It was nice to enjoy 2 coffees this morning in the room without the usual scramble to load the bikes and hit the road. After walking through the old town center to a Laundromat (nicest laundry facilities we have ever seen) and on to a grocery store, we had a leisurely stroll along the 'trolley path' (more to come about that later). We found another Brew Pub, The Wet Dog Café, to have lunch. Our walk was about 6 kilometers long...good for the legs.
We then decided to take a trolley ride along the waterfront. It is a restored 1913 streetcar that travels 4 miles of the waterfront. It costs a whopping $1.00 a person. It is a guided tour through Astoria's past.
Speaking of Astoria's past...it was founded on the mouth of the Columbia River and its economy was based on lumber but more importantly on the salmon industry. It became the biggest cannery town in the world with over 50 canneries at it's peak...not one exists today! Over fishing (imagine that) saw the decline of the industry at the same time as a series of fires burned a lot of them down. Astoria is also a Port for cruise ships and also a lumber loading town. We saw a ship being loaded. As our guide said, "the lumber will go overseas, be manufactured into furniture and sold back to us". Sound familiar?
Astoria has re-invented itself as a tourist town and seems to be doing okay. There are 5 breweries/brew pubs/restaurants with many other waterfront eateries. Most of them are in old warehouses that are built on stilts out over the water. The views are spectacular as you sit and eat. You can watch the 'huge' container ships line up and glide past on their way up the river to the ports of Longview, Vancouver (Washington) and to Portland.
A View of the Columbia River From Astoria.
No comments:
Post a Comment