Fort Stevens and Astoria

The second day at the coast brought sunshine and an Alison that was feeling much better. So off to Fort Stevens we went! Fort Stevens was constructed during the Civil War and remained active until shortly after World War II. It is the only military installation in the continental United States to be fired on by a submarine. Shells were discharged from a Japanese submarine during World War II. There was no damage, and Fort Stevens did not return fire. It sits at the mouth of the Columbia River.

View of Fort Stevens

Everything at the Fort is hands on. You can go up the stairs, down ladders and into the buildings.

Grandma Davis, Alison, Jason, John, Mark

The family

Alison

John

After a few hours exploring Fort Stevens we went to have lunch in Astoria. Then it was off to the Astoria Column and other fun sites!

Grandpa, Grandma and Jason

Astoria is the first and oldest permanent United States settlement west of the Rockies. The Astoria Column is the final, crowning monument in a series of 12 historical markers erected in the early 1900's between St. Paul, Minnesota and Astoria, Oregon. These markers were meant to salute early explorers and settlers for their critical role in the United States' stretch to the Pacific Coast. The Astoria Column is made of concrete and has 164 stairs!

View of Astoria and the 4.1 mile Astoria-Megler Bridge to Washington. It is the longest continuous truss span in North America.

Alison and John

After concurring the Column it was time to see some movie sights! First up, Goonies!

How exciting!

Goonies House. Yes. someone actually lives there. So this is as far as we went.

We also saw the elementary school used in Kindergarten Cop. It was funny to see these places and talk about the movies. The kids haven't seen the movies and we said we could rent them when we got home. Then we started to remember the movies and realized that we can't let them see them because of language and themes. Oh well, maybe when they are older. Then we headed to the Oregon Film Museum. It is housed in the Old County Jail, another site that was used in Goonies. They had a lot of memorabilia and names of all of the films that have been filmed here in Oregon. Did you know that 300 movies have been filmed in Oregon!

The gang.

Jason with his souvenir t-shirt. They have a wall with different quotes from movies that have been filmed in Oregon. If you could name 10 different movies based off the quotes you won a prize! Jason did it! The fabulous prize was a toy coin like the ones in Goonies or a chocolate coin. He proudly took his toy coin to, I am sure, display in a beautiful frame in his new home.

Alison

John

After Astoria we headed back to Fort Stevens to see more of the coastline and the shipwreck.

View of the coast from an observation platform.

Ahoy mates! John, Mark, Alison and Jason

Jason and John exploring the shipwreck.

To finish our fun filled day we ate at the Pig'n Pancake in Seaside. We had never eaten there before. Think Denny's, only better.

Uncle Jason and Alison