Fort Clatsop

 I fell asleep believing that it would be our last night in Fort Stevens, when we awoke James looked at the calendar and declared that we did in fact have ONE MORE DAY!! Joy like no other crept into our entire day knowing that we have one more day to explore.

To celebrate our bonus day we enjoyed a fabulous breakfast at McMenamins

https://www.mcmenamins.com/gearhart-hotel/sand-trap-pub

Danny and I enjoyed the Vanilla Bean French toast and James got their egg breakfast with bacon.

Our true adventure for the day was Fort Clatsop. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Clatsop

Throughout our tour of the Pacific Northwest, we kept seeing signs for the Lewis and Clark Trail. For anyone who may not remember their US History, Lewis and Clark were the explorers who Thomas Jefferson commissioned to explore the west to see if a water shipping route could be established across the country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition

The expedition had to pause near the Astoria area (before it was Astoria) for the winter, and the group built Fort Clatsop. We arrived at the perfect time as the docents were just beginning their presentations. Our first one was about the expedition and their weapon of choice the hunting rifle. Danny was fascinated and the Ranger showed us how the weapon was loaded and gave a firing demonstration, which was totally cool.

Then we had a chance to explore the museum which was filled with details about the expedition and had a special display for York, the slave who proved to have a vital role in the expedition. There is an awesome kids book that we picked up along our travels that tells all about his contributions to the expedition. Sadly, in the official record, he was left out because he was a slave. :( 

https://bookshop.org/books/the-journey-of-york-the-unsung-hero-of-the-lewis-and-clark-expedition/9781543512823

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_(explorer)

If you are ever in Astoria, I highly recommend checking out Fort Clatsop

Hat made from inner cedar bark, check out the awesome whale and canoe that was woven in

Display for York

Checking out the living quarters at the Fort

Examples of Dress uniform

Super cool belt, the blue beads were a high value item, and we heard a story that a beautiful blue bead dress that belonged to Sacagawea was used as trade for two otter capes for the officers. Out of this trade she was apparently given a blue wool cape.

Checking out Netul Landing

For lunch we headed to a restaurant called Ship Out

https://www.facebook.com/ShipOutinc

I thought it was some of the best fish and chips I had enjoyed so far on the trip. Danny was fish and chipped out and opted for a cheese burger instead. 

After such an awesome morning adventure, Danny opted for more beach time so we headed to the Fort Stevens Beach where I spent the afternoon reading my book and Danny playing (and James supervising as Danny wanted to play further down the beach).

Danny did not love this beach as much as Ecola, unfortunately, Cannon Beach at Ecola State Park was just too far. (For those folks who may be interested in following our path, from Astoria it takes about an hour to get to Ecola State Park, because of the traffic through Seaside)

There is a bald eagle atop this tall post

After the heat wave on Sunday, I wondered if Oregon would be cold again. I was excited that as the afternoon wore on, the temperature dropped to feeling down right chilly and I was happy to wrap up in a blanket. 

I also finished reading Wild, and wow was it a great book. It was the perfect book to read while taking a Pacific Northwest trip. 

We returned to camp and Danny finally found a friend that he spent the rest of the afternoon playing with, as an added bonus she also was a Lord of the Rings. 

Goonies and Middle Earth have officially infiltrated our lives, and James and I could not be more proud! Orcs and Goblins beware, our sometimes Hobbit, sometimes Elf, is bravely doing battle. 

Tomorrow we move on to Waldport, OR