Astoria

While my family was in town, we took the drive up to Astoria.

The last time we had been there was when my sister was in All-Northwest.

We took the very long "scenic" drive...

...but, we saw mostly trees until we reached this point:

From the Washington side.

I thought I'd never see this bridge again.

Longest bridge I've ever crossed.

When we crossed it as a family those many years ago, Mom was so nervous.

She said she had felt like we were flying.


From the Oregon side.

I think she was just as nervous this time around, too.

We found a spot on a pier to take some pictures.

An interesting thing, though, was the fact that there were all these rotten piers out in the water.

They didn't learn the lesson of rotting wood because the pier we were on was made of the same thing.

I wonder how they kept reinforcing it.

Maybe they just replace it.

Either way, we were on a pier with a hotel, and I can tell you this much, I wouldn't want to stay there for fear of it falling into the water from rotting wood.

There were all sorts of boats there.

HUGE ones.

I don't think I've ever seen ones so large.

Or so CLOSE.



This one came right by us!

Pretty crazy.

We took some pictures, and Emma was nice enough to take the family one.

I have one with Emma standing where I am, but I didn't want a double picture on here.

Just imagine her in front of me.



Like I said, lots of boats.

Our next stop was at the Astoria Column!



The column depicts the discovery of the Columbia River mouth to the settling of it in its artwork.

I especially enjoyed looking at this.



Very intricate and very interesting.

Tangent:

My Senior year of high school, I was asked to paint historic coins on my teacher's wall in Economics.

He told me that if I spent the semester painting and helping him TA a little, then he would give me an A for the class.

Of course I agreed to do it!

So, I basically painted my way out of my Economics class.

Anyway, back to the column:

While I was admiring the craftsmanship and artistry, Mom asked me if maybe someone got to paint their way out of an economics class by painting this, too.

Silly.

Mikayla, Emma, Seth, Porter and I climbed the steps to the top.

While Porter screamed the whole way up, I felt like it.

I'm not a fan of heights.

We should always face our fears.

So, with heart racing, I made it up the steps.



I was glad I made it up.

But, I was still completely terrified.

I stayed as far away from the ledge as I possibly could.

Seth's not afraid of heights.



And, even though Porter stopped crying, I don't think he felt any more comfortable than I did.

Again, I faced my fear.

I even took pictures of the view.

Tired of scenery pictures, yet?

Here, I'll give you something else to look at...



And, in case you didn't want to read that, I'll summarize...

Every step up to the top was bought by a patron.

On every ledge leading up to the top, there was a plaque with the step number and the name of the patron who paid for it.



164 steps total.

In case you were curious about any historic information or statistical information...



...you're welcome to read that. :)

While some of us went into the souvenir shop before heading out...

Seth and Porter watched the boats go by.

We saw so many interestingly painted homes!



I thought it added to the quaintness of the town.

Our favorite house we visited while we were there was:



The Goonies house!!

We almost didn't recognize it, though.

Before heading home, we made a final stop...



...at Sunset Beach!

I think this beach is awesome.

Not only because it was the first beach Seth and I went to when we first arrived in Oregon.

Or that you can fly huge kites here.

But, because you can drive on it!

It was a little chilly that day, so there weren't very many people there.

But, there was an interesting sight...



...a lone seal.

A sign was posted near the seal explaining that it was ill.

Sad.

So, we stayed away from the seal.

I don't think I would have wanted to get that close to it, anyway.





Such a fun day!