Winter escape: Wander from Westport to Tokeland

Westport isn’t on the way to anywhere. The only way you’ll get there is if you want to be there. And this time of year, most people don’t. Which is exactly why you should go.

Westport, and the drive south to Tokeland, offers more than enough things to do for a packed winter day trip. Bonus: There are no lines of tourists waiting to buy ice cream or take boat tours.

Westport Winery and Vineyards

Westport Winery doesn’t need to stand out. Yet it does. First, there’s the building just off state Route 105 with its 40-foot-tall lighthouse. Then there are the 32 varieties of wine it bottles.

Sure, they offer a Chardonnay, a Pinot Gris and a Merlot, but its most popular is “Duckelberry Grunt,” a Gewurztraminer mixed with blueberry and huckleberry juices ($25). Pretentiousness is not on the wine list. Vintner Dana Roberts (his parents own the winery), a young man with an easy smile, was busy wrapping up a bottle of Grunt in camo-patterned tissue paper when I visited.

I bought “Rapture of the Deep.” The wine is made entirely from cranberry juice and transported me straight to the nearby berry bogs ($25). Looking for something unique? Leave with a glass float-shape bottle of fortified Riesling ($25). The fruit-forward wines run in the $20-$30 range. Tasting fee of $5 is refunded with a purchase. The restaurant serves lunch daily and dinner Friday and Saturday. Guided tours are available by request.

Where: 1 S. Arbor Road, Aberdeen

Tastings: 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday

Hours: Lunch is served from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday-Saturday; dinner is served from 4-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Information: westportwinery.org, 360-648-2224

Bay City Sausage

The smell of smoke knocked me back a step when I entered Bay City Sausage. That’s because this small shop makes and smokes its jerky and 42 kinds of sausage all on site. The best seller here is the German Garlic, but I fell for the Cranberry (both $6.49). Seasoning didn’t overpower the fresh meat flavor and the cranberries added a piquant tartness. Ronda Strode has owned the store since 2000 and uses recipes from the original German owner. Her smoked sausages, made with beef and boneless pork butts but no artificial flavorings, are ready to eat – perfect for a road-trip snack.

Where: 2249 state Route 105, Aberdeen.

Hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily

Information: 360-648-2344, Facebook

Brady’s Oysters

You’ll see Brady’s oysters before you see Brady’s Oysters. Look for the neat rows of suspended (on lines) oysters on either bank of South Bay as you cross the bridge on state Route 105. The seafood market and processing facility is on the west bank. The store has oysters, clams, crabs, seaweed salads and other products from the sea. Handy to-go items include shrimp cocktail ($2.95) and clam chowder ($4.50).

Where: 3714 Oyster Place E., Aberdeen.

Hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily

Information: bradysoysters.com, 800-572-3252

The greeter

The first thing you likely will see when entering Westport is a vigilant police officer manning his patrol car on Montesano Street. But not even the freshest doughnut can turn Officer Manny Kin’s head. I asked a young passer-by if the dummy cop was a regular feature around town. “Oh yeah,” he answered. “They move him around sometimes, but we’re on to their tricks.”

Westport Marina

Most of Washington’s fishing fleets seem swallowed up by their host cities. Not so in Westport. The gigantic fleet fills the harbor and the whole town seems geared to support it. Crab pots are piled in every empty lot. Men, their sea-weathered faces turned against the wind, walk in gray boots from boats to buildings.

Occasionally a boat will leave the marina and head out to sea.

Crabbing is popular in the marina, both for locals and visitors. I came across Yelm resident Trace Hill who had brought his sons Trace, 11, and Vance, 7, for a day of crustacean trapping. The boys’ red and Dungeness crabs were too small to keep, but they were having a blast anyway.

For dad, the day trip to Westport was a sudden inspiration. “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. ‘We’re going crabbing!’ ” the elder Trace said.

“We also saw our first sea lion,” Vance piped in.

Jetties, trails, views

A newly christened observation tower gives a slightly elevated view of the marina and ocean. I wasn’t expecting the Space Needle, but it could have used a few more stories. A little further north, a viewing platform provides views of Ocean Shores, Grays Harbor and The Olympics. When I visited at sunset, Mount Rainier glowed like a heap of strawberry ice cream on the horizon.

A 2.8 mile long dune trail offers walking and biking from the observation tower to the nearby jetty at Westhaven State Park and on to Grays Harbor Lighthouse. The jetty gives unparalleled views of the ocean and the gang of hardy cold-water surfers riding the breakers. So-called King Tides will hit Westport Jan. 19-24, making for spectacular wave watching.

