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7th May
Coast bound today, the altitude had been a bit of a struggle particularly for Sal, we had been up to was about 8000 ft so Machu Picchu was disappearing off our bucket list and we were both glad to go down.
The hotel had trolleys for you to put luggage on and wheel to the car and as we weren't that well packed as everything was going in the car, our assorted suitcases and bags went on here, unfortunately, Col forgot the suitcases were on wheels and everything fell off ha ha! Only slightly embarrassing as Sal couldn't help for laughing ?, luggage porter has been crossed off the list of possible new careers.There is a funny little drive through only coffee place opposite and we called in for a coffee, the guy was so friendly as everyone is and on hearing our accents, gave us our coffee for free, good coffee!
We left Klamath and drove through some fabulous scenery and came to a river with.......4 pelican's! They saw us and turned to swim the other way - honestly - but Col managed a photo of two of them! The street
we were on was called Puckett Road but some wag had doctored the P.
The scenery got more and more spectacular as we crossed another mountain range, we were very high up and fortunately, most of the time we were hugging the mountain, the other side of the road had a sheer drop of 100's of feet and in places the road was crumbling away and as usual , there was no barrier. The road camber swung this way and that every few yards, an interesting drive and as usual, Sal had just taken over but Col was driving every yard too!
We got to Ashland, a beautiful town, we would like to have stayed here probably as it had quite a European feel to it. Very busy, lovely shops and a good general feel to it. We found the quilting shop of course and spent a while in there talking about all sorts of things but nothing to do with quilts. We had been recommended to the ice cream parlour and they weren't wrong with that, yum!
There is no shortage of trees wherever we go, but the trees were
getting bigger and bigger as we approached the Redwood National Forest, it was quite dark as there are so many trees and the canopy is very high, but younger trees are struggling to grow up to the light as well. Most of the oldest redwoods are in this park. Some of them are 2000 years old and can be 375 feet tall. There is moss growing and hanging off the branches which almost gives it a fairy grotto look, be it on a grand scale. Absolutely fantastic.
Crescent City on the California coast was our destination, we were less than impressed where our agent Trailfinders had booked us in, the accommodation was a run down motel but the room opened out onto the parking lot of a takeaway. Everywhere else we had stayed was great and this was really poor, so we checked in and more or less checked back out and booked ourselves into a lovely hotel down the road. Had we have stayed, the pepper spray would have been on standby. We ate at a funny restaurant as it was half Italian and half Greek. It looked like a port-a-cabin from the outside but was
smart inside. Just tucking into our Moussaka and 3 ladies of a certain age came into the room, dressed in their holiday souvenir Greek jangly outfits and did an interesting series of dances, holding eye contact for too long, we couldn't decide whether to laugh or eat, but good on them!
8th May
We went to another part of the Redwoods park the next morning, this was on an unmade road which was a bit at odds with our tyres but worth it and so impressive, the height of the trees and the width of the trunk was amazing, not too much tree hugging possible with some of these! Again it had this eerie and mystical feel about it and is often used in filming, some of the Star Wars films have used this area. Every now and then, we could see flowers which turned out to be rhododendrons and we later discovered this part of the coast was known for them. The drive was slippery and we were shocked near the end when a car came in the other direction, we thought it was one way...
We hugged the coast,
travelling north back into Oregon, the coast line was spectacular. The sea is every colour of blue and green. There are lots of wide stretches then smaller bays, often with small and large rocks dotted about in the water near the shore making dramatic scenes. We stopped for an excellent lunch, perched high up looking down into a small bay with a rock, big enough for a house so a substantial rock. The food was great and the waitress must have thought so too as when we arrived and she sat us down, she said awesome, we thanked her for the menus to which she replied awesome, we ordered some drinks which apparently were awesome and everything we mentioned on the menu was awesome, we felt mighty awesome by the time we left. We drove on and decided to stop for a cup of tea, except, of course, they can't make tea here, water that is half boiled is pumped into a cup with a weird t-bag and generally tastes terrible so we had coffee, but again, the restaurant looked out over a fabulous bay, it was windy but the sun was shining and the sea and sky were beautiful
blues. (Re tea, we missed our cups of tea when we were here last year so, this year, made an exceptional investment in £7 worth of travel kettle which has been brilliant, tea in bed every morning - best way to start the day).
