Ode to Oregon.....

and to bridges...and to my mom, as it turned out---but I get ahead of my story.  The story actually started with trying to think how to celebrate my mother-in-law's 80th birthday.  She didn't want a birthday party at the Church which is sometimes done around here.  We had started traveling somewhere to celebrate her birthday--just the women--since my father-in-law passed away in 2008 so I started to think about nearby trips.  I have fond memories of the Oregon coast and after some searching I found a place on the beach that I thought would be a fun weekend get-away.  The flights were booked along with the house and two rental cars and that was basically the plan.

To celebrate the ending of my class, Gary and I flew out to Oregon on Wednesday morning a day and a half before everyone else came.  The only clear plan we had for our two days was that I wanted to go to Astoria and drive across the bridge over the mouth of the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon and someone had told me there was a nice rest stop on the Washington side where you could get good pictures of the bridge.  I brought a "real" traveling atlas just in case which was a good thing because we didn't always have good cell service and we grabbed our rental car and took off up the road along the Columbia River.

(Historical note:  I grew up in eastern Washington and the Columbia River is one of the memories of my childhood.  A city park we often went to was along its banks and we also traveled along the Oregon side to our Grandma's house in Portland each year.  It always flowed and I didn't know that there were rivers that dried up in the summer until I moved to the panhandle of Texas.  So this was a special moment to be along the river again.)

Even before we were out of Portland, we drove across our first of our many bridges--St. Johns Historical Bridge, I believe it was called.

It crosses over the Willamette River which flows through Portland and connects with the Columbia River.  It is one of 9 bridges which crosses over this river in the area. (and no we didn't cross over every one of them on this trip!)

Docks along the shore of the river

After crossing the bridge, we entered into the green forests of western Oregon.  The difference between the green of Portland and the sands and sagebrush of the Tri-cities is so stark but I have no memory of ever comparing the two places in my mind.  I guess Richland was home and as a child you don't question or evaluate a place based on appearance.  Western Oregon and Washington are beautiful and I was overwhelmed by the greens everywhere.



I had started to fall asleep when Gary woke me up as we approached another bridge.  This one went over the Columbia River at Rainer-Kelso...so for no good reason, we headed over it, made a turn in a logging parking lot and headed back to Oregon.

 And back to the forests of Oregon as we continued our drive to Astoria.

Astoria is a port city and reminds me a little of San Francisco or coastal towns back east.  Houses were built all over the hills of the area.

And here is the Astoria bridge which we came to travel on......The bridge is just over 4 miles long.  Pedestrians are only allowed on the bridge one morning a year.  They close one lane of traffic and have a charity run/walk from the Washington to the Oregon side.  I am not sure that we will make it back to do a walk but it was a fun drive anyway.

The bridge is interesting in that it goes up quite high on the Oregon side.  It is tall enough to allow large ships to go under to reach the Portland ports.

Then the bridge goes down to just over the water line.  Here we see the Washington side with the Columbia River on the right and the mouth of the river meeting the ocean on the left.

On the river side you can see boats out fishing and sightseeing.

The bridge then goes back up on the Washington side to allow the small boats to go from one side to another.

Someone had told me that there was a great rest area about 1/4 mile on the Washington side where you could view the whole bridge.  It was true but my camera couldn't take a picture of the whole bridge at one time.  Four miles is a lot of bridge!

View of the Washington part of the bridge from the rest area

What the person didn't tell me was the rest area was called the "Dismal Nitch".  Certainly an odd name for a rest area! The name rang a bell for me but I couldn't figure out why it sounded familiar, until we started reading the historical markers along the river.

 

For those true historical buffs in the family, you already know but for the rest of you, here is your history lesson.  Dismal Nitch was named that by Lewis and Clark who got caught here in a terrible storm in the November of 1804 in the quest for a overland route from the east to the west coast of the American continent.  The storm raged for several days and left them wet, cold, and without food.  It was only after the storm died down that they were able to travel the remaining distance and actually see the Pacific Ocean. 

 

About 3 years ago I had read some histories of the area including one about this famous expedition.  I was excited to see some of these spots I had learned so Gary and I decided to spend some time exploring the most south-western area of Washington and see some of these spots.

