Astoria and Fort Stevens SP, Oregon - March 11 & 12

Saturday morning we were ready to go at 8:10 am .... but only with less than an hours drive to Fort Stevens. We decided to drive into Nehalem and have breakfast at the Bunkhouse Restaurant. A great start for our day with fabulous food in this little "hole in the wall".  Here is an old coffee machine they have on display.

 

Of course we forgot to take a picture so here's one from Google. Fortunately no snow for us!

There's a nice fountain at the base of the sign.

Back to the coach and after hooking up the car, off we went to Fort Stevens. We arrived before 10:30 am and unhooked the car. I drove us to our site and someone's still in our spot so plan B ... We left the MH where it is and decided to go into Astoria to see all the things on Ray's list. lol 

We drove over Youngs River Bridge to downtown Astoria. What a beautiful old town. First up, the Astoria Column.

HISTORY OF THE COLUMN
A monument to the West

The Astoria Column, located atop Coxcomb Hill, is a monument to the natural riches of the Pacific Northwest and the people who settled there. Building and maintaining the Column has been an endeavor requiring the efforts and resources of many over the years. It stands today as one of the finest tributes in America to those who built the West.

What follows is the detail of Attilio Pusterla’s initial sketches for the Astoria Column. His chronological depictions begin from bottom to top — tracing the development to the region from its pristine beginnings to the arrival of the railroad in 1893.

Ray started up the 162 stairs to the observation deck but his knees said NO after a third of them. 

It cost $5 to park and all the money they collect is to help maintain the column and artwork.

To read what all these pictographs mean go to https://astoriacolumn.org/artwork/ for descriptions and sketches of the work.

So our pictures are from the parking lot. Still a fabulous view of Astoria and surroundings.

The Astoria–Megler Bridge is a steel cantilever through truss bridge in the northwest United States that spans the lower Columbia River, between Astoria, Oregon, and Point Ellice near Megler, Washington. Opened 56 years ago, in 1966, it is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America. Wikipedia

We can hear sea lions barking like crazy.

Back in the car to the downtown historic district in Astoria. Next up on our Astoria Tour is the Flavel House Museum. Ray just took some pictures from outside.

As one of the best-preserved examples of Queen Anne architecture in the Northwest, the Flavel House survives today as a landmark of local and national significance. The house was built in 1884-85 for Captain George Flavel and his family. The Captain, who made his fortune from his occupation as a Columbia River bar pilot and through real estate investments, had the Flavel House built as his retirement home at the age of sixty-two. The Flavel House has been restored to accurately portray the Victorian period’s elegance and the history of the Flavel family.

The carriage house that is now the Visitor Centre.

A few more beauties in thi historic area.

Just around the corner is the Pigeon Steps. I found this explanation on a blog.

One term for this type of walkway is "pigeon steps." I found the phrase in Karen L. Leedom's book, Astoria: An Oregon History, but I found precious little about pigeon steps online - only enough to suspect that it means you have to take small steps like a pigeon. In fact, walking up this paved ramp is a bit tricky when it's wet because the grips are so close together that an adult has to take steps that are about 3/4 or less of a natural stride. I find it hard to get the right rhythm, but I do find these passages charming (and useful).

According to Karen's book, when the streets were made of wood, narrow slats were placed across to keep the walker from slipping, and when they were paved, the slats were reproduced in cement. Possibly the grips were nailed the width of a plank apart so it was easier for the workmen to space them and nail them down. Another term for the steps was "clickety clacks."

Surrounded by a boxwood hedge. The pictures do not show how steep it really is.

Everything Ray has on his list are all close by. 

The Garden of Surging Waves is a city park designed to honor and celebrate the Chinese heritage of Astoria and the Lower Columbia River Basin. 

I stayed in the car while Ray went and took a few pictures. There's also a food truck court across the street. There seem to be a lot of these set up in Oregon. 

