808AWD325xi
09-03-2007, 10:09 AM
MEET SITE
========
Let's meet at John Null Park in Longview at 2:00 p.m.
2650 Pacific Way
Longview, WA 98632
http://maps.google.com/maps?near=2650+pacific+way+longview+wa&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=46.151416,-122.95156&spn=0.025984,0.067635&z=15&iwloc=addr
It's nothing special in terms of a park -- two baseball diamonds and four tennis courts, but the parking lot is huge, especially for a park of its size; it could easily hold 200 cars. The parking lot is as big as the park itself.
Here is a picture of the park entrance and some general information. The red sign is to your left as you enter the parking lot:
http://www.ci.longview.wa.us/parks_rec/parks/parks_johnnull.html
It's a great rendezvous point as it's right off of Ocean Beach highway (SR 4). Pacific Way is a small, residential looking street that dead ends into Ocean Beach highway. The park is less than a block down the street on the right.
CRUISE ALONG THE COLUMBIA RIVER
===========================
After hanging out, taking pics, whatever -- we can cruise west on SR 4 along the Columbia River, following the Lewis & Clark scenic highway through the twisties... Maybe about 3 or 3:30'ish?
About 3 miles from John Null Park we'll cross SR 432 and leave Longview. The Columbia is to the left and visible for most of the way:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=longview+wa&daddr=Cathlamet+wa&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.378434,69.257813&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=12
The question becomes -- how far do we go? SR 4 will eventually take you all the way to the coast.
MY PLAN
=======
The next town is Cathlamet. A quaint small town about 25 miles west of Longview. Cathlamet has a small bridge to Puget Island.
I propose cruising out to Cathlamet and stopping by the Haiying Chinese restaurant for some grub:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&channel=s&q=hai+ying&near=Cathlamet,+WA&fb=1&view=text&latlng=46202135,-123384477,13826388557450760442&dtab=2&reviews=1&oi=more_rev&sa=X&ei=YtHbRobyHZ7KjAOHtPSdAg#
I talked to a local yesterday at the Puget Island ferry landing and he claimed that the food at Haiying wasn't bad. It appears from the signs in the window that they have a bar as well -- Chinese and a cold beer doesn't seem like a bad plan. Cathlamet is not a culinary hotspot, I didn't see much else.
Pugent Island has a ferry to Westport, Oregon:
http://www.iinet.com/~englishriver/LewisClarkColumbiaRiver/Regions/Places/puget_island_westport_ferry.html
FYI, the ferry runs from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily, on the hour.
========
Let's meet at John Null Park in Longview at 2:00 p.m.
2650 Pacific Way
Longview, WA 98632
http://maps.google.com/maps?near=2650+pacific+way+longview+wa&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=46.151416,-122.95156&spn=0.025984,0.067635&z=15&iwloc=addr
It's nothing special in terms of a park -- two baseball diamonds and four tennis courts, but the parking lot is huge, especially for a park of its size; it could easily hold 200 cars. The parking lot is as big as the park itself.
Here is a picture of the park entrance and some general information. The red sign is to your left as you enter the parking lot:
http://www.ci.longview.wa.us/parks_rec/parks/parks_johnnull.html
It's a great rendezvous point as it's right off of Ocean Beach highway (SR 4). Pacific Way is a small, residential looking street that dead ends into Ocean Beach highway. The park is less than a block down the street on the right.
CRUISE ALONG THE COLUMBIA RIVER
===========================
After hanging out, taking pics, whatever -- we can cruise west on SR 4 along the Columbia River, following the Lewis & Clark scenic highway through the twisties... Maybe about 3 or 3:30'ish?
About 3 miles from John Null Park we'll cross SR 432 and leave Longview. The Columbia is to the left and visible for most of the way:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=longview+wa&daddr=Cathlamet+wa&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.378434,69.257813&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=12
The question becomes -- how far do we go? SR 4 will eventually take you all the way to the coast.
MY PLAN
=======
The next town is Cathlamet. A quaint small town about 25 miles west of Longview. Cathlamet has a small bridge to Puget Island.
I propose cruising out to Cathlamet and stopping by the Haiying Chinese restaurant for some grub:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&channel=s&q=hai+ying&near=Cathlamet,+WA&fb=1&view=text&latlng=46202135,-123384477,13826388557450760442&dtab=2&reviews=1&oi=more_rev&sa=X&ei=YtHbRobyHZ7KjAOHtPSdAg#
I talked to a local yesterday at the Puget Island ferry landing and he claimed that the food at Haiying wasn't bad. It appears from the signs in the window that they have a bar as well -- Chinese and a cold beer doesn't seem like a bad plan. Cathlamet is not a culinary hotspot, I didn't see much else.
Pugent Island has a ferry to Westport, Oregon:
http://www.iinet.com/~englishriver/LewisClarkColumbiaRiver/Regions/Places/puget_island_westport_ferry.html
FYI, the ferry runs from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily, on the hour.
