Leaving home backwards

This morning the Coast Guard cutter Steadfast left its dock at 17th Street by the Maritime Museum, headed for the ocean. I'm not sure why it does the following, since the river is so wide here, but it backs up from the dock for a about a block (to just outside my office), turns in the water pretty much in place, then heads downriver toward the ocean. I don't know why it doesn't just travel in an arc, but maybe someone can tell me. I've seen other boats do this, too, such as the Sea Bird (National Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions' tour boat), a crane barge, and others. I wonder if it has something to do with the current here, but it's hard to believe that would matter.

I thought the fog and low clouds made a pretty scene this morning. It looks like snow, but there is none. We may have snow this year, but it will be rare. We've had more than usual the past couple of years. Other years we have none.

Old sign

The sign is from circa 1930, but the business is no longer there.

Mill Pond in the rain

As you walk along the River Walk next to the trolley tracks, you pass Mill Pond. Most of us know it as an upscale housing development. The houses are new, and new construction continues. Before my time, this round pond was actually part of the old mill, and was surrounded by buildings related to milling wood. There's a very short waterway (only the width of the River Walk and the tracks) that connects the pond with the Columbia River. Each house is unique, and some are actually quite strange in their floor plans, but I'm glad that the codes required a look that makes them compatible with the old Victorians of Astoria. Birds love the pond, and you can always see various species swimming here or roosting on a few pieces of wood sticking out of the water. The hills behind the buildings are a little higher than you see here. On this rainy day, they're obscured by clouds. Mill Pond is the round body of water near the river's edge in this aerial photo.

Colors on the River Walk

I took this photo yesterday morning next to the Maritime Museum; the colors were a welcome sight on a gray day. The brown building behind the white car is the old train station. It's owned by the Maritime Museum, which may be using it for storage (or not), but it's currently inaccessible to the public. One of these days I'll get photos of the outside.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What can they be thinking? It wasn't even Thanksgiving yet when this reindeer scene was installed (don't get me wrong, I like reindeer). Maybe next year, they'll get the decorations up on the 4th of July - or just leave them up all year.

This traffic island at 15th Street welcomes people coming into town from the east (coming towards us) on Highway 30 and lets them know they're entering a National Register Historic District. There's an artistic welcome sign behind the reindeer and facing the other direction, which I'll save for another post. We're seeing it now from the downtown side. The island is the dividing point for Commercial Street (going our direction on the right) and Marine Drive (coming towards us from Portland and pionts east) on the left.

Whatever you're doing, whether celebrating Thanksgiving or not, celebrating some other holiday, or having a normal Thursday around the world, I hope your day is happy. Don't mind my snippy comment too much, OK? I just wish they'd wait till after Thanksgiving to start in with the Christmas mood. Isn't timeliness kind of special? I remember I anticipated my mom beginning to take the Christmas decorations down from the high shelf in the bedroom and transform the house into a magical wonderland. It was a special time, and maybe more-so because it was of short duration. Here in Astoria, there is a manger scene at the other end of town already and rainproof candy canes along Commercial Street. Call me Scrooge. I like turkeys in their season, and I like the winter holidays in their own time.

Ranald MacDonald: Astoria is full of surprises

Near where I took yesterday's photo at Fort Astoria stands a monument to a colorful and internationally-historic character. He has the unlikely name (from today's perspective) of Ranald MacDonald. Don't immediately start thinking of cheap hamburgers and supersized fries. If you click on this image, you'll see that the plaque is in Japanese. The English-language "verso" is below, with a less picturesque backdrop. Amusingly, the backdrop of this image gives an optical illusion, as one blockhouse replica of Fort Astoria is made of real wood, and the other is painted on the back of the Fort George building. The big wooden sign tells the history of Fort Astoria.

Ranald was not only a colorful character, but an important one. You can click on the image to read the plaque. There are also descriptions of his life on this web page and in Wikipedia. On the lower right of the Wikipedia page, you'll see a portrait monument to Ranald in Nagasaki.