We stopped at Bandon on the Coquille River as it flows out to the Pacific, Bandon was named by an Irish chap who settled here in 1873 and his Irish hometown in County Cork was of the same name. They started growing cranberries here in 19th century and it is still one of the major centres for the industry today. The town is quite touristy with a pretty harbour and the old factory/warehouse buildings have been left as they were but with shops and restaurants inside them now.
Amongst all the stunning scenery were more and more rhododendrons, mostly shades of pink but lilac and white as well, they have an annual rhododendron festival in the area.
We were staying in Florence, our hotel was absolutely gorgeous which made up for last night, we had a balcony straight on to the Siuslaw river which ran into the
Pacific just behind a large sand dune which was also in view from our balcony. It wasn't the smartest hotel we had ever stayed in but there was something about it that we both liked and would have liked more than the two nights we had. The town was quaint by American standards and all walkable from our hotel which is extremely unusual here. Great choice of restaurants and we had some of the best pasta we have ever had and in fact went back the next night for one of the best pizzas we have had, though we shared it, we still couldn't finish it. We took the pizza back to our room and sat on the balcony with another bottle of Napa wine and watched the sun go down on the river, lovely!
9th May
We had a chill out day in Florence, it was only small so didn't take long to walk through the town. There was a large green at the end and there were lots of dogs about and it turned out to be graduation day for the dog training class. We got talking to a chap with a big happy
Burmese Mountain Dog called Willy who was very pleased to see all the other dogs and not that interested in what his owner wanted him to do. We sat and watched this for a while which was fun and everybody so friendly, they all came and had a word with us, we also got talking to a chap from Devon, he had come to California, with his new wife 50 years ago to try his luck, stayed a year then went back, got a job in Slough, lasted 6 months and came straight back to America, says a lot for Slough!
10th May
We rejoined route 101 and continued northwards following the beautiful Oregon coastline. Col bought some great polo shirts and an even greater price. Most of the time we were up high looking down at the coastline, sometimes it was huge expanses of really golden sand with the bluest of blue sea lightly rolling in, then it would be quite craggy with rocks of varying sizes then other times, usually at the point where a creek or river met the ocean, the beach would be littered with fallen trees which had been there a
long time so had turned a grey colour and gave the beach an abandoned and deserted look.
Having seen our lovely room for the next 3 nights, split level bedroom and sitting area with our own deck, we hot footed to Safeway for a picnic supper!
11th May
We had spotted a couple of viewing areas on our drive to the supermarket last night so set off early to see the morning view, we missed the turning and then turned down a one way street but ended up on the most beautiful stretch of beach in a place called Taft, with a lovely old wooden pier and harbour seals, loads of them, there was a stretch of water between them and us but we loved being able to watch them. There were people fishing for crabs, they throw little versions of lobster pots that are bated and throw them like you were a cowboy throwing a lasso. 2 crusty old fellas doing this were very happy for a chat with us then another chap walking his dog told us about the area and how he liked to fish here and caught big salmon
but you had to outwit the seals as they would pinch it off the end of your fishing line. Further along there were half a dozen people looking for stuff in the sand, we went to talk to them and the beach washes in agates, coloured, glassy, pretty stones they use for jewellery mostly, we looked in their buckets and they had quite a collection. Really liked this place.
We stopped at a funny little cafe with lovely people running it. The menu wasn't that clear but we decided what we wanted and we don't think we got any of it, they brought us what they thought we should have, it was nice anyway!
