Oregon trip notes #3: Sunday in Astoria (visiting "Astoria Column") (September 8, 2013)

One last Astoria (Oregon) note -

Farmers' Market - downtown Astoria

We had a marvelous Sunday wandering around town.  After a fine breakfast at the Cannery Pier, we wandered over to the farmers' market in downtown Astoria - every bit as interesting as last year.

Working our way up the Astoria hills.

Astoria Column (circa 1926)

Then we stroll around town, eventually working our way up into the hills overlooking the city (and the Columbia River).  Visited the quite-unusual Astoria Column - financed in large part by a descendant of John Jacob Astor himself - atop a tall (by Astoria standards) hill, with circular staircase (reminiscent of being inside Statue of Liberty) going up another 125 feet.  Gorgeous weather, phenomenal 360-degree views.

Quick stop at the Ft. George Brewery - where they are doing fine work.  Then lunch back at the restaurant right by our hotel.

View of Astoria (and the bridge by our hotel) from atop the Column.

The delightful Ft. George brewery.  Yet another Oregon brewing triumph.

 15-second clip looking over Astoria and onto the Columbia River from atop the Column:

Oregon trip, v.3

Third year in a row that PJ and I made a September visit to Oregon.  We continue to have exceptional luck with the weather in an often-rainy destination (though we had learned early on that September typically is a good month).

Salmon-cleaners along the Columbia River in Astoria.  Our hotel in background (beneath Megler Bridge).

We like Oregon better each time - easily accessed, a great mix of things we really enjoy.

PJ at our lovely Saturday dinner at Clemente's, downtown Astoria.

We happily repeated the same cities, hotels and many of the same activities and restaurants.  So I won't repeat descriptions, or post additional photos, of those (prior Oregon discussions can be found by clicking this link).  But there were a few twists.

Cioppino for Sunday lunch at Clemente's - amazing.  With delightful bread and Buoy Beer's "Cream Ale."

1.  Chatted with two commercial fisherman (Finnish, of course) over lunch at Bridgewater restaurant bar in Astoria - just in from an overnight fishing trip and had just sold their salmon catch to a small local processor at a spot near our hotel.  Interesting chat, and it was interesting to wander over and watch the action as freshly-caught salmon were processed.  Much goes straight to local restaurants.

I'm standing in our Astoria hotel room, PJ is on our balcony; we never tire of watching
these ocean-going ships glide right by.

2.  In general we had even better seafood encounters than on prior trips.  Chinook salmon in season and delightful.  Willapa Bay oysters continue to be a favorite - PJ must have had a meal of those at least a half dozen times.  We were sad that razor clams were unavailable this year (unlike the prior two years); I guess that's a downside of the fresh-ness factor.

Cape Disappointment lighthouse - photo taken from visitors center just after hiking over 
to the lighthouse and back.  With weather changing minute-by-minute.

3.  Took a short car trip across the Columbia into Washington and visited Cape Disappointment - there is a quite-fine Lewis & Clark visitors center there, plus a great (and short) hike over to the 19th-century lighthouse.  (Which we learned had unfortunately been placed in a location where quite a few ships coming in from the north simply couldn't see it - so lighthouse #1 quickly was abandoned after ships kept sinking on the Bar.)  Then we drove over to the replacement lighthouse - called "North Head" - and took what they called a "tour".  As with last year's visit to South Jetty - these places are almost thrilling in their wildness and end-of-the-world feel.  We much enjoyed.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.

4.  As for hiking in the Mt. Hood area - the footbridge PJ is standing on in the Sandy River video halfway down this post was washed out about three weeks before our trip (taking along downstream a hiker who drowned).  So we ruled out visiting Ramona Falls.  Instead did a 5.3 mile loop to Tamanawas Falls - on the east side of Mt. Hood.  We think we liked this hike even more; Tamanawas Falls itself is a marvel.  Much of the loop follows the gorgeous Cold Spring Creek, or the larger East Fork of the Hood River.  Pretty amazing, especially to someone who grew up on an Iowa dirt farm and lives in the desert.  Take a look at the two very-short videos just below, they give a bit of the feel of these falls.

