A (Ilwaco) to B (Astoria) by bike, B to D (Portland) by bus, and D to E (Cameron and Meagan's house) by bike, then back to Sweet Home in our own truck.
September 6 - Saturday - One of the groups camping nearby partied until 3 am and the fog was pretty drippy most of the night. We still got up at 7:00 and decided to do a little more exploring before we loaded up the bikes.
One of Doug's experimental pictures.....trying to make Donna look faster.
"Men appear much satisfied with their trip, beholding with excitement the high waves dashing against the rocks & this emence ocian." William Clark at what is now called McKenzie Head.
November 18, 1805 William Clark and 11 men camped near this spot.
This installation (as well as several others) was designed by Maya Lin and has an Native American creation story engraved on top of it. The seagulls seem to really appreciate her art as well judging by all the "gifts" they left behind. Made it a little difficult to read the story.
We decided that we didn't want to wait until 10:00 when the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center opened. Instead we decided to head into town for breakfast #2.
It's a vortex..........all roads lead to Ilawo.
Today the road between the restaurants and the marina is filled with Saturday Market. Breakfast at the Harbor Lights was quite the big breakfast burrito and quite entertaining people watching. We left town about 11:00 hoping to cross the Columbia River while most of the traffic was headed north towards the Rod Run. It is only about 20 miles to Astoria.
A boat of a car???
Looking across Baker Bay on the Columbia River. Somewhere in that fog bank is Cape Disappointment State Park.
At the entrance to Fort Columbia State Park.
This tunnel was another reason we were glad most of the traffic was going the other way.
St. Mary's McGowan, built 1904. This little church only holds services from Memorial Day to Labor Day. We are a week late.
Here comes the bridge..........the Astoria Bridge...........4 miles across the mighty Columbia. The state line is about where the sail intersects the bridge.
This is Rachel. She is from Bristol, England and came over to do the same coastal tour as the pair we met in Aberdeen. The tour leaves tomorrow so she decided to do a little touring on her own today. The trouble is she had no map and crossed the wrong bridge on her way to Fort Stevens. She is surprised when we tell her that she is in Washington not Oregon. We gave her one of our maps and sent her back the way she had just come after a very nice chat.
Goodby Washington..........
......hello Oregon!
This is one long bridge across one big river!
One of the real advantages biking across this bridge is that you can stop and take in the scenery and take pictures. Cars are expressly prohibited from stopping on the bridge.
And we took full advantage of the situation.
This sand bar is in the middle of the river.
One more hill to climb to complete this part of our journey.
More brothers of the road.
The view from the top.
The road makes a big circular descent, part of which you can see behind the signs. It felt like flying and it was a pretty exciting ride.
This picture gives you a little different perspective of the bridge descent. Doug is standing on the tracks for the waterfront trolley.
The Waterfront Trolley, a very nice way to travel from one end of Astoria to the other, with commentary on points of interest along the route. Later we rode it all the way to the end of the line and then back to our dinner spot.
Maritime Memorial Park, a monument to all those lost at sea.
The old waterfront lives along side the new waterfront all along the river. The path and trolley have made the whole waterfront very much a public space and there were lots of people strolling about taking in the sunshine.
The shipping channel is quite close to the riverfront along here.
Besides lots of big ships, there is also a fair amount of barge traffic.
The ships stop here to change from a bar pilot to a river pilot or vice versa. The Columbia River bar is one of the most difficult in the world so these pilots are a big business here in Astoria.
A seagull hotel.
The sea lions, not to be outdone by seagulls, have their own hotel.
This was our sound of the day and what a sound it was......dozens of barking sea lions.
We had dinner at the Wet Dog Cafe, one of the local brew pubs. It was quite good food and there was live music, a guitarist playing 60's and 70's tunes. We walked back to the motel as the fog was rolling in from the Pacific. It was a very nice way to end our last night on the coast.
