Cannon Beach, Astoria and Portland
July 16, 2013 11:25 AM
As you can see from the title, we’ve been busy the last couple of weeks. I intended to do a post as we left Astoria, but we were having too much fun so this one will have to cover three locations.
We left Newport on Sunday the 7th and traveled up-coast to Cannon Beach, checking in to the Cannon Beach RV Resort, where we met our good friends Bobb and Jackie Duncan. Bobb and I flew F-4’s and F-16’s together in the Air National Guard in Fort Smith, AR, for several years. We consider the “Dunkers” some of our closest friends. We spent the next week together in Cannon Beach and Astoria. We ate and drank too much, told tall tales, and laughed a lot. It’s good to be with trusted friends again.
Cannon Beach is a great little coastal town. The main drag through town is only a few blocks long, but has many great little shops and restaurants and pubs tucked away in side streets and alleys. If you happen to be in the area, I recommend a visit. The area around town has some beautiful beaches and lighthouses. As usual, we spent a lot of time on the beach. One of the best in the area is in Ecola State Park at the end of a long road that winds up and down hills in the forest. It’s a beautiful area.
Unfortunately, the coast is experiencing a major problem. Debris from the Japanese tsunami is coming ashore every day. Much of it is covered with plant and animal life not normally found on the U.S. coast, putting them in the “invasive species” category. Scientists fear that some of these species will prove devastating to local plant and animal life, and will likely upset the ecology along the coast for years to some. During our stay on the coast, we’ve found numerous items from the tsunami, many covered with suspicious looking animal life. Whenever possible, we put the items in special trash containers that have been placed on beaches throughout the area.
Now back to our travels. After three days in Cannon Beach, we moved to a small park just outside Astoria. Ann and I spent time in Astoria during our earlier fulltiming stint, but its such a nice city that we decided to make another visit. We stayed mostly in town except for a one-afternoon visit to Cape Disappointment. Astoria lies at the mouth of the Columbia River, home to some of the most fearsome seas in the world. The Maritime Museum there does a great job of documenting the bravery of the men and women who brave the seas in the area. Astoria and the surrounding area remains one of our favorite places on the west coast.
We left Astoria last Sunday, parting company with our friends. They returned to their home on the Columbia River east of Portland, while we moved to a nice RV park on the eastern edge of the city. We spent the week touring the area, cleaning the salt off the motorhome and car, and catching up on all the things that had been neglected while we were having so much fun. Today, Saturday, we visited a Scottish festival in the community of Gresham, just east of Portland. All in all, it’s been a good week.
But with that, our time on the coast comes to an end. It’s been fun, but tomorrow we head east seeking new adventures. Maybe we’ll return some day, but if not we have enough great memories to last a lifetime. I hate to say goodbye to such a special place, but we must.
Alan
We left Newport on Sunday the 7th and traveled up-coast to Cannon Beach, checking in to the Cannon Beach RV Resort, where we met our good friends Bobb and Jackie Duncan. Bobb and I flew F-4’s and F-16’s together in the Air National Guard in Fort Smith, AR, for several years. We consider the “Dunkers” some of our closest friends. We spent the next week together in Cannon Beach and Astoria. We ate and drank too much, told tall tales, and laughed a lot. It’s good to be with trusted friends again.
Cannon Beach is a great little coastal town. The main drag through town is only a few blocks long, but has many great little shops and restaurants and pubs tucked away in side streets and alleys. If you happen to be in the area, I recommend a visit. The area around town has some beautiful beaches and lighthouses. As usual, we spent a lot of time on the beach. One of the best in the area is in Ecola State Park at the end of a long road that winds up and down hills in the forest. It’s a beautiful area.
Unfortunately, the coast is experiencing a major problem. Debris from the Japanese tsunami is coming ashore every day. Much of it is covered with plant and animal life not normally found on the U.S. coast, putting them in the “invasive species” category. Scientists fear that some of these species will prove devastating to local plant and animal life, and will likely upset the ecology along the coast for years to some. During our stay on the coast, we’ve found numerous items from the tsunami, many covered with suspicious looking animal life. Whenever possible, we put the items in special trash containers that have been placed on beaches throughout the area.
Now back to our travels. After three days in Cannon Beach, we moved to a small park just outside Astoria. Ann and I spent time in Astoria during our earlier fulltiming stint, but its such a nice city that we decided to make another visit. We stayed mostly in town except for a one-afternoon visit to Cape Disappointment. Astoria lies at the mouth of the Columbia River, home to some of the most fearsome seas in the world. The Maritime Museum there does a great job of documenting the bravery of the men and women who brave the seas in the area. Astoria and the surrounding area remains one of our favorite places on the west coast.
We left Astoria last Sunday, parting company with our friends. They returned to their home on the Columbia River east of Portland, while we moved to a nice RV park on the eastern edge of the city. We spent the week touring the area, cleaning the salt off the motorhome and car, and catching up on all the things that had been neglected while we were having so much fun. Today, Saturday, we visited a Scottish festival in the community of Gresham, just east of Portland. All in all, it’s been a good week.
But with that, our time on the coast comes to an end. It’s been fun, but tomorrow we head east seeking new adventures. Maybe we’ll return some day, but if not we have enough great memories to last a lifetime. I hate to say goodbye to such a special place, but we must.
Alan
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