Razor Clam Season Set for 2009!

Razor clam season tentatively set
to open in mid-October

Digging at all beaches will be restricted to the hours between noon and midnight.

Tentative opening dates and evening low tides in October are (the best time for digging is 1 - 2 hours before low tide):

• Friday, Oct. 16 ( 5:50 p.m. -0.5 ft.)
• Saturday, Oct. 17 (6:38 p.m. -0.8 ft.)
• Sunday, Oct. 18 (7:23 p.m. -1.1ft.)
• Monday, Oct. 19 (8:06 p.m. -1.1 ft.)

In addition, WDFW has tentatively scheduled four other digs through Jan. 3.

Digs scheduled in November include:

• Wednesday, Nov. 4 (7:33 p.m. -1.3 ft.)
• Thursday, Nov. 5 (8:18 p.m. -1.2 ft.)
• Friday, Nov. 6 (9:07 p.m. -0.9 ft.)
• Saturday, Nov. 7 (9:59 p.m. -0.5 ft.)

• Saturday, Nov. 14 (4:34 p.m. -0.3 ft.)
• Sunday, Nov. 15 (5:21 p.m. -0.7 ft.)
• Monday, Nov. 16 (6:05 p.m. -0.9 ft.)
• Tuesday, Nov. 17 (6:47 p.m. -0.8 ft.)

Digs scheduled December 2 through Jan. 3 include:

• Wednesday, Dec. 2 (6:32 p.m. -1.2 ft.)
• Thursday, Dec. 3 (7:18 p.m. -1.4 ft.)
• Friday, Dec. 4 (8:04 p.m. -1.3 ft.)
• Saturday, Dec. 5 (8:51 p.m. -0.9 ft.)

• Thursday, Dec. 31 (6:16 p.m. -1.1 ft.)
• Friday, Jan. 1 (7:01 p.m. -1.8 ft.)
• Saturday, Jan. 2 (7:45 p.m. -1.6 ft.)
• Sunday, Jan. 3 (8:29 p.m. -1.2 ft.)

The WDFW website lists "Twin Harbors" as the location for a 4 day clam dig. That is actually code for the 18 miles of beach that stretches from Willapa Bay to Grays Harbor, ie. Westport/Grayland/Tokeland.

I have made a little primitive map which shows where the best places to find Razor Clams are. If you want to go to Westhaven, I recommend following the map to Westport, then turning toward Westhaven State Park on Jetty Access Road. Park at the state park and walk down to the beach.

To try Grayland, you can access the beach either on Bonge Road or Grayland Beach Road. The area in between these two roads are prime razor clam habitat.

Good luck & happy Clamming!

Cranberry Festival Week! Grayland/Cranberry Coast

I love autumn at the beach! The crowds are gone, the air is crisp, and most often, the sun is still out. We have been having the most wonderful late-summer-early-fall weather this year, and the weatherman is forecasting sunny skies through this weekend - Cranberry Fest weekend!

I love Cranberry Festival weekend, for the kitschy community festival, for the cranberry harvest tours, for the bog jog, but mostly, because I am one of those people who will do anything for a blue ribbon, I love Cranberry Fest weekend for the cranberry cookoff. Unfortunately, I will be headed south for a wedding, which leaves the cookie category up for grabs this year :) Haha.

If cooking is not your thing, there are other reasons to head to Grayland this weekend. There are harvest tours (by bus), there is a cranberry eating contest (have you ever tried to eat uncooked, unsweetened cranberries?), a "biggest berry" contest among the farmers, and some farm fresh cranberries to be purchased. There are also food vendors, cranberry crafts, and live entertainment. After you stuff yourself with fair food and kettle corn on Saturday, head to the bogs for a friendly 5k "Bog Jog" to work it off on Sunday morning. There may be nothing nicer than the quiet cranberry bog lined roads of Grayland for a fall workout.

Check out the Cranberry Coast Chamber for specifics!

