Our next port of call was Astoria after a one day layover in Portland. Astoria is a town located at the north western most part of the state where the mighty Columbia merges with the Pacific Ocean. It got it’s name from Lord Astor of England. This was one of the friendliest places we encountered on our whole vacation.

While we were in Astoria we stayed at the Fort Steven’s state park. It is I believe the largest of the Oregon state parks. All the parks we had the privilege to stay in were extremely clean and well maintained, and a credit to the Oregon park service. Most of the parks have bicycle and hiking trails that a lot of the visitors take advantage of using. The one thing that most everyone took advantage of, was the beautiful sunsets almost every night. There were so many attractions to see that I can’t list them all, but one in particular I have to make mention about. At the wharf in Astoria they have a Maritime Museum and it has a large wooden dock or platform adjacent to the exterior of the building. Janey and I were visiting the Museum and noticed a sign stating band concert open to the public 2:00 P.M., so we decided to stay and enjoy. Shortly before the concert began, we noticed a few busses arrive and volunteers started helping disabled people onto the wharf to hear the music. This band or orchestra (I don’t know how to distinguish the difference) was comprised of a fully volunteer crew, even the conductor.

Cape Lookout is located not far from Tillamook, Oregon that produces the cheese that carries its name. Another attraction to Tillamook are two huge Quonset type buildings that serve as commercial shopping centers today, but during W.W. Two, they were hangers for dirigibles or blimps, to patrol the shorelines and part of the ocean in search of enemy submarines. These two hangers are so large that you could have six football fields located in them. This park had the best beach with miles of packed sand on which to walk. Large groups of people would bring their beach chairs nightly and enjoy the sunset. Most of the camps had some planned activity for adults and children if you wanted to participate. While we were here we toured the cheese factories, took side trips to visit some of the light houses that are now a thing of the past, with the advent of advanced radar and computerized light houses, manning these locations is not required. We stayed here another four days and again traveled south.

Our next night we spent in a federal camp ground, I can’t remember the name but I can recall the camp host. He was a retired fellow from central Oregon who had driven truck most of his life, and he wanted desperately someone with whom to revisit the past. I gave him a fair amount of time but could see that he wanted more from this romance than me, so Janey and I crept out early one morning before he knew we were gone. We then discovered Lincoln City and the factory shopping outlet stores, or should I say Janey discovered them. What I discovered was a man talented in the art of flying kites many of them at the same time.

Richardson Grove and a lot of the surrounding community is where we vacationed when our boys were little tikes, that and the memory of my mothers last vacation being there has left a strong happy impression in my mind. It’s not the same as I remember from years past, but it will do until something better comes along. We are just a day away from Sacramento and like an old stable nag that gets close to the barn we are now getting anxious to get home to our ornery children. I took pictures of the complete vacation with our cam-corder and we have relived this trip many times, but it is not the same as being there up close and personal.

I am going to bring this newsletter to a close and get out and enjoy some of the beautiful weather we are having at the present time, mostly in the eighty degree range perfect for me and all my Hells Angels buddies on our bikes so till next time be good!