Steve Forrester, publisher of the Daily Astorian, drove our way recently, and wrote a bit about it for his readers....the following is an excerpt from his column: Of Cabbages and Kings
For Saturday meandering, it's hard to beat Puget Island, Cathlamet and Skamakowa.
We were drawn in that direction by a golf driving range in Cathlamet and a photo exhibit in Redmen Hall. It was the first time we had been inside Redmen Hall, which is beautifully restored and interpreted.
Climbing to Redmen Hall's tower affords a view downriver that includes Tongue Point and the Astoria Bridge. The visitor is encouraged to ring the tower bell.
To our great surprise, one of the photographers whose Vietnam pictures were on display was Paul Fardig of Portland. Fardig's wife Judy was my wife's nursing student decades ago.
The photos were part of Project Uplift, whose main objective was building a school in Vietnam. Having been there myself, courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps, I found the photos most evocative. Paul said his group encountered no resentment among Vietnamese. Their experience jibed with what I've read - namely that the American military presence in then-South Vietnam was relatively brief when compared with the prior military incursions of France and China.
The Westport ferry is a brief but always scenic excursion.
...............State Highway 4 from Cathlamet to Longview is refreshing. It offers views of the Columbia that are quite different from the perspective of Oregon Highway 30.
