Winter Beach Getaway in Seaside

Gone are the crowds; gone is the traffic; gone the carnival atmosphere of video arcades, bumper cars, t-shirt and Surf Dog stands. Still, Seaside offers the long, flat expanse of sand and stunning setting that have made this town Oregon’s oldest beach resort. In the middle of a wild winter storm or on one of those rare sunny February days, Seaside has none of the lonely, deserted feel of an off-season beach town. On the contrary, it’s the ideal time for a coastal getaway.

Seaside has been hosting visitors since the local Clatsop and Tillamook tribes greeted members of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery in 1805. A few of the men established a salt works in the area, and by boiling down sea water were able to extract several bushels of salt for the long trek back to St. Louis.

In the early 1870s, Ben Holladay, a Portland developer, built a luxury resort hotel here known as the Seaside House. With heavy promotion throughout the West, the resort became a popular destination and the growing town took on the name Seaside. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, city folks from Portland would travel by ship down the Columbia River to the Astoria area and then by stagecoach, and later by train, south to Seaside. While families stayed at the beach all summer, working fathers would commute back and forth from Portland on the weekends. Trains arriving at Seaside early Saturday and returning late Sunday became known as the “Daddy Trains.” By 1938, the Sunset Highway (US 26) was completed to the Coast and the rail service closed.

All this history is interpreted in detail at the Seaside Historical Society Museum with displays of American Indian artifacts, photos and memorabilia of Seaside’s early hotels and resorts, a diorama of the town in 1899, and some unusual, old fire fighting and printing equipment. Next door is the Butterfield Cottage where volunteers lead tours through a restored beach cottage furnished and decorated in 1912-style. Available at the museum is a brochure, “Walking Tour of the Historic Seaside Prom,” which describes some of the interesting sights along Seaside’s most famous manmade attraction.

The Promenade, or Prom as it is known locally, was built in 1920 to replace an earlier wooden boardwalk. The 1.6-mile concrete walkway parallels the ocean offering panoramic views of the beach and Tillamook Head to the south. It’s the perfect spot for a leisurely stroll or bike ride. Where Broadway meets the Prom is a traffic roundabout called the Turnaround. In the center, a bronze statue of Lewis and Clark occupies the most prominent spot in town. From here, broad staircases lead down to the beach.

A few blocks north of the turnaround is a small, quaint aquarium. Originally built in 1914 as a natatorium or indoor, saltwater pool, it was converted to an aquarium in 1937, making it one of the oldest on the Pacific Coast. It houses a collection of northwest marine life. To the south, the inland side of the Prom is lined with attractive Arts and Crafts style bungalows and English cottages built in the early 1900s as summer homes for some of Portland’s prominent families. About eight blocks south at Lewis and Clark Way is a reconstruction of the Corps’ salt-making operation.

After a walk along the Prom, it is time to sample some of Seaside’s fresh local seafood. Some of the popular standbys in the center of town include Norma’s Ocean Diner offering famous clam chowder, fish and chips, and crab melts; Dooger’s Seafood, a casual family style restaurant serving a variety of seafood followed by homemade marionberry cobbler; and the Pig ‘N Pancake with popular breakfast items all day and chowder and other seafood at lunch and dinner.

As might be expected, Seaside has a variety of accommodations from charming bed and breakfasts to upscale, luxury hotels. Many offer attractive, reduced winter, mid-week rates. To learn more, check out the Seaside Visitors Bureau .

Officers' Row

What do a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a U.S. President, and the founder of a prestigious Black university have to do with the Pacific Northwest? All three of these men spent time on Officers' Row at Washington's Vancouver Barracks.

Built in the late 1800s, this collection of stately homes served as residential housing for many of the officers and families stationed here. From its beginnings in 1849, this army base functioned as the center of military operations in the Pacific Northwest until World War II, when activities moved north to Ft. Lewis near Tacoma.

