Astoria

After making the long drive from Saskatoon to the coast we had hoped to stop in Chilliwack and do some paragliding. But low clouds and rainy weather blocked that so we continued south. We're not fond of the interstate highways so to avoid them around Seattle we took the ferry over to Port Townsend on the Olympic peninsula and drove down that way. (Slower, but much more scenic.) It would have been a quiet drive, except it turned out to be the Memorial Day long weekend in the US. We had hoped for a shorter day of driving, but we ended up deciding to go all the way to Astoria, hoping to stay at our favorite Cannery Pier Hotel there. But with the long weekend they were all booked up. And the next three hotels and two campgrounds were also all booked up. We ended up finding an expensive room at a mediocre hotel. Luckily that was the end of the long weekend and the next night we got into the Cannery Pier Hotel. We went for supper at the Bridgewater Bistro, a short walk from the hotel, on the water with great sunset views. We also had a good coffee at the nearby 3 Cups Coffee House.



There are lots of old pilings which made interesting photographic subjects.



Lots of birds around, both land dwellers like this friendly sparrow,



and seabirds like these cormorants.



Of course, I had to take some reflection abstracts.



The sunset wasn't spectacular, but very pleasant.



The next day we headed out to Sunset Beach in hopes of paragliding with Brad and Maren of Discover Paragliding, who we had met flying in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, the winds didn't cooperate and we weren't able to fly. But I had fun taking photos of the birds, who were having no problem flying!



The terns are elegant fliers.



And even the crows were out scrounging on the beach.



There are also lots of flowers around, but I haven't had a chance to take too many photos of them.



For more of these photos, see all 32 as a slideshow or overview