“The City of Long Beach, a popular Washington beach town, is making it easier than ever for visitors to learn about its points of interest.

Thanks to a new technology called QR codes — a type of barcode that can be scanned by an iPhone, Blackberry, Droid or other type of smart phone — clients have instant access to information at 29 points of interest around the town.

Small signs with the codes provide details on such visitor draws as the World’s Longest Beach arch, the world’s largest frying pan, the World Kite Museum and Hall of Fame, a gray whale skeleton and a 20-foot tall bronze evergreen known as Clark’s Tree, among others. Many sites are located along the half-mile boardwalk overlooking the ocean, in city parks and along Discovery Trail, an 8.5-mile paved, coastal, interpretive path.”

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We had a great trip down to Long Beach Washington for most of our Spring Break. On our drive down we drove through every kind of weather, sunny, then rainy, then snowy, then back to sunny, it was pretty crazy. We stayed for three nights at a little 9 room bed and breakfast that was literally ten feet from the beach. It had a jacuzzi tub, fireplace, patio and delicious scones, yogurt, fruit and juice for breakfast. I would highly recommend it if anyone wants a nice getaway but maybe just in low season, it’s a little pricey during summer.

Anyways, we took our time getting there, stopping by the outlet malls on the way so we got there in the evening. We explored the beach for a bit and then went to a pizza place that looked like an old tavern and when we asked for our leftovers to be boxed up they gave us a piece of tin foil. You know you’re in a small town when they give you tin foil to wrap up your leftovers.

The next day it was rainy and windy so we decided to just relax in our room for most the day. We did get out and got some salt water taffy from the Marsh’s Free Museum where we also saw this creepy “Jake the Alligator Man” which is supposedly half man, half alligator. They had many other weird things in this museum like a two-headed calf and strange old coin machines.

We had lunch at a little family restaurant where I had the best clam chowder I’ve ever had. The rest of the day we read, napped, watched DVDs and just relaxed.

The last full day we had some sunshine so we headed south and checked out the State Parks along the way that had some trailslighthouses and beaches to see. We found a cool little cove where the waves would crash against the rocks and have a little entrance into the cove and would fill it up if they came in at the right spot. That was probably one of our favorite spots that we found.

After eating lunch beside a beach called Waikiki beach we drove to Astoria, Oregon. We walked around the town for a little bit, had some drinks in a cool coffee shop and then tried to find the house where The Goonies was filmed but we couldn’t find it.

When we were coming back to our place we drove along the beach to get there. This was another highlight, there were a whole bunch of entrances where you could just go out on the beach with your car and drive down the beach for quite a while.

That night we had some great pasta dishes at a restaurant right beside our place. The day we left we stopped by more shopping places and got some baseball gear and stuff for the house. It was a very relaxing trip and definitely worth the 6 hour drive to get there.

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Friends of the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge is looking for volunteers to do trailwork on Long Island on Saturday, March 27:

We’ve got two airboats scheduled to ferry us around the island to tackle trail clearing and garbage cleanup.    Need nine (9) people total for this workday, which will be physical (tossing limbs/logs) and involve hiking into and around all the campgrounds and trails.   We want to get this post-winter cleanup finished before marbled murralet and other birds begin nesting on the island, so we’ll proceed rain or shine (of course, if exceptional winds or storms that day render us unsafe on the water, we’ll postpone).

If interested (or have questions), email me Kelly volunteer@friendsofwillaparefuge.org.  I’ll share details of time-to-meet and what-to-bring/wear with our workteam.

The coastal lingcod fishery reopened Saturday, and anglers are dusting off their gear in anticipation of what should be another excellent season.

“Lingcod are very abundant on the south central coast, and 10 years ago they were deemed overfished by a heavy commercial fishery, but since then their population has been stabilized,” said Mark Cedergreen, president of the Westport Charterboat Association. “Fishing is very good in the spring, and the fish tend to be bigger.”

Lingcod fishing off La Push, Westport and Ilwaco is open daily through mid-October. The minimum size is 22 inches, and the daily limit is two lingcod.

The bonus in this spring fishery is that charters will head out first in the morning to target abundant black rockfish (10 fish daily limit), and then head out to deeper water in search of lingcod.

Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com.

“I took a picture of an old boat while I was in Ilwaco, Washington. My wife and I were on a road trip on the scenic highway 101. We had started our adventure in Hoodsport, WA, and we had just passed through Long Beach, WA on our way to the Redwoods of California. In Ilwaco we had stumbled upon a small market fair. Vendors in tents stretched up and down the walkway along the water. Boats were resting in the water like watchful observers of all the bustling activity. I stopped at one street vendor and bought a pocket knife. Then we ventured off to take pictures of the boats. A boat called the “Never Level” stood out. It was awkwardly out of place among the nicer boats. It seemed tired and neglected. It had worked hard without complaint. I hope this painting gives the “Never Level” some long needed attention.”

Visit DanoCreative.com for purchase information on The Rusty Incumbent of Ilwaco (18″ x 14″ Acrylic on Canvas)

QR codes, a barcode that can be scanned by a smartphone, have been installed in the city of Long Beach, Washington. The installation is the first in a series targeting visitors and tourists.

These QR codes are present throughout the city, and provide visitors with instant information at 29 points of interest. These include popular spots which are often frequented even by passers-by. The codes are incorporated in small signs.

The “Quick Response” code is a square barcode that helps in accessing location coordinate, text or contact information and even URL’s onto a phone very quickly. If the phone is equipped with a barcode scanner app, then the camera just needs to be point at the code to read its contents.

These two-dimensional barcodes offer a novel way of exploring the area without being rushed. As cell phones are used to read the codes, catching up with interesting details or curious facts, which can be accessed easily, is fun.

When a smart phone is used to scan the code, it quickly links the visitor to information about the point of interest. With these codes strewn about liberally, in parks and other frequented places, sight-seeing and exploring becomes a pleasure. No need to rely on those unreliable guides or a ‘Boring Guide book’!

A tour of Discovery Trail, which winds through the dunes and offers ocean vistas as well as historic sites, proffering endless excitement can be had by unearthing the information in the 19 codes which are present.

To begin the Discovery Trail tour, the QR code at the World’s Longest Beach Arch on Bolstad Avenue needs to be located. Additional QR codes can be spotted throughout the downtown area as well as at the City parks and playfields.

Read the full article at tmcnet.com.

Next time you visit Long Beach, make sure to take your smartphone. The Washington beach town — known for its kite museum, beach drive and Jake the Alligator Man — has introduced new signage that incorporate QR codes at more than two dozen points of interest.

Read the article.

“Yes, we’re a well-kept secret,” says Museum Director and Pacific Coast Cranberry Research Foundation board member Melinda Crowley. “I think a lot of people on the Peninsula don’t even know we exist.”

What’s fun about the museum is that North Coast residents might take their culture for granted because they’re swimming in it. But cranberry farming on the coast has a 100-plus-year history.

Learn about Bog Boots and the Seven Bounce Test, Weed Whackers and Dibbles.

Don’t miss the gift shop, which is filled to the brim with things cranberry. Some items are unusual, including cranberry soap, body and hand wash, cranberry muffin room freshener and cranberry shower gel. There are also cranberry candles and cards. On the wall are several beautiful circular wreaths made of red cranberry vines.

Entry to the museum is free of charge.

Read the full story in the Daily Astorian, where you’ll also find a recipe for Ruth Crowley’s Cranberry Crisp.