M/V DESERT VENTURE

Places We Go –  Columbia River – Another Perspective

October 1, 2008

 

We had no more than tied up to the dock on Hayden Island, and we found ourselves invited by good boating friends (MV DUTCH TREAT) to take a plane ride to see Mount St. Helens.  (A blog on Mount St. Helens will follow soon.)   In addition to an incredible trip to see the volcano, we were also given an aerial view of Washington out to the Pacific Ocean, down the coast to the river bar, back up the Columbia River, then cross country back to the airpark near Battle Ground, WA.  It was a wonderful experience.

 

I must say that taking photos from an airplane and taking them from a slow boat are very different activities.  You have to find your subject, focus, and click much quicker than when riding along at seven knots on D/V.   At this juncture I am certain our pilot, Peter, would say you do NOT want to go seven knots in a plane… and I certainly won’t debate that issue.   But it is more difficult to find your subject (in a tiny view finder) and focus in a timely manner.  However, all that being said I was quite pleased with my results.  Another issue that I wondered about was the tinted windows of the plane. After working with my photo software I am very excited to say that I doubt you would know the difference if I had not told you.  I love my camera.  It takes some great pictures in spite of my amateurish attempts.

 

After looking at my pictures from the plane trip I realized I had several pictures from our trip up the river in the boat, that were same topic taken from the plane.  I thought I would give you another perspective to our voyage with pictures of our plane trip.

 

Cape Disappointment – just north of the Columbia River Bar.

 

 

 

 

 

Astoria Marina is brand new.  We stayed in the very bottom right corner, where you see a yacht in the picture.  We left and someone else filled our “spot”.  Notice the cruise ship.   We enjoyed several different cruise ships while we were in Astoria Marina. Imagine our surprise the first morning we look out and see the huge bow lurking above us!  We could look up from our aft deck and see lots of folks looking down at us.  There was a lot of waving.  They wanted to trade places with us!

 

 You can’t take a picture of the Astoria Column (below) from the river, but I wanted you to see it anyway.  It is one of my most favorite places on the Oregon coast.   It is 164 steps to the top and the view is awesome.  You can see across the river to Washington,out to the Pacific Ocean, and south to more of Oregon.  A beautiful monument to the history of Astoria and the Pacific Northwest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two pictures, below, are of the same log boom.  We saw a small boat tied to the boom.  It is not unusual to see boats tie off to a log boom up in northern British Columbia.  The recommendation is to hammer a rafting/log dog (a spike with an eye) to an outside/perimeter log, if you can’t get a line around a log.   Just be prepared to get underway if a tug shows up to move the log boom just as you are into your midnight dreams.  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

A great day at the beach on Sauvie Island.  Looks like they are having a great time.  Oh, to have a lounge chair…

 

 

I watched these cows come out of the trees.  It was quite intriguing to me ( I must be intrigued easily).  They came out almost equa-distant of each other, walked right down to the water, and then did a perfect about face – all in the same direction.  How is that even possible?? Well, just look!

  

Here are two bulk carriers  Notice that one ship is at anchor and the one below is underway.  

  

So, there you have it, another perspective of life on the Columbia River – and another view of the Places We Go.