River Commerce

Columbia River from Warrenton Dike ~ March 3, 2013

River commerce is a part of life here on the shores of the Columbia.  There is beauty in watching barges thread their way along the river channel.

    Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store and Astoria Sunday Market.

Where Justice is Served

Between 7th & 8th on Commercial ~ March 3, 2013

This is the Clatsop County Courthouse and according to the State's archives, the Courthouse in Astoria was completed in 1908 after several years of delays.  It's an impressive historical building that anchors the west end of downtown.       Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store and Astoria Sunday Market.

Life on the River

Astoria Fuel Dock ~ July 2012  

 

The F/V Patricia Lee waits at the fuel dock at the foot of 5th street.  She's taking on groceries and fuel in preparation for a long trip to Alaska after having been in the shipyard.

 

Elizabeth McMaster, Guest Blogger

F/V Lady Laura

www.CommercialFishermensFestival.com

 

        Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store and Astoria Sunday Market.

Old Homes

Astoria ~ February 2013  

 

Astoria has an eclectic collection of historic homes that I never get tired of viewing.   Some are grand old ladies and others are a patchwork of various architectural eras. 

    Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store and Astoria Sunday Market.

Alley oops!

Downtown Astoria ~ February 2013

 

I love this little alley and have visions of seeing it painted fun colors or perhaps create a tiny garden walkway from Commercial to Duane. The fun of daydreaming is to see where it goes!

    Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store and Astoria Sunday Market.

Slice of life -- commercial fishing

FV TNT ~ January 2013  

Guest Blog by Elizabeth McMaster, F/V Lady Laura

 

The crew of the F/V TNT offload a lively bunch of Dungeness Crab bound for the global live markets.  Their catch arrives at the dock ready for a ride by truck to Seattle, WA and then onto planes bound for as far away as Korea and China.  Great care must be taken to keep the water they are in at the right temperature and salinity, and to make sure that the crabs' legs and claws stay intact.  The TNT is owned and operated by Karl Travenshek of Astoria. January, 2013 photo.

Blog Credit:

Commercial Fishermen's Festival

      Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store and Astoria Sunday Market.

Just for Fun -- a special post

Video -- Off Oregon Coast ~ February 2013 This video is shot by Thomas Bell, a commercial fisherman for the F/V Lady Laura.  Videos are not normally posted here, but this video shows how commercial fishermen spend their time between crab strings.  It's a slice of life rarely seen from the shore.  Enjoy!  We'll be back with the regular photo blog later tonight!   Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store and Astoria Sunday Market.

Theme Day: Passageway

Passageway to Oregon ~ May 10, 2009

The Lewis and Clark Bridge at Longview, Washington, connects two states.

There are two main routes by which to reach Astoria from the nearest large city, Portland. To travel the northern route, you make an L shape following the Columbia River. First you cross the river into Washington and drive north for about an hour on I-5. At Longview, you cross the Columbia again and drive west on the Oregon side of the river to Astoria.

This photo shows the passageway across the bridge. When you reach green again, you're in Oregon. There is a Welcome sign, which I always find comforting. I'm halfway home, and I like the drive on Highway 30 after touching down on Oregon soil better than I like the stretch between Portland and Longview. At this point, I actually begin to feel like I'm on home turf.

See all Theme Day participants for City Daily Photo blogs.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

1863-1947, RIP

Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon ~ June 5, 2003

Fort Sevens is huge and varied. I've already shown several photos of the beach and other parts. You can read about the military history of this area in Wikipedia. It's only about a 10 minute drive or so from where I live.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Driftwood in February

Fort Stevens State Park, Warrenton, Oregon ~

February 3, 2006

If you like driftwood, you'll find it in winter on the Oregon beaches. Brought in by the storms, it accumulates along the dunes that separate the beach from the forest and grasslands. The park is large and varied, incorporating ocean, forest, bike trails, lakes, and old miltary bunkers, and it's all about 8 miles west of Astoria.

