This is our last day of the first leg of our vacation. Tomorrow we board the cruise ship to Alaska. We decided to take it relatively easy today knowing that things will get busy tomorrow.

Astoria is a lovely little town, somewhat hip, but also grounded in fishing roots. It’s located at the mouth of the Columbia river near where it meets the Pacific Ocean. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state of Oregon and was the first American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. This coastal city seems like it was plucked right out of a storybook. With Victorian-era homes etched into hills overlooking the Columbia River, this picturesque settlement is a port city with Scandinavian flavor.The buildings on the River reflect the shipping, fishing and canning heritage. Europeans, especially Scandinavians, arrived in Astoria around 1900 and became a major part of the fishing industry and Astoria’s culture.

We lazily got out of bed, had some breakfast, and headed out to the Hanthorn Cannery Museum. This site is one of the many stops on the Astoria Riverwalk, which is a 6.4 mile walk along the river. It’s also the oldest fish processing plant on the Columbia River. The museum’s goal is to recount the story of 130 years of fishing and cannery history with photos, boat displays, Columbia River Packers Association (CRPA) and Bumble Bee artifacts. Why bumblebee?

The museum is actually housed inside three industrial freezer rooms that were once packed full of frozen tuna. You can see old canning equipment, watched over by life-size banners of women workers on the production lines. Outside of this area, but still under the roof, there were four historic wooden gillnet boats with their cotton nets and other gear on display. The salmon runs were becoming seriously depleted by the 1920s, and local companies turned to catching and processing tuna in the 1930’s. By 1980, the tuna industry had moved on to other locations, and Astoria slowly began to re-discover itself.

Our second stop was the Columbia River Maritime Museum. Mom really liked the museum. We watched a 3-D movie about the Australian sea lions, yes, it’s a little odd that it has nothing to do with Astoria but interesting a little movie. Explored the history of the Columbia River from the days of dugout canoes, through the age of sail, to present. Discover the stories of the legendary Columbia River Bar.

We decided to stop and get lunch at a food ship called the Bowpicker. It was a creative idea to sell fish and chips out of a boat on land. I’d read about it and when we found it right across from the museum, we decided to give it a try. It was quite good.

Before heading home, we drove through town again, found some interesting buildings to take pictures of, saw the trolley, and went to a dispensary. As we were driving down the main road, I looked to my left on the hill and there was our house. It was cool to see it from a different angle.