I actually saw the sun for a change today. It rained all of last night of course, sometimes at a very hard and fast clip, but around 10:00 this morning the sun finally peeked through the clouds, even though it was still raining. With the sun shining it didn't take me long to pack up the truck and get moving. First stop this morning was Ft. Clatsop, just down the road from where I'm camping.  
   Ft. Clatsop was the site where Lewis and Clarke and their Corp of Discovery crew wintered over while in this area.. Even though there is nothing left of the original buildings they constructed, they having rotted away into nothingness long ago, there is still a real nice museum there with lots of exhibits and there is a reconstructed fort that does duty for the original.
    I spent a couple hours reading all of the signs on the exhibits and watching the short movie the rangers were showing before going outside and walking over to the fort. Pretty rustic, but much better than it would of been out in the weather. With the rain that has been happening these past few days it seems like it would of been a miserable time if they had not had a decent shelter for the 4 months they were in the area.
    Once done with that, and because the sun was shining even more, I headed across the Sky Bridge over the Columbia River and headed for Cape Disappointment and the two lighthouse's out there. Of course as soon as I crossed the river and turned west, it started to cloud up again so that by the time I made it into Ilwaco Washington the rain was just pouring down. I kept going though, and by the time I got to the state park at the tip of the peninsula it had slowed down to a bit more than a drizzle. Of course there was also all of that sleet that was coming down with it, but even it soon stopped too. In the end I managed to walk out to each of the lighthouses, the one on top of Cape 'D' and the one over at North Head, and took a few pictures of each. I was wondering at the time if I will ever be able to visit them when it is actually sunny out side.
    I didn't stay there very long after that, as the rain was starting to come back in and the wind was really starting to howl. Indeed, on the way back to Astoria the radio was reporting on an apparent tornado that had touched down in the town of Longview, about 40 miles up river. Something that doesn't happen very often, if ever, in this part of the country.
   Since it was still sunny when I got back to town I just parked the truck and started walking up and down the streets in the old part of downtown Astoria. Nothing really new or outstanding about any of it, but still fun to look at all the old buildings and go in to an antique store or two. Also took a bit of a stroll up and down the waterfront just because its always interesting. Lots of birds out of course, but also quite a few sea lions and seals cavorting out in the water. Also quite a lot of boat traffic going by on the river. Two ocean going ships came in and dropped anchor out by Tongue  Point and several fishing boats were headed out to sea. It's always fun to see the hustle and bustle around an active sea port like this one.
    Just hanging out right now. The clouds are drifting in again and it looks like the rain will start up again before long. I'm hoping it will clear up again, at least a little bit, tomorrow as there are still plenty of things to do. Right now though; here are the rest of the photo's of Multnomah Falls I took last week. For the first batch check out my post from yesterday.

Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge - Oct 16, 2014

Part II

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

brk*