I took the photo standing a few yards from one of our favorite sites, the wreck of the Peter Iredale. It's such a picturesque and interesting spot (and easy to get to) that I've already used it three times on this blog: sunset, bones of the ship (one of my favorite photos on the blog), and sunset with ship's bones. These photos are taken just a couple of miles south of the jetty series at the mouth of the Columbia River. Fort Stevens also holds this military cemetery. A person could do an entire City Daily Photo blog on Fort Stevens and never run out of material. Don't get me started, I'll end up like Jacob.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Row on row

The stones stand like soldiers in this small and peaceful military cemetery across Young's Bay near the ocean. You cannot see the ocean from here; the cemetery is surrounded by forest. According to the sign below, although the original cemetery was elsewhere, the current location of the Fort Stevens Post Cemetery "is one of two Army cemeteries still active and accepting Veterans today on the West Coast. The other is Fort Vancouver Barracks Post Cemetery in Vancouver, Washington," just across the river from Portland, Oregon.

I've left this image large so you can click on it to read the text. There is mystery and history that goes along with the first burial. It's not quite what you'd expect from the tranquil decorum of this hallowed ground, but it might be what you'd expect knowing something of Astoria's raucous past.

Here's another scenic view taken at the entrance to the cemetery. On the right, you can see the location of the sign from the middle photo. I'd enjoyed this picture a number of times before I noted the spelling of the soldier's name.

Autumn leaves, sun break, designer coffee

The trees are well into their "turning" phase, although many are still green. We don't usually get the freezing temperatures here that are found further inland, and our colors are slower to brighten. However, we've had so much wind and downpouring rain that many trees are becoming bare when they've scarcely shown their autumn glory. It rained hard again last night, and you can see a few small puddles in the parking lot.

I took this photo during a brief "sun break" (those few moments of sunshine on our typical overcast days) just across Young's Bay in Warrenton. I had never heard of a "sun break" until I moved to the Pacific Northwest (PNW). I rarely see any cars at this coffee kiosk, but they must get enough traffic during peak hours to keep them going. Not visible from this angle, a huge sign on the top says, simply, "ESPRESSO." Astoria has some wonderfully unique coffee places, and I'll try to feature them this season.

Drive-up kiosks for designer coffee was also a new concept for me when I moved here in 2001. I don't know when they began in the PNW (although I believe this is their genesis), but I'd seen my first one in Clifton, Western Colorado, in 2001 before moving here. I never saw anyone buying coffee from it, and I thought it was just someone's crazy idea for a business that was going to fail. Granted, I didn't usually pass buy during rush hour. Imagine my surprise when I moved to the PNW and found that these coffee stands breed like rabbits and people use them in droves. You can order custom blends and sizes with an astounding array of words I'd never heard or associated together until I came here.

I realize the trend is no longer local. Does your town or city offer drive-through designer coffee? What's your poison?

Two canoes: one for the sea, one for the river

The two canoes in this post are on display at Fort Clatsop, just outside of Astoria. The top photo is the canoe on display outside the fort's museum, and is a typical ocean-going Chinook Indian canoe. They were made in several sizes to carry various numbers of people. The ocean-going canoes were often used for hunting seals. This canoe is the same style as the burial canoe replica seen in my earlier post. You can also read about Chinook canoes on this interesting site.

From the site linked above, I learned that this canoe is for use on rivers, also called "sweet water." It rests near the end of the trail that leads to the canoe landing used by Lewis and Clark.

For more pictures of Fort Clatsop and the trail in the woods, see this post with photos I took in 2001.

Where the Oregon Coast begins

Oregon is known for its fantastically beautiful and interesting coast, and this is where it starts at its northernmost end. I took this photo the other day from the viewing platform where I also took the picture of South Jetty. In today's photo, you can see some of the rocks forming the jetty, and you can also see light-colored, faded timbers that once formed the trestle and railroad line that brought the boulders that create the entrance to today's Columbia River. There's a lot more of the old trestle to be seen on the other side of Clatsop Spit, and it's quite scenic. The first mile of the stretch of beach you see here was formed after 1885 by the build-up of sand caused by the jetty's presence. Yesterday's post shows this whole location from the air.