23 January 2022 • 780 km / 485 mi (map)
My partner and I took an impromptu trip to Portland and Astoria this weekend. We discovered two great hotels and added three new parks to the 146 Parks project.
Hotel Grand Stark is a cute boutique hotel in Portland’s Eastside neighborhood. We found a fun variety of restaurants nearby and enjoyed its quirky décor.
The next morning we left for Astoria by way of Paradise Point State Park.
We arrived in Astoria in time to check out the Columbia River Maritime Museum, which was great fun. (We’ll leave the pictures to them!)
And then were treated to some great sunset views on the river.
I’ve long been a fan of the Cannery Pier Hotel when I go to Astoria, but they are currently closed for renovations. The Bowline turned out to be a very fun and cute alternative. Situated on the waterfront right in the heart of downtown Astoria, it was an easy walk from there to a wide variety of restaurants and its own lobby bar, The Knot, offered some creative cocktails.
On our way out of town, we took a friend’s recommendation and had breakfast at the Street 14 Café.
We visited two new parks on Sunday, Fort Columbia and Loomis Lake. OK, actually we visited three new parks, but we realized that Cape Disappointment was larger than we had time for this weekend.
One picture for now, and we’ll be back!
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