As I took the photo, I wondered if fellow City Daily Photo blogger, Nori, would be the only viewer of this post who could read the plaque in both languages.

Pointed hats in the rain

I parked at the corner of 15th Street and Exchange Avenue, headed for a warm cafe, a cup of coffee and a pastry. It was cold and drizzling, and as I was right next to the small park which is the site of Fort Astoria, I sauntered over for a look and a photo. This is always a pleasing place to visit. There's no fence, no ticket taker, no concession stand, just this lovely mural by local artists Roger McKay and Sally Lackaff, and a cleverly-integrated model of one of the old blockhouses. There are also a couple of very interesting plaques, which I'll get to another time. It's a small corner park, and it's peaceful.

As I enjoyed the mural in the rain, I felt somehow close to the Indians on the beach with their water-shedding pointed headgear. It was the first time I'd understood viscerally the utilitarian advantages of this tribe's uniquely-designed hats. I think the mural is just lovely, not only showing us how a scene on the Columbia's banks may have looked, and how the locals dressed, but I also love the added details of the crow, the dog, the ship and the small canoe. The tree is real, and so is the green grass in the foreground. So also is the green dripping color in the painted sky that speaks of our climate.

The mural is painted on the back of the Fort George Building, which I haven't discussed yet, but will sometime. The Blue Scorcher is one of the businesses inside the building. I've shown Fort Astoria in one other post.

Dots 'N Doodles: Astoria needed this!

Wedged in between two very left-brain establishments is one very right-brain shop. Can you tell which one I'm talking about? It's no longer a brand new business, but it is one of Astoria's newcomers, and it's very popular among the local artists. Astoria is visibly an artistic community with quite a large number of galleries for a town so small.

When I arrived in 2001, there were plenty of artists in Astoria, but no art supply store. I had to drive miles and miles to buy any supplies that could not be found at the stationery store. People told me that for some reason the art supply stores would come and go, never quite able to sustain themselves.

But Dots 'N Doodles seems to be doing very well. The proprietors breezed into town one day with supplies and ideas galore - and obviously a few cans of yellow and red paint. The operation took off. They sell both hard-to-find and easy-to-find supplies, hold interesting classes, and have become a destination for creative people up and down the coast.

I will admit that, despite everything, I have not been inside. I know it's going to be an interesting day for my bank account once I break that barrier. I'll wait until I start painting again. Maybe in 2010? I hope so. At the moment, it's work, work, work for another month or so. 'Tis the season, and the economic climate, too.

Do we get the message?

These signs are clearly posted on the dock, but what's not as clear if you're not familiar with Astoria is that this is also part of the River Walk, so the foot traffic and bike traffic are fairly constant in all weather, and the boards do get slippery. I know.

But the second sign is not warning about wet boards. The cyclist has come to grief in the spaces between the planking. I usually ride in the other direction, where the walk is paved, but it can be fun to ride along the planked part of the walk. I have hybrid tires, which helps some, but I find myself making wide turns and cutting strange diagonals across the decking so as not to get into a groove and end up looking all too much like the guy on the white sign. It can happen.

I took this photo on the wharf at Pier 11 on a day recently that was less rainy than today. The white buildings are part of a working fish processing plant where I took this photo earlier in the year. I don't know where summer went. I never did get back to show the fish processing right along the edge of the River Walk. Maybe next year, OK? Or maybe I'll find a pic in the archives and bring it out on a rainy day.

An unusual craft in the Port Docks

Dusk was settling in on a rainy Friday evening yesterday when Laurel called and told me I had to see what was docked over at the port where the cruise ships come in. It was "futuristic," she said. I got there as fast as I could with the light still fading, but wasn't sure if I was allowed to take photos, and neither was the guard on duty. So I snapped a couple of them from behind the chain link fence. You can see there's an additional fence between us and the ship. This is standard security now, as the the dock is used for many types of ships. When I asked what this vessel was, the guard gave an answer that suffices for so much these days, "You can google it." Which I did. Here you have the web search results and the image results.

