When we left Nehalem, we headed north along 101 towards Washington. We stopped for breakfast in Seaside, Oregon at a place called Pig N Pancake, which turned out to be quite good. Seaside would be an interesting place to come back to when it is not drizzly and wet outside.
We were trying to make time and weren’t stopping a whole lot, and the weather was fueling some of that. We were unable to resist the temptation to stop for the Astoria Column, however. These pictures were taken from the top. It is something like 164 steps to get to the top of this 125 foot tall structure that sits 600 feet above sea level. The column had some interesting murals of the past along it, although I was struck at how unfair it seemed to the Native Americans, painting the white settlers as the heroes. Lewis and Clark stand as the mythical heroes of the Pacific Northwest, gold is glorified, inventions and settlements are claimed as heritage, while the early inhabitants were pushed aside onto reservations of land worthless to grow anything on. I suppose that to the victor go the spoils.
We also met this wild animal on the way back down from the column. It did not seem concerned by us at all.
I felt like we were headed off to the end of the world, by looking at that first scene. But no, just to Washington. More to come on that.
