Astoria is a really cool town, with lots to see, but no reasonable place to stay. So we took a day trip down from Long Beach to see the highlights.
The Astoria Column is one of those highlights. Dedicated in 1926, it is 125 feet high, on the top of Coxcomb Hill, and shows the early history of the area, including the arrival of Lewis and Clark over 200 years ago.
The handpainted spiral pictures would be 500' long if unwound.
I trudged up the 164 step spiral staircase to get a beautiful view of the town, the mouth of the Columbia River, and the bridge we went across to get here.
A lot of the buildings by the river used to be canneries.
The river is a very busy route for cargo ships.
We visited the Columbia River Maritime Museum.
But I couldn't wait to go see the sea lions down at the docks.
They look nice and calm here -
But take a look at this short video. The noise is constant as they argue and climb over each other.
Now for my very favorite place around Astoria - the remains of the Peter Iredale, a ship that ran ashore here in 1906. Phil took this picture of me taking pictures of the best piece of rusty stuff ever!
WOW!
Just look at that rusty detail!
I took about a zillion pictures.
Just amazing!
The ship was 285' long, and these posts were at the back end.
All too soon, it was time to head back across the Columbia River to Long Beach. They were doing some work on the bridge. Those are some serious tarps.
And I recently got some more pictures of Asha! She's getting so big! And just look at those muscles - maybe she'll be a champion swimmer like her daddy...
I have been to Astoria many times and never have seen seals. What an awesome day you had !
ReplyDeleteYour sea lion video is fabulous - they definitely are noisy and smelly but so fun to watch. Asha is beyond cute. Look at that smile!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great post - love the tower and the ship. I'm pinning this to my vacation board.
ReplyDeleteAsha is adorable.
I thought maybe that was you in the bikini examining the rusty stuff!
ReplyDeletedrove through Astoria yesterday for a three day visit at a friends beach house just north of Long Beach... and happy that the weather is suppose to be grand!
ReplyDeleteBoy do we miss Astoria. When my son was stationed there in the CG (2008-2012) he lived a couple of blocks from the tower. We have great pictures of our granddaughters climbing on the Peter Iredale.
ReplyDeleteAsha is adorable, bet you miss her a lot!
That is major rusty!!! I've seen a lot of Astoria in blogs this yr. I hope one of these days...
ReplyDeleteGreat place! Particularly like the Coast Guard picture, of course:)
ReplyDeleteAsha is such a cutie pattotie! Love her name too! My guess is that the locals consider those seals a royal pain in the arse! I wonder what it is about those docks that prompts them to hang around there? Must be fish involved... I didn't know the 2 posts were the end of the ship--amazing!
ReplyDeleteGreat pics of the shipwreck, I see quite a few barnacles hanging on there!
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