Windriders Kite Festival at the Beach in Grayland - July 10-12

It's that time of year, Kite Festival time! I've written before about why I love the Windriders Kite Festival, but there is of course, more to the story than what I noticed in my experience. Evening Magazine profiled Jerry Cannon and the World Champion Sport Kite team, who will be competing at this weekend's Windriders Festival.

The past 2 years I spent most taking photos of the kites, but this year, I will definitely pay more attention to the actual skilled kite flying taking place.

For some details:

The Festival takes place at Grayland Beach Park. For directions, google map "Grayland Beach Road" in Grayland, WA. It's about 5 minutes south from Westport.

It's pretty casual, if you're just there to watch you can drive onto the beach, or park at access road, and just walk around. There is an information booth that opens from noon - 3ish on Friday, 9am -4pm on Saturday and 9am -3pm on Sunday. Those times are approximate and probably vary depending on the volunteers that are working it :) Check out their flyer at the Windriders Club site for a little more information.

See you at the Beach!

Westport and Grayland March Clam Digs

Don't forget about this weekend's clam dig - it's a long one - 6 days, a gift from WDFW for last month's bad weather!

Opening dates and tides are:

• March 7, Friday, 6:21 p.m., +0.3: Twin Harbors only
• March 8, Saturday, 6:58 p.m., +0.5: Twin Harbors and Longbeach only
• March 9, Sunday, 8:28 a.m., +0.3: Twin Harbors and Longbeach only (switch to morning tides)
• March 10, Monday, 9:12 a.m., 0.0: Twin Harbors only
• March 11, Tuesday, 9:59 a.m., -0.1: Twin Harbors only
• March 12, Wednesday, 10:51 a.m., 0.0: Twin Harbors only

Here is a repost of my map of the Twin Harbors clam dig areas. I think the Grayland area is better for first timers, because there are so many people out there and you're more likely to find someone to give you pointers.

Happy hunting!

Beach Glass Treasures in Westport and Grayland

On a recent weekend road trip to Ocean Shores, I met an artist who happens to be a neighbor here in Westport. Beth is the proprietor of Seashore Collections, a small art studio that specializes in Beach Glass Jewelry. She was participating in small beachcombers fair there at the Ocean Shores Convention Center. Beth had some of her jewelry on display and for sale, and it was so beautiful.

She told me that she finds almost all of her glass on the Westport and Grayland Beaches. I love that. I love hearing about finding treasure. I don't have the patience to comb the beaches and find cool stuff. I try to keep my head down when I walk the beach in front of our home, but I don't really have the patience (and now I'm usually chasing my 2 year old). But the payoff is gorgeous, as you can see in these pictures.

To own a piece of beach treasure without the long walk, find Beth on ebay (search for Seashore Collections Westport), or at one of Westport's many street fairs this summer.

The beaches are open for clam digs!

The Department of Fish and Wildlife opened up the Twin Harbors beaches for clam diggers this weekend, and between it being the first dig of the season and the AMAZING weather we're having, there has been an unending stream of people into Westport and Grayland to catch these tasty guys.

Here are some pictures from yesterday evening's clam dig. It was so much fun, this one lady even ventured out with her walker, which I just can't imagine my grandmother ever doing.






I've only been clamming a few times, I never really enjoyed it because I found it so hard to find the "clam show". But last night, the clam were showing very strongly, and I took a few pictures for those of you who are still learning to find them:



There are so many clams that the people who went out on Thursday said they were "necking", which sounds kind of dirty, but just means they were sticking their necks out of the sand yelling "pick me!" like Meredith Grey on a bad Grey's Anatomy episode. I think this might have something to do with the fact that its the first clam dig of the season (the plentifulness, not the neediness).

So grab your lantern, boots, and shovel, and come on down to the beach!

