Trip Dates: July 19-21, 2022
I’m just a wee bit behind (3 months!) in posting. We originally planned to go to Astoria for our wedding anniversary in mid June, but both of us came down with COVID after attending some end-of-school-year functions with the grandkids; they and their parents also caught the virus. So we rebooked our trip for mid July. By July 4 everyone but me was back in the pink; but I picked up a rebound infection. I tested negative but was still weaker than I thought when we finally left on July 19. As a result, I was a mostly a big stick in the mud; needing a nap after every outing.
Nevertheless, our hotel – the Cannery Pier Hotel – was a destination in itself. It is located on the Columbia River, just a few yards downriver from the Astoria Interstate Bridge which carries US 101 traffic between Washington and Oregon. Here is a view from our room. If you cross the Columbia River between Astoria and The Dalles (at least) or across rivers down south you’ll drive on one of these girder and grid type bridges. All built, I imagine, around the same time.
The hotel has a classic Rambler with a driver to take guests downtown and back.
We went to dinner at Carruthers.
When in Astoria, boats and ships will be the subject of the day. Here is a pilot boat that takes river pilots to control the big ships up and down the Columbia. All fine and dandy on a day like this; but we watched some videos of the transfer taking place in big storms.
Our full day of visiting was Wednesday July 20. I didn’t have the stamina to walk a lot, so Carla walked on her own while I napped and watched the ocean traffic from our tiny balcony over the river. The cargo ships that specialize in car transport are amazing – big square buildings moving across the water.
River traffic goes both ways, of course. Here, the empty(-ish) cargo ship CL Lindy heading out toward the ocean in search of a load
As the sun set, the lighting was beautiful. I couldn’t decide which panorama I like better; so you can see both.
The first picture is a result of merging a set of overlapping stills in Lightroom
This image is using the Sony RX100 pano function.
We could see the ships way down river near the Columbia Bar. The CL Daisy looks like a sister ship of the CL Lindy.
As it passed in front of the hotel I got a closeup of the bridge and crew quarters. Note the red escape pod on the stern.
A few minutes later it went under the bridge
The Astoria Pier Cannery Hotel and Spa is a great place for a special occasion (I’m not an affiliate and get nothing if you stay there). I just wish I was fully recovered when we were there; but I had fun doing what I could. I finally recovered 100% when we went to Hawaii in August. More on that in a future post.