I like PJ's photo here - looking from Cape Disappointment across the Columbia to South Jetty.
"End of the world" feeling to be sure.

PJ at North Head Lighthouse - functioning, open to visitors.

I like this view of the Megler Bridge across the Columbia in Astoria.  Taken as we wander neighborhoods.

Approaching Tamanawas Falls.  East flank of Mt. Hood.  
On top of the visuals:  sound effects here were astonishing.

5.  Oregon beer industry continues to impress.  We did a better job of touring the Portland brewpubs east of the Willamette River (Burnside, Base Camp, and our favorite - Cascade, the home of sour beers).

6.  We walked and walked - in Astoria, Cape Disappointment, Welches, Tamanawas Falls hike, all over Portland (My Tracks app reported 8.5 miles on one of those days - when we visited International Rose Test Garden etc.)  It's our favorite way to see places we visit.

[7.  Also:  several meals at Bridgewater Bistro; Sunday Market in Astoria (peaches!!); walking all through Astoria neighborhoods; wondrous beer-tasting at Ft. George Brewery, Astoria; nightly wine-and-cheese at Cannery Pier Hotel; great luck with meals at Rendezvous in Welches; Full Sail brewery in Hood River; scouted Columbia Gorge Hotel as possible destination there; Hotel Lucia; Andina; Veritable Quandary; Public Domain; Japanese Gardens; Deschutes Brewpub; Tilt for lunch on return-day; etc.; etc.]

By the delightful Cold Spring Creek on trail to Tamanawas Falls.

International Rose Test Garden on a beautiful Friday morning.

Oregon trip - Astoria (side trip to Cannon Falls) (September 22-24) (1 of 3)

Hotel is farthest building out on the Columbia River.  Looking across to WA.  Taken on one of our walks.  

(Click on any photo to enlarge all, per usual)

PJ and I had pretty high expectations for our trip up to Oregon, and they were consistently exceeded.  We didn't know much about Oregon, beyond recommendations via news articles and Mayo co-workers.

View from hotel room.  Astoria, OR.

We wanted to spend part of the trip on Oregon's Pacific coast.  I'm sure most of the beach towns are quite nice; but we settled on a bit larger town situated right at the mouth of the Columbia River - Astoria.  Some things we'll remember:

Clemente's - delightful lunch and dinner.

Walking about in Astoria.

1.  Fantastic hotel - about five years old, built out on the Columbia on a pier, intentionally evocative of the canneries built out onto the river on piers a century ago.  The river slips by quietly right outside the room on its way to the Pacific; the bridge crossing north to Washington State shelters us on the east; steady traffic of all kinds of boats (including two cruise ships docking a quarter mile to the west); fireplace; very nice happy hour and breakfast; views that won't quit; delightful.  We didn't get tired of watching the shipping, perhaps because it's such a novelty for us.

Walking about in Astoria (#2)

2.  Named after John Jacob Astor - part of early 19th century fur trade efforts - first US city settled west of the Mississippi - historical neighborhoods.

Tasting at Ft. George Brewery - Vortex IPA was a good find.  OR beers were every bit as good as advertised.

3.   Great walks throughout the town - with quite a bit of climbing - fine views down toward the water at pretty much every turn.

Our hotel room.  On the mighty Columbia.

4.  Ft. George Brewery - our first Oregon tasting session.

Ship traffic viewed from hotel room.

5.  Farmer's market was in session - I'm always looking for peaches.  Success.

Maritime Museum.  

6.  Traditional downtown.  Nice restaurants.  Loved Clemente's.

We had no idea how dangerous this area was for shipping . . . 

7.  And how about the maritime museum.  I didn't know this area was so dangerous for shipping - the "Bar" - something to do with the huge Pacific beating up into the immense Columbia discharge - very interesting.

Lunch in Cannon Falls . . . nice view of Pacific Ocean and the "Haystack."  Yup, that's a Vortex IPA.

We were sorry to leave.  Had great weather throughout.

