Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Awoke in portland and set out to find breakfast and sort the roaming out. Used almost £20 of data in two days!! Weather is slightly cooler but early seventies. Walked a few blocks and found a likely place called village inn. Too much choice on menu. Bottomless coffee and iced water served immediately. I had scrambled egg, american pancakes, cinnamon apples and bacon. Martin had poached eggs, yogurt, fruit and bacon. All very tasty but could not eat it all. Lots of maple syrup. Full up we left to find the lloyd centre which opens at 11am. As date 9/11 there was a subdued atmosphere. Except for the comic con convention people who passed us in all sorts of weird costumes. The lloyd centre had usual shops, ross clothes, macys, etc Found a phone company t mobile and bought a three week tourist package which gives free text messages and 2mb of data. However could not get it on my phone so now on martins. Eeeek i am allowed theee moans a day about his very tiny phone. Walked through ross (very tk max) but old fashioned clothes. Back to car and off to astoria on the I5. Passed through the industrial area of portland and eventually the road became more like ours. Very haldon hill with huge forests. Had glimpses of the Columbia river. Pleasant drive and eventually came into astoria. Very small town america.
Found Rose River b and b. A victorian historic house. So beautiful in a lovely neighbourhood. A warm greeting. The bedrooms are like a home. A slipper bath, books, etc and a quilted very comfy queen bed. Heaven. The time was 3 ish so decided to walk into Astoria. It is sunday so not too much open. Craft, coffee shops, antique, galleries abound. All very quaint and i think we have found small town america. Going towards the river which is immense you could see huge container ships which carry wood. These were moored in the centre of the river further upstream. A small trolley car carries passengers the length of the water front. The waterfront is lovely, wooden and not Built up and no luss me quick arcades. Male Sea lions can be seen and heard under the wooden piers. They are huge. There is a look out point from which you can see the very long Astoria Megler Bridge which goes from Astoria to Washington state. It is very impressive and we will have to go over it. It is a beautiful location. We found a great place to eat... The bouy bay company which are a micro brewery and eaterie right on the water front. We are given a river view and can see sea lions in the water and container ships coming in. A beautiful view point.
I had a bison burger with killamok ( local) cheese. This is served with pickled veg and triple cooked chips. Martin had salmon with pasta. A flight of six tasting ales finished us off. Very different. In the restaurant was a glass floor area where you could see up close the sea lions beneath us. How fantastic. The meal was very good. I think we were the only brits there.
Walked back to rose b and b and as still warm evening we sat on the porch looking at all the clapperboard houses. One across the road was in poor condition. I noticed some movement and realised there were four wild deer eating the grass in the grounds. Watched them for ages.
Turned in for the ending of a perfect day.
- comments