10/8/2020 - We have been trying to see cranberries up close and growing since we moved here, drove up to Washington and saw a bog off the road with no access. We love cranberries and eat them almost every day and always thought they came from New England so imagine our surprise when we saw a bog!!!
Today we drove up to Washington - out the 26 and north one the 101 through Astoria and across the Astoria-Megler Bridge over the Columbia River. It is very interesting because on the Oregon side the bridge is very tall off the river to allow big ships to navigate up to Portland from all over the world!
We drove up to Long Beach and headed for the Cranberry Museum. This is a one woman show - running beautifully. First you walk through the museum, then you self guide yourselves through the cranberry crops and finally back into the gift shop to purchase all of your cranberry needs. We settled for the most delicious ice cream! I can still taste it and wish I had some now!!!
The museum has an annual festival during harvest in October which had to be cancelled this year and although harvest was scheduled - we saw no sign of it. No flooded fields and so I was a bit disappointed until we had to take a detour off of 101 on our way home due to an accident and ended up driving along flooded bogs filled with red berries. I was screaming!!!!
We also visited Long Beach - a tired little sea village with the longest beach in America. There were some cute shops and restaurants and of course the beach was amazing. You can drive on the beach up here after Labor Day - that's ok, I'm good! There is also a abandoned amusement park mid city which is never good but makes for some great pix. We stopped at a bakery because it was painted bright yellow and Joe wanted to take some pix and then he felt like he should buy a huge box of warm, chocolate chip cookies!
On the way back we had clam chowder and crusty garlic toast at Mo's on the river and it was interesting because half of their seating is gone and of course most of it is along the windows on the river. But we got one and enjoyed warming up and filling up.
Finally, we drove up to the Astoria Column for the most impressive views imaginable! The column is 125 feet tall with 164 step spiral staircase up to the observation deck overlooking the Columbia River. The staircase and observation deck were closed (mercifully) and the day was getting stormy and a bit cold so we did not linger.
It was a wonderful day - our first full day of sightseeing since the lock down and it really made us feel good for days! We need to get out more!!! lol
Gabi
