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Oregon Coast
The last few weeks have been terrific to be on the Oregon Coast. Temperatures in the low 50 overnight and high 60 daytime, beats the Texas heat wave anytime! But all things come to an end and we are moving to Washington Sate and a cruise to Alaska. But before we go, a few pictures from the Florence, Seaside and Astoria areas of the Oregon Coast
Oregon coast, Part 2
After we left Florence we went to Lincoln City where we enjoyed the scenery and a nice waterfall hike. And we had some of the best Dungeness crab we’ve ever had at the Casino. To make up for it, we had a longish (and muddy) hike on Cape Lookout.
From Lincoln City we went to Seaside where we stayed at a Thousand Trails park. The scenery around here is just fantastic, as is the hiking. And of course, a visit to Astoria included the Maritime Museum (very interesting!) and of course Bowpickers Fish and Chips.
We hiked in Canon Beach, but the trails were too muddy so we turned back. But again the scenery made it wort its while. We did get a view of Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, also known as Terrible Tilly because of the really bad weather in this area. It was decommissioned in 1957 and is now privately owned… and used as a columbarian (place to store cremated remains).
Since we had so much rain, we went to Fort Stevens where the main trails were paved, much easier to navigate. But Fort Stevens was fascinating, first built during the Civil War and used during WWI and WWII. It was fired on by a Japanese submarine in 1942, marking the only time US soil had a direct attack.
Drift Creek Falls
Suspension Bridge over Drift Creek Falls
A bee hard at work
Looking SouthEast from Cape Lookout
Looking NorthEast from Cape Lookout
A little rough, a little muddy
Surfing near Canon City
One of the batteries at Fort Stevens
A view over the Fort Stevens bulkhead
Part of Fort Stevens, built during the Civil War
Standing by the Peter Iredale, shipwrecked in 1906
Very little left of the major cannery fire near Astoria
Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, aka “Terrible Tilly”
Posing near Canon Beach
Surf rolling in near Canon Beach
From the Acola Trail, near Canon beach
Haystack Rock, Canon Beach
Seaside, OR area
We spent a few days in Seaside, OR. Seaside is both a tourist area (huge beaches) and a historical area (Lewis and Clark ended their expedition here). So we visited some of the sites and explored the area.
Lewis and Clark did a monumental 2 year exploration trip from Missouri to what now is Seaside. Along the way, they charted new territory for the United States. Their contribution is remarkable. Once they got here, they established Fort Clatsop, where they endured a miserable and cold winter. They ran out of salt, necessary for meat curing (each expedition member ate 10 pounds of meat a day!). They boiled down seawater to reclaim salt and eventually had enough to support their trip back east. The fort was abandoned, later to be restored and is now a National Monument.
Shortly thereafter, John Astor established the first fur trading outpost on the west coast here. This eventually grew into Astoria, today a thriving city. Huge ships are in the deep water harbor to transport lumber around the world. It is also a cruise ship stop. The now famous Astoria Coluimn depicts the rich history of this area, as well as providing sweeping views of the area.
A stunning sunset just south of Seaside
Astoria waterfront with historic cannery
The Astoria Column. 164 steps to the top (we counted).
Detail of the "sgrafitto" depicting the area history
Fort Clatsop reconstruction. In 1806, Lewis, Clark, and 24 men endured a very wet and cold winter here.
The 2.5 mile long Promenade along the ocean shore in Seaside. Today was foggy.
The salt works, where they extracted 300 pounds of salt from sea water
John and Romola, along with Lewis and Clark, at the spot where their journey ended.
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