Astoria

Astoria is the oldest city (1811) and American settlement West of Rockies and a key place where in 1805 Lewis and Clark settled as their adventure ended. The Columbia river was also the perfect place for John Jacob Astors Pacific Fur Company to be built for fur trading.

Unfortunately due to many fires, Astoria was destroyed and lost many original buildings but the downtown has restored in resemblance of 1920 architecture. With that, many movies were filmed here including: Free Willy, Green Room, Goonies and Kindergarten Cop.

We walked around downtown and took in the sites of the still operating clothing stores, antique stores and many eclectic stores selling everything from vintage and bizarre clothing and items to those selling pot and other remedies for any ailment. We also visited the Nordic Heritage Park that talked all about the Nordic background of this area. Astoria has been influenced significantly by the people who immigrated from Scandinavia and their descendants continue to live in the area. Immigration, peaked in the late 19th century with 950,000 Scandinavians arrived at Ellis Island and made their way West. Scandinavians include people from Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Many came to this local area after 1870 when the railroad was completed from San Francisco to Astoria. Most of the large number of immigrants who settled in Astoria were loggers, fishermen, farmers, and small business owners. Eventually this became a large part of the population. Very interesting.

The other interesting store we visited was the “old” JC Penney which opened in 1916 and closed in 2017. This was a main store in the Penney chain for many years as the building downtown was built just for them and was highlighted when a big Corporate Celebration was held here on their 100 year in business in town (sadly only months before their closing). At the front, in English and Finnish is James Cash Penney’s Golden Rule philosophy by which he did business: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

The U S Coast Guard uses this area in Astoria and the Columbia for their elite search and rescue training. Our ships pilot, both in and out of the area, were helicoptered onto the ship as part of their local procedure since the mouth of the Columbia River requires special safety techniques. It is known as one of the most dangerous bar crossings in the world, with the nickname “Graveyard of the Pacific.” We “easily” navigated out of these waters with our new Captain Zuzic, who has rejoined us after being the one that took us through Antarctica.

We were docked near the 4.1 mile Astoria-Megler bridge which connected Washington and Oregon since 1966. It spans the mighty Columbia River linking the two states by connecting Astoria Ore, to Point Ellice Wash with the longest continuous 3 span through truss in the world. This bridge withstands 150 mph winds and river flood speed of 9 mph. It also ensures that the US has had an unbroken chain of road in US101 between Canadian and Mexico. The once “Bridge to Nowhere” is now the “Bridge to the World”.Read more