 

Our next stop was Station Camp where they set up camp after leaving Dismal Nitch.

 

It later became known as Middle Village and existed as a fishing and canning village for a long time.  They still hold a monthly Sunday service in a restored church at this site.

Wild flowers were in bloom everywhere
in Washington and Oregon

After leaving Middle Village we headed up the coast to one section of the Lewis and Clark National and State parks.  We first headed to the North Head Lighthouse and then to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse plus stopping at a Lewis and Clark visitor center which had lots of displays and a movie about their trip across the country.

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our "selfie"

During our hike to the North Head Lighthouse, we got to see a helicopter hovering in the air right off the path.  The park ranger said that they come almost every day to practice dropping and retrieving people from the beach and surf.  This was our first true look at the Pacific Ocean on this trip.

The North Head Lighthouse

An interesting fact about lighthouses.  On the west coast lighthouses themselves are really not that tall.  They are able to be located on high pieces of ground which then allows their light to shine about 20 miles out to sea.  On the east coast there are less high spots so lighthouses there are much taller.

We learned a lot about the lights and how the lighthouses worked.  It was very interested and I would suggest you google lighthouses.

Gary took this of me looking down through the stair well inside the lighthouse.

We then headed south and east to this light house.  Cape Disappointment is the furthest spot west that the Lewis and Clark party traveled.  The guide told us that a lighthouse was built here first but then it was realized that it couldn't be seen from those ships coming from the north so then the North Head Lighthouse was built to solve that problem.

It was a bit more of a hike than we expected, but it was enjoyable and very beautiful.

As we walked out of the Lewis and Clark visitor's center we came upon these "batteries" left over from WII.  Up and down the coast there were built and manned to watch for the Japanese navy after Pearl Harbor.  I had seen a picture of me taken in a doorway when I was about 11 or so, so I posed myself in a similar way.  I don't think this is the same place where that picture was taken but I do think that we visited this area when I was growing up.  I will have to check my mom's journals.

One place I do remember from a summer visit was Ft. Clatsop and so once we got started on this historical day, I wanted to take Gary there as well.

 

 

So we headed back across the bridge that had started this adventure and headed to Ft. Clatsop. 

 

I have to say that it wasn't as big as I remembered it as a child.  In fact, it didn't really seem familiar at all although much of the restorations were done prior to the mid-1960s so it must be somewhat the same as it was then.  Funny how memories are!  My memory of the visit was that it was a very hot day and I think we went with our cousins.  I remember being impressed that this was a spot where "history" had happened.  I guess I was old enough to finally make that connection between things I had learned at school to actual locations.  I have been to many historical locations now in my life and there is something about these spots which touches me.  I guess I am just a history geek and I "got it" from my parents and these trips when I was a child.

 

 

These signs are definitely new.  Up and down the coast you see signs like this or other related ones.  They have signs posted about Tsunami litter which I guessed appear on the coast for a few years after the Japanese earthquakes.

The fort itself where Lewis and Clark and company settled for the winter before returning back east.

 More beautiful forests..........

Heading down the famous Highway 101 we decided it was time to actually stop and see the ocean up close and personal.  This was taken from a viewing area at Ecola State Park toward Cannon Beach and then we wandered down a narrow road to Indian Beach.

I have a little sign in my bedroom which reads "The ocean fills my soul."  It is so true.  Something about the sounds and sights of the ocean which makes me happy.  I told Gary that I need to see the ocean every three years or so and we have been fairly lucky to be able to do that most of our lives.

Once we finished the beach visit, I decided that I wanted to spend the night in Lincoln City, OR.  I wanted somewhere on the beach but not the same area where we were staying the weekend.  Lincoln City was one area I remembered going as a child and I knew that I had pictures of my mom and dad's last trip there.  Gary was hoping to avoid traveling the narrow roads during the dark because of deer and other animals but we didn't quite make it before dark.  But we found a beautiful hotel in Lincoln which included a fireplace which was a perfect way to end our first day of vacation. Whew, that was a lot for one day of vacation..................