Tag Archives: Astoria-Megler Bridge

Astoria to Cannon Beach

We’ve been away from our Country Bungalow since June 20th. Our first stop was at our Son and DIL’s home for two nights. Then early on Monday morning we drove from Bothell to Cannon Beach, Oregon but our first stop on that journey was in Astoria, Oregon.

We were only stopping here for a meal before we continued on to Cannon Beach.

Perched at the mouth of the mighty Columbia River, Astoria is Oregon’s oldest city and the first permanent U.S. settlement west of the Rockies.

With Victorian-era homes etched into hills overlooking the Columbia River, this picturesque settlement is a port city with Scandinavian flavor. Surrounded by forests, boasting three rivers and situated a stone’s throw away from the Pacific, Astoria is a fishing village-meets-Victoriana, chockablock with forts, museums and great local brews.

If you squint, you can see the bridge in the distance that connects this part of Oregon to Washington State.

We had decided ahead of time to eat at Fort George Brew Pub and we were not disappointed.

The seafood chowder was so good and the Albacore Fish and Chips were excellent. The Albacore was a first for us and we really enjoyed it.

The house made tartar sauce was excellent, too.

Driving out of town we stopped to get a closer shot of this bridge.

Astoria Bridge, truss bridge spanning the mouth of the Columbia River between the states of Oregon and Washington, western United States. It was designed by William A. Bugee and at its completion in 1966, it was the longest continuous-truss bridge in the world.

It is 4.1 miles long.

Before we made it into the little seaside town of Cannon Beach we made a stop at Ecola State Park to get these views of Cannon Beach.

We managed to arrive at a good weather window. We paid $12 to park which was the ‘out of state’ parking fee.

Sea air does a number on my hair so I’ll be in search of a good hat to wear for any future beach trips.

The famous Haystack rock is one of many along the Oregon Coast.

 

Zooming in for our final shot of Haystack. In the next several days we would see the rock up close.

On the way back to our car we took another path to see a different view of the Pacific Ocean.

We drove the narrow winding State Park road down again to get to downtown Cannon Beach where we would be staying for the next 5 nights. More about our time in future posts.

It was a very nice time away but it is very good to be back home.

Roll On Columbia

Roll On Columbia
Words by Woody Guthrie, Music based on “Goodnight, Irene” (Huddie Ledbetter and John Lomax)

Green Douglas firs where the waters cut through.
Down her wild mountains and canyons she flew.
Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue,
Roll on, Columbia, roll on!

CHORUS: Roll on, Columbia, roll on.
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

Other great rivers add power to you,
Yakima, Snake and the Klickitat, too,
Sandy Willamette and Hood River, too;
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

CHORUS

Tom Jefferson’s vision would not let him rest,
An empire he saw in the Pacific Northwest.
Sent Lewis and Clark and they did the rest;
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

CHORUS

It’s there on your bank that we fought many a fight,
Sheridan’s boys in the blockhouse that night,
They saw us in death but never in flight,
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

CHORUS

At Bonneville now there are ships in the locks,
The waters have risen and cleared all the rocks,
Shiploads of plenty will steam past the docks,
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

CHORUS

And on up the river is Grand Coulee Dam,
The mightiest thing ever built by a man,
To run these great factories and water the land,
It’s roll on, Columbia, roll on.

CHORUS

These might men labored by day and by night,
Matching their strength ‘gainst the river’s wild flight,
Through rapids and falls they won the hard fight,
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.

This photo is one view of the Astoria-Megler Bridge connecting Washington State and Oregon over the Columbia River at the Pacific Ocean.

These are a compilation of photos I have of the mighty Columbia River. Some were taken this year and some in years past. The photos with Dear and I in them were taken in 2012. Some of the photos are taken in Oregon and most are taken in Washington State. The North end of the river the central part of the river and the southern part as it reaches Oregon.

 We are just back home from 4 days traveling to the Northeast part of our state to enjoy our son and his fiance. I’ll share posts later about our time there. We ended up crossing the mighty Columbia river four times during our visit. I was able to get photos of lots of great old barns.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

Astoria

We started out from our house while it was still dark. I saw the sun rise in the rear view mirror when we were approaching Olympia, Washington. We had never traveled from Washington to the Oregon coast before so when we got off of the interstate all roads and sights were new to us. We drove through Kelso and into Longview where we crossed from Washington into Oregon on the Lewis and Clark Bridge.

Stopping at a viewpoint and looking back I got a shot of the bridge with the sun rising in the East.

The view West towards the mouth of the Columbia river where it meets the Pacific ocean was a lot different.

We passed through many small sleepy towns on our way to Astoria. Our first stop in Astoria was to have some breakfast. We stopped at Stephanie’s Cabin. The restaurant didn’t look anything like a cabin but the food was good old fashioned grub. We split the Cabin Omelet ~ Ham, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, cheese, hashbrowns, covered with their own sausage gravy and served with a homemade biscuit.

Yes folks this is what a heart attack on a plate looks like but only if this is the way you ate every day or for every meal. It was a real tasty vacation treat for one of our 2 meals of the day…

After breakfast we checked out a few of the Astoria sights. “The City of Astoria– the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies, is situated on the Oregon shore of the Columbia River. The city is nestled on steep hillsides overlooking the Columbia River, and is a short distance from the Pacific Ocean.”

This is the Astoria-Megler Bridge and judging from all the comments that you have made about the bridge it’s a scary one to cross.  That’s Washington across the Columbia. The bridge is 4 miles long.

From a distance it looks quite tame.

This was our view leaving Astoria crossing Young’s Bay on Highway 101.

Our next seaside stop was in Cannon Beach.

Here in the Northwest the big news is that we are finally getting a week long stretch of warm sunshiny days. I’ll be watering more and keeping my sunglasses handy. Hope the weather is treating you nice where you are.