Cranberry Harvest Festival - Recap

It turned out to be a beautiful weekend, with sunny weather in the 60's and the Grayland Cranberry Harvest Festival was a total blast. I was a little disappointed with a 3rd place finish in the cookies and bars category of the cranberry cookoff, but it gives me something to strive for next year :) My dear pal Tim also won third place in the drinks category, for his famous "Manberry", which is a funny name for his Cranberry Manhattan. He put a lot more effort into his entry, reducing the actual berries down to syrup, and then using sugared burbon soaked berries as a beautiful garnish. I'll post the recipe later (if he'll share).

Seriously though, I was shocked with the numbers of people that come out for it, especially the amount of people waiting to take a Cranberry Harvest tour. We weren't feeling up to it with the baby, he's far to antsy these days to settle down on a bus, but we did drive around in our car and watch harvest at several different farms.

Definitely put it on your calendar (October 11/12, 2008) for next year!

Grayland Cranberry Festival!

This weekend brings the Cranberry Coast Chamber of Commerce Annual Cranberry Festival to the Grayland Community Hall. September and October is harvest time in Cranberry Country, and it is a sight to behold. The bright red bogs and the farmers wading through the fruit... I never even knew it existed until last fall.

This weekend is supposed to be 61-62 degrees and partly cloudy (which means partly sunny), so its perfect weather to come down for the festival, which includes a parade at dusk on Saturday evening and a "bog jog" 10k, 5k and 3k on Sunday morning.

You can find more info about it at the Chambers website: http://www.cranberrycoastcoc.com/festival/index.html
I will be passing the bog jog since I've not done much running in the past 2 years since getting pregnant, but I will be entering my cranberry oatmeal white chocolate chip cookies into the Cranberry Cook-off. You can try them if you come to the Bite of the Bog - they're worth the drive. Here's my recipe, sans my secret ingredient if you want to try them at home:


Oatmeal White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars until mixture is light in color. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the milk and the vanilla extract.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Either by hand or with the mixer on low speed, gradually beat the flour in to the sugar mixture until just incorporated.

Stir in the oats and white chocolate chips and cranberries

Drop 1-inch balls of dough onto the cookie sheet, placing about 1 1/2 inches apart so they have room to spread.

Bake at 350F for 10-13 minutes, until golden brown at the edges and light golden at the center.
Cool on baking sheet for at least 1-2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 4 dozen.

Windriders Kite Festival

Prior to this weekend, the idea of hundreds of adults getting together to fly kites simply didn't trip my trigger. However, encouraged by a picture in the South Beach Bulletin, we packed up Baby and headed to Grayland Beach, which for those who've never heard of it, is about 5 minutes south of Westport, for the Annual Grayland Windriders Kite Festival.

And oh my goodness, if you have never seen a thousand kites flying in a beautiful blue sky, it is quite a sight. Kite enthusiasts take these festivals very seriously, staking out their areas with personalized "colors" that display the names of each person in their group. They had areas for novices, "kite acrobatics", and kite fighting. "Kite Ballet" set to music was almost as fascinating (sans the loud engines) as the Seafair Blue Angels. Baby was highly entertained by the various flags and balloon like wind socks that dotted the beach.

The weather started out overcast in the morning - a typical day at the beach, but by noon on both days, it was downright warm, high 60's at least, and warm enough for the water to be full of kids and adults playing and fishing in the surf.

So, as I understand it, these kinds of kite festivals are held all year long, from Bellingham, WA to Lincoln City, OR. The big mama of Kite Festivals is held in Long Beach, WA, every year. All are spectacular to see, the nice thing about this local festival is that its big enough to be worth attending, but small enough that you can attend without fighting traffic and getting lost in the crowds. It's one of the best small town festivals I've attending recently.

The Windriders Kite Festival is sponsored by the local Kite Flying community and local merchants in the South Beach area, and definitely worth a trip down to the beach next summer. And now, the mommy in me will end with the obligatory picture of baby with kite.