This being our last usable weekend for this trip, we went to the coast. Having not been to the northern Oregon coast yet, we took the 3 hour trip to Astoria which is at the mouth of the Columbia River. On this overcast day, we did fine until we got to Astoria. As we approached the river, we saw the 4 mile long Astoria-Megler bridge that crossed the Columbia into the state of Washington. Georgia said, “One thing I don’t want to do is go across that bridge.” On the Oregon side it was a high arch to allow ships to pass under it on their way to and from Portland.
Somehow, again we missed a turn somewhere after navigating the roundabout and I then realized that we were on the way to Washington with no place to turn back. This of course meant
that we had to make the 4 mile trek over the bridge to Washington (Dismal Niche rest stop).. hmmm. And of course it meant we had to come back over the bridge. So we start our adventure doing something Georgia didn’t want to do.. TWICE. Coming back it was very easy to find the turn to the Cannery Pier Hotel. (
http://www.cannerypierhotel.com/ ) This is a 4-year-old hotel
built on the pier where a fish cannery stood during the fish canning heyday. Our 4th floor deck and windows looked out on the river where the ships passed by pretty close to us. The story is that the river is treacherous enough that most of the ships require local “pilot boats” to lead them in and out so they don’t run aground. These pilot boat captains know the river intimately. This hotel really stands out. Along with it’s unique setting and modern/ historic decor including a small museum depicting the rich salmon fishing past of the area, the services are like none we have found elsewhere. These people do not follow the typical lodging formula, but the
place and services are really unique. I’ll let the website tell the story. We’ve found it to be true including these great old cars they use to take you places. Talk about humming like a sewing machine. The only downside we found in room 402 was that there is apparently an apartment above where some little kid or kids ran back and forth….. quite a bit. Didn’t keep us awake. A little annoying as well as a little endearing. Georgia loves the pitter patter of little feet because it reminds her of the time the boys were that age. It was near dinner time when we got settled in and we didn’t want to venture out in the car again. The hotel has that cool limo service to take you to dinner, but the guy at the desk said the place in the red building as we came in (within walking distance) might be acceptable. The Bridgewater Bistro
http://www.bridgewaterbistro.com/ was fantastic.
Georgia had the duck breast (Jude, you have flung a cravin’ on your grandma.) Chinese Turkey… right? …. And I had “Northwest Potlatch” which is the northwest version of bouillabaisse, which I love. Also very good. I didn’t wake up until about 7am on Sunday. Within the next 2 hours 4 ships passed by. The first, reminded me of a Mississippi River barge, then shortly after that 2 barges pushed by a tugboat came by. Those were all going out. Then 2 “real” ships came in. One with the name Poseidon and the other carrying lots of stacked containers from Seattle. It takes about an hour for a ship to make it from the Pacific to the
bridge. After watching to ships go by and taking way too many pictures of the bridge, we headed south through the touristy Seaside and Cannon Beach where Haystack Rock lives. We did miss some of the recommended sites because we were concerned about crossing the coastal mountain range in the dark. (Guess we'll have to come back to finish that.) In the winter, a mother-daughter duo we met in the Carlton area raved about the little town of Manzanita. There was an overlook just before we got there, so we got some pictures from above. We were looking for a place to eat (which we never found). There seemed to be lots of B&B's there. One neet thing was the kite flying
(or parasailing) on the beach there. Several of the people were waterskiing using the kites (or parachutes) to pull them. Again because of time, we didn't stop at the famous Tillamook Cheese (and ice cream) plant. I was taken by herd after herd of Jersey cows in the grassy fields. I didn't see one herd of Holsteins that didn't have a few Jersey's mixed in. Reminds me of our first cow "Toots". Because of her we only had Jerseys in the beginning. She, I believe, was a wedding gift to mom and dad. I remember when we got our first Holstein (Bessie) and how her milk appeared blue compared with that of the Jerseys. At that time milk was sold based on its butterfat content.
I digress. We connected our dots to complete our trek of the Oregon Coastal Scenic Byway as we reached Lincoln City. At that point we weren't far from Depoe Bay so decided to stop at Tidal Raves which had become our favorite coastal eating place. You may remember that this is the place where they say resident grey whales can be seen all summer. When we arrived, I told the waitress this was our 3rd trip to Tidal Raves and we really needed to see a whale. She said, "They are out there, but I haven't seen them for a while. I pulled the famous Aidan head drop and we ordered our meal. Rod has been telling me how good fish tacos are. It still doesn't really sound
good to me, but I try to be a sport. Last winter we were at a good eating place and they had fish tacos on the menu (Tilapia) I decided to go for it... wasn't impressed. As I look at the Tidal Raves menu, I see halibut tacos. OK, lets give it another shot.... MMM Good. I really liked them. Rod, your sense of taste has been vindicated. After we finished eating, Georgia went to the "little girl's room" when the waitress came over and said, "You asked about the whales. The hostess just pointed some out to us. There's one just off the point." I sprung into vigile mode. Then there was a spout. I finally recognized a spout. Then this body rose up and I could see about half a whale. I
quickly grabbed my camera and got just a bit of the back... You'll have to believe me. That is a whale. When Georgia came back we saw whales at least two more times including the famous tail flip. But I was so excited, I didn't have my camera ready. So I switched to the 300 mm lens and we went outside to get a better view... We saw one more disappearing behind the point of land at the edge of the bay, but that was it. So this is the best picture I have. Sorry. We snapped some pictures of Depoe bay and headed home, satisfied that we finally saw whales. Again, this was a pretty good weekend outing. Again, my facebook friends can see nearly 100 pictures from this trip.
