This morning we woke up to our last morning in Oregon before heading into the state of Washington. Our experience in Astoria has been amazing. It was exactly the kind of visit to a new city we always wish for: Seeing it like a local instead of a tourist.

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Ava and I explored the property we stayed at a bit before hitching up. There is a little trail that the neighborhood shares and we decided to take a little hike.

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The weather here creates such a lush landscape that everything you do feels like an adventure.

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Of course before we left, we had to do at least one super-touristy thing. We went to see the Goonie’s house.

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The Goonie’s house is just up the main road around a couple of turns in an Astoria neighborhood near downtown. The owners are well aware of the property they have and have made it reasonably accessible to fans. Only a couple of special occasions does the house open for interior tours since it is used as a full time residence. All other days you are welcome to walk up the driveway and take photos just outside of it to your hearts content.

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As we left Astoria, we crossed the Astoria-Megler Bridge and entered the state of Washington. We will have a couple of weeks to explore before we are due to rendezvous with a group of Airstreamers and head into Canada. Our first time in Washington: Sou’wester Lodge and Cabins in Seaview.

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We love these vintage trailer hording establishments. Sou’wester is like many others we’ve visited yet it is uniquely different.

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The coolest feature is the 1892 lodge that at one time had a great ball room and housed 4 separate suites. Today there are 3 rooms for rent with a shared kitchen.

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Aside from the cabins and vintage trailers, you can also bring your own trailer here to stay at the RV park. We didn’t decide to stay the night as we must move on. We did however get to see our new friends Travis and Lauren we met a week ago at Crater Lake National Park. They had set up shop here for a few days and we finally got a tour of their Airstream.

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After a brief stop, we headed off of the Interstate and continued driving along the coast until we found ourselves outside of Grayland Beach State Park. Instead of paying the $10 day use fee, there is a public entrance just around the corner so we took advantage of the free beach day and got our feet wet.

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Actually we got more than our feet wet. Even though we are at higher latitude than we had been in Oregon, the water here is surprisingly much warmer.

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The girls had been hoping for a day like this for awhile and finally got one. One of the neat things along the public beaches in Washington state is that cars are almost always allowed on the beach. We didn’t want to try our luck with the soft patches in the sand so we parked outside and walked in.

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Tonight we will make our way to Aberdeen to spend our first night at a Washington Walmart.

over and out,
dan


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