The Astoria Column

"The Astoria Column is the final, crowning monument in a series of 12 historical markers erected in the early 1900's between St. Paul, Minnesota and Astoria, Oregon."  The brochure doesn't mention the location of the other markers, but it sounds interesting doesn't it?

The weather report showed today as the last sunny day for a while, so it was time to see and climb to the top of "The Astoria Column".  The location is at the highest point in Astoria--without going to the top of the column you can see for miles.  The column is narrow and the spiral staircase inside has a banister on one side only.  A little scary when you meet someone coming down--not to mention it makes you dizzy walking around and around.  My picture doesn't clearly show the art on the outside, but 12 events are depicted that occurred in the region--mostly the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The view is spectacular, but let me tell you we didn't dwell too long on top.  The viewing platform is small, and it was filling up with too many people. 

But, you can see forever, can't you?  Look east down the Columbia River gorge, look west out to the ocean, north to Washington State and the picture to the right shows south into Oregon.  If I wasn't so darn nervous up so high, I would have relaxed and enjoyed it more.