Leaving Steve and Marina, it was up the Oregon Coast, through the magic fog, and into Astoria. Many years ago, I watched Kindergarten Cop, which was filmed here and always said to myself, if I ever get to the USA, i'd like to see Astoria. Well, I made it.
This place used to be a two story car sales showroom. Back in the day, there was a huge fire in Astoria that wiped out most of the town. This building....
and the one next door, are two of the few remaining original buildings in the town.
The showroom is now a brew house, restaurant and bakery/cafe. Brian had arranged to meet us there.
Brian had said his wife, Gretchen Allen, was also coming to join us for dinner, but the really nice surprise was when their daughter, Alexis Mather turned up as well. For those not in the know, Alexis is one smart cookie, beautiful and has only recently handed back her crown from being Miss Oregon.
It's rather a nice place and we had some very nice pizza.
If you've seen Kindergarten Cop, you'll recognise this place.
Astoria is at the mouth of The Columbia River. It's rather big and there are a lot of container/bulk carrier ships using the natural harbour.
Mark's having bike troubles.
it appears the ethanol has eaten his fuel strip, so he has no idea how much is in his tank.
This bridge is something else and is another, lasting, memory of a few movies that have been filmed here over the years.
I was photo bombed by this muppet.
And we've made The Pacific
Yup, both of us.
Not only is the country big over here, the bugs are too.
The bridge is one hell of a piece of engineering, but my memory of Kindergarten Cop is that it used to be white.
We stayed two, really enjoyable nights, with laughter and banter and treated our hosts to dinner at this spot.
Right on the river, the little boats sail by.
Then Brian took us to see a couple of the Astoria sights.
This rather large anchor
an even bigger screw
It was slippery getting up there
and one of the bikes, to keep Mark happy