Long Beach Peninsula – A Wonderful Weekend Trip

The Long Beach Peninsula in Washington state is one of our favorite places to go! If you’re planning a beach getaway this year, you might think about going here too.

One thing that’s so cool about the Long Beach Peninsula is that it’s got the bay on one side, and the ocean on the other. And beautiful woods and cranberry fields in the middle! Even though it’s less than two miles across in most places, there’s so much to see and do!

CLICK HERE for a peninsula map

It’s only a 2 1/2 hour drive from our house in Portland to where we have a little beach property. (We call it our piece of sand, but we should really call it our lot of trees!) There’s no house there, but we go stand on it and pace off the measurements of our imaginary retirement home. So after we’ve done that, we have most of the weekend left to eat and explore.

Let me take you along on a recent trip! These are some of our favorite things for a super casual, laid back weekend.

Shakti Cove Cottages

Since we can’t camp on our piece of sand, one of our favorite places to stay is Shakti Cove Cottages. They’re darling little rustic cabins set in a circle around a big lawn.

You take a short gravel lane from the main road, over a charming bridge across a pretty creek, and come into a grassy clearing surrounded by trees!

Each of the cottages is decorated around a theme – we stayed in the Dog cottage last time. (Though we love them all, our favorite might be the Cowgirl Cottage.) They have kitchens, so we usually have at least one dinner in. A couple times, I’ve baked cookies. We even cooked a Christmas dinner here once!

The innkeepers are really friendly and nice, and very thoughtful. Plus, they have a lot of games, movies, and books in the office if it rains, or you just feel like chilling in the cabin.

We usually have a two person cribbage tournament while we’re there. As you can see above, I would have won with this hand, if my opponent hadn’t beaten me first!

And when you’re ready to go out, at the edge of the clearing is the path to the beach!

The Beach

It’s a beautiful little trail through the woods.

And onto the dunes.

And then the beach! I can never get enough of the sand and the ocean!

But I can get almost enough here. Long Beach is 28 miles of beautiful uninterrupted sand and ocean. Lewis and Clark went through the southern part, and there’s a nature preserve at the northern tip.

There are several little towns, each one different, and they have festivals all year long. There’s so much history on the Long Beach Peninsula, and lots of museums to tell you about it.

Historic Oysterville

My favorite little town is historic Oysterville, up at the northern end of the peninsula. It got its name just as you might imagine – the main industry was oyster farming. It was the county seat back in the day, and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is the main street, above.

And the other side of the main street. I love these big trees! And though I’ve never asked anyone, I always wonder how old they are.

Most of the houses were built in the mid-1800s when the oyster industry was booming. Some are still owned by the original families, and most of them have lovely gardens and grounds. Some have stunning views of the bay.

There are plaques like the one above, to tell you the history of the buildings. You can pick up maps from the church, and take a walking tour. Or attend a concert or lecture. It’s a fascinating and charming place.

Here’s the old school house.

And the seafood market. If you love seafood, the Long Beach Peninsula is the place for you!

I could go on and on just about Oysterville, but I’ll move along to some of the other fun things to do.

The Town of Long Beach

The town of Long Beach is midway down the peninsula, and is the epitome of a coastal holiday town. There are lots of these little park areas in town, with fun things to see, and for the kids to climb on while you take a little breather on a bench. Maybe with some ice cream or something from the bakery.

The museum is a blast for kids (and adults) too – more things than you could imagine!

Cottage Bakery & Deli

Oh boy – the bakery! This is one of my favorite places on the whole Long Beach Peninsula! As you can see, they have a fabulous array of delicious baked things. There’s also a little deli in the bakery, where we get our afternoon sandwiches.

And honestly, the people are so sweet! They always remember what we ordered the day before. And as someone who can eat the same thing every day of my life, that’s definitely a plus!

World Kite Museum

Since the Long Beach Peninsula is sometimes touted as the longest beach in the world, it’s a perfect place to fly kites! The World Kite Museum is totally cool! They sell practically every kind of kite you could ever want – and some you didn’t know you wanted!