Haystack . . . 

But onto our next stop - the Mt. Hood area.  Drove down the coast a bit before heading east toward Mt. Hood - stopped for lunch at Cannon Falls.  Saw the famous "Haystack".  (POC reminded us that something named "Goonies" was filmed there.)

Our trip was off to a great start.

Showing Astoria, mouth of Columbia River, Pacific Ocean, "The Bar"

Oregon trip notes #1 - South Jetty (September 9, 2013)

Our September 2012 trip to Oregon (eight overnights spread across three cities:  Astoria, Welches (Mt. Hood) and Portland) was so delightful that we repeated it in September 2013.  We repeated many of the same activities, and added a few more.  Liked trip #2 even better, so this will stay in our travel rotation.

Showing South Jetty in relation to Astoria.  Man-made seawall (visible if click-photo-to enlarge) heads  straight west from South Jetty and divides the Columbia River from the Pacific (an effort to control, somewhat, the uncontrollable).

I gave quite a bit of description on our 2012 Oregon activities (three posts, available here) so won't repeat (much).  Will (mostly) point out a few new things we saw in random posts from time to time.

Looking straight west along the seawall (see above map, left side) out to the Pacific Ocean.  

Exhibit 1 is "South Jetty" - a few miles west/northwest of Astoria.  (Not to be confused with a similarly-named location much farther south along the Oregon coast (that one's near the town of Newport.  Never been there.)

Anyway:  last year we learned about the power and danger of the collision of the Pacific Ocean and the massive Columbia River - the fatal "Bar" littered with shipwrecks.  But in 2012 we didn't make it out to the South Jetty from Astoria.

Checking out the wreck of the Peter Iredale (sank in early 20th century, remnants
still on the Pacific beach, a few miles south of South Jetty).

This year:  we did.  And the place definitely captured our imagination, bigtime.  Until reading this book, I hadn't known that "Finisterre" had a deeper meaning than a tony Scottsdale neighborhood - though the Latin translation should have been obvious - this was the "end of the land" at western Portugal.  Until last year, I hadn't known that "Land's End" was anything other than a clothing company - then I learned that it is the western extremity of England.  So when one goes to the "South Jetty" - the western end of Oregon, where the Columbia crashes into the Pacific - all this resonates as you observe the wild seas and skies.  Not hard to imagine how the ancients conjured up a great unknown populated with nothing but monsters out there.

It was a sunny, placid day in Astoria (typical for September even if the area is rainy much of the year).  A few miles away at South Jetty:  rainy, windy, squally, menacing.

"Wreck of the Peter Iredale" - per photo above - is interesting and unusual.  Especially if you consider the back story (from which below photo is taken).

Wreck of the Peter Iredale, 107 years ago.

OK, you had to be there, but PJ's video (below) gives something of a feel for the setting (she starts out looking west along the seawall, then swings south, then back out along the seawall out to the Pacific (Columbia River is on the right side of the seawall).

Finisterre!

Oregon trip notes #2: ship-spotting, Astoria-style (September 7-9, 2013)

As discussed last year (and also here), PJ and I enjoy all sorts of things about Astoria and environs.  Part of this is the Cannery Pier Hotel - exceedingly well designed, built right out onto the Columbia River, sitting just downstream from the Megler Bridge (which stretches north across to Washington); evocative of the canneries formerly operating in the area, etc.

Looking down toward Cannery Pier Hotel and Megler Bridge on a late-afternoon walk 
up into some actually-charming Astoria neighborhoods.

Our room - literally in the Columbia River.  Looking north toward Washington, with 
north sector of Megler Bridge visible through window at right.

The design of the Megler Bridge forces the "big" ships to veer toward the Oregon side of the river - meaning they sweep right by our hotel room's patio.  And this is impressive - it certainly captures our imagination as we watch these boats head out toward the expanses of the Pacific Ocean, or up the Columbia River.

Here's a clip of one of the ships that swept by - the Astra Perseus - it sails under the bridge and then west; note the tiny tug that enters the scene.



