DAY 8--ASTORIA, OREGON

Our position today is docked in Astoria, Oregon.  It is partly cloudy and 68 degrees.  We will be departing here at 6pm.  Tomorrow will be a day at sea before arriving in San Francisco on Saturday, October 1st.

 BACKGROUND INFO:

        This town with a population of around 9500 lies on the west coast of Oregon at the mouth of the Columbia River.  The river flows southeast and passes through Portland nearly 100 miles away.  As a point of reference, Seattle is 180 miles to the northeast.
        The city was named after the investor, John Jacob Aston, when he built Fort Astor in 1811 for his American Fur Company, however the Oregon Legislative Assembly first incorporated the town back in 1876.  The Lewis & Clark Expedition spent the winter of 1805 & 1806 at Fort Clatsop just south of Astoria.  Fort Astoria was the first permanent settlement built on the Pacific coast and was extremely important in the exploration of the northwestern US.  As the Oregon Territory grew it became more colonized by Americans, Astoria became an important port city with its Colombia River access to the inland.
        For over a hundred years Astoria’s economy thrived on fishing, fish processing, and lumber but those started declining in the mid 1900’s.  All canneries were closed by 1980.  Even its trading center as a port of entry has moved to Portland and Seattle.  Today tourism, art, and light manufacturing are Astoria’s economic drivers.  Facilities at the port were built to handle cruise ships in 1982.  Interestingly enough, in order to avoid Mexican ports during the 2009 Swine Flu outbreak, the cruise lines rerouted many ships here to Astoria as a port of call.  Another bit of trivia:  Actor Clark Gable began his career here at the Astoria Theater in 1922. 

LAST NIGHT:

        I arrived at the Mariner Lounge just before 6pm and the bar stools were all full so I plopped down at a small table and had a couple Grey Goose martinis.  They brought our standing order for pigs-in-a-blanket.  There were 5 of them so I ran two up to Rebecca.  She was very happy to get them.  
        As I did not see anything on the Compass Rose or Setti Mari menus that grabbed me, I stopped at Prime 7 and asked Rommel, the maitre'd, if he happened to have a open table for me.  He led me to our favorite table in the corner.  Kadek was again my waiter.

                                                            Marina served my red wine.

                                                                    Still no Rebecca!

I had the surf & turf.  6 ounce filet and lobster tail.  Twice baked potato and asparagus.  The filet was cooked perfectly at medium rare.

      I tried a new dessert (new to me) "rocky road bread pudding".  It was very good.

        After dinner there was a Beattles dance party or movie in theater so I just headed back to the suite.  The ship was rocking again and my window noise was constant all night long.  

TODAY:

        My phone rang at 7:30 this morning.  I thought I had it in airplane mode but somehow it wasn't.  I hung up without answering as appeared to be a marketer.  I wanted to get up then anyway so as to go down to coffee connection and get Rebecca's double shot Americano.  I believe she is doing ok and adjusted to isolation now.  I did not do my treadmill time today.

        We arrived early at 10:30 in Astoria.  US Customs & Immigration clearance started around 11am.  All guests were required to pick up their passports and do a face-to-face with a Customs officer.  It was a very quick procedure.  Following it I went up to La Veranda and had a hot dog for lunch.

Here are some photos I took up on deck 12 of where we are docked.  There is a very long bridge--4 miles long.

        After lunch I caught a free shuttle bus to downtown Astoria, about a 15 minute ride.  My mission was only to go to a pharmacy for some cough medicine, cough drops, and neosynephrine nose spray for Rebecca.  It is a nice warm day here.

        William, Executive Concierge, sent a letter to Rebecca saying we could have the streaming speed internet so she could watch movies.  Normally they charge $10 per day for this service.  I had the internet manager sign us in on our cell phones and my laptop.  Now she can watch her soaps on Paramont Plus which she subscribes to.  I can watch movies on Amazon Video.

        I will be dining up in Sette Mari this evening and the chef will prepare me another veal parmesan.  There is another production show, "Tuxedo", tonight so I will probably go see it.