The "How Stuff Works" link is especially interesting. (VP, I hope you had nothing to do for the rest of the day.)

When I zoomed the image, I found this interesting bit. It says, "Wine Tasting." I don't know if this was left over from the last cruise ship, or whether our men and women at arms were being offered the bounty of Oregon's vineyards.

Astor and Gray atop the Astoria Column

In what was never meant to be a week-long series on the Astoria Column, I've shown pictures of the column taken much lower down and pictures from the top, a picture of the inside stairwell, and a picture looking up into the skylight. I've even shown the door taking you from the top of the staircase landing to the breathtaking viewing platform. Here is a picture of the top while standing on the platform that wraps around the column's top. The four names that were deemed important enough to place around the circumference were Robert Gray (the European credited with first sailing into the Columbia River), John Jacob Astor (who was never here, but whose fur trading company made a whale of an impact), William Clark and Merriwether Lewis (who spent a cold, wet winter at the end of the Lewis and Clark trail in 1805-1806). (Yes, Ciel, I have hundreds of posts just waiting for you.) Are we done with the Column yet? Time will tell.

Dizzying?

You probably shouldn't look at this photo if heights and swooping roads make you dizzy. We've just seen the panoramic views from the top of the column (last post). Here's the almost-straight-down view to the parking lot atop Coxcomb Hill. The winding road is one of two ways to reach the base of the column. The other is on a densely-wooded trail called the "Cathedral Tree Trail," for reasons that will become clear in another post someday. This pic was taken in early evening with the sun behind gray clouds. You can see the state of our deciduous trees about now. The second wave of yellow leaves is about gone, in great part due to very heavy rains. (Now, almost a week after I took the photo, we've also had some screaming winds. The photo is from November 13, when I took the other photos in this series of the column.)

On the left side of the parking lot's curved prow, you can see a replica of a Chinook Indian burial canoe. There's a more romantic and scenic view of it here.

Astoria Column: Views on a gentle evening

By the time I reached the top of the Astoria Column on November 13, 2009, the most spectacular colors had faded. However, the view from here is delightful and inspiring in any light. If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you'll see the (new) Young's Bay Bridge. The taller portions are the drawbridge section, and occasionally the cars have to stop while it's being lifted to let a boat go through. The big ships stay in the Columbia River and do not go into Young's Bay, which is too shallow. I think I've only been caught with the drawbridge up once or twice in eight years. It helps if you're not in a hurry.

To the right, beyond the point of Astoria's peninsula, is the classic view from the top of the Column - the Astoria-Megler Bridge, spanning just over four miles to the coast of Washington. It's clear enough today at water level that you can see the ocean beyond the jetties - but just barely, due to the curvature of the Earth. This photo is also worth enlarging. The wide, dark, undulating patch in the middle of the river is a huge sand bar (or mud bar) that becomes exposed at low tide. This an other bars like it is what helps determines the shipping channel, and why the ships don't sail just anywhere in this treacherous river. The channel hugs the land coming in from the mouth of the river all the way around the curve and between the towers of the bridge.

On the 13th, there were at least eight ships moored and waiting to go up or down river. I'm not sure what the delay was, unless it was stormy weather. That's the most likely reason, and we had been having heavy storms. About half an hour before I climbed the column, there was a huge dark cloud hanging low over the river, but it had mostly dissipated by the time I took these pictures. You can see six of the ships here. I think the most I've counted at any one time is nine.

Looking upriver beyond the spires of a radio tower, you can get a nice view of Tongue Point. With the tree in the way it looks like an island, but actually it's connected to the mainland. This view is upriver from Astoria's downtown area, and shows the forest from which part of the city and many of the residences have been wrested.

Astoria Column: The door at the top

This image is fifth in a current series on the Astoria Column. Here is the door that greets all who have climbed the steps to the top. Although it's pretty basic and functional, it does have some charm. I like the wood panels, and I'm glad to be greeted by something other than a flat, characterless, steel door. And it has a message: "You made it! Step through and see what lies beyond. It will be worth the trouble."

