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What’s better for kids than an indoor space where they can play, learn and
CLATSOP CARE CENTER
“get the wiggles out” at the price of three bucks for all-day fun? There’s plenty of
Rehabilitation and Long-term Care
hands-on stuff to keep those little ones busy; like dressing up like firefighters, for-
est rangers, and native Americans. In the remodeled gymnasium at Capt. Robert
646 - 16th Street, Astoria • (503) 325-0313
Gray Elementary School, there are donated toys and play acting centers, such as a
CLATSOP RETIREMENT VILLAGE
miniature sailboat and life jackets.
Assisted Living
Crossing the Astoria Bridge into Washington ...
957 Olney, Astoria • (503) 325-4676
... is another delight for kids. It stretches 4.1 miles from Astoria across the
CLATSOP IN-HOME CARE
mouth of the Columbia River. Once called the “bridge to nowhere” by its detrac-
tors, it now carries more than one and a half million cars between the two states
CC LLAATTSOP CARE SOP CARE CC EENTER NTER
Providing services to assist
every year.
elders to remain at home
HHEAL EALTTH DISTRICTH DISTRICT
646 - 16th Street, Astoria • (503) 325-0313
On the Washington side, turn west toward IIwaco ...
F OR GENERATIONS , PROUDLY CARING FOR OUR COMMUNITY
... where you can visit the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum with exhibits on
the history of Native Americans before the arrival of European settlers as well as
a pioneer village. There’s a 50-foot scale model of the Peninsula as it was in the
1920s. On Thursdays, admission is free.
Nearby ...
... find Fort Canby State Park on the Long Beach Peninsula, later named Cape
Disappointment. Here you’ll find gorgeous scenery where you can hike, fly kites,
beachcomb and view two lighthouses that were established in 1886.
Further north you’ll reach Long Beach ...
... where you can visit the World Kite Museum & Hall of Fame, the only
American museum dedicated exclusively to kites. Admission is five bucks for
adults and three bucks for kids.
There is no charge to take a walk on the Lewis and Clark Discovery Trail. The
trail segment in Long Beach has several cool monuments which tell of the expe-
riences of corps members exploring the coast. There’s a 9-foot etched basalt
monolith, a gray whale skeleton and Clark’s Tree, a 19-foot bronze sculpture not-
ing the most northwesterly point of the corps’ journey.
In town, you’ll find the strange and delightful Marsh’s Free Museum,
renowned home of Jake the Alligator Man. The walls, even the ceiling, are cov-
ered in a collection of the strange and the odd, from old-time music machines
and flip movies to two-headed animal oddities. It’s weird and wacky.
Not far away ...
... is the Cranberry Museum and self-guided farm tour. It’s located next to a
10-acre demonstration cranberry farm display. Here you can learn about historic
and current methods of cranberry farming.
Travel north on the peninsula on the east side ...
... to Nahcotta, where you’ll find the Willapa Bay Interpretive Center, a replica
oyster station house featuring the 150-year history of oyster growing on Willapa Bay.
Among the artifacts is a 1920s double-ended Shoalwater Bay dinghy loaded with
oyster tongs, baskets and a rake. Outside, a stairway gives you access to the bay.
For some hiking and birding, go further north to ...
... Leadbetter Point State Park and its four hiking trails. The point separates
Willapa Bay from the Pacific Ocean and supports a vast variety of coastal flora.
The bay side of the point is flooded and drained twice daily with the movement
of the tides. Biologists have recorded more than 100 species of birds here.
Returning to U.S. Highway 101 ...
... follow it north to Raymond, Wash., where you’ll find two museums espe-
cially attractive to children. The Seafarers Museum is crammed with hands-on
artifacts that detail virtually every aspect of seafaring. Next door, the Northwest
Carriage Museum features spectacularly restored period carriages including the
one from “Gone With The Wind.” There’s also a kid activity area to dress up in
old-time outfits, play school in an old-fashioned schoolhouse, build a wagon
wheel and drive a wagon while “Mr. Ed” the talking horse gives instructions.
These two coasts offer a lot of wholesome free or low cost entertainment. So
www.dailyastorian.com/activelives
grab the kids, pile in the car and go on a cheap thrills tour. Most of these venues
have Web sites, so be sure to check out the days and hours of operation.
MARCH 2010 | ACTIVE LIVES | www.dailyastorian.com/activelives | 9
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