Today you get a twofer… two for one.  I’m way behind on the ABC Along and I’m one day late for Saturday Sky.  Anyway, while traveling around yesterday I figured out how these posts could be one in the same.
Yesterday Dana painted our master bedroom so I had to get the toddler out of the house and we headed to the southwest tip of Washington.  We also took a little dip into Oregon.  This little trip worked out nicely for the ABC along and for Saturday  Sky.

ABC Along: R is for Roadtrip!

I am always game for a good roadtrip.  Folks hear that I drove to Oregon and back in one day and act a bit freaked out.  I just don’t want to wait until I have a whole weekend or more so that I can go sightseeing.   I’ve been this way for quite some time.  When I visit a place I want to see every nook and cranny (kranny?).  I explored almost all of Paris on foot.  Saw the really cool to the really strange (i.e. nun in a glass coffin… a la snow white…. at the front of a church… preserved…. although she died more than 100 years ago).  I love to explore and see all there is to see.  I’m also not above making a long trek over a short time period just to visit an area I’ve wanted to see etc.

One debate that has been raised in this household on more than one occasion has to do with Mt. Rushmore.  We’ve been in Minnesota, about 8 hours away (although in my opinion we were only 5 or 6 hours away) and I thought we should go see it.  Afterall, we were a lot closer than we were while sitting in Florida.  I had no luck convincing anyone so we went to the Spam museum instead.  While I love the kitsch of the Spam museum I still haven’t seen Mt. Rushmore!  And I’m hacked!

Anyway, love a roadtrip.  Love driving back country roads.  Love seeing roadside kitsch.  Love a roadtrip.

Yesterday, AG and I took a roadtrip.  We actually took more of a roadtrip than we intended due to missing our turn off.  Turns out the directions provided by Washington State parks for reaching Cape Disappointment failed to note that the road we were supposed to turn onto was labeled totally different on I-5.  So we went way out of the way but… it worked out. 

AG and I ended up driving to Kelso, Washington and then taking a road that ran along the Columbia River.  The scenery was beautiful.  We drove in and out of the fog all day but I had hoped that the fog wouldn’t hinder our being able to see the ocean.  No such luck. We did however get to see beautiful fall foliage that reminded me of our visits to Vermont.  So… here’s our Saturday Sky journey.

Saturday Sky over Grays River covered bridge.
This is Washington’s only covered bridge.

Saturday Sky over Astoria Bridge
This is the bridge that crosses the Columbia River and connects Washington State to Astoria, Oregon.  Notice the lovely fog.  The fog was much worse when we were in the middle of the bridge (i.e. in the middle of the river) and I could only see a few feet in front of me.

The Astoria Bridge is the world record holder for having the longest continuous truss.  This record breaking truss is 1, 232 feet in length.  The bridge is a total of 4.1 miles long and is very cool!

Saturday Sky over Astoria Bridge (Astoria, Oregon side of the bridge)
Sorry for the bad photo but this is the Astoria side (notice the fog finally cleared).  I think this is the "record breaking" truss.

This entire area, both the Washington and Oregon portions, is known as the Lewis and Clark Trail and since last year as the Lewis and Clark National Park.  The"national park" is actually a conglomeration of twelve state parks along 40 miles of the Pacific coast that each have a link to the Lewis and Clark expedition (Corps of Discovery).

Saturday Sky over Fort Clatsop
This is where the Corps of Discovery camped for the winter.  Lewis and Clark’s team stayed here from December 1805 to March of 1806.  This photo is taken over looking the Lewis and Clark River.

Saturday Sky over shipwreck at Fort Stevens
Fort Stevens  is on the Oregon coast right at the mouth of the Columbia River.   This shipwreck is right on the beach.  It is the wreck of the Peter Iredale which made an "unscheduled" landing here in October of 1906. 

Fort Stevens was built to defend the Columbia River during the Civil War.  Although I’m from the south I’ve never been very ‘pro’ confederacy.  That said, whatever Union official thought protecting this area was a good use of funds really didn’t know their enemy all that well.  There is no way the Confederate Army had the funds, the means or even had the slightest thought about coming all the way out here.  Seems money could’ve been used elsewhere.

Further batteries were built during WWI and WWII.  During WWII the Japanese fired upon Fort Stevens making this the only location in the lower 48 to have been fired upon since the War of 1812.  The area was decommissioned right after WWII but the batteries remain and are open for exploration.

Saturday Sky over Anna Grace at the Pacific Ocean

Saturday Sky over North Head Lighthouse
The North Head Lighthouse is located on the southwest tip of Washington within Cape Disappointment (formerly Fort Canby) State Park.  I’m only about 20 feet from the lighthouse but the fog was amazing.  We were right above the ocean.  We could hear it but we couldn’t see a bit of it.

Saturday Sky over the Keeper’s Dwellings
This is where the lighthouse keeper and his family would live.  The dwellings are now vacation rentals.  These houses are less than 1/4 of a mile from the lighthouse but there’s no fog here.  It was just along portions of the shore.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.
Both the North Head and the Cape Disappointment Lighthouses  are in Cape Disappointment State Park.  Cape Disappointment is also known as the Graveyard of the Pacific.  Captain John Meares named the area Cape Disappointment in 1788.

That concludes the ABC Along… R is for Roadtrip and the Saturday Sky portions.  How about some knitting progress???

There is none.  Actually, there is anti-progress.  In other words Branching Out took a turn for the worse and is languishing in the frog pond.  Maybe I’ll try again.  Maybe I won’t.  Time will tell.

Well, must go.  I think I hear the TiVo man calling my name.