A quick visit to Astoria, one of the oldest settlements west of the Rockies

 Hiya Gang.
Little Fox here on a quick day-trip to Astoria.  Yep, it's a pretty old city for the Western Coast of the United States, founded in 1811 by John Astor (named the city, never visited) as s fur trading outpost.

Now, it's a nice little town with a unique history of marine transportation, canning, and tourism (none of which will be discussed today :)

The Mouth of the Columbia, also known as the Graveyard of the Pacific is one heck of an entry from the Pacific Ocean to the Columbia River.  The Coast Guard has been helping vessels navigate this challenging piece of river (or ocean) for years.  

The lighthship, Columbia, operated as a light house on a ship from about 1951 to about 1979.  It was replaced by a buoy that guided ships but during it's heyday it hosted a crew of 18 sailors and it was a very boring and monotonous posting. Two to four weeks on the ship at a time and most of the time in the winter rough weather made it challenging to deliver fresh supplies on board.    Yep, you guessed it the Columbia was the last lightship operated by the coastguard.

The Coast Guard has a strong history in Astoria (and up and down the Pacific Coastline).  The boats stationed here are to support boats, people lost at sea, stuck in bad weather and law enforcement (oh yeah in 2021 they seized about 67 million dollars worth of Cocaine and saved a sea turtle from a gill net).

Finally, to round out my blog today Astoria has a history of being a place to film movies in Oregon.  The Goonies, Short Circuit, and Kindergarten Cop.  

Behind me is the school used as the school from Kindergarten Cop (Schwarzenegger at the height of his movie career).