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Published: February 24th 2006
Some red bridge...
The best shot before the fog came inThe drive to San Fransisco was long, the longest we've done so far. In all it took about 8 hours but the drive was really beautiful. It's really weird to see the landscape change so dramatically as you drive. So far its been all beaches, sand and palm tress but as we drove further up the coast, the beach just meets sheer cliff face and grassy hills. Palm trees were replaced with beautiful redwoods, and flat plains replaced with farms and plantations. Just really beautiful to see it change so dramatically right in front of your eyes.
We finally got to San Fransisco and had arranged to stay with a friend of a friend of a friend - Steve. We didn't even know the guy, but he was quite happy to take us in. He lives in Oakland which is the city across the bay from San Fran, so once again free accomodation - im not complaining! And we certainly had no reason to complain, Steve is loaded. His house is just amazing. Its this huge triple story house built into the hills of Oakland and has everything you could ever want. Basically, if i lived there, i would never
San Fran Bay
In the distance you can see the fog coming in need to leave my house, its all there! He even has a sensory deprevation tank. Not too sure what it is exactly, but its like this floatation tank that you sit in and its supposed to give you a feeling of complete weightlessness and you're in the dark and all your senses are numb, so you cant hear, see, feel, or smell anything. Why you would need something like that, i do not know, but he basically had too much money! We weren't too sure how to feel about staying there coz we didn't even know the guy but as soon as we arrived he greeted us with open arms and was unbelievably kind and helpful. We had our own room with a huge four poster double bed, with a tv and a private bathroom. We just couldn't believe our luck!
I've been to San Fran before so a lot of the things we did, I had done before. We checked out the Golden Gate Bridge which was still amazing. Its weird though coz we climbed to the top of Presidio Park where you have a great view of the bridge, but to the left we could see this
Fog
Now you see it.... blanket of fog coming in across the bay. The freaky thing was that in 10 minutes, the fog had covered the whole bridge and stayed for the rest of the afternoon. We couldn't see a thing! Dam fog! We checked out Lombard Street which is famous for being the world's most crooked street. We got out to take photos and then contemplated if the Hoff was man enough to face the drive down. I was scared, Kate was confident, and the Hoff came through with the goods. We drove down the world's most crooked street - I was proud of my Katie and the Hoff! Next stop was Firshermans Wharf where we sampled fine seafood cusine. Well I wouldn't really call it that, clam chowder in a bread bowl, doesn't sound too tasty but it was delicious. We also checked out the Haight District which is full of hippies and artists, and the Castro, the gay district, which was really funky. We sampled a bit of the nightlife in San Fran too which was very cool.
So after a few days, we had seen our fill of San Fransisco and decided to head up to Eureka in the north
Underneath
The fog is so thick that it blocks out the sun! of California to see Theresa, Kate's friend. They had met 9 years ago when Theresa was backpacking through Australia so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to stay with her. And im so glad we did, we had such a great time and Theresa is such a wicked person! Our drive to Eureka was long and painful though. It took about 9 hours, which was tough. A really weird thing happened on the way though. We stopped for coffee in this little town called Guernville which is in the mountains in the middle of no where. While walking around town we noticed a novelty shop proudly brandishing the gay rainbow flag above its door. We thought this we really weird, being a little ghost town in the middle of no where, maybe they just liked the pretty colours on the flag? So we went in there and started looking around, then started chatting to the guy who owns the place. We asked him whats with the gay flag and he told us that Guernville is pretty much a gay town. It used to be the resort town for folks from San Fran and now a lot of the gay population
Fort Point
Top of Fort Point under the bridge has just moved up there and stayed. As we walked back to the car I looked at everything differently, everyone was gay! "I see gay people" i thought to myself. It was just so surreal, there were just about as many gay people in Guernville as San Fran!
So after our stop in Gayville, we got back onto the road. About 4 hours later we were in the middle of the woods, the sun was starting to set and the Hoff started making weird noises. Everything seemed to be working okay, but he wasn't happy. We pulled over, fingers crossed that we weren't going to be stranded in the woods. I had seen those movies where the stupid kids go on a road trip and their car breaks down in the middle of the woods, so i knew how to handle the situation if a chain saw weilding maniac turned up. Still, that wasn't helping us, coz as you remember Kate and I know nothing about cars. We popped the hood and looked, and looked......hmmmm. Then it suddenly hit us, "Rob did we put water in the car?" My response "Water??" Yes boys and girls, thats right we had
Cable Cars
Ding ding went the trolley! forgotten one of the golden rules of car maintenance, the water. Luckily we had some water on us, topped up the radiator and were back on the road. As we drove away I looked out the back window and could swear I saw the chain saw weilding maniac looking very frustrated.
Eureka! We finally got to Eureka. 9 hours in the car is long and by the time we got there cabin fever had set in. Kate and I were singing at the top of our lungs, making up stupid songs and just generally being complete idiots. Thats starting to happen a lot!
