Thursday, June 14, 2012

A DAY IN AND AROUND ASTROIA, OREGON

Tuesday, June 12 – We visited our last town of the rugged Oregon Coast today – ASTORIA.

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It wasn't the most perfect day, weather wise, but a little fog and drizzle makes for a good hair day! Photos from today are a bit blurry and rain covered.

foggy ride

Located on the northwestern tip of Oregon, Fort Stevens is a 2800-acre State Park.

Fort Stevens sign

The Fort Stevens Military Museum and Visitors Center contains displays and artifacts spanning the history of the Fort.

Fort Stevens Museum

We really enjoyed the old photographs of the Fort during WWII and an HO train model of the entire Fort. Its geographic location at the mouth of the Columbia River has added to its importance as a defensive position during the American Civil War and especially WWII. It actually was shelled by the Japanese in the early days of WWII, being the only military installation in the lower 48 to be attacked by a foreign power since the War of 1812.

West Battery
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Much of the military equipment has been stripped form the Fort since the War, but they are currently re-building one of the 10 inch guns on the West Battery.

gun

The entire grounds are open to visitors, and we were able to venture on a self-guided tour of the Fort or ride on a converted army truck through the grounds. The truck is currently under the weather awaiting repair. There are signs on all the building remains, and a map to explain all the areas of the Fort.

Barracks

Almost forgot to tell you that since we stayed in an Oregon State Park, we got in FREE to any all State Parks during our stay. We just left the ticket on our mirror and that gained us access to the Park. Thank you Oregon!

We then moved a couple miles down the mouth of the Columbia River to the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. The Visitors Center is very interesting where we watched a film covering the Corps of Discovery, viewed historical artifacts, and learned about this most interesting time in American history. What an amazing accomplishment for these early American explorers.

This is a recreated Fort where the Corps of Discovery (the Lewis and Clark Expedition) lived from December 1805 to March 1806. Here at the end of their 4,000 mile trek across the newly acquired Louisiana Territory, the Corps spent the winter before their journey home.

Lewis and Clark National Historical Park

Officers' quarters were located on the right and enlisted men on the left.Inside the camp

Lewis' quarters.
Lewis quarters

Where they launched their canoes.
canoe launch

One of the interesting facts we learned was about the maps prepared by Lewis and Clark. After their 4000-mile journey, using only a compass to prepare their maps, they were able to construct very accurate maps that when compared to modern day maps are only 40-miles off. Pretty amazing!

Next was the Port of Astoria, a very busy seaport for local fishing fleets and huge ocean going ships waiting to sail down the Columbia River to Portland. From here you can see the famous Astoria-Megler Bridge.

This is how the bridge looked at 9:00 am.Astroia-Megler Bridge

Thought we would throw in a photo of us in our new rain gear. us and bridge

The Astoria-Megler Bridge stretches 4.1 miles from Astoria, Oregon, across the mouth of the Columbia River to Point Ellice, Washington. The bridge contains the longest continuous three-span through-truss in the world. When completed on August 27, 1966, the bridge completed US-101 as an unbroken link between the Canadian and Mexican borders. Today, about 6,000 cars a day cross the Astoria-Megler Bridge without paying a toll.

We had a stretch of clearing for about an hour. This is how the Bridge looked then.
Astroia-Megler Bridge

Continuing our sightseeing, come rain or shine, we drove around Astoria admiring many of the Victorian style homes in this historical city.

Victorian style home

The homes are built on the hillside reminding us of the steep streets of San Francisco. These residents sure don't have to worry about a Tsunami, that's for sure!

Victorian style home 2

At the top of this wind-swept hill is the Astoria Column. No visit to the North Coast would be complete without a stop here. Standing 125 feet tall atop Coxcomb Hill, the Column offers panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, Oregon and Washington coast mountain ranges, Columbia River and the city of Astoria.

Astoria Column

This one-of-a-kind structure, built in 1926, has 14 different scenes, each 25 feet long, representing triumphs, conflicts and turning points of the Pacific Northwest.

Astoria Column 2

The artwork is known as Sgraffito, an Italian art form that combines carving and painting into the concrete structure. More than 400,000 visitors a year visit this unique memorial.

Astoria Column 3

Column

There are 164 spiral steps available for climbing to the top of the column to enjoy the view of the area. Being foggy (That's our story and we're sticking to it.), we choose not to climb the tower and instead, enjoyed the stunting view from ground level.

stairs

Our final stop of the day was the Silver Salmon Grille in downtown Astoria for a late lunch.

Salmon Grill

One of our Blog readers recommend this stop for our chowder tasting-tour. You can eat in the fabulous restaurant or the historical lounge.

inside restaurant

We choose the lounge, with its hand-carved 1880's back bar, for our taste test.

bar

Paul choose the regular Clam Chowder, and Marsha selected the soup of the day – Sturgeon, Smoked-Salmon, and Halibut Chowder. They were both excellent! We both agreed the Silver Salmon Grille is our FAVORITE CHOWDER on the Oregon Coast!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

12 comments:

  1. Ick! The weather looked awful but you certainly seemed like good sports. We're definitely going to have to make a trip down to try that chowder!!

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  2. Well, just think how bad you would have felt if your last day of Oregon coast sightseeing was a beautiful day...might have made you sorry you were leaving! Loved those big smiles while modeling your r*in jackets!

    Only 40 miles off when compared to our maps! I find the people who explored this country to be quite remarkable in their curiosity, adventuresome spirit, and skills in their skills.

    Loved those Victorian houses in Astoria. Looks like one could make a handsome living if they liked to paint! The painted column was intriguing. Thanks for a great Oregon coast travelogue!

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  3. I guess if we can see Craters of the Moon in snow, you can see Astoria in the rain. But there just has to be a better way to do this. Glad you got to end your day with a good bowl of chowder.

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  4. You certainly look well prepared for the northwest in your rain gear. You should begin checking you outer edges for signs of rust though. In spite of mother natures antics I enjoyed the tour.

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  5. Your new rain gear is certainly getting a workout. That's an amazing column ... too bad there's no easy way to see the scenes that are higher up on the column. That charming Victorian is like a ray of sunshine on a gloomy day.

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  6. Sure looked kinda wet there today,but you still ended up with great pictures...

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  7. even in the rain you made Astoria and it's famous bridge and column look inviting!...nice to see your smiling faces even in the raingear!

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  8. Always like visiting Fort Clatsop in the rain as Lewis & Clark in their journals always cited the continuing rain that Winter they stayed...
    Did u have chowder at Mo's in Lincoln City?? They have an annex in Cannon Bch & Newport, Yummo!!!

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  9. When we go to Fort Stevens Dave always like to walk around the shipwreck. Not a good day for doing that? Then stay another day or two.

    I think I would have liked Marsha's chowder. That's more my types of seafood.

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  10. thanks for the preview of Fort Stevens as we have reservations there for the first week in July... sorry about the rain...

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  11. Glad you enjoyed yourselves despite the rain. There is so much to see in that area. You didn't mention my favorite battery - the Russell Battery LOL!! There was also a Russell street and a Russell Ave there by the military museum. Hope you are having lots of fun in the Columbia Gorge.

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  12. Astoria is my favorite city in the country. My daughter and I went to the column in 2010. We had gorgeous sunny weather, but when my husband and i traveled the northwest we had full body rain suits and water proof footwear so weather never stopped us from enjoying the beautiful Pacific coast.

    I loved driving over the bridge. The Columbia River, in my opinion, is the most exciting river that I've seen in the country. Even in the fog and rain, it's beautiful.

    I'm enjoying catching up with your blog.

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