Fort Stevens State Park Oregon, Last Beach Day, Fourth of July, and Astoria Redux

   
 Hi all, Dianne here.  We've moved on from Nehalem Bay State Park up the Oregon Coast to Fort Stevens State Park, land of firewood and colorful fishing floats!

First, though, our last day at Nehalem Bay was sunny       and warm, in the 70s.   We took one last scenic walk to the beach with Bandido and Tequila, took our beach chairs and mats and spent the day.

Bandido found a big stick of driftwood, which he tried to bury by digging a big hole.

He and Tequila ran, chased a ball, played tug, and laid in the sun while we read books and watched the waves.  Here they are discussing the big stick:

  The very last thing we did before leaving the   

   Manzanita area is make a return trip to the Big Wave Restaurant on a day when the breakfast special was crab eggs benedict.  Check it out! 

Our friend Jay had raved about it after he and Nancy ate breakfast there one morning before meeting up with us.  Roger just had to try it for himself.  Yum!

After breakfast we packed up and made the short drive to our next destination, Fort Stevens State Park in the far northwest corner of Oregon.  Fort Stevens even has its very own shipwreck, which you can walk around at low tide.  After checking our tide table, we went over to check it out.

  The wreck of the Peter Ireland extends down the beach about half the length of a football field, much of it still buried beneath the sand.

 It's hard to photograph the entire wreck and show the scale.

We could still see one of the masts embedded in    the sand.   Below is a photo that I found on the internet.  It's on the Oregon History Project web site:

1906 -  19 Days after Running Aground - Wreck of the Peter Iredale

 Our new campground is actually closer to Astoria, Oregon than when we visited it with our friends Jay and Nancy during their visit.  One of the things we wanted to do was to revisit Astoria and see a few sites we missed.  

First, though, we made a stop at Bowpicker's for more delicious one-of-a-kind fish and chips.  If you look at the long line that shows up daily for the single-menu item at Bowpicker's, it gives you an idea of just how special they are.  Luckily we were just early enough to avoid being at the back of this line!

From there, we walked over to the small Oregon Film Museum.

You Goonies fans will recognize this as the jail from the opening scene of the movie.  In honor of being in Astoria, Roger bought a $5 copy of the movie and we watched it the night before going back to Astoria.

 Inside the museum, we saw the jail cell where the bad guy faked his own hanging to make his escape.

How many of you remember this prop from the movie??

Roger wanted his photo taken with one of the "stars."

Is this what's called "Young at Heart?"

There were displays about other movies that were filmed in Oregon other than the Goonies.  

We were suprised to learn that many other movies, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Shining, Stand by Me, and Free Willy were also filmed in Oregon, many along the coastal areas we had just visited.   


The poster below caught our eye, as it shows a car careening off the cliff from the scenic lookout off of Hwy 101 near Manzanita Beach.  If you recall, our opening photos from our June 29 "Cannon Beach" blog entry (the one with my bad hair...) were taken from this vantage point.  The poster was from the 1991 movie Shattered. 

Not sure the museum (did I mention it was small?) was worth the $4 adult admission, but we enjoyed checking it out. 

No "Goonie immersion" would be complete without a visit to the house where Goonies was filmed, so before we left Astoria we did just that.  

It is now a private home owned by good sports who permit looky-loos to walk up the hill on their private gravel driveway to take a look and pictures of their house.  If you think Roger and I are the only people weird enough to do such a thing, think again!  Here's a look at the crowd climbing the hill just after we came down:

  If I lived in that house, I'm not sure I'd be such a good sport!

Here is the beautiful view those folks have of the Columbia River and the bridge to Washington from their front porch, if they'd ever be able to actually use it:

Another thing we wanted to do in Astoria was walk along the riverfront area, so we did.

We stopped in a few shops and had a beer at the Wet Dog Cafe & Brewery.  

Interesting sights were all around us!

Placards along the waterfront explained that part of Astoria was built out over the water on pilings before the great fire of 1922.  

We only had one week at Fort Stevens, and during that time we were also preparing for our daughters' upcoming visit when we move on to Portland.  The small town of Warrenton nearby the state park was a good base for hair cuts, laundry, a Costco run, groceries, and best of all a fenced-in dog park with an adjacent trail along the Columbia River.  

 

Fort Stevens State Park has over 500 camp sites (an amazing fact in itself) and it was completely full over the Fourth of July weekend.  No vacancy!

