Motel Mini Bar

Traveling around staying in different motels I find it is usually better to look up the prices, and reviews on, say Price Line or Expedia, and then call the property. That way you are assured of the type of room you are getting and if it is on the ground floor or not.

The No Tell Mot l

This proprietor in Astoria just wasn’t going to come close to the room price on Expedia, so I thanked her, looked at some other properties online, and then  decided to book it on Expedia.

Pretty sure she was on duty when I checked in, but she must have liked my shrewd negotiation style, or OHMS, as she gave me a pretty good room on the ground floor, that even had a Mini bar stocked with one can of Bud Light. Must be a local favorite.

Actually the room was okay. It smelled a bit musty, probably wouldn’t stay there again, and if I was in Astoria again, I would try the Atomic if only for the reason that they had a cute Nash Metropolitan parked by their door, and their sign said they were fun!

Groovy 

All along the river from first finding it at Plymouth Washington you could see set nets placed in the current. Here below Hood River where there are several hatchery's. It looks like combat fishing from boats.

At every boat launch car park, extremely low miles per gallon, pickup trucks that towed gasoline powered boats of all sizes are parked well within the painted lines of the car park, and look new enough to not be leaking toxic to fish fluids. 

Carbon Footprint Anyone?

From North Bonneville gazing at this massive dam I have no idea how fish get past this. Are they hand Carried? Catapulted? Flown by Alaska Airlines?  Coincidentally one of the locks is broken, and  no commerce is getting up or down river until September 30, when the repairs should be complete. Also in river news, a tug that sank in 2017 just below the dam, and just outside of the channel, is scheduled to be removed soon. 

Big Power (My Favorite Photo Of The Day)

There are more bridges to cross, and all I have to do is find them. And OHMS navigation system is not being real helpful and actually being pretty stubborn about going south to Portland where there are many bridges to cross. Finally she finds Longview Washington and the Louis and Clark bridge, perhaps the actual bridge they built, OHMS suggests. 

A short run up I 5 past Kalama and then into Longview where one of the main industries is turning trees in to air that stinks.

You Can't Have Sustainable Salmon You Have Terminal  Industrial Disease 

OHMS is fanning herself by the time we meander up to the approach of the Longview Louis and Clark bridge. They couldn't have built this as they would have never needed a bridge so tall. 

Louis & Clark Bridge At Longview Washington

The run to the coast was peaceful after being on the interstate. And then Astoria turns out to be one busy little place with all kinds of cars, and trucks crammed onto one-way streets, but there it is. The Astoria-Megler Bridge opened just a few years ago in 1966. The paint was barely dry when I crossed it in 1969, and the toll was so much we had to pool our cash just to get back to Oregon. Well Megler let me tell you I got some paper clipped  dollar bills in my jacket pocket now!

Astoria-Megler Bridge From Tower Hill