Usually, I post stuff about life on campus and academics at Lewis & Clark, but being at LC and in Portland also has lots of advantages that are off campus. This weekend my friends and I spent the weekend in Astoria, Oregon which is on the coast. It was about a two-hour drive from LC, and we got there at about 8:30 after we had dinner at the Bon. And then we left there around 2 Sunday and got back to campus a little after 4, so the drive was really doable, and it also really pretty between here and there.
The town of Astoria was beautiful, and a nice quiet retreat for us. We stayed in a friends grandparents house while we were there. It was great because we went to the store and we got to cook our own meals. We had Avocado toast for breakfast one day and pancaked another day. We also played monopoly one night and we watch the classic films: Mulan and Happy Feet. It was a great time. Most of us that went are political science or International Affairs majors so we also spent quite a bit of time debating and discussing politics, especially the current Democratic candidates for president. I enjoyed that a lot too. It was especially nice because some of us are in the same politics related classes so we got to sound smart and reference some of the stuff we're learning in class and I also enjoyed that. 
When we weren't at the house we we went on a hike up to the Astoria Column which is an art piece and monument that you has a spiral staircase to the top with amazing views of the city and the coast. I think that was the most stars I've ever gone up at one time, it was truly impressive. The hike up was also beautiful and got to enjoy the trees and the greenery on a warm day. It was a little muddy too but that just added to the sense of adventure. We had lots of photo shoots too, we were trying to evoke the indie band, album cover aesthetic which I think we achieved in many of the photos from this weekend.
I think one of my favorite things from this weekend though was going to the beach at night and making a fire to roast s'mores over. We watched the sunset and took some really great photos of it. And then we drug some driftwood together to make ourselves some benches and mad a fire. It was actually pretty chilly so the fire was great for s'mores and for warmth. Thankfully we found some great marshmallow roasting sticks on the beach (because we forgot to pack some of those.) I think I probably at 4 s'mores and I have no regrets. We also went back to the beach Sunday morning and listened to some good music and soaked in a last bit of sun before heading back to campus.
I really appreciate that LC (and Portland in general) is so close to a lot of great different outdoorsy opportunities. Lot's of people I know will go take a trip out the coast every once in a while because it's just a beautiful and relaxing place to be. I'm glad we decided to take advantage of what's around us this weekend and it's another reason I'm glad I'm at LC.