Matt July 2: To the Ocean!

Today we drove to the Ocean. It was in Astoria. It was two hours to get there. At the beach we walked down to the stores. The girls went shopping and we went to get fudge. Then we walked back to the car.

Next we went to the Winter Fort of Lewis and Clark. We hiked to the fort and looked around. It was amazing! They had all kinds of fur; beaver, buffalo, wolf, and black bear.

Then we went to the Astoria Column. It was huge. At the top, it was really windy. Then we saw people flying airplanes off the top. We had to try it. So we went back down and bought two airplanes. Leah and I flew the airplanes. My airplane landed on the ground but Leah’s landed on top of the radio station!


Then we went on a trolly ride. It was the last trip of the day and we didn’t get the full trip so the conductor let us ride for free. When we got off the trolly we went out for dinner and rode back to the RV.

Renee July 2: Coasting Along the Coast

We planned rather a full day today. We set off for a couple hours’ drive to the ocean to give Bryce his first glimpse of the beach. We set our sights on Seaside, Oregon just south of Astoria. Seaside is a small beach community that reminds me of a young Mission Beach in San Diego.
It’s a beautiful sandy beach that leads from bungalow motels, along the Promenade (or “the Prom” as it is known locally) that fronts cute but yet impressive beach houses in perfect condition, eventually leading to the beach circle and public beachfront area.
At the circle there is a statue the marks the spot that Lewis & Clark reached to see their first view of the ocean. I believe the quote by William Clark, written on November 7, 1805 is as follows: “Ocian in view! O! the joy.” The spelling is as written by the author who, as evidenced by his personal journals, was a horrific speller. The circle then led us to the tourist part of town displaying souvenir shops, fudge vendors, amusement rides, and an aquarium. We contributed a very small amount to the local economy before walking the return trip on the Prom back to the car, but not before we stopped off on a side historical marker that was the remaining evidence of the Lewis and Clark expedition’s Salt Works.
The Salt Works was the central cooking station for making salt, used to preserve their meats and flavor their foods. The process really was remarkably simple: they made stone stoves for boiling saltwater from the ocean; the water was boiled off to leave salt residue.


We returned to the car and headed north along the coast to seek Fort Clatsop, the winter fort of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 to explore the unknown new territory west of the Mississippi. The story we received from the storytellers (in authentic garb from 1805) is that the Expedition reached the Columbia River estuary on November 7, 1805. By then they had traveled over 4,000 miles across North America in 18 months and were looking for a place to winter before returning to St. Louis. During the next 3 ½ months at Fort Clatsop they interacted and traded with the locals, hunted, fished and wrote copious notes on the wildlife, plants and fish in the area, along with detailed sketches.


We explored the Visitors Center to learn more details of the Expedition, we looked around the Fort area itself, rebuilt as a replica of the original Fort, complete with sentries, captains quarters, as well as regular quarters. Through story tellers we were treated to what life in the wet winters were like, with wet animal skin clothing, eight men to a small cabin, and almost continual rain. None of us thought it sounded very fun. We then followed the trail to the river and had a chance to sit in one of the canoes used for transportation. We all really enjoyed the history lesson. I for one, lived with the stories as a youngster as the Lewis and Clark expedition passed near where I lived along the Missouri River in the Midwest, but I always wondered where it all ended up. Now I know I have seen it for myself.

This a picture of me and my new Shoshone friend Sacagawea and her infant son in a papoose. The story tellers were saying how inconvenient it must have been for the men to have an infant along in their toilsome quest. Well, I think it must have been even more inconvenient for Sacagawea to have to manage her infant's diapers, feedings and other needs and yet still have to teach and lead these men where to go because they are too afraid of the locals to ask for directions! Inconvenient, indeed! Those storytellers need a fresh, more realistic perspective.

But we weren’t done yet! We continued short distance north from Fort Clatsop to Astoria, OR and set our sights on climbing the locally famed Astoria Column. The short history lesson on the column is as follows: The Astoria Column is the final monument in a series of 12 historical markers erected in the early 1900’s between St. Paul, MN and Astoria, OR. A project began by Ralph Budd, president of the Great Northern Railroad, he wanted to properly salute early explorers and settlers for their critical role in the US’s stretch to the Pacific Coast. The column is decorated in “sgraffito”, a bas-relief artwork that commemorates 14 significant events that occurred in the region. Just don’t ask me anymore detail than that.

But I can tell you that it is 176 steps up a spiral staircase to the top lookout deck that gives the viewer stunning 360 degree views of the Columbia river and gorge, the pretty, but extremely hilly town of 10,000 people, and views of fir-covered mountains in the distance. Now, I had been told by another tourist back at the Cape Meares Lighthouse (Please see a previous post) that to make sure to buy balsa wood planes for the kids at the the column’s visitor center prior to going up in it so that they can fly them off the lookout deck. I totally spaced it and smacked my head. The kids found out you could fly those planes off the top so guess what they wanted to do. Yes, we made our way back down to the bottom to the visitor’s center, bought two 75-cent planes and re-climbed that blasted tower to send those things soaring. And soar they did. There was a strong wind and we did have fun watching the planes dip and spin in the wind.

We returned to the ground for the last time, and headed back down the hill to the waterfront to catch the last trolley ride along the length of Astoria. During the quaint little ride, the conductor gave us the local history including movies that were filmed there: The Goonies, and Arnold Schwartzeneger’s Kindergarten Cop.

We then went to satisfy a seafood craving at a local eatery, to celebrate Aunt Roxy’s birthday.

Leah July 2: Fort Clatsop

Today was really fun. We did a lot of things. First we went to the beach. It was cousin Bryce’s first time going the beach. He really like it. He got really sad when we had to eat lunch. After lunch we went down to a little town to shop in. I got a lizard from there.


After we finished shopping we went to Fort Clatsop. When we got to the Fort visitor center we got our patches and our jounior ranger stuff. We watched a short movie and started the jounior ranger stuff. On our way to the Fort matt and I got close to finshing our stuff. On the way back we finished it. At the Fort we explored for awhile. The rooms were really small. In the captains quarters there were two men dressed up like Lewis and Clark. They told us about the journey.

After they finished talking to us about the journey, we went to the Astoria column. We had to climb up 176 steps. We went up it 2 times because we didn’t get airplanes, so the second tie was harder! Matt’s was boring but mine did flips and spins. When we got back to the bottom we drove to a trolley station.


When we got on the trolley the conductor told us that we weren’t going to get a full round trip so he let us rude for free. It wasn’t a long ride so I’m glad we didn’t have to pay. After we got off the trolley we went to dinner for Roxy’s birthday. After dinner we drove back to the RV and went to bed.