It's go time! Time to pry yourself away from that marathon "World of Warcraft" session, mini-"Lost" marathon or dark, cool coffeehouse where you're hammering out your dissertation, and get out to enjoy the kind of weather that actually makes us want to live here. And you don't need to spend a fortune entertaining yourself, either - for summer is when Seattle truly becomes the land of the free (or exceedingly cheap).
By Geoff Carter | May 15, 2006
Short Trips
LONG BEACH -- Norman Anderson gently placed his 6-foot-wide, triangular kite on the hard sand at just the right angle to the wind so it wouldn't prematurely lift off before he could stretch out the full 60-foot length of the dual control strings. The winds, he guessed, were gusting close to 20 knots across the beach, so the kite had to be sitting just perfectly or it might fly away on its own.
By Jeff Larsen | August 12, 2004
CANNON BEACH, Ore. — Cannon Beach is never going to make it into one of those sunny summer songs by someone like the Beach Boys or Jan & Dean.
No "Warmth of the Sun" on this windswept strand. No "Surf City" and "two girls for every boy." Not with everyone so bundled up it's impossible to make gender judgments.
Most of the year, the sandy spot near the northern end of the Oregon coast is a beach like many in the Northwest, with cold, fog, wind and not a little rain.
By Gary A. Warner | January 29, 2004
LONG BEACH -- The clouds parted and the rain let up shortly before I reached Long Beach. Strong winds lashed the coast as I pulled into town, and the 30 or so American flags along the main street stood at attention in the stiff breeze.
The overcast continued to break up, the rain diminished, the wind abated, and then -- seemingly out of nowhere -- a rainbow arched over the ocean against a backdrop of retreating dark clouds.
By Jeff Larsen | June 20, 2002
WESTPORT -- Two weeks ago I wandered under the skeleton of a gray whale called Rosie hanging unceremoniously from a warehouse ceiling in Coupeville. Interesting, I thought, but not very hands on.
It occurred to me -- since I'm a photographer -- that it might be neat to try to photograph the animal from the outside in so to speak ... an actual living, functioning gray whale in the wild, barnacles and all.
By Jeff Larsen | April 11, 2002
Discovery Park is the largest and justifiably one of the most popular parks in Seattle, its 534 acres encompassing seven miles of trails that offer good hiking any time of year.
By Karen Sykes | March 28, 2002
CANNON BEACH, Ore. - It's an Oregon travel poster.
It was here when William Clark (of the Lewis and Clark team) hiked over Tillamook Head in 1806 to strike a deal with local Indians.
Gazing down from a cliff in what now is Ecola State Park, on the edge of Cannon Beach, Clark saw a long, tawny strand of sand and a lofty, sea-sculpted rock.
The explorer made this entry in his journal: " . . . from this point I beheld the grandest and most pleasing prospect which my eyes ever surveyed."
By Stanton H. Patty | March 20, 2001
LONG BEACH, Pacific County - If only Kay Buesing could go fly a kite.
As keeper of the World Kite Museum & Hall of Fame in Long Beach, Buesing, 65, has too little time these days to indulge her passion for catching the sea breezes.
When she's not leading school groups and visitors through the miniature museum, she's busy figuring out how to use 1,000 precious square feet of space to display a collection of huge kites shaped like bats, elephants, dragons and mysterious, mythical creatures.
By Carol Pucci | April 19, 2000
