The Beach, a Lighthouse and Astoria, Oregon

Since we were going to be near Astoria Oregon, we thought we'd take in some of the sights and go for a walk on the beach. There is a trolley that runs the length of downtown Astoria. It's two bucks to take the trolley and the docent gives a running documentary of this area. Well worth the money. Grab a quick lunch and enjoy the gazebo overlooking the Columbia River.

After setting up the coach, we took a short path to the beach. The tide was out so it was perfect for looking for sea shells, driftwood and sand dollars.

Even Jasmine was enjoying herself.

The Columbia River is a major water way from the ocean inland. These huge container ships bring their cargo to be offloaded. They then have to wait for the tide to come in so they can sail again.

At the south end of the Astoria bridge is a huge port for lumber shipments. The cranes you see in the middle of the picture are loading logs onto a ship to be sent to China for building furniture and houses.

The container ships line up outside the port waiting for their turn to dock and take on cargo.

Often it's hard to imagine how large the Columbia River actually is. Remember the Astoria Bridge spans this river and is 4.1 miles long. We are looking at the Columbia from a high vantage point near the Astoria Column.

Overlooking the Youngs River and Daggett Point south of Astoria.

In this picture, which is an overview of Astoria, Oregon, you can see the container ships on the left and the huge warehouses in the middle. US30 runs through the middle of the town.  The trolley runs alongside the big warehouses. There is a maritime museum at the base of the pier in the middle of the picture.

While we were out, we decided to visit Cape Disappointment lighthouse. The fog was rolling in so we didn't get as clear a photo as we would have liked. We were able to take the tour into the light tower which was interesting.

Of course, outside the lighthouse we discovered a pathway to the beach. Being the adventurous souls we are, we decided to follow this pathway to see where it led. 

The path led to another overlook just below the lighthouse. On the way back, we discovered this abandoned water tower lost in the nearby woods.

As we drove around Cape Disappointment we arrived in the town of Ilwaco, Wa. It's a shipping port with shops and a fresh fish market.

While rounding a curve these two young bucks provided us with another photo op.