Astoria Column: Skylight

This is the third installment in what's turning out to be a short series on the Astoria Column. I took a few photos on an evening visit November 13, 2009. There are still a few more I want to post. You don't see the skylight on the way up the stairs, because the stairs fill the inside of the tower and block your view. Nearing the top landing, you can see the sky.

Eerie glow inside the column

I took this photo and the photo for the yesterday's post as evening was coming on. The last rays of sun had left the column by the time I reached it to look out over the expanse of land, water, and clouds. The light on yesterday's post was simply the light remaining in the atmosphere. This light is supplied by electricity. There's a skylight at the top, but at this time of day it wasn't letting in a lot of light.

Nicole says there are 164 steps. I didn't count them. I was busy breathing, and actually it's never occurred to me to count them. I'm usually thinking of the view at the top or the great exercise I'm getting or a knee that I didn't realize is not crazy about hiking up steps. Or the ambiance inside the column itself. It's not so different from any other interior stairway, I just happen to like them. I'm remembering the Arc de Triomphe for one, although it seemed like there were many more stairs inside that monument.

History on the Astoria Column

Built in 1926, the Astoria Column at the top of Coxcomb Hill, does not have such a long history itself, but it is painted with a long and winding mural that tells of the region's history for several hundred years.

Beauty in an old bridge

I took this photo yesterday evening on the far side of the old Young's Bay Bridge. For those not familiar with Astoria, this bridge is on the opposite site of the Astoria hill from downtown, where I seem to take most of my photos. The water in the background is Young's Bay, and the hint of a bridge on the horizon to the right is the new bridge, just called "Young's Bay Bridge." It's a bit wider and gets most of the traffic now, because it carries Highway 30, which is the only route through Astoria from the east on this side of the river (it's much faster than the route on the other side of the river), and it turns carries traffic down the coast. For locals, it also connects Astoria to Warrenton, Hammond, Seaside, Gearhart, etc., all on the Oregon side of the Columbia.

The water of Young's Bay merges with the Columbia River at the new bridge. The scene of Lewis and Clark's wet winter here and their canoe landing are buried in the apparently-thin line of trees on the horizon on the left. The ocean is a number of miles beyond what you see here. The tall and scenic Astoria-Megler bridge, most often associated with this town, is invisible to the right and behind the Astoria hill.

Note: It's not just the size of the bridge that affects its use, but the landing point. It's a long detour (though interesting) to get from the landing point of one bridge to the landing point of the other on the west and south sides of Young's Bay. Most of the places to shop are where the new bridge lands, too.

. Happy Skywatch Friday

Orange

I love it when the orange ships go by . . .

. . . especially on a day like this. No, I take that back. Especially any time. But they are quite something when the light singles them out of the riverscape and pops them into my visual foreground. The Lupinus - the orange ship - was on the move yesterday. The red and blue ship, Stella Eltanin, rested at anchor.

Row on row

The stones stand like soldiers in this small and peaceful military cemetery across Young's Bay near the ocean. You cannot see the ocean from here; the cemetery is surrounded by forest. According to the sign below, although the original cemetery was elsewhere, the current location of the Fort Stevens Post Cemetery "is one of two Army cemeteries still active and accepting Veterans today on the West Coast. The other is Fort Vancouver Barracks Post Cemetery in Vancouver, Washington," just across the river from Portland, Oregon.

I've left this image large so you can click on it to read the text. There is mystery and history that goes along with the first burial. It's not quite what you'd expect from the tranquil decorum of this hallowed ground, but it might be what you'd expect knowing something of Astoria's raucous past.

Here's another scenic view taken at the entrance to the cemetery. On the right, you can see the location of the sign from the middle photo. I'd enjoyed this picture a number of times before I noted the spelling of the soldier's name.

