trip planner Cape Disappointment State Park’s lighthouse overlooks “the graveyard of the Pacific.”
Long Weekend at Long Beach The Long Beach Peninsula is beautiful, quiet and a perfect spot for a getaway written by Lauren Kramer
WHEN YOU IMAGINE quiet walks along a seemingly endless shoreline, sandcastle building with little hands digging next to you, serene, ocean-inspired meals and blissful silence but for the whoosh of the waves, you’re picturing Long Beach Peninsula. This 28-mile tongue of land cradled by the Pacific Ocean, Willapa Bay and the Columbia River binds a handful of sleepy communities that feel lost in time and almost completely unchanged over the years. Come for the soothing melody of the ocean, the joy of biking through sand dunes with the wind in your hair and the exhilaration of forest hikes to jaw-dropping vistas. If you love the beach, three days on this littleknown peninsula will calm your soul, intrigue you with its history and leave you breathless with its beauty. 78 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2019
Day BIKING • BEACHES • WINDOW SHOPPING We checked in at Adrift Hotel, a beachside property where the waves are so close that earplugs are placed in each bedroom, in case guests can’t sleep through the tumbling sound. Meticulously remodeled in recent years, Adrift offers complimentary beach bikes, making for an irresistible way to explore the coastline. We took to the Discovery Trail, an 8-mile paved bike path that winds through the sand dunes, past bright yellow bursts of fireweed, alongside dune grass blowing in the wind and sandpipers scurrying close to the shoreline. At the peninsula’s southernmost hamlet, Ilwaco, stop for lunch and a salty cucumber cocktail at the Salt Hotel & Pub, a harborside restaurant
