Friday August 15, 2014 Seaside, OR

After the brief period of sunshine yesterday, we had high hopes for today.  This morning we still had high hopes for a good day.  We just didn't hope for sunshine.  It was fog and clouds again.

We pretty much relaxed during the morning.  Yes, we had coffee and caught up on Facebook and e-mail.

A navy research ship

We had decided to visit the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria.  The drive to Astoria took about a half hour.  At the museum they were also featuring a 3-D movie on Sea Dwelling Reptiles that lived during the age of dinosaurs.  The movie SeaRex was very well done with animations of the reptiles based on fossil remains.  The rest of the museum featured the maritime history of the area.  http://www.crmm.org/  There were several boats on display including a 44' Coast Guard lifeboat displayed as if it were in 70' seas.  The Columbia River Bay is considered one of the most dangerous river outlets in the country.  It is called the Graveyard of the Pacific because over 2000 vessels have been lost there.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Bar.  In the early 70's I went salmon fishing with Gerri's Great Uncle Red out of the port of Long Beach, WA.  We crossed the bar in a 40' Chris Craft motor yacht.  We had a calm day but I was impressed with the size of the waves, 4-5', with no wind and they seemed to be coming from all directions.

Ships coming into port are assisted by a pilot that takes them over the bar and another pilot that guides then into the harbor.

It was interesting how many famous explorers looked for the mouth of the Columbia River and never found it.







The Museum also featured a self guided tour of the lightship Columbia, the last lightship to operate in the US.  http://www.crmm.org/maritimemuseum_collection_lightshipcolumbia.html

Retired pilot boat the Peacock

Old pilings in the river

After the museum and movie I found a couple of nearby caches.  We were parked next to the trolley tracks and near a trolley stop.  We decided to ride the trolley since some of our friends from the Alaska trip recommended it. The trolley itself is a restored one that had seen service in Chicago and then retired.  It was brought to Astoria and restored and had been operating in Astoria for 19 years.  The trolley is propelled by electricity made by a generator coupled to the car.  Unlike the famous cable cars in San Francisco, there is no cable and no electric wires above the car.  There are two crew members on the Trolley.  One drives in one direction and the other in the other direction.  The car doesn't turn around.  The driver and conductor just exchange the operating lever. The passenger seat back flip over so you can always face forward.  The trolley runs all along the waterfront and the conductor keeps up a steady narration of what the trolley passes.

Grain ships waiting their turn at the grain elevator

We saw a line of what looked like tankers in the river.  The conductor explained that these were cargo ships waiting to load wheat at a grain elevator located further upstream.  They anchored here to wait their turn because anchorage  nearer the elevator cost $1000 a day.

The Hwy. 101 bridge across the Columbia.

We crossed under the Astoria-Megler bridge which connects the Oregon and Washington segments of US-101.  The bridge is undergoing a stripping and repainting project.  This project will cost almost what it cost to build the bridge and will take longer to complete than it took to build the bridge.

An artful shot

Like many ports there are a lot of old pilings still protruding from the water.  The original town was built on these types of pilings.  The pilings are seldom removed.  The part under water is preserved and the right to rebuild on them is retained by companies because no new pilings can be placed.

Ding, ding goes the Trolley

We rode the trolley a complete circuit and got off at the same stop that we boarded.

Our trolley ride had taken us past several restaurants.  We choose the Wet Dog Cafe and drove there for an early dinner.  Gerri had fish and chips and I had a hamburger with blue cheese crumbles.  Both were very good.

Sea Lions

We returned to the coach at about 8:30 and finished off the evening with TV, computer time and reading.

Earlier in the day I had tried to call Walt Myers who lives in Salem.  Walt and I used to work together when we were Deputy Chiefs.  We haven't seen him in 12 years.  I transposed the phone number I had and wasn't able to reach him.  Gerri sent him an e-mail which he later answered.  He also called my cell phone but I had accidentally turned off the ringer and missed the call.  I will call him back tomorrow and see if we can get together.

Sea Lions zoomed