Living and working on this coast has deepened my appreciation for how much there is here to experience, and how much I still have to discover.
From Newport, Oregon, to Westport, Washington, there are fishing communities, oyster farms, remarkable landscapes, artists, museums and people whose work gives this region its character.
Each place has its own identity. Together, they offer the possibility of a wonderful journey.
That is what led me to form 46 Wild: the belief that helping people discover the connections between these places could bring additional value to the communities here.
It is an idea to explore, with others, and a hypothesis to test.
Building on the work already here
I would be surprised if this were the first effort to connect the region. People have spent years promoting their communities, building partnerships and welcoming visitors. There will be lessons in what they have tried, what has worked and what has been difficult to sustain.
Local tourism organizations have an essential role. Counties, municipalities and states are natural, efficient ways to organize that work. They provide local knowledge, accountability and a focus on the businesses and residents they serve.
A broader regional effort can build on that foundation.
Someone coming to Astoria might also enjoy visiting Willapa Bay. A family planning a Long Beach weekend might want to explore across the Columbia. A seafood enthusiast could find reasons to visit several working waterfronts along the coast.
The question for 46 Wild is whether we can help make those connections easier to discover and more inviting to experience.
We are not here to compete for existing tourism dollars or political capital, or to lessen the value of any community. We hope to contribute additional interest, relationships and visits in ways that benefit the people already doing the work.
The opportunity may be in the connections
The hypothesis behind 46 Wild is that we have a distinctive regional asset whose combined value is not yet fully appreciated. Complementary experiences become more valuable when people can see how they fit together.
An oyster-farm visit has its own appeal. Add a meal, a maritime museum, a nearby town to explore and a comfortable place to stay, and someone can begin to imagine a weekend.
The farm gives the meal a story. The museum gives the waterfront context. Another community adds a different experience.
There is a useful analogy to Metcalfe’s law, which describes how a network gains value through its connections. Tourism does not follow a tidy mathematical formula, but the underlying idea is worth exploring: thoughtful connections may make the whole experience more compelling.
The value comes from the distinctiveness of each place and the choices those places offer together.
How people discover places is changing
Travel discovery now includes AI-generated answers and recommendations alongside search engines, guidebooks, social media and advice from friends.
Generative engine optimization, or GEO, is part of that change: how information about a place becomes available and useful to the AI tools people ask for guidance.
For 46 Wild, that raises a practical question. When someone asks for a coastal trip built around seafood, history and outdoor experiences, can we help them discover the full range of possibilities here?
Clear stories about producers, communities and connected experiences may help. So may useful itineraries that explain what visitors can actually do, how the places relate and what is available in different seasons.
That gives us a reason to revisit the regional idea in today’s environment, while learning from the efforts that came before.
It also makes the human side of discovery more interesting to me. As more information arrives through a screen, I believe there is an opportunity to help people experience something tangible before they commit to a trip.
A taste can help someone imagine the journey
A photograph of an oyster and a freshly shucked oyster offer different ways to understand a place.
Tasting it, meeting the person who grew it and hearing about the bay can make the experience feel closer. Someone can ask questions, discover what interests them and begin to picture being there.
Travel research suggests food already plays a significant role in those decisions.
Hilton’s 2025 Trends Report found that 50% of surveyed global travelers book restaurant reservations before their flights. Nearly one in five travels specifically to seek out new restaurants or culinary experiences.
American Express Travel’s 2023 research found that 47% of Millennial and Gen Z respondents had planned an entire trip around a restaurant. Among all respondents, 81% said trying local foods and cuisines was the part of traveling they looked forward to most. That international survey focused on travelers with household incomes of at least $70,000 equivalent who typically fly at least annually.
Those findings do not tell us exactly what will work for our coast. They do suggest that food can be a meaningful starting point for travel.
My belief is that giving someone a taste of our seafood, and a personal connection to its source, could help turn a place they have heard about into a place they want to experience.
Taking a little of the coast to other parts of the country
That is the long-term direction I would like 46 Wild to explore.
Through Sip & Shuck events, tastings and partnerships, we can bring some of this coast to people elsewhere in the country.
Share the seafood. Introduce the producers. Tell the stories. Give people an opportunity to ask questions and discover whether this is a place they would enjoy visiting.
This draws on the work I know best: bringing people together around experiences. It is one contribution I can make to a much larger effort.
The website can then help people explore further and plan. AI discovery can help them find us. The personal encounter gives them something they have tasted and someone they have met.
Our aim is to build an outbound strategy around those encounters and relationships, with digital tools supporting the journey that follows.
“Taste the Wild Pacific” is an invitation
The slogan begins with our seafood, but it opens into the wider experience.
The working waterfronts. The growers and fishermen. The history, arts, landscapes and communities. The chance to spend time in a place and understand a little more about it.
46 Wild. Taste the Wild Pacific.
It is a simple invitation that the region’s many experiences can give depth and meaning.
Helping people find more reasons to stay
Connecting experiences may also help visitors plan across seasons and weather conditions.
The tide determines when people can dig clams. Weather changes plans. A museum, a meal, a tasting or another nearby experience can give a trip more flexibility.
The Clam Report is an initial way for 46 Wild to be useful: help people understand one experience that brings them to the Washington Coast, then introduce them to more of what is nearby.
The hope is that those connections can support longer stays, return visits and opportunities throughout the year.
Just as important is how that happens. I want this effort to help sustain the working communities and local character that make the coast worth visiting. That will take listening, collaboration and a willingness to adjust.
A hypothesis worth trying together
I do not know yet how far 46 Wild can take this idea.
I believe we have a distinctive regional asset whose combined value could be more widely appreciated. I believe changing discovery tools offer new ways to make its connections visible. And I believe a personal encounter with our food and people can give someone a meaningful reason to come.
Those are propositions to test, drawing on local knowledge and learning from earlier efforts.
The invitation is to discover what we might accomplish together, and to give more people a taste of what makes this coast special.
46 Wild. Taste the Wild Pacific.