Cindy and I are at a stage in life where it makes a lot of sense to take occasional day trips. We live in an area that has so much natural beauty within a two hour radius—the Pacific Ocean, the Cascade Mountains, and the Willamette Valley. Astoria has only recently captured our interest. Other coastal destinations are closer and haven’t lost their appeal, but we’ve heard that Astoria has a lot to offer tourists—history, shops, restaurants, and it is the town closest to where the mighty Columbia River meets the ocean. Avoiding the weekenders, we drove to Astoria on Thursday making a loop that took us through Hillsboro, Vernonia, Clatskanie, Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach, Twin Rocks, Tillamook (arriving at Tillamook Creamery five minutes after closing and thus missing the anticipated indulgence of a double scoop), Forest Grove, Gaston, and back to Newberg (where we opened the carton of Tillamook Mud Slide ice cream from the freezer that we had previously been disciplined enough to not open).

In Astoria we ate lunch at Bridgewater Bistro, visited some quaint shops, toured Flavel House, took the stairs to the top of Astoria Column, and then went out to the South Jetty. (See video summary.)