US Trip 2013 - Cape Disappointment State Park / Astoria / Cannon Beach

On Sunday, the weather was nicer and we could see clear sky. Quickly got ourselves ready for our next trip to the North Pacific Coast area. 

Our first destination was the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, located at the base of Long Beach Peninsular, Washington State. From Astoria, we had to cross the Astoria-Megler Bridge, which spans across Columbia River, linking Oregon and Washington. Kids were excited as it was very foggy and it seemed like we were entering a mysterious island :) Unfortunately I did not get a good picture of the bridge from far.

At Cape Disappointment State Park, we had to pay USD10 as parking fee to drive around the area. We parked our car at a designated parking lot and walked about a quarter mile before reaching a point where we could see the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse from far. We were adviced against taking the trail which will lead us to the lighthouse as it was a more challenging one. The view was breathtaking from where we were, however, everyone was so cold.

After that we drove to another lighthouse, North Head Lighthouse, which is also located at Cape Disappointment State Park. We parked our car and walked on a simple trail before reaching the lighthouse.

After all the sightseeing, we crossed the bridge again and headed back to Astoria town located on the Columbia River. We then went hunting for food and found a nice restaurant, famous for its seafood.

It continued to rain after lunch and we went ahead with our plan to visit the Astoria Column, located 600 feet above sea level on Coxcomb Hill. The view from up there was simply beautiful, we could see the Astoria-Megler Bridge too.

There were many murals on the wall of the column showing events in the early history of Oregon.
We had to climb the 164 steps before reaching the top. Fortunately the weather was too cold till we did not feel tired climbing the steps. 

It was extremely windy up there, as if we were going to be blown away. 

We had wanted to ride on the Astoria Trolley which runs along Astoria's waterfront but there was no service on that day, probably due to the wet weather.

It was already 3+ pm and we wanted to make a last stop at Cannon Beach before we sign off for the day. It took about an hour to drive from Astoria to Cannon Beach. It was raining throughout the journey. The highlight for this place is Haystack Rock, a unique monolith towering 235 feet over the beach. We were lucky as it was low tide when we reach there, so we and many other tourists walked on the wet sandy beach towards the rock.

We could see starfish and many other seashells stucked to the rocks. It was a great experience for us. While enjoying the view, we were caught in a sudden wave which made our shoes and socks wet except for Jared who was clinging on to daddy. Luckily this is our last stop of the day :)

Emily and Jared were very tired and slept through on our way home.