Goonies Never Say "Die"

Our final day on the coast saw us passing through Astoria. Without question, we had to visit the infamous "Goonies" house (the Walsh house), from the classic film "The Goonies." Little did we know, we were beyond lucky that we did.

The sign meeting us on the walk up to the house. | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4 lens.

Before visiting, we read up on the home, and learned that while the current owner of the house was not overly joyed by the fame of the house, she nonetheless permitted visitors to travel up the drive way to view the house. Driving into Astoria, we saw sign after sign proclaiming "visit the Goonies House!"

It was pretty surreal seeing the house, and the spot where Chunk does his famous "Truffle-Shuffle" to open the Rube Goldberg-rigged gate. You could also see Data's house just next door.

The Walsh home. | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4 lens.

Now, I previously mentioned that we were extremely lucky to see the house. This is because, the next day, the owner sadly decided to stop visitors from coming to the house, seemingly forever. She even went as far as to cover the house in blue tarps to prevent people from wanting to see the house.

After getting home and reviewing my pictures, I noticed blue tarps folded at the base of the house, ready to stop future Goonies. Apparently, no one told the owner that Goonies never say "die."

The Oregon Coast, Part II

After staying in Newport for a couple of days, we headed north along the coast to Seaside, taking in the sites along the way.

 Looking South. | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4.

Our first stop was a lookout just north of Depoe Bay. It was a beautiful morning, and we stopped to eat our breakfast. A few others were there as well, looking for whales down below.

 Looking North. | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4.

Chief Kiawanda Rock. | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4.

Luckily, while driving north, we took a scene loop off the 101, which took us right by Cape Kiwanda. Unfortunately, we had missed this the last time we visited the coast. The cape and beach surrounds a huge rock out in the water called Chief Kiawanda Rock. In the picture above, you can see a small fishing boat just to the left of the rock.

Chrissy standing in some tide pools. | Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4.

The northern part of the beach features a cliff with a huge sand dune that he had to climb.

Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4.

I wish we had known that such an awesome place existed, since we probably would have spent the night there. But we had to move on to Seaside, which was cool and unique it its own way.

More to come...

Much Needed Rest

Chrissy, taking a break in our hotel room at Seaside, Oregon, near the end of our trip to the coast.

Voigtlander Nokton Classic 40mm f/1.4

The Oregon Coast, Part I

Chrissy and I (and Pretzel) finally took some time off and made it down to the Oregon coast this past week. We traveled to the coast down through Portland, and then west. Our first stop was Newport, OR, where we stayed for a couple of days.

 Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Aspherical

Our first stop was Beverly Beach, which lies north of Newport and south of Otter Rock. We wanted to stretch our legs a bit after finally reaching the coast. An old wooden chair awaited us on the cliffs down to the beach.

 Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Aspherical

Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Aspherical

Oregon is extremely dog friendly when it comes to beaches, so Chrissy and Pretzel did their Bo Derek thing. You can see the Yaquina Head Light to the far right.

Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Aspherical

Chrissy's reflection and shadow on the wet sand.

Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Aspherical

We made it to our hotel, which lies right next to Agate Beach. While there were plenty of people at the beach, we saw only a few people swimming. Apparently, the ocean was deemed too cold to swim in by the tourists and locals, but that didn't stop us. Years of swimming in Lake Huron as kids has turned our blood blue. Afterwards, we hit the streets to get some seafood.

Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Aspherical

After getting some cod, fried Yaquina oysters, and chowder from the Chowder Bowl in Newport, we headed back to our hotel. We were met with somewhat of rare sunset over Agate Beach.

Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Aspherical.

We went out onto the dunes of Agate Beach and watched the sunset. All in all, it was a great first day in Oregon.

More to come...