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Published: April 27th 2006
Queen Ann Coffee Shop, Seattle
Rod & friend settle down for a brew in the sunHi All
After being on the road for 3 weeks, we thought it was about time we send an update. Also - confession time - having tired of constantly searching for Internet cafes and then desperately trying to beat the clock as our precious credit dripped away, we’ve treated ourselves to a laptop (Rod added it to the “outside the budget” category :o), and so we can finally let you have some pics of our adventures (
Click here for all of the photos) and write a ‘War & Peace‘ update...
It’s been a hectic 3 weeks and Whistler seems like a long time ago - as well as a long way away…we drove 1850 miles between Seattle and San Francisco…and another 400 miles between San Francisco and Santa Barbara, where we are at the moment.
After a few nights in Seattle where we enjoyed the funky Ace Hotel for a 2nd time, glorious sunshine. bargain-ous Thai curries - and Rod got himself an ill-advised ‘number 1’ hairdo - we picked up our rental car (a naff white Kia) and headed out of Washington State and on to the Oregon coast, reputedly one of the most beautiful stretches of coast that the US has to
Rach at Oswald West beach, Oregon
Rach admiring the views at Oswald West beach offer.
We travelled into Oregon via Cannon Beach which was a good introduction to Oregon’s miles of rugged, windswept and near-deserted beaches (apart from the die-hard surfers), strewn with driftwood. It was all very beautiful and very different from Whistler, and it felt like Spring had arrived since the weather was bright and warm-ish (despite the forecast rain). The next few days on the Oregon coast were a blur.
With hindsight we squeezed in too many one night stop-overs, but then hindsight is a wonderful thing. Rod was forever pulling the car off the 101 for the next vista point! (and you will get bored of the pics I’m sure). For what it’s worth, our highlights from the North Oregon coast were Nehalem, Oswald West and Bandon beaches (just a few of the countless Oregon State Parks), and you can see some of the photos on the Fotopic site. The Southern Oregon coast got particularly spectacular towards the California border, and still the weather held out so it was a very scenic drive.
On day 6 of our road-trip we reached California in drizzly weather and we were soon driving through the Redwoods State Parks and, very
Us at Bandon Beach, Oregon
An arm's length shot at Bandon Beach shortly thereafter, the Redwoods National Park. We spent that night in our first US ‘HI’ hostel - great setting, private room and every kitchen utensil under the sun, but a cr*ppy ‘no alcohol’ rule, so we supped our contraband plonk in the room and had a private Gin Rummy competition.
First thing the next day, we drove up to Klammath Overlook to try and catch a glimpse of the whales as they migrated North. We stood around for a while, as we debated the likely appearance of a whale versus a big rock from a distance (personally, I think we saw at least one whale, but clearly I have no proof), and then we moved on to ‘real Redwood’ territory…I won’t try and explain the things that go through your brain when you see a grove of coastal American Redwood trees…except to say that you will never feel more like a midget/leprachaun in your life…and when the mist descends (as it always seemed to do when in an area of Redwoods) then you just can’t shake the feeling that a T-Rex is about to come thundering past you, or a bear/cougar at least! Fortunately, Rod had to put up
A big tree, Redwoods NP
Here's a game: Spot Rod! with me singing ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ on a loop and jingling my bear bell without ever seeing hide or hair of anything bigger or scarier than a squirrel.
After a fairly damp day in the Redwoods, we enjoyed a dry and comfortable night in a cheap Tarantino-esque motel in Arcata. Arcata is a small college-town with some serious pot-smoking hobos and a healthy off-shoot ‘Hemp Ale’ brewing industry….very nice, highly recommend it.
After Arcata we moved on to the Humboldt Redwoods State Park (yes, more Redwoods) via Eureka and a nice coffee shop with reasonable Internet access (you get the idea)……The Humboldts SP was really very nice to drive through, but pretty depressing to camp in a small tent (carefully set up under tarps) in persistent, heavy rain. Cue a night spent drinking heavily and playing more Gin Rummy in the car. We made a record early start the next day - there are only so many hours you can listen to rain hitting canvas before you finally lose the plot. So after packing up a sopping wet tent and making a quick stop at the ‘drive-thru’ tree, we headed South on the 101 aiming for
Soggy campers
A somewhat damp night at Humboldt Redwoods SP Medocino, a tip from Myles (a former San Francisco dwelling colleague). Good tip, Myles. Mendocino (while still bloomin’ soggy) is a very mellow but affluent town on a scenic bit of headland with a regular influx of San Francisco week-enders. We hung around salivating outside trendy little cafes that are too-big a budgetary stretch at the moment (somewhere to go back to, with money, we’ve decided) ….but then blew a tidy wad on local Cab Sav and Port after a ‘free’ wine tasting!