Stopping at a view point we noticed a couple of boats moving quickly towards each other, we kept watching and...... WE SAW A WHALE! We were so excited!
We drove back down to Newport for a bit of retail with the best quilt shop so far. The woman was a bit crusty but Col won her round and soon, with several other customers in there an hour of chat and laughs had flown by!! We went to
the historic bay district, much associated with the fishing Industry which is huge here - it is quite overwhelming when you go in any supermarket to see the fabulous array of fish and particularly shellfish, which are pretty much run of the mill here whereas our supermarkets would only have a small amount on display. A large group of sea lions have made this home, they are not captive or fed and seem completely indifferent to all the people looking down at them from the pier, not unlike the ones in SF. They are great to watch, they sun themselves on about 6 rafts and there isn't room for all of them. When one is trying to get on the raft and disturbs the others, they get very grumpy and are not having any of it, so there is a bit of argy bargy then straight back to sleep, then they all get angry with each other and start barking for a few seconds, and then it is like oh! Can't be bothered, back to sleep and sunning themselves. We had lunch at a retro cafe called flashbacks all red and chrome, great old juke box and surprisingly good food.
We loved the beach from this morning so went back for sunset and it didn't disappoint. We stopped for another photo op on the way back to our hotel, the road was very quiet, there was no proper pull in so we pulled over and put the hazard lights on, within seconds, a police car sped up, they thought we were in trouble, but no problem and they left us to it.
12th May
We decided to go to Newport again as we didn't really see the quayside, we stopped to pick up coffee but, as usual got chatting and sat inside for coffee, really good coffee, they roast their own beans right there in the shop and all the cakes/biscuits were handmade. It was a small cafe called The Pirates and of course had loads of pirate related stuff all over the place but they also played pirate music, half an hour of that was more than enough! Next door there appeared to be a canabis shop! We asked the coffee ladies about it and they said to go on in, they will show you around, so we did and
they did! It is legal in Oregon for medical and recreational use and after showing our ID they took us into the shop and explained about all the different types and different flavours, letting us sniff jars of this and that plus they had all the paraphernalia that goes with it - interesting!
We eventually got to Newport, they have a couple of nice artist galleries, we went in one which was also showing off the apartment you could rent, we got talking to some ladies who were recommending places we should go to in Seattle, we said how helpful people were offering suggestions and we had loads of bits of paper that people had scribbled down their ideas. It was so funny when we got downstairs and the gallery lady had prepared a list of cafes and restaurants for us to try in the local area!!!
Inevitably, we ended up watching the sea lions again, really funny, all so grumpy with one another, just for a few seconds, then head down and back to sleep, then grumpy then just too lazy to bother! You can hear them barking from 2/3 streets away!
Back to our new favourite beach at Taft in the evening for dinner at Mo's which is right on the beach, lovely!
13th May
We stopped again at Taft to say goodbye to the seals before setting off for Portland.
Brunch was in a local diner. We were greeted with usual enthusiasm and asked where we would prefer to sit, we pointed to a couple of seats, you got (pronounced guuuuut) it. Would you like menus, yes please you guuuuuut it (ygi for short) would you like coffee, yes please, ygi - would you like water, ygi - we order our food, ygi, how do you like your eggs, Col explains - ygi......... Anyway, the long and short of this is that we have got it, we are not entirely sure what it is but we have it.
We pulled off at a town called Dayton for a coffee, it as about 25 miles outside of Portland and very affluent looking area, beautiful houses, manicured gardens and smart public areas. We went to a cafe for a coffee and when we went to pay, no charge, coffee is
always free here says the smiling girl behind the counter, awesome we replied!
