Matt and Mary Louise visited

We recently were visited by Matt and Mary Louise.  We love them both!

We spent much of the day exploring parts of our region to the north starting with the bridge that connects Oregon to Washington state pictured to the right.  We wanted to try a seafood restaurant which specializes in exotic foods and it was a real treat.




We began our trip by visiting Fort Stevens State Park which features on old shipwreck...the Peter Ireland.  It was blown off course when the captain was trying to get the crew to make it to port early when the ship was not loaded.  It ran aground at the ocean.

This is what it looks like today. Most of the ship has been cut up for salvage, but they left the bow for tourists to view.


While we were at Fort Stevens state park, Matt and Mary Louise went exploring next to the Columbia River.  For those of you who haven't seen, this Columbia River is very wide at this point and the view is fantastic.  It gives the appearance of looking into the ocean, but it is still the river.



We encountered these blue berries while were we touring the nature preserve at the state park.

From there, we visited the Lewis and Clark National Park and saw the recreation of Fort Clapsop where Lewis and Clark wintered during the four months.  President Jefferson had sent them on a mission in 1804 to discover "the west".  It took them two years. They traveled with an Native American woman and her French Canadian husband (and child!).  They crossed the Rocky Mountains and discovered the Columbia River gorge.  The group of 33 travelers lost only one man despite several encounters with Native Americans, but it turns out that already had experience with bartering from their exposure to ship captains from the coast.



This is what the fort looked like inside.  They had ample supplies of fresh water (there is a nearby river).  Sacajawea and her husband and child had their own quarters.  Meantime, about 10 miles down the road, three men set up a 24/7 system for producing salt which used five kettles to boil down the salt from the ocean.  They did this on the beach.

This is an example of the boats Lewis and Clark and their expeditionary group would have used.


From there, we ate lunch and returned home!