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| Eleanor and Frances chat up the fish mongers. Apparently, the movie Kindergarten Cop was filmed in Astoria and the woman who did the on-location set painting loved the place so much, she moved there and has been painting the town since. |
We got stuck in Astoria for longer than a week, checking the tides
and weather every day, preparing for our departure back across of the notorious Columbia River Bar and our
24-hour passage up to and around Cape Flattery and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Stuck in Astoria.
Stuck paying $15 a night for our transient slip in a clean, protected
marina with hot showers and laundry at hand. Stuck just a short walk from the
cozy Three Cups Coffee House. Stuck adjacent to the tracks of the 100-year-old trolley car that took us where we needed to go for a buck. Stuck along the
same waterfront as a maritime museum that rivals anything the Smithsonian has
to offer. Stuck in a small town where two world-class microbrewers compete for
our thirst. Stuck among the picturesque decaying piers of salmon canneries that
disappeared long ago.
If it wasn’t for the seasonal urgency we feel, we might have
elected to be stuck in Astoria for much, much longer. At one point, Windy browsed the real estate listings, imagining a life ashore with a view of the mighty Columbia. Fortunately, she snapped out of it.
--MR
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| Eleanor walking the trolley track along the riverfront. Note the waterfront hotel where a cannery once was. The concrete structure is a support for the nearly 5-mile-long Astoria-Megler Bridge overhead. |
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| Windy at work dry-fitting the inflatable canopy of the Portland Pudgy. |
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| We were in Astoria long enough to foster a coffee shop homeschooling routine. The change of scenery was welcome and productive--must have been the caffeine. |
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| Windy and the girls check out an exhibit in Astoria's extraordinary Maritime Museum. |
I have never been to Astoria but after reading your post and seeing the pictures, I am ready to visit. Sounds like a nice town. Are you guys still liking the pudgy? I have tentatively decided on one when I make my eventual escape...
ReplyDeleteHi Gerard. Yes, still loving the Pudgy. One thing that we like a lot is how often we are able to row. The oars stow in the gunnels, so they are always there. With the inflatable, the oars were for emergencies. This thing, like all hard dinghys, rows well and so we row often. Not only is it good exercise, but fun and hassle free in terms of not having to ship an outboard. I like too that, again, like any hard dinghy, we don't worry about bumping into sharp or rough things. Michael
ReplyDeleteI knew you'd like Astoria. Maybe we'll all end up there one day . . .
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that you are posting from Port Angeles and made it safely around the Cape. If you need anything while in the Sound, don't hesitate to ask!
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