Cape Disappointment

So it is our last day on the coast, we have to check out tomorrow. The day started out the same as the last few days, it was raining and then suddenly it turned to sunshine, so we decided we better get out there and make the most of our day. We decided to go over the bridge to Washington to see Cape Disappointment. This was the last stop for Lewis and Clark before they wintered at Fort Clatsop from 1905-1906  and then headed back to St Louis.

We had been here before but we only went to the interpretative centre and it was a quick trip because we were on our way home. We didn’t get a chance to go to the lighthouse because it was raining and the path was too muddy. Not today though it was a fairly dry walk. It was ¾ or a mile each way. Our first stop was Dead Man’s Cove. There was no sign to explain why it was called this so I will leave it up to everyone’s imagination.

From the lighthouse you can see North and South Jetties and the Columbia River Bar where the ships enter the mouth of the Columbia.

North Jetty

 

South Jetty

 

Mouth of the Bar

 

 

 

There is a coast guard base here as well; we watched two of the boats do some maneuvers in the mouth. It is very difficult to get a picture of the waves, it actually looks quite calm, you can’t really tell how large the waves are until you see a boat disappear in one of the swells. We got to see a Bar Pilot boat heading out to take control of a tanker that was coming into the Port of Astoria.

After seeing the lighthouse we walked over to the interpretive centre and took the tour, it is very well done. They walk you down a series of ramps that follow the route of Lewis and Clark from St. Louis all the way to the Pacific Ocean.  The once they reach the mouth of the Columbia it takes you to the main floor and they have some interactive displays to display the Pacific and Columbia River areas. It is very well done.

The museum finishes back upstairs with a display about the coast guard and coastal lighthouses. They have a full Fresnel lens display and a list of all the lighthouses and their signals.

There was also a military base located here to help protect the mouth of the Columbia. During World War II they built Battery Harvey Allen, to watch for Japanese submarines and war ships. The guns were originally put out by the lighthouse but the blow back from the first gun blast broke the windows in the lighthouse so the guns were moved over by the interpretive centre.

This is the room that held all the shells for the guns.

 

After the here we headed over to the North Head Lighthouse. The Cape Disappointment lighthouse was built first but it was quickly discovered that it could not be seen when sailing from the north so they built the North Head Lighthouse to take care of this. This lighthouse was a much easier walk and was actually quite spectacular.

 

This is the view looking south from the lighthouse.

 

There was also the lighthouse keeper’s house and a duplex for the assistant lighthouse keepers that are available to rent as vacation homes.

After our spectacularly sunny day we headed back to the condo to make dinner from the leftovers in the fridge and get most of our stuff packed into the truck so it is easier to leave in the morning.

A Day at Cannon Beach

Well today started out with what can only be described as Snow on the Coast. You could actually see the rain which was kind of slushy. The wind was blowing and blew in the sunshine and then the rain and then the slush and then the rain and then the sun. It was like this all day.

It was also the coldest temperatures that we had the whole vacation but since we stayed in most of yesterday we decided to go check out Garabaldi and Cannon Beach. Garabaldi is where we saw the crab races, not much going on in town today but Len did get some pictures of some of rolling stock for the Oregon Coast Scenic Railway. In the summer the railway travels between Tillamook and Wheeler.

We also got to see the coast guard helicopter and rescue boat practicing out in the bay.

We explored Cannon beach and Len got to see Haystack Rock up close and personal.

We then headed to Ecola State Park, which has a great view of Tillamook Head and the Tillamook Lighthouse (Terrible Tilly).  This lighthouse was the only lighthouse on the coast that was not accessible by land, you had to get to it by boat which did not prove to be very easy. It was also plagued by storms with high waves. It did not stay in commission that long. It was used as a Columbarium for people’s ashes for awhile but now it has gone back to a protected birding area for sea birds.

Unfortunately the view point trail was closed off as it looked like there were slides all over the area. We did see a small herd of elk as well. Some were out in plain sight, while the others were hiding in the woods.

McMinnville and The Spruce Goose

So today we were up early so that Kathleen, Len and I could head to McMinnville to see the Spruce Goose. Dan was up earlier that we were because he had to head back to Vancouver to go to a doctor’s appointment. We headed up over Highway 26 and then south to McMinnville. It was still early enough that we decided to go and have a late breakfast and early lunch. We found a really cute place on Main Street called the Wild Wood Cafe. The inside is decorated with fifties chrome table and chairs, old style signs all over the walls and old fashioned hand beaters all over the ceiling. The food was excellent. They make their own homemade bread and jam. They have it in squeeze bottles right on the table. I had an omelette with fresh tomatoes and feta cheese. Len had the Wild Wood French toast which is their homemade bread, covered in granola and then French toasted and Kathleen had the home fries covered in bacon and cheese, needless to say that it was all very delicious and filling. After eating we headed to the Evergreen Aviation Museum which is where the Spruce Goose is housed. They have done some changes since we were there last time.

They have built a water park with a 747 on top of it, there are slides that go from the plane into the building. So they have the plane museum, the space museum, the IMAX theatre and a vineyard/winery, as well as the water park. They are also building a chapel and a hotel. They are making it a complete family vacation location.

