Day 23 - Oh Canada

Thank God for gun control or at least what we have here. The border guard told us that the local Idaho car dealer will throw in a free AK47 with every 2011 pickup purchase. As he says, This wasn't even considered odd!"

Back home or at least the western part and driving to Creston, BC where my Dad was born. The family story says that my Grandfather started the local Creston paper and lost it in a poker game - at which point he moved the family's house off the lot where the newspaper building stood.

We tracked down the local museum

and their wonderful archivist who introduced us to several years of back issues of the Creston Review, the first iteration of the newspaper where we learned what seems to be the true story  - that is that while the transfer of the newly formed paper to new owners was quite straightforward, my grandfather did have a somewhat checkered past with bills unpaid and suspect entrepreneurial attempts (he tried to sell 'public' water to thirsty women and children at a country fair).

It was a great time. Creston is an amazing fruit and vegetable growing centre and has been so since the earliest days. Grampa was also involved in trying to sell this land to immigrant farmers. It is also a haven for artists and again he was involved in the early days as part of the Creston Players.(you'll have to turn your computers!)

Thanks Creston - and tomorrow it's off to Winfield in the Okanagan.

Day 22 - Riding through Washington

Today we travelled from Fort Stevens State Park to Spokane - a 454 mile journey.
Long and pretty boring actually - and we have no pics.

But we ended at a nice motel with good burgers and a good Washington state wine -  a 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon - thank you Washington.

Day 21 - Back to Astoria - a bit of a throwback

Astoria has a special vibe - with references to so many disparate cultures including

·     * the 70’s hippie laid-back alternative lifestyle with vegetarian, yoga, and hemp influences

· 

the navy , coast guard, and river pilot culture with buzzed hair cuts, and ‘keep America secure’ influences

·      * the Scandinavian, immigrant, socialist, fishing and sauna influences

·      * men of a certain age (ours) with white hair (usually long) with full beards - honestly, one wonders is there was a contest.

·      * old cars which have been kept in pristine condition because of the weather.

It has been fun to be a part of these cultures while here and today we continued our tour - with Paul as the tour guide (don’t pay him!).

We saw the Flavel House, the home of the first robber baron in Town, the town movie museum

 - as well as had more wonderful food at Scorcher’s bakery and lunch.

It’s been a blast but now we are moving on - and tomorrow we are heading to Spokane, from there to Creston to see some family history and then on to Winfield in the Okanagan.

Day 20 -- Portland Oregon - we followed the sun

Actually we couldn’t stand the rain one second longer and thought MAYBE there’s sun over those mountains - and so it was.

Portland is a great city and we only saw snippets of it.  Powell's Book Store ( the largest independent book store in the world - 4 floors and acres of books - you need a map - which they provide .

Then lunch at Fuller's diner- all-day breakfast to die for (again , this needs to be featured on the Food Network!) . Lovely wait person whose real life is as a writer (graduate of creative writing from UBC) and who has started an online magazine called Fthe magazine.com - and which she describes as an alternate Cosmo. It will go live after the  ^16th

The Chinese Cultural Garden was next and a lovely docent provided the commentary

 that linked the Chines garden to social history - very interesting but we had to leave after an hour - she had a LOT to say.

Drove to Washington Park to the rose garden - beautiful. Portland has just completed its rose festival anc unfortunately the roses have not been in bloom to the extent that is usual but still lovely.

Back to Fort Stevens (about 2 hours away) and back to the gloomy weather - I guess this is par for the course for the west coast. We hope to head back into Astoria tomorrow.

We’re still having a good time!

Days 18 and 19 -

These were quieter days spent around the state park with some venturing off to Seaside to the south and back to Astoria.

Seaside is one of the first holiday towns, kind of like Sauble Beach on steroids. The water, and dunes are there along with some wonderful condominiums but there is also a promenade which extends right across the town in front of the ocean. Paul and I stopped there for an ice cream cone from the Tillamook ice cream store.

There are numerous parks along the ocean where one can spend the day, and in many cases you can take your car onto the beach although we have seen a few cars get stuck on the sand.

