One Lap

Date: 10/03/2013

Day: 7

Location: Astoria, OR

Miles Today: 159

Total Miles:  1180

The Observer Effect, The Three Capes Loop, Tillamook, Astoria and the Astonishing Columbia, More silliness

The Observer Effect

I think most folks understand how carrying a camera changes the way one looks at the world.  You don't just "look at the world," you look for picture opportunities; you compose reality to suit captions.  It's not a bad thing, especially if you want to share your experience, but Heisenberg would have something pithy to say at this point about how the observer effects what is observed.  The point is that you see differently

The same is true, perhaps more, so when you get up in the morning planning to write about what you experience in the course of the day.  You become a reporter, not an experiencer.  Again, not better or worse, but certainly different.

The Three Capes Loop

Today was beautiful; no rain, hardly a cloud.  The rules are the same; four lane divided road most of the way, with roads looping off from time to time for the scenically inclined.  The Three Capes Loop is a 35 mile byroad that runs between Pacific City and Tillamook.  Roof open, speed tracking about 85% of the posted limit; this was the place to be today.

Looking north towards Astoria

At a number of points, the trees close over the road cathedral-like

Trees reflected in black water; always worth a stop.

 

Tillamook

The mother church of American cheddar and not bad as such if you opt for the extra sharp stuff.  The Tillamook outfit is a co-op, something I did not remember.  600,000 people, to include the Colonel, will stop there this year and buy some.

Astoria and the Columbia River

Astoria has guarded the point where the Columbia meets the Pacific since 1811, only a handful of years after Lewis and Clark spent the winter a few miles away and then walked back to St Louis.  There is One Lap to ponder.  The Captains named their bivouac Fort Clatstop, surely missing a marketing opportunity. Rather than a name that sounds like a social disease, it could have been Fort Victory, Fort Defiance, Fort Jefferson, Fort Boy-We-Really-Walked-A-Long-Way-And-Now-We-Gotta-Walk-Back; there were options.

A child of the desert really can't get his mind around this much fresh water moving purposely into the sea.  The Columbia River Maritime Museum says the average flow is 265,000 cubic feet of water per second, a number without meaning to the Colonel.  More water than you can imagine, really.

All this water impacts the prevailing west bound currents from the ocean.  The prevailing wind is also to the west.  The result of this confluence is the Columbia Bar which frequently involves a standing wave of such ferocity that the Coast Guard operates its Motor Lifeboat School at nearby Cape Disappointment.  (A proper military name; good for the Coasties.)

The Astoria - Megler bridge

Silliness

Alien eggs, scattered about a field, uncommented upon!  And the government is closed!!

 

 

But in a larger sense, does one ever really leave the Tsunami hazard zone?  In the end, the Tsunami comes for us all.

 

 

This place had both American and Israeli flags out front.  Of course.
Does the Lord wonder if the the antique store is open, perhaps, today?  That's what it says but not, I suspect, what it means.  No, the Colonel did not risk investigating..

 

Some sort of memento of the north coast is required, the question is, giant salmon or self fondling Big Foot and which will fit best in the (pardon the expression) boot.

Soon to come:  Washington state and a big decision about traveling East

Wellington Boot, Col