Pac NW Vacation - Day 3

Continuing on with our vacation in the greater Portland area, we packed ourselves into our gracious hosts car and headed two hours northwest to Astoria, OR. For those of you familiar with the 1985 movie, The Goonies, by Steven Spielberg this is the town where it was shot.

Built of concrete and steel in 1926, the Astoria Column is a 125-foot tower overlooking the mouth of the Columbia River. Inside is a 164-step spiral staircase ascending to an observation deck at the top where you can launch a balsa wood plane purchased from the gift store for $1.

The spiral sgrafitto frieze on the outside is almost seven feet wide and 525 feet long, and shows 14 significant events in the early history of Oregon with a focus on Astoria's role including Captain Gray's discovery of the Columbia River in 1792 and the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Locally known as "The Bridge to Nowhere," the Astoria-Megler Bridge spans 4 miles across the mouth of the Columbia River near where it empties into the Pacific Ocean connecting Astoria to Point Ellice, WA.

Awww :)

From Astoria we left the song of the Sirens (I mean, sea lions) and headed south to Seaside to hit The Buzz on Broadway, The Greatest Selection of Candy on the Pacific Coast, and Cannon Beach.

If it weren't so chilly at Cannon Beach, I could have stayed there for hours. We arrived at sunset and the view was breathtaking.

K and A playing on the beach.

Cannon Beach is recognized by its well-known landmark, Haystack Rock, located to the southwest of downtown Cannon Beach. This igneous rock has an elevation of 235 feet, and is often accessible at low tide, especially in the summertime. Near Haystack Rock are the Needles, two tall rocks rising straight out of the water.

K and A

My beauties (again)

I'm really hoping the next time we are in OR that we can stay here at least overnight and see the marine life at low tide and collect shells at sunrise. It's such a gorgeous place - I highly  recommend making a trip here.

Our last stop of the day was south to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We arrived 5 minutes before they closed; just long enough to get K a dry pair of socks (cow print, of course) and a scoop of delicious ice cream. From there we headed home and the girls and I crashed almost immediately while A, KS & SS stayed up to play Ticket To Ride which, if you are into boardgames, is very fun and I'd recommend it.