Monterey and Carmel

   We crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge this morning and had a quick tour through downtown San Francisco. I was nervous about being bogged down in traffic, but Rt 101 moved pretty well through the city and we were headed south toward Monterey in no time.

   We stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the Monterey Municipal Wharf and there was a seal sleeping and sunning himself on the dock at the front door. Later we could see him from our window table as he was swimming around the harbor checking out the returning fishing boats for treats. There were lots of seals further out from the wharf and Mary used her binoculars to spot some otters swimming on their backs.

   After lunch we drove passed the aquarium, Cannery Row and Bubba Gump's Restaurant to Sunset Drive with it's windblown trees, gabled houses and rocks full of basking seals. We continued on to the 17 Mile Drive around the Monterey Peninsula into Carmel.  It was a hard choice of where to look with the ocean and seals on our right and the Spanish Bay and Pebble Beach golf courses on our left.

   In Carmel we stopped for coffee and tea then spent a couple of hours walking around town looking at the shops and art galleries. Carmel was crowded with people on the first night of the weekend and we went back to Monterey to find a room for the night.

   Tomorrow we go back to the interstates for an all day drive to San Diego, where we'll end our border to border southern leg down the coast. After a couple of nights to rest up, we'll start our return trek east. We don't have any desire to cross into Mexico; Tijuana just doesn't have the same appeal to us as Vancouver.

Day 17, Northern California

   We left Brookings, Oregon this morning and quickly crossed over into California. We stayed on Rt 101, close to the ocean through Crescent City and Eureka. From there the road went more inland through small mountains and redwood forests. A little further south we passed through wine country, with rows of grape vines as far as we could see.

   Rt 101 in California was almost as scenic as was Oregon, and the traveling was about as slow. There were lots of RV's on the road and we patiently had to wait for opportunities to pass. About half way we needed to make a pit stop so we pulled into the little town of Myers Flat. The only restroom we could find was at a small winery, and we bought a bottle of red to ease our conscience.

  The road got wider as we approached San Francisco and traffic was finally moving. After about 8 hours in the car we were ready for a break and stopped for dinner (and the night) in the cute town of Petaluma, about 35 miles north of S.F. In the hotel parking lot there were two motorcycles with Alaska plates. It's nice to know we're not the only crazy people out on the roads.

   Today was day 17 of our trip, and we're still doing great, although starting to get a little car weary. We've logged 5,700 + miles so far and haven't yet made the turn to the east for home.

Pacific Coast Driving

   We started out around 9:00 AM and the weather was completely different from yesterday; the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky. Driving the coastal route in Oregon is a plus and minus thing, there are glimpses of great scenery but the road is mostly one lane and goes through small towns. September isn't as crowded as summer, but there are still big campers lumbering up the hills and the occasional logging truck to try and get by. There are also quite a few long haul bicycle riders with packs bulging out from the fenders. I don't know if I should feel sorry for them with all the peddling, or feel good for them because of all the scenery slowly going by.

   My much anticipated golf emergency happened today; we drove by the main gate of the Bandon Dunes golf resort and the sun was shining. Mary graciously smiled, dropped me off at the bag drop (no pun intended) and went to find a place to get her hair cut and do some sight seeing.  The course starter wasn't sure he'd let me out on the tee box, he said my golf shoes were too ratty. When I told him I drove from Pennsylvania, he let me go.

   The course was easily the prettiest I have ever played but it was a bit of a shock to find out there were no carts; it was a walk-and-carry round. I loved every step, and there were lots of them up and over dunes on every hole. There were strong winds off the ocean but I still finished in 3 1/2 hours. The round was a little pricy for every day golf, but today was worth every penny!

   Just outside of Bandon, Mary found an wild animal park where she could walk close to (and even pet) some of the animals. She said it was an ok place but she felt bad for the animals kept inside of cages.

   We continued down Rt 101 afterward and caught a pacific sunset from a road pull off. The sun was so pretty we stayed and watched for almost a half hour; I'm always hoping to catch a green flash at clear sunsets, but it wasn't included with today's program.

