There really is a treasure here in Astoria — known as the setting for The Goonies movie as well as the first permanent U.S. settlement west of the Rockies after Lewis and Clark spent a winter here. It's also where the tuna fish sandwich was invented. And where we spent a refreshing Sunday morning ... eating cardamom bread french toast with lingonberries, buying brumbleberry pie at Astoria's Sunday Market and listening to a group of local teens play music with wooden keyboards.
Astoria is a gritty yet eclectic fishing port. Quaint with just enough rough around the edges. The town seems to be holding on by a thread, but a New York Times travel article from a few months ago points to renewal — with hipster shops and restaurants moving in.
That's great, because we'll definitely be making the 2-hour drive back here next Midsummer weekend. We learned today that ScanFest is Astoria's biggest festival, thanks to the immigration of large numbers of Scandinavians in the early 1900s. In fact, by 1920, half the population was Scandinavian.
Vi ses, Astoria. Don't lose your grit as you get hip.
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