8-12-18

As we were looking for the Astoria Sunday Market we passed a typical period home where two deer grazed the dandelions.  Just had to share.

The Sunday Market is a lot like Portland's Saturday Market, full of art, crafts, handmade goods, foods, produce and junk.  It was lots of fun to visit.  The only bad thing was that, just like everywhere else this summer, the Market was infested with wasps.  Anywhere there was food was nearly unapproachable.  I've read that this is because of the drought we are experiencing.

Yes, we finally got to see the Museum of Whimsy.  This was our third try and they were finally open.  I posted about our disappointment on Facebook and they were very gracious and let us in without paying the fee.  However, the museum is misnamed.  It should be the Museum of Weird.  The picture above is of actual shoes for Chinese women from the days when they bound their feet.  This painful and barbaric custom supposedly made them more attractive to men.  The tinier the feet, the more beautiful the woman.  Never mind about walking.

See what I mean?

Back to the normal world, we saw this plaque about where Clark Gable began his career.  If you don't know who I am talking about, Google him.

8-11-18

This is the wooden road to Pier 39 in Astoria.  Gary actually wanted to drive our truck over it.  Many others had done it but I was skeptical.  We decided to park on the shore side and walk over and I was so glad!  You could see all kinds of cracks and termite damage on the way.  One man pulled over and asked us if we wanted a ride.  We politely declined and I told him he was braver than I.

About twenty sea lions were barking on a pier across the water and they were surprisingly loud.

Pier 39 was kind of a mess.  We went to see the Bumblebee Tuna Canning Museum but it was tiny and not too organized. 

The Astoria Ferry was moored outside.  We're not sure where it goes.

We tried to visit the Museum of Whimsy but it was closed again.  I found its Facebook page and posted about the erratic hours and got an answer.  It will be open tomorrow they promise, and they want to meet us when we arrive.

Tonight was advertised as the Second Saturday Art Walk so we drove into town to see what was going on.  We couldn't find it.  We drove up and down the three main streets but didn't see a thing.  So we headed back to the TrailBayser, picked up another amazing prawn dinner from the food cart and settled in for the night.

8-10-18

Here is the educational part.  The log sculpture above is called The Whispering Giant and stands in Astoria.  It is one of the 73 sculptures done across the country by Peter Wolf Toth.  There is at least one in every state and a few in Europe.  He started this project, called The Trail of Whispering Giants in 1972 and there are at least 57 that survive, according to Wikipedia.  He studies native Americans in each area and consults with the locals about what to carve.  He never charges for his art but gets room and board donated.  I believe he is still working in Florida.
 
Gary played nine holes today at the golf course attached to our RV Park.  While he was doing that I started working on a big cross-country RV trip we hope to begin in October.  We're going to many  spots we've never seen before on our way to the sisters in Florida.

In the afternoon we tried to visit the Museum of Whimsy, but even though we arrived during published hours, they were closed.  Maybe that was part of the whimsy.  We'll try again tomorrow.

We crossed the Columbia River and had dinner in little dive in Chinook, WA.  They had great Dungeness crab cakes.

On our way back to the RV we saw this cargo ship full of more logs than I have ever seen in one place.  Wonder where they're going.

The highlight of the day was that this was Happy Hour Day at Starbucks.  Grande Frappuccinos were only $3.  It doesn't get any better than that.

8-9-18

To be brutally honest, the number one thing I enjoy about RVing is eating out.  I am not talking about eating outside by the campfire, I am talking about restaurants.   The food cart above, called Ship Out, is a welcome addition to the Lewis and Clark RV Park and Golf Course in Astoria, OR where we have stayed once before.  We had prawns and chips there last night and, OMG, they were so good!

This morning we went to Pig n Pancake, which is a fairly typical breakfast place and tonight we are going to try Smoked Bones BBQ.  Most days we eat breakfast in and sometimes lunch, too but we only eat dinner in if there is a monsoon. 

When we arrive at a campground we have lots to do.  After we disconnect the trailer from the truck, the electricity, water and sewer lines need to be hooked up and the Airstream has to be leveled.  If we don't level it we could roll out of bed, or worse.  It is kind of disorienting, too. 

This is the 'business" side of the trailer.  You can see the ramps and chocks under the wheels that we had to use at this particular park to get level.  We hooked up everything yesterday and were quite comfortable last night EXCEPT we parked in front of a tree that directly blocked the satellite signals we needed for TV.  SO, today we unhooked everything and moved the rig back about 6 feet and hooked it all up, again.  Thank goodness, it worked. 

I have been keeping a spreadsheet of all the RV campgrounds we have used and I was surprised today to see that I have logged 94 facilities so far, and that doesn't count the places we have stayed more than once over the past 3-4 years.  There are so many that they start to blur in the mind.  The wonderful ones and the horrible ones are the ones that stick out, of course.  Thank goodness, I can look at my spreadsheet and this blog to help me remember.