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SEA TO SHINING SEA: Starting out from Astoria

dennis_forney
May 16, 2013

This is where we started our journey - where Lewis and Clark ended their epic exploration during the Jefferson presidency.  Jefferson valued knowledge.  See photo below.

Astoria is a lot like Lewes. They have a sister ship to the Lightship Overfalls, Coast Guard, pilots station, big water meeting bigger water, lots of maritime history.  Cruise ships stop there unloading throngs of passengers who enjoy the town's shops, restaurants, Fort George Brew Pub and more.

Towering above the city is the Column of Astoria, a tribute to Astoria's history and the man for whom the town is named:  John Jacob Astor. After Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark's explorations, Astor launched a fur-trading enterprise here where the mighty Columbia River empties into the Pacific.

Here are some more photos from the days prior to our departure and from Astoria.  We landed in Portland where in 1869 some Rodney sisters from Lewes founded a girls' school.  We visited the school in its present iteration.  I'll write about that in my Barefootin' column in the May 24 edition of the Cape Gazette.

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