The Road Goes On…

Category: USA

San Francisco, CA to Penryn, CA

Today was Ruth’s day in San Francisco. We took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train from Millbrae, near the airport, to Powell street in downtown San Francisco. First stop was Bloomingdale’s. Serious shopping therapy was exercised.

Next stop was Chinatown which looked really beautiful with its red lanterns decorating the streets since Chinese New Year back in February. We continued on our walk through Little Italy and then towards Fisherman’s Wharf. It was nice to see the well maintained buildings. We liked the humour in one shop window with the two frogs.

Fisherman’s Wharf was buzzing with tourists and a cruise shop towered over a good portion of the wharf. We stopped for coffee and tea and watched the ferries go by and had a great time at the market at the pier where we bought wine and cheese for our friends and hosts Mandi and Morteza whom we would visit the next day.

We left San Francisco around 7PM and crossed the Bay Bridge on I-80 which will be our path home for the next couple of days. The Bay Bridge is a “double decker” bridge and therefore seems low. About half way along one can still see the older bridge which is now being dismantled.

We made it to Penryn where we spent the night at a truck stop.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 8, 2014
Fort Bragg, CA to San Francisco, CA

It was a good thing that our campground was just across the street from the Ricochet Ranch where we wanted to go horseback riding. We didn’t have a reservation so we walked over first thing in the morning and were lucky to get two spots for the 10AM ninety minute ride along the beach. After a quick breakfast we galloped to the stable where we had to sign our life away, were fitted with riding helmets, watched an 11 minute video on mounting and dismounting a horse correctly and basic “steering” instructions. We then got to meet our horses – “Cowboy” for Martin and “Cloud” for Ruth. Our ride took us across the highway, through some forest and then along the beach. We had a wonderful time!

After lunch at Denny’s we continued on twisty and turny Hwy 1. We arrived in Mendocino where we visited the Mendocino Arts Center with its fine art gallery, many studios and workshop spaces. We were guests at a glass bead making workshop for a while and got to know the instructor and participants.

Hwy 1 continued to twist and turn almost making us seasick. We had to stop at one point because Ruth had to walk in the ocean amidst the high waves. What a delight!

The other highlight of the day was the drive across the Golden Gate bridge and right through San Francisco with the RV. Campgrounds are sparse so we stayed at a hotel in Belmont, just south of San Francisco. Pepsi, unfortunately, wasn’t welcome at the hotel so she was on guard duty to make sure that the van and contents were safe.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 7, 2014
Brookings, OR to Fort Bragg, CA

We slept in this morning and left without breakfast, driving to the town of Arcata in California. Here we had a fabulous Italian lunch at Mazzotti’s on the Plaza which won the reader’s choice award in 2014 for best Italian restaurant on the north coast. We think that they deserved it. After lunch we did a bit of shopping at Caravan of Dreams and several other stores.

Next up was Redwood park and the Avenue of the Giants. Here the road is lined with century old redwood trees that tower above you in this old growth forest. We did a short hike through the forest and to a nearby river.

We’ve now left Hwy 101 for Hwy 1 which runs along the coast and we will be following this highway for the remainder of our trip to San Francisco.

Tonight we are staying at a small campground behind a grocery store just across from the Ricochet Ranch where we hope to go for a ride with Shirley’s friend tomorrow.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 6, 2014
Gold Beach, OR to Brookings, OR

Today was an exciting day of getting wet with a 104 mile whitewater thrill on Jerry’s Rogue River Jetboat. These jet boats are powered by three 8 cylinder Chevy engines, have a flat bottom and virtually no draft. We roared up the wild and scenic Rogue river following the routes established by the mail boats in 1895.

Besides crossing a number of rapids and doing spins in river basins we saw beautifully rugged canyons and quite a bit of wildlife including bald eagles, turkey vultures, black bears and deer, just to name a few.

We did not take a camera because of the expected water spray.

On the way to our campground we stopped and photographed beautiful rock and dune formations from the side of the road.

Our campground was right by the ocean and we arrived just in time for sunset.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 5, 2014
Bay City, OR to Gold Beach, OR

We started the morning with a delicious breakfast at the Creamery Cafe at the Tillamook Cheese factory. We then toured part of the factory and to see how the famous cheddar of Tillamook is made and packaged. All kinds of people visited the factory with us and then lined up for samples at the end of the tour just before the cheese and gift store exit.

Not far from the cheese factory was the Tillamook Air Museum, located in one of two huge hangars originally built in 1942-1943 to store blimps. The second hangar burned a few years ago. These hangars could each house nine blimps. Today the hangar is home to a number of different aircraft, some of which saw action in various conflicts such as the first Gulf war. Outside there is a mini-guppy transport plane which you can visit the inside of.

Here is an image showing the size of our RV in comparison to the mini-guppy and hangar.

The airbase cafe at the museum reminded us of Route 66 with its black and white tiled floors and red stools and booths.

