-----Original Message-----
From: JanFWatson at aol.com [mailto:JanFWatson at aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 7:00 AM
To: stump at techline.com
Subject: Re: Coastal Birding


In a message dated 8/14/2002 6:23:17 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
stump at techline.com writes:

> I am planning to do some birding with friends along coastal Washington
> between Sep. 6-11 this year. We will travel in the Ocean Shores, Grays
> Harbour, Willapa Bay, Leadbetter Point areas.
> Is the tourist season still so busy that we would still need motel
> reservations at that time of year?
> Or is it possible to travel flexibly and just grab a room wherever we
might
> end up at the end of a day

I would almost suggest centrally locating a bit and staying in Aberdeen.
>From there you can easily go to either the Westport area (Tokeland Marina,
Bottle Beach, Midway Beach, John's River) or the other side, Ocean Shores
(Hoquiam STP, Ocean Shores.) We usually stay in Astoria when we want to
bird
Long Beach, Astoria and Led. Point.

I love the beach, but now I am at the point that on the WA coasts, staying
"on the beach" doesn't mean much since we have never been able to see the
ocean from our rooms, let alone hear it. Both Ocean Shores and Long Beach
can be pretty commercial "in town." We only use the room to sleep so we
stay
on the beach to watch the sunset, then drive the 25 min back to "town."

Monetary consideration, and please let me know if you find this otherwise,
but room prices on the two major beaches can be expensive. That's why we
stay in Astoria. From there it is only 20 min to Seaside or the Long Beach
area, with lots of places to stop along the way. Plus, Astoria is a cool
old
town. Mike Patterson posts a great deal on birding in that area. <A
HREF="http://home.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html">Patterson
Birds</A>

Jan Watson
Rochester, WA