Never Say Die!

Today we saved the Goondocks! We found a map in my dads attic, and it lead us on a wild and crazy adventure into an underground fortress filled with booty traps, “you mean booby traps” “thats what i said booby traps, God these guys,” Data. We found one eyed Willy’s ship filled with “riches” and saved the day. Ok, we didn’t do anything like that but we did go to Astoria, OR where the movie was filmed. Like most people my age I’m obsessed with the movie “the Goonies.” I’ve seen it a million times and know it word for word. It’s classic. After all the amazing things we’ve seen on the road trip so far its hard to believe that Astoria, Or and the Goondocks were one of first things I planned on seeing when initially planning. This was a top priority. That should show you how much this movie means to me. The first stop on our Goonie tour was Haystack rock and Ecola state park where the Fratelli’s opening credits chase scene concludes, the Lighthouse lounge/Fratelli’s hide out is, and the closing scene where the boys are found on the beach were all filmed. “I think I have a match. I’m sure of it. The lighthouse, the rock, and the restaurant all fit the doubloon,” Mikey. It was really windy making a mild temp day pretty cold, but just like Mikey, I was enthralled with a sense of adventure and the cold wasn’t a factor. Jillian was more like Chunk and came along fro the ride complaining here and there. The haystack rock was enormous.

From here we drove into Astoria and drove past the bowling alley that Chunk was in in the opening credits. “Listen, okay? You guys’ll never believe me. There was two cop cars, okay? And they were chasing this four-wheel deal, this real neat ORV, and there were bullets flying all over the place. It was the most amazing thing I ever saw,” Chunk Around the corner from there was Mikey’s dads museum and next to that was the jail the Fratelli’s break out of in the opening scene. To our surprise the jail was turned into a small museum dedicated to the Goonies and other movies filmed in Astoria. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3, Kindergarten Cop, Short Circuit, The Ring 2, Free Willy) It was an awesome little museum. One half was all Goonies. The cell where the opening scene was filmed was open. In the other 2 cells were Goonies memorabilia, including Data’s jacket, backpack, inventions, “pinchers of power” and nike kicks. In the other half of the Jail was interactive exhibits with movie making equipment and green screens. Its was pretty high tech for such a small museum. Inside boxes on the shelves in the back were props including Chester Copperpots wallet with Lou Gehrigs baseball card, the key to one eyed willy and the doubloon. The lady running the place let us in for free. She was very informative and told us all about the town and the movies filmed here. The Ring 2 was actually filmed at her house. We ran around the museum like kids. I was in Goonie heaven. I even took a Jake Fratelli pose pic. The gift shop was full of memorabilia, Replica maps, broken penis statues of david, and “baby ruths”

Mikey’s Dad’s Museum
As we fled Jillian poured gasoline around the perimeter and I shot it with my gun lighting a circle of fire around the museum. We were on our way to see Mikey and Bran’s house, the Goonie headquarters. Along the way there we passed by the Kindergarten Cop school as a bonus. “Its not a tumor”

After 26 years the house has gone through some renovation. So it’s not identical to how it looked in the movie, but its still standing. Across the street is Data’s house. His house has changed a lot but still is painted in the same color blue. I should have made Jill do the truffle shuffle outside of the house.

With the sun starting to set and my childhood awoken with in me I drove away from the Goondocks listen to Cyndy Lauper’s “the Goonies are good enough” while Jillian tuck herself into bed for her daily nap. We were on our way out of my childhood and into my teens, to the Grunge capital of the world, Seattle.

Check This Gem Out. Youtube wouldn’t let me embed it. It’s Cyndi’s Musci Vid complete with the WWF Wrestlers of the time for god knows what reason.

For those of you who didn’t understand this post due to not seeing or only seeing the Goonies “once a long time ago” t, get a life! Your childhood sucked! Rent the movie TONIGHT.

-Ricky

Next and Last Stop: Seattle, WA