Astoria Bike Trip

Last weekend I took Sione on a bike trip to Astoria. This was her first trip to Astoria and one of the things on her agenda was to visit a couple sites where The Goonies movie was filmed. The weekend weather was mostly overcast with a few sun breaks peppered with a few showers. Regardless, we had a grand time.

We left West Salem a few hours after daybreak, around 7:45AM to be exact, and headed toward The Coast. It was sunny and a bit on the cool side when we left but once we drove past Dallas (Oregon, not Texas) it started to warm up. Our first stop at the Coast was Pacific City. Pacific City is home to a fleet of fishing dory's that are launched and retrieved right from the beach. It's been done like that for over a hundred years.

Next stop was Cape Meares where we viewed the lighthouse and infamous Octopus tree. It was then on to Tillamook for gas, lunch and a tour of the Tillamook cheese factory. On the way we got lost in Oceanside and ended up in the hills on a narrow road where I had to turn around. Not a fun situation when you've got 750 pounds of bike plus two riders.

Next was our first Goonies stop at Ecola State Park. We parked at the beach and hung out for a while watching waves, surfers and taking pictures. At first step onto the beach I couldn't help but see a curious thing-a tree trunk and roots covered with dirt and rocks. Turns out it was covered by an earthquake debris flow around 1700.

The plan was to stop next at Fort Clatsop National Memorial but it was almost five by the time we got to the turn off. Since the place closes at six I decided we would see it another trip. We headed into Astoria and hooked up with Lu Anne, a friend and former colleague of Rebecca's now living in Astoria and working in Seaside. She graciously offered her spare beds for the night.

Sunday morning we awoke to wet and foggy weather. By the time Lu Anne fed us and drove us to the Astoria Column, the Goonies house and down by the docks for some sea lion watching, the weather had improved. Astoria has a bit of a problem with the sea lions eating a lot of the local fish and sleeping on the docks, making access to their boats a little risky for the boat owners. Lu Anne said they sometimes load them up in a floating cage and tow them away but they always seem to find their way back.

On the last leg home we rode through a few showers on our way to Portland and a rest stop at Marisol and Alan's home. Marisol fed us yummy chicken enchiladas for lunch. Had a nice visit with them and then it was off for West Salem via Highway 99W. We stopped in Newberg for gas and had to shed some riding gear because it was getting too warm for comfort. We pulled into the driveway about a quarter after three.

The trip was great overall though there were a few anxious moments on steep narrow roads and getting lost once. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased that my shoulder didn't complain like it did on the Bike Camp '08 trip last summer. Perhaps those four Aleve I take a day are doing their job. Sione is willing to go again next year and who knows, maybe next year it will be a three day trip.

If you want to see more pictures of our trip you can go to my Web Album by clicking here or by pasting http://picasaweb.google.com/notsowiseone/AstoriaBikeTrip?authkey=Gv1sRgCK3o_d_xqdvYpgE# into your browser window.