We went through the air museum first, then went and watched a movie, which is included with your admission now and then we did the space museum. It is hard to get a complete picture of the Spruce Goose because it is so big. This is the front piece and three of the eight engines, four on each wing.

This picture is looking from the back, you can see the multiple planes that are positioned underneath it.

 This is the back tail, the span of the tail is wider than the span of a 747.

They had a few new exhibits like the Mars rovers and they moved the stealth SR-71 Blackbird to the Space section.

After going through the museums we did the four geocaches around the area and then slowly started to make our way back to Seaside. We stuck Len in the back seat because he doesn’t navigate fast enough when we are geocaching. We found a bunch on the way home and we found one just before we went for dinner. Tonight was our dinner at the Bigfoot. This restaurant has the best tasting prime rib I have ever had. It is so tender that you can literally cut it with a fork. It also comes with a medley of squash and I had the garlic mashed potatoes. Len also had the prime rib and Kathleen had linguine with pine nuts. It was so much she had to bring part of it back for lunch on her trip home.  So when we got back to the condo we decided to finish off the evening with a hot tub and some TV, however it was still very crowded with kids so Kathleen and I decided to do a late night cache before we went to bed. It was a puzzle cache that Kathleen figured out and the coordinates set us out towards the beach. We went outside in what can only be described as a very blustery storm. By the time we reached the cache area we were both soaked. We managed to find the cache in the second log we looked in and then headed back to the condo. When we got back inside we had to wake Len up so he could take a picture of us. We both look like drowned rats.

A Day of Caching

So today, Dan, Kathleen, Roxy and I started off fairly early. We headed straight to Washington. Kathleen is doing a cache challenge done by Delorame. They divide up a state into grids and you have to do a cache in each grid. Kathleen is working on Washington and we thought that she probably wouldn’t get a better opportunity to get three grids on the lower coast. One of the caches on the way was really cool, it was a small bird house attached to tree. As we were trying to figure out a way into it, Dan discovered a tape measure that you pulled out and that was the log.

 

We found Kathleen's caches and did a web cam beside a cute little pond on main street. With a web cam you have to sign into the webcam and using an Iphone we took a picture of ourselves  in front of the camera and then they post it online to claim the cache.

On our way out of town we stopped for lunch at the Surfer Sand sandwich shop in Long Beach. The sandwiches there were awesome, homemade buns baked daily and lots of meat and cheese, grilled, they were delicious.

After lunch we drove back to Astoria to try a web cam at the River museum but we couldn’t get it to work, so then it was the long drive down to Tillamook.

 

Kathleen and Dan had never been to the Cheese Factory before so it was a must. We also stopped at the smoked meat place and picked up more jerky. After the factory we cached our way up the coast, stopping at the Twin Rocks so Kathleen could dip her feet into the ocean and ending at Cannon beach to see the sunset at Haystack Rock.

 

We finally made it back to Seaside and the Condo where Lenny had a great supper of Steak, Scallops, Ceaser Salad and Asparagus. He’s such a good husband.

A Day in Seaside and Guests

So today we decided to hang around Seaside because our friends Dan and Kathleen were coming to visit and we wanted to be nearby when they called. So we did some walking around the downtown area and then over to the Salt Works.  Down town is the carousel mall, which has an actual carousel in it. Not sure if this is the one from the original fair grounds they had here in the 20’s as there was no info, so I am guessing no but you never know. They have lots of candy stores in this area. I found a new geocaching bag and we got some smelly sea salts made with actual salt from the sea.

There is a river that goes right through the middle of town.

After our walk down town we headed to the salt works, this is Seaside’s part in the Lewis & Clark travels.

On December 8, 1805 Lewis and Clark established their winter quarters at Fort Clatsop. They were living here in preparation for their long journey home. One of the things that had to do was locate a route for a salt-making party. Though Clark was indifferent to salt, the rest of the expedition wanted it as seasoning. As their diet ranged from elk to fish and dog, salt improved the taste of their food and thus their morale.

On December 28, 1805 the captains sent five men to establish a salt camp. Five days later, they found a suitable place on the seacoast at was is now Seaside. The seawater had a high salt content here, and game and wood were abundant.

Three men were constantly at work. Using five brass kettles, the saltmakers boiled approximately 1,400 gallons of seawater over the next several weeks. they could make from three quarts to a gallon a day so a total of three-and-one-half bushels of salt were produced for the return trip.

Every summer they actually set up actors to recreate how it was all done.

 

After the salt works we went for a walk along the promenade back to the condo. So Dan arrived shortly before Kathleen and Roxy. Since we are not allowed to have dogs in the condo, we decided to take Roxy for a run on the beach and do a couple of geocaches along the promenade. We tired Roxy out so that she would have a good sleep in the back of Kathleen’s FJ Cruiser. Kathleen assures me that Roxy likes her spot in the back of the FJ, she has her own pillow and way more room than in a kennel. She has her food and water bowls. Kathleen stayed in Ritzville last night and she had to take Roxy back out to the cruiser last night because she wouldn’t go to sleep in the hotel room. As soon as she got into her own area she settle right down.

