Astoria, Oregon is about an hour and a half from our house, and makes for an excellent day trip. The town is chock-full of history (it's the oldest settlement west of the Mississippi) and boasts beautiful old houses, lots of antique shops & cute boutiques, and (perhaps most importantly)...a couple of awesome brew pubs!
Our first stop was Vintage Hardware, a unique architectural salvage shop housed in the soaring lobby of the old Astor Hotel. The building exists in a semi-deteriorated state, with crumbling plaster and peeling paint, which adds the perfect atmosphere to the nicely-curated selection of old house parts and vintage collectibles. There are some "new-old" items mixed throughout, such as cabinet knobs, house numbers, and "Astoria 1811" souvenir shirts. I could spend hours in here...it's one of those places where there seems to be interesting little things tucked away in every corner.
Across the street from VH sits Fort George Brewery. We grabbed a seat at one of the big shared tables out on the patio, and ordered a sampler tray of the 9 beers on tap. There were several standouts here....I loved the 1811 Lager, Vortex IPA, and Sunrise Oatmeal Pale Ale. Honestly, I cannot think of a better way to spend a warm, sunny northwest afternoon than on a patio drinking beer out of mason jars!
They also had a non-alcoholic Wasabi Ginger Ale, which sounded interesting although I didn't get a chance to try it.
We decided to do a "mini pub crawl" on continue on to the Wet Dog Cafe, which is home to The Astoria Brewing Company. This place is more of an actual restaurant, as opposed to Fort George's more casual public house vibe. It does, however, boast AMAZING views of the Columbia River from its huge dining room windows.
We ordered a sampler flight of 6 beers. Henry really enjoyed the Volksweissen Ale, a wheat beer- although I think he was mostly captivated by the creative name. I dared to try the intensely hoppy Bitter Bitch IPA, which was actually quite good but probably not something I could drink an entire pint of.
We did a few other fun things during our stay in Astoria, including climbing 164 steps to the top of the historic Astoria Column for AMAZING views....and, of course, strolling around the neighborhood obsessing over the beautiful old victorian and craftsman homes.
We capped off our evening with a sunset at Fort Stevens State Park, with the Peter Iredale Shipwreck serving as a stunning backdrop. The dogs got to enjoy one of their very favorite things.... running around in the sand!
As the sun set on our amazing day, we headed home inspired to make our own town as fun and lively as Astoria. Aberdeen definitely has the potential, with the same stunning waterfront location and beautiful old buildings. Hopefully one day, that potential will be realized.
1 comment:
I almost died the last time I went to Astoria and visited that Vintage Hardware store. I wanted to buy everything!! I would love to have a store like that around here.
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