They could add a few hundred people to the population if they allowed houses to be rebuilt in an 8-10 block area that slid down the hill into downtown years ago after a week of heavy rains. Houses, cars, garages, back yard patios, cats, dogs & pet parrots, all came crashing down in one huge mud slide. Luckily, most people were at work so very few were killed or injured. But the property damage was huge. Since that event no building has been allowed in the area.
We visited Astoria Column and enjoyed the great multi-directional views from Astoria’s highest point. Well, not the highest point, we don’t do steep, narrow stairs well so we stayed at ground level to enjoy the views, not from the top of the column. Then we rode the trolley at the wharf both ways so we took in the whole four miles. Saw one place, Frits & Cones, that made fresh cut fries in a dedicated fryer and ice cream daily so Priss got excited because she could eat gluten free there. We got off the trolly and walked over but the smallest order of fries was a pound for ten bucks and the ice cream was $4 per every very small scoop Wasn’t a real ice cream place because they didn’t know what Chocolate Chip is. And they don’t FREEZE their ice cream either. Maybe the staff aren’t strong enough to scoop out hard ice cream but it certainly seems to be an issue in these parts. They need to institute a Vic Tanney strength program at these places. I’ll tell that to the Tillamook ice cream people too. If we wanted soft serve ice cream we’d head to Dairy Queen or McDonalds.
Someone told us about a really good, small fish & chips place just up the hill from the Maritime Museum that instead of using Cod or Halibut for their fish serves fresh Albacore Tuna. So we went. They also had fresh cut french fries made in a dedicated fryer so Priss could gorge on gluten free fries while I had the (Albacore Tune) fish & chips. Very good but greasy as most fish & chips are.
Then we took the challenge made by the trolly car driver, we drove up and down the longest, steepest street in Astoria. It is about a mile long and has an elevation change of about a thousand feet. The road is so steep in three or four places the sidewalks on both sides have steps. Wouldn’t you love to use this street in winter? One slip and you’re at the docks, or worse.
We said adios to Oregon and began our Washington coast adventure. A little disappointment at first, once you pass Cape Disappointment (that’s why it is disappointing) the coast is much more flat plus there are very few places where you can actually see the ocean from the highway. The Oregon coast is all public property so a lot more is open ocean for viewing. Washington not so. There are a lot of private and commercial properties between the coast highway and the ocean that block the beautiful views. The first two places we stayed we named “Port Shitty I and Port Shitty II” because you couldn’t see the ocean because of all the commercial and private property. Of course this time of year the beaches and beach towns were crowded, that’s what we get for traveling when school is out.
We stayed in La Push WA in an oceanside RV park owned and operated by the Quileute Indian Nation (not going to try to pronounce it because I have butchered so many of the names in this area already.) One of the most beautiful spots for an RV park we have ever seen. And maintained to the most minor detail. The beach here is wide and sandy and all the views offshore have the tall, steep, rocky spires sticking out of the ocean. The week here passed quickly.
One of the nearby beaches is Rinalto Beach which we can see from our beach but you can’t walk across the river outlet so it requires a 23 mile drive to get to it. This is where Priss tried to kill me for the second time on this trip. I think I’ll start paying more attention. The beach is very similar to the beach at Quileute but has larger rock formations jutting from the ocean and is a much longer beach. Our brochure showed two points of popular interest at the north end of the beach as being Split Rock and Hole-In-The-Rock (maybe Butch & Sundance stayed here too??. But if they had I don’t think they would have ever left to go to Bolivia). Anyway, O’l Priss says let’s hike along the beach to the two sites. They look about a mile or so away, the day is cool with a good breeze blowing, a little foggy and overcast so why not?
So we walk. And we walk. And we walk. I’m all up for a good hike as long as it is about a hundred yards, round trip. And if anyone ever tells you it is easy to judge distance at the beach on an overcast, foggy day, smack the hell out of them, our mile hike estimate was woefully underestimated. After several well deserved rest stops we made it to Split Rock. And as long as we had come this far why not go a little farther to Hole-In-The-Rock. The purpose of going there was to walk through the hole in the cliff the sea had carved, see the beach on the other side then return. But we be desert peoples so we don’t know anything about tides, never thought about tides and by the time we got to Hole-In-The-Rock the tide has come in quite a bit and covered the easy access to walk through the hole. Now the trek requires a lot of rock climbing and jumping. Not to mention having to find a different path when coming back because the tide would be even higher. Would have given it a go years ago but not today with this body, I can climb about a foot at a time and jump maybe half that far. We can see through the hole to the other side, and the tide ain’t stopping, so we decide to forego our hole-in-the-rock walk. As we return we’re in no danger but the once wide beach is becoming more narrow by with each incoming wave.
And being the desert people that we are we found the beach to be much more enjoyable when the tide comes in compared to when it goes out. When it goes out, it just slowly, quietly, goes out. But when it comes in the waves are higher and crash into each other and the rocks sticking out of the surf, making more noise and white water, my Acton Jackson kind of tide. Anyway, when we finally drag ourselves back to the parking lot (a little drama here) Priss looked at her watch app and said we had walked over four miles (which I think was also understated, it had to have been at least twenty). Not much fof a walk for her but a world record for me.
After surviving on Advil for the night (me) we drove to Cape Flattery at the very northwest tip of Washington. They have stunning coastal ocean views and a lighthouse I wanted to see. Upon arriving in Cape Flattery we were stopped at a tribal road block and told we had to purchase a tribal permit to be on indian land and visit the sites. A little aggravating at first but the guy was really friendly and nice and when he told us were told where the $20 would be used and why we were fine with it, in fact it was a great use of our $20. The day was overcast and the fog was moving in so when we got to the ocean we couldn’t see the lighthouse and some of the ocean sites were obscured by the fog. Still, worth the trip and the hike. A beautiful spot and well worth the price of the tribal permit to see.
Next we went inland and stayed near Port Angeles, close to Olympic National Park. The National Parks Service now only allows 250 cars per day into the park, a fact we had not researched and we didn’t have a reservation. We had been here a number of years ago and the only destination the highway takes you to is Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center. A beautiful drive but not a big deal not to do it again. A ranger told us of two alternate drives that would take us to high overlooks so we decided to take both of those. On the first drive we got to within a quarter mile of the very top when the low hanging clouds dropped made visibility zero. Was pretty tricky turning around and making our way down to visibility. Bummer. The next day we drove out toward the second scenic drive but the clouds were again very heavy and hanging low. So we did sightseeing around town, Sequim and Port Townsend.That takes me back to butchering town names. Sequim, looks to me like it needs to be pronounced as “see-quim”. Right? Nope. It is pronounced Squim, like Swim with a Q. Guess they know the Texans that think Boerne should be pronounced “Ber-nie” or Gurene should be pronounced “Green”.
Port Townsend is a really pretty town, very old and has been well preserved. The ferry runs from Port Townsend across the bay and would have saved us over a hundred mile drive had we taken it. But the locals all said the State of Washington ruined the ferry system when Covid hit and it had not recovered. They said nothing ran on time and departure delays from one to three hours were not unusual. So we decided to forgo the ferry and enjoy the drive even though traffic from Tacoma through Seattle is a nightmare, plus throw in the summer highway construction. But we made it shaken, not stirred.
Going to San Juan Islands next.
Later.
-Tom