Walking in Astoria

It did not rain this morning.  The forecast was wrong.  We decided to head in to Astoria and walk.  There is a very pleasant walking path along the trolley tracks.
Here we have the Columbia Bar Pilots local office in the back right.  It's a very attractive building, with a slip for a boat.  Looking left in the photo at the foot of that pole sticking up, there are some flat concrete pieces on top of the pilings.  We don't know why they are there.

Here is the home of the wonderful beds at the Hotel Elliott.  Love the sign.

Gimre's is the longest running family owned store west of the Mississippi - 124 years in business.  They carry Merrells and other sporting brands.  I did not see any high heels.

Would you predict there would be a Bosnian restaurant in Astoria?  I certainly would not.  The chef is from near Sarajevo.  This is Drina Daisy.

The owner of the RV park highly recommends the Buoy Brewery.  He said the bar menu is really good and reasonably priced.

Here we have the Edison Brothers Fish Co.  I think I like them better than Linda Brand.  They're close to the Buoy Brewery next to the trolley tracks.  Go here, buy Salmon Candy.

This is the pilot boat, Connor Foss.  One article referred to her as a "water taxi."  This boat will take a bar pilot off the cargo vessel when it reaches Astoria and put a river pilot on the cargo vessel as it heads up river.  Notice the lack of hand railings on the deck.  They get beat to death on the boats.  Instead they have this:

One of the first things you notice stepping onto the Connor Foss is its lack of bulwarks. The new platform stays clear of encumbrances, with a Hadrian Safety System ringing the entire pilot house. Pilots, operators and deckhands clip into the rail via lines that connect to the back of their survival suits. They walk on deck freely, continuously attached but able to ring the entire deck.

If you want to know more about pilot transfer procedures between boats, here is another interesting read.

Here is a pilot boat heading out to the d'Amico.

A tug pulling a good sized barge.

This is one of the bodies of water we cross going anywhere.  There are a lot of bridges around here.  It's good to have GPS.

Activity tomorrow will be weather dependent.