Astoria, Oregon

                        If you’ve seen the movie The Goonies (1985) then you have heard of Astoria, the setting for this film. I couldn’t help checking out the details of this movie as it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it.

What Rabbit Hole!

The cast is an essential Who’s Who of both veteran and up-and-coming very young talent.

The work of director Richrd Donner was complemented by a screenplay by Chris Columbus and producer Steven Spielberg.

I could go on and really plummet down this hole with all of the cast and other trivia but that’s not what this Post is about.

But…. it did put Astoria, Oregon on the map of its contemporaries around the country.

                        Astoria is the oldest city in Oregon and was named for one of the wealthiest men (and families) in the United States.

 You know… J.J.

As in John Jacob Astor.

(J.J. Astor IV perished on the Titanic)

J.J. owned the American Fur Company which was the parent company of the Pacific Fur Company which built Fort Astoria and used it as a base of operations.

That was in the early 1800’s as the city was founded in 1811.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition wintered down the road from here in 1805-06 and with the mighty Columbia River as its claim to fame, Astoria was primed for success.

                                    We arrived here mainly out of curiosity, The Goonies and a venerable museum, the Columbia River Maritime Museum, along with the coastal reputation for incredible storms and rough-surf conditions have made this location world-famous.

 Or should I say infamous.

This is where the Coast Guard comes and trains their members in rough water rescues using the incredible 44-footers, the standard around the world for endurance. These boats are self-righting and self-bailing which means that they can roll over, upside down, (hold your breath please) and pop back on top ready to plow through another giant wave.

We watched a film whilst there.

If you are so inclined, just Google “Coast Guard 44 mlb”, (mlb signifies Motor Life Boat) you will not be disappointed. And you will be able to witness how the training of the folks that operate these vessels makes them able to rescue people in seemingly impossible situations.

The Maritime Museum here highlights many of the obvious facets of this Columbia River port, but it does an exceptional job of showing and explaining fascinating specialties of the crews that work here.

                        One is the just mentioned Coast Guard’s National Motor Lifeboat School and the other is the Columbia River Bar Pilots Association. Now don’t be jumping to conclusion here…. this is not a social organization of pilots who do “bar crawls”, it is a team of highly trained individuals who possess the knowledge and understanding of how the sand bars that form and constantly shift in the mouth of the Columbia River confound the masters of visiting ships. The Bar Pilots ensure the safe passage of any commercial ship that needs to enter into the river system from the ocean.  There are not many Ports around the world that require Bar Pilots (although they all do require Harbor Pilots) and of those that do, the Columbia River Bar is considered to be the most dangerous in the entire world.

                                    They have a video of this also.

 One of the things that it shows is how the Pilots actually arrive at the incoming ship and then transfer to the same. And that was the easy part!

                                    The Crown Jewel of this Museum and one of the primary reasons that I wanted to visit here, is the nicely restored (just in the last two years) USCG Lightship, COLUMBIA. The Columbia and her predecessors have sat about five miles out at sea marking the entrance to the Columbia River since 1892. Think of a floating lighthouse and you will have this concept down pat. This Columbia is the fifth ship of this type and was launched back in 1951. She retired in 1979, replaced by a giant Light Bouy that only needed periodic servicing, not a staff of 18 sailors in rotating bi-weekly shifts.  

                        The integrity of these lightships is a testament to incredible design, engineering, and shipbuilding skills. These floating lighthouses don’t get to “run for harbor” when those fierce North Pacific storms come sailing in from Japan and points west. Eventually even that Light Bouy was replaced by more modern navigation tools, especially GPS and the like.

                                    I get the impression that one could make a lifetime study of all of the Maritime Museums around the world. The best part about that is that no two would be alike. Each location has a wonderful local angle attached to it that makes their homegrown seafaring folks proud to be a part of it.

                                    You and I get to watch from the safety of the shore.

                                    And have a nice lunch!

                                    Museum finished, time for lunch! And for the second day in a row, I had a really good meal! This time it was the Inferno’s rendition of a Philly Cheesesteak, using Tri-Tips instead of the usual shredded(?) steak. I took half home.

                                    The afternoon in Astoria was taken up with a trip way up top to a local monument simply called the Astoria Column.

The Column was erected in 1926 as the last monument (in a series) that the Great Northern Railroad erected from St. Paul, Minnesota to Astoria, Oregon. This series of monuments marked the trail and achievements of the Railroad on its way West. Someone wisely checked in with Vincent Astor (the great-grandson of J.J.) and asked if he’d like to “contribute” to his family’s legacy here in Astoria. His answer was obviously “Yes” as the monument erected is nothing short of a work of art. They hired the best designers and craftsmen, including one of the top Italian artists familiar with the process of sgraffito, a method that utilizes paint and plaster to create a frieze. There are twenty-two such friezes depicting the important dates and events that led to the eventual discovery and settlement of Astoria.

                                    This series of events and discoveries eventually led to Paula and Steve climbing the 164 steps to the top of the 125’ monument just so they could wave down at Sandi and me.

                        Their accomplishment is not memorialized in a friez

More photos…..