Did I mention they love firewood here?

Now, most of my friends wouldn't be caught dead in a state park campground on a holiday weekend, and I'm talking about my RVing friends.  Who needs a parade and fireworks, though, when you can spend the day watching the parade of kids and adults on bikes...

  Scooters...

and skateboards...

Add in the smell of wood smoke, steaks, burgers and hot dogs cooking on charcoal, the sounds of families gathered around campfires, cookouts, and games of catch and corn hole.  Mix-in a little bit of dogs barking and birds chirping.  Now that's real Americana to me, not contrived or just for show.  I hope I never get too old and grumpy to enjoy watching kids playing and families having fun together.

The rangers make the rounds selling firewood (they burn campfires day and night in the Pacific Northwest because it's never too hot.)

 They even came around with a special guest in the golf cart once.  We think it was a beaver costume.  Whatever it was, it was a big hit with the little ones.  No fireworks were allowed in the state park, so we and our dogs were able to have a restful evening.  That's good, because Bandido is really afraid of gunfire-type noises.

We'll be having some family fun of our own in a few days, when our two daughters and granddaughter fly in from Los Angeles and Fort Myers, Florida to spend time with us in Oregon and Washington.  Before that, though, the dogs have a "spa date" (nails clipped, baths, doggie day care) while Roger and I make a long day trip in our Toyota over to see Mount St. Helens.  Check back soon for that entry!

The pet picture of the day shows Tequila on high alert looking at a squirrel at the local dog park here in Warrenton, Oregon.

Come down and play with me!

Three Capes Scenic Drive, Oregon

Roger here....  The weather was supposed to be great on our last day with Jay and Nancy, so we decided to traverse the forty-mile Three Capes Drive.  Scenic it was.

Our days with Jay and Nancy have typically started around 10:30 a.m.  By the time we arrive at our destinations it is lunch time.  We tend not to skip lunch :-).  

While driving through the small town of Netarts, Jay spotted a promising sign.  What a relaxing place The Schooner restaurant was.  We ate on the deck with a view of the bay.  Ahhh!  Jay and I both had what I would call Coastal Comfort Food --- macaroni 'n cheese, covered with bleu cheese and fresh crab.  I was sleepy the rest of the day.

Our next stop was Cape Meares Lighthouse State Park.  The former route to the park was closed.  Evidently a portion of the road collapsed down the hillside and the local officials decided not to repair it.  It was not a problem, however, as the alternate route worked fine.  We had to retrace a portion of the drive, but what a place to see twice.

The sea had an ephemeral quality that day.  The sun was out so the water was blue, but the reflection of the clouds in the sky added a soft, smooth, subtle tone to the vista, especially in the distance.

Here is another shot of the various shades of blue in the ocean that day.

I especially like the close up picture that Dianne took sighting down from one of the lookouts.  

A quarter-mile walk down a paved pathway brought us to the Cape Meares Lighthouse.  Since it was located on the side of the cliff at the tip of a point, the first views were only of the top portion of the structure.

Here is a view from the base of the lighthouse.  What a beauty.  

We could have taken a tour, but we had already done that at the Umpqua Lighthouse.  Our attention was diverted to the sound of squawking birds.  Dianne spotted them, lots of them, swimming in the sea below us.  She used an ap on her phone that emits bird calls to identify them as common murre, penguin-like birds of the northwest coastal areas.

A look in the other direction brought the Three Arches into view. I could only spot two of them, but how starkly beautiful they looked in the calm blue water.

Near the parking lot, I spotted the reddest butterfly I have ever seen.  We are hoping that our friends, John and Audrey, can help us identify it.  (Dianne here:  John and Audrey did indeed come to our rescue on this.  Turns out it is not a butterfly, but a cinnabar moth.)  I had to chuckle while watching Dianne stalk the butterfly moth as it flitted across the lawn.  Every time she had it in focus, it flew a few feet away, resulting in a resumption of the chase.  I must admit that she did finally get a pretty good picture.

We spent quite a bit of time taking in the spectacular scenery at Cape Meares.  One last photo before moving on.

We did complete the rest of the forty-mile drive, but the best part of the afternoon seemed to slip away from us at Cape Meares, which could easily have been the only destination.  It scores near the top of the most spectacular places I have seen.

Jay and Nancy headed back to the Portland airport the next morning for their flight to Indy.  It was great to share our time here with them.  They arrived home safely, but only after spending a night in the Denver airport due to weather delays.  Yuck.

