Taking the coastal route

My husband and I did Christopher Reynolds’ road trip over nine days in mid-May [“A Drive Through Oregon and Washington, One Beach at a Time,” Aug. 9]. However, we flew to Portland, rented a car and began to drive down the Oregon coast from Astoria to San Francisco.

Too bad he missed Astoria. We stayed at the beautifully renovated Cannery Pier Hotel, which sits right on the Columbia Bar, where you can watch the ships pass in front of you. It’s almost as if you were on the balcony of a cruise ship. Plus, the hotel provides, at no cost, a chauffeur and classic car to take you into town for dinner.

The Columbia Bar is also the site of the Coast Guard deep-water rescue academy, and there is a very fascinating museum about the Coast Guard and the Bar in Astoria that is worth seeing.

Laurie Lyons

Studio City

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My wife and I both read Reynolds’ article, and it’s inspiring us to consider a trip with our son to visit some of the points Reynolds talked about, including the Sou’wester Lodge. To answer the question at the end of the piece, “The West Coast should be infinite, shouldn’t it?” The answer is yes. And so should his article.

Phil Keosababian

Whittier