This being our last usable weekend for this trip, we went to the coast. Having not been to the northern Oregon coast yet, we took the 3 hour trip to Astoria which is at the mouth of the Columbia River. On this overcast day, we did fine until we got to Astoria. As we approached the river, we saw the 4 mile long Astoria-Megler bridge that crossed the Columbia into the state of Washington. Georgia said, “One thing I don’t want to do is go across that bridge.” On the Oregon side it was a high arch to allow ships to pass under it on their way to and from Portland. 
Somehow, again we missed a turn somewhere after navigating the roundabout and I then realized that we were on the way to Washington with no place to turn back. This of course meant 
that we had to make the 4 mile trek over the bridge to Washington (Dismal Niche rest stop).. hmmm. And of course it meant we had to come back over the bridge. So we start our adventure doing something Georgia didn’t want to do.. TWICE. Coming back it was very easy to find the turn to the Cannery Pier Hotel. ( http://www.cannerypierhotel.com/ ) This is a 4-year-old hotel
built on the pier where a fish cannery stood during the fish canning heyday. Our 4th floor deck and windows looked out on the river where the ships passed by pretty close to us. The story is that the river is treacherous enough that most of the ships require local “pilot boats” to lead them in and out so they don’t run aground. These pilot boat captains know the river intimately. This hotel really stands out. Along with it’s unique setting and modern/ historic decor including a small museum depicting the rich salmon fishing past of the area, the services are like none we have found elsewhere. These people do not follow the typical lodging formula, but the 
place and services are really unique. I’ll let the website tell the story. We’ve found it to be true including these great old cars they use to take you places. Talk about humming like a sewing machine. The only downside we found in room 402 was that there is apparently an apartment above where some little kid or kids ran back and forth….. quite a bit. Didn’t keep us awake. A little annoying as well as a little endearing. Georgia loves the pitter patter of little feet because it reminds her of the time the boys were that age. It was near dinner time when we got settled in and we didn’t want to venture out in the car again. The hotel has that cool limo service to take you to dinner, but the guy at the desk said the place in the red building as we came in (within walking distance) might be acceptable. The Bridgewater Bistro http://www.bridgewaterbistro.com/ was fantastic. 
Georgia had the duck breast (Jude, you have flung a cravin’ on your grandma.) Chinese Turkey… right? …. And I had “Northwest Potlatch” which is the northwest version of bouillabaisse, which I love. Also very good. I didn’t wake up until about 7am on Sunday. Within the next 2 hours 4 ships passed by. The first, reminded me of a Mississippi River barge, then shortly after that 2 barges pushed by a tugboat came by. Those were all going out. Then 2 “real” ships came in. One with the name Poseidon and the other carrying lots of stacked containers from Seattle. It takes about an hour for a ship to make it from the Pacific to the 
bridge. After watching to ships go by and taking way too many pictures of the bridge, we headed south through the touristy Seaside and Cannon Beach where Haystack Rock lives. We did miss some of the recommended sites because we were concerned about crossing the coastal mountain range in the dark. (Guess we'll have to come back to finish that.) In the winter, a mother-daughter duo we met in the Carlton area raved about the little town of Manzanita. There was an overlook just before we got there, so we got some pictures from above. We were looking for a place to eat (which we never found). There seemed to be lots of B&B's there. One neet thing was the kite flying 
(or parasailing) on the beach there. Several of the people were waterskiing using the kites (or parachutes) to pull them. Again because of time, we didn't stop at the famous Tillamook Cheese (and ice cream) plant. I was taken by herd after herd of Jersey cows in the grassy fields. I didn't see one herd of Holsteins that didn't have a few Jersey's mixed in. Reminds me of our first cow "Toots". Because of her we only had Jerseys in the beginning. She, I believe, was a wedding gift to mom and dad. I remember when we got our first Holstein (Bessie) and how her milk appeared blue compared with that of the Jerseys. At that time milk was sold based on its butterfat content. 
I digress. We connected our dots to complete our trek of the Oregon Coastal Scenic Byway as we reached Lincoln City. At that point we weren't far from Depoe Bay so decided to stop at Tidal Raves which had become our favorite coastal eating place. You may remember that this is the place where they say resident grey whales can be seen all summer. When we arrived, I told the waitress this was our 3rd trip to Tidal Raves and we really needed to see a whale. She said, "They are out there, but I haven't seen them for a while. I pulled the famous Aidan head drop and we ordered our meal. Rod has been telling me how good fish tacos are. It still doesn't really sound 
good to me, but I try to be a sport. Last winter we were at a good eating place and they had fish tacos on the menu (Tilapia) I decided to go for it... wasn't impressed. As I look at the Tidal Raves menu, I see halibut tacos. OK, lets give it another shot.... MMM Good. I really liked them. Rod, your sense of taste has been vindicated. After we finished eating, Georgia went to the "little girl's room" when the waitress came over and said, "You asked about the whales. The hostess just pointed some out to us. There's one just off the point." I sprung into vigile mode. Then there was a spout. I finally recognized a spout. Then this body rose up and I could see about half a whale. I 
quickly grabbed my camera and got just a bit of the back... You'll have to believe me. That is a whale. When Georgia came back we saw whales at least two more times including the famous tail flip. But I was so excited, I didn't have my camera ready. So I switched to the 300 mm lens and we went outside to get a better view... We saw one more disappearing behind the point of land at the edge of the bay, but that was it. So this is the best picture I have. Sorry. We snapped some pictures of Depoe bay and headed home, satisfied that we finally saw whales. Again, this was a pretty good weekend outing. Again, my facebook friends can see nearly 100 pictures from this trip.
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