Day 36: Canon Beach, OR

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Ben

We headed South this morning towards Canon Beach. On the way, we stopped at Ecola State Park, where we could see the lighthouse known as Terrible Tilly:

Tilly is three miles offshore, and was staffed and operated until the late 50s:

Looking from Ecola northwards, we see Crescent beach and Canon Beach in the distance:

We decided to hike down to Crescent Beach from Ecola. The coastal forest is very lush:

Examining a banana slug:

Crescent Beach was beautiful in the mist, and we found many, many whole Sand Dollars, something I don’t remember ever finding as a child.

There were interesting sea caves at the north end of the beach:

Marine life abounded:

The kids poked at the anemones to observe them retract their tentacles:

The kids found and old rope for swinging:

The fog had cleared quite a bit by the time we headed back:

Here’s the hike. We were out at low tide, so on the map it looks like we were walking in the water:

That afternoon, we walked though Canon Beach’s quint downtown and built sand castles on the beach:

Tonight we’re camped on State Forest land outside of Nehalem.

See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

Day 35: Astoria / Warrenton, OR

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Ben

This morning, I rode 32 miles from Warrenton to Seaside and back. I left Warrenton in the dark, and it was not yet sunrise by the time I reached Seaside:

I rode down to Seaside on 101, but took back roads to get back to Warrenton. It was beautiful!

We drove across the bridge to Astoria and visited the maritime museum there:

This genuine coast guard boat was even more vertical than the photo implies, note the exhibit railing at the bottom of the photograph which is in reality horizontal:

The museum was very well done and worth the visit. Next, we clawed our way uphill to the top of Astoria to visit the Astor Column:

After ascending the narrow spiral staircase, we were treated to some amazing views:

After the Astor Column, we stopped at an Astoria city park for a couple hours. The kids enjoyed both the playground and the adjacent skate park using their Razor scooters. I may have put on my roller skates and given it a whirl myself.

On the way back to Warrenton, we visited South Jetty, the rock wall built in the late 1800s to narrow the mouth of the Columbia to increase the flow rate which reduces silt build up as the Columbia empties into the ocean. The observation deck looks out onto the ocean side:

We again stayed at the Warrenton Home Depot this evening.

Day 34: Warrenton, OR

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Ben

Another beautiful day as we left the welding shop:

We drove to Fort Stevens, a military installation active from the Civil War through World War II, designed to protect the Oregon coast and the Columbia River. We headed down to the beach:

And checked out the wreck of the Peter Iredale, which was beached here about 100 years ago. All that remains of this 300 foot sailing ship is its bow:

Next we headed to Battery Russell at Fort Stevens. This battery housed two large guns, aimed out at the ocean.

One of the gun pits:

After visiting the museum on site, we headed to the main battery, which has been better preserved. Here’s the rack that would hold the shells waiting for firing. The shells were brought in using the rails at the top of the photograph, then hoisted up via hook and chain to the gun above:

A more modern gun emplacement:

Fort Stevens is in the Northwest corner of the state, where the Columbia empties into the Pacific, so some batteries defend the ocean side, and other defend the Columbia. Battery West defends the Columbia River:

Our daughter is 25 cents away from being a spotting officer:

Next we visited Fort Clatsop, which Lewis and Clark built and where they wintered in 1806 before returning to the East to complete what was the first expedition to complete a land crossing of what would become the American West. The recreated fort was very interesting:

The kids received their Lewis and Clark NHS Junior Ranger badges, and we headed out. Tonight we are staying at the Home Depot of Warrenton. More adventures tomorrow!

See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

Day 33: Clatsop State Forest, OR to Warrenton, OR

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Ben

In the morning I took a quick ride to look for more dispersed camping sites. Here we are ready to leave our overnight spot:

After another 20 minutes of driving, we were in Seaside. It was the first time our kids visited the Pacific. They are now truly transcontinental travellers:

We stopped at the arcade, and each played one game. The kids were amazed at my skills at Sega’s “After Burner”:

We noticed on the way into Seaside that the lousy welding job we had paid to have done in New York to attach our bike rack to the RV was starting to crack badly, so we carefully drove North to Warrenton where the guys at Affordable Portable Weld and Fab fixed the rack mount. They were friendly and did a great job, and even let us park here for the night! Here they are welding away:

While they were working, I tried fixing our hitch jack which also broke today. Looks like I’ll need to buy a new one:

As I said, we will be staying here tonight. Tomorrow we will visit sites in the Warrenton and Astoria area.

We drove 26 miles today. See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

Day 32: Portland, OR to Clatsop State Forest, OR

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Ben

Rosh Hashanah and Shabbos were wonderful with our old community! It was great to see all our old friends and get to meet the newer arrivals as well. The synagogue and the community are larger than they were when we left. It was also fun to see adults that were our son’s age when we moved away.

We’ve decided to spend this week at the Oregon coast, so we headed west from Portland, stopping at Target and Home Depot for supplies. We then continued west to Hillsboro, where we bought our first house after getting married. We dumped tanks and refilled our water at the same dump station we used for our first RV in the 90s. It wasn’t as moving as I make it sound.

We then visited the afore mentioned house. It’s been repainted since we bought it brand new in ‘98:

Continuing west, I tried to find a dispersed camping site for the night. After having to back out a good way down a gravel road when we encountered a logging fence, we at last found a nice spot near Hamlet, NY.

At night, I finally wired up the switch and indicator LED I purchased in Reno to turn our inverter on and off from inside the RV:

We drove 68 miles today. See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

Look Before You Live!

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Day 36: Canon Beach, OR

Day 35: Astoria / Warrenton, OR

Day 34: Warrenton, OR

Day 33: Clatsop State Forest, OR to Warrenton, OR

Day 32: Portland, OR to Clatsop State Forest, OR