   We called it a day in the town of Brookings, Oregon close to the border with California. We have a room with an ocean view (when the sun comes up) and the ocean waves to put us to sleep tonight. We had another meal back in the room from Daryl & De De's Asian left overs, chicken curry on rice was a yummy dinner.

   Night all ......

Washington and Oregon Coast

   We left Vancouver on Monday morning and drove to Seattle to meet my old high school friend, Daryl. The last time we saw one another was at graduation, 46 years ago. Daryl came to Seattle in the 70's driving an old VW bus and decided to stay. We met he and his wife De De at their office and they treated Mary & I to lunch at a great neighborhood Asian restaurant. We left with enough food in doggie bags to last us until we get to Oklahoma. It was so fun meeting them, Mary & I were smiling about it all day.

   After lunch we drove southeast, hoping to get a look at Mts Rainier and St Helens. There were low clouds covering both mountain tops even though we drove closeby, so we continued back to I-5 and spent the night in Longview, near the Oregon border.

   Tuesday we started out heading west along the Columbia River on the Washington side. We took a backroads bridge and ferry across into Oregon and wound up on Rt 30 which took us west until it ended in Astoria, Oregon. On a hunch later that night I checked in my road atlas and it turned out to be the same Rt 30 that becomes Lancaster Pike near Philly and ends at the ocean in Atlantic City, NJ.

   At Astoria we turned south on Oregon's coastal road Rt 101, a scenic road for its entire length in the state. In the town of Tillamook we stopped at an air museum housed in an old WW2 blimp hangar. The hangar is over 200 ft high and big enough to have housed 8 blimps at the same time; the framing was made of only local lunber and it still looks great and works. There are wonderfully restored WW2 era planes kept there in flying condition.

   We continued south down through the ocean mist stopping at a giant sea cave that's been turned into a sea lion watching tourist attraction. Finally we stopped for the night in the town of Florence, more than half way down the state. On the recommendation of the guy behind the counter at our hotel, we got off the main road and went into the riverside old part of town. We had a great seafood dinner at a pub named Waterfront Depot; there was also a really good local Porter on draft.

  

  

  

Skookumchuck

   Today was Sunday so we slept in a bit and had a good breakfast before starting out. It was raining in the morning and we took a car trip north of the city to see something they call the Sunshine Coast. The name must be a little wishful thinking with all the rain they get here, but it did dry out for us later in the afternoon.

   About 30 minutes north, we took a ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale, further up the coast across Bowen Bay. The ferry was big, modern and loaded up quick for the half hour trip across. It was a nice Sunday ride, mostly wooded but with occasional views of pretty little places like Half Moon Bay and Secret Harbor. I'm sure they don't see many Pennsylvania license plates crowding up their hillside parking spots.

   About an hour north of the ferry near Earl's Cove, we turned around and headed for home. There was a sign nearby pointing to the Skookumchuck Rapids; I had to stop and look twice at that name. There was an unexpected two hour wait for the ferry on the way back because of the Sunday crowds. It gave us time for a chili dinner and a quick car nap while we waited in line.

   We head south tomorrow, back into the US. We're pretty much on schedule and about halfway through out trip. Have a good week, everyone!

Pacific Ocean

   When we got to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho it was late and too dark to see any of the lake scenery, so we took a quick tour of the area before we left. We then continued on Rt 90 into Washington State and drove over the Columbia River and through the Cascade Mountains. When we got close to Seattle we connected to Rt 5 and took it north to the Canadian border.

   I'd gotten spoiled driving over interstates with no one else on the road but us, and when we got close to Seattle, it started to feel like work again. The traffic was heavy, drivers agressive and the roads bad, so it took an extra couple of hours to get to Vancouver for the R & R we had planned. It's one of my favorite cities, it'll be great to stretch our legs and I'm glad Mary will get to see it finally.

   We have a room downtown with a 12th floor view of the main harbor. Saturday we went out for breakfast and took a tour bus for an overview of the city, including Stanley Park. After having lunch in the Gastown district we did a bit of exploring along the harbor looking at all the dogs being walked. We saw a seal swimming among the boat moorings looking for treats as fishermen cleaned their catches of the day.  The harbor is clean, busy and interesting with float planes taking off and landing all the time; and the port overall is filled with ships.

