Today we went into Astoria. It is a gorgeous city cozied right up to the end of the Columbia River, the filming location for the movie \u201cThe Goonies\u201d and a locale chock-full of architecturally magnificent wood residences. Peggy’s family spent some time in Astoria when she was a kid because her dad had some contracts here and I find it easy to discern why she loves the place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tSince Oregon, and particularly the\nColumbia River, played crucial roles in the now flagging old-growth\ntimber business, all the structures here were built of wood. Not a\nlot of cast-in-place concrete or masonry buildings can be found in\ntown. However, the craftsmen that built the houses were very\nproficient at their trades because the hundred year old structures\nare still standing and they look very spiffy. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWe drove our rather large truck up and\ndown the narrow streets of the hill above the commercial district,\ngawking at the hundreds of gorgeous houses. Only a few people gave us\nthe fisheye for holding up traffic while we were ogling the\nstructures. They were mostly very nice about it. While making a\nnuisance of ourselves we also spotted many deer living in the\nabundant vegetation between houses. They were happily nibbling on\nexpensive, labor intensive landscaping bushes and flowers, only to\nscamper away when we got too close with our noisy truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWe worked our way up the huge hill\nabove the business district, ultimately ending up at the Astoria\nColumn. The Column should actually be called the Tower because it\ndoesn’t hold anything up. The Column itself is located on the highest\npoint of the surrounding terrain and truly stunning views of the\nColumbia, Lewis & Clark and Young Rivers watershed areas. Huge\nfreighters, tankers and barges look tiny as they make their ways into\nand from the ports of Oregon and Washington. The Column itself is\nspirally decorated with historical scenes from the area although some\nof the scenes may be interesting to white folks, they may appear to\nbe a sanitized version of the re-allocation of Native American lands\ninto the hands of timber, fishing and mining interests. Either way,\nit is still very pretty. Spry young people and those in good physical\nshape can take a long spiral staircase within the Column and arrive\nat a small observation platform at the top. Just when we looked up at\nthese hardy folks we spotted a bald eagle pair flying above the\nhumans. They had the best view. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On our way out of town, we made a stop at Henderson’s Smokehouse to see if they had any kippered seafood for us to add to our larder. There were several people inside shopping with only one person behind the counter who seemed overwhelmed by making more than one transaction every quarter hour. Fortunately for us, it gave us ample time to check out the prices for smoked fish attractively displayed in the refrigerated cases. Once we spotted prices in excess of $40 a pound for smoked salmon, we faded to the back and finally chickened out. We will continue to search for the kippered snacks we get at grocery stores that have prices closer to $2 a tin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We took a few photos in Astoria. To see ’em, click the link. https:\/\/photos.app.goo.gl\/frnQvHKfuVbH4WVJ7<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today we went into Astoria. It is a gorgeous city cozied right up to the end of the Columbia River, the filming location for the movie \u201cThe Goonies\u201d and a locale chock-full of architecturally magnificent wood residences. Peggy’s family spent … Continue reading