Astoria-Warrenton, OR Area

We left Newport, OR Monday morning and headed north on 99 towards Portland.  We didn't make it all the way to Portland because there was too much of the Oregon coast line to absorb.  Above, the marine layer is staying just off the coast for us to enjoy the warm sunshine.  Below, some of the marine layer was still "hanging" around the shore line.

We did make it to Camp Rilea in Warrenton, an Oregon National Guard training base.  The bridge below is a span across the Youngs River mouth as it feeds into the Colombia River.  The span connects Warrenton and Astoria.

We visited what was posted as the world's longest beach, Long Beach, just northwest of Astoria in Washington.

We even took a spin in our Jeep on the beach and took us a little selfie.  We almost had the whole beach to ourselves.  It was cool and windy.

Above is the span from Astoria to Washington State, very near the spot where Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery team spent a few scary days and nights on the shore waiting for the weather to break.  They nearly lost one of their canoes.  But more on these guys later.

The weekend before we arrived, Astoria and national networks and fans from all over celebrated "Goonies 30th Anniversary", June 7.  Above, several neighbors had these type signs up and down the street where the house was located, and where some filming took place, at the Goonies house.  Below is a pic of that house up on a hill in Astoria, overlooking the Colombia River.

Below are a couple homes up the street from the Goonies house.  I think they would look good on the big screen as well.

Above and below are a couple of pics from the highest point in Astoria, where the Iron Column is located.  The monument was covered in scaffolding and wrapped in plastic being refurbished.  So what is this monument?  It is a monument built by the Great Northern Railway, financed by the Astor family, in 1926.  It is 125' tall and has a 164 spiral staircase to the top.  These two pics are facing south toward Warrenton.  Sorry, but I didn't take a pic of the wrapped up tower as it was really unappealing.

Almost forgot, but on the way to Warrenton, we stopped the Tillamook Cheese Factory and bought us a wheel barrel full of all kinds of cheese, and went through the self guided tour.

Lots of conveyers and vats of curing curds...

Above, our coach parked at the site on Camp Rilea and below, a pic of the bridge from the Washington side looking toward Astoria.  Just to left of where we are parked, is the location of Middle Village, AKA as Chinook, the Salmon-season home of the "fish-eaters, the Chinook Tribe.

That's about all I can offer on this blog, however, we have many more pics on our visit to the Lewis and Clark history about this local area.  Our next blog will be about them and the Corps of Discovery while they were camped here during the winter of 1805-06.  Till then, RVing Beach Bums signing off.  This blog written contemporaneously from Lakewood, WA Panera Bread on July 10, 2015.