Pacific Northwest; Day 7
Departure today from Seaside, OR was at 8:45. It was cloudy and 54 degrees.
Our first stop today was a short distance north at Fort Clatsop, a Lewis and Clark National Historic Park just south of Astoria, OR. This is the place where Lewis & Clark and the Corp of Discovery spent a long winter before heading back east. The fort is a replica of what they lived in. The area around the fort is heavily wooded with amazing Sitka spruce trees.
From Fort Clatsop it was a hop, skip and jump up to Astoria, OR, where we spent a good part of the day. Astoria is situated on the Columbia River, an impressive body of water. Our first stop was at the Astoria Visitor Center where we were provided a map and information on where to go and what to see.
Our next stop in Astoria was the Astoria Column, located on a hill overlooking the town and the river.
It was 164 steps up a spiral staircase to the top of the column, which provided great views.
My brother, Carl, and friend, Gary, would not have even considered doing this. On the way up the stairs I was bumped by somebody going down, which knocked the lens shade off my camera and it fell all the way to the bottom. When I got back down I saw that some kind soul had placed it on a trash can so I was able to retrieve it.
Two movies I know of were shot, at least in part, in Astoria. One was The Goonies. The house a couple of the boys lived in (in the movie, not in real life) is in Astoria. It is now privately owned and it is not possible to get close to it but, with information provided by the man at the visitor center, I was able to use my telephoto lens to get a shot of the front of the house.
As I tried to get closer to the Goonies house, which I was unable to do, I drove by a middle school that I recognized as being the location for parts of the movie, Kindergarten Cop. This information was confirmed later when we took a trolley tour along the river.
By this time we were late getting to the chow line, so we ate lunch at Mo's on the bank of the Columbia River. I had some great halibut in the form of fish & chips while Chris enjoyed her shrimp. We both really liked their clam chowder.
With full bellies, we went to the East End Mooring Basin, where sea lions were all over what used to be used as boat docks. It was fun watching and listening to them. They were barking all the time and there were fights as sea lions already in place on the docks would fight off newcomers. I took way too many photos here.
Last but not least we rode the old time trolley along the river from one end of town to the other and back again. It was an enjoyable and informative ride.
From Astoria we drove over the tall and long bridge that crosses the Columbia River into Washington. About two and a half hours later we arrived at our day's destination in Ocean Shores, WA. We saw 10 deer in town on the way to our motel. Our lodging here advertised ocean views. Of course our room did not have one and we were surprised when we had to walk about a half mile to reach the ocean.
We drove 137 miles today and the high temperature was only 66 degrees, but the sun was out part of the day.
To see all the photos taken today click on this link: Day 7 Photos
Our first stop today was a short distance north at Fort Clatsop, a Lewis and Clark National Historic Park just south of Astoria, OR. This is the place where Lewis & Clark and the Corp of Discovery spent a long winter before heading back east. The fort is a replica of what they lived in. The area around the fort is heavily wooded with amazing Sitka spruce trees.
From Fort Clatsop it was a hop, skip and jump up to Astoria, OR, where we spent a good part of the day. Astoria is situated on the Columbia River, an impressive body of water. Our first stop was at the Astoria Visitor Center where we were provided a map and information on where to go and what to see.
Our next stop in Astoria was the Astoria Column, located on a hill overlooking the town and the river.
Two movies I know of were shot, at least in part, in Astoria. One was The Goonies. The house a couple of the boys lived in (in the movie, not in real life) is in Astoria. It is now privately owned and it is not possible to get close to it but, with information provided by the man at the visitor center, I was able to use my telephoto lens to get a shot of the front of the house.
As I tried to get closer to the Goonies house, which I was unable to do, I drove by a middle school that I recognized as being the location for parts of the movie, Kindergarten Cop. This information was confirmed later when we took a trolley tour along the river.
By this time we were late getting to the chow line, so we ate lunch at Mo's on the bank of the Columbia River. I had some great halibut in the form of fish & chips while Chris enjoyed her shrimp. We both really liked their clam chowder.
With full bellies, we went to the East End Mooring Basin, where sea lions were all over what used to be used as boat docks. It was fun watching and listening to them. They were barking all the time and there were fights as sea lions already in place on the docks would fight off newcomers. I took way too many photos here.
Last but not least we rode the old time trolley along the river from one end of town to the other and back again. It was an enjoyable and informative ride.
From Astoria we drove over the tall and long bridge that crosses the Columbia River into Washington. About two and a half hours later we arrived at our day's destination in Ocean Shores, WA. We saw 10 deer in town on the way to our motel. Our lodging here advertised ocean views. Of course our room did not have one and we were surprised when we had to walk about a half mile to reach the ocean.
We drove 137 miles today and the high temperature was only 66 degrees, but the sun was out part of the day.
To see all the photos taken today click on this link: Day 7 Photos
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