Recently my son and his wife came to visit us for a couple of weeks. In my opinion, your visit would not be complete without going to the Oregon coast for a day of exploring. Since it doesn’t take much to give me an excuse to go west, this was going to be a great day! We went to Astoria, which is one of the oldest cities on the west coast. It is located at the mouth of the Columbia River and is filled with old Victorian homes that are layered around a central hill overlooking Washington State, the Columbia River, and the sea.
When we arrived in the early afternoon, we were hungry and soon chose “Baked Alaska”, a great restaurant on the Columbia River where we ate well while watching four huge ships offshore with ducks diving and seagulls fluttering just offshore.
The Blackened Albacore Tuna appetizer was fabulous and of course we finished the meal with Baked Alaska. The sticky warm chocolate brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream brought to the table on fire made a memorable sweet impression!
But I digress.
We had planned to go to Astoria Tower after lunch, but by the time we finished eating, a thick fog was blanketing the top of Cockscomb Hill and by the time we got to the top, visibility was only a few feet. Good time to go see! However, not to be discouraged, my son and daughter-in-law started up the metal spiral stairs. Of course I followed and unfortunately found myself huffing and puffing. waaayyy before the top. Damned. Those 165 steps kicked my butt. The Astoria Column stands 595 feet tall and is the last capstone monument in a series of 12 monuments that were built between St. Paul, Minnesota and Astoria, Oregon in the early 20th century.
These 12 markers were the project of Ralph Budd, president of the Midwest-based Great Northern Railroad. It was in 1925 that he announced that it was time to “properly salute the explorers and early settlers of Astoria for their pivotal role in the stretch from the United States to the Pacific coast,” with the help of businessmen and academics. So he did it.
The column stands at the top of Coxcomb Hill and is covered with 14 images in a bas-relief technique called sgraffito (skrafe-to). It has been restored several times over the years to try to preserve the paint and carvings. Although this technique works well in Mediterranean areas, strong wind and rain in Astoria caused deterioration in just a few years, so waterproofing was installed to prevent further damage.
As I emerged to the top of the column and out into the cool air infused by the pine trees, the clouds were being swept right in front of us and the views to the ground far below, to the sea and mountains opened up. with the muted grays and greens of winter here. We stood together watching, as if a huge broom were sweeping great piles of clouds out of the way.
However, within a few minutes, the clouds seemed to roll over and close the viewing window.
After leaving the top of the hill, we stopped at RiverSea Art Gallery, which was ranked the best gallery stop in Astoria, for good reason. Although there are many local artists represented, from jewelers to sculptors, from photographers to painters, the exhibits draw attention and provoke with color, form and unexpected juxtaposition. We had a great time there before heading to Fort Clatsop, the last stop on the Lewis and Clark trip.
We arrived at Fort Clatsop (about a 10 minute drive from Astoria) just before a tour was scheduled to visit the fort where the actors from the reenactment (Lewis, Clark, Sakaweeja and their baby, plus others – there were 33 of them that winter they stayed at the fort long ago) were there answering questions from the public (us) about their winter there, their diet (they had finished with salmon and were clearly craving elk or some kind of non-salmon), fears, experience, and how eager they were to go home. It was fun to hear his views from his “time warp.”
By the time we were done there we had plenty of time to head down to Gearhardt another 15 minutes south. I love that beach because it’s usually empty, like it was that night. We got there at low tide and were able to find 10 sand dollars intact! My son and daughter-in-law were delighted and so was I. It seems that the last few times I’ve been to the coast, I haven’t found a single perfectly round sand dollar. What luxury!
By the time the sun went down, we were done with our adventure and headed home. Each town along the coast has its own character and history, as well as offering shops to explore and nature to enjoy. I can hardly wait to go back!