We Reach The Coast

---

Today we reached the beach! My sister and her kids went with us and we headed north out of Portland, then west to Astoria. There we crossed a 4.1-mile bridge over the Columbia River, with a main span of 1232 feet, making it the longest continuous truss in the world. I told the kids that but they were less than impressed. They did like crossing the bridge though. Construction of the bridge started in 1962 and finished in 1966. The approach ramp on the Oregon side curves through a full 360 degrees. Again, the kids didn't seem to care.

After crossing the bridge into Washington, we headed for the Long Beach Lighthouse, the first of many we would see on this trip. The view from there was awesome. It would be the first of many awesome coastal views we would see. We got to climb to the top of the lighthouse, where a park volunteer told us the happy history of the place, including the story of how one of the lighthouse keeper's wife got fed up with the isolated life there and threw herself over the cliff, into the ocean.

After that we headed to see some unique American history. At Cape Disappointment State Park, we hiked a short trail to where we used to have gun batteries and underground bunkers. Originally this area was fort (Fort Canby), back in 1975 and had several cannons installed to protect the mouth of the Columbia River. The fort continued to be used until the end of World War II. Gun batteries still sit uptop the park. The are we saw did not have the guns, but did have old concrete gun bases, complete with the gearing used to rotate the artillery. In WWII these were used to defend against possible Japanese submarine attack. Now the bases are filled with water, weeds, & tadpoles.

Next to the bases is an old, underground bunker. I'd guess it was used to store the shells and other miltary stuff. Walking through it was kind of eerie.

Here's a little known fact...did you know that in WWII we were actually attacked on our mainland? Fort Stevens, a little ways south in Oregon, received17 incoming rounds from a Japanese submarine in 1942, but was too far out for us to fire back. The only damage was to a baseball field. This made it the only US fortfication on the mainland fired on since 1912. But I digress.... I love this stuff and would have loved to explore this facet of Oregon history, but I was outvoted 4-1.

From there we turned back south, crossed over the Astoria Bridge again, and headed for the beach.

---

Photos

If You're Happy and You Know It...
...shout Hooray, HOORAY!!!! William loved serenading us with his wonderful vocal talent.

Giant Slug
We saw several of these on our trip. This was probably the biggest. I put my hand up there to give you a sense of scale.

Underground Bunker
Thomas & Katie at the mouth of an underground bunker. This photo sure has an eerie quality about it.

Underground Bunker
From inside the bunker.

Pat & William
Walking down from the bunkers. Dads always seem to end up being the pack mules.

Comments

[tiare]

wow
Ive seen thr lighthouse and I think that it was really ccoolllll!!