Overnight in Astoria, OR | Spring 2022

So I'd made a plan not too far into my relocation to try to get out of town locally for an overnight trip once a month to check out and explore all things Pacific Wonderland.  

Unfortunately, even with said plan in mind, I had not done an overnight trip anywhere in the PNW since my single trip out to the Oregon Coast after New Years, for my one night McMenamins stay at their Gearhart Hotel (in Gearhart, OR, about an hour and a half away in the NW corner of the state of Oregon).

While the delay in weekend adventuring was primarily due to my tax volunteering commitment for Saturday afternoons through tax season, I finally got it together to plan an overnight trip in nearby Astoria, OR, for this final weekend of April 2022.  The destination (and revisit to Astoria as an overnight trip) was fueled in part by tips from a conversation I had during the prior visit in January.

I only booked my single night stay in Astoria the Sunday before this trip, at the Hampton Inn & Suites that is right on the waterfront of the Columbia River.  It was a bit of a splurge, but not too wild, for what were otherwise more premier options at over twice what I paid for my stay.  Got myself a suite with a super huge long desk in the middle of the room for not that much more than the standard room price, also with a balcony that faced out to the river.

For my Saturday 4/30 departure out to the coast, I slept in a bit (I took the weekend off from Chinese Garden Saturday AM volunteering) and didn't get on the road until noon.  It's less than 75 miles out to Astoria, but takes almost 2 hours because much of the drive is 2 lane meandering highway and a few slowdowns driving through towns once you hit the coast.

My first unofficial destination was the town of Seaside.  And, no pics for what amounted to drive-through of their main downtown street, and then back out again.  My original idea was to grab lunch there, but it was so.lit.with.people. that there was no parking to be found, and tons of ppl about.  I ended up in a line of cars cruising through the main strip, and while kinda fun to drive through at peak tourism, I wanted to push on and got back onto the highway again pretty quickly.

Which gave way to somewhat impromptu side adventure #2, to the town of Long Beach, Washington.

This Long Beach (not to be confused with Cali's Long Beach), is about another hour up the coast, and a half hour past Astoria.  I had spotted this town on a map and was curious to check it out for what looked to be another tourist-y destination.

Turned out that it was exactly that, but on a smaller scale and nowhere near as chaotic that afternoon as Seaside OR.  It was a nice drive (except for the bridge, will detail later), and I ended up driving through their main street downtown area and parking at the far end just past a place called "Scoopers", which was the entrance out to the actual beach.

I was already pretty hungry but decided I wanted to walk out to the beach first, so made the bit of a trek out on foot (maybe 1/4 mile) to what is apparently the "World's Longest Beach"!

After walking under the archway and along the road I got to what looks like a landlocked buoy, warning against any swimming in the waters.

Ultimately I ended up on what was a wooden built up boardwalk that runs parallel to the beach, giving some nice sightlines.

While it was cool to take in some PNW beach time, with almost 25 years of living in a So Cal beach town under my belt, the novelty wore off and I was ready to head back to the main strip to find a late lunch.

I ended up landing myself a corn dog and a "vanilla cold brew coffee" at a place right on the main street that had a walkup window and separate picnic tables outside to eat at.  Corndog with ketchup boat hit the spot, and the "vanilla cold brew coffee" ended up being more of a sweet coffee drink reminiscent of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for the pellet ice.

 

After corndog was consumed I spent some time in one of their gift shops (and "Free Museum") and ultimately bought a few postcards on my way out.

Overall I felt like I had seen everything to see in maybe an hour, so was glad I didn't book an overnight trip to this town specifically (I had previously thought about it).  I was ready to backtrack back to Astoria and check in to my hotel, then head out to check out downtown Astoria for some beers and likely dinner.

 

I'd say it was a prettier drive heading back toward Astoria than heading out to Long Beach, but crossing Astoria-Megler bridge was just as unpleasant to me as it was coming from the Oregon side.  It is touted as the longest continuous truss bridge in North America at just over 4 miles long, and for me the part that had me ill-at-ease is not the section in the picture, where the bridge arcs high above the Columbia River on the side closest to Astoria, but the other 3+ miles of it which drives as just flat 2 lane road with a small shoulder on each side, but with barely much more than a guardrail and positioned just feet above the actual water.  I was glad to be back across the bridge and done with it for the trip.