Earth, Water, Fire, and Air

If you're driving on Exchange Avenue (on our right), this is just a quirky curve in an otherwise-straight street. But like everywhere else in Astoria, it also expresses a lot of history. In the center of the photo, you can see the entire block that comprises 13th Street. The street is about one or one and a half lots long. This is where the notorious early land owners and town planners John Shively and John McClure butted heads. They could not agree on the size of a standard lot, and the mismatched halves of the town can be seen fitting together here at 13th (you can read more about it in this post).

Here you can see what the downtown area is built on (pilings over what used to be water and mud). There's another photo of it here, and there are several more places in town where you can see the concrete-and-air underpinnings. I found a very interesting web page that describes the big fire of December 8, 1922. What allowed it to cause so much destruction (10 hours, 30 blocks, 15 million dollars) is that the downtown was built on wood pilings, and the air-space under the buildings and streets was not filled in. They could hardly have designed a better barbecue pit if they'd tried, but they must have learned the lesson, because the spaces are now baffled with concrete walls. Occasionally you'll see a car or two parked in the low area, but mostly it's empty.

Exchange Avenue marked the line between burned and spared buildings, at least here at 13th Street. Across Exchange Avenue on the right is the YMCA building built in 1914 and mentioned in the linked article. It "was opened as the headquarters of all welfare agencies," and I took photos of it which I'll post another day.

For those who want to see how many previous posts are contained in this photo, here's a list:

. Yesterday's blue post (out of sight on the corner behind the tree)
. Writing on the wall
. The pink building on the left
. Drain cover made in Oregon (about the center of the photo)
. The imposing Astor Hotel from the river side and from the landward side
. Behind where I'm standing to take the photo is a small hospice building. The railing you see in the photo continues alongside the building and is the site of this plaque commemorating Clark Gable's early acting career in the Astoria Theatre that burned down in the fire of 1922.

A curious blue post

This old concrete post was wearing body metal long before it became popular. I love the colors in this photo, especially the part of the blue paint that's still wet from the rain. This post, along with another almost like it, stands at the corner of 13th Street and Duane Avenue. I don't know if the ring was originally intended for hitching horses, or what. Someone has added a padlock, probably later than the ring, but long enough ago that it's completely rusted. The white reflection to the right is of this wall towering above.

It looks like a new business is moving in and brightening the shop behind the post. There have been several in this location in the short time I've been here. I remember when there were used cars parked in this lot, the office being (I think) to the right of the colorful store.

Does anyone remember more about this corner and the businesses that were here?

Cieldequimper: This would be another nice object d'art for your home, oui?

Ruins of the old days

Here's a close-up of part of what's left of the old ferry dock at the foot of 14th Street. We saw two different aspects of it in this post and this post. This was taken on a beautifully clear day in September. I don't know what the weather will be like on the day this photo drops into place via the magic of Blogger. I'll be gone for a few days, so I've set up some posts in advance. By the time you get to this one, I should be arriving back home, ready to take my camera out on the town.

Delta Dawn

I came across this photo in the archives from September, taken from the 14th Street Pier. It's nice to be reminded of the perfect days we have here. I was going to say "on occasion," but we actually have a lot of really nice days. I remember this day as a gold and silver day. There were some unusual silver-colored boats on the river along with this beautiful gold fishing boat, Delta Dawn.

The hills are in Washington, and the bridge is the lower end of the fantastic 4-plus-mile Astoria-Megler Bridge. The river, of course, is the mighty Columbia.

A handsome sign for the Heritage Museum

The Heritage Museum of the Clatsop County Historical Society may not be sporting a new sign, but the sign seems to be sporting new colors. It's funny how you sometimes don't notice the changes, or once you see the new paint, you can't remember what the old paint looked like. I think the red is new. One of these days, I'll find an older photo and include it for comparison.

Inside this majestic and sturdily-built Neoclassical edifice, you'll find lots and lots of photos and artifacts from earlier years, and a friendly staff to help you enjoy them. You can enter the building from either Exchange Avenue or 16th Street.

