OK, our story continues when we get to Astoria after taking a beautiful (but nauseatingly curvy) back road through the countryside. A waterfall, tons of berry bushes, trees and green rolling hills were our view though, so it was worth it.
Greeted by a giant inflatable Dungeness crab wearing sunglasses, we pulled into the parking lot of the Astoria convention center where they charged us $10 for parking. Another $8 per person to get in. So now we're in 26 bucks and we haven't bought any food or alcohol. Grr. We walked in to the 'festival' -- a crowded, dimly-lit convention center where we walked really slowly behind lots of people who waited their turn to see the booths of junk lining the aisles. We walked most of the convention center looking for beer. There were probably 3 wineries per aisle, but our sweet nectar turned out to be in the other tent. Curses. 2 beers, but they accidentally charged for one. So $4 for a Widmer Hefeweizen (Lisa) and Porter (Ken). We continued to walk. Most food samples cost a quarter while wine tastes fifty cents. Somewhat infuriating. My idea of a festival is an open-air free-for-all. Music, tons of food vendors, plenty of space to walk around and bathrooms -- plenty of bathrooms. So far the best one I've attended has been the
Virginia Garlic Festival held at Rebec vineyards. At these Oregon festivals thus far, I've felt like I was duped into a cattle call... waiting my turn behind lots of other cows. Making the best of it, we each had an oyster shooter when we walked in ($1 each) and I had a 'taste' of champagne (fifty cents for a mini-shot of swill, ugh). I also began my quest for the festival's best smoked salmon. The gift booths were mainly crap although there were some gems nuzzled in there, like handmade wooden cribbage boards (which reminded us of the tucson folk and new years). We also found that
OMSI had a corner with tons of brain puzzles. Very fun. We probably spent a good hour and a half here -- fighting ten year olds for puzzle rights. I spent about 20 minutes trying to get this one:
Place the numbers 1-9 into a 3x3 grid, such that the vertical, horizontal & diagonal sides each equals 15.
Sure, easy enough now... but try doing it when you use two 6's instead of a 6 &
9. 20 minutes I spent doing it the wrong way. Then Ken came over and we started doing it together. A 12-year-old came over and started looking over Ken's shoulder and taunting that
he knew the answer and that
he could do it for us if we couldn't figure it out. Ken about launched that kid -- too funny.
On to the next food booths. They had a Dungeness crab dinner $9 for half or $15 for a whole -- complete with coleslaw, salad, roll, etc. Not that bad but I prefer freshly steamed crab that I pick hot from the water. Besides, I can buy them in Portland for the same price as the festival, so I decided not to bother. Ken ended up getting a 6-pack of fried oysters. Very good but very hot. I kept trying smoked salmon and bought a double mimosa for $6 -- oregon champagne and odwalla OJ. Yum. Tasted some more smoked salmon before I found
the one. They gave free samples of their fish and their salmon spread. Very very good. I was impressed and bought a palm-sized chunk for $3 from the
C&H Classic Smoked Fish booth based out of Cathlamet, Washington. (If you bend your hand like you're trying to fit it into a tube, that's the size of the chunk.) Beautifully oiled on the outside, fresh tasting, not too much smoke, not too dry. It was heaven. They packed it up for me to go -- decided to take it to the campsite with me and eat it over my pasta that night.
On the way out, I had the best oyster shooter from a little booth that I was somewhat scared of. No fancy decorations, nothing that 'drew' a person in. I tried it anyway. Turns out it was a charity booth for 'friends of fisherman' that provides support to the families of fisherman who died on the job. The lady behind the booth said she's lost 35 friends so far. Best oyster of the day. Sweet and salty. We also split an italian sausage that was handmade in Washington. Also very very good. And with that we were spent. We each picked up a gift bag that contained a four-pack of toilet paper and a roll of paper towels (a paper company sponsored the giveaway). So we felt that we got something back from our insane $26 'entry fee'.
And on to our campsite at
Ft Stevens State Park -- located at the NW tip of Oregon where the Columbia river meets the Pacific Ocean. Oregon has a ton of state parks with organized camping. I'm used to finding my own site, so this is all new to me. It's different here. There are sites with tables and firepits. There are bathrooms with running water and showers. It does not feel like camping. I usually feel like nesting when I go camping, but these organized sites make me want to hide in the tent away from other people, their barking dogs, cell phones and generators.
Ken took a nap while I read four magazines and drank a glass of wine on our cushy new inflatable thermarest pads. They're so much better than what we were sleeping on before. It started to get dark so I unpacked our backpacking stove and pots to get ready for dinner. Set everything up and was about to light it when I realized we had no matches. Crap. None in with the pots, not the first aid kit, not my car (no car lighter either). Nuts. I had two choices. Wake Ken up to ask him if he forgot matches or ask the guy with a fleet of camping gear next to me if I could use his. I walked the fifteen feet and he gave me one of his four packs. It lit on the second match. I put the water on to boil. Ken woke up and I asked him about the matches. Turned out he put them in a separate pouch because he forgot them at first. OK, I feel better that we didn't forget matches like we forgot our toothbrushes, toothpaste & deodorant (but I digress). I walked back over and returned the pack of matches to the man and his 8 year old daughter, telling him we had them after all. That's when I get the shake of his head and him telling me "you women should listen to your men more". I replied that "I trust him just don't want to wake him". He mumbled and I went back to our site slightly irritated.
We later overheard the girl telling her father she was bored and how mommy hates to come on these trips with them. I thought that I couldn't blame her; I wouldn't want to be with him either. We made our pasta and mixed in the butter and parmesan (and half the smoked salmon into mine -- I already ate half of it while reading my magazines and Ken doesn't touch the stuff). Dinner was good and we went to bed.
Woke up, packed up the tent and headed to a diner for breakfast. I hate camp breakfasts if I have to pack up soon thereafter. Besides, diner coffee is so good too sometimes, especially after camping. We went to the
Pig n' Pancake in downtown Astoria. I had crepes with fresh strawberries, powdered sugar & whipped cream. Ken had bacon, eggs sunny-side-up, wheat toast & three pancakes. We had a blast and chatted it up while drinking coffee. Great food, great company. Until we saw our camp neighbors pull in the parking lot and walk in the restaurant. We finished our great breakfast, paid the tab & walked to the car without being seen (turns out they parked right next to us).
Headed the rest of the way back to Portland along the Columbia river. Got back aroun noonish. Ken worked on the computer while I played in the yard -- weeding, transplanting flowers & noticing that the
grapevine that I got for free on craigslist and transplanted twice has new shoots blossoming. I thought I killed it and was quite excited to see that we may have grapes this year.
What a great weekend.
