Travel
Oregon
By
Matt Kettmann
There's solitude on the Oregon Coast that's unattainable in most beach-lined
states. Fitful, inclement northwestern weather and warmer climes in the south
tend to draw the typical beach-going folk elsewhere.
But
beach life and all its festive seasonal trappings are
alive and well in Oregon, and just a few years ago,
I made the Oregon Coast part of my fall traveling schedule
and rejoiced in finding sleepy port towns with down-to-earth
crab houses and sandy shores without the jam-packed
beaches. Indeed, save for the quaint villages and working
harbors, not a whole lot has changed since Lewis and
Clark ended their westward voyage on the Oregon shores
200 years ago.
So
make like those first Western travelers to the Pacific
Northwest, and begin your adventure close to where
Lewis and Clark ended theirs. Take a driving tour of
the Columbia River Gorge by starting a couple hundred
miles east of Portland at the Tamastslikt
Cultural Institute, an established
Native American museum run by the Umatilla tribes that
gives a special rendering of the land and peoples that
the Corps of Discovery encountered.
Driving
toward the coast along the massive Columbia, stop at
the Columbia Gorge Discovery
Center in The Dalles for a full look
at Lewis and Clark's Oregon itinerary, and then keep
heading toward Portland while watching the kite surfers
and sailboarders cruise the river's wind-whipped waters.
After a couple days of driving, you'll find yourself
in the charming hillside river town of Astoria, which
is just five miles north of the Fort
Clatsop National Memorial.
As
the 1805-1806 overwintering outpost of the Lewis and
Clark expedition, Fort Clatsop's replicated grounds
serve as a fitting memorial to the efforts of the 33-member
traveling team. Visitors can experience the hard work
and daily challenges endured by those preeminent American
discoverers, such as salt-making from sea water and
canoeing the nearby waterways.
If
you end up in Astoria toward the end of September,
keep going south to Seaside,
deemed the "End of the Lewis and Clark Trail." Situated
along the wide stretch of beach where Lewis and Clark
finally glimpsed the mighty Pacific, Seaside hosts
the annual Sand Sculpture and Beach Festival this September
24 through 26. Beneath the soaring kites and amongst
the crowds of birdwatchers who come to watch migrating
flocks of seabirds fly by in the fall, the West Coast's
top sandsmen converge to turn Seaside's shoreline into
a whimsical stretch of nature-aided art.
And
when night falls, make sure to keep the whimsy going
by booking a room at the Seaside Inn, an oceanfront
bed and breakfast hotel where each room comes with
a funny and funky theme, from Captain's Quarters and
Granny's House to Rock and Roll and the Sun, Moon,
and Stars Playroom. A couple nights there would be
the perfect dose of good-hearted fun for couples and
families of five alike.
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