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October 12, 2012

Astoria Sojourn

by Michael Robertson
image-368 4
Michael Robertson

Windy and the girls check out an exhibit at the Columbia River Maritime Museum.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

We got stuck in Astoria for longer than a week, checking the tides and weather every day, preparing for our departure back across of the notorious Columbia River Bar and our 24-hour passage up to and around Cape Flattery and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Eleanor and Frances chat up the fishmongers. Apparently, the movie Kindergarten Cop was filmed in Astoria and the woman who did the on-location set painting loved the place so much, she moved there and has been painting the town since.

Stuck in Astoria.

Stuck paying $15 a night for our transient slip in a clean, protected marina with hot showers and laundry at hand. Stuck just a short walk from the cozy Three Cups Coffee House. Stuck adjacent to the tracks of the 100-year-old trolley car that took us where we needed to go for a buck. Stuck along the same waterfront as a maritime museum that rivals anything the Smithsonian has to offer. Stuck in a small town where two world-class microbrewers compete for our thirst. Stuck among the picturesque decaying piers of salmon canneries that disappeared long ago.

We were in Astoria long enough to foster a coffee shop homeschooling routine. The change of scenery was welcome and productive--must have been the caffeine.

If it wasn’t for the seasonal urgency we feel, we might have elected to be stuck in Astoria for much, much longer. At one point, Windy browsed the real estate listings, imagining a life ashore with a view of the mighty Columbia. Fortunately, she snapped out of it.

--MR

In our twenties, we traded our boat for a house and our freedom for careers. In our thirties, we slumbered through the American dream. In our forties, we woke and traded our house for a boat and our careers for freedom. And here we are. Follow along at http://www.logofdelviento.blogspot.com/

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