Bridges in the Coastal Northwest USA

 

Walkways and Bridges in the Northwest

Bridges and Walkways in the Northwest

Here are some photographs available on the Internet:

Astoria-Ilwaco Bridge, OR

Tacoma Bridge and Mount Ranier, WA

Bridges of the Northwest Coastal USA

 Bridges of the Northwest Coastal USA

Washington and Oregon

Ilwaco

 

39F, 26 mph wind, raining.
Dismal Nitch where Lewis and Clark
were stranded in a bad storm in
November of 1805.

Columbia River near the Pacific

North Jetty "Wakiki Cove"

Beard's Hallow Viewpont

Ilwaco Marina, Town, Hillsides

I enjoyed a seafood meal at the Crab Pot in Seaview and
purchased canned produces from the Sportsmen's Cannery.

I get up very early each day.  I could find little open at 6 am for breakfast,
except for McDonald's in Long Beach.  

Winter hours and day's open or closed for stores and restaurants vary.

Ilwaco   Population 1,200.  City and marina on north shore of the Columbia River nearest to the Pacific.   On shallow Baker's Bay. 

Work on the north jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River Bar began in 1915.  Work on the south jetty at the Columbia in Oregon began in 1885. 

Illwaco   NOKSKA'ITMITHLS  (Chinook Name)   On the Columbia River at Cape Disappointment and Baker's Bay 

Chinook River

Chinookan Peoples of the Lower Columbia.  Edited by Robert T. Boyd, Kenneth M. Amers, and Tony A. Johnson.  University of Washington, 2015, 464 pages.

Ilwaco   Images     Boardwalk Wildlife  

American Indian Place Names in Washington

Ilwaco    Cape Disappointment State Park  CR  Camping, Yurts, Fishing, Trails 

Discovery Bicycling and Walking Trail

Ilwaco Fishing   Charter Boats    Images 

"Ilwaco: this town was named for the son-in-law of Chinook Chief Comcomly, Elowahka Jim which then became Ilwaco. ... The name “Mukilteo” means “good camping ground.” Nahcotta: this community is named for Chinook chief Nahcati who was friendly with the American settlers when the town was established in 1888."

Ilwaco:  Jetty Fishing     Pier Fishing     Dock Fishing  

Ilwaco   Food   Cafes

Ilwaco: Port of Ilwaco

Ilwaco Ocean Beach Hospital 

Ilwaco Museum:  Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum  and gift shop. 

Ilwaco:  Baker's Bay 

Ilwaco - Chinook Indian People

Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company

Ilwaco Shopping

Ilwaco: Images of Port and Docks

Ilwaco Things to Do in Ilwaco

Ilwaco  Long Beach Peninsula

Beach sightseeing in December
in the Coastal Northwest
is for a few hardy souls.
North Jetty!

What Runs But Never Gets Tired?

 The annual average rainfall (AAR) in the different places I have lived is of note for me:

1946-1967  Unincorporated East Los Angeles, Bandini Neighborhood/Varrio,
                  City of Commerce, Southern California   AAR = 15”
1948-1958  Karen grew up in Alexandria, Central Indiana   AAR = 42"
1969-1973  Biloxi, Mississippi   AAR = 65”
1973-1983  Bell Gardens, Southern California   AAR =  15”
1983-1998  Hacienda Heights, California   AAR = 15”
1998-2017  Red Bluff, Northern California   AAR = 25”
2017–         Vancouver, Southwestern Washington, Northwest USA  AAR = 42”


Vancouver, Washington, is rated as USDA Agricultural Zone 8B.

Zone 8b means that the average minimum winter temperature is 15 to 20 °F. 


"Ancient traditions have long associated holy wells and springs as very special places of the Goddess or anima mundi: symbolic of the Great Mother and associated with birth, the feminine principle, the universal womb, the prima materia, the waters of fertility and refreshment and the fountain of life. The dreaming sites, as they are called, have also been associated with visions, healing, and other paranormal experiences. In ancient Greece, for example, there were more than three-hundred medical centers placed at water sources, where patients experienced healing."
- Christopher and Tricia McDowell, The Sanctuary Garden, 1998, p. 62

"Day after day we looked for rain, and day after day we saw nothing but the sun. Lavender that we had planted in the spring died. The patch of grass in front of the house abandoned its ambitions to become a lawn and turned into the dirty yellow of poor straw. The earth shrank, revealing its knuckles and bones, rocks and roots that had been invisible before."
-  Peter Mayle

Water and Rain: Quotations, Sayings, Thoughts

What runs but never gets tired?
Water

"Water is the driver of Nature."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Interstate 5 Highway Bridge from Vancouver, Washington to Portland, Oregon.  

This bridge crosses the Columbia River.  

Columbia River Valley

Mt. Hood and Hood River Valley, Oregon
The Hood River flows into the Columbia River.

Astoria, Oregon, where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean.

Standing Quietly Along the Columbia at Frenchman's Bar

I often take short local trips (under 100 miles round trip).  I live in the Orchards area, in the northeast Vancouver area, Clark County, Washington.  I live about 8 miles north of the I 205, Glen L. Jackson Memorial Bridge, over the Columbia River, leading into Portland.   

This past week I enjoyed visiting Lake Vancouver, Frenchman's Bar Regional Park, the Columbia River, and the lowlands of farms, woods, sloughs, and marshy areas along the north bank of the Columbia River.  This area is south of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.  The Columbia flows north from here to Longview.  Less than 40 miles round trip for me.

Very nice walking options at Frenchman's Bar
I bring a good outdoor folding chair in my old van.
Thus, I can sit outdoors in comfort at the right chosen vantage point.

"Sit quietly
focus and forget
rest with the great achievement.

The ancient child asks
"what is the great achievement?"
It is beyond description in any language
it can only be felt intuitively
it can only be expressed intuitively. 
Engage a loose, alert, and aware
body, mind, and sound
then look into the formless
and perceive no thing.
See yourself as a sphere
small at first
growing to encompass
the vastness of infinite space. 
Sit quietly
focus and forget then
in a state of ease and rest
secure the truth of the great achievement.
Employing the truth will not exhaust its power
when it seems exhausted it is really abundant
and while human art will die at the hands of utility
the great achievement is beyond being useful.
Great straightness is curved and crooked
great intelligence is raw and silly
great words are simple and naturally awkward. 
Engaged movement drives out the frozen cold
mindful stillness subdues the frenzied heart.
Sit quietly
focusing
forgetting
summon order from the void
that guides the ordering of the universe."
-  Tao Te Ching, Chapter 45, Translated by John Bright-Fey, 2006 

"Teach us to care and not to care.
Teach us to sit still."
-  T.S. Eliot

"I have discovered that all human evil comes from this,
man's being unable to sit still in a room."
-  Blaise Pascal

Sitting: Quotes, Poems, Sayings

 

Bridges Over the Columbia: I 5 and I 205

The mighty Columbia River separates Portland, Oregon, from Vancouver, Washington.  Two bridges connect the two cities.  The Interstate 5 Bridge was built in 1917, and enlarged in 1958.  The Interstate 205 Bridge (Glen L. Jackson Bridge) was built in 1977.

Since we live in the Orchards area of northeast Vancouver, Washington, we have travelled both of these bridges hundreds of times.

I 5 Bridge, Looking South to Portland

I 205, Glen Jackson Bridge, Looking North to Vancouver

Columbia River, near Portland, Oregon, Looking West

I 205 Bridge and Mt. Hood, Oregon, Looking to the Southeast