Hey, You Guys!

We were blessed with another day of sunshine today, so we decided to head down the coast this morning. First we stopped in Seaside to see the Salt Works. In order to make salt for their return journey, the Corps of Discovery boiled seawater here over a furnace, 24 hours a day, extracting about 3.5 bushels (or 28 gallons) of "excellent, fine, strong & white" salt.

Seaside, OR

Then we went to Cannon Beach to see its famous landmark, Haystack Rock. Before our trip, we checked out "The Goonies" from the library - the boys hadn't watched it all the way through before and I had forgotten all the things I loved about this movie! So we were all pretty geeked out to see the beach from the opening sequence when the Fratellis join the off-road race to escape the police.

We were there just before low tide, so it was possible to get fairly close to Haystack Rock and examine the tidepools. But waterproof shoes don't work very well when you submerge your feet completely underwater. At least I didn't fall...

From here we grabbed a quick lunch from DQ (I don't know why J is so fond of it) and then drove up to Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington on the other side of the Columbia River. The Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center had interesting exhibits about the Corps of Discovery's expedition to the Pacific.

Beards Hollow overlook

Columbia River Bar pilots are required to guide cargo ships
through the channel

Cape Disappointment lighthouse

Remnants of a coastal defense bunker

When M heard that there were disappearing guns at Fort Columbia State Park, of course we had to stop there, too.

The second of three forts built to defend the Columbia River

Someone is really looking forward to taking a military history class next year

Clatsop County Jail with the Fratellis' escape vehicle

And back in Astoria, we wrapped up our day by finding some of the locations from the movies that were filmed here...

"It's not a tumor!" - Kindergarten Cop

The Goondocks