Ben and Janet's Travel Blog: April 2026

20260402 Thursday, April 2, 2026- Clamming Success

It rained on and off through the night, but it stopped after 3am. When we left for the beach at 6:45am, there was more daylight, so driving onto the beach was a lot less stressful because we could see where the beach was compacted and where all the driftwood ended up. It was also a lot easier to see any clam shows.

There was just a sprinkle of rain with winds of about 20mph when we arrived, but the rain stopped shortly thereafter. Unlike yesterday, visibility was much improved and with the sun occasionally breaking through the clouds, we could actually see some clam shows. There were very few of the classic volcano shows, but enough to show Mark and Jan what they look like. There were mostly quarter sized depressions for shows, but they were visible.

Janet managed to find her limit within a half hour, while it took Ben about 45 minutes. Mark and Jan received tutoring on spotting clam shows and digging techniques. Mark had spotted at least a dozen good shows, but didn’t manage to pull up any clams until Ben followed him and plunged his longer gun into Mark’s original holes, finding the clams just about 6” deeper than the maximum reach of Mark’s welded aluminum gun. With that knowledge, Mark was able to find more clams, sometimes plunging a second time into the hole, and sometimes reaching into the hole to feel the clam at the bottom.

Jan was using one of our vented PVC guns, but she couldn’t get them more than about 16” into the sand. Janet helped her by going in a second time with her vented stainless steel gun and let Jan try using the fancier gun. The stainless steel tube is thin walled so it is less resistance to plunge it into the sand. We eventually managed to get everyone their limit of 15 clams each.

Mark and Jan checked out of their hotel and rendezvoused back at the RV with a box of donuts to learn how to clean the clams. They were quick studies, having experience with cleaning shrimp, and were able to get their catch bagged up to go home with them. They had to leave by 10:30am to catch their ferry reservation. They were going back via Port Townsend so as to avoid the I-5 University Bridge construction mess.

We ran out of propane just as the last of Mark and Jan’s clams were de-shelled, so we let out clam catch soak while we ran into town to refill our propane tank. It looks like we can run the generator about 5 hours on a 20# propane tank.

We tried to refill our tank at the closest RV park, but their pump wasn’t working properly. After about 15 minutes of attempting to get it to work, we drove to a different RV park, close to the Westport airport, where they were able to fill the tank pretty quickly. It helps that it is close to the library as well, so we could use the library’s Wifi to upload the blog. Ben discovered that Oak Harbor residents can get reciprocal library privileges with the Timberland Regional Library system, so he got signed up and can now check out books, DVD’s, and even have expanded access to use the library 7am-8pm 7 days a week, even if the library is otherwise closedm so that is cool.

20260401 Wednesday, April 1, 2026- A One Clam Day

Unfortunately, the weather forecast was accurate. As daybreak approached, there was a steady heavy downpour of rain.

We had departed the campsite at 6:30 am and promptly headed to the beach in search of any clam shows. Nevertheless, the persistent wind and heavy rain prevented us from witnessing a single classic show. Sheets of rain water erased any the moment they tried to form. Even Ben’s attempts to provoke a show with a pounding stick were unsuccessful.

Despite the challenging conditions, Ben managed to elicit one clam show by digging a blind hole while Jan stood nearby. She was fortunate enough to witness the formation of the show and unearthed a small, yet genuine razor clam.

Due to the unfavorable weather, the beach was sparsely populated. However, we did encounter someone who had found two clams and had obtained two more from another individual who had also only found two but lacked the motivation to clean them. Jan kindly donated her clam to this person, hoping it would be enough for him to prepare a meal.

Consequently, we decided to head back to the RV at 7:30 am to get out of our wet rain gear and dry off. The Keurig was put to work making coffee. Jan brought breakfast burritos, which we warmed up in our microwave and enjoyed a satisfying breakfast and chat.

Preparing coffee and using the microwave on the inverter, drained the batteries from approximately 75% to 55%. Recognizing the need for battery recharge, we switched on the generator after 9am after Mark and Jan left to return to their motel room.
Although it would be nice to use the awning to shelter the entry from the rain, for some unknown reason, the awning wasn’t functioning. Fortunately, it didn’t end up getting stuck in the extended position. This issue will require further troubleshooting at home.