So after a great dinner, a night of Duck Dynasty it was time to pull the bed out of the wall and go to bed because we had a long day of caching ahead of us.

A Rainy Day in Astoria

So today we decided that even though it was raining steadily we should get out and head to Astoria to go to some of the local museums that we could do indoors. We headed first to the Hanthorn cannery on Pier 39.

The cannery is now cold storage and offices, as well as a small coffee shop and Rogue Brewery Pub but during its heyday, it sent millions of cases of salmon and tuna per year around the world. There were three huge walk in refrigerators that had old equipment like this packer, you can see how the metal rings got smaller to hold the cans so that the woman could hand pack the fish into it. 

After the fish was packed it went through a machine like this where the lid was added and then the cans would be heated and well canned.

Only women worked in the canneries, they cleaned the fish, cut it up, packed the cans and worked all the machinery. There were not unions or men on the lines.  The Hanthorn Cannery was built in 1875. At one time 38 canneries operated on the Columbia River. Salmon was king, but by 1900, the salmon runs were suffering from over fishing. Tuna revived the canneries and over took salmon as the most popular canned fish.  They used to fish with the large gill nets out of medium sized wooden boats. Now a days they are trying to outlaw the use of gill nets because unfortunately they don’t just catch tuna they also catch dolphins.

After Pier 39 we headed over to Pier 38 to see the sea lions. The lady at the chamber of commerce said that they usually have 6 or 8 sea lions that hang around all year long but this year they have upwards of 100 or more. They are not sure where they have all come from. They are literally taking over the marina docks; there were signs that told people that they could not access their boats because of them. I don’t know about you but I love sea lions, they are hilarious to watch.

 These two were wrestling trying to knock each other off of the wharf.

 

Some of them what seemed to be brands and tags, we are not sure how they mark them to keep track of them, the branding seems a bit excessive but maybe they were just scars.

 

Not sure if these are male or female sea lions but they certainly seem regal.

After checking out the sea lions we headed up the hill to check out the Goonies House. For those of you who don’t watch many movies The Goonies was a movie that was filmed in 1985 and actually took place in Astoria. It was about a group of kids who went on an adventure to unearth the long-lost fortune of One-Eyed Willie, a legendary 17th-century pirate. The story concept came from Steven Spielberg and was written by Chris Columbus and directed by Richard Donner. The house is owned privately but they allow people to come up and take a picture.

Just down the road from the Goonie house was the school from Kindergarten Cop with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Remember it’s “Not a tumor”  

 

It turns out that there were quite a few movies filmed on the Oregon Coast from Point Break with Patrick Swayze, The Guardian with Kevin Costner & Ashton Kutcher and Free Willy I & II.  We visited the Film museum which gives you some movie history in the area and allows you to actually film yourself in different sets. We filmed Len doing a scene from the Shining. he actually did a pretty good impression of Jack Nicolson.

Here is the link to it http://www.ofmfilms.com/share.php?id=000005852d4c2

 I also got a great mug shot of him

Across the street was the Flavel House and Carriage House. It is a Victorian mansion built in 1885 for Captain George Flavel. Captain Flavel was a noted bar pilot on the Columbia river and a very honest and prominent business man in Astoria.

The house is approximately 11,600 square feet. There were six original fireplaces that featured imported tiles and elaborate hand carved mantels.

 There were 14 foot ceilings on the first floor and 12 feet on the second with embellished plaster medallions and plaster crown moldings. The house had indoor plumbing, gas lighting and central heating. The first floor had a grand entrance hall, formal parlor, music room, library, dining room and conservatory. There was also a butler’s pantry, kitchen and mud room.

This is the Dining Room with the Conservatory at the back. It could be closed off by giant pocket doors. In fact each room had these enormous pocket doors, they were all hand carved and quite intricate.

 

This is the music room where both daughters, Nellie and Katie would hold music recitals.

 

This is the butler's pantry right off of the dining room. The back staircase was also for the servants and went all the way up past the second floor to the attic.

 

This is the library. All the windows were floor to ceiling with shutters on all of them.

 

 

The second floor featured the main bathroom with a metal tub, five bed chambers and a small sewing room.  This was one of the daughters bedrooms.

Each bedroom had access to running water but there was only one bathtub and water closet on the second floor.

The attic held two bedrooms for the domestic help and the tower which gave the Captain a wide view of the Astoria and Columbia River.  The Carriage house currently is the ticket office but during its day it was three stories and held the families carriage, sleigh and small buggies, it also held the horses in the downstairs portion. There was also a tack room and hay loft. Later it served as a home to the family’s hired caretaker.

Since the house had gas lighting and had to be restored with electrical fixtures, none of the lighting was original but recreated to match as close as possible to fixtures of the period. They said some of the furniture came from later family members but all the furniture was realistic to the time period.  

All in all it was a shorter day but we saw a lot of interesting things. It looks like it is still going to be rainy over the next few days so we will see where we want to head to tomorrow.