Thursday, June 20, 2019

Final Post From the Coast

It was last Thursday, a week ago now already, that we spent a final morning at the cabin before beginning our trip back home. 

Tom spent a lot of time vacuuming up other users' dust and dirt and sand while I went for a beach walk. Thank you, Tom.

You may have figured out that walking distances is not as easy for me now as it once was, but with a mild, mostly windless morning and with the tide still out far enough to leave a wide swath of hard packed sand, I decided to walk the mile to the distant creek and then back. The gulls were hanging out there.
Having reached my turn around point, I found a log to sit on for a breather and pulled out my phone. There I found a text from our son, Jake, who was working east on the mountains in Washington, and wanted to know about a bird he saw there that he didn't know. So here I was on a log on the beach on the Oregon coast, text-talking to Jake in the wilds of central Washington, identifying a bird. I knew from his description that it was a magpie, texted so, he 
Googled to confirm, and replied in the affirmative. And I marveled at the technology that we have now that could make that possible. 

Back at the cabin, we finished cleaning up and packing up and headed north up the coast. We had a plan to stop along the way at a place we had not visited for many years.


 Fort Clatsop, part of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, was the over-wintering site of the Lewis and Clark "Corp of Discovery". Arriving at the site on Dec. 7, 1805, the corp had the sheltering fort constructed by Christmas, and stayed throughout the wet winter, until March 23, 1806. 

From the large visitor's center, the trail leads into the spruce forest past the statue of Sacajawea.

 The Clatsop Indians arrived almost every day to trade and help with the food supply.


 The fort has been reconstructed several times, in the location believed to be close to the original, following the original plans. 




 The sentry house.

 The captains' quarters. 


 The members of the Corps of Discovery.  Of the 106 days that the men spent at the fort, it rained all but 12. They all suffered from ailments and insects and rotting clothing. 



 Spruce trees grow big here in these coastal rain forest conditions. 







 We enjoyed our walk surrounded by the native flora. 


 We walked out along the river toward the canoe landing before returning through the forest to the visitor's center. 

 The visitor's center has a good museum, and showings of videos, which we did not take the time to watch. I'll finish with this statue of  Captain Lewis standing tall with his dog, Seaman, and Captain Clark sketching the flounder that the Clatsop Indian is showing 
him. 
 

We were glad that we finally took the time to make this stop, and we enjoyed our walk through history. We recommend it. 

And now, Happy Solstice! Summer is here!

11 comments:

  1. What a fascinating, beautiful place to explore. I just loved all your photos. And yes, technology is magical nowadays. My granddaughter in Chicago sent me photos of the Museum of Science and Industry that she was exploring so we could see what she was enjoying. It was the most wonderful feeling.

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  2. What an interesting post. It may be the start of summer but once again our days grow shorter. And weather wise we did not have a lovely spring. Rain seems a big issue with flooding in places that it did not for a very long time. Happy for you that you are enjoying both nature, history and current technology all at the same time.

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  3. That looks like quite an interesting place to visit, Linda. Love that magnificent tree you are standing next to. :-)

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  4. Very interesting and so beautiful.

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  5. Love the pics of the area... especially the beach, seagulls, and huge trees.

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  6. Great tour through the museum. The old timers had to have tremendous stamina and will to challenges the severe conditions. I like reading the history of the early explorers.

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  7. You went from the ultimate of technology of identifying a bird for your son miles away to how it was like living with zero technology. I think I could do both except when I realized there was no climate control. Thanks for the diagram of the statue. I had missed the Indian.

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  8. History has so much more meaning to me as I have aged. I think I can grasp the concept of time passing. My husband loves reading about Lewis and Clark...this should be on his bucket list.

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  9. I've been there years ago, fascinating place...

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  10. I enjoyed this post very much. I've never been, but I am interested in Lewis and Clark. Great statue, thanks for letting us know all about it. I would enjoy walks like yours too, if I could just get Nigel out of the house. Maybe once he retires.

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  11. That big old tree sure dwarfs you ( and Tom). The fort sounds like an interesting place, full of history. You find the best places to visit!!

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