Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Westport, Washington: Untamed Coast

Bay near Westport, with Olympic Mountains in the background
Bay near Westport, with Olympic Mountains in the background

I parked and walked into John’s River Lodge. It’s populated by the graying, the retired and plump. I’d just surfed Westport, and wanted a place to wet my whistle. I ordered a PBR and sat down at the bar.

It’s littered with random knick-knacks and t-shirts that would appeal to ironic twenty somethings. I sat there thinking that this bar would be a hit in North Park. What would be an even bigger hit are the men’s bathroom walls plastered with Playboy centerfolds. Maybe the half-dozen pickup trucks parked in front should have clued me in that this place was classy. This bar was an oddity, and much the same could be said for the area.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Westport is about a two-hour drive from Tacoma and is the last major habitation before entering the sparsely populated northern Washington coast. It’s an authentic fishing town with stacks of crab pots lining buildings, and a quaint, quiet feeling that’s not so much a trademark, but its condition.

The surf is a gamble, and you may be very well skunked. But the drive outside of Olympia into the mountains and forests makes this trek pleasant.

On your way to Westport you pass through the town of Aberdeen, the childhood home of Kurt Cobain. Tourists and rock historians do make pilgrimages here to check out places where the young Cobain inhabited.

What one is able to discover in the area in terms of food products is interesting. On the road from Westport to Aberdeen, on the right-hand side I found a grocery stand that smoked their own bacon. For a price of a Madison I bought some of the best maple smoked bacon I’ve ever eaten.

If you want fresh seafood you can find it here too; there is Merino’s Seafood Market at the harbor, but it’s better to dig or catch it yourself. Clam digging and crabbing are popular past times, with razor clams and Dungeness crabs being the prizes.

What overwhelms me about the Washington coast is its untamed feeling. There aren’t little beachside bars for your convenience, and if you want to drive your 4x4 right on the beach you can. But what I love about this area is being able to see the snow-capped Olympic Mountains even in May.

Lying on the rocks at the cove at Westport, hearing the ringing of the horn from the lighthouse, gives me a true sense of the ocean with its dangers and possibility. It feels wild out here, and maybe that’s why I like it.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Live Five: Sitting On Stacy, Matte Blvck, Think X, Hendrix Celebration, Coriander

Alt-ska, dark electro-pop, tributes, and coastal rock in Solana Beach, Little Italy, Pacific Beach
Bay near Westport, with Olympic Mountains in the background
Bay near Westport, with Olympic Mountains in the background

I parked and walked into John’s River Lodge. It’s populated by the graying, the retired and plump. I’d just surfed Westport, and wanted a place to wet my whistle. I ordered a PBR and sat down at the bar.

It’s littered with random knick-knacks and t-shirts that would appeal to ironic twenty somethings. I sat there thinking that this bar would be a hit in North Park. What would be an even bigger hit are the men’s bathroom walls plastered with Playboy centerfolds. Maybe the half-dozen pickup trucks parked in front should have clued me in that this place was classy. This bar was an oddity, and much the same could be said for the area.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Westport is about a two-hour drive from Tacoma and is the last major habitation before entering the sparsely populated northern Washington coast. It’s an authentic fishing town with stacks of crab pots lining buildings, and a quaint, quiet feeling that’s not so much a trademark, but its condition.

The surf is a gamble, and you may be very well skunked. But the drive outside of Olympia into the mountains and forests makes this trek pleasant.

On your way to Westport you pass through the town of Aberdeen, the childhood home of Kurt Cobain. Tourists and rock historians do make pilgrimages here to check out places where the young Cobain inhabited.

What one is able to discover in the area in terms of food products is interesting. On the road from Westport to Aberdeen, on the right-hand side I found a grocery stand that smoked their own bacon. For a price of a Madison I bought some of the best maple smoked bacon I’ve ever eaten.

If you want fresh seafood you can find it here too; there is Merino’s Seafood Market at the harbor, but it’s better to dig or catch it yourself. Clam digging and crabbing are popular past times, with razor clams and Dungeness crabs being the prizes.

What overwhelms me about the Washington coast is its untamed feeling. There aren’t little beachside bars for your convenience, and if you want to drive your 4x4 right on the beach you can. But what I love about this area is being able to see the snow-capped Olympic Mountains even in May.

Lying on the rocks at the cove at Westport, hearing the ringing of the horn from the lighthouse, gives me a true sense of the ocean with its dangers and possibility. It feels wild out here, and maybe that’s why I like it.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Undocumented workers break for Trump in 2024

Illegals Vote for Felon
Next Article

Birding & Brews: Breakfast Edition, ZZ Ward, Doggie Street Festival & Pet Adopt-A-Thon

Events November 21-November 23, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader