Day 12: Astoria, OR and Cape Disappointment

For those of you who read my first blog, you understand that I took this journey in part because I wanted to see where Lewis and Clark, and Sacajawea first stepped out of the trees after their long journey to see the great Pacific Ocean. The idea that they struggled through such a life changing journey facinated me. They called the area Cape Disappointment because they were so deeply disappointed by the steep slopes, bad weather, rough seas, and high winds that prevented them from getting to the shore. The terrain and the coast is so treacherous our own coast guard often struggles with rescuing ships along that area of the shore today.

The Oregon coast, the Columbia River, and the Washington coast all are decorated with the names of Lewis and Clark on sign posts, museums, and memorials. It's hard to tell where one memorial ends and another begins. So when I took a wrong turn, one of the only ones on my trip, I was afraid I would miss what I was looking for. Not only did it put me exactly where I wanted to be, which was on the tip of Cape Disappointment, but it also put me in perfect position to witness the Coast Guard doing something unexpected.

As I stood at the tip of soil that jutted out into the ocean taking pictures of the coastline, I heard a helicopter and turned to see it coming straight at me. I held my camera on it as it flew through maneuvers, flew out towards the ocean, turned around and then came back at me. What a great show! I was the only one standing there to witness it. 

http://www.oldoregon.com/

http://www.funbeach.com/attractions/cape-D.html