We stayed at an Elks club in Kelso, WA while doing St. Helens and Astoria. The weather was shitty, rain and gloom. Typical of the west coast this time of the year…..hell, probably most of the year.
I think we hear that there are about 200 days of gloom in the northwest!!!
Astoria is only about 10,000 people, but is a major shipping port for the coast. The Columbia River enters into the Pacific ocean here and this is one of the most dangerous spots in the world for shipping.There are over 200 marked shipwrecks in this delta area.
Astoria has a great sea faring museum here(look it up and do the on-line tour) and we visited it, along with the Astoria tower.
an old diesel engine from a ship
an early coast guard life boat
several types of fishing boats dating back a hundred years or so.
this is an old light ship. They were anchored out in the ocean and the crew spent two weeks aboard. They say that even the most experienced crewmen got sea sick as the ship has a round bottom and just bobs in the waves. When the seas got high and the wind strong these guys were in for a very rough ride…..
If you look close, there is a yacht moored in the river. Local sources say it is Ringo Starr’s boat, but he is not on it….he loaned it to friends….Guess I will have to call him and remind him who I am!!
This is a display of a more modern Coast Guard rescue boat. These guys had very special training in boat handling and rescue to go out in these boats. Wouldn't it be a blast to take a ride in one of these boats in this kind of weather…..I would love it!!!
This is the tower. There is a circular stairway inside that goes up 164 steps to the platform at the top. I walked up about 1/4th of the way and came back down. After visiting the gift shop I noticed that I had lost the lens cap from the camera, so I went back and walked about 1/2 way up. Not sure why I did that….duh
Anyway, found the lens cap in the gift shop, which of course, was the last place I looked.
If you look up Astoria OR, you can find info on the tower. The outside is covered with murals that give the history of Astoria area.
Our next exciting chapter is a lot of pictures of the ocean…..
Hope you are enjoying the tour
love to ya
Jim and Linda
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