After that, we spent another night in our horribly soggy tent (after another evening in the car) at the Van Damme SP campsite (just a few miles south of Mendocino). By this point, tempers were getting pretty frayed! Fortunately, we woke up to birds singing and the sun shining the next day and we managed to get the tent dry before heading down towards Point Reyes, the Peninsula just North of San Francisco that is gradually moving towards Alaska courtesy of the San Andreas fault-line! En route we stopped at Bodega Bay, where Hitchcock filmed ‘The Birds’ (understandably, as it’s rather photogenic) but fortunately the locally seagulls didn’t seem too interested in us.
We finally
Bodega Head
Rach looking out from Bodega Head arrived in Point Reyes to find that the campsite we’d booked was flooded from the un-seasonal downpours and so we stayed in the local Hostel….very pleasant, but dorms were the only option and, yet again, no booze!! The next morning we did a short walk down to a local beach and back, although the route back was basically a big swamp (again, too much rain) and Rod managed to get most of it in his shoes. We also saw a couple of snakes - type unknown, so take a look at the pics and let us know if you recognise them.
Next stop, Napa Valley, which is another challenging place to visit on a budget, but the weather was great and we managed to search out one of the few complimentary wine-tastings and glugged back some fairly generous helpings of some very expensive wines! After the ‘shall we/shan’t we buy some’ debate, good won out and we retreated to our tent and beans in baked spuds dinner :o) ……The next day brought more constant, miserable rain (Aaargghhh), so we spent most of the day in Calistoga, an up-market little spa town in the North of the Napa Valley….and found
Us in front of El Capitan
Big respect to Jack Osbourne! the Calistoga Roastery, a great coffee shop with reasonably-priced Internet access (getting bored, yet?). The rain was only getting heavier that afternoon and we heard that Yosemite (the next scheduled stop) was forecast heavy snow! Given that plan A was camping in Yosemite (!!), plan B kicked in and we booked ourselves in to the Yosemite Bug Hostel instead. Our last night in Napa was spent hiding from the weather - and the tent - in a local brew-pub!
Not much of interest to report en route to Yosemite and when we got there we were very happy to be staying indoors while the rain pelted down outside. Even better, this hostel not only allowed alcohol, but it served incredibly cheap beer at a budget-friendly $1.75 a pint. Not to mention very nice food and scrumptious homemade cakes… As for Yosemite itself, the weather made a remarkable improvement by the morning and the sun beat down for the whole of our time there, although we still encountered plenty of snow on 2 or our 3 walks, which made things pretty interesting when we were walking up or down steep stuff. All in all, we did around 20 miles of
Golden Gate Bridge, SF
Us in front of (there's a theme here) GGB in SF walking, some of it pretty tough - but then, it’s all training for Peru, as Rod kept reminding me. The Yosemite scenery didn’t disappoint, as the photos show…and respect to Jack Osbourne for climbing El Capitan cos it’s pretty impressive!
Bit of a change from Yosemite to San Francisco, where we spent 4 days. The weather was kind and we most of the usual tourist stuff: Golden Gate Bridge, the Coit Tower, Lombard Street, Alcatraz, Haight-Ashbury, Castro etc. We stayed at yet another great value hostel and joined a pub crawl organised by the Hostel on the first night, which was a giggle. Most of the people we spoke to were all on RTW trips and there was lots of chatting about itineraries - turns out that everyone is going to Fiji, so it could get a little crowded! On the upside there were a few people travelling that are actually older than us - bonus! As for San Francisco, it was good, although a pretty diverse place to get your head around in just a few days….seriously hilly too - I (Rach) needed oxygen at the top of every climb! On the food front, we had 2 disappointing
Tomasso's in North Beach
Rach and a rather nice pizza at Tomasso's in North Beach, SF ‘best in the city’ burrito experiences (we’re persistent if nothing else!), but the 'Little Italy' area of North Beach where we stayed was great - Rod had his best coffee so far at Caffe Trieste and we had a great meal at Tomasso’s, a North Beach institution for 70 years.
We’ll save the last few stops for the next update - you can wake up now (!!), sorry for the extended bulletin, but how do you squeeze 3 weeks worth of fun in to just a few paragraphs!
Take care All
R&R
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Mark C
non-member comment
Nice hair, Rod! Who was your inspiration?
Despite the rain, it sounds as if you've had a great time. I was in Wisconsin last week, which was great too, just a pity it wasn't a bit nearer to where you were to meet up!