After leaving Astoria (7/26/10) we drove across the Columbia River on a very looong bridge to visit the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Cape Disappointment State Park (WA).   In 1788, while in search of the Columbia River, English Captain Johh Meares missed the passage over the river bar and named the nearby headland Cape Disappointment for his failure in finding the river.  The Lewis and Clark Expedition then arrived in Cape Disappointment a few years later in 1805.  We spent a few hours at the Center learning about the Expedition.

On a side note, in the park there is a "Waikiki Beach".  It doesn't look much like the Waikiki Beach that I am familiar with!  Washington has a lot of drift wood on the beaches which Joe thinks is quite interesting.  There must be some sort of "wood" connection.  The day we were there we also got to see the Coast Guard in action rescuing a fallen hiker from the side of a cliff.  Exciting stuff!

From Portland we drove to Astoria, Oregon (on 7/24/10), to the family home of the Rohnes.  Hans, a friend from Tucson, grew up here and now his brother Dirk and his wife, Amanda live and work the farm.  They were so great to have us park our monster bus on their lawn and show us around.  They milk the cows twice a day, everyday.  They're part of the Tillamook co-op - they sell them all of their milk.

We borrowed Amanda's car and drove down the beautiful coast to Tillamook to visit the cheese factory.  The facility was nice, but it was crowded and there wasn't all that much to see.  We did sample the cheeses and found a few that we liked.  Emily particularly liked the "squeaky cheese" which is actually cheese curd.  It does squeak when you chew it.  Ewww.  Joe bought some pepper jack cheese that tastes like sausage (?) and we have been munching on that for a few days.  The highlight was then the ice cream.  We got 5 different flavors between us:  cake batter, chocolate and peanut butter, butter pecan, orange sherbert, and cookie dough.   I have never seen orange so orange!

We visited the Columbia River Maritime Museum and walked around the quaint town of Astoria.  Apparently the downtown area has made quite the comeback in the past few years and Astoria is a now a very desirable town to live in.   We particularly enjoyed the Sunday market with tons of food options!  Max is consumed with his clam chowder obsession.  He can only be distracted by the occasional fish n chips.  

The Astoria Column is something to see!  We climbed the 200 and something spiral stairs to get to the top only to realize we should have gone to the gift shop/visitor center FIRST to get the little gliders they give you for a $1 donation.  So after we came down Max wanted to go back up to send his glider down.  The rest of us vetoed this idea.  I suggested we keep them as a souvenir.  The views of the coastline, bridges and river were phenomenal from the top.  I snapped a few pictures before making my hasty exit back down the stairs.

We came home from a long day of sightseeing and Nutmeg was waiting patiently in the driver's seat! 

We've had the pleasure of attending quite a few different churches along the way.  It's always interesting to worship with different congregations and to hear God's word taught by such a variety of people.  We are encouraged by the young men that are proclaiming the gospel to people all over the country.

We stopped in Salem, Oregon for the day (last Monday, actually) to see Steve and Pam Brown and the Salem Baptist Temple.  Added bonus:  Cherith!  Steve and Pam had a significant influence on Joe and I as young people and then as young marrieds.  For us this is essentially the same time period (haha).  

The sweet baby girl I birthed 14 years ago is not a baby anymore, and sweet?  Well, she has her moments!  We heard a sermon a few weeks back from a youth pastor who said that as parents we should be more concerned with our children's character and not so much their comfort.   Character over comfort.  I need to remember that in my own life!  Here are a few pics of our girl from the past few weeks.  She has been adjusting to life on the road like the rest of us, with her quick wit and new sunglasses.