Lunch

Bennett’s is a local chain with restaurants in Grayland and Ocean Shores. The Westport Fish Shack location is a small, order-at-the-counter type of place that has a warm vibe, and on my visit, plenty of locals. Known for their fish and chips, I nevertheless tried the crab cakes. Though only medallion-size, the two cakes (made of locally caught crab, I was told) were worth the $12.99 price. With just enough filler to hold them together, the lightly browned cakes were loaded with pink and red crab meat. They came with swipes of aioli sauce, perfectly executed fries, avocado slices and a surprisingly spicy pico de gallo.

Bennett’s Fish Shack

2581 Westhaven Drive, Westport

Information: 360-268-7380

11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday

View the Lighthouse

When I first spotted the Grays Harbor Lighthouse, I wasn’t sure if I was seeing the real thing. Lighthouses of all sizes spring up around Westport – as mailboxes, light posts and yard art. It’s as if there’s a whole navy of tiny sailors narrowly avoiding shipwrecks with parked SUVs and sleeping dogs.

This is Washington’s tallest lighthouse, and the fact is, this lighthouse needs to be tall. Its 107-foot-tall tower with 135 steps is set back from the ocean a good 3,000 feet, barely rising above the forest that surrounds it.

The lighthouse, first lit in 1891, is closed for tours until February when it opens Fridays-Mondays. From April to September, it’s open seven days a week.

Grays Harbor Light Station

1020 W. Ocean Ave., Westport

Information: 360-268-0078

Maritime Museum

Located in a picturesque old Coast Guard building, this museum houses the skeletons of two whales and other marine mammals.

In the main building, exhibits highlight ship wrecks, pioneers, coastal erosion, whaling, Native Americans, coastal currents and more.

A separate building houses a fresnel lens from the Destruction Island lighthouse near Forks. “People go in there and just light up,” said Randy Beerbower, the museum’s executive director. He’s speaking metaphorically and literally. The revolving, 18-foot-tall light has two tons of glass and is fully illuminated.

Westport Maritime Museum

2201 Westhaven Drive, Westport

Noon-4 p.m. Friday-Monday

Admission is $8

Information: westportwa.com/museum, 360-268-0078

Grayland

Five miles south of Westport is the weather-beaten town of Grayland. Even the telephone poles tilt away from the ocean as if they’re trying to escape the winter storms. Up on a ridge, the Coastal Community Action Program has built four enormous wind turbines for electricity generation.

Here, just about every other road seems to have “cranberry” in its name. The pink bogs are everywhere, but harvest time is in the fall. Like Westport, homes in Grayland are funky and eclectic. Carved wooden fishermen stand guard, strings of floats line fences. There’s shops and restaurants (Bennett’s has a location here) on the main route.

Beaches

A string of state park beaches line the coast between Westport and Grayland. Bring your Discover Pass to visit any of them for beachcombing and picnicking.

At North Cove, there’s a beach that’s free to visit. But Washaway Beach is no picnic spot – it’s a place where nature crushes futile dreams. For more than a century, relentless waves have eaten away its sandy banks, sometimes swallowing 100 feet a year, washing homes, a lighthouse, a cannery, streets, a cemetery and Grange Hall into the sea. A walk on the sandy beach reveals homes teetering on bluffs, storm-tossed trees, old tires and mounds of green fishing nets.

Tokeland

Passing through the reservation of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe and across from their casino on state Route 105 is a spur that goes to Tokeland. There, I found the Tokeland Hotel – a throwback to another era. The huge grey inn has been owned and operated for 20 years by Scott and Katherine White. The friendly couple have created a homey enterprise without the modern conveniences. There are 18 rooms with shared baths. There’s no TV, the wallpaper is peeling in places and the stairs are creaky from 126 years of use. But the rooms offer expansive views of blue Willapa Bay and are inexpensive: Winter rates run $43.50 for a single and $48.50 for double occupancy.

In the winter, this is the place to come for storm watching or just stopping in for lunch or dinner. Rooms are bright and comfortable and it’s not too hard to imagine you just pulled up in your model T or stepped off a steamer.

The dining room (call for winter hours) offers blueberry pancakes ($7.95), hangtown fry ($12.95), grilled crab and cheddar sandwich ($8.95), cranberry pot roast ($16.95, Sundays only), steak, chicken and other seafood.

Take a walk to nearby Toke Point, home to pristine views and a small fleet of fishing boats with character-revealing names: Gail Force, Stormy and Salmon Slave. It’s a perfect spot to wind up a coastal day trip.

Tokeland Hotel and Restaurant

100 Hotel Road, Tokeland

Information: tokelandhotel.com, 360-267-7006

Craig Sailor: 253-597-8541, craig.sailor@thenewstribune.com