Northern Oregon Coast

Monday, July 16, 2018

Day 32 

260 miles

The next highlight for Daisy and me on our western journey was when we visited Fort Clatsop near Astoria, Oregon. Unless you are interested in the period of American history related to the Lewis and Clark Voyage of Discovery, you have probably never heard of Fort Clatsop, but it was definitely of interest to us.

 

We drove south from the Bellingham area on Interstates 5 and 405 around Seattle, and the traffic wasn’t as bad as we had expected. Then we entered the northwestern corner of Oregon to begin our trip down the coast.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition occurred at a dramatic time in the history of the northern hemisphere. The U.S. government purchased the vast Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, forever changing the balance of power in the new world. With funding support from Congress, President Thomas Jefferson authorized Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, both Virginians, to explore the new territory with a primary goal being to search for a water route to the Pacific Ocean. Their journey began in 1803, and they reached the Pacific in November of 1805. For that 1805 winter, they built a fort near the Oregon coast that they named Fort Clatsop after the local Native American tribe.

 I had a personal interest in the exhibit pictured below about a Virginia slave named York. He was the only black member of the expedition and was William Clark’s personal body servant and companion since childhood. York had been willed to Clark by his father in July 1799. Lewis and Clark’s journals note that York traded, hunted, foraged, danced, and helped build Fort Clatsop. His presence made a positive impression on the native people who passed on their tales of York in tribal oral histories.

As a part of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial in 2003 to 2005, I was an interpreter in the role of York at Fort Mandan in central North Dakota. This fort was built by the expedition to serve as their winter encampment in 1804-1805. This experience enhanced my knowledge of and interest in this significant period in the history of our country.  It also gave me a personal way to give back to my culture by being able to relate to the young and old these stories of the role people of color played in the making of this nation.

Here is a 2003 picture of me at Fort Mandan in North Dakota as "York."

This sculpture below by Stanley Wanlass in the Fort Clatsop museum is titled “Arrival” and it commemorates the explorers’ great achievement in reaching the Pacific Ocean. The figure in the back is Meriwether Lewis, a member of the Clatsop tribe is in front of him, and William Clark is in the foreground. Lewis’ Newfoundland dog, Seaman, is on the left.

Another important member of the expedition was Sacagawea, a Shoshone who was the wife of the French Canadian fur trader Charbonneau. They both served as interpreters and guides for the group. Their son, Jean Baptiste, was born during the winter at Fort Mandan. 










When the members of the Voyage of Discovery were deciding where to spend the winter of 1805-1806, both York and Sacagawea were allowed to vote with all the other members of the expedition—the first recorded time that a Black man and a Native American woman were permitted to vote in a U.S. territory.

This reconstruction of Fort Clatsop was built near the original site based on the plans developed by Clark and recorded in his journals. It had 7 rooms to house the 33 members of the expedition.  It was intriguing for me to compare the similar construction features of  the party's two winter forts that I have been in.

The room shared by Lewis and Clark would have looked something like this….

…and the 24 enlisted men and 3 sergeants shared quarters with bunks like these. They spent a cold, rainy winter at Fort Clatsop preparing to return east in the spring, arriving in St. Louis in September 1806. Their journey added to not only the knowledge of the geography of North America but also to information about the flora and fauna of the continent.

As we left the fort we stopped to listen to one interpreter. He was very knowledgeable on what had transpired at Ft. Clatsop but not so much on other times of the journey.  When his audience had dispersed Daisy informed him of the role and knowledge I had.  He had several questions for me.  We had a good time sharing information and views on a peer-to-peer basis.  Daisy said she really enjoyed our dialogue.

We observed this gathering of elk on our way back to campground.   

That night we stayed in Hammond, Oregon at the KOA.  The elevation was only 13 feet. We agreed with the sign's message: "Time camping isn't spent, it's invested."

We started to plan our next days' adventures that would include dunes, beaches, lighthouses, cheese factories, and clam chowder.

Tuesday, July 17 

Day 33 

67 miles

It was under an overcast sky that we left the KOA on our way to Cannon Beach. We enjoyed the drive south on Highway 101, called the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway.

We stopped at Ecola State Park, which involved driving on a narrow, winding road up to a high point overlooking the Pacific. Note that trailers are not recommended on this road, but our truck camper, being all one unit, was allowed. 

The road was actually only about one and a half lanes wide, with a few pull outs. All of the curves were blind ones and the issues I had were vehicles coming at us using my side of the middle of the road at fast speeds.

I was relieved to reach the large parking area at the top without encountering any large vehicles pulling trailers.

One of the sights from the observation area was the iconic Haystack Rock, which was near the shoreline to the south. It is easy to see how it got its name.

Looking north on this hazy day, we had this view of the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, located 1.2 miles offshore to guide ships around Tillamook Head. It was first lit in 1881 and decommissioned in 1957. The island is now populated by nesting seabirds.

In Cannon Beach there is some street side parking for cars. We had to find an area that could accommodate our vehicle.

We had lunch in the town of Cannon Beach and also browsed in a few of the little shops.  The summer season was in full swing and the place was busy with tourists like us.

Clam chowder and fish tacos was our meal of choice on this hazy and slightly cool day.

Here is another closer, beach view of Haystack rock looking north.

There were some colorful flowers planted around town, and this specific area seemed to be calling Daisy's name!

 We headed south of town toward Tillamook and a campground for the night.  We also had decided to find a seafood place to dine out. 

We found both.

We found a seafood market that was also a small diner and decided to purchase shrimp to take back to the campground and prepare ourselves.  One interesting thing about this market was the huge piles of oyster shells that surrounded it. Parking was very scarce on the unlevel bay front, and amongst the shell piles.  Another strange thing was that here we were on the Oregon coast, and the only large shrimp they had were frozen from the Texas Gulf coast. Go figure.

Wednesday, July 18 

Day 34

We stayed in Tillamook because we were expecting company coming to see us. The highlight of this stop on our trip was seeing Daisy's friend Chris Ward, who had been a graduate school colleague at the University of Missouri and later a fellow Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher Educator until they both retired. They hadn’t seen each other since a professional conference several years ago, so had lots of catching up to do.

Chris was a teacher educator at Oregon State University and now lives in Portland. Daisy and I wanted to avoid driving through the city, so we were glad she was willing to drive to the campground where we were staying in Tillamook to see us.

Chris arrived about 12:15 and after a tour of our little house and some visiting, she drove us to the Blue Heron in town for lunch. I don’t know if the building was originally a barn, but it certainly looked like one.

Then Chris took us to the Tillamook Creamery, which has a new large visitor center that just opened this spring.




As a result, there were crowds of people everywhere. 

This was a new reconstructed facility for me to see. It had been decades since I had visited this place with my kids. I knew it was a popular stop but I was not quite ready for the crowds we countered during the weekday!

Daisy thought it was very appropriate that over the entry was this huge photo of a cute cow!

There was an observation area where we could watch the interesting process of cheese production and packaging.

Another section focused on the site for the first stage of producing dairy products, the farm. Tillamook is a cooperative owned by the dairy farmers.










Because Daisy's Dad worked for a cooperative, the Missouri Farmers Association, this type of organization is special to her. And Chris Ward grew up on a farm, so she also had a connection.

 

We liked this message over the exit of the creamery.








Of course Daisy and I bought some Tillamook cheese, and also some ice cream to share with Chris back at our truck camper before she left. Having a few hours with each other was priceless for these two friends, and I enjoyed hearing the stories too!


Chris left about 4 pm to head back to Portland and Daisy and I did household chores including laundry to prepare for the our next adventures.

Stay tuned..