This building began life as Astoria's City Hall about 1905, with construction having started in 1904. Sometime later, the city's administration moved into the centralized downtown area, to this building. The Heritage Museum still retains a few jail cells in the basement, including one for solitary confinement. The librarian told me that when the Historical Society moved into the building, the entire basement was filled with cells. I'll have to get a tour sometime.

The entrance to the cavern

Entering Pier 39 is like entering a wonderful cavern. I love the funky look of the pier buildings combined with the fact that they are again in a useful state. It's always compelling, whether you're visiting Coffee Girl, The Rogue (brewpub and cafe), getting a view from the back deck, renting a kayak, looking at the old boats inside, studying the small museum, reading the signatures of cannery workers on the wall, or just finding a nice place with a view to hang out by the water. For more posts on Pier 39, follow this link.

The Chinook Indians: not just history

I watched a really interesting video that I bought from a Chinook Indian booth at Sunday Market before the season ended. This is Gary Johnson, Chinook Tribal Council Chairman, discussing the condition of non-recognition between the Chinook Nation and the U.S. Government. Portions of our government work with the Indians on recognized and friendly terms, and other offices have rescinded recognition, culminating in an ongoing struggle. It's somewhat complex, but once you watch this video you understand that these are daily concerns of the existing Chinook people and not something out of a dusty history book.

The video was made during a festival given by the Indians including anyone who wanted to partake of a salmon feast, and native songs, dancing, and crafts were part in the event. Canoes built by Gary's son, Tony, were taken out into the river to teach and enjoy the old practices.

Most of the Chinook now live in the state of Washington rather than in Oregon, because that's where the U.S. Government moved their people when competition for land arose with the coming of more and more whites via the Oregon Trail. In the early years there had not only been space for all, but there was a healthy interrelationship based on commerce that benefited both races. It was the Clatsop Indians, one of the five Chinook tribes, had had the most interaction with the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

By the way, "Chinook" is prononced with the "ch" as in "chair," not as in "shoe," as we all seem to do.

It's a fascinating video by Riparian Productions entitled Chinook History, Yesterday and Tomorrow. Contact:

Chinook Indian Nation
PO Box 368
Bay Center, WA 98527
360-875-6670
office@chinooknation.org

More post office doors

Here is one of the three sets of doors entering the only post office in Astoria. On November 1, we saw the doors from the inside. They were actually the doors next to these, as this is the set on the left as you go in, and the doors shown previously were the center set. I've liked this building since the first day I saw it, which was probably almost immediately after arriving here in the summer of 2001. For one thing, it was a nice contrast with the latter-day boring architecture of the post offices where I'd lived recently. For a long time, the post office was a place I visited almost daily, due to shipping orders from my online store. Now they pick up, so I go less often. But whether it's often or not, it's nice to have a fun building to look at. It seems as thought it belongs to a much bigger town with the marble, the ornate metal, and the heavy glass tabletops.

One of Astoria's claims to fame is having the oldest post office west of the Rocky Mountains. Although the current post office is an older building, Neoclassical in style, I didn't think it could be the original. But it was quite some time before I stumbled across the location where the original had been. It had been maintained in the home of Astoria's first postmaster, John M. Shiveley.

A lace cap for a long winter's night?

Since I happened to be in the neighborhood, I wanted to catch this fanciful scrollwork on the eaves of a house at 6th Street and Bond. It's too bad that the day wasn't brighter for a more glowing photo, but we're into the season now and there will be many, many cloudy and rainy days before we see much sun again.

The scrollwork is in a similar style to that on the steeple of St. Mary Star of the Sea, visible in this post from last May. I wonder if it was a local style or if it was done by one person. I've seen it on at least one or two more buildings, so it could possibly turn up on this blog someday :)

Theme Day: "Doorways"

The U.S. Post Office, Astoria, Oregon, 97103

Doorways from around the world: Click here to view thumbnails for all participants of City Daily Photo Theme Day: "Doorways."