9/12 Cape Disappointment, Washington

After a long drive today along the Columbia River, I made it to Cape Disappointment State Park.  This is the farthest west you can get in Washington, along the north side of the Columbia River.  It is also near the place where Lewis and Clark finally found the Pacific Ocean.  Most of the drive was through Oregon, so I had to cross the mouth of the river at Astoria, Oregon.  Quite a bridge!

 

 

 The campground was very nice, although the cell service, and hence my internet access, was very, very bad.  I could occasionally get a tiny bit, but it was not worth bothering about because it kept dying.

The second day I got here, I rode my bike up to the interpretive center.  Unfortunately, it was about to close but I walked quickly through and got a few outside photos.

The next day, a couple of old friends from high school came to visit--Ron and his wife, Jan.  We have together helped plan the last few reunions.  They drove me back to the visitor center that day and we toured it together. They live in Port Angeles, WA, which is on the north end of the Olympic Peninsula so they know their way around the Northwest.

We also went to the North Lighthouse and walked around.  No climbing on this one.

Beautiful views of the beach and the Pacific Ocean around here.

This is the beach near the campground.  So nice to hear the waves and wind at night.

And this one is taken from a tower in Astoria, Oregon.  Nice view, but I would never have made it to the top of this hill in my motorhome, so I was very happy they offered to show me around. 

We did climb the 140 steps up the tower, and what a view!

This was taken actually in Oregon on a beach we found down there the next day.

On my last day at Cape Disappointment, I rode my bike down to the pier that narrows the channel of the Columbia River and keeps sandbars from forming.  It was cold and windy, but worth the ride.