Enroute we had a quick lunch at Siletz Bay which is known for the great tsunami of 1700.

Late in the afternoon we visited the lighthouse at Yaquina Head and its black beach.

Because of our late arrival, the recommended Honey Bear RV Park at Gold Beach couldn’t accommodate us anymore. We ended up at the Nesika Beach RV Park instead.

Note: Today’s map isn’t complete as some was lost because we didn’t download it before it was overwritten.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 4, 2014
Hoquiam, WA to Bay City, OR

First item on the agenda was to finish the RV cleaning and drying of the damp laundry after replenishing our collection of quarters. Next was a battle with a terribly annoying lady who was monopolizing ALL the dryers. After breakfast we set out on a day of driving down the beautiful Pacific coast towards Oregon.

We stopped in Long Beach where we each had a rather large ice cream cone. Even Pepsi had to help with polishing off the cones. Guiltily, all three of us walked the calories off on the extensive boardwalk along the sandy beach.

After leaving Long Beach we found ourselves in a traffic jam. Luckily for us, Jim’s Biplane Rides offered a distraction and we went for a scenic flight in his open cockpit 1929 Travelair. The two of us sat in the front seat with cap, goggles and ear plugs while Jim flew from the rear seat.

Once safely back in the RV we continued to Cannon Beach. The traffic had mostly dissipated by this point and we made it in good time. Cannon beach has interesting rocks and a beach with very fine white sand.

The final task was to make it to the Tillamook Bay City RV park which is near the cheese factory we hope to tour tomorrow.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 3, 2014
Hoh Rain Forest, WA to Hoquiam, WA

This morning we continued to the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park. This forest should be the stage for fairy tales. The tree trunks and branches are covered in thick moss-like plants that hang down like beards. Roots and old logs look like faces of dangerous creatures while providing nutrients to the next generation of trees. When a dead tree falls, mosses begin to cover it and decay sets in. New saplings start growing on top of the old log and eventually wrap their roots around the old log. The old log continues to rot away leaving root arches from the new tree where it once lay.

We met another photographer couple on our hike through the rainforest and met them again at our next stop at Ruby Beach where we experienced the cloud forest. Despite the fact that it was a sunny day with perfectly blue sky, this beach was covered in fog and low cloud and appeared black and white. We spent a couple of hours there talking about photography and dog training and took some nice pictures.

Since we needed to do laundry and RV-cleaning we stayed at a full service RV park in Hoquiam. However, laundry did not start before dinner. We walked for about 3kms to the 8th Street Ale House where we had steak skillet and Guinness Pot Roast dinners along with a local ale. After walking back to our campsite we started laundry which we finished, except for a few damp specimens, at around midnight.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 2, 2014
Poulsbo, WA to Hoh Rain Forest, WA

We started the morning with writing five days of blog entries! Needless to say we didn’t leave too early.

First stop was the Northwest Native Expressions Art Gallery in Sequim with beautiful and very reasonably priced native art, including artists from Canada. We bought a small carving of a hummingbird, made by a local artist.

Lunch was at the Black Bear Diner, also in Sequim, where we had a drink made of iced tea, lemonade and fresh strawberries. Delicious and refreshing and soon to be on our home menu.

The highlight in the afternoon was a first glimpse of the northern rain forest which we will explore tomorrow.

We enjoyed a brief stay at Lake Crescent before we found our new campground at the Minnie Peterson campground near the Hoh Rain Forest. This campground only has 8 spots and we were able to secure the very last spot which was reserved for people with disabilities until 6PM. As we had arrived at 5PM, we had a tense hour of waiting for wheelchairs to arrive and take the spot.

At 6PM sharp we breathed a sigh of relief, locked the RV and headed for a short hike along and in the nearby Hoh river.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 1, 2014
Seattle, WA to Poulsbo, WA

We started the morning with breakfast at Geraldines Counter with our friends and then visited the Discovery Park for a hike with a view of the Puget Sound, wild orchids and blackberries.

Later on we met Connie, a photography friend we had met earlier in the year in Paris and had a very engaging conversation with her at a local Starbucks.

She then guided us to the ferry dock for our short ferry ride to Bainbridge Island.

We picked a Walmart close by to stay for the night and had a mediocre dinner at a Jack-in-the-Box, downloaded images and called it a day.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

July 31, 2014
Leavenworth, WA to Seattle, WA

We left our campground relatively early as we wanted to be in Seattle by early afternoon. The detour around the forest fire turned out to be a beautiful winding road adjacent to a river. Once back on Hwy 2 we crossed the Steven’s Pass and then headed downwards to the Seattle area. The small towns became larger and more attractive as we neared Seattle. We stopped at the Tijuana Restaurant in Monroe for authentic Mexican burritos.

Finally we were reminded of what traffic jams are as we drove through Seattle. We met our friends, had good conversations and dinner at their beautiful house. A city tour of Seattle at night followed and we decided to stay at their place overnight.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

July 30, 2014