Astoria and the Oregon Coast

This was one day we pretty much made up as we went along. We had a hotel booked in Astoria but otherwise we just worked out the best way of getting there. We could have spent more time in Portland but it didn't look sufficiently attractive, so we headed south with the intention of then cutting to the Coast and then working our way north again to Astoria. 

Our coastal meeting point was a town called Newport. This was very much a tourist town, but quite a laid back one. The attractive sounding restaurant we had identified turned out to be closed, so we just wandered around until we found this place, Cafe Mundo. It was certainly the most under researched of all our meal choices, but it wasn't a bad one. Its strongest point though was that it was the hippiest place we had stayed in all holiday.

 We then pottered down to the beach, which was beautiful and empty. Pictures can't convey the wind.

 Further along the coast was Lincoln. More beach.

We then took a scenic road trip known as the Three Capes Loop. And scenic it was. I pestered my driver for numerous photo stops.

Cape Meares Lighthouse

 At the mouth of the Columbia River opening onto the Pacific is Astoria. We stayed at the Holiday Inn, which provided excellent views as well as a perfectly nice room.

 The feature point is the Astoria-Megler Bridge. You can't help but be impressed by a bridge that is 4 miles long.

 

But what really made our day was dinner. We strolled a short distance along the river to the Bridgwater Bistro. We needed to wait a few minutes for a table, at the crowded bar, but that was no hardship. The food and service were impeccable, and as I pointed out to Thibault so was the ambience. In particular, no children, no loudmouth diners, and a quiet live band playing in the background. Also a character building - a renovated boatyard. Not cheap, but was decent value as we enjoyed it so much. Truly fine dining. And it got better as we had drinks afterwards with a lovely couple, Mark and Stella, from Oakland, who after the restaurant closed took us to the somewhat dubious Voodoo Bar. Was just a pleasure chatting to them, a couple of educated liberal Americans approaching retirement age. The evening whizzed past.