Time for lunch. We decided upon the Astoria Brewing Company.  The parking Gods were with us, a spot opened up right in front of the restaurant on the pier. Perfect, so we can walk the pier after lunch. Parking is very tight in this historic district. We had a little bit of a wait but it's worth it. Ray got his Halibut and Chips for a reasonable price. :) and the in house Rootbeer. I of course ordered a lovely beer. This is one of the first micro-breweries around starting in 1997.

They are still following Covid Protocol with lots of spacing between groups of people. I wondered earlier if it's really needed anymore, but have since found out 3 people I know of now have Covid. Fingers crossed we don't get it again.

We saw a Columbia River Pilot shoot off to meet a ship going up the Columbia to Portland. Pretty cool. There are lots of sea lions playing about in the water outside the Brewery. 

One of 8 I saw swimming by.

Once finished "fueling up", it's time for a walk on the Astoria Riverwalk. A short walk down the boardwalk, there is a hotel on the pier called the Bowline Hotel at $204 per night.  Underneath are lots, and lots of sealions making a huge racket. Not a quiet place at all.

This is one small viewing area. The rest of them you couldn't see but could sure hear. I bet there was over 100 of them under the pier. They have 2 x 12 planks set up everywhere for them to rest on.

Something smells fishy down there! lol

You can see the Astoria Column from the pier.

The Buoy Beer Company is where we originally were going to eat, but it's totally closed and it wasn't until we walked past it we realized why. Half it's roof was blown off in the January storms.

Lots of damage to the old piers.

Ray continued his walk down the pier and I climbed the viewing platform. Didn't stay very long as this person is having a nap.

Ray took this picture of the side of an old building. He loved the textures of the old brick and plaster.

After a bit of a walk on the Astoria Riverwalk we jumped back into the car and headed towards the Astoria Bridge for some more pictures.

Time to head back to the MH and get setup in our site, H9. Unfortunately the sites here are heavily treed so no Satellite TV. Cell coverage is also poor, but after setting up our booster we're able to access the internet, although slow. Was a little worried about this root Ray needed to back over and center the coach so we could deploy the jacks but he had no problem.

Campsite H-9

Once we were all set up  I looked at the weather report again for tomorrow. Originally it's supposed to be not too bad in the morning. but now it will shower all day. With this knowledge, Ray took off in the car again to get a few more pictures in around Fort Stevens while the sun was still out. I started our laundry as this is the last chance to get a bunch of it done before getting home so I don't have so much at the other end.

Coffenbury Lake

Peter Iredale was a four-masted steel barque sailing vessel that ran ashore October 25, 1906, on the Oregon coast en route to the Columbia River. She was abandoned on Clatsop Spit near Fort Stevens in Warrenton about four miles south of the Columbia River channel. Wikipedia

Ray found the spit really interesting as the sand here is black in colour instead of the light tan colour on the rest of the Oregon Coast we've seen.

You can drive this Oregon beach.

Next he drove to the Battery Russell:

Battery Russell (1904-1944) - Battery Russell was built at Fort Stevens between Mar 1903 and Aug 1904 and was transferred for service 12 Aug 1904 at a cost of $125,000. Battery Russell was named for Bvt. Major General David A. Russell who was killed in action 19 Sep 1864 at Opequan, Virginia, during the U.S. Civil War (earlier in his career he served as commander of Fort Yamhill). Deactivated 29 Dec 1944 upon completion of Battery 245.

Ray couldn't go down to the South Jetty as it's all closed for repairs to the viewing platform and with all the heavy equipment moving around, people were not welcome in the area. This picture from google.

We were so lucky with the day being mostly sunny for picture taking. A few black clouds came by, but the rain held off and the sun came out again.

Sunday morning, Ray's back is pretty sore from all the walking yesterday. Just as well the rain started at 8 am, so we are not tempted to go out anywhere. A stay at home day and I will finish the laundry. Tomorrow Tacoma and a visit with Ray's sister Judy.