Day 2 - Oregon Coast

Started the day with breakfast at McMenamins and then headed north to Fort Stevens. Built near the end of the American Civil War, it was to guard the mouth of the Columbia River. Not much to see there other than empty gun mounts. We took a short drive out the Jetty Road and then headed to Astoria.

Once in Astoria we took the bridge across the Columbia to Washington. At this point the river is quite wide and the bridge, which is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America, totals just over 4 miles. On the Oregon side there is clearance of nearly 200 feet for ships traveling upriver to the Port of Portland.

Our first stop was Fort Columbia. Finished in 1904, it was to guard the Columbia like Fort Stevens across the river. This fort has many of the old buildings and is well worth a visit. Then it was off to The Depot in Seaview, Washington, which we were told had the best ever clam chowder. Well, it may have the very best clam chowder, but not today. Closed.

So it was back to Astoria. Many times we have driven past the Columbia River Maritime Museum, but not this time. If you are in Astoria and you like ships do not pass this place up. Great exhibits. Great videos. Great history of the river.

We stopped at a little place in downtown Astoria for a bowl of B- clam chowder and then headed back to Gearhart and the hotel. As a Cosmic Tripster we have happy hour prices on beer for one year, so we sat out on the deck overlooking the golf course and took advantage. While there we spied our neighbors finishing a round of golf and they soon joined us.

We finished the day by splitting a burger. All in all a nice day. Too bad we have to go home tomorrow.

Fort Stevens

Fort Coloumbia

Posted from my iPad 2 Air

Day 1 - Redmond, OR to Gearhart, OR

Ok, today should have started with an alarm going off at 5:15AM. Should have except for a 5:05 beeping from Barb's phone, indicating a new text message. Someone on the East coast has a Left Coast Right Coast problem. Anyway, once awake we were up and moving a little earlier than planned.

Heading out at 6:45AM we still weren't sure which route to take to accomodate Barb's two shopping stops. Route 1 was Santiam Pass, while route 2 was over Mt. Hood. Breakfast at Black Bear in Madras gave the edge to route 2.

Having made this drive a 100 plus time over the last 10 years we expected nothing new. Surprise. The recent fire on the Warm Springs Reservation had burned well over 64,000 acres and the highway ran right through it. It's been a bad year in the Northwest.

After a quick stop at Bridgeport Plaza and Washington Square for shopping and a bowl of clam chowder we headed out to the Oregon Coast for a two night stay at McMenamins's Gearhart Hotel. Due to our Cosmic Tripster status, earned by completing the McMenamin's Passport challange, this and four other nights in the future would be free. McMenamin's is made up of pubs, breweries, wineries, hotels and more in Oregon and Washington. Checkout the Passort challange at www.McMenamins.com/Passport.

After checking in we took a drive around Gearhart and Seaside, both of which proved uninteresting. Barb suggested we head back to McMenamin's for a beer, which we did. Ruby for her and Terminator for me. Later we had dinner at Dooger's in Seaside.Barb had sole and I went after pan fried oysters. Not just any oysters mind you, these were local Willapa Bay oysters and they were great.

Now back at the hotel I'm settled in with a little Myers Rum and coke while reliving the day.

Posted from my iPad Air 2