It hadn't occurred to me that lots of information was available online about these big ships (maybe about small ships also, who knows).  For example, clicking this link takes you to a page of information about the Astra Perseus (turns out it is quite new:  built in 2012); click the map and it will show you the last reported position.  Appears that the Astra Perseus swung north from Astoria and visited Vancouver before heading toward Japan.  Cool!

Screenshot of Astra Perseus position on September 30 (doing something or other in Japan).

And there were plenty of other ships passing by the hotel (boat in photo below, for example, can be tracked via this link).  And a bunch of birds, swooping around and making their bird-noises (as they do in the above video clip).  For a landlubber like me, this is pretty fascinating.

"Celestial Wing" - loaded with Hondas presumably coming from Japan - eastbound somewhere up the Columbia.

Kind of reminds me of when PJ and I just sit around watching the trains go by at La Posada in Winslow, Arizona.  Thoroughly entertaining.

Hanjin container shipping, heading out to the Pacific.  Are the containers empty (how
much US exported stuff onboard)?

Oregon trip, v. 4

For this year, PJ suggested that we reprise a favorite trip - our Oregon tour - I heartily agreed - so we pretty much retraced our steps from our visits in 2012, 2013 and 2014 (discussed here).

The formula we've been following:

--fly to Portland, pick up car, drive straight to Astoria for late lunch
--three nights at Cannery Pier Hotel; day trips in the area; wander around town
--drive to Welches (near Mt. Hood) and spend two nights
--hiking (Mirror Lake, Tamanawas Falls, in-town wandering)
--drive to Portland (via Hood River); get rid of car; spend three nights
--wander Portland
--interesting lunches and dinners throughout (and plenty of brewery stops)

We added one new hike (after Thursday's lunch in Hood River) - this was a loop in the Columbia Gorge area - around Horsetail Falls - just gorgeous.

The trip (September 10-18) was delightful, as always; in fact, we both felt that we enjoyed it more than ever.  Traveling together like this never gets old.  Very good luck with weather, restaurants (including old favorites and some very good new ones), travel conditions, hotels, hikes, etc.

A few looks from 2016 (not repeating photos posted in prior years, except when I occasionally do):

Columbia River slides past Astoria; Megler Bridge; Cannery Pier out in the water.  Walking the hills.

As we return from our walk, this huge vessel is heading toward the Pacific (PJ in pink top near the hotel)

Then we step inside . . . lovely room, you feel that you open the door and step right onto the river . . . 

From that same hotel room balcony, as sun sets later that evening.

Fortunate timing gets us to the best seat in the house for sunset on Mt. Hood (at Timberline Lodge)

Tamanawas Falls amazes; the entire loop hike is quite fine.

PJ checking out Horsetail Falls (Columbia River gorge)

A view along the Horsetail Falls loop hike - we'd never quite gotten to
this classic view of the Columbia River/Oregon Trail.

PJ skittering back to trailhead (last portion of the loop tracks the old highway).  

Returning from Mirror Lake:

Oregon trip notes #4: the rest of our trip

Final post from our 2013 Oregon adventures (a bunch of photos):

PJ exploring reproduction of Ft. Clatsop - Lewis & Clark expedition wintered here.  Interesting in its own right, particularly interesting to us after having visited Monticello earlier this year.

Fort Stevens - coastal defenses for WWII - Japanese ships actually lobbed some shells here - I think one of the first bombardments in mainland U.S. since maybe the War of 1812?  Interesting indeed, though no need to spend a ton of time here . . . 

Goonies house - Astoria, Oregon.  I heard (from POC) that they filmed a movie here.

PJ admiring Ramona Falls.

Sandy River scenery - on Ramona Falls hike.

Panorama from Timberline Lodge (one of our favorite spots).

Mirror Lake, with Mt. Hood in background.

Full Sail tasters, surprisingly good.  Hood River, Oregon.

Hair of the Dog tasters, unsurprisingly good.  Portland.

Tasting at Fort George Brewery, Astoria, Oregon.

Cascade Brewery - sour beers here were a delight.  Portland.