Satnav guided us through the busy Portland streets and straight to our very smart hotel, all dark wood and polish. For reasons unbeknown to us we were upgraded to a penthouse, we keep waiting for other people to get in the lift with us so that we can ask for the PH floor! It's very nice, we have a large hall area, sitting room with 2 huge chairs and a sofa, huge bedroom with enormous bed, we waved good night to each other but it is also one of the most comfortable beds we have ever slept in, plus a dressing room and bathroom, not bad for a couple of oiks from Slough!
The temperature has zoomed up to 90, very usual for Portland at this time of year. We took a walk to Powell's books, said to be the largest new and secondhand bookshop in the world and it was great to see it was really busy with people walking around with baskets full of books they were buying. We retired to the local brewery where the beer, brewed on
the premises was good, the wine was from Oregon and equally good and the food excellent.
14th May
The temperature has dropped by 20 degrees and rain is predicted, Portland is known for its rain! With the best will in the world, there are not a whole load of places to visit in Portland. The main part of the city is quite compact and the blocks small, they call them minute blocks as it takes 1 minute to walk from one to another. There are some lovely turn of the century buildings and street furniture and lots of shops. They have a good public transport system and $5 buys you an all day pass. We went down to the riverside which isn't particularly interesting but at the weekend they have a market and the larger part of it is a craft market and they are strict on sellers selling what they have personally made so we enjoyed that and loved the portable atm with a wheel clamp and the porta loos called honey buckets ..... yuk!
The river seems largely unused today but that was the key to Portland's fortune being a gateway
to the Pacific for foodstuffs and particularly the huge logging industry here.
We went up to Washington Park which is a huge area with woods but within are cultivated rose gardens and Japanese gardens. There was a free park shuttle to take you to different areas as it is huge and hilly and as it was raining by now we got on the bus and we were the only ones, so we didn't bother getting off and the guy commented on what we were passing so it was quite nice. Towards the end he started talking about his embarrassment of the idea that Trump might be next President, we've met a few who feel the same.
From the short time here and small distance we had covered, we were shocked by the amount of homeless people and beggars on the street, nearly every bin we passed had somebody riffling through it. Later in the afternoon as it was drizzling, we took the tram which took a large loop around the city, they are trams on rails so a set route. A car decided to pull over and hit the tram, not badly but our
tram driver decided to make a bit of a drama about it, particularly when he realised he was an uber driver and they seem to be very unpopular here having had a conversation with the concierge. Anyway, the driver was wedged, our driver who had an amazing amount of tattoos, piercings and those big loop things in his ears, had us all completing accident forms (Col put he was suing for whiplash)and the driver being more dramatic wouldn't open the doors until the supervisor arrived. Approximately 30 seconds later the supervisor came! Was he following us?!
We got going again, crossed the river to where a number of big, mostly abandoned looking factories were and it certainly got more run down as we went along, unused and derelict buildings and lots of makeshift tents and bits of tarpaulin strapped up between to trees or posts, full of people living there, it really was a bit of a shock just how big Portland's homeless problem was.
Appropriately we went for a drink and meal in the Rock Bottom brewery!
It was prom night, 100's of 17 year olds, all dressed in long
frocks, escorted by their penguin suited date for the night on their way to dinner in a restaurant, quite a few came into Rock Bottom before moving on to their prom.
15th May
Last day of the car today - where did that time fly too! Through the rainy traffic of Portland heading north to Seattle. We stopped for breakfast (very good!) and got directions to the launderette. OMG, this was an education. It was huge and full of people and sack loads of dirty washing. They were all native Americans, women were sitting on top of their machine, not sure if that was to stop somebody pinching it or the contents or for a cheap thrill. Kids were laying in front of machines, saving them we presume for when Mum or Dad arrived with the washing, it was pretty horrible and we thought our washing was probably cleaner before it visited one of these machines. So back on the road to a place called Chehalis, very smart and an all together better type of laundry and what do you know, almost next door a fab quilting shop that was open on a Sunday!
