Summer 2011

Yesterday's weather forecasts for today were optimistic... the rain would hold off until evening. They were wrong! It was a gray start with some intermittent light rain. However, since sitting in the trailer and stewing about the weather was not an option, we headed out.

Our first stop was Cannon Beach. We parked near the beach and started walking along it taking pictures of the sea stacks (rocks) for which this coast is famous. Haystack Rock, off Cannon Beach is one of the better known formations in the area and we wanted to get a picture of it at a minimum. As we were getting ready to leave the beach, the sprinkles became more numerous.

We then drove up to Astoria, one of the places I wanted to visit. It was founded by John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company, in 1811, as Fort Astoria and served as a fur trading post. The Lewis and Clark expedition spent the winter of 1805-1806 at Fort Clatsop, a log structure, south of today's Astoria. A replica of Fort Clatsop is part of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.

After visiting Fort Clatsop we drove to the Astoria Column, which overlooks Astoria and the Columbia River which reached the Pacific Ocean here. Completed in 1926, it is one of several such markers that commemorate the western expansion of the United States. I climbed to the top of the Column, which offered a great view of the town and surrounding rivers.

We were going to look around Astoria some more, but the rains became more constant and we opted to drive through part of the town and headed back to the RV Park. Hopefully, we will have better weather tomorrow for a trip south of Cannon Beach. The forecasters are saying it will be a rainy day... maybe they will be wrong again and we might see some sun.