August 11, 2024
We left Oceana TT today for the Thousand Trails Long Beach RV Campground. We had lowered our expectations coming here after being told that the sites were super close to each other making it tight to get into. There were only about 3 sites available for us. One site had a tree and bush that together provided a larger buffer between us and the adjacent site. The tree was also far enough away that its branches weren’t going to touch the side of the Vinny or be a messy canopy over the top. The site appeared quite level, had sewer and 50amp! SCORE!! We quickly claimed this site. It was easy to back into with just one attempt.
Once set up we discovered we have a strong T-mobile phone signal. Nice to have phones and internet without issues! It was like we won the lottery. We haven’t had 50amp, sewer, decent phone or decent internet for over a month at previous TT parks! All 103 RV sites here have 30/50 amp and sewer available. Power here is GOOD – that’s HUGE. Decent and CONSISTENT voltage is a must for big rigs.
A big rig that parked on our passenger side left after a couple of days. They didn’t like how close everyone was. Barry and I agreed that people don’t know what close is till they’ve been to the Chula Vista Elks RV parking! It’s all relative. LOL During our 2023-visit pictured below, we had to open our door carefully, step out and take a step back to shut the door in order to get past the door and the neighbors driver side slide. Now that is extremely close quarters! We only stay at CV Elks when we have to, but it sure is handy. Once we downsize, the super tight fit spots for a big rig won’t be an issue 🙂 Of course we prefer places where we have privacy no matter what size we are.
The Long Beach Thousand Trails is decent and we would come again. We forgot that they had a small pool here. We walked over to check it out. Wow—it was nicely HEATED. Adjacent to the pool was a very small “hot tub” , but it was only maybe a few degrees warmer than the regular pool. No biggie. With the current temps, we aren’t likely to even go to the pool, but it was nice (and clean).
The park has a nice variety of outdoor games/activities out and ready for guests to make use of them in an area near the pool and the office. It’s good the activities were where TT personnel can keep an eye on proper use and ensure they remain available for others throughout the day.
Additional recreational/play area near one of the tent and three yurts.
We took a walk to the beach. It wasn’t far, but there was a lot of sand along the way. I’ll need to walk my bike a lot of it if I ride on the beach.
The beach had a lot of very deep sand. (Ocean City beach was much better for beach bike riding.) I won’t be able to push my bike through this much deep, soft sand. It must have been comfortable though since Barry took quite the nap while I talked with Abby on the phone.
Aug 12 – Today, we drove down the Long Beach Peninsula to get fresh oysters at Oysterville Sea Farms. As we approached, Barry said, “Gee, I hope this isn’t a place that’s closed on Mondays.” Luckily, it was open. Good timing because they are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays!!
The tide was coming in, but you can still see a part of an oyster bed.
Nice, friendly place. Their chowder is gluten free! But it wasn’t going to be ready for another hour. Another time. We bought a dozen medium oysters and a dozen of large ones to make oysters Rockefeller. These were harvested this morning! Can’t get any fresher than that.
Indoor seating and a beautiful deck to enjoy the views and eat outside.
Recycle oyster shells??? What?
Barry and I saw some piles of oyster shells here, and remembered seeing a huge piles at a place on the East Coast where we bought fresh oysters. Wow–they use them to create more!?! How does that work?
I was curious, so I looked it up. Here’s what I learned:
Oyster shells are the preferred surface for new oyster spat (baby oysters) to latch onto. The shells help grow more robust populations by providing more area for the oysters. Waves and storms will affect them less, and the sturdy shells help the baby oysters ward off predators. The shells also help balance water pH, reducing events like red tides! Cool! (Doesn’t mean this will stop it completely, but at least the shells help reduce it.)
We also wanted some shelled oysters to use for pan-fried oysters, but they were sold out. I noticed the flour mix they sold was gluten free. That’s all they offered! Wow. It is what they use when they make them there. The gentleman’s daughter is gluten free so they were diligent on finding a good one. He also told me to use club soda with the mix to them give a lighter effect. (Evidently beer will do the same.) I’ll pick up some club soda to be ready when we get the additional oysters.
Gorgeous flowers around the corner from Oysterville Sea Farms!
We had to stop to get a picture after driving past these three trees. They were huge! Unfortunately, the picture doesn’t do justice, but there are three adults walking by them.
We didn’t realize Oysterville was an historic place. It was established in 1854! I saw an old schoolhouse, so we stopped to check it out.
Oysterville Schoolhouse – This schoolhouse building was built in 1907, and was used by School District No 1 of Pacific County for fifty years – until consolidation in 1957. Since then, though owned by the Ocean Beach School District, the building has served as a community center for the village and has been managed, cared for, and faithfully restored by the Oysterville Community Club.
This schoolhouse, however, was not the first one here. The first one was a prefabricated building of “red wood” made in California and shipped aboard one of the oyster schooners in 1863. In 1874, the community had outgrown the little red schoolhouse, and a two-story building was built on this site. Unfortunately, the second school burned down in 1905. The third school, which is the one we saw here today, was built in 1907, on the same site.
Historic Oysterville Church
The Baptist church was built in 1892 on land donated by R.H. Espy, who also provided $1500 for its construction. Regular Baptist services stopped in the 1930s and the church building reverted back to the Espy family. In 1981, they arranged for a re-dedication of it as an ecumenical church and gifted the building and property to the Oysterville Restoration Foundation. It is now used by the community-at-large for weddings, funerals, and an occasional Christmas or Easter service.
During the summer, weekly music vesper services take place.
Additional historical markers nearby.
The church had a pamphlet for visitors that included a map and list of 41 historic places within the local community of Oysterville. We did not check out the rest. Some are just signs denoting the location where something was.
August 13
Today we leisurely enjoyed the shops and art found along the main section of the town of Long Beach.
Starting off with the trio of a Pacific razor clam, a cast iron fry pan, and my favorite – a Mother Orca and her baby calf.
Lewis & Clark Memorial Park
Close-up of all the plaques within this memorial plaza.
Dungeness Crabs:
I checked out a few shops along the way. The first was Marsh’s Free Museum. A building with shirts, curios, junk, some antiques, and some bizarre items. I guess it could be a “something for everyone” place. It was full of stuff floor to ceiling, wall to wall.
My favorite was Stormin’ Norman’s with the attached Fish Alley store. I found a great summery t-shirt that I felt would wear a lot.
Tonight Barry and I worked together to make our Oysters Rockefeller for dinner. We fixed all two dozen that we bought yesterday. (1 dozen large, and 1 dozen medium.)
Neither of us noticed any taste difference between the medium shell oysters and the large shell ones. And they were all about the same size inside! One shell that was as big as my entire hand (in the lower left corner of the picture below), had the same size oyster inside it as the rest! LOL.
Oh my! These were SO good!! I have a feeling we are going to “OD” on oysters while on the Washington and Oregon coasts. (Kind of like we did with lobster on the East Coast.)
Tomorrow we plan on checking out Cape Disappointment Park and a couple of lighthouses there.
Good read, Nancy. If you are still there and like tuna canned there is a cannery in IIwaco that my son-in law used when he fished tuna off the Oregon coast. The name is called Sportsman cannery. A bit expensive but you will never eat tuna from a grocery store again. My daughter used to sell what they canned in her salon and every year it sold out. They even gave tuna with personal labels as favors at their wedding. I order on-line from them now. There are several flavors my favs are dill and lemon.
Great info! Thank you. We do like tuna! Unfortunately, we were in Ilwaco on the day you wrote this, rain and wind hurried us along at the Farmer’s Market. We headed to Seaside today (Aug 18). Next time. 🙂