Goonies Never Say Die!

So, I am a big fan of the 1980's and that includes the music and definitely the movies. In my car I constantly listen to the 80's channel on Sirius. For some reason I just love the 80's, so when I found out the Goonies movie was filmed 20 minutes from where we were staying in Oregon I was super pumped. I mean that movie was my all time favorite when I was a kid. I believe Pam informed me of the infamous movie location a while back and I knew that if I was to ever visit her in Oregon it was a must to see where the Goonies was filmed. When I received the wedding invitation in the mail my first thought was happiness for Pam and Garrett, but my second thought was the upcoming visit to the Goonies site. Yippee!

So, the Wednesday before our flight was scheduled to leave I got online to check out the locations of where my favorite childhood movie was filmed. I found that the beach with the rock formations was filmed at Cannon Beach, which is 20 minutes south from our hotel, and the rest of the movie was filmed in Astoria, which is about 20 minutes north from the hotel. Astoria is also the location of many films including Free Willy, Short Circuit and Kindergarten Cop. I noticed we could do tours of all the major film locations, but I was only interested in the Goonies, so the whole tour was not for me. I figured I could give myself a tour just by using my best friend Google. I sent directions to Cannon Beach to my roomie, Kim, and then proceeded to inform her of my big self-tour plans and invited her to join me. I figured it wouldn't be as much fun without her. I think she just felt sorry for me and gave in after I forwarded her about 10 emails of different sights to see on the Goonie film tour.

So, our first stop was Cannon Beach. This was absolutely beautiful, but quite chilly. I did get a shot of the beach for the video. After Kim and I walked around and took a bunch of photos it was time to head to our hotel to check-in. Once we stopped in at our tiny little cabin (or love nest) we got back in the rental car to head north to Astoria to finish the tour. I was such a geek as I was overly excited and Kim could tell so of course she made fun of me just a little bit, but I am sure I deserved it. Once we arrived in Astoria we stopped at the visitor's center to get specific directions to the house that Mouth lived in. This was the house that was shown at the beginning of the movie before they went on their journey of looking for the buried treasure. The guy at the visitor's center said we must be from out of town because we are so tan. I was wondering who he was talking to because we certainly are not tan, or at least Kim is not. I was thinking it could be either the so-called tan factor or the fact that we are in a visitor's center...mmmm...interesting concept! Anyway, he provided us with a handy dandy map to take us up the road to the house. People actually live in the house now so we had to park at the bottom of the short hill and walk up to take pictures. They welcome Goonies fans, but want people to respect their privacy too. The view from the hill the house was on was amazing. After the house we stopped at the jail they used at the beginning of the film where the brothers broke out of prison. This jail was used in a few movies and is now used as a film museum. There were many other places to check out like the football field that was used at the beginning of the film and the arcade where Chunk watched the police chase from the window, but I didn't want to put Kim through that torture. I figured if I saw the beach, the house and the jail then I was pretty happy. We could have actually done the whole beginning of the movie where they film the police chase through town. I only know that because I found all the directions online, but I am not that big of a nerd! Right?

Here is the film I put together with my handy-dandy Flip. First you will see Cannon Beach with the amazing rock formations, then I take you to the house and show the sign that is displayed at the bottom of the hill and then we go to the jail. I also inserted the song from Cyndi Lauper, Good Enough, that was played at the beginning of the movie too! So, if you can't tell I had a fantastic time in Oregon giving myself, and Kim, a self-guided tour of the Goonies film making.