And besides selling kites, they have all kinds of fascinating exhibits, a Hall of Fame, and even live kite shows. They also, as the name implies, have a museum. And of course the annual kite festival. I never knew there was so much to know about kites, and that they could be so beautiful!

Funland

Who doesn’t like games? The Funland arcade has tons, and laser tag, and video games too. It’s a great place for the kids to go on a rainy day. They even have a party room if someone has a special occasion while you’re at the coast.

Paintings by Goats

On one of my husband’s trips to the Long Beach Peninsula, he saw these signs and was intrigued by “Paintings by Goats.” So the next time we were up there, we had to go see!

When you get to the top of the driveway, you’re greeted by a sign that says “Honk and Hold Your Horses!” We were already laughing by the time the lovely woman came out to give us a tour of the acreage and shop.

Ok – they do have goats and the goats do paint! I won’t spoil the story by telling it all here, but suffice it to say, we didn’t leave without our own work of art painted by a goat! (We also left with two kinds of handspun yarn, some goat’s milk soap, and a dozen fresh eggs!)

Besides the goats, they have lots of other animals to see and pet. These little baby bunnies were only a couple days old – and so cute! The Paintings by Goats stop is definitely worth it – in so many ways!

Cranberries

While there’s great clamming on the ocean side, and oysters on the bay side, the middle of the Long Beach Peninsula is famous for its cranberries. It’s a beautiful drive up the middle of the peninsula, and the bogs are lovely. As of a few years ago, there were over 200 cranberry farmers. You can stop by the Cranberry Museum, and if you’re there in October, you can celebrate with the Cranberrian Fair! Take the Cranberry Trolley to find out all the insider tidbits, and see the research facility. Plus buy cranberry-based crafts, and delicious cranberry baked goods!

The Depot Restaurant

And speaking of food, The Depot Restaurant is one of the main reasons we come up to the Long Beach Peninsula! You might not think it, but this restaurant serves some of the best food we’ve ever had. (And that’s covering a lot of ground!) It’s always packed, so reservations are a good idea. The Depot is an intimate and cozy room, and the cooks and servers are so friendly.

But really – the food! And the wines – their list is amazing! We savored our meals for so long one time, that we closed the place down. Then we stayed, talking to the owners and drinking sherry and port for another hour! If you’re on the Long Beach Peninsula and want a fabulous dinner out, this is the place!

Vintage and Antique Stores

If you love vintage, you will really love an antique stop or two on your Long Beach Peninsula weekend.

Long Beach Peninsula Trading Post

The Long Beach Peninsula Trading Post is one of the coolest antique stores I’ve ever been in! The first time I went in here I was totally overwhelmed! I was just going to pop in and see if they had any teacups …

TEACUPS!

The picture above is only about a third of the huge wall of teacups they had.

And there were lots of full sets of china as well! They do have other things, but as you may know if you’ve been following a while, china is my Achilles’ Heel! In fact, I did a whole post about teacups a while ago.

I did manage to notice some of the other things though, including a beautiful red velvet covered settee, a stained glass floor lamp, and a silver candelabra I really wanted to take home.

North Coast Antique Mall

North Coast Antique Mall is another fabulous – and fabulously huge – vintage/antique/junk stop. Whereas the Trading Post is family owned and stocked by basically one person, the Antique Mall is hundreds of sellers under one huge roof! There’s every kind of thing – from the neutral vintage books above, to old fishing floats, and LP records. It can take hours to get through it, so leave a lot of time, or plan to come back again later! (They don’t have a website, but you can Google them.)

Willapa National Wildlife Refuge

And last on our list, though certainly not least, is the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. 11,000 acres of protected wilderness, where the hiking is wonderful and the views are stunning! There are so many different little ecosystems, and the wildlife, as you’d imagine, is amazing. There are beauties around every corner!

We only hike, but you can also camp, hunt, and harvest at some times of the year. You need permits for those things, but all the info is in the link above.

And More!

I’ve just barely scratched the surface of the fun things to do on the Long Beach Peninsula. There are many more wonderful ways to spend a weekend or a whole summer!

If you make a trip, maybe we’ll run into each other on the beach one day!

Have fun till then!

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