A Look Around Ft Stevens State Park

The Fort Stevens Military Reservation guarded the mouth of the Columbia River from the Civil War through World War II.

This is the largest state park campground in Oregon, with over 500 sites.

Our site..You can see, lots of trees, which means no satellite and lots of mosquitoes!

The hull of a  shipwreck on the beach.. The Wreck of the” Peter Iredale”…

 

Coffenbury Lake…

Some folks just chillin…

And others taking a dip…

We then explored the fort…

 

       

There was alot to see, they also offer a truck tour….

But we were getting hungry, so we headed to downtown Astoria and had fish & chips at the….

Just a little boat in the middle of a parking lot across from the Maritime Museum. I have read rave reviews on trip advisor.  Their fish is actually tuna, which I wasn’t sure about, but it was really good. I still think I prefer halibut though.

On our way back we stopped along the river…

And chatted with another couple and watched this big freighter go by…

 

Tomorrow we hook up and head up the road and over the bridge to Long Beach, Wa…

Fathers Day and A Trip to Washington

I miss my dad all the time, but of course Fathers Day is always tough for those of us that have lost dad’s.

He  was very special to me. Such a kind, soft spoken, patient and protective man. I was “Daddy’s Little Girl”.  Actually he sang alot, and I have so many memories of sitting on his lap while he sang that song to me.  I also have memories of dancing on his feet on Saturday night, watching Lawrence Welk!  I feel very blessed that before he died, I got the chance to tell him exactly how I felt and that he  was the best dad in the world and that I was a very lucky girl to have him for my dad.. And I was..

Happy Father’s Day Dad..until we meet again….

   

Kevin won’t get to spend his day with our kids.

So, his wish was to head to a casino.. The closest one was in Ocean Shores, Washington. Just a short 100 mile drive, lol.  Saturday was a cloudy, drizzly day, so we headed that way.  The weather cleared up a bit in Wa , although the sun didn’t shine, and the drive was a pretty nice one.

So green…  Lots of these trucks..

We had no idea we would see so many trees..Guess we know where our Christmas Trees come from.  In fact, we saw the sign that said Weyerhaeuser Douglas Fir Plantation but it was closed off.

This Weyerhaeuser sign says that hundreds of acres of trees were lost to 120 mph winds along 101.

There really is beauty in trees..

 

The casino was nicer than we expected and we both had a good time.  They gave us $5 free play for signing up for the players card. I played for 3 hours on that money, and came home with $25.. Kevin on the other hand was a loser once again!

Back to Oregon…

 

Happy Fathers Day to all the dad’s out there….

Changing Plans…

Well, we had quite a day on Thursday. It was our day to depart from TT. We had pretty much decided we wanted to fly home to Houston. Kevin wanted to get in some golf and I wanted to see my hairdresser and of course we would get to see the grandkids. So we made arrangements and paid for storage at the TT. We fly standby and our flight wasn’t until midnight, so we had all day to hang out. They told us we could stay in our site until 6p and then take it to the storage lot.  In the meantime I had cancelled our reservations for the state park up the road. Late afternoon, I checked our flight and it did not look good at all. It was very full. We just didn’t want to drive 2.5 hrs and not get on and then have no where to sleep the night.  Sooooo, we cancelled, told TT we wouldn’t store, and hooked up as fast as we could and booked it up the road to Ft Stevens State Park and luckily they hadn’t given our site away, whew!!! Good thing because they are full for the weekend.  It was very stressful for a bit but all worked out for us.

So here we are at Ft Stevens in Astoria. Not a bad park, but our particular site, we cannot get satellite, too many trees. We don’t have sewer but do have 50amp, however we blew a fuse this morning… I think it will empty out Sun/Mon, and we will see if we can move to another site.

Last night, after setting up, we drove down the road and had a fabulous meal of halibut and chips. Mmm, so good. We are getting our fill of chowder and fish while here for sure.

Today was a nice day, yes the sun was out.  We can’t believe what a big deal they make out of the weather on the news…  We drove into Astoria, where the traffic was quite heavy. I wanted to visit the visitors center and get some info of road trips we want to take. I am thinking alot of the kids are out of school now and things have really picked up. It won’t be as enjoyable as it has been for us thus far.  After stopping to pick up grocery’s we headed home and relaxed the rest of the day. 

Tomorrow is suppose to rain. Sunday sounds better and we have a plan for Fathers Day that will make my hubby happy.

Relaxing and Browsing

Friday..Well, we got the boys on the flight back to Houston. It was close to 2:30am when we got back. Needless to say, Saturday was a do nothing day.  Although tired, we are missing the little guys like crazy.

Sunday.. Another pretty lazy day. I made chili for lunch and went for a soak in the hot tub.  After talking to several people about razor clams, I HAD to try them. So we took a ride down the road to pick some up.  They are okay but not what I expected.  Probably wouldn’t get them again.

Monday..Lousy, cloudy, rainy day. Did lots of laundry and changed the bed. Our plan today got scratched due to weather. We did go to Astoria to grocery shop.

After looking at the weather yesterday, it looked like the best day of the week to get out.  So, we headed to Cannon Beach to walk around the neat little town.

And a peek at the beach..

Then we headed back to Seaside and strolled around the town there.. Lots of shops.

And we popped into  this old fashioned soda shop..

After asking for suggestions, we had lunch at a local restaurant and then headed back home.

Today is packing up day, since our two weeks here are up tomorrow.  Not easy to do in the rain, everything is all wet.  

We may be heading back to the heat, for a week or so tomorrow. We shall see..

Astoria and Cape Disappointment

Wednesday was a down day. I went and got myself a pedicure. The kids played and swam with their friends. Kevin watched sports.

 

Thursday we decided to head to Astoria..and so glad we did.

First stop was the Astoria Column..

Joey, Logan and I started up, but Logan was a little nervous and he headed back down to hang out with Grampy..

Joey and I continued to climb the 164 stairs! I was a bit winded going up, going down was a breeze.  They sell wooden airplanes, that you write your name on and fly it from the top. Joey flew his and I flew Logan’s. He retrieved them down below…

Nice views up top, of the Columbia River...

   

Then we headed to the waterfront and the Columbia River Maritime Museum…(they don’t allow pictures inside)

We watched a movie and did the self guided tour. Very interesting..

 

We got to board the Columbia..

 

After touring we headed outside to catch the trolley…

 

For $1. per person what a great narrated trip up and down the River Walk. We learnt alot about the area.

We hopped off for lunch at…

The kids lunch came in these cute dog bowls... They gave the kids goody bags with cookies, candy, a list of things to look for in the restuarant and crayons to write on the paper tablecloths..

After lunch we boarded the trolley to take us back to the parking lot.

We had one more stop in mind…. Over the bridge…

To…

  And through the tunnel..

To Cape Disappointment…

   

And that ended another very enjoyable day..

 

Tonight we head to Portland for the kids to take the red eye flight, that their mom is working, back to Houston… It has been so much fun..