No trip to the Oregon coast is complete without a visit to the Astoria Column in Astoria, OR. It sits high upon a hill and stands 125 ft tall. You can climb the 164 steps to the top for sweeping views of the Columbia River, the Astoria-Megler bridge, the Coast Range mountains, and the Pacific ocean.
The Astoria Column
There’s artwork that winds all the way from the base of the column to the top telling the history from before the white people arrived in the area to the arrival of the railroad in Astoria. You can read all about the scenes that stretch out to 500 ft of art if unwound on the Astoria Column web site.
A closer look at the art on the Column
Kendall and I didn’t climb to the top, but we did send the camera up. Here we are from way up top.
The view from up top
The Astoria-Megler bridge from Oregon to Washington
The Columbia River
Looking out over Young’s Bay
We found this cutie waiting patiently for his people to come down from the column.
Patiently waiting
As if climbing to the top of the column wasn’t enough fun, you can purchase balsa wood gliders in the gift shop and fly them off the top of the column. We saw some with some pretty long flights and others that dive-bombed to the ground.
Can we go home yet?
