Yesterday we left Manzanita and drove up the coast to Astoria. We are staying at the Cannery Pier Hotel, which, as the name implies, is right on the river on the site of the former Union Fish Cannery. The view from our room is majestic.
That’s Washington at the other end of the bridge.
After we checked in to our lovely room, we set out for a walk into town. The woman at the desk recommended that we walk along the Astoria Riverwalk, part of the national rails to trails program. The trail is a paved walkway along the Columbia River that now carries a trolley instead of a full sized train.
The scenery was mostly industrial as we passed working wharves and the back sides of fish and crab processing plants.
Some of the sites were rustier than others.
Downtown was an interesting mix of newly renovated and hip spots like the Commodore Hotel, designed and converted by the Portland-based owners of the very cool and retro Schoolhouse Electric Company, in progress renovation, like the new Bergerson Tile and Stone showroom, where we met one of the members of the Bergerson family,
older buildings,
and thrift stores, where I found a few interesting items like the books on this shelf,
and this collection of recipes that I (seriously) may have to go back and buy later today.
On the way back to the hotel by a slightly different route we saw the remains of a 600+ year old Douglas Fir.
Today we are thinking of going back downtown for the Astoria Sunday Market.
knitting a life 