The McDonald Family: Camping Get-Away! Part One: Astoria, WA & Cape Disappointment

Family time has been a bit scarce lately with all the going-ons around here! We were so blessed in early May to take the trailer and the whole family on an 11 day camping trip! It was such a lovely get away. Graced with heavenly weather and even more beautiful company- we had the time of our lives. Bonding, connecting, sharing & loving.

Despite it's name, the Cape offered up mild sunny days and a peaceful setting for beach combing and camping. It did NOT disappoint! Ironically as a side story here, my mother had, for our honeymoon 25 years ago, had secured a room at a B&B in Astoria, OR. We were a bit surprised to see that our room was named 'Cape Disappointment'! It was fun to see the place which it had been named-after all these years :-)

the boys on on their bikes!

Our Asher with the lighthouse in the background

Photo set up! (isnt it fun to see the outakes sometimes?!!!!!)

Ah, much better!

Enjoying the lovely day!

Fishing fun

Nice one Mandy!

We essentially had the whole loop at the campground to ourselves which lended

many hours of bike riding without the littles worrying about traffic

The four olders enjoyed a few trail rides also

Outta breath & having a blast!

All grins

Grant loves getting his pic taken! LOL

Whose gonna win?

The bridge to Astoria

First stop- a haircut for Grant. I had run out of town with all the camping preparations!

Hmm.. the look says it all. This barber had a blast with Grant. :-) Grant was a good sport- being asked 'how many girlfriends he has' etc.etc... this popular Astorian barber was a hoot!

It was amazing to see the huge cargo ships in the harbor. This area called the bar, where the Columbia River & Pacific Ocean meet is quite an impressive confluence (is it still a confluence if its a river meeting with an ocean???)

Discover the stories of the legendary Columbia River Bar, one of the most dangerous passages in the world, at t nationally renowned Columbia ver Maritime

The remains of an old cannery-Astoria was quite the going concern in its day

the Columbia River Maritime Museum was outstanding! Such an amazing museum. One of our favorite exhibits was the Crossing the Bar- Perilous Passage. It was amazing to read about the thousands of ships that have been lost near the mouth of the Columbia River through the years. There was a short film highlighting the lives of the 'Bar Pilots' who specialize in navigating the treacherous bar. Captains hire these experts to navigate their ships through the dangerous waters-avoiding the shifting bars and navigating the unpredictable tides. Amazing stories.

Grant & Laua

The Coast Guard Exhibit was amazing as well.. later in our camping trip we were able to actually watch a REAL rescue on Marrowstone Island! Having learned about the role and procedures of the Coast Guard at the museum earlier in the week, we were able to really make the connections as we watched a small sailboat rescued just before crashing on shore during a wind storm!

This boat was found at Cape Disappointment- it had traveled 5,000 miles from Japan after the tsunami in 2011

Fishing with horse drawn nets!

Laura navigates the bar!

Rule #1 The boat captain is always right.

Rule #2 If the boat captain is wrong, see rule 1!!

The other exhibit we enjoyed the 'Lightship Columbia' exhibit. We were able to go onto this ship which served as a floating lighthouse at the mouth of the Columbia during the (I think...50's-70's)

Coast Guard personel were stationed there, a week or so at a time- there to help stranded or struggling vessels in the treacherous area.