At noon, we rendezvoused with Mark and Jan at Merino’s for lunch and had their excellent Fish and Chips. We were able to cash in a full punch card for $10 off today. A freighter sailed along the jetty into Westport as we ate.

After lunch, we did a driving tour of the Westport Jetty and Lighthouse state park facilities narrating over speakerphones as the torrential rain continued. Mark and Jan then retreated to their motel room while we headed back to the RV to run the generator some more to recharge the batteries.

In the afternoon, NASA was scheduled to launch the Artemis 2 moon mission so we headed over to Mark and Jan’s motel for a Blast Off party. This mission is more than 2 years behind schedule, so it was hardly a sure thing, but to our surprise and relief, the launch went off without a hitch, boosting 4 NASA astronauts for the first time for a trip around the moon and back.

Returning to the RV, dinner was pasta with jarred Bertolli marinara sauce with green beans, rotisserie chicken and garlic bread with Mark and Jan, which made for a very pleasant evening sharing stories about travels and parenting.

The weather ap says Westport received close to 1.5” of rain today, which we believe to be no exaggeration. There is a 6” deep x 20’ puddle submersing part of the main campground drive, which is useful for rinsing sand and salt off the bottom of the Bronco if you go through it fast enough.

There is still some rain and wind forecast for tomorrow, although there is at least some chance we will have good enough conditions for Mark and Jan to see a few classic clam shows and dig up a few more clams before calling their first razor clamming excursion a complete failure. But we have enjoyed introducing them to at least a limited exposure to RV camping.

20260331 Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Twin Harbors Razor Clam trip with Cichowski’s

Our Senior Off Season camping pass is on its last legs. In April, it is only valid for free camping Sunday through Thursday nights. So we will camp tonight, Wednesday, and Thursday nights, and dig for razor clams Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings. The low tides coincide with daybreak.

We got off to a bit of a late start. We received notification of a package delivery scheduled for today that required a signature, so we had to wait for the mail man, but Ben had also discovered that the conduits for the high rear floodlights had come loose, so he 3D printed new supports and mounted them. He had also installed rear camera washers, which were from Amazon.com and usually a kit for installing windshield washers on UTV’s.

We hit the road at noon. Trump started a war with Iran a month ago, and with the Strait of Hormuz closed, fuel prices have really been skyrocketing. Samcor, which usually has the lowest diesel prices around was $6.19/gal. Angel of the Winds in Arlington has it for $5.99/gal, while the Costco in Lacey is $6.89/gal. Ben packed three Jerry cans to fill up at the Angel of the Winds to hopefully get us round trip from there to the coast and back. We also topped off the Bronco at $4.69/gal for regular.
We made a quick shopping stop at the Lacey Costco, and although the price was much higher than Angel of the Winds, it was lower than most surrounding stations, so the gas station was very busy. We picked up a rotisserie chicken, artisan rolls and carrot cake, in addition to a hot dog and soda for a quick late lunch.

The weather driving down was beautiful, with mostly sunny skies, and the traffic was not bad taking the I-405 instead of I-5 because construction on the University Bridge has snarled traffic through downtown Seattle badly.

As we approached Aberdeen and Hoquiam, the skies had darkened considerably, and by the time we arrived at Twin Harbors State Park at 4pm, it had just started to sprinkle a bit.

We got set up in our usual spot- site 221, right next to the bathroom. We then rendezvoused with our friends, the Cichowski’s, who had invited us to share in a dinner of home made chili with them. We brought Costco tortilla chips, salsa and beer. It was very nice to have the chance to go over some razor clam techniques. It is hard to believe that they have never dug for razor clams before, although their children have.

We will try to hit the beach at sunrise, which is just before 7am, so we will leave our campsite at 6:30am. The tide will bottom out at 6:56am while official sunrise is at 6:48am. Unfortunately, the weather forecast is pretty bad. There’s an 80% chance of rain, and the winds are forecast to be 25mph with gusts to 40mph, so we may have some real trouble finding clams. But the forecast for Thursday is much better.