Sections offer a glimpse into all Grays Harbor has to offer

So much to do, so few hours in the day.

Your faithful editor is busy throughout the week bringing you The Daily World, along with my crack staff of reporters and support staff working away at the newspaper’s World Headquarters in Aberdeen, just a stone’s throw away from the muddy waters of the Wishkah.

Which brings me to the topic at hand. In partnership with the Ocean Shores Convention Center, the city of Westport and Grays Harbor Tourism, The Daily World is writing and designing a 100-page glossy magazine called Road Tripping to Grays Harbor. The deadline is coming at me like a freight train.

It will be distributed throughout Washington state and even into California, with the intent on attracting tourists to Grays Harbor.

And man, do we have a lot to offer, from the magnetism of Kurt Cobain and his Under the Bridge Memorial in Aberdeen along the Wishkah to all the activities that come with a coastal county. The magazine will have a comprehensive schedule of events and festivals as well, which will also run in The Daily World.

The Daily World reporters have written features for the piece including Lady Washington, oysters, the Quinault Lodge, Westport Winery, mushroom hunting, Seabrook, Billy’s Bar, the mansions of Grays Harbor, farmer’s markets and the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge.

And that’s just a small list of the attractions that will be featured. Add driving on the beach, storm watching, kite flying, fishing, crabbing, clamming, beachcombing, horseback riding along the Pacific Ocean and whale watching.

Out of Westport we have fishing charters, a wildfloats celebration of glass, surfing, the Westport jetty and viewing tower, and the cranberry coast.

We have two casinos and a historic hotel now housing one of the top restaurants in the state in Tokeland. Seabrook is a magical place and an oasis of a destination.

On our doorstep to the north is the Quinault Rainforest and the Quinault Lodge. Grays Harbor is the Gateway to the Olympic Peninsula.

When this project is done, and I have looked at some of the early pages already finished — it will be a stunner.

Another project The Daily World recently completed is the Winter Issue of Washington Coast Magazine, which has just started its distribution throughout Grays Harbor and beyond. It features stories on mushroom foraging (by yours truly), a Christmas tree farm that supplies Evergreens to the White House, hiking with the Olympians and surfing Westport.

We’re already working on the Spring Issue of Washington Coast Magazine. It will include a photo essay from one of Grays Harbor’s finest artists, a story about beachcombing for glass shards rubbed soft by the pounding surf, a resort along the Pacific Coast and the Grays Harbor Wildlife Refuge with the coming of thousands of shorebirds.

I think I’ll take one of those staycations myself and take in the glory that is Grays Harbor when these projects are done. Like I said, so much to do, so little time.

Until then, I will spend a little time, as readers of this column know, throwing crab pots off the Tokeland jetty.

Michael Wagar is editor of The Daily World. He can be reached at 360-269-7979 and michael.wagar@thedailyworld.com.