Trolley Tracks and River Walk

July 6, 2010

The Riverfront Trolley and the River Walk share the same trestle along the river's edge, seen here from the 4th floor of the Holiday Inn Express. This view is looking east, upriver toward warehouses and piling fields from former buildings used in the fishing and fish cannery busineses. An anonymous commenter identified the pilings from the post a few days ago facing west. Maybe we'll be fortunate again today. You can reach the main part of town by walking east along the trestle. The two rectangular bays along the tracks are so people can get out of the way of the trolleys. They move slowly, clang their bells, and watch for pedestrians and people on bikes. One of these sunny days, I think I'll take the ride with camera in hand. For $1.00, what a deal. I think you can still get an all-day ticket for $2.00.

Does anyone know what the two poles are that sick up higher than the pilings?

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Ship and Bridge: A Classic Astoria Scene

July 6, 2010

British Marine's Gloriana glides beneath the bridge in the morning sun, seen here from the 4th floor of the Holiday Inn Express in Astoria, Oregon. A couple of ships and many smaller boats came past while we were there.

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View from the Lobby

July 6, 2010

The views actually start before you get in the door of the Holiday Inn Express in Astoria, and many people love this location for watching the sunset. However, I was completely in awe of the view from the lobby. How many hotels have I ever been in where the view from (and amenities near) the lobby are this enticing? The River Walk is just this side of the water, and the Riverfront Trolley tracks are between the River Walk and the hedge. The shipping channel is on the other side of the huge bridge pier. In the foreground is a metal heron made by local sculptor Vern Wilson.

By the way, I found a wonderful site about the form and parts of bridges. Our Astoria-Megler bridge is the longest single-span truss bridge in the world. Or something like that.

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Gull's-Eye View of the Cannery Pier Hotel

July 6, 2010

From the 4th floor window in the Holiday Inn Express, we could look beneath the Astoria-Megler Bridge to the Cannery Pier Hotel. We had thought of staying there instead, and maybe we'll do it another time (just so you can have some new views :) You can imagine how close it is to the shipping channel, which comes very near this bank to pass under the bridge.

The triangle of gray at the lower left is the River Walk. You can see two tiny benches near the water in a small park. Beyond that is the Maritime Memorial seen in this post. The white buildings and boats are West Mooring Basin, and I'll have a better picture on another day. You are not seeing ocean. The mouth of the river is approximately on the horizon to the right. The Columbia River bends in a L shape here, and the ships coming upriver go along from right to left, then apparently go behind the Cannery Pier Hotel, then angle toward the bridge. They go out the same way, making a bend in the river and staying much nearer our Oregon side of the river. You can click on any of the keywords below to see more related images.

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Room with a View

July 5, 2010

This has to be one of the best views from any hotel in the U.S. We took a mini vacation without leaving town, and stayed the night at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites in Astoria. It was pleasant and comfortable, and if you don't have young kids with you who are likely to fall out, you can open the windows, even on the 4th floor. As you can imagine, this afforded a number of interesting photo ops. Stay tuned! The windows are not open in this photo because, although the next few days are expected to be hot, we hit a record low last night. It was actually cold with the windows open.

That's the Astoria-Megler Bridge, shown many times on this blog already. The river is the Columbia, and the hills four-point-something miles away are in Washington.

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Cute White House

Call it cute, call it interesting. This is another of Astoria's unique wooden houses with unusual details. Although I haven't been inside this house on Bond Street, many of Astoria's older houses (and some of the brand new ones) have floor plans that can be categorized somewhere between quaint, bizarre, and extremely funky. Sometimes they are charming, sometimes you wonder what the builder was thinking. In their day, they must have made sense to someone. Now the funky layouts and interior spaces are conversation pieces as often as not. Most of the houses here have stories based solely on the plan or construction. Have you seen a house like that?

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

T. Paul's Urban Cafe

July 3, 2010

"The Urban" is definitely one of my all-time favorite eateries. It's on Commercial Street with no view of the river, but the restaurant makes up for that in spades. It's been called "hip" and "trendy," and I suppose it is, but mainly I enjoy the excellent healthy food, friendly owners and staff, pleasant and sometimes-quirky decor, and the unusually upbeat atmosphere. Paul and Theona have gone out of their way to make sure the customes feel the love. The sign on the dappled wall to the right says, "Expect A Miracle." I have to paraphrase their slogan, because I may not get the words right: "Eat Well, Love Much, Laugh Often." That sentiment is expressed throughout. This is a place where people care, and the public has paid the owners back by keeping the place full when many other restaurants are nearly empty. It's unusual that I was able to get this shot. Several tables of diners had just left. Often there is no waiting - there simply seems to be a "flow." If this is due to good Feng Shui, they have done that right, too.

More Weekend Reflections from around the world

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A Nice Place for an Office

June 4, 2010

The building on pilings in the center of the photo is the dispatch office of the Columbia River Bar Pilots. You reach it by way of the ramp of rust-colored wood. The white building on the left is the Astor Hotel, a landmark from almost anywhere on the Columbia River side of the hill. Astoria's downtown is about three blocks wide and runs parallel to the river. I've taken this photo from the 17th Street docks.

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Things to Explore in Tapiola Park

May 31, 2009

There's lots for youngsters to climb on and explore in Tapiola Park on the south side of the Astoria hill, but today may not be the day, as it's been either pouring or drizzling for two days. We've had a few exceptionally nice days this season - the rest is rain and overcast skies.

In my last post, I showed the Tot Lot of the playground. In this post, even earlier, I showed someone using the skate park a few yards away, which was made from an old swimming pool.

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Lighthouse Park, Warrenton

March 21, 2010

Lighthouse Park, at the main crossroads in Warrenton near the Skipanon River, consists of a small museum and maritime memorial (the gazebo on the left), a bell, a bench (not shown here), and a harpoon gun with harpoons. I showed the gun an harpoons in an earlier post where we ended up talking a lot about whaling, ships, and local history. There were many wonderful comments from those who knew the people, and you might want to revisit the post. You can barely make out the harpoon gun in the picture above as a black spot to the left of the charming white lighthouse building. I called that post, "History in Hammond." Hammond was once an incorporated town, but is now part of Warrenton. I've never been sure where one ends and the other begins.

I'm guessing the lighthouse was moved here, as it wouldn't do ships any good at this location. The Skipanon is very small, and the Columbia is a few blocks away.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.