11.12.2011

Our Oregon Trail, Pt. 2

After leaving Cannon Beach, we carried on up the coast to Astoria. Situated near the mouth of the Columbia River, this picturesque little town has served as a location for such classics of cinema as Short Circuit, Kindergarten Cop, Free Willy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, and most famously, The Goonies.

Since Kristen is the resident goonie in our family, it was her honor to pose in front of Mikey's house, aka the goondocks (although she couldn't be convinced to do the truffle shuffle). Our other stop on the Goonies tour was the Clatsop County Jail, now serving as the Oregon Film Museum.

The museum itself is pretty small and only took about 15 minutes to explore. You can peruse posters of movies shot in Oregon, recreate famous scenes from said movies, check out the jail cell of Jake Fratelli, get your mug shot taken, and even leave messages for the Goonies. (Kelly needs to rethink her life, methinks.)

Next up was the Astoria Column, which sits atop Coxcomb Hill, the highest point in the surrounding area. 164 spiral steps took us to the top.

After catching our breath, we enjoyed the panorama of Astoria and the adjacent countryside. (Click to enlarge)

Violet proved herself to be a world class traveler on the trip. It was our unique opportunity to remember a time not so long ago when we only had one kid, with one notable difference—Eddie was never this agreeable. Kristen and I also speculated that there must not be very many babies in Oregon because Violet commanded the attention of complete strangers everywhere we went. (As opposed to Utah where a half dozen babies come spilling out of every minivan.)

Our hotel was situated on the river, right under the Astoria–Megler Bridge that connects Oregon to Washington. After a walk along the waterfront at sunset, an otherwise peaceful dinner was spoiled for Kristen by a now infamous bowl of "black glump" soup. You can ask her for details.

Next: The City

4 comments:

Ben said...

Dave all these pictures are awesome. Your skills are impressive.

Dave said...

Well thank you. I will say it seemed almost effortless to take cool photos in Oregon.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! What a fun trip!

Unknown said...

Nice picture and i love the place too..