After sailing down the coast all night, we awoke to cloudy skies on Wednesday as we approached the Oregon Coast. Entering into the harbor, I spotted a hilly shoreline dotted with a patchwork of festively painted homes and marinas overflowing with sailboats. Astoria looked promising.
The forecast for the day was to be partly cloudy; but it turned out to be a lovely sunny day. And thank goodness it did, since there was so much more to enjoy in this quaint harbor side town than we had expected.
We had booked a ship excursion called Historic Astoria & Fort Clatsop. We had originally wanted to take the full day excursion to Mt. St. Helens; but the three hour bus ride each way persuaded us to reconsider. I am so glad we did. There was no reason to drive away from Astoria; as there were several sights worth seeing in the immediate area.
We were greeted by a large contingent of friendly chamber of commerce type folks in costumes meeting us as we stepped onto Oregon soil. They handed out informative brochures about their city.
We got on the bus and headed for our first stop, Fort Clatsop (www.nps.gov/focl). It is a National Historic Park at the site of the winter encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The small fort has been reconstructed and there is a very nice visitor center that shows a presentation on the expedition and the hardships they endured. The fort is set up like it was in 1805-1806, with period furnishings, clothing and utensils. It was also nice to take a relaxing walk through the forest down to the canoe landing area. Although the fort is like others I had seen, it is nicely done and I enjoyed it.
After about an hour there we boarded the bus to take a scenic drive through the city to the Astoria Column (http://www.astoria-usa.com/astoria_column.shtml). Construction of the Astoria Column was completed in1926 and totally renovated in 1995. It was designed to salute Astoria’s explorers and early settlers. It is set on a 30 acre site atop 600 ft. Coxcomb Hill, and affords the best and most panoramic view of this lovely area. The monument itself is 125 feet high and to get to the top, one needs to climb 164 steps. It is hard to describe the column. Thank goodness I was able to take pictures of it (www.thepreismans.com). There are fourteen separate panels commemorating different historical events from the area. It is a very vivid, beautiful monument and well worth the time.
Our last stop on the excursion was to the Columbia River Maritime Museum (www.crmm.org/). We didn’t know what to expect there since we are not into boats, but once again we were pleasantly surprised at what turned out to be an outstanding collection of nautical artifacts and memorabilia. The 44,200 square foot facility sits on the banks of the Columbia River and houses several boats and interactive exhibits. It was an interesting exhibit.
Some of our friends did not explore this port and didn\'t think it had anything to offer. After seeing our pictures of the Astoria Column, they changed their mind.
