Goonies Forever---Excursion to Astoria

I love the 80's flick The Goonies and the movie was filmed on location in Astoria, Oregon, which is about a 4 hour drive from where we live. So, investigating the surrounding area, Brad and I decided to go camping at Ft. Stevens State Park, which is between Astoria and Seaside, Oregon. We figured it would be quiet and quaint, as it borders the Pacific Coast and the mouth of Columbia River. Besides, we figured we could take the day to drive down on Saturday, along highway 101, and stop along the way for our dog's and Madelynne's sake.

Let me preface that is always an adventure with the Schroeder clan to go camping or even just a minor outing. Heck, last weekend we went on an 8 mile hike in flip flops. We left bright and early and after going through our checklist, we realized we had left all our breakfast stuff at the house. No worries, as we would just buy stuff in Aberdeen when we stopped for lunch.

Ruby Beach

Fog at Lake Crescent

Columbia River

We continued our drive down across the Columbia River, into Oregon and then onto Ft. Stevens State Park. Our second issue was a dead battery in the visitor's parking lot, so a park ranger had to help us get the truck going again.

Hood Up, getting help!

Hoping for a quiet, relaxing weekend, we were a bit taken aback by the amount of campers in the park at the end of April. We learned that there was a Seafood Festival taking place in Astoria that weekend. It didn't deter our plans, though. We even considered hopping on a shuttle to go to the festival, but decided to just hang out on site. 

Helping set up the tent

Liking the fire

Curling up by the fire

Dogs chillin' by camp

Staying warm

Getting dinner ready

Hanging in the pack 'n play

 We set up camp, and decided to take a hike around the park. Needless to say, our hike turned out to be way more than we bargained for and calculating our route back, it ended up being 12 miles round trip. We even had to stop to carry Madelynne for a bit, and when we did, Bella literally lay down in the middle of the trail. 

Bridge on trail

End of our trail-Dunes overlooking Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

Ocean

Super dad

Tunnel

Once back at camp, people kept walking by and making comments about our bungee cord we had tied between two trees to keep the dog's tethered so they wouldn't escape or run after people or other dogs. A couple of drunk girls walked into it and we think it happened again when we were gone, because we found a plastic bottle full of water right by it. I think we were the only tent campers, as we were surrounded by people in their lavish RVs. After the air mattress deflated for a second time, I was a tad envious of those RVs. Luckily, Madelynne had no issue sleeping through the night and did a fine job.

Thank God for Pack and Play's!

Bright and early Sunday, we made breakfast and headed off to explore the state park and area. Since we were only a few minutes from Seaside and Cannon Beach, we went there and then backtracked to Astoria.

Cannon Beach, OR

Daddy and Maddy

Mommy and Maddy

People flying a kite

Walking the streets of Cannon Beach 

Cool bench

We enjoyed a picnic lunch on Columbia River and let the dog's run on the beach.

Columbia River

Bald Eagle soaring overhead

Where river meets ocean

Bridge connecting Oregon and Washington

Dog's running on the beach

Noelle playing catch

So this is sand....

Enjoying the view

Picnic Lunch

Tuckered out puppies

We didn't get to spend as much time in Astoria as we would have liked, but we are definitely making a second trip to Astoria! Besides, I have to find all the cool Goonie locale and take a picture of the elementary school where Kindergarten Cop was filmed (we drove by it!). But we definitely had a great time. I would say our first camping excursion was a success!

Astoria

Dream Bed and Breakfast