Astoria Or.

Location: Astoria Oregon

Time of Year: October, Thanksgiving, 2007

Other info: Astoria is famous for the Astoria Bridge as seen in the picture which connects Washington and Oregon. Another famous fact about Astoria is that it played the home of The Goonies, Kindergarten Cop and many other movies. This shot was taken, from the Astoria Column in which you climb up 150-200 steps for a view of Astoria and the valley to the south. The decorative, history of the Pacific NW, Lewis and Clark etc..., column cost a few bones and was worth the stop. Astoria is a resource town from my observations, fishing and logging. But with the state of the fish returns diminishing i.e. salmon runs this town will most likely be going through a transition phase to diversify there economy. Astoria's geographic location does help as it is located on Hwy 30 which connects to Hwy 101 which moves traffic up the Washington coast/and down the Oregon Coast as travelers will stop in and visit some of the local attractions as they make there way to there destinations of choice.
The Bridge crosses the mouth of Columbia River, where it meets the Pacific from its headwaters which originate in B.C.'s Lake Columbia. The Columbia is a heavily dammed river and there for it resembles a chain of lakes in some parts.

If you are interested here is a link providing the glacial and geological origins of the Columbia Watershed: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/ColumbiaPlateau/summary_columbia_plateau.html
The final destination of the trip was Cannon Beach not Astoria but we were driving through and decided to stop and check it out.

And incase you are wondering I did edit the photo made it rougher/ pixelated and adjusted some levels.