Fort Clatsop, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park

Such a grande adventure these two gentlemen, Lewis and Clark, found themselves on more than two hundred years ago...

We haven't traced their route footstep for footstep (yet :)!); but we have, however, found ourselves in many of the same places that this famous duo passed through so many years ago.

We visited the shops in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where the expedition got many of their supplies and began their long journey...we walked the banks of the Knife River in North Dakota where their ranks were vastly improved by the addition of Sacajawea and her family who accompanied the party as interpreters...and now we would visit the last encampment of the group, the site where the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean collide...

The expedition reached this point near the end of 1805.  Not able to begin their journey back east until the spring, they spent a wet and chilly winter in the forest along the Oregon/Washington coast...

I'm sure it had to of been cold, but oh so pretty, too...

The trees, the ferns, the mosses and fungi <3...so many beautiful things to discover and explore...

the ferns were HUGE!

Fort Clatsop is what they called their winter shelter, so named after the Clatsop Indians that lived in the area...

A snug little place for more than two dozen grown men, for sure...

After our walk in the forest, we headed back up to the Visitor Center to check out the displays and for the kids to finish up their Junior Ranger books...

With that done, it was time to leave Oregon behind and cross the Columbia River once again.  Heading back north into Washington...

A quick pause at the Dismal Nitch, a cove on the Washington side of the Columbia River where the L&C group spent a miserable 6 days riding out a storm...

...and we were back on our way north.  We didn't make it very far until we saw a sign that advertised "Fresh Oysters"...

There was a lazy tendril of smoke rolling off the grill out front and the river where the oysters were harvested just across the street...um yes, please, and thank you!  Quick as a wink, the car was parked and we were all piling into the tiny seafood joint by the name of River View Dining in South Bend, Washington. 

Do yourself a favor...if you ever pass through that way, stop by the River View for some BBQ'd oysters.  Order extra, though, or your kids will eat them all before you get to have more than one..yes, they are THAT good :) (and now I'm hungry, haha!)