Astoria

Brian needed to burn some accumulated vacation hours, so in early May he took a Wednesday off and we made a day trip to Astoria, OR. Happily, the weather coughed up a sunny day for us.

The first several pictures were taken from the Astoria tower, which commemorates the Lewis and Clark expedition (Astoria is located at the mouth of the Columbia river, where their long journey finally met the sea.) The sides of the tower are covered with a spiraling pictographic account of the major events of the expedition.

Brian (green shirt) and Samuel in front of the tower

Oh, and did I mention there are stairs inside, and you can climb up to the top? Brian, who is skeert of heights, opted to keep an eye on the small boys, while Eve and I made the trek up. Eve needed a little encouragement at various points, but once we got up there she was as excited as I was.

Astoria and bridge, seen from tower top

Yep, that's some nice scenery, that there.

Brian and the boys are the ants at the apex of the parking lot. Note the "Noah's Ark" tour bus.

After the tower, we drove down Hwy 101 for a bit until we got to Sunset Beach, because Eve in particular had been begging to see the beach.

Did I mention you can drive your car right out on the beach?

We had a really good time and stayed later than we should have, which led to a really nasty car ride back home, but we won't dwell on that. Yay, Astoria!