   We're now half way through our trip and will start heading south along the Pacific coast on Monday. I'm not sure how far down we'll get before we have to turn east for home. Since we'll be taking scenic roads again it'll be hard to estimate how much ground we'll cover in a day.

   So far we've driven 4,465 miles and used 144 gallons of gas with all the zig zagging we've been doing to see the sights.  The car has done really well, but is in serious need of a carwash. It's hard to believe we've just driven toVancouver and we're both hoping the second part of the trip is as much fun as the first.



Big Sky

   We left our room around 9:00 and promptly went across the road to the gas station; I needed to fill up on windshield fluid, and I had a little extra I could pour on and wipe off if I needed it. Thankfully the bugs weren't as bad today. 

   We drove about an hour west on Rt 2, then Rt 89 to St Mary on the eastern side of the Glacier National Park. We drove passed the last campsite of the Lewis and Clark Expedition when they surveyed the Louisiana Purchase in the early 1800's. They named it Camp Disappointment because they were hoping it went further north into present day Canada, but turned out to be about 30 miles south of the 49th Parallel (the present border).

The main road in Glacier goes east to west through the park and it's called the Road to the Sun. We found out that the road is closed in the middle for seasonal repairs, but we could go half way through up to the highest point, Logan Pass. We knew we'd have to double back and then go around outside the park to continue our trip. Even though it would be an extra 3 hours, we knew it would be worth it.

   As we entered there was St Mary's Lake on our left, followed by mountain streams, glaciers and lots of mountain tops over 10,000 feet. We both loved Yellowstone and the Tetons but for mountain scenery, Glacier was the best by far.

   We stopped at the Logan Pass visitor's center and took some shots. We could see the snow poles all around the parking lot and it made me glad we were there in fall, not winter. Mary bought a few postcards at the center and while I was walking in the parking lot, they blew out of my hand. I chased them the whole length of the lot, almost catching up a couple of times to step on the bag. But they finally blew over the ledge way down the cliff and I didn't even want to look. I walked back up the steps and bought another set from the store.

   On the way out we stopped just outside the park for lunch, we both had Bison Chili and liked it. Our detour around the park turned out to be small mountain roads again with no guard rails on the cliff edges. The view must have been wonderful but I was too nervous to take my eyes off the road.

   On the way back to I-90 we passed through a town and saw a guy who probably needed a job really bad. I'll bet that standing on a street corner in a chicken suit isn't the highest paying job in town, but maybe it should be. We finished our day in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and discovered we were in the Pacific Time Zone, about 30 miles from Washington State. Tomorrow we make it to the Pacific Ocean, at a location to be announced later.

   Have a good weekend all, because we sure will too.
  

Montana

   We started the day with a new passanger; our hotel placed a cute stuffed wolf in our room, and let us take him along for the rest of our trip. We left Jackson Hole around 9:30 and headed west along the Snake River and through the mountains. In Idaho Falls we picked up Interstate 15 and took it from eastern Idaho all the way up through Montana.

   The interstate was a 75 mph divided highway with hardly anyone on it but us. It was quiet almost all the way to Butte, where we stopped for lunch and gas. Butte was an important mining city in the 1800's but we could tell by driving around that it's not doing well these days.

   One negative on the road; it was full of bugs but we still had a few spaces on the windshield to peek through by the time we stopped for gas. Some of the bugs were big and we could see them coming, but I tried to avoid eye contact before they hit.

   Near Helena, we passed the headwaters of the Missouri River which begins just east of the Continental Divide and flows over 2,300 miles until it meets the Mississippi in St Louis.

   We finished today's drive in the metropolis of Cut Bank, Montana. It's about 30 miles from the Canada border near the eastern entrance to Glacier National Park. We had a quick dinner (and beer) and checked into our luxury hotel for the night. One of it's claims to fame is that it's a stop on the Amtrak's passanger train service between Chicago and Seattle.

   Tomorrow is Big Sky country.