We will be at Nehalem Bay State Park for another week, and intend to spend most of our time with the dogs at the beach.  We have already documented the dogs at the beach, ad nauseum, and we do not intend to ruin another camera in the sand, so there may not be much reporting until we move on up the coast in a few days.

The pet picture of the day shows Tequila on the beach at Nehalem Bay State Park.  We took them each morning for a romp and play to wear them out before we headed out with our friends for the day.  As my friend Sue says, "A tired dog is a good dog."

"I love it here, Mom!"

Astoria, Oregon

Roger here...  If you are my age, and have children, you may remember the movie, The Goonies.  This fantasy/adventure flick was very popular with the pre-teen set.  I saw it enough times with our daughters to remember the friendly monster who joined up with a group of middle school-aged kids.  The monster continually yelled, "Hey you Gu-u-u-u-ys!" every time the kids tried to ditch him.  Strange what the human mind recalls.  I also remember being fascinated by the tall-roofed Scandinavian and Victorian Houses perched on steeply slanted streets that were filled with kids on bicycles.  I thought, "What a cool looking town."  That movie was filmed in Astoria, Oregon, where we spent a full day.  The scenes from the movie did this town justice.  This is the oldest settlement on the Pacific coast.  What a cool place.

It was close to lunch time when we pulled into town, and as always we were hungry.  Jay had googled places for lunch and thought Bowpicker Fish and Chips sounded interesting.  We were expecting a sit-down restaurant on the fishing dock.  What we found was a rescued fishing boat on dry land, two picnic tables, and a line of people.  We waited quite a while in the line, as each serving of fish (albacore tuna) & chips was fried to order by the two cooks.  The menu was extensive ---- fish & chips, large or small.  We gobbled them down in Jay's rental car.  Delicious.  Dianne and I may go back again.

The Columbia River Maritime Museum was directly across the street from Bowpickers.  We had heard good things about it, so decided to check it out and were not disappointed.  

We learned several things that we did not previously know.  Evidently, the confluence of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean is one of the most treacherous stretches of water in the world.  The meeting of the waves from the ocean and the current from the river create huge and dangerous waves.  Many lives have been lost here as well as many vessels.  The floor-to-ceiling sound videos of ships passing through the bar (as it is called) made me a little seasick.  It is also interesting that many of the explorers looking for a northwest passage sailed right by the entrance without seeing the Columbia River.

A shot of the Columbia, docked on the river, through the gigantic windows of the museum.

There were several animated visual displays on TV screens, as well as interactive displays, large vessels, and visual displays similar to the collection of canned fish labels in the photo.  This is one of those museums that is worth the price of admission.

The next activity was a trip up one of the steep hills to the Astoria Column.  

We have seen many monuments over the years.  This one is unique.  It was financed by the descendants of John Jacob Astor, who made his fortune trading furs in the area.   The tower itself is Italian in design, not what you would expect in a Scandinavian town in Oregon.

 The tower is covered with a spiraling mural that depicts the history of the westward expansion.  One could spend hours circling around with binoculars looking at the depictions and reading the captions.  Very well done.

Oh, and what fun!  We were able to climb to the top!   Three days later Dianne was still complaining about sore calves.  The views from the top?  OMG!

The bridge across the Columbia River, the town, and the bar in the distance.

Fort Stevens State Park, where we will soon spend a week.  The bar is at the extreme right of the photo.  I am looking forward to watching the turbulence on the point.

A nice view of the town with all those interesting houses hugging the Columbia River.

A freighter moving through the river.

Hey you g-u-u-u-ys!  It is time to look at the cool houses.  I don't have a picture of the teenage boy with the skateboard who we saw flirting with a girl on one of the angled streets, but it certainly fits with the atmosphere of this place.  

I love architecture.  If I could have chosen a second career, I would have been an architect.  I insisted that Jay drive through these streets over and over.

The picture below is Dianne's favorite because of the garden and because it shows so much of the detail in these beautiful homes.

Time to head south.  We stopped on the way out of town so that Nancy could buy some smoked salmon for us to enjoy before dinner.  We also paused to enjoy the view of the beach at Manzanita, below --- the beach where we walk every day.

The pet picture of the day exemplifies Tequila's tendency to take after our daughters during their teenage years.  Always the last to get up.  Can I have 15 more minutes?