Back in Astoria I drove out to my hotel first to check in, which ended up being more than a full mile up from where the main downtown area is.  I realized that was going to affect my original brewery plans since it really wasn't going to be walkable back after checking out the 3 places I planned to go to.  I was happy to find though that there is a Rogue Brewery taproom right on the pier just across from the hotel (Pier 39 no less, but nothing like Pier 39 in SF ha).  So, decided I'd go light on beer consumption in-town, and plan to drive back for dinner and evening beers at Rogue.

Got checked in and was back out soon enough, with the plans being to park on one side of town, then go to each Buoy, Astoria Brewing, and Fort George, and then walk back to my truck.  This was at the recommendation of the random local guys that struck up conversation with me months back at the McMenamins in Gearhart, where they also gave a food recommendation and one had even compared Astoria to "like a smaller version of San Francisco!"

At any rate, before I even got full back across town to park near Buoy Beer Company, I ended up getting pulled over by a cop.  I am glad it happened when it did, before any beer consumption.  It had been a long time since I have had contact with a cop, and I think I've been particularly tuned out to traffic rules having lived in Portland all these months now, where everyone is lax on traffic rules and police presence is very light.

It occurred to me that my California plate and tags might be an issue (I have lagged on updating my vehicle registration, but did replace my driver's license within days of moving here), but turned out the cop said he saw me using my phone as I was driving.  I acknowledged/agreed that I was and said I was using it for directions and navigation.  Cop nodded acknowledgment as he took my ID and insurance back to his police car.  After maybe 2 minutes though he comes back with just my same ID and insurance, hands both back and tells me to have a nice day and drive safe.  So, no ticket (that I was calmly plotting to protest as I waited).  Hooray!

After that engagement, I decided I would be going VERY light on my beer drinking, and decided to scale it back to just Buoy and Astoria Brewing, walk around a bit, then back to the truck to head back to hotel.  I found street parking easy enough near Buoy, and headed out to the shore area where Buoy is set up right on/over the river.

 

(Looking out from the main road/walkway along the riverfront.)

Buoy was set up for counter ordering for beer and food and each indoor and outdoor seating, and I decided to get a beer and a pretzel and sit outside.  I ordered their dunkel since was both lighter in ABV and also a style of beer I try wherever I see it offered as an option.

For the outside seating they have a narrow deck along part of the backside of the building that has a rail built for holding a beer, so I spent a few minutes taking in the sightlines (Astoria Bridge in the background).

Ended up moving to a different more open section so that I could have space to consume my pretzel I had ordered, which came soon enough.

My "pretzel" was tasty enough, but for size and even shape of the thing, not worth the $$.  It basically ate like a single (albeit large) bread roll.

After Buoy was onward to Astoria Brewing, where I was able to get a single beer (Portside Pilsner) and sit outside, although they are basically set up as a full service restaurant.  It reminded me of trying to just grab a beer one time at Solvang Brewing Company, in downtown Solvang, and them basically being geared toward the meal-eating crowd.  This place was recommended by the Gearhart guys, and while the pilsner was decent and place was decently built out inside, no pictures were taken and probably won't prioritize for a future Astoria visit.

After 2nd beer stop, I walked around a bit mainly in search of postcards.  Unfortunately many places downtown had closed by 6pm, and the one small bookstore still open that I went into did not have any postcards.  The clerk did recommend a few spots I could get postcards at the following morning.

So, final walk back to the truck and I was headed on back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, on the riverfront side there's a bike/pedestrian path that leads down to Pier 39, which is where the Rogue Brewery taproom and dinner awaited.

The taproom was decently busy but not packed.  Another order-at-the-bar situation and take-a-number for delivery of food items.  I went with a double IPA to start off beer-wise and ordered their fish and chips (with halibut, out of the options for either halibut or salmon).

Beer was tasty and fish and chips came soon enough.  Food was quite greasy, but the fish itself was excellent -- so moist and tender.

My last beer of the night was a pint of their "F*#K Putin," which was a damn tasty beer!

I cashed out and left Rogue, and walked back to the hotel as the sun was setting.

 

It is notable that there are an abundance of sea lions in the area near Pier 39 and my hotel, and while the soundproofing was decent enough in my river-facing room for the sea lions to not be disruptive with all doors and windows closed, they were LOUD everywhere outside.

It was an early-ish night to retire to the room, and I spent some time bookmarking things I wanted to do on a return trip.  I was between trying to get breakfast in-town before leaving and trying again for postcards, or alternately just heading out in the morning and plan for a return trip where I'd be able to wander around their downtown streets during the day.

And... after a night's sleep, I woke up deciding I just wanted to get back to Portland, and postpone further Astoria adventuring.  A return trip will definitely happen, including for getting to Fort George Brewery and some of actual sights in town.