2004 was a very special year for me. I was 24 and I never left France. It all started in 2003 when The Daily Astorian reached me (because of my website) and asked more infos about me for an article about the Goonies. They were amazed by the fact that I was French and fan of Goonies. The article came out and I was then contacted by an Astorian family and also… Sandi, the then owner of the Goonies house. I was so happy and I started to save money for a trip.

Once I got the money I planned the trip and was happy to not think about a place to stay because the family offered to help me with that. I also got to plan a meeting with Sandi and The Daily Astorian for a front page interview. I also decided to go to San Francisco (hum.. just to buy the Indiana Jones shoes from Alden). The plan was to stay 10 days in Astoria and a week to San Francisco.

Arrived in Oregon, the family came to the airport to get me. We couldn’t go to Astoria the same day because the father had to go to a cabin in a forest (seems to be the beginning of a horror story hahaha) and we would go to Astoria the next day. It was pretty cool and we got to visit the Timberline lodge, the inspiration hotel for Shining

We arrived in Astoria and we stopped quickly by the Goonies house. I cried… yes, I cried. It might sound stupid but it was a dream for me for years and to see this house in real life meant a lot to me. 

The house where I stayed was pretty the opposite direction and far away from the Goonies house but, everyday, I walked (I didn’t have a car) to the house and did some sketchs and imagined the Goonies filming. 

I finally met Sandi and she invited me to visit her house and, I think, I cried again... the GOONIES HOUSE… for real… at that time there was no Goonies anniversaries to visit the house. I was so happy, I think you can imagine ! Once the house done, we went to Cannon Beach but unfortunately the weather wasn’t great. However I loved that location ! 

I had the pleasure to do the interview for the Daily Astorian and it was amazing, the next day I was on the front-page. I still have my newspaper in my archives.

This 2004 trip was a blast and just the beginning of my Goonies adventures.