Out West Adventure: Part 2--Lewis and Clark make it to the mouth of the Columbia River and so do we

Sun. June 9: A phone call first thing in the morning revealed that our suspicions of the night before were correct. Today’s technician connected us for another month and we were back in business. I put boneless pork short ribs sprinkled with garlic powder and seasoning salt in the mini-Crockpot and Marv made wonderful cinnamon-apple-oatmeal pancakes by adding an envelope of instant oatmeal to our whole grain pancake mix. Delicious!! Then we were on our way to the far northern Oregon Pacific Coast. Today’s goal was to visit most of the sites in the “Lewis and Clark National and State Historical Parks”. And we did a pretty good job of it. What we didn't realize until we were underway was that the area was over 100 miles from Portland, back through the Coastal Ranges and to a pretty remote area. But we had all day to explore and with our interest in history in general, and Lewis and Clark in particular, we had a good time. Through the day we managed to visit 1) The Salt Works, where 3 men boiled sea water 24/7 for 6 weeks to get a bushel of salt to replace the depleted stores; 2) Fort Clatsop, named for the local tribe from which the explorers took the land to build a fort to get them through the winter, there is now an Interpretive Center with two films, one telling the story of Lewis and Clark’s arrival from the natives’ perspective, and the rebuilt fort; 3) Netul Landing, where the party landed after a pretty disastrous two weeks on the north short of the Columbia River; 4) Dismal Nitch, where the party had to wait out a fierce November storm that pinned them to shore for six days with little food and worn out clothing; 5) Station Camp, where they moved to when the storm ended and what Clark used as a point from which to make many of his surveying marks; 6) and the lighthouses and interpretive center at Cape Disappointment, where Lewis and Clark first looked over the Pacific Ocean. We took our time, ate a light picnic lunch, took several short hikes, and got seven Passport Stamps in our book. When we finally returned to the campsite it was dusk. I pulled the pork and added bar-b-que sauce while fresh sweet corn cooked in the microwave. With salad and a cold beer, we had a feast!

Tunnel through the outcroppings along the Oregon coast

Mount Hood in the background, Willamette Falls in the foreground

Lewis and Clark salt works

Fort Clapsot

entry gate

Chinook Indian fishing boat

Fresnel lens at Cape Disappointment center between two such lights