Day 23: Toledo and Astoria – July 7

Since we hadn’t had time to see any of Olympia yesterday, we drove through downtown before heading further south.  We knew we would be having lunch relatively soon, so we set out to grab something really quick and healthy (maybe some fruit, yogurt…).  I’m not sure at what point that went out the window, but when our chosen stop was Wagner’s European Bakery and Café near the capitol building our healthy breakfast plan turned into another morning of pastries and an order of their signature cinnamon bread toast. 

Next stop was in Toledo, WA to visit Scott Lyons and his family, who were visiting his parents at the farm he was raised on.  They make the 700-mile drive every year for “Cheese Days” - I’m still not crystal clear on what this is exactly. We missed it by a few days but may have to plan better in the future…there is a frog jumping contest!   Scott actually lives about an hour away from us in the Bay area (East Bay), but we haven’t seen him since we moved up (by the time we got settled in, they were pretty busy with a two-year-old daughter and brand new twin boys)!   When Scott first came to Caltech he told us stories about his upbringing on the farm and I was so happy to be able to see it in person (and now have a greater appreciation for the transition he was going through).  There are no animals on the farm now as his parents these days only spend summers in Washington, but it is easy to picture the place full of sheep, cows, and chickens.  

Scott and I also spent hours during the summer before my wedding contemplating what life would hold for us and so it is fun to see him 20 years later fully immersed in his adult life - married to a wonderful woman (Becca) and a dedicated father of three (Katie, Alex, and Luke).  You’ll remember back on Day 15, we stumbled upon lunch at Betty’s Place on our way from Mt. Saint Helen’s to Mt. Rainier.  Well, after the twins went down for their nap, the rest of us headed back to Betty’s, a place Scott has been going his whole life and so he knew we needed to try the fresh strawberry milkshake.  Funny to have now been to Betty’s Place in Toledo, WA twice on this trip, but the food is quite tasty and I’d do it again!    We plan to make seeing them in California a priority now that life is getting a little bit easier with the boys as they get older.

For our drive home, we are taking the coastal route all the way down starting from the top of Oregon: Astoria.  Any time we’ve mentioned we’d be stopping in Astoria, the first question invariably has been, “Have you seen the Goonies?”  We hadn’t, but made sure to watch it last week so we could appreciate all the town has to offer in this, the 30^th anniversary of the movie.  It is strange to see how much this beautiful, quaint town - right at the spot where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean - has embraced its connection to this movie.  We stopped at the Visitor Center and while we learned about all the Lewis & Clark sorts of things we could do and see (this is where they found the Pacific on their journey) we were also given directions to the Goonie house, the city jail where the opening scene was filmed (now the Oregon Film Museum), and the bowling alley window where Chunk pressed his face up against the glass in the car chase scene.  It made us laugh to think about what would happen if you were given a similar list of places that filming occurred in South Pasadena!  But I suppose the Goonies has sort of a cult following (including my PNW travel advisor, Tony Gama-Lobo) – and there are Goonies signs all over directing you where to park (next to the school from the movie Kindergarten Cop) and allowing you to walk the private driveway to take pictures at the house. 

Of course we went and visited all the Goonie landmarks, and spent some time in the Oregon Film Museum taking mug shots in the historic jail and with the girls trying their hands at acting in front of green screens.  (One career neither of them is likely to pursue given these screen tests.)  We then drove up to the Astoria Column, the highest point in the city.  The tower itself is closed for renovation but the view from the grounds was spectacular.  Astoria is connected on two sides by bridges, one to the north into Washington and one to the west that connects to the Oregon coast.  It was just beautiful from up there.

We checked into the Hampton Inn right on the river and drove back into town for dinner at Baked Alaska, also right along the river.  The food was just ok but the dessert was spectacular – and on fire. 

We considered going to see a movie tonight, but seeing the beautiful sunset over the river we decided it was a better idea to take a long walk along the trolley tracks on the waterfront path from the restaurant back to the hotel.    When we reached the hotel, Jim, Julia, and I played cards in the nice lobby with windows overlooking the water…and Rachel got her soccer ball out of the car and juggled and kicked the ball against a wall.  She has really been inspired by the US women and is missing her soccer team.  She is anxious to get back to it as soon as we get home!!