Today was a gorgeous day for a ride. Wanda and I decided to try a tougher, longer ride today and after a short discussion, we settled on a trip to Astoria via Hwy 47 and Hwy 202. The route is listed among the better rides in Oregon and I have to say, we certainly enjoyed and from the number of other riders we met along the way, it is appropriately listed and looks to be a local favorite.
Before we got too far along the way, we stopped at Starbucks for a scone and some coffee and a chat about the ride. The weather forecast called for warm and sunny weather and so we looked forward to a very pleasant ride. Our plan was to stop in Vernonia for our first break, grab a late lunch in Astoria, and take Hwy 30 home so we would be back by 6 pm.
The first leg was an easy ride with not much traffic. We reached Vernonia on schedule and took a walk around town for a few photos. Cafe 47, seen in the image above, was one of several colorful and interesting buildings along the main route through town. Vernonia suffered a major flood a couple of years ago and it was great to see how well the town had recovered.
Wandering through the town felt great. We hadn't had much time for ourselves lately and it was simply nice to get out of the house and away for a day. I even got Wanda to pose for a few photos while we were out and about. There's an old locomotive and what looked to be an old steam engine in the park near the end of town and they made a nice backdrop for some quick portraits.
After a soda and a bathroom break we got on our way again and headed up into the coastal range to pick up Hwy 202, an old logging road, with quite a few twists and turns. This was our longest trip on the MP3 so far, so we knew we'd need to take a few breaks to allow circulation to return to our butts. So we stopped at the
Jewel Meadow Wildlife Area well known as a grazing area for elk and other animals. By this time, Wanda was definitely ready for another break and she spent quite a few minutes walking around the pull-off stretching her legs. I'll have to admit, I need to stretch for a bit too, and the sunshine was nice as the wind was getting a bit chilly as we were getting up to the higher altitudes. Unfortunately, no elk could be seen as it was simply the wrong time of day for them to be grazing.
The stop warmed us up and let us get the blood flowing again and we needed that for the remainder of the ride to Astoria. As we got higher into the Coastal Range we began to run into cloud cover, much cooler temperatures, and even a bit of fog and mist. The road grew much rougher as well, with many more potholes, cracks and twisties. Wanda kept watching the thermometer on the MP3 and she told me that at one point it reached 57 degrees. As we came down the west side of the mountain range into Astoria, it got a little warmer, but it was cloudy during our entire visit to the city and the clouds only began to break up once we headed back east to Portland.
Since we were thoroughly chilled at this point, we stopped for some chowder at Josephon's Fish House. The chowder was hot and filling, but having lived for many years in New England we found the seasonings to be not quite what we expected. I did, however, have a great Salmon Burger.
After lunch, we took a walk around town for a bit of photography down by the waterfront and along the harbor wall. Astoria has a trolley that runs along the waterfront and to other areas of the town. We didn't take a ride, but the trolly made for a nice photo. There were also several ships at anchor in the harbor basin, but the gray skies didn't make for a great shot. I did my best, though, and tried a hand-held HDR shot to see what I could do.
The shot turned our reasonably well, but it would have been much better with better light.
As we returned from the harbor wall, Wanda noticed a tent in the Sunday Market advertising fresh, hot crepes and she pretty much made a beeline for the tent (I don't think the chowder quite cut it for her).
The small Sunday Market was quite interesting and there were actually some decent bargains to be found. Had we been on/in something other than the scooter, we may have come away with a birdhouse or two from the market. I guess I should be grateful we were on three wheels instead of four.
Wanda did enjoy her crepes and she managed to be one of the last few in line before the market began shutting down for the day. She chose strawberry and chocolate for her filling and proceeded to make short work of them. After she finished licking the chocolate and sugar off her fingers, we took short walk around the area and wandered into a few shops. We didn't buy anything, but we had fun just looking.
Pretty soon it was time to ride, and we geared back up and headed out of the city on Hwy 30. It was still pretty cool, though the clouds seemed like they were ready to start breaking. As we headed east out of the city, the cloud cover become thinner and then suddenly we were back in sunshine and the temperature started to rise. By the time we were a couple of miles out of the city, the temps were back up into the high 80's.
We made one more planned stop for a break, and one unplanned stop when a bee flew up my jacket sleeve, but the remainder of the ride home was mostly uneventful. The bee sting hurt (I can't remember the last time I got stung), but I made a smooth stop and managed to get the bee out of my sleeve without spilling Wanda off the back of the bike. Now I know to keep my jacket sleeves lightly strapped around my wrists when riding. I sure don't want that to happen again.
All in all, it was a good day and a fine ride. A nice long soak in the hot tub later that evening took care of any aches and pains incurred during the ride and we had good night's sleep.
Posts
