Today started out good. We headed up the road to Astoria. I've wanted to see Astoria ever since I saw the movie Goonies. Not so much to see the places they filmed the movie, but because I was distracted by the scenery while I watched the movie.
So in Team Frog Dog style, we googled the microbreweries in town, and headed out with the dogs in the Jeep. Once we got there, and after some navigational challenges, we found appropriately the "Wet Dog Cafe and Brewery". We had an appetizer with Oregon shrimp. Generous with horseradish the way I like it, and the Oregon shrimp were succulent and wonderful. They're bay shrimp, but they're the Cadillac of bay shrimp. The fish and chip combo was great too, it included tuna, cod and salmon. They normally have a strong ale, which I wanted to try, but they were out. I had a porter instead. It was excellent.
We left the dogs in the car for lunch, but we could have taken them with us and eaten on the patio. Back in the car, they howled. Not for too long, but still, I know it freaks people out to hear them when they're carrying on like a pack of werebanshees. We didn't know about the patio until we were settled down at a table and neither of us felt like going back for the howling dogs. It's a challenge we were both too hungry to face.
The Wet Dog is on the docks and we had a wonderful view of large ships sitting at anchor in the bay. As the tide started to come in, we watched the closest one turn from facing due north, to due west as it was swung around it's anchor line. Lots of tug boats went by and we could see several other ships in a similar fashion to the one we could best see. I love the ocean and ships and the view across the bay was beautiful. I think this will be a favorite brew pub in the future, the view alone makes it exceptional.
One of the coolest things was that they have on the menu hamburger patties for $1 for dogs. I've never seen that before and thought it was a great idea. We bought four patties to go and took them to the dogs. It made up for being so cruelly abandoned for more than 10 seconds. We totally redeemed ourselves with those.
We headed up to the Astoria tower after lunch. The parking lot was packed, and since we'd just had a howling dogs moment, we decided to just enjoy the view from the parking lot. We put the two "kids" on leashes and let Murph and Kelty out on the grass in front the parking lot. No one else was down there and we got to relax and see the bridge and city without any worries.
On our way up to the tower, while again having navigational challenges, we saw the COOLEST Victorian house. Paul thought it was so amazing we had to go back and see it again. It's about to fall down, there are flowers growing out of the chimney, but it's unique and amazing. I really wish I had a picture of it, but the camera was MIA at the time. I found it later, but all I had at the moment was the iPad and it's not the best camera. I might try and get a picture of it tomorrow. It had a rounded glass corner window. I've never seen one like it. In a city made up of Victorian homes, it stands out. Not just because it's so run down it looks haunted and it has flowers growing out of it's chimney, but because it's a great variation on the theme.
At this point I was thinking we'd leave and move on down the road tomorrow. But on the way back to the RV we decided to check out a beach. It turned out to be one that allowed cars on the beach. Dogs and cars aren't a great combo, so we only spent a half hour or so there. The water was the warmest I've found in Oregon and the air temps were the warmest I've felt on the coast. The sun was shining and I could see islands off in the distance. Other than the cars on the beach it was wonderful. Gary was out in the water swimming instead of just running up and down the surf. It was divine. Except for the part where I had to keep rounding up dogs so cars could drive by. That part was not so good.
So we hopped in the car and decided to stop at a nearby park to use the facilities. (nature calls!) I think it was one of the most fortunate parts of the whole day. The park is a trail head for a couple of trails. We wouldn't have stopped there if we hadn't "had to go". So glad we did!
One trail went down to a view point and the other trail goes several miles back to a State Park. Initially we went to the view point. I have pictures, it was a terrific 1/3 mile trail. On the way back we took an unmarked trail and went another 1/2 mile or so. The trails are through the dunes, which are covered in tall grass and sweet peas. Incredibly beautiful. The dogs had a wonderful romp in the grasses and on the trail. Paul and I were overwhelmed by how beautiful it was and by how much fun the dogs were having. Bliss.
We loved it so much that tomorrow we're going back and taking the other trail for a couple of miles. I'll take pictures.
Prologue- first time I tried pictures. I don't think I can control where they land and I hoped I could caption them, but I guess I can't. I wanted to take one out because without a caption it's pathetic, but I can't figure out how to remove pictures once they're loaded. I'm still trying to find my voice for writing this, and I'm still trying to work out the mechanics of the blog itself... hopefully time will help with both.
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