My Hometown

While in the northwest at my Grandmother's funeral, we were able to return to my hometown, Astoria, Oregon for a couple of days. I definitely feel a "pull" to this area. I have a lot of ancestors that lived by the Columbia River and I feel a connection to them. I always feel like I am "home" while in this great historical city. In the picture above, Dayna and I are on top of the famous Elliot Hotel. It has been renovated and we were able to take the elevator to the top. From this view, you can see almost all of Astoria. If you look really close, you can see the Astor Column behind us on the very top of the hill. My kids love to climb the column whenever we come here.
This is a view from the other side of the roof on top of the Elliot Hotel. Seated with me is our life long friend, Cathy Oja. We met when we were three years old and have stayed in touch ever since.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express while in Astoria. This is a view from our hotel window on the first afternoon that we were in town. It was very grey and overcast. However, I loved it! I know a lot of people can't stand the dreary northwest days, but I really like them. They just seem so soothing to me.
This is also a view in the other direction from our hotel window. If you look really close, you can see the mouth of the Columbia River. Throughout the day many ships would come in from sea and travel right past our window on their way to Portland. It was great to see those massive ships and hear the fog horns in the early morning.
Our last morning in Astoria, we woke up to this beautiful day! The air in the northwest is so clear and crisp. I told my Mom that I wanted to bottle it up and take it home. It seemed especially clean and crisp that morning.
Another view on the same morning. This was just below our window and we called it our "mini beach"-Ha! At night we left the windows open so that we could hear the water coming in on the shore. I slept so good those two nights!
This is the Liberty Theater in downtown Astoria. This is where I saw my very first movie, "Cinderella".
When we went to Seaside later in the day, Pete shocked us all by actually pulling out his own money and buying some candy. I was so dumbfounded that I quickly got my camera and snapped a picture to freeze this moment in time!
The day we visited the beach in Seaside, it is incredibly beautiful. As you can see, hardly a cloud in the sky.
Another picture at the beach. I have not been to the beach in Seaside recently when it has been such a perfect day. There was hardly even a breeze.

I really love my hometown and look forward to returning as many times as possible.