The row of officers’ homes gradually fell into disrepair and in 1984, the neglected properties were deeded to the City of Vancouver for $1. While it might have seemed like a terrific bargain, one city official referred to the properties as “21 white elephants nose to tail.” It took four years and $11M in renovation funds from the city and state to transform the properties into today’s line-up of beautifully restored houses stretching along the north side of Evergreen Boulevard. Most of these are occupied by private businesses or townhouses, but a few are open to the public.

In the middle of Officers’ Row, is the Marshall House, built in 1886 for the local commander and, by far, the most imposing building. With its broad front porch, bric-a-brac trim, and rounded tower, this Queen Anne Victorian served as the center for social life in the 1880s and 90s. Between 1936-1938, the house was occupied by General George C. Marshall, who served as commander of the base and supervised nearly 30 CCC camps scattered about the Pacific Northwest. Later positions in his illustrious career included Army Chief of Staff in World War II, Secretary of Defense, and Secretary of State. But, he is best known for the Marshall Plan which directed the economic development of post-war Europe and won him a Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. He and his wife described their time in Vancouver as the best of their lives.

A few doors down, is the Grant House, constructed in 1849 and the first house on Officers’ Row. Ulysses S. Grant served as quartermaster of Vancouver Barracks during the 1850s, and, while he never lived in the house, he did frequent it often. The property served as an officers’ club for more than a quarter of a century and was named for Grant in honor of his impressive military career and years as President. Easily identifiable by its two-storied porch and display of American flags, it now houses the Restaurant at the Historic Preserve.

The Howard House, near the west entrance, carries the name of one of its occupants, General Oliver Otis Howard. After a successful stint in the Civil War, Howard was placed in charge of the Freedmen’s Bureau, commissioned to develop education programs for newly-freed black slaves. He went on to found Howard University in Washington, DC and later served as its president. In 1873, he was sent to Vancouver Barracks where he directed several campaigns against native Tribes, including the infamous Nez Perce War. The house, built in 1879, is an excellent example of late-19th century Italianate style.

Officers’ Row is only one attraction in a locale jam-packed with history. Across the parade grounds and down towards the Columbia River are reconstructed Fort Vancouver and Pearson Field, the oldest operating airfield in the U.S.

Sea Lions On the Move

The popular, beloved sea lions of San Francisco's Pier 39 began to disappear around Thanksgiving. Apparently, like many Californians, they decided to move north to Oregon. Since December, thousands of sea lions have turned up north of Florence on Oregon's Central Coast. Scientists say it's all about anchovies; I say it's all about the scenery!

In Search of the Perfect Nanaimo Bar

While planning a trip to Vancouver Island last summer, I made it one of my goals to find the quintessential Naniamo Bar. Naniamo is a town on Vancouver Island, about a 2 ½ hour drive north of Victoria; and, while there may be a pub or tavern in town called the Naniamo Bar, the REAL Naniamo Bar is a deliciously rich cookie confection with a coconut-graham cracker crust, custard filling, and chocolate topping. No one knows for certain how the cookie acquired this name, but the recipe first surfaced in 1952 in a local cookbook published by the Women’s Auxiliary of the Nanaimo Hospital under the name, Chocolate Slices. Later, this recipe was published in the Vancouver Sun newspaper where it was labeled Nanaimo Bars. Serious cookie scholars have subsequently traced its origin to Irma, Alberta, where it was known locally as Smog Bars or London Fog Bars.


Whatever the source, the cookie is now a Canadian institution. While there are many flavor variations and recipes, purists agree that the custard filling must be made from Bird’s Custard Powder, available only in the UK and Canada. If you live in the United States, you can substitute the powder with instant vanilla pudding mix and still come close to the original recipe.

Several Vancouver Island locals recommended the Old Country Market in Coombs, BC, as the best place for me to experience the absolute perfect Nanaimo Bar.

Coombs is a small town not far from Nanaimo and close to Parksville, off the main road to the West Coast of the island. Beginning as a simple produce stand some 40 years ago, the Old Country Market has evolved into a Whole Foods Grocery on steroids. There is still the selection of fresh local produce, but now they offer an amazing array of international cheeses, artisan breads, local smoked salmon, gourmet goodies, bakery items, imported gifts, tasteless souvenirs, and 69 flavors of ice cream. There’s a restaurant, antique store, and surf shop, but the main attraction is on the roof. The Norwegian owner planted a sod roof above the store and acquired a team of goats to do the necessary mowing.

