Sunday, May 21, 2006

We kind of slept in today. Mom and Becky were even up before me. We packed up and went down to a Continental Breakfast that was almost as nice as the ones at Overleaf - one memorable item was hot cinnamon rolls. After breakfast Becky and I left for a walk along the docks. It used to be mostly salmon canning factories but now are converted into apartments, hotels, small restaurants and little shops. (Picture on the left is a couple of shops.) The picture above is of one old factory now called Cannery Row Hotel (red building) with the trolley tracks that we were walking on.

We walked down to 12th Street where the Astoria Sunday Market is - it runs about 4-5 blocks and has about 200 vendors. People come from all over - by ferryboat, tour bus, cars, bikes and foot. We were told last weekend they had over 10,000 people attend. Becky found things she wanted to buy for Christmas gifts and we had no money along. So we had to walk back to the hotel (another mile walk). We packed the car, checked out and drove back down to 12th Street. We walked back through it so Mom could see things and Becky made her purchases.

Then we drove to the Columbia River Maritime Museum. We learned a lot about this valuable river. This is one of the most dangerous areas because of the force of the River meeting the strong currents of the ocean and many shifting sandbars. We learned that since 1792 approximately 2,000 vessels, including 200 large ships, have sunk at the Columbia River bar, and more than 700 people have lost their lives to the sea. They call this area "Graveyard of the Pacific."

We wanted to take a 45-minute trolley ride outside of the museum. We waited over a half hour only to find out that some IDIOT parked across the tracks farther down and they had to have the vehicle towed before the trolley could move. We decided not to wait, we wanted to get moving and it was starting to sprinkle. So by 1:30 we were on Hwy 30 heading towards Portland. We picked up Hwy 5 into Longview, WA and drove along the Washington side of the Columbia before coming back across another bridge into Portland. Now we picked up 84 to head east.

Once again we could see Mt. Hood in the distance. We took a side road off Hwy 84 to the Memaloose Overlook. Memaloose was a series of islands in the Columbia where the Indians laid their dead above ground, often in canoes. When dams were built they had to remove the remains because of flooding. Now only one island remains above water.

Next stop was on the Rowena Plateau where you could look down over Hwy 30 as it descends in what is referred to as Rowena's Loops. Maximum grade of any ascent/descent does not exceed 5% with decorative stonework along the loops.

It was somewhere along here that Mom told us we had to quit making her laugh - she had reached her quota! It was something about whenever we got in the car, Becky seemed to take off before Mom and I were buckled in (or doors shut) and everything would fly off the dashboard at me. So after we looked at whatever scenery we had gotten out to look at I would tell Mom - "Ok, hurry, get in the car before Becky does."

Anyway we laughed our way into The Dalles around 6:30 p.m. and checked back into the same Super 8. When we walked back into the motel the same guy was on duty. His comment was "Oh, look, the sisters are back!" I guess we've made a name for ourselves.

We went downtown and ate at a Chinese Restaurant for something different.