There is one specific reason that we stopped in Astoria and not Portland on our cruise… the ship was too big to pass under the bridge across the Columbia river and Astoria was on the right side of the bridge. But just so you don’t think we were disappointed, Astoria has quite a history and holds its own with the Hollywood crowd as well.
In fact the movie Goonies was filmed in Astoria, so was Kindergarden Cop and Free Willy just to name a few. So we were glad to see what this little town had to offer in the way of exploration and to start off our tour we headed to the highest point in town…
…the Astoria Column.
Painted in a spiral around the column is the town’s history, which is pretty cool but you have to expect that you are going to get dizzy trying to see the entire mural from start to finish. So after a few photos we headed to the top of the column to get a look at the entire town and the coastline.
The people in town were really great, in fact the town has a shuttle from the cruise terminal to the tower and to make sure that they treat their visitors extra nicely they give you this sticker to wear while you are in town:
They also have a trolly that you can ride along the coastline from the cruise terminal which was great because you could get off at many stops along the way and see whatever you wanted to see…
like this boathouse which was in one of the movies filmed in town (I think it was Free Willy but don’t quote me on that because I didn’t see the movie)
And this large collection of sea lions that have taken over the local Marina, and a big bell that we found but we’re not sure what it’s for…
We really had a great visit to Astoria, it may be a small town but it is worth a visit if you are in the area. They even have nice sunsets! ;o)
(Sorry for the dirt spots in the photo, we were on the ship for a long time and packing camera cleaning stuff was not really a priority on our list of things to bring along)