A Lot Of Miles A Lot Of Sights

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A LOT OF MILES A LOT OF SIGHTS...

It's February the 17th as I write this. Not sure when we'll get the internet next so will put this up as soon as possible. Ive tried to do a route map as good as possible from memory as well... I havent yet put photos up, there are a lot of them so it may take a while - even though my flash is broken on my camera so I cant take photos at night...

We've been extremely busy since we've left Vancouver - days packed with stuff - this is going to be a big post I think! We realised we had spent too much time up north so decided to try and get as much as possible done in the remaining 3 weeks we have the RV. So where to start? Well I guess right where we left off in Vancouver would be good - down to 3 of us on the trip at this point of course. In fact leaving Vancouver was an experience on it's own - we were woken up by the police at 6.30am and asked to move! We had been parked behind 1080 (see previous blog) but it was being knocked down soon, so we had to move to let the construction company in...Luckily they didnt notice a traffic cone Matt and I had drunkenly smuggled in....Not the best start heading down to the USA, but at least they had duty free at the border 😊 (the border was surprisingly easy to get across both times we crossed in the RV)

I was sad to see the end of Canada, but I enjoyed my time there and have lots of good memories and have made lots of new friends there - Im sure Ill be back some day (to see the other provinces I missed - in an RV perhaps?). Across the border we headed into Seattle. In fact I thought this was quite fitting as Seattle is like a mini Vancouver, set with the backdrop of the Rockys and lots of watery features and shiny buildings - a very nice clean city. We drove towards the Space Needle - which stands out in the Seattle skyline with nothing to match it (kind of like the CN Tower or Washington Monument) - and makes Seattle instantly recognisable. Anyway, this turned out to be quite lucky, as near the needle we stumbled upon a street where the parking meters were shut off - so we ended up staying there for the next 2 nights for free without having to move - bonus!

Since going into the USA it has got warmer and warmer! The weather was good in Seattle even, Matt and I walked the whole town one day - starting at the waterfront (which was amazing) and heading through the city. We went out to hit some local bars and taste the local beer (we had 'Mack n Jack' which is quite possibly the worst beer I have had...ever!) - both nights in Seattle we stumbled upon (and joined in with) birthday parties! Quite random and quite fun. Matt also introduced me to Jagerbombs (Jagermeister dropped into Red Bull) which made for some entertaining evenings - I remember one night falling (aka jumping) into bushes after many of those! Also after Whistler Matt has decided to bare his ass more often, and is now going to get at least one photo of him baring his ass in every State we visit - typical Aussie!

Leaving Seattle the plan was to head for Portland, but we decided to skip it and head to more countryside areas rather than city areas and make the most of our time with the RV. First though we stopped at Millersvania State Park - our first of many parks - which was nice, a park surrounding a very tranquil lake. After that we headed onwards and down into Oregon. Oregon was full of ups and downs - quite literally in fact as we seemed to be driving up and down some steep hills and mountains! We have discovered our map is not particularly good - especially for distances - and it has no information on contours so we never know if a road is flat or mountainous! However this has made for some very scenic and beautiful drives which we have all enjoyed.

In Oregon we stayed in a number of different and exotic places - from a Walmart car park (where they welcome RVs) to a Truckers rest stop to our first campsite! One of the highlights of the trip so far was a trip to Craker Lake - a day which perfectly sums our up and down time in Oregon! We set off early, at 830am not really knowing what to expect. It was a beautiful day and we stopped off at several view points, to see some falls (Susan Creek Falls) and enjoy the countryside - the drive was great, we were alongside a beautiful creek and rivers for a while. The road further along became very foresty - much like many of the countryside roads down the West Coast of the USA. Then we started to head upwards. And upwards. And upwards - you get the idea. Snow started to appear on the trees, at one point we were surrounded by mounds of snow and were driving alongside the snow sparkling amongst the trees, it was fantastic (and totally unexpected!). We stopped off at Diamond Lake which was frozen over, but since it was such a nice day it was actually quite warm, so Matt and I sunbathed on the frozen lake for a bit! We kept on heading up, passing many signs that said we should be carrying snow chains - so we started getting a little nervous! Eventually we reached the peak and Craker Lake - the view was outstanding! Magnificent and well worth the effort. Speaking to the only other people there, apparently we were very lucky to see it in winter as not many people can get up the road - especially in a RV!

