Oregon State: Astoria to Crescent City

Having grown up in the state of Oregon, I always feel a sense of home-coming when we have the opportunity to return to Portland and its surrounding areas. This trip marked my first visit to the town of Astoria, but the architecture of the buildings, the feel of the landscape, and the vibe of the community felt immediately familiar. Mohini was moored in a marina for the first time since our arrival in Victoria and we enjoyed the easy accessibility of the Astoria Riverwalk and quaint downtown area (no dinghy ride required). We also savoured clam chowder at Mo's Seafood Chowder (a classic Oregon Coast tradition), got to know the resident sea lions under the Astoria-Megler Bridge, and rode the historic trolley car along the waterfront.

Portland and Mt. Saint Helens

After a few rainy days in Astoria doing maintenance on the boat, homeschooling, working remotely, and completing some U.S.-based appointments, we caught the bus to Portland's Union Station, where we rented a car for a few days of inland exploration with old friends. We were blessed to experience the warmest of hospitality from my honorary uncle and his housemates as well as my childhood best friend and his parents.

Portland is a beautiful city with much to see, but the best part of our time there was undoubtedly the simple moments spent laughing, talking, and rekindling relationships. What a joy to see my children developing their own deep connections with the wonderful people I loved as a child, and still love to this day! Other highlights of our Portland trip included a wonderful date night that Nico and I were able to spend walking the steep trails of Mt. Tabor Park and eating authentic Indian food on Hawthorne Street thanks to the generosity of our friend, who offered to take the kids for a night, and a day trip to Mt. Saint Helens in Washington State.

After Olympic National Park, Mt. Saint Helens seemed like a natural next stop for continuing our investigation of Pacific Northwest geology with the kids (who also happen to be obsessed with volcanoes at the moment). Seeing their enthusiasm as we explored the visitor centre, created our own seismic activity that was recorded by a real seismograph, and watched a film about the historic 1980 eruption that literally blew Mt. Saint Helens' top off and permanently changed the geography of the surrounding area, was a wonderful affirmation of the meaningful learning opportunities that our current lifestyle is opening up. We were fortunate to get to witness steam actively emanating from the mountain as we drove up to the starting point for our hike and spent a special afternoon appreciating the Hummocks Trail along the Toutle River with our good friend.

Celebrating the New Year

The days in Portland flew by and, very quickly it seemed, we were back in Astoria. Our friends kindly drove us the two hours from Portland and took us for lunch before we were on our own on Mohini once again. It was October 1st, the day before Rosh Hashanah, and we were planning to spend the holiday with the local Jewish community in Astoria. We quickly discovered, however, that there is no Jewish community in Astoria, Oregon and that the synagogue I'd pinpointed online was actually in Astoria, New York (oops). The nearest synagogue to us was back in Portland and so Nico and I prepared to celebrate the new year with the kids in our own special way.

Delivering fresh challah buns to Astoria's homeless community

Though we missed the warmth of having a community around us, our family celebration for Rosh Hashanah turned out to be sweet, intimate, and meaningful. One of the things I love about boat life is the fact that it makes you resourceful, and we focused on bringing the traditions of one of the most important holidays of the year to life together in new and unexpected ways. The kids joined us in cleaning Mohini and preparing a special holiday meal, lighting the candles, and saying the blessings. We read Rosh Hashanah stories, dipped apples in honey, listened to the shofar being blown, and baked fresh challah buns to distribute to the homeless community in Astoria.

As it is supposed to do, our Rosh Hashanah experience left us inspired and hopeful for the coming year.

Down the Oregon Coast

After our bumpy exit from the Georgia Strait, we were prepared for rough water leaving the Columbia River delta, but the conditions turned out to be much worse than anticipated. Though Nico captained the boat skillfully and we never felt in danger, we spent a couple of very uncomfortable hours in dark, nauseating, extremely rough seas before the swells regulated about 20 miles south of the mouth of the river. It was an experience that definitely put the power of the ocean into perspective and one we'd prefer not to repeat. Fortunately, our knowledge of tides and currents increases with every adventure and we've been able to successfully apply what we learned from the Columbia to ensure smoother delta navigation moving forward.

Tillamook Bay

We anchored in Tillamook Bay in the wee hours of the morning and woke up after daybreak to find ourselves in crab central, surrounded by dozens of families out enjoying the warm autumn day on the water, setting and pulling in hundreds of crab traps. We relaxed as power boats zipped around us, enjoying the calm water and the cheerful energy of the crab harvesters.

It just so happened that my childhood best friend and his family were also out near Tillamook for a weekend of crabbing. They warmly invited us to join them, their friends, and extended family at their nearby beach house rental as they prepared for their annual seafood boil--an event I can only describe as plentiful and delicious. What fun it was to watch fresh crabs, oysters, mussels, prawns, and clams being prepared in gigantic propane boilers on the back patio while the kids played hide-and-seek with newfound friends and splashed in the waves. Soon enough, the boil was served--directly onto towels on an outdoor table with all the fixings on the side (bread, butter, salads, sauces, and desserts). Everyone helped themselves with tongs and silence ensued as the bounty of the sea was devoured bite by scrumptious bite:

The seafood boil

Newport and Coos Bay

Because I didn't quite feel ready to head out on the ocean again immediately, we spent an extra day in Tillamook Bay, moving on to the town of Newport the following night, where we anchored near the historic Newport Bridge:

Inclement weather meant that we spent a few nights in Newport, giving us a chance to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium and the sea lion docks, explore downtown, where we purchased a whole albacore tuna off a fishing boat, and make the lengthy trek by foot out to the beach and historic lighthouse at South Beach State Park:

Our next anchorage was the small community of Charleston, just west of Coos Bay, Oregon, where we spent a day and a half waiting for a good weather window, and then we were off to Crescent City, California--our longest non-stop voyage yet. We planned to spend a full 24 hours on the water without taking a break and arrive the following evening.

To continue following Mohini's journey south and read about our adventures in Crescent City and beyond, read our post, California State: The Redwood Coast to San Diego.