Instead of listening for pass reports, we tuned in National Public Radio. Less than four hours later, we were sipping wine in the library at the Stephanie Inn, an elegant oceanside bed and breakfast hotel a few miles south of downtown Cannon Beach. Only a picture window separated us from the beach at low tide and nearby Haystack Rock. It was nearly sunset, a good time to explore the tide pools for crabs and starfish. I could get used to these kinds of decisions.
Cannon Beach is the ideal place for a winter weekend getaway sans snow and skis.
The Dungeness crab season opens in December, and plump Willapa Bay oysters are bountiful year-round. Hit a stretch of mild weather, as we did, and it can almost feel like summer without the crowds. Had it been raining, we could have spent the weekend lolling around the Stephanie Inn, a 50-room boutique hotel opened in 1993. It's also the ideal stormy weather refuge. Each room has a jacuzzi tub or whirlpool bath, a gas fireplace and a wet bar.