillion mosquitoes and they all wanted a piece of Mike. He ended up with several lumps on his arms and neck before we’d even been out of the car for 10 minutes, and apparently the reason they like to bite him now whereas they never used to is because he doesn’t drink enough beer. Whatever!

Mike: Yeah! Whatever!!!! You can keep the skeeters!!!!

We drove back south through a number of different communities before arriving back in Long Beach and stopping for lunch. We parked close to the beach and took a stroll along the elevated boardwalk that extends 2300 feet along the beachfront, then we walked along the beach for a while and watched people flying kites. As its name indicates the beach here extends for 25 miles and there is a sign as you head onto the sand proclaiming it as the longest beach in the world. I’m not sure what that means or if it is even close to being true but the locals feel that they have the longest beach anywhere.

Long Beach, WA

After lunch we headed further south to Cape Disappointment which is known as ‘The Graveyard of the Pacific’ (not the same one as on Victoria B.C.) as more than 200 ships have wrecked off the coast. Our final stop was at Ilwaco, which wasn’t anything to write about, before we headed back to the Beaver State.

View of Astoria from Washington

Astoria Tower as seen from Washington