Goonies Never Say Die

Since we had a long weekend for Presidents' Day, George and I treated ourselves to a belated V-Day celebration at the Oregon coast.

Our first stop was in Longview, WA, where my dad grew up. It was just about the last sunshine we saw that weekend, and the air in Longview smells seriously funky due to the lumber industry.

We pretty much snapped this shot and got the hell out of there.

On to Astoria!! We stayed at a cute B&B, The Rosebriar Inn, but spent most of the day scoping out spots from The Goonies movie. (we're cool like that)

Here's Mikey's house:

A little store featured in the opening credits (and deleted scenes):

We also visited the local bowling alley. This is where Chunk smashed his pizza and ice cream against the window while watching the police chase:

Neither George nor I excel at bowling, as you can see.

Here's the museum where Mikey's dad worked, which is actually a historical residence that you can tour:


Across the street is the county jail. George was re-enacting the scene where one the Fertrelli brothers escapes:


We had a fantastic dinner that night of steamed clams, a Norweigan dish featuring layers of salmon and thinly sliced red potatoes in a dill cream sauce, and Four-berry (huckle-, straw-, rasp-, and blue-) cobbler for dessert. Heaven.

The next morning, we drove up to the Astoria Column.

Who doesn't like a nice phallus?

167 stairs 'round and 'round to the top, which is more dizzying than exhausting.

The view from the top is lovely, but windy. There was even a bald eagle flying at about eye-level, but wasn't close enough to be photogenic.

From the column, we hiked about 3 miles round-trip to see an old-growth Sitka Spruce called the Cathedral Tree.

We bid farewell to Astoria and headed south along the coast towards Cannon Beach.

A quick stop in Seaside to see the aquarium and feed the seals:

Hello, Cannon Beach!

(the rocks don't actually line up in the doubloon)

Bunnies live at the lodge we stayed in!

Despite the rain, despite the horrible cold I came down with, we had a great time! This was probably the best time to visit the coast, since in the summer it's just supersaturated with people. Blech. And we don't like them "people."