To us, Astoria sounded like a mundane turn-of-the-century summer resort. With the city located on the mouth of the Columbia River at the Pacific Coast of Oregon, we pictured Grand Hotels, wide cobble-stone riverwalks, maybe a Casino or two, and steamboat-ambience. So when we arrived there, planning to stay for the night in this small city on our way to Seattle, the only thing that caught our eyes was the impressive, incredibly long bridge that spans the 6.6 km broad Columbia River between the states of Oregon and Washington.
The Oregon Trail.Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Besides the bridge, Astoria is known for being the end of the Oregon Trail, a 3,500 km historic east–west large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail laid by American pioneers and fur traders who went West starting in Missouri (in our beloved Midwest). Nowadays, Astoria is primarily a fishing and fish processing hub and port of entry for goods.
Indeed, we had excellent seafood at Clemente’s restaurant. Highly recommended! (Careful: it moved to a new location.)
Of course, we took the bridge to continue our way North to Seattle, where we will stay at our friends Andrea and Utsav’s place.
And so begins our journey on Highway 101, which runs on the West Coast from Olympia, Washington, to Los Angeles, California.
