Chapter 164: Fort Steven's State Park is Conquered

On nice mornings when we are at the cabin, I chum for birds with stale bread products while Nitro watches intently from his royal post on our bed. Although it was sunny outside, the grass was frozen and really cold on my over-sized bare feet. However, Nitro appreciates my efforts and eagerly watches the seagulls and crows enjoy their breakfasts. When the seagulls and crows see me they circle noisily and poop on the roof while they wait for me to throw crumbs out.

Then one or the other brand of birds eat first. It's not consistent which type of bird eats first. After the older birds of the first group have eaten and only the younger ones are left, then the waiting brand of birds move it. What I want to know...shows how little goes on in my head...is how the two groups decide who eats first?

Since it was absolutely beautiful outside, we decided to conquer Fort Stevens State Park. Another goal on our “pail list”—for those items not really qualified for the full-scale bucket list —was the new Lewis and Clark's Station Camp State Park and Interpretive Center on the mouth of the Columbia River. It took over two years for them to build and it’s finally done. Must have been a government project. J

The Chinook People used to live and fish peacefully in this area until Lewis and Clark came and screwed up their peace and quiet. Apparently when Lewis and Clark blew left the area in the early 1800's one of the Chinook dugout canoes must have been accidentally caught up in their exodus although the Natives considered it stolen. Years later, after the Chinook were sent to “a better place to live” the area was settled and fished by settlers using Chinese labor in their fishing camps, the area was named “McGowan”.  After all these years, a ceremonial dugout was made of concrete and presented to the Chinook tribe. It’s kept here with other concrete dugout examples by the St. Mary's Church on the site of the Lewis and Clark Park. Hm. I think the Natives were still ripped off since I don't think they can get very good mileage out of a concrete dugout. Even though it was sunny out we quickly finished looking around since it was "negative brrrr" with the windchill.

This little church is all that’s left of the fishing community of McGowan. Although it’s very picturesque with the little lake on the side, the “lake” is actually a puddle created when the park was built this year. Gotta love the Corp of Engineers and their talent for keeping water where it belongs...and doesn't belong. Didn't they engineer and recently repair the Mud Mountain Dam located above us that threatens to burst each time it rains?

Next stop: Fort Stevens State Park.  It’s located at the mouth of the Columbia River on the Oregon side. It was used to protect the Columbia River and it’s access to the interior. We paid our $5 day pass fee (that nobody even attempted to check) and started  hiking around the trails looking at the old coal, docks and Civil War battlements. Once away from the main area we come across this sign. I’ve never seen a cougar warning sign before. Now I have to watch for elk poop which was everywhere (of which I will spare you the picture) and cougars!

Since it’s a fort, I had to take the obligatory picture of Bob in front of a “200 Pounder Parrot Rifle” used in the late 1800’s.

I really don’t care much about these weapons, but the details of this gun are pretty interesting.

There were all kinds of battlements, munitions storage, guns, and military thingies that we climbed and explored. When I saw this sign, I knew this was my kind of place to explore. Just show me where to push the other tourists.

This is where a huge gun used to be. It was engineered to pop up and shoot stuff that was invading the Columbia from the ocean. Did you know that Ft. Steven’s was fired upon by a Japanese submarine in 1942??? A Japanese submarine fired 17 shells at Fort Stevens, making it the only military installation in the continental United States to receive hostile fire during World War II. The attack caused no damage to the fort itself. The backstop for the post's baseball field was the only casualty. 

My nephew-in-law, Kyle, does Civil War reenactment and has pitched battle on this very field. This is the very best type of battlefield—one where no one actually dies!

Ft. Steven’s Park is enormous. I thought it had consisted solely of the historical park, but there are miles of other areas in the park. This is the beach south of the historical area. You can see Cannon Beach from here.

Next stop was the wreck of the Peter Iredale that washed ashore in a storm in 1906. It’s the only ship in the Graveyard of the Pacific that’s accessible from shore. It was washed onto the Clatsop Spit, along with it's 27 man crew and 2 stowaways during a hardy storm. No souls were lost. It’s hard to believe with all the years, storms, tides, logs, etc., that there is any of this ship remaining at all.

Way out on the tip of the Clatsop Spit I saw a sign for a “Wildlife Bunker”. Visions of elephants and tigers danced in my head, although I knew that was a pretty far stretch.

I eagerly went into the wildlife bunker only to find pictures of birds covering the walls. As it turns out, the bunker was for watching birds. Birds! That’s not wildlife.

As it happened, I didn’t even see a bird other than the one in the picture of the bunker above. The view was beautiful…but he only wildlife I saw was Bob. Taken from the darkness of the wildlife bunker, the picture looks like it was taken at sunset.

At the next stop, the tippy endpoint of the Clatsop Peninsula, we could look back at the Astoria bridge spanning the river, Mt. St. Helen’s, and the little St. Mary's Church previously mentioned and located on the other side of the channel.

My Weekend Wildlife Trifecta was a fail unless you count steaming elk poop, fresh raccoon tracks, and a heron stomping about the yard outside our bedroom window looking for mice. You think since we drive through relative wilderness for hours, I'd see something decent for my Wildlife Trifecta.

I started back to school on Thursday. A two-day work week is awesome!

My friend Darla had her third grandchild late Thursday night. It reminded me when I waited up all night with Darla's mother-in-law awaiting the arrival of Erika, who just had this baby. I remember waiting for Erika like it was yesterday and she just had her third. It makes me feel really old. So this morning I went to Valley Medical Center to visit baby Audrey. I can't believe new babies are soooo tiny. Congratulations to Erika and Kevin Link...and their two boys Ryan and Holden. I see a very spoiled little sister in the future.

After visiting Audrey, we set out to witness another new beginning. Our friends Bill and Kim's daughter Bryn was getting married. We knew Bill before he met Kim and attended their wedding and now we are watching his daughter get married. Once again we are reminded of our advancing ages when a friend of Bryn's starts up a conversation with us and tells us his grandfather had been at Bill and Kim's wedding. I'm putting a walker on my Christmas list next year. Just be sure it has those nifty tennis balls on the feet, will ya?

Anyway, if you are still with me, you can see I've strayed from my point. The wedding was held at Greenlake United Methodist Church. It's the coolest looking church ever, just tucked away in a Greenlake neighborhood. The old car out front was a friend of Bryn's father, Bill. It was the "get-a-way" car for the happy couple.

The church was built in the early 1900's and has lots of unique details in it. Check out these stained glass windows.

After the wedding we went to the Swedish Cultural Center for the reception. Bryn's new husband, Anders, is from Norway so the food offerings were a nice blend of American and Norwegian traditions. The glogg, or mulled wine was excellent and only made the view over Seattle better.

Although it was not a Norwegian tradition, they also had an awesome fruit and vegetable display. I have never seen fruit and vegetables displayed like this before.

As well as a small traditional American wedding cake, there were two Norwegian wedding cakes called kransekake to help blend the two cultures into a beautiful wedding honoring both the bride and groom.

Anders and Bryn will be moving to Norway in a few weeks since Anders has some good job opportunities available to him over there. Best Wishes for them from us.

Have a good week, everyone!

P.S. For those of you who enjoyed Nitro’s Christmas slot car video, and would more easily like to view it, I have uploaded it to YouTube. Check it out here http://youtu.be/mLnBCZXhKi4 for a hearty laugh.