After relaxing up in Craker Lake and playing in the mounds of snow, we started to head downwards. We decided to go and see Klamath Falls which was on one of the roads down. It was another great drive, a bit flatter for patches but we drove past Klamath Lake which was glowing in the sunlight. Sadly though it turns out that Klamath Falls is just the name of a town - there are no falls there! Whoops! So as it was starting to turn dark we decided to drive across to the coast, so we'd be ready for a coastal drive in the morning - what we didnt realise was that we were driving over a couple of mountains to get there! What we thought would be a downhill 2 hour drive was a crazy up and down mountainous journey that took us closer to 5 hours! We drove along some of the worst roads Ive ever driven on - and did it in an RV at night! As we realised how bad the roads were we started to count a few things: we saw 8 'Rough Road' signs; we saw no fewer than 14 deer along the roadside! I think that this gives an idea of how remote the roads we were driving on were! That was the night we stayed in the Truckers Rest Stop, which we pulled into at 1230am - I was a very tired driver at that point!

However we had reached California and the beautiful coasts - which we were equipped to drive down on as we had a beach boys CD ready! Matt and Renata were very happy to see beaches again... I, on the other hand, was happy but knew that the time had arrived for my most essential travelling item to come out my bag - sun block! But disaster almost struck on the coast! Driving around the USA in an RV is quite a dangerous idea but I wasnt ready for what almost happened on the coast - we almost lost Homer!!!!!!! I had set him down when we hit the coast, so he could enjoy the view - but I left him there! We drove down the road, stopped for lunch on the beach, then drove a little further down to another viewpoint before I noticed he had gone! We drove back up the road to see if he was still there (about 15 minutes drive) - and he was! So dont worry Craig, Homer is fine, just a little shocked but he'll recover...

Well it turned out that the Northern California coastline is also quite hilly! I think all of us had had enough of ups and downs in the RV, so we headed inwards to some of the foresty drives of Northern California, driving through the wine filled area of Napa Valley (no, we didnt stop to taste!). We saw Grizzly Creek Redwoods Park, home of some of the tallest Redwoods in the world, the 'Immortal Tree' (about 1000 years old) and of course....Bigfoot! No, in fact we didnt actually spot Bigfoot, just a Bigfoot visitor centre, I guess he must be hiding somewhere - maybe with the Loch Ness Monster... It was around here, close to San Francisco, that we stayed in our first campsite.

What I thought would be one of the highlights of my trip was the drive to San Francisco, for the simple reason that it would mean Id be getting to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge! It wasnt as good as I thought it would be, the Golden Gate Bridge is impressive but is after all just a bridge (and the lanes are very thin - not made for RVs!)... Plus for the second time in the trip (see New York) I liked another bridge better than the 'main' attraction - the Bay Bridge further down the river was stunning! And they light up the Bay Bridge at night, but dont for the GG Bridge - anyone know why? However, we didnt get as close to the GG Bridge as the Bay Bridge, so I guess you cant really compare. And, of course, the GG Bridge makes the 3rd (and most likely final) Modern Wonder of the World on my trip so far 😊

San Francisco itself is a very beautiful city, I really liked it, one of the nicest I've been to, the only problem being that traffic is chaotic and it is not very 'RV friendly' so we couldnt spend that much time there. The city reminded me a lot of Barcelona, probably because of the huge Mexican (Spanish) influence in both San Francisco and San Jose. We bought a day ticket for the old school Cable Carts - the best way to get around the city centre of San Fran because they are a lot of fun - you can hang off the end whilst it is moving - this I did whenever we went on it! San Fran is of course famous for being hilly, but these old school Carts somehow manage the hilly climbs at a steady 10mph!

Fisherman's Wharf is the main visitors area in the city, but none of us particularly enjoyed it, it was way too touristy and tacky - full of souvenir shops and things like 'Ripley's Believe it or Not' - I have decided that any place that has one of these goes under the 'tacky tourist street' catergory (Niagara Falls has one, for example). However, I was able to buy some Sourdough bread down there, which San Fran is famous for, from a place called Boudins. I ate it over the nexy couple of nights, very nice 😊 You could also see seals (and other animals apparently) down at Fisherman's Wharf - I, however, was most excited when I randomly spotted a Lion Rampant flying from one of the bars! We also saw (i.e. laughed at) some street breakdancers...

Further along towards the GG Bridge, down at the waterfront, is a much nicer area offering views of the Bridge and Alcatraz - known simply as 'The Rock'. We didnt venture out to Alcatraz as we wanted to see more of the city and I had heard mixed reviews about it - some people saying that the entry price was a rip-off just to see a prison, others saying it was a great experience... Union Square was very nice, surrounded by beautiful palm trees and we also visited Lombard Street - home to one of the twistiest roads in the world... No we didnt take the RV down, it wouldnt have made it! A guy at the RV park we ended up staying at (after driving around for hours looking for somewhere to park) had told us to go to the Mariott Bar for a great view overlooking the city - he wasnt wrong! One of the nicest views I have seen on my entire trip was in that bar as we relaxed at the end of the day and watched the sunset behind San Fran's hills.

