STEAMBOAT ALLEY~Toledo-WA

Steamboat Willie | ragtime piano tune: 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWNG7DIQN1U)

March 11th: Holland had an appointment in Toledo, and I like the little river town myself - so off we went this morning.

It was a slow, cold, wet, rainy drive under heavy dark clouds the entire way: we started off with a drive around the peninsula bay … and the rest of the day was scheduled to operate in slo-mo, too ;-)

A long day route was actually the shortest route …

The Willapa Bay Bridge over the Naselle River; linking Long Beach-WA to Naselle-WA

Long Beach-WA to Graysriver-WA; 43 min (34.0 mi) via US-101 N and WA-4 E

Scant snow showing along highway shoulders at the KM Summit.

There is some road slippage near the KM Summit, but the snow is disappearing with all the rainfall; and the snow that was on the mountains across the Columbia River, is pretty much gone.

When we drove this way on the 9th, snow was deeper along the KM route - and the mountains on the OR side of the River was heavy with snowy blanket cover.

KM Summit is 760 ft. - so the highway marker sign reads … google maps has it listed as 955 ft.: I knew that was not correct, because I used to walk over that {mountain} hill; from Skamokawa-WA to Graysriver-WA (sometimes around the Covered Bridge Loop, too) & sometimes into Appelo's in Naselle, every weekend from 12 yo to 14 yo before my family moved into Cathlamet-WA. That was not a terribly strenuous walk because the {mountain} was not that steep, or that long to cross over. I did stop at the summit though coming and going, for a 15-minute break (both ways) before beating feet again. It's only a half hour drive, so maybe a 2 hour hike 1-way … maybe 5 hours round trip, counting the Covered Bridge Loop, or the Naselle extension. I walked everywhere; I was in excellent shape in my younger years - still hiking the 8 to 10 miles range pretty regularly (not over the KM, though) until 2001, when a Dr. told me to cut my walking back to "1 mile In & 1 mile Out; no more than 2 miles max" ;-)

There was storm damage fallout, all along Ocean Beach Highway from Cathlamet to Longview - trees down, some limbs literally touching at the edge of the blacktop … wind-snapped & tossed-evergreen branches leaving a fragrant reminder of Mother Nature's temper tantrums; and road crews holding up traffic here and there; and the bridge work in Castle Rock is slowly creeping forward - it's been a long time getting to this point, so no one is complaining: the road surface over that bridge has been so pock-marked, it looked like the lunar surface of the moon, and felt like a minefield. Everyone is glad it is finally getting tended to.

And it looked like Peper's 49r Restaurant is back in business, again: a fire gutted it in February 2023 - I always enjoyed that place, so I'm glad to see it's comeback :-)

Long Beach-WA to Stella-WA; 1 hr. 23 min (67.3 mi) via WA-4 E

This truck driver is a long way from Home; Stella-WA

Mother Nature must have thrown a tizzy-fit overnight - there was wind-blown-debris all over the place; Stella-WA

Long Beach-WA to Castle Rock-WA; 1 hr. 48 min (84.0 mi) via US-30 E

Castle Rock Bridge work is still on-going …

Cowlitz River Bridge – Replace Bridge Deck:

 (https://wsdot.wa.gov/construction-planning/search-projects/sr-411-cowlitz-river-bridge-replace-bridge-deck)

Peper's 49r Restaurant looks like it's back in business …

Holland turned onto the freeway at this point, and drove the back way into Toledo (up the freeway from Castle Rock - turning at the Vader overpass): it was different.

I'd never been that way ;-)

Toledo holds memories for both of us; we had both spent time in this small river town in our pasts, but this is our first time here together.

While he was finishing up his business there, I discovered some more things about Toledo that I didn't know …

Long Beach-WA to Toledo-WA; 2 hr. (98.3 mi) via US-30 E

Sidewalk Mural fronts the P.O. parking lot.

Another mural attraction, across Main Street …

Tête-à-Tête Daffodils; for 44 years I planted lots of little things in the flowerbeds I used to have.

And trailing Vinca; I also planted lots of this for groundcover at 2 of the houses I shared with Bob, in Lexington-WA.

I've been coming to Toledo for decades, and never knew this town's History.

Steamboats of the Cowlitz River:

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboats_of_the_Cowlitz_River#:~:text=The%20Kelloggs%20established%20a%20new,ultimate%20in%20shallow-draft%20steamboating.)

It was a slow day.

It was a day of memories - past, and present "in the making".

It was a day of business.

It was a day of discovery.