Fall trip Number #1

Actually we probably don’t have Fall Trip #2 planned, but it WAS the first sunny and bright week of Fall, so we took off for a short adventure with Jon and Irene to Astoria.  We made a few stops along the way including the Jacobsen Salt works on Netarts Bay…

where we did a little shopping…

(causing R to remark that he remembered when salt was just salt…well, that’s over.)

And on to Astoria…everywhere we went there were artful pots of flowers

and we headed to the Riversea Gallery to see our friend Dayna Collins’ show (showing with her friend Stephanie Brockway)

and I bought a little piece to hang in the studio to remind me (lest I forget) that it’s always drawing night somewhere…

A great celebratory dinner (Anniversary 49 for us), a comfy night at the Atomic Motel (which had a familiar look to our age group)…

and though my first view out in the morning was at 6:30,

Jon had gotten up at 5:00 and had breakfast early, so when we all met for breakfast at 9:00 he had dessert (brownie a la mode)

before we headed off to find the Astoria Column.  If you have somehow missed this iconic Oregon spot, put it on your to-see list.  The 125 foot column built in 1926 is fashioned after Trajan’s column in Rome (98 feet, 107-113 AD) and the Vendome Column in Paris (137 feet, 1806-1810)…and you can climb some 160 steps to the top (the black figure on the top is Jon, working off his brownie)

but even if you don’t climb to the top, the view is magnificent…here looking north the Meglar Bridge (opened in 1966 across the Columbia River and the longest continuous truss bridge in North America) takes you across to Washington State (where all the clouds are)…

and looking south…

and though I took no photos of the town, it’s lovely.  In Spring and Fall the cruise ships stop in Astoria on the way to repositioning the ships from the summer Alaska cruises to the winter South America/Mexico cruises…and one of the big ships was at the dock with some of the 2000 passengers helping the local economy, and getting a few selfies…

We were heading to Imogen Gallery where I have to say there is the MOST amazing bathroom ever

and nice art and objects as well…the Astoria couple who makes these lamps makes their own paper and even grows the Indigo they use in their dyes…

and the gallery is right next door to a small outpost of our favorite Portland store Cargo where Irene found something…

before we headed to Cannon Beach to meet up with Rex and Diane for lunch.  Rex gladly gave us a studio tour which included some of his early found object sculptures from the 1960’s…

His current workspace…

and our absolute favorite…his ingenious storage area…

yep…it’s the fridge…

Halloween is in the air…

and after lunch and a little shopping…where I found something I REALLY needed…another plate…but look at the mark, could I possibly resist that???…

we bade Rex and Diane a fond farewell (l. to r. Rex Amos, R, Jon Colburn, Diane Amos…Irene was still shopping)

and we headed home

and I worked on Vivien’s quilt as R drove…ready for fall…