Our next stop for a couple of days was Warrenton, Oregon. Our travel miles from Kelso, WA was only 61 miles, but it took us several hours to get there! Lots of slower mountain driving and pull-overs to see the Columbia River, which we were following!
We had a tour of the Fort Stevens Historical Park. It is an old fort that has some old military artifacts from the Civil War era through World War II. We were fortunate to have the tour in an old military troop transport truck. Interesting ride!
John in an old jeep!
We went out to the South Jetty Observation Deck. There you could see the manmade jetty that helps control the water coming down the Columbia River and in from the Pacific Ocean. The war between the 2 is pretty violent. Ships that come up the river wait out in the ocean until a special trained Pilot comes out to get them into the river. There are only 12 pilots that are qualified at this time!
The jetty is about 6 miles long! Distance is deceiving…it looks shorter than that!
The view was absolutely awesome…wind blowing, waves crashing, salt air!! What an awesome God we have!
On the way out of the park, guess what?! Elk!
Our next stop was a shipwreck. Because of sand bars and the fight between the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean, many ships didn’t make it into the mouth of the river to go upstream…shipwreck! The beach was beautiful there! But the weather a little cool for sitting there!
On one of the days at Warrenton, we had a tour of Columbia River Maritime Museum. Wow! Was that ever interesting. They showed us a replica of the U.S. Coast Guard sea rescue boat. There are special trained crew members that work the rescues. They are tethered to the boat so they don’t go overboard. And,… this boat can roll over and right itself! We have former Navy servicemen on our tour…they said they now have a new respect for the Coast Guard!
The following is a working ship that had come up into the Columbia River. The other boat is a pilot boat. We thought they were going out to pick up the pilot that brought that ship through the mouth and drop off the pilot that would get the ship upstream to port. We were wrong! It pushed the ship so it could anchor with the current of the river. It must have gotten in a shallower part of the river and couldn’t turn itself!
Weather is very important for marine navigation. There were several displays pertaining to weather forecasting, but here are a couple of pictures of my favorite display! Me and the green screen!!
We had lunch with some friends on the waterfront. The restaurant was named “Baked Alaska”. So, of course, we had to have dessert! Baked Alaska!! It was very good and made with a chocolate chip cookie. But, my sister’s is better!! We’ll have to sweet talk her into making it some day for all of us!!
One last stop was the Astoria Column. I honestly don’t know why it was built or much about it! I must have been daydreaming about the beach and sea spray!
I think John is up there somewhere!
John climbed the Column and got these gorgeous shots.
As you can see, the weather is constantly changing from sunny to cloudy and sprinkles!
One final tour we took was fort Clatsop. Lewis and Clark spent their first winter there. From the looks of their quarters, it was pretty rough.
This is a Sitka Spruce that John is standing by.
Our next 2 night stop was McMinnville, Oregon. We stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory on the way and had a self-guided tour and lunch. It is a very big facility and very automated, much more than the cheese factories at home.
We also toured the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville. That, too, was very interesting. Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose is housed there. We were amazed that this huge plane is built out of plywood. At the time there was no metal available because of the war. The plywood design was developed by Howard Hughes. It was only flown once and for about 6 miles and then put in storage. One piece of information…the wings were filled with beach balls to help the plane float in case it crashed in the water. This plane took up the majority of the museum and they built the building around it.
This is a Huey helicopter used during the VietNam War.
And a Cobra helicopter.
McMinnville is well-known for their wineries. So,…we went with another couple on a wine tasting tour!! We went to 2 separate tastings and did not come home empty handed!! The vineyards aren’t open to the public until the grapes get riper and ready for harvest.
Some flowers! And a double rainbow!
On to Newport, Oregon!
Grand West Coast Adventure 