Now it is known all around as the goats-on-the-roof place and is wildly popular. An entire community of galleries, studios, and gift shops has grown up around the store, making it one of the top tourist attractions on Vancouver Island.

And the Nanaimo Bar? It was very attractive and seemed close to the traditional recipe.

Unfortunately, it was far too sweet for my sweet tooth and I ended up giving half of it to one of the goats!

Lan Su Chinese Garden

When it comes to gardens, there is more than an ocean’s worth of difference in Western/European and Asian concepts. While our Western ideas of garden design may include neatly trimmed hedges, showy blossoms, expanses of green lawn, statuary, or mathematically ordered plantings, a traditional Asian garden is something entirely different. In Portland, the two counterparts live side by side in Washington Park with the International Rose Garden and Japanese Garden exemplifying these very different styles.

Over the years, Japanese gardens have become plentiful and popular in this country, but Chinese gardens are somewhat new and unfamiliar. There are only nine public Chinese gardens in the U.S and Portland is fortunate to have an outstanding representative. The Portland Classical Chinese Garden developed from the sister-city relationship with Suzhou, China, an ancient town near Shanghai, famous for its many gardens. Although the idea of creating a traditional, Suzhou-style scholar garden in Portland had been discussed for some time, it wasn’t until NW Natural offered the city a downtown block of land used as a parking lot that the dream became a reality. Construction, including the importing of 500 tons of rock and a team of artisans from China, began, and the garden opened to the public in 2000.

While occupying only one city block in the Old Town section, the walled garden manages to encapsulate the scholar-style gardens from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). The traditional, required elements of rocks, water, plants, architecture and poetry work together to create a place for contemplation of nature.


The rocks, quarried from China’s Lake Tai and highly desired for their rough texture, shape and holes are piled at one end of the garden to represent mountains. The strength and solidity of the rocks are balanced by water, and Lake Zither in the center of the garden reflects the changing sky above. Plants including bamboo, pine, rhododendron, camellias, chrysanthemums, and peonies were selected for their symbolism as well as beauty. Architecture, as the primary element of design, is featured by several pavilions, open-style buildings, and a teahouse connected by a series of paths and bridges. Since poetry writing and recitation were essential to a scholar’s garden, many of the doorways and buildings are marked with literary inscriptions. All of the elements combine to create a spot of tranquility and beauty far removed from the 21st-century city beyond the walls.

In celebration of their 10-year anniversary in 2010, the garden is changing its name and is no longer known as the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, but the Lan Su Chinese Garden. The new name is a combination of  "Lan" meaning Portland and "Su" for Suzhou. For the first ten days of January, admission is free so be sure to take advantage of this freebie.

Mt. Baker Scenic Byway

Welcome to my blog on traveling in the Pacific Northwest, one of the most beautiful spots in North America. I have already had an inquiry about the locale of the photograph in the header. It's a view of Mt. Shuksan on the Mt. Baker Scenic Byway, an in-and-out road beginning in Bellingham, Washington, and ending some 60 miles later at a stunning viewpoint called Artist Point. As with many trips, I was attracted to this journey based on a picture of this same mountain from a magazine article. Rather than a picture saying a thousand words, for me it said simply, "You've got to see this!" It took over five years and several false starts to be in the Bellingham area on a smashing, sunny day when Mt. Baker was not shrouded in rain clouds.

To reach the byway, exit I-5 at State Highway 542 and head east. While the beginning of the route is not particularly interesting, once you reach Picture Lake (the site of the photograph) the WOW moments start. At Heather Meadows Visitor Center, there is a small museum, nature trail, and one of the world's most superbly sited restrooms. From here, the road climbs steeply offering increasingly better views until it ends at the parking lot at Artist Point. The views of  Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan and Table Mountain are breathtaking...take a look!

Mt. Shuksan

Mt. Baker

Artist Point

Table Mountain

Picture Lake

The Beautiful Bathroom!