Astoria, Oregon: Hello Dear Reader and thank you so much for following us over to the Oregon coast! We are calling this Postcard from the Road the "Coastal Confessions Tour" because we must confess we have not spent much time in Astoria, Oregon and we have never been to Long Beach, Washington (our next destination). Impossible to believe, I know... but we confess our omission right away, so we can all discover this area together.
Another confession? We knew it was going to be blistering hot in the Willamette Valley this week, so we headed to the beach. We may not be (locally) well-traveled, but we are not stupid.
The temperatures were nearing 100 degrees when we hit the road
We had a world-record 20-minute loading/unloading of our belongings from the Honda CRV to the motorhome and were ready to hit the highway... until we decided to refuel and it took about 40 minutes... in 100° heat... to top-off the tank. $250 later, we were on the freeway and headed to the beach. Traffic was not bad and we cruised into Astoria (on the very tip-top north-west corner of Oregon) - just across the Columbia River from Washington State.
Our premier pull-in campsite at the Lewis & Clark Golf & RV Park
We are camped at the brand-new Lewis & Clark Golf & RV Resort in Astoria. The sites are designed for big-rigs and the park is very nice... even though they are not completely finished. (The bath house is not yet complete.) Owners are very friendly and helpful - actually everyone in the park is very friendly. So good to be back on the road!
Lewis & Clark Golf & RV Resort
One row of sites looks out over the golf course
Don't you miss seeing the Magna Peregrinus every day? (I know I do.)
After settling-in and getting our RV back in living-shape, we headed into town to visit another of our favorite brew-pubs - The Rogue! Yes, yes, yes... again and again we visit this (very local) chain whenever we are near a branch. And, yes, again, we ordered Kobe Balls and Halibut Fish & Chips. Why mess with a good thing?
The Rogue Brewpub on Pier 39 - in the old Bumblebee Tuna Cannery
The Rogue Public House
Rogue Public House - Astoria, Oregon
Kobe beef meatballs with Rogue Creamery Blue Cheese
Halibut Fish & Chips
After dinner we went for a walk along the docks - lured-in by the barking of a large group of sea lions.
On the docks - idle fishing boats
A great old truck parked on the docks... that I played-with in Photoshop
Fishing boats in Astoria, Oregon
Pretty sunset on the west coast - Astoria, Oregon
And so, Dear Readers, I have another confession. I am supposed to be schlepping my (huge) new camera around on this trip... but tonight I left the bus with just my teeny credit-card-sized pocket camera... so I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos tonight.Dang, I swear to perform better tomorrow.
We have a long list of things we want to see, do, visit, eat and photograph while we are in Astoria, Oregon, so check back.
Until my next update, I remain, your Astoria correspondent.