We wanted to sample the San Fran seafood but didnt want to eat down Fisherman's Wharf, so we headed up the hill towards town, trying to find a more local place - that we did and I had a great chowder plate (but I couldnt get the Simpsons chowder episode out my head - remember that when we had Chowder Bennie and Posse?). We had some wine with dinner, and you know how they say that if you're not used to wine it makes you very drunk? Well I think Matt found this out that night! We hit a few other bars in San Fran, nothing too big, a nice club with some cage dancers, a few Jager Bombs here and there but somehow Matt ended up completely wasted, I had to taxi him home (the RV site was beside the San Francisco 49ers stadium...) But that wasnt the end of it, back at the RV he had a little 'accident' - lets just say it involves Urine and a sleeping bag... I wouldnt normally put this online for all the world to see, Im not that cruel, but Matt has given me permission to!

Having spent a lot of money in San Fran, we headed onwards down the road to San Jose - which is even more Spanish and it felt like we were in Mexico! There are some beautiful palm trees around in San Jose. We spent another night at Walmart, where I also took the opportunity to buy some summer clothes, stocking up on shorts and beach wear... I think that my winter clothes are now pretty much useless and will need shipped off...

We visited Winchester House, a famous building where a millionairess, Lady Winchester lived, and continously (24/7) had people building onto the house to the extent where it now has around 160 rooms (more windows than the Empire State building apparently). The main theory behind this was that, after she lost her daughter and husband, a psychic told her she must appease the spirits by continually building a large house, then she would live forever... So she did continually build for around 38 years - then she died! Anyway the house itself is very interesting and beautiful, but I found the gardens to be the best part rather than the actual house itself... There are some interesting parts to the house, which show you how crazy this women was, such as a door to nowhere (drops out the house) or stairs leading to nowhere. Theory is that she wanted to confuse the spirits - but this doesnt fit in with the original theory! The tour guide was also very funny, a guy from New England, who like to laugh, rather loudly, at his own jokes!

I had also managed to book a ticket for the San Jose SAP Open, as Andy Murray was playing that night - defending his only ATP Title to date. I watched Andy Roddick beat Vince Spadea and then Murray (just) beat Hyung Lee ( I later heard that he did defend his title successfully). I had my Scotland top on, but was unable to locate a Scotland flag! There were a few Lion Rampants and Saltires kicking about though, and it was good to hear him being quite rightly introduced as from Scotland (not Great Britain - which I was quite surprised at...). The best part was, as the night dragged on, a lot of people (who had obviously come just to see Roddick) left, this way I was able to work down the seats and finished only 2 rows from the front with an amazing view of the action! I could even hear Murray tell himself off (he talks to himself a lot after points....)

The next day we we to Alum Rock Park, with a nice 2-3 mile round walk up the hills there for a great view of San Jose and the surrounding valleys. It was also very hot and it appears it is only going to get hotter and hotter... Although it might be a bit cooller in Yosemite, where we head next, before going down to see some California Beaches, San Diego, Phoenix, the Grand Canyon (cant wait!), Vegas and back to LA on the 28th to hand back the RV.

So we've done a lot of miles, around 1700 and seen a lot of sights...but there's more to come!

Mich

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Photos

Bye Bye Canada!
Canada looking across from the border...

Seattle Waterfront
One of many nice pics from Seattle Waterfront, where we walked along and had lunch

Space Needle
The instantly recognisable Space Needle of Seattle

Start of a long day
Driving alongside nice creeks at the start of our trek to Craker Lake - no snow in sight!

Sunbathing
Watch out ladies! Me n Matt sunbathing at Diamond Lake

Craker Lake
Homer and I enjoying the stunning view after we have driven up and up and up to Craker Lake

The Team
Me Matt and Renata stopping off for lunch during a foresty drive in California

The Coast
After all the ups and downs we finally hit the coast but disaster almost struck - this is the exact spot where Homer almost got left behind!

Cable Carts
Standing on the side riding the Old School World Famous Cable Carts in San Fran

Bay Bridge
A random photo, beside some random statues in San Fran, with the nice Bay Bridge in the background

Sunset
Relaxing with a beer and watching the sunset up in the Marriot Bar in San Fran

Winchester House
Palm trees surrounding the entrance to the enormous Winchester House

SAP Open Tennis
A courts eye view of Andy Murray, receiving serve in this photo against Lee

Alum Rock
After a bit of a trek, up Alum Rock outside San Jose

Comments

[Craig]

Awesome...
It just keeps getting better does it now? Very very jealous, you fancy doing this whole thing again in a couple years? I'll share the driving (we could go across america instead...) it'll be fun - also I'l take better care of homer. I can't believe you tried to leave him, thank goodness the others made you turn around. bastard. Anywho, hope Fiji is going great, I miss you...Oh, guess what was on tv the other night "hey look, it's ping pong" "umm, my names not ping pong, it's craig" Brilliant. x x x

[Michty6]

Lol love that episode of Simpsons... Oh and make it 3 years and Im in. And also start to learn Spanish cos we're going to South America...