WOW, talk about God's country!

 
Sitting here in Portland Oregon, writing this blog, I can't believe just how beautiful it is here. Judy and I spent our first day driving out to Astoria and along the coast down to Cannon Beach. While in Astoria, we had to climb the Astoria Column (in photo above) and take a look around. The column is 125 feet high, built atop the hill above the town, with an inner spiral staircase (love it) of 164 steps to climb, to view the town, the surrounding lands, and the Columbia flowing into the Pacific. The column was built by the Astor family in 1926 to commemorate the region's early history. The new spiral staircase was installed in 2008 at a cost of $600 thousand.  In another photo, you can see Astoria, the ocean and river from atop the column. The very top photo is the jetty point, where the river and ocean actually meet. There is so much important history regarding Fort Stevens, which occupied the jetty point off Astoria, that I wouldn't know where to start or have enough room to tell it. It is of course online, if you would like to know.

I was in awe at the size of the pine trees we saw on the drive along the way. Some of them must have been 4 to 6 feet across at the base and well over 100 feet tall. Certainly nothing like these in Indiana ! We got in some birding and I can add some new species to my life list. It was cool and very breezy, but who cares, we got to touch where the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia River meet and saw lots of people enjoying the beach and nice weather. You can see the coast line at Cannon Beach, in the bottom photo above. It was surreal and one of the most beautiful natural vistas I've ever seen. It looks like a scene that was thought up by a special effects artist, only better
 
A Short History of Astoria:
Astoria is the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies. Captain Robert Gray first visited Astoria in 1792, and by the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery in 1805 that stayed through 1806.  The expedition had hoped a ship would come by to take them back east, but instead endured a torturous winter of rain and cold, then returned east the way they came. Today the fort has been recreated and is now a national monument In 1811, five years after the departure of Lewis & Clark, John Jacob Astor, a New York financier, sent fur traders aboard the ship Tonquin to establish a trading post. The first U.S. Post Office west of the Rocky Mountains was established in Astoria in 1847. In 1876, the community was incorporated by the state.

Portland, in the two photos above, is truly a "Tree City"and has been referred to as one of the most environmentally friendly or "green" cities in the world. In the top photo you can see Mount Hood and in the bottom photo is a typical tree lined street. We took a hike down into the moderately rugged trails of Forest Park, which one of the most heavily forested "city parks" I've ever seen. It had a large creek running the length, with waterfalls, rapids and lots of people out for a morning hike. I can't wait to see what the rest of the week brings!