We cut it a bit fine arriving in Seattle and returning the car on time but made it... just. We had enjoyed the freedom of the car over the last 3+ weeks and seen so much and met such lovely people. Lots of things which caught our attention to begin with, become the norm as you drive along through small and medium size towns. The amount of signs is ridiculous, every shop has large neon signs, often very high so you can see from a distance which is useful, particularly restaurants and petrol stations and you would have had pre warning signs of theses coming up on the outskirts, the sheer amount of places to buy coffee is ridiculous, something we noticed a lot, particularly in Oregon are little drive through coffee huts, you can't go in, only drive through. The amount of traffic signs is overwhelming, you feel you could crash the car whilst taking the time to read them all. Points of interest and historic markers often have a sign to tell you there is a historic marker sign coming up! Wires are another thing, the majority of electricity and telecoms wires are overground and look really
untidy. Thrift shops are as common as our charity shops in places and storage, my goodness, how much stuff have people got to store. Tiny little towns have row upon row of what looks like garages but you rent one to store STUFF , so much stuff. One little town we went through only had a population of 1300 (there are signs to tell you that) well, they must have had at least 1500 storage units, so one each and room for growth in the population. We saw a TV programme where if people don't keep up the rent on these units, they auction them off but you have no idea what you are getting.
Another sign everywhere is Tsunami safe zones. All along the coast safe zones are marked, near the beeches there are information boards on what you should do and the hotels have info in every bedroom on what to do and where you should run like hell to.
So, Seattle, the city was rebuilt 100 years ago from its original settlement origins after a big fire. As it was prone to flooding, they decided to raise the city so as
you leave the waterfront there are some steep hills or flights of steps if on foot to get to the main part of the city. Our hotel was on the waterfront, in fact it is suppose to be only hotel actually in the water as it sits on one of the many piers, many of which have lost their industrial use and being transformed for other uses. The hotel used to advertise itself as the only hotel you could fish from your bedroom! They have pictures of The Beatles doing this. We chose not to pay $50 per night supplement for a water view as that was all you got, no boats or harbours so we had a city view. What they didn't tell you was that the railway came out from a tunnel somewhere nearby and trundled along not far from our bedroom and one of their freight trains can take a very long time to go by when they are pulling 60-70 carriages behind! It didn't bother us, we slept through them but the hotel did supply ear plugs free of charge!
16th May
Where the new city was built up high, some of
the old town, not destroyed in the fire, still exists beneath the modern roads and pavements and there is a tour you can do but, unfortunately, we ran out of time.
It was a grey dull day, rubbish for photography but we took the hotel shuttle to The Space Needle, which is the iconic symbol for Seattle, built in the 60's for a world expo. Sal doesn't like lifts and Col doesn't like heights so we gave that a swerve and went next door to the absolutely stunningly fabulous Chuhily exhibition. We had seen the exhibition at Kew a few years ago but this was both inside and out and completely fabulous, we had planned on an hour and were there for more than three!! We took the monorail back into the heart of the city and after a bit of retail, went to Pike Market which is for food, flowers, crafts but famous for fish, an amazing array of fish and great displays of shellfish. The guys selling it are the most famous with continual banter with customers and flinging fish at one another which everyone waits to watch, we even managed to get a photo.
There are a couple of famous restaurants within the market, we went to Atheneum which specialises in fish, oysters, chowder but became famous as Tom Hanks used it in Sleepless in Seattle, Col sat in the seat next to the plaque commemorating this historical event.
We walked down never ending steps behind the market which was not the most pleasant area but looks like they are starting to tidy it up. We got down to the waterfront and took the sightseeing boat out into Elliot Bay which was interesting but the weather as sooooo dull.
17th May
Early start as we are off to Canada! We should have been travelling by train but Amtrak are digging up tracks somewhere so we are on a replacement bus, we don't have much luck with Amtrak, last time we used them our train was 8 hours late getting into Chicago and we therefore missed our flight home and ironic that we have had trains trundling past our window for the last 2days and when we need one.........
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