Eureka is quite a cool little quiet town. Not really that much to see or do, but Theresa kept us plenty entertained! Went went on a trip one day to Arcada just north of Eureka to the beautiful Redwood National Forest. Theresa had been there a few years ago and wanted to take us to meet the tree sitter she met last time. Unfortunately she wasn't there, between you and me, I bet that chain weilding maniac had gotten her. But the woods were just beautiful. Words, and photos, cannot describe the feeling of standing
Lombard Street
The crookedest street in the world in the middle of these gigantic trees that would range between 50 and 500 years old. Some of the tress had been cut down years ago, and huge trunks were left so you actually climb up there and sit inside the trunk - we couldn't resist. So Theresa went first, then me and then Kate. Well we thought Kate was right behind us and she was, until we heard a dull thud and slight whimper. I peered over the edge of the tree stump and saw Kate flat on her back, legs in the air like a turtle who couldn't roll over. All i could do was supress a laugh and jump down there to help my gal! In the end she was fine just a stiff neck, but man i wish i had taken a photo! So the rest of our time with Theresa was spent exploring Eurkea, eating tasty yet dodgy mexican (i spent one night violently throwing up), drinking lots and playing cards. I also introduced Theresa and Kate to the hilarious movie
Team America and in turn they introduced me to
Napoleon Dynamite. If you've seen either of those movies, you'll understand that since then Kate
Hoff on Lombard
Hoff going down Lombard - Woo hoo!! and I (and Theresa via email and phone) have been quoting it ever since! Thank you Theresa!
It was with heavy hearts that we left Eureka. I was so glad to meet Theresa, she's "awesome" and not a "retard" (Napoleon quotes) and I hope one day we meet again.
Our next stop was Portland, in Oregon. We left really early for another long drive, this time it took about 10 hours. Crossing the border from Cailfornia into Oregon would've been an exciting occasion, except I was alseep. I really wanted to take a photo of the sign saying "Welcome to Oregon" but Kate forgot to wake me. She thinks I have this unhealthy obsession with taking photos of signs. Theresa had hooked us up with her friend Scott who is studying in Portland and he happily took us in for a few days. Scott is a really lovely guy and had dinner waitng for us when we arrived. Portland is really beautiful, but friggen cold! While we were there the temperature hovered around zero and went below during most nights. Scott took us on a day trip to the Columbian Gorge about an hour out of Portland, and
Jack Kerouac Sign
Very cool! I'm reading his travel memoirs at the moment we saw the most beautiful waterfalls. What made them better then your average run of the mill waterfall was the fact that it was pretty much frozen over and the area was covered in ice and snow. Very beautiful.
While in Portland we decided to check out the capital of Oregon, Salem. No not the Salem with all the witch trials and stuff, the Salem with all the.........well nothing. The town was pretty much empty. We drove around for a while, walked the streets, bought a drink, and that was it. What sort of capital is this?! We spotted a river and saw that there were a lot of ducks and birds. It looked kinda pretty so we went to sit by it for a while, but when we got there we realised that across the river was the Salem Penetentiary and the whole place just stunk of bird shit! Salem was crap, literally, so after an hour, we left.
We couldn't leave Portland without checking out the nightlife and once again Scott took us round. We started at a funky martini bar and went from bar to bar and until we ended up drunk and disorderly in
Golden Gate 1
Driving under the bridge a dodgy gay bar! It was a great night!
So once again it was sad to leave a new friend, but the road was calling us. Next stop Seattle. On the road it started snowing which was very exciting. Im sure all my London buddies will remember the time I first saw snow and ran outside like a little boy when i was supposed to working (opps!). Anyways, there wasn't much snow but enough for us. We got to Seattle where we had dinner with Theresa's friends Bruce and Renee who then invited us stay the night. We graciously excepted. They are very lovely people who told us all about Seattle and its must-see sights. The next day we checked into a hostel in downtown Seattle, and then walked around town all day checking out the sights. Seattle is where Starbucks originated, and is famous for its coffeehouses, so the first thing we did was buy a coffee (dont worry it wasn't from Starbucks) it was from Seattle's Best Coffee, SBC. They didn't score big in the originality section when it came to their name, but the coffee was good so i cant complain. We checked out the famous
Pike Street Marketplace, which was supposed to be full of fisherman selling and chucking fresh fish to each other. There wasn't much chucking, although the fish were huge!! One of the coolest things we did in Seattle was the Underground Tour, and no its not a tour of the tube stations! Its hard to explain but modern day Seatlle is built on top of the old Seattle that burnt in a fire. Its a long story, but basically theres all these tunnels and old shop fronts that run under the city. It was really interesting, and our tour guide Lucy was hilarious. It was like a stand up comic teaching history, just great!
We checked out the other tourist sights, The Space Needle (a huge observation tower) the Experience Music Project which is supposed to be this funky interactive music museum, although we didn't go in, but the architecture of the building was awesome. Kate was craving clam chowder again, but we settled for mexican, we've been eating a lot of mexican recently, even though i threw up on it! On our last night in Seattle we started talking to some randoms at the hostel and decided to go
Palace of the Fine Arts
Not really a palace, more of a museum out on the town with them. Of course being randoms they were weird. One girl called herself super squirrel extraordinare and ran around wearing a squirrels tail. She was kinda nice to begin with, but then we realised that all she wanted to do was talk about her self. So we went from bar to bar and ended up in a bar called Cowgirls. Its just like the movie
Coyote Ugly. Six beautiful girls get up on the bar to dance, while guys sit at their feet jaws hitting the bar and drooling all over themselves. Its funny to watch! They also has a mechanical bull which i was so tempted to ride but didn't. I think I might have to go back and ride that bull like a true cowboy! Of course squirrel rode it five times.
Today we head off to Vancouver in Canada, to once again stay with a friend of a friend. I'm really liking this friend business......
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Tana
non-member comment
:)
Way cool Rob. i'm lovin' hearing about all your adventures. I think Kate's blog says she's still in Mexico. did you lose her? hahaha. looks like you're doing great with the friends network. Keep in touch. So glad you're enjoying! Tana