A Tall Ship Sailing Adventure

Ahoy!! Arghhh, Matey!  Shiver me timbers!  Our son and DIL had booked a 2 hour adventure sail on the Hawaiian Chieftain tall ship this last weekend, along with a night in a hotel.  It was for them and their two boys.  Unfortunately, our son had to work and so they asked if we'd take the boys.  Heck, yes, I said!  I'd wanted to go and had booked a sail out of Newport and then it was canceled due to city contract issues.  So, I was happy to get to go after all and to spend time with our dear grandsons.  Below is a shot of the boat the night before our sail.

But let's back up a bit.  We headed out before noon and drove West on Hwy 26, through Portland and towards the Pacific Ocean.  There is this great huge log cabin restaurant where we stopped for lunch.  Camp 18.  It's an ode to the logging industry with all kinds of equipment and photos.  Even the menu has all kinds of homestyle food with logging names.  The boys loved it there!

What a cozy place, we were seated by the roaring fire place.  I took a photo of the boys - Caleb is pointing out his missing tooth when came out right before we left.

I must say it was delightful to sit by this cozy fire on an Autumn day.  The Vine Maples were in full color on our drive over the Coast Mountain Range.

We let the boys run off some energy after lunch and I snapped this image of the boys in front of this old wooden train caboose.

I drove us to Seaside and to the Main Street and on down to the "turnaround" where there is a neat bronze statue of Lewis & Clark.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition began in 1804, when President Thomas Jefferson tasked Meriwether Lewis with exploring lands west of the Mississippi River that comprised the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis chose William Clark as his co-leader for the mission. The excursion lasted over two years: Along the way they confronted harsh weather, unforgiving terrain, treacherous waters, injuries, starvation, disease and both friendly and hostile Native Americans. Nevertheless, the approximately 8,000-mile journey was deemed a huge success and provided new geographic, ecological and social information about previously uncharted areas of North America.  They walked from Missouri to the Pacific Ocean in what is now Oregon, wintered here at Fort Clatsop, then walked back to Missouri.

I snapped the above photo and gave my iPhone to Dayle to snap this one out of the passenger window.  :-)

The boys wanted to go to the arcade, so I offered to drop them off at the door and I would do some sight-seeing on my own.  :-)  After the arcade he took them to the bumper cars where they had a blast trying to run into each other.

And then the Tilt-a-Whirl.. :-)

Then Grandpa took them to the beach where you can see them in the center, playing in the sand and running free.

What was I doing, you ask?  I drove along the coast and found a place I didn't know was there.  A beach with parking along the road.  While the boys were enjoying all that crazy boy stuff, I watched the ocean waves.  Took a few photos.  Read my book on my iPad, "Circle of Friends" by Maeve Binchy.  Did some people-watching.  And savored a few Dove chocolates I'd stashed in my purse.  I opened my windows and enjoyed the fresh sea breezes blowing through.  Ahh.. yes.  Nice.

I was parked right in front of this sign.. :-)  I texted it to Kristi and she goes.. umm.. I don't want the boys to swim there.  LOL!

A nice gull on a log in front of my car.

And the sound of the waves crashing.

My 2 hours of repose was quite delightful.  

There were several surfers out trying to catch a wave.

And then we headed on to Astoria to find our hotel and get checked in.  We were charmed by the view from our little deck of the Astoria Bridge and the yacht harbor.

Looking straight out from the room, that is Washington state across the Columbia River and where that bridge takes you.

Looking to the left, can you see the HUGE cruise ship on the other side of that hotel?  Soon we watched it leave and turn to go back out to sea.

After we got all settled in we went out to locate the tall ship we'd be sailing on the next day, we found it and pulled in to watch it sailing in from an evening cruise, I also snapped an evening view of the bridge.

Interestingly she came in to the dock backwards so she'd be ready to sail out the next day, with us on it!!  Then we found a nice family restaurant for dinner and headed back to settle in for the night.

The next morning, Sunday, we had our complimentary breakfast at the hotel then packed up and loaded up the car and checked out of the hotel.  Then we had a few hours to fill before boarding so I drove us up to see the Astoria Column.  Click on the name to learn more about it.

We also saw this pretty Victorian Bed and Breakfast on the hillside.

It looks like a very pretty place to stay and has a view of the river.

At the Astoria Column we asked the gatekeeper where the "Goonie's House" was and he told us to google it and we'd get directions.  This house was in the movie and there is a huge cult following and apparently the current owner is not happy with how many people come to locate the house.  It looks in very poor condition.

Then it was time to head to the dock and wait until boarding began at 1:40 pm.

It was fun to see and hear the crew calling orders and answering as they cast the lines to the dock and began to move on out for our sail.  As a sailor who until recently had our own sailboat, this brought joy to my heart.  They did not fire the cannons on this cruise, they save that for the "battle sail".

Unfortunately.. on Saturday it was fair weather.. but on Sunday we awoke to drizzly rain.  So, before the sail we went to a Fred Meyer department and grocery store and picked up 2 rain ponchos.. and here are the boys all "shrink wrapped" for the sail.  LOL!

I did a bit of a walkabout on the boat to see the big sails being set and asked the captain if I could take his photo and he said yes.  :-)

 It was fun to see the agile crew climbing the rigging to drop the square sails.

I counted 4 of them, men and women, up there at one time.

This door goes down below where all the crew sleeps between sails.

We also learned something pretty neat - that this boat was designed by Raymond Richards - the same man who designed our beloved Stargazer, a 26 foot sailboat.  See the lines coiled on the wooden "pin rail"?  Our boat had the same thing on it!

The boat is a gaff-rigged topsail ketch.  This is the aft mast.

So nice to see the bridge in the distance from the middle of the big wide river.

That is some kind of big boom, isn't it?

There was probably 25 passengers for the cruise and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves despite the drizzle the entire time.

The next 4 photos are of the sails all set.  Once they were all in place, they cut the diesel engine and we all enjoyed the quiet of being under sail.

I must say, we got very wet.  I'm glad I took my new lined water resistant jacket with a hood, under which I had my velour knitted hat and my autumn colored shawl.  But I had my hands in my pockets and realized my pockets were full of water.  LOL!  Dayle took the wrong kind of jacket and he got soaked, the boys mittens got soaked, my cotton pants were sopping wet and so were my socks and shoes.  But it was worth it!  I think!  LOL!  After we got in the car, we headed to a restaurant for a very late lunch/early dinner and to use the restroom.  We took a photo of this big sternwheeler that was docked near the Maritime Museum in Astoria.  Then headed on the long 2 1/2 hour drive home.

I went to my Daughters of the American Revolution meeting today but could not convince myself to go swimming afterwards.  I had enough of cold and water yesterday without immersing my whole body in a pool of cold water today.  I'll be back in the swim of things on Wednesday.  Have a super week!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)