Jenelle and Jonathan recently spent a weekend in Astoria, Oregon.  Astoria is a city on the northwest tip of the state, on the mouth of the Columbia River.  It is full of history, having long been the stomping grounds of Native Americans and explorers such as Lewis & Clark.  It was founded by Mr. Astor, who gave the town its name.  Fortunately, it wasn’t founded by Mr. Malar or Mr. Hyster.

Upon arriving in the city, we were surprised to find snow on the ground, which the locals assured us was very unusual.  We spent two nights at a lovely bed and breakfast in the old part of the city.  The place was a house that is almost a hundred years old, which made it a good setting for the large antiques collection of the owners.  This was our first stay at a B&B in the United States, and we very much enjoyed it.  One of the best parts was that the tasty breakfasts included dessert.  The house is next door to the site of the first U.S. post office west of the Rocky Mountains.
After attending church at the friendly Astoria ward, we walked up to the famous Astoria Column, which stands on a hill overlooking the city.  From the top of the column we had a beautiful view of the surrounding country.  The face of the column is covered with a mural depicting the history of the area.  Later, we visited two lighthouses on the Washington side of the river.

The next day, we visited Fort Clatsop National Historic Park, which contains a replica of the fort that the Corps of Discovery wintered in from November 1805 – March 1806.  The word is that Lewis and Clark saw only seven days of good weather during their winter on the coast.  We also visited Fort Stevens, which served as a military base defending the mouth of the Columbia from Civil War times through World War II.