Trip to Astoria and the Coast

I am on a one-week break between terms, so we took the opportunity this past weekend to take a trip to Astoria and the coast. Astoria is the oldest European-American settlement on the west coast and has a lot of quaint Victorian homes. It is supposedly up-and-coming and we saw signs of revitalization, especially in terms of a number of creative restaurants that have opened in recent years. The sky was gorgeous the first night we were there. This is the view looking at the mouth of the Columbia River and towards Washington.



And here is a really cool boat that was docked outside the Columbia River Maritime Museum, which unfortunately we didn't get to visit as we had Koda along and didn't want to leave him in the car too long.



A number of the main attractions in the Astoria area are connected with Lewis and Clark and their expedition, as this was the end of the trail for them. We visited two of the state parks that are part of Lewis and Clark National Park, Fort Stevens State Park and Fort Clatsop State Park. I was particularly intrigued by the replica of Fort Clatsop, where the expedition stayed during the winter of 1805-1806 before they set off on their return journey back east to report to Thomas Jefferson on the findings of their expedition.



We were fortunate to have great weather during most of the trip (at least by Oregon Coast standards, which means we had to wear several layers but the sun was out!). We enjoyed several meals outside, one of our favorite vacation activities, especially when Koda is along.



On the drive back home to Corvallis we made a number of stops, one of which was at Os West State Park. We hiked a half mile from the road down to the beach, which was fairly crowded (again by Oregon standards) with surfers (clad in wet suits, of course) and their dogs.



Our last stop was for dinner at the Pelican Brewery in Pacific City, a pilgrimage Mike had long been waiting to make (and I wouldn't have beens so resistant to had I known the beautiful setting).