September 7 - Sunday - A couple of days earlier we had found out that we could acquire a ticket from the Amtrak bus driver as long as we booked the train from Portland to somewhere, so do not have to pedal back to Portland. We told the ticketing agent that we were going to Vancouver, WA. We made sure that we were at the Transit Center plenty early. It is closed on Sundays so we were glad that it was a clear sunny morning for waiting. Only 3 other people boarded at the same time as we did which made stowing our bikes in the belly of the bus a fairly simple affair. Turns out that the Amtrak bus is the only public transportation available on Sundays on this part of the coast and takes everyone who needs a ride. We made a lot of stops between Astoria and Cannon Beach, dropping off almost as many people as we picked up. Also turns out that he doesn't issue our ticket either, we just get it when we arrive in Portland. So much for centralized information call centers!
Back at Portland Train Station. The ticket agent cancelled our reservation to Vancouver since we really didn't need it anyway.
This was the first time we had to put sunscreen on our legs the whole trip!
The gate to the Classic Chinese Garden., a Portland icon.
It was quite the hot day and the Portland riverfront was like one big party with live music in several locations. We got to Hawthorne Bridge, one of the bike route bridges, only to find out it was closed for the day for maintenance work. A kind local biker directed us back downriver to another bridge.
This turned out to be a nicer route across the river anyway since the non-motorized traffic has its own totally separate deck.
The Eastbank Esplanade, heading upriver towards Cameron and Meagan's house, our truck and the end of this journey.
One of the real advantages biking across this bridge is that you can stop and take in the scenery and take pictures. Cars are expressly prohibited from stopping on the bridge.
And we took full advantage of the situation.
This sand bar is in the middle of the river.
One more hill to climb to complete this part of our journey. More brothers of the road.
The view from the top.
The road makes a big circular descent, part of which you can see behind the signs. It felt like flying and it was a pretty exciting ride.
This picture gives you a little different perspective of the bridge descent. Doug is standing on the tracks for the waterfront trolley.
The Waterfront Trolley, a very nice way to travel from one end of Astoria to the other, with commentary on points of interest along the route. Later we rode it all the way to the end of the line and then back to our dinner spot.
Maritime Memorial Park, a monument to all those lost at sea.
The old waterfront lives along side the new waterfront all along the river. The path and trolley have made the whole waterfront very much a public space and there were lots of people strolling about taking in the sunshine.
The shipping channel is quite close to the riverfront along here.
Besides lots of big ships, there is also a fair amount of barge traffic.
The ships stop here to change from a bar pilot to a river pilot or vice versa. The Columbia River bar is one of the most difficult in the world so these pilots are a big business here in Astoria.
A seagull hotel.
The sea lions, not to be outdone by seagulls, have their own hotel.
This was our sound of the day and what a sound it was......dozens of barking sea lions.
We had dinner at the Wet Dog Cafe, one of the local brew pubs. It was quite good food and there was live music, a guitarist playing 60's and 70's tunes. We walked back to the motel as the fog was rolling in from the Pacific. It was a very nice way to end our last night on the coast.
September 7 - Sunday - A couple of days earlier we had found out that we could acquire a ticket from the Amtrak bus driver as long as we booked the train from Portland to somewhere, so do not have to pedal back to Portland. We told the ticketing agent that we were going to Vancouver, WA. We made sure that we were at the Transit Center plenty early. It is closed on Sundays so we were glad that it was a clear sunny morning for waiting. Only 3 other people boarded at the same time as we did which made stowing our bikes in the belly of the bus a fairly simple affair. Turns out that the Amtrak bus is the only public transportation available on Sundays on this part of the coast and takes everyone who needs a ride. We made a lot of stops between Astoria and Cannon Beach, dropping off almost as many people as we picked up. Also turns out that he doesn't issue our ticket either, we just get it when we arrive in Portland. So much for centralized information call centers!
Back at Portland Train Station. The ticket agent cancelled our reservation to Vancouver since we really didn't need it anyway.
This was the first time we had to put sunscreen on our legs the whole trip!
The gate to the Classic Chinese Garden., a Portland icon.
It was quite the hot day and the Portland riverfront was like one big party with live music in several locations. We got to Hawthorne Bridge, one of the bike route bridges, only to find out it was closed for the day for maintenance work. A kind local biker directed us back downriver to another bridge.
This turned out to be a nicer route across the river anyway since the non-motorized traffic has its own totally separate deck.
The Eastbank Esplanade, heading upriver towards Cameron and Meagan's house, our truck and the end of this journey.
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