Astoria, OR: October 7, 2023

Our first two days on the Regatta (same cruise line of Oceania but the sister vessel to the one from
2022) were spent cruising up the coastline from Los Angeles. As Jen exercised on the deck, the sun rose, and you’ll notice the colors and get a feel for the splendor.

Every time you read that we have a full day of cruising, read between the lines that Jen and Jerry are

playing bridge. We have a bridge instructor on ship who will be with us all the way to Tokyo. (No, Jerry
isn’t teaching or directing this trip.) For this segment of our trip, there are 4 tables of us playing
duplicate bridge. Jerry and I took FIRST yesterday!!!

The mighty and historical Columbia River pours into the Pacific Ocean under a 4.2-mile bridge that
connects Oregon and Washington. We parked just underneath the expansive bridge, ready to stretch
our legs. One of Jerry’s high school classmates lives in Oregon, and he graciously had a friend pick us up to drive us around to see all of the insider sights in Astoria and in nearby communities. This is how we met the beautiful Bereniece (bree NEES) who is an opera singer and grade 7-12 vocal instructor. She drove us about 40 minutes south to see popular Cannon Beach while driving through more than a few tourist towns on the coast. Haystack Rock is the prominent landmark and you’ll recognize it
immediately (Think Monet).

You’ve probably heard of John Astor of NYC fame. He made a killing with beaver hats in the East—the

rain runs right off!—and decimated the beaver population in the West. Huh. Astoria’s strategic location
on the mouth of the Colombia marks it more as a river town than a coastal town, and most every street
and school has some explorer’s moniker.

Through Bereneice (photo above), our personal guide, we learned that the Astoria area has now developed into a rich cultural area for music, theater and opera, even though Astoria’s population is around 10,000. The coastal town is built up the mountainside with the streets on stairsteps up the slope. This makes walking a chore, so the car was a treat for us. She drove us up and up so that we had breath-stopping views of the ocean and the bridge and the vessels and all things that feed the economy of the area. The ultimate overlook was at the Astoria Column, a lighthouse-looking monolith with carved historical panoramas that depicts why Astoria is “America’s claim to the Pacific Coast.” The column shows a summary of the frontier as it was fought over and conquered.

Astoria Column^^

View from the top of Astoria Column

Many of you know that the ELCA now acknowledges, thanks, and asks forgiveness from the indigenous people on whose land our congregations rest. So we will be doing our best in these blogs to do the same. The Chinookan people have been in this area for over 10,000 years. One of the photos is a

replica of Chief Comcomly’s burial canoe. 

We met Bereneice’s husband, Vincent, when he finished giving private piano lessons on this bright
Saturday morning. He has a PhD in music theory and joyously teaches elementary vocal music. The
local Episcopal congregation has hired him to play their pipe organ (one of FIVE in this little town!) so he took us inside for a short listen.

Thank you, Bernie, for connecting us with new friends, Bereniece and Vincent!