Headed South

Picked up our rental car at SEA/TAC Airport on sunday morning and were upgraded to a midsize car (a brandnew sleek black Nissan Sentra) instead of the booked compact car. Picked up our growing amount of luggage in the hotel and were headed South to Oregon.

Since we’ve never been to Washington’s capital before we stopped in Olympia to see the State Capitol. We were fortunate: even on a Sunday morning it was open to the public and there were no security checks at all. A lady, who was a volunteer, was offering to give us a tour and we gladly accepted. Magnificent Tiffany lamps and a huge chandelier in the center was to be seen in this very impressive building. Unfortunately weren’t able to explore the Capitol Grounds thoroughly because it rained out of buckets.

Next stop: Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center @ Silver Lake. Though we didn’t catch a glimpse of the mountain itself (because of clouds hanging low) the adjacent museum gave us a good overview about the Ring of Fire and especially about the outburst of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 and the devastation it caused. It was the first vulcanic eruption with was televised live all over the world.

After a drive of about 200 miles, mostly in the rain, we arrived to Astoria, in the Northwest corner of Oregon. Our friends Elfi & Erhard are living here in a beautiful home and we always enjoy good conversation, excellent food and great hospitality. Elfi - one of the best cooks we know- had prepared a huge pot of clam chowder and as appetizers we were regaled with fresh oysters prepared in different ways.

Astoria is a little harbor town of about 10.000 population near the mouth of the Columbia River. The city was named after the American investor John Jacob Astor who founded the American Fur Company and then Fort Astoria at the site in 1811. The city is served by the Port of Astoria with a deep-water port and is sometimes compared to San Francisco in regard to it's geographic setting on different hills.

On monday afternoon we gave a powerpoint presentation about Ancient Rome (our friend Erhard had asked us to do so) for a Retirement Education Class ("ENCORE") he is involved with. Over 50 people were present and it worked out pretty well. The organization invited us for dinner afterwards in a nice seafood restaurant on the waterfront and, of course, we both chose the wild Salmon as an entrée, which came with a tasty andouille sauce and was excellent.