Fort Stevens

Hi little one,

Your mom says you have the hiccups again today. It makes her feel a little weird when that happens to you. They say that it’s a good thing, it means that your body is working on how it will breathe air when you are born, instead of the fluid that you are breathing now.

I wanted to tell you about the weekend we had a while back. It was before Homecoming week swamped me with work obligations so that I wasn’t able to write anything for you. Anyway, we had a three day weekend and we went to the coast. We were cashing in on a wedding gift we hadn’t used yet. We got a weekend in this really big house that used to be an officer’s quarters for Fort Stevens. It is near Astoria, in the community of Hammond. The house we stayed in used to be part of the fort, but isn’t anymore. It really isn’t a fort anymore, but sort of a museum. It was a strategic spot for a fort when navies were more important for security. The fort overlooked the mouth of the Columbia river, and had guns that could shoot at ships either in the river, or in the ocean to the west. Now it is a state park, there are camping spots, a small lake for swimming and fishing, and lots of bike paths. The house was huge, and we had two of my brothers and their families and your mom’s brother and his daughter staying with us, too. The house had five bedrooms and a loft, and could probably sleep about 20 people.

I can’t wait to bring you there when you are a little older. It will be really nice to be there in the summer. We can go on the beach and look at the old shipwreck that has been there 100 years, dig razor clams, swim in the lake, read books under the shade trees, ride our bikes on the trails, look for elk that feed in the park, and take walks and naps. I almost forgot, there are games to play, too. It will be fun.

I have a very fond memory of going to Fort Stevens park when I was a boy. I’ll never forget it, because it was when men first walked on the moon. I remember that vividly, walking through the campground and one of the campers had a television, and the astronauts were walking on the moon for the first time. There were 40 or 50 people gathered around their television watching this miricle. I also remember your uncle craig catching a big fish in the lake, just as we were about to quit fishing.

Well, with such a big family gathering, it was very nice and relaxing to stay there. This is the kind of thing your mother really enjoys organizing. As she says, her best qualitiy is the ability to bring people together. She did very well on this one, too.

The picture on this post shows the shipwreck of the Peter Iredale, and your brother’s sock.

Love, aba