Family Moon in Oregon

Friday after a doctor appointment for me and baby girl Thomas, Mike and I headed down to the Oregon coast for our last family vacation, sans Stella and the new baby.  All is well in my and baby world so that started off our vacation on the right foot!

We took off late about 5 and drove a few hours before stopping for dinner and a little out of the car time before heading on our way to Oregon.  Thomas was either too excited about getting to the hotel with his new beloved possession, his own “suitsuit” (suitcase) or overstimulated from the constant movies playing in his face, either way the 4 hour trip was pretty good!  Thomas fell asleep 10 minutes before we got to the hotel and once in the room we all crashed pretty quickly.

Saturday morning we were greeted by a wonderful view of the ocean, rolling waves, and our 2 seagull friends looking for some treats.  I had a few crackers that we crunched up and threw at them which both Thomas and I thought was pretty cool. 

Then it was off to breakfast before checking out the beach.  As we walked to breakfast it was nice, sunny and fairly warm.  When we finished and attempted to head to the beach we were cold and quickly headed in right as the rain started.  Boo!  We thought our day was going to be filled with rain.  So we packed our bags and headed to Astoria and the Maritime Museum.

What an interesting museum it was.  Neither Mike or I had much knowledge (or any for that matter) of this area before we got here.  We were surprised to find out that the area where we were staying has been called the “Graveyard of the Pacific” and one of the most deadliest stretches of water in the world. We did a little reading on it and the strong Pacific Ocean currents going into the bay area and meeting with the Columbia River makes it a nasty place for boats to travel.  In the last 200 years, approximately 2,000 ships/boats have sunk right off these waters.

In the picture below, we were staying directly East of the compass on the coast.  Astoria is just behind us in the point on the bottom right of the page.   All the little dots you see are boats that have met their end in these waters.   For many years now they have what are called Pilot boats and now a helicopter that takes skilled captains to any boats that are coming in from the Pacific to navigate the harbor.  The Captain  must pass a series of tests to be considered “elite and knowledgeable” enough to navigate the waters.  You can read more about this area here.

We also read about how this was an important port for protection during WWII and about the dedication of the Coast Guard.  After touring a boat out on the harbor we were off to our next adventure.

We headed up to the Astoria Column.  After climbing the 164 steps, 125 feet up in the air to glide off our airplanes, this mama was tired and terrified!  The views were breathtaking and as you can see the rain had stopped and we were enjoying the sun and blue sky!

Once we made our way to the bottom we headed down for some lunch.  We found The Baked Alaska and grabbed lunch.  We were able to see boats in the harbor and watch one of the Pilot boats take a captain out to meet a ship.  After lunch we drove up to Fort Stevens State Park to see the old barracks and learn a little about its history.  This base was in operation from the Civil War until just after WWII.  We learned that this was the primary support in defending the harbor along with 2 other military bases during WWII and that it was the only place that was attacked on US soil in WWII.  During the attack no lives were lost and it missed the barracks as well.

After touring around for a little bit we decided to let Thomas finally go into a puddle with his rain boots.  The whole day he had been searching for puddles, as he knows that with shoes we don’t do it, but with rain boots it is go time!   Then it was time to head back to the hotel.We made the 20 minute drive and once back decided to see if we could just head down to the beach and push nap off a little further.  It worked and Thomas had a blast playing in the sand, chasing after Mike and I and the ocean was stunning.  We had a little episode when we were exploring the low tide and a small wave came in to fast and his little feet couldn’t move…a quick plop in the water and Mike was there to swoop him up.  Needless to say he was tired, cold, wet and done playing in/near the ocean.After a nap and a snack we were back down to enjoy the beach, a campfire and some s’mores before dinner!  Yep, we were on vacation and we did it backwards, because we were afraid the rain would ruin our fun.  We stayed on the beach for a couple hours before we started talking about heading in and Thomas turned looked at us and said “bye home” and started for the hotel!   We went and had dinner at one of the resorts restaurants and then it was back “home” for bed. 

We were all exhausted and quickly fell asleep only to wake up with a sick little guy.   Thomas woke up at 3 a.m. throwing up and was pretty miserable until he cleaned out his tummy at 6 a.m. poor little guy.  When we woke up we ordered some room service breakfast, packed, let Thomas sleep in and hit the road.   The waves as we left were pretty amazing.  The pictures don’t do their size justice.

On the ride home we made one stop at a park for Thomas to get some quick out of car duties finished.  While we were playing and enjoying the park, the Tsunami warning siren sounded.  Our little guy high tailed it out of that park into his dad’s arms and wanted guickly into the car and out of that town.   Oh well, sickness in all, it was a wonderful trip and a great way to celebrate our family of 3 (6) becoming 4 (7)!