Hey You Guys!

The entire purpose of the trip out west wasn't to visit Astoria, Oregon, home of the Goonies, but it was a pretty important part.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself. 

We drove west and turned onto the pacific coast highway, before us, over a cliff was my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean.  We stopped on the first turnout and immediately saw a bald eagle.  This was just a prelude to the beauty before us.  From the wildflowers to the strange rock formations jutting out of the ocean, this was a beautiful sight.  The weather was perfect and there were stacks of waves forming on the bright blue
water.  Okay, maybe I'm not good at describing it. So, here's a picture. 

We then headed south to Oswold West state park to dip our toes in (as dipping anything more would have led to immediate hypothermia) at Smuggler's Cove.  It's a short walk through towering evergreens to the beach which boggled my East coast mind where the prelude to the ocean is infinate flatness.   Low tide here revealed small caves, and small ecosystems clinging to the sides of rocks on the beach.  Starfish, mussles, and anemonies fascinated us.  We moved on from there to Ecola State park.  The view is worth the small price of admission here.  I will refrain from describing it for fear that my words would minimize its beauty.  
This view may look vaguely familiar to any Goonies reading as this is where the restaraunt was located in the movie.  The outcropping rocks served to triangulate the location of the start of their adventure.  It would be difficult to ride your kid bike the 20 miles it is to here from Astoria, our next stop. 
This is a cute town that probably feels and looks exactly as it did in the 80's.  We unabashadly visited Mikey's house and Data's right next door.  They are privately owned, so we didn't see if the broken David statue is still there, but it was cool to see them.  Interestingly, from these houses we could hear the barking/talking of about 200 sea lions that beach themselves on the local dock.  We went for a closer look, and it was pretty cool to see so many there communing.  I guess they were having a meeting or something. 

In the morning, we visited the nearby Oregon Film Museum, which is housed in the old jail of the town.  The jail is familiar as it is where the opening scene of the Goonies was filmed.  The museum is full of goonies memorbilia and some costumes and props from the movie.  Over 300 movies have been filmed in Oregon, and even spending a day here, it is easy to see why. 

Comments

Unknown said…
Goonies house?! Fantastic! If I ever convince someone to drive cross country with me we are obviously driving up North for this.
So glad you had a blast!

Popular posts from this blog

Well, Well, Well

Dueling Blogs