Here are some pictures from a day trip to Astoria, Oregon just after Thanksgiving. I had played a gig in Seaside, Oregon, the night before, and instead of going back to Portland via the direct route, we (my girlfriend and I) decided to do some more sightseeing instead. We’d both been to Seaside a million times, but for some reason it had been ages since either of us had been to Astoria. Off we went.

Astoria is probably most famous for being used as the location for the movie The Goonies, back in the 80’s. These days, it’s really just a little tourist town. It’s right at the mouth of the Columbia River, where it meets the Pacific Ocean, so the weather is notoriously strange. That, combined with the hills and beautiful colors, makes for some tremendous and seemingly unlimited picture opportunities.

These houses are just about the first things you see when you enter Astoria from the south. They’re not in a particularly nice area of town (in fact, none of Astoria is particularly ‘nice’), but I was struck right away by their matching colors and symmetry.

For this one, we got almost-but-not-quite-all the way to the top of the hill, but we couldn’t see a ‘public’ way up any further, so we drove up a bunch of private roads and driveways. :) Sure glad we did, too, because this picture made it all worthwhile:

Everyone–meet Kelly. Kelly–meet everyone. :)

After a cold, gray, rainy morning of picture taking on the waterfront, we’d just had lunch and coffee, and were feeling good, so we decided to explore the town a little more. The sun started to come out, and the light changed, so we went back down to the waterfront and get pictures of the bridge in this new light. I had already taken a bunch of pictures, when suddenly a double rainbow started to appear. “V. exciting,” as Bridget Jones would say. This one’s really a once-in-a-lifetime shot:

Can’t wait to go back. I like the idea of going to the Washington side of the river and exploring up there, and maybe coming back over the Astoria bridge. Only problem with that is we’d have to come back over the Astoria bridge, which reallyreallyreally freaks me out, ’cause it’s like four miles long. Whether or not I’m up for that will depend on what the weather’s like.

Either way, there will be lots more good opportunities for pictures, and for fun with friends.