May 13, 2013 - Ft. Stevens State Park near Astoria, OR

Sunday, May 12, 2013 – HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY - Ft. Stevens State Park, OR We had waffles and bacon and eggs for celebrating Mother’s Day with Chuck and Debbie and their two boys. As we head across Washington to the upper Oregon coast, we found another “Jeff” road – the kind of road with switchbacks and lots of curves that motorcycles riders love and large motorhomes drivers don’t like at all. We had a late lunch at Seaside, OR. The seafood lunch was delicious at Dooger's Restaurant. We had to park at the far end of town and walked through the...

May 5, 2013 - Astoria Oregon

I visited Astoria today. It is a small working town. While walking along the river trolley route I talked with a local who pointed out a few places to visit. The Astoria Column is a high point that overlooks Oregon and Washington in a beautiful 360 view. Since it was so clear today I could see all the way to Mount Saint Helens and Mount Hood. A fun activity visitors are allowed is to purchase a balsam wood plane from the visitor center and fly it from the top of the column. The kids flying their planes were having a great time and boy did...

Oct 29, 2012 - Vancouver to Astoria, OR

October 29, 2012 Not up until 8:15 again! BUT there was sunshine and it was in the mid 60’s. To fix our fridge shelf Bob used what every man uses to fix anything, duck tape! Richard added “steel tape” to the mend. I was wondering why we had to find a replacement after all that. Nonetheless we bid adieu to the Riordans and were off to South Portland to get parts for the fridge after a stop at Fred Meyers for provisions. Had no problem finding the place although it seemed to be in the middle of a residential neighborhood. The fellow was very...

Oct 7, 2012 - Welcome to Oregon, Astoria, September 17-19

Astoria, Oregon We enjoyed very much each place we visited in Washington State. Turned out to be the longest we had stayed in any state so far, about 10 days or so. We loved Spokane, had a great time in the rodeo in Ellensburg. Anacortes was lovely, the San Juan Islands were a place we thought we would never see and Seattle, we need to see again. But, we entered Oregon on the 17th of September on the tail end of the drive from Everett. The ride from Everett was very pleasant we hit some mountains and rivers. The last river that we crossed...

Sep 19, 2012 - Mt. Rainier, WA to Astoria, OR

Day Nineteen: Destination - Raymond, WA Soundtrack - Spin Doctors, Spice Girls, Dire Straits, and Keith Urban Nick noticed this tree right before we left the campsite this morning. We took a hike up to Frozen Lake, which got a tiny bit closer to Mt. Rainier. The lake had a big glacier sitting over the top of it. However, the lake itself was not frozen. False advertising if you ask me. There were tons of flowers and trees. We took a few pictures for Jim and my aunt Kathy. Let me know if these are super cool or insanely rare or...

Sep 6, 2012 - To Astoria and south

Part #1 of today's journey We traveled up along the Columbia River Highway to Astoria which is on a point of land and is an adorable little Victoria town. The main feature of the town is the huge bridge going over the river to Long Beach, WA. It was chilly and damp so we stopped for a hot lunch at KFC. There is little flat land for highway and businesses around this point of land and most houses and some businesses were up on the hillside. The structure of the long bridge across the Columbia was dwarfing the rest of the town.

Aug 27, 2012 - Final Day Following Corps of Discovery

We went back to Fort Clatsop as the rangers promised to bring out their air rifle and smooth bore musket for their morning presentation. An interesting story within the Lewis and Clark saga is the air rifle that Lewis purchased with his own money and brought along. This isn’t a ”BB gun” but a .31 caliber, serious rifle effective to 200 yards. Some historians think that it is one of the most important weapons in American and perhaps world history. Lewis brought the rifle out and demonstrated it as part of the ceremonies with the Indians. It...

Aug 27, 2012 - Fort Clatsop

This area is so full of Lewis and Clark sites it is hard to decide what to do and see. Leaving the trailer in camp we drive around to check out what we could before the Cape Disappointment Interpretive Center opened. We saw several trails and aresa where the Corps camped, took in Waikiki Beach and took a hike to the last operating light house on the west coast. After visiting the interpretive center, which was good but not as elaborate as a number of other Lewis and Clark centers we visited, we picked up the trailer and drove to two very...

Aug 19, 2012 - The coast

Aug. 19, 2012 After a brunch with Janet's friends, we drove out to the coast. In Astoria, we rode the bikes along the shore for some great views! Wow! Then we drove to Canon Beach where we enjoyed the low tide at Haystack Rock. Tiny fish, starfish, razor clams, barnacles, anemones, limpets, and chitons, were all visible.

Jul 28, 2012 - Astoria Oregon, visiting relatives

Our dependable truck needed some tender loving care today, after 4,119 miles, it was asking for an oil change. George got up early, found a GMC dealer and took care of that. Now she is ready for the trip back east. Today was the farthest west we'll go as we head northwest to Astoria, the oldest settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. This is where the Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean, you can tell by the amount of barge activity here at the mouth of the river. We checked out some local historical sites and had lunch at the...

Jul 12, 2012 - Terrible Tillie

Astoria, OR We have a room with a view other than a parking lot. Tearing ourselves away from the view, we went to Fort Clatsop,the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition near the mouth of the Columbia River in the winter of 1805. It wasn't a very big place for 33 people. We listened to the rangers and hiked a couple of trails. We also chatted with a fisherman that pointed out 2 eagles waiting across the river for him to catch fish for them. Unfortunately the fisherman did not catch anything while we were there. Bummer. Then we went to...

Jul 11, 2012 - A lunchtime serenade

Astoria, OR Time to give up the big city for those little coastal towns again. Our first stop was Tillamook, Oregon. The Tillamook area is home to five rivers so almost every winter (which is when Tillamookans have rain instead of snow), the dairy fields and downtown flood. Yet they persist in living there. Tillamook is also home to the very popular Tillamook Cheese Factory (est. 1909) where we did a tour. The 40 pound blocks of cheese are cut into 40 one pound rectangular shapes. A machine weighs each smaller block. If it weighs too much,...