Sunday, May 29, 2011

May 29 - Farmers’ Market Astoria

It is around 13C here, not quite sunny just yet but it is trying (at least it is not raining).  There is a Farmers’ Market every Sunday, 10 am – 3 pm, which is where we are headed to soak in some ambience and good food (I hope).  It is full of people searching for bargains and samples.  We tasted flavoured popcorn, salsa, shrimp on toast, baked breads, teas, stir fried Chinese greens, fudge, etc….. (oh my tummy aches).

This is a lovely market with lots of interesting things to sample, look at, like big bouquets of tulips $10 -$20 assembled by request, touch and buy.  We a delicious shrimp, fish and coleslaw po’boy sandwich ($8) and a too large omelette ($13), stuff with veggies, cheese and chicken.  The food was delicious and the entertainment, a three piece band, was free.  Four hours later, we managed to tear ourselves away to see more sights.

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Three little girls were running a booth painting finger nails. I guess someone’s dad built the booth for them. It looked like they were doing OK.

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The azaleas were in bloom everywhere but this one was huge.

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The next item on the checklist of things in Astoria to see was the Astoria Column. It is on the highest point in Astoria and has historical scenes painted on it. There is a circular 164 step staircase to the top. Going round and round on the way up got us a little dizzy and it visibly swayed a bit once we got out at the top. They sold balsa gliders in the gift shop which you were allowed to launch from the top. There were a lot of updrafts on the hill and I saw one kid’s have a flight that lasted at least 10 minutes and went at a good 1/2 mile.

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The final checklist item was to drive across and back on the bridge between Oregon and Washington over the Columbia river. The bridge is 4.1 miles long. The start of it is the bridge on the right in the picture above. It was nice view but by then the weather had gotten a little dreary.

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Great travels on the road of life. Tomorrow we move down the coast a bit.

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