Last evening we had a great nature hike led by one of the park volunteers which turned into a private tour since we were the only ones who showed up - well along with the mosquitoes of course. We saw huckleberry (both regular and red), Oregon holly, lots and lots of ferns, wild roses, salal ( a type of local berry), thimbleberries, salmon berries and trailing black berries. But the stars of the tour were the sitka spruces  - “babies” Barney says - only 100 years old. They can grow to be 500 years old. The ones we saw seemed like monsters.

Today we returned to Astoria ( pronounced for some reason with the emphasis on the 1^st syllable) for the Sunday market and lunch at the bow picker.

Apparently the latter is a local secret. The fish is albacore tuna caught just off shore and most Astorians get their lunch here. “Divers Drive-ins and Dives” needs to check this place out- it really was good!

We also got a better picture of the goonie house.

This afternoon we returned to the park for ranger-led presentation on a local shipwreck, the Peter Iredale

 One of 2000 major wrecks along this coast, it is testament to the extreme weather and seas when the Columbia river meets the Pacific ocean in a dance that is violent and unpredictable. Special river pilots are trained to take ships from one to the other  and these guys are treated with extreme respect.

There are a whole lot of folks in the park right now because of the razor clams - apparently if you go out at sunrise at the "Minus tide", these guys are there for the picking.

The crabbers are from Oregon and one family's eldest son (picture Mickey Rooney in a fu manchu moustache) brought us up to date with the latest techniques. It's also a lot of fun they say, but 5 am anywhere doesn't sound like fun to me - and on this rainy coast, less than that!

Day 17 - Driving the 101

In Oregon, there is a state highway which hugs the seaside called the 101. Amazing vistas plus a ton of fun to drive if you like hills, switchbacks and speeds that go from 20-50 mph constantly.

But when the driver is not in a hurry, the road is a fascinating glimpse into small town America - or at least small town Oregon - which I think might be different from other places. Are there other states where you can buy your guns at the same place as you buy your guitars?

We drove to Newport to check out the aquarium  - a mid-sized facility with one of those "deep passages" tunnels where the fish swim over and under you. This would have been more amazing if not every child in Lincoln County wasn't visiting the aquarium that day.

Back to the State Park, we found that we had numerous neighbours for the weekend mostly human. The wildlife neighbour from the night before - the raccoon who nearly climbed into the van - had vanished with the crowds.

But the noisiest were the owls - screech? barn? great horned? who knows  - just REALLY LOUD! Will ask a ranger tonight.

So I guess Paul was right. Owls, not dinosaurs!

Day 16 - Astoria, Oregon - a gem of a town

A great night’s sleep (well except for the dinosaurs howling around 1:00 am - Paul says they were owls but really do owls sound like dinosaurs?). The temperature was cool enough to keep the mosquitos down but warm enough to not freeze - a good thing.

We also found that Oregonians are good coffee lovers and there are drive-thru expresso bars everywhere in little Astoria including the internet kafé across from the park (you guessed it - run by the local KOA - these folks don’t miss a trick).

The park is actually about 20 minutes from Astoria. Before hitting the kafe, we decided to drive through the park on an orientation tour and saw this other park occupant.

We also had our first view of the pacific ocean

 and while there were no whale sightings today, we remain hopeful.

Once in Astoria, we found several options for sightseeing so settled today for the River Road trolley

 a wonderful deal for $1.00 for an hour tour. ( for $2 you can stay on all day!) You stand anywhere on he trolley line waving your buck , and they’ll pick you up. A local historian dressed liked a motorman gives a running commentary on the history of this oldest settlement west of the Mississippi. While not the actual setting for Steinbeck’s ”Cannery Row” , it seems like it could have easily stood in for it.

It has though been the setting for several movies especially “Goonies” and “Kindergarten Cop”. The trolley historian pointed out the “Goonie” house from the film 

and encouraged us the visit Astoria’s film museum in the town’ former jail . We saw sea lions (which apparently drive the locals crazy with their barking) and more azaleas & rhododendrons  than any one town should be able to support. We also saw this tree?bush?  with blue flowers

. I leave it to you to determine its name.

We will drive down the coast tomorrow to Newport to see the aquarium - apparently something not to miss. We’ll keep this campsite for the rest of our time in Oregon as a base from which to do more day trips.

It’s so nice to come home to ;-)