Huckleberry Pancakes

Friday, September 6, 2013

Location: Fort Stevens State Park, Hammond, Oregon – Sites 101 and 103

Betty was making pancakes this morning, so we got out early and picked some huckleberries from the bushes about 5 steps from our campers. Yum, Yum.  They will be more ripe in a couple weeks, but this was our chance, so we indulged.

After breakfast we went out to see what has been happening with the beach where Barney and Fred fish. Every season the beach changes from the storms that come in. This year you can drive straight out onto the beach from the road, instead of having to four wheel it out a very sandy lane for a half mile or so. There were quite a few people out fishing, and lots of boats out just a short distance from the bank.

One guy came in and said the fishing wasn’t real good today, and he bemoaned the fact that you could catch a 25 or so pound Chinook salmon, but you can’t keep them. That season is closed now. We think it would still be fun to hook one and bring it in to see it.

We checked out the south jetty platform, then headed south on 101 to the outlet mall at Seaside. We made a couple of very small purchases but nothing grand.

Next off we went to check out a place to get fish and chips that one of the store clerks had told us about. It looked okay, but we were all primed to go into Astoria and see if the Bowpicker was open. Wilma has read about it, and how good it is, so we wanted to try it. It is just an old boat that barely has room for two people to turn around while preparing the fish, but when we got there we had to admit it must be good since the line was about 30 people deep!

We spent the next half hour waiting in that line and talking and listening to the people around us. When we finally got up on the steps they took our order so it was almost ready when we got on up to the serving area. They only offer a five piece or a three piece with fries, and you could order extra fries and a drink. Don’t know if it always is, but today they had albacore tuna. Since it was sprinkling a little, we went back to the cave to eat. Wow was it good. We ordered the five piece and we were stuffed!

While in line we could see a smaller ship out in the river that had some shindig going on, but we don’t know what. We think we could see a TV camera over there, so it may have been something exciting that we missed!

We have been enjoying watching all the old cars come into town for the car show in Seaside over the weekend. Lots and lots of them.

Costco didn’t appeal to us now, so we just went back to camp and relaxed. We did have to pick some more huckleberries for scones in the morning.

We’re having a great time. The weather should clear off now so we can really get out.