A visit to San Francisco is not complete without a ride down Lombard Street (the world-famous crooked street). Earlier we walked down it, but today as we departed for Santa Cruz we decided to put caution to the wind and ride the roller coaster! I don't know who was more scared "me" (the driver) or the walkers as they jumped out of our way. Before cruising the coast, we decided to drop in on a few old friends as we made our way out of San Francisco...Mrs Doubtfire (Robin Williams movie) and the Tanner family (Full House TV show)! Unfortunately, they were not there...but we enjoyed seeing their homes and knocking at their door! On our way, we stopped here and there along the coast... Land's End is at the mouth of the Golden Gate, this ... read more

Today’s excursion took us up Mt Hood to the Timberline Lodge. Since we did not get to do it yesterday, we took the Grand Tour today. Some of you may already be familiar with the Timberline Lodge, the exterior appeared in the opening of the movie “The Shining” where Jack Nicholson and family drive up to The Overlook Lodge. Timberline Lodge was built in 1936 by Roosevelt’s WPA program. The Lodge is also known as the “People’s Lodge” as it was hewn by public workers into a monumental masterpiece of beautiful paintings, wood sculptures, mosaic glass, carved linoleum, stone and iron. The average age of the workers was 56. They were unemployed, desperate artists who were grateful to have the opportunity to contribute their skills to this monumental project. The huge timbers and gigantic boulders came ... read more

Today we continue our adventure in the interior of Oregon. We stopped at the fire jumper’s museum. These men would load themselves with about 150 pounds of gear, fly to the site of the fire high in the mountains, and parachute down in the middle of nowhere to put out the raging flames before they spread into a major forest fire…all this for $2/hour back in the 1960s. Currently, there are 40 active fire jumper bases in Canada, over 100 in the U.S. and 1,000 in Russia. Hopefully they get paid more than what they use to for doing this dangerous work! Our road followed the Umpqua River, a designated scenic highway. We came upon a spot where the Little River collided with the Umpqua River. Many years ago, an Indian village was located on this ... read more

FINALLY…we had a low tide this morning!! All three of us were up before 6:00am to inspect the seashore (thank goodness, the shore was just outside our hotel door) Lo and behold, the tidepools revealed themselves!! Not quite as colorful as the tidepool at the Ocean World Aquarium, but lovely nevertheless. Today, we finish our Redwood adventure, going south of Crescent City. First on our list was the historic Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail. This walk winds through upland stands of ancient redwoods, douglas fir, and tanoak to the site where the First Lady, Mrs. Johnson, stood to dedicate the Redwood National Park in 1968. This area is known for its foliage in amongst the redwoods. In the spring, rhododendrons and azaleas abound. Next, we drove along the Newton... read more

Today we traveled along the scenic, craggy coastline from Gold Beach, Oregon to Crescent City, California…54 miles of spectacular viewpoints that take your breath away. The sea stacks are myriad of shapes and sizes with names like Sisters Rock, Whaleshead, House Rock, Arches and Natural Bridges. We had a wonderful time walking the trails; some meandering through fairy-like forests and then leading out to magnificent bluffs…that were rather windy! This area is also known for its tidepools; star fish and sea anomie that attach themselves to rocks and become exposed during low tide. We had such fun exploring the beaches but these sea treasures eluded us yet for another day. The weather was picture perfect, not foggy as is common on the coast. We picnicked along the shore and even had time to take a nap. ... read more