Astoria - Lots to See and Do!

Starting with the Astoria Column. High on a hilltop, overlooking the town of Astoria, this beautiful work of art shows the history of Oregon.

From the hilltop, you can see ships and the bridge over the Columbia River.

A lot of the history has to do with Lewis and Clark, who arrived at the Pacific Ocean here, and spent the winter nearby -

At Fort Clatsop, where we went the next day. Come on in!

We met some authentically dressed members of the Lewis and Clark party.

I even got in one of their bedrooms!

And we got to see a demonstration of how to load and fire a flintlock rifle.

Also in Astoria is the Columbia River Maritime Museum, the highlight of which, in my opinion, is the Lightship Columbia. Kind of like a lighthouse, but moveable.

We saw lots of cargo ships going up and down the river, both full and empty.

Nearby is one of the highlights of the town - The Bowpicker. Their fish and chips are not to be missed. Be sure to get there early...

We also went to see the jetty that goes out into the entrance to the Columbia River, to keep the mouth of the river open and stable.

Way across the river, in Washington, I could see Cape Disappointment lighthouse.

But my favorite thing in the Astoria area, and the best piece of rusty stuff EVER, is the wreck of the Peter Iredale. It seems to be slowly sinking into the sand (or the sand is rising), from when I first saw it about 10 years ago.

It ran aground a long time ago, in 1906.

It's amazing that it's still here!

These old bolts have held it together for more than a hundred years!

On another day, we went up to the Long Beach, WA Kite Festival. I've been here many times, and this was the least number of kites I've ever seen. Maybe it was because of the bad weather.

But we enjoyed walking around town, and saw several Lewis and Clark-related statues.

On our way back home, we went across the Astoria-Megler Bridge. Whoa! Looks kind of like that bridge in Japan that keeps showing up on Facebook!

But just like that one, it's an optical illusion. This is what it really looks like.