Venturing outside of Portland, Oregon

It's been fun exploring the city but I was really excited about heading west to the coast and to Astoria. Why Astoria you ask? Well, Lewis and Clark began their journey in St. Louis (one of the first stops on my adventure) and ended in Astoria. I've made several stops along the way that were influenced by their incredible exploration of this country. My grad school roommate Lori D was able to meet me in Portland for 3 nights and my daughter Sara returned to Maine on Monday so Lori and I drove to the west coast that day. We drove 26 West to Ecola State Park, which stretches along 9 miles of Oregon coastline, for my first glimpse of the Oregon Coast. We walked this incredible path through the woods to reach a cliff overlooking the Pacific. Lewis and Clark walked this area!!!! How cool is that!!??

 It was a cool and misty morning with the waves crashing on Indian Beach below us.

 We walked different paths along the cliffs to catch the best views of the beach below.

This is EXACTLY what I imagined the Oregon coast to be!

 We then made our way down more wooded paths to the beach itself.

After spending time soothing our bodies and souls on the beach, we drove up to Astoria. The first impressive view we got was the Astoria-Megler Bridge that spans the Columbia River from Oregon to Washington. It is the longest (just over 4 miles) continuous truss bridge in North America.

After lunch, we drove around the charming town and made our way up to the highest point to climb to the top of the Astoria Column.

 Lori and I climbed 164 steps to the top to get views of the Columbia River, the Pacific Ocean in the distance and the coves and peaks surrounding Astoria.

 Thanks Lori for being part of my adventure!!

And finally, during my last day in Portland, I drove east to drive along the Columbia River Gorge. With past fires and those still burning in the area, some roads and areas were closed to the public so I basically drove along the canyon and made a few stops along the way. The first was to view Multnomah Falls, a 611 foot cascade of water only 30 minutes outside of Portland.

 The first look was from the lower landing near the visitor center. The bright sun above made it a bit challenging to capture a good shot.

I climbed up to the walkway you can see below to get even closer to the falls. Beautiful sight! I can only imagine what this looks like in the rainy season.

I spent another 2 hours just meandering my way along the river stopping at different spots along the way before crossing a bridge to the Washington side (way less traffic) and made my way back to the airbnb. Tomorrow, I drive north to Vancouver, BC. I'm bypassing the Seattle area for now but will explore Washington after I play in Vancouver for a few days. So excited!!