Month: June 2008

Day three was another long driving day, as we had to drive from southeast Oregon down to Napa. We got off to a relaxed start. Our room at the Tu Tu Tun Lodge had a soaking tub on the balcony overlooking the river and they gave us a packet of herbs to put in the water, so we had a soak before breakfast. We drank our coffee (they’d brought us a tray when we woke up) and watched the river and the mist. It was cold (50s) and foggy, so the hot water followed by a thick robe felt great.

We headed down for breakfast a little after nine, and had a great time talking to the people at our table. One of the couples were retirees from New York who’d been working their way up the coast. They were full of ideas for places to stop and after breakfast loaded us up with maps and travel brochures (several of which were actually very helpful). Another was a pair in their thirties from San Francisco – the retirees thought they must be honeymooners, but Kevin and I thought dating and on the rocks? She seemed exhausted, though, so maybe it was just early in the day. Breakfast was delicious, and we dawdled over it.

We ended up checking out at 11 – a bit later than expected. We wound our way back down the Rogue River to the coast, and found that the fog was even more intense at the shore than it had been on the river.

We enjoyed the last of the Oregon “cheap” gas and neat bridges…

And then entered into California! The fog there was, if anything, even thicker, and as we entered Redwood National Park visibility got even more limited. There were people running carrying carved sticks with fringe tops all along the highway – some sort of treacherous religious ceremony?

The road was a curvy little two lane thing, up and down huge hills and overlooking steep cliffs down to the ocean, then swinging inland past enormous trees. With the fog, we could sometimes only see about 10-15 feet ahead, and the combination of car-sized tree trunks suddenly appearing, and then drop-offs into grey nothing was extremely disconcerting to me.

101 finally swung inland and the fog cleared. Kevin had been driving, and I didn’t realize how anxious the lack of visibility was making me until we were finally free of it.

We’d heard of several places that were likely to have elk and enthusiastically kept our eyes peeled, to no avail. Yet another herd of not-elk:

We didn’t stop to get out and walk until we reached the Humbolt Redwoods State Park (quite a ways down from the national park). We drove along the Avenue of the Giants (about 30 miles of amazing, huge trees), and got out to walk around about halfway down. The bark on the trees was amazing – so grooved and thick. Here’s Kevin with a very big tree:

The view looking up:

Me in the middle of a stand of huge redwoods:

And another looking up view:

Enormous forests make me happy.

We continued to drive south through the park… (We wondered how they keep the trees from overtaking the road? The difference in width between a 125-year tree and a 200 year tree is enormous, and the park is old, and cars have gotten wider. Do you think they cut trees down when they get too wide?), and then, once we were back on 101, continued through forest fire country to Geyserville. The forest fire driving was something else. Our fog from before was replaced with thick, acrid haze. My previous experience with forest fires was driving through Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming last summer. So, I’d been thinking that as long as the roads weren’t closed and I brought extra contacts, there would be minimal effect on our drive except for crazy sunsets. Not so, it turns out. The smoke and the smell were everywhere, and when we stopped for lunch in Willits there were firefighters explaining the current action plan (including which areas/buildings they didn’t plan to save, from a resources standpoint) and talking to angry and unhappy residents. We didn’t see any flames or burning from the road, but we drove through the hills of the Mendocino complex (fires set by lightning storms a few days before we arrived). Not fun.

At Geyserville, we left 101 (farewell!) for 128, and started to enter real wine country. We transitioned from curvy roads along bleached-grass mountains studded with pine trees…

To fields of grape vines, surrounded by mountains:

And pastures with trees and ponds:

None of our photos really came out, but the rows of vines are neat, curling up around hills and making them look well-coifed. We got to Sonoma around 7:00, and then Napa Valley, so were too late for any tastings, but we had lots of fun passing judgment on the names of the wineries we passed and once we were in Napa, on the architecture and accessories of the tasting rooms and buildings. It was a pretty engrossing game, since you get a new winery at least every quarter mile. (We were amused, later at our hotel, to see how accurate our name-judging was as an indicator of wine quality – according to our hotel room’s Napa guidebook we were on the money. 🙂 Nice.)

We stayed in Napa (the town). We arrived at 8:18 – just enough time to check in, throw on new clothes, and walk to our 8:30 dinner reservation at Celadon. Dinner was amazing. We had great cocktails while we were decompressing from the drive and deciding on our orders, and then had a bottle of the Honig Sauvignon Blanc (yummy, pretty label). I had an endive salad with pears, walnuts and blue cheese; Kevin discovered heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Yum. Duck for Kevin, pasta for me, a split sorbet – happiness all around, and a great nearly-three-hour dinner with fun conversation and an attractive setting to end the day.

Waking up this morning was amazing – we’d left a window cracked despite the chill (50s) and blowing spray, and so there was bright, light blue surf to listen to and to see. The color is fascinating. Light sand beaches (especially compared to the dark volcanic sand we saw later in the day), accented with medium blue water that had pine green shadows and turquoise crests. I could have watched it all day.

We went to the Beach Dog Café for breakfast. Delicious and wonderful. We realized when we walked in that they only accepted cash, so I had the unique experience of going to a bar at 10 am (to use the ATM). The regulars were amused.

Then, back down 101. We made a habit of pulling out whenever the whim struck for views. Here’s Seal Rock, which amazingly lived up to its name with actual seals!

Here’s Kevin overlooking Devil’s Churn (a weak spot in the shoreline rock that has been worn away by the sea and now puts on quite the show with each wave):

The drive was amazing – lots of fog over the ocean, and when we reached a break in the trees, you’d just see it gusting over the road. Pictures didn’t come out (probably because the speed the fog blew at was as amazing as its thickness), but it was an impressive sight.

We also continued to enjoy the great bridges along 101 in Oregon. Each of them had a different pair of concrete markers at the ends – interesting variation. And there were pretty metal bridges along the route as well. I loved the arches in this one.

We stopped at Haceta Lighthouse to get out and walk around. It’s an amazing place in a lot of ways – the view, the fact that for the first few decades it was a 5-7 hour trip away from supplies/news/civilization over mountains and beaches (can you imagine?), the number of times per day the kerosene wick needed to be tended to or the glass cleaned, the fact that they figured out a way to amplify light to a point that only the curvature of the earth limited it… more details here. All amazing, though given the fog Kevin and I were a bit skeptical about the curvature of the earth claim. For example, the hills across the way were only occasionally discernable…

The lightkeepers’ house was exceptionally lovely. (And you can see one of the 101 bridges in the background.)

But again, how isolated! There were the prettiest stained glass panes in the front doors – I wonder if that would have been a consolation, arriving as a lighthouse keepers wife, out so far away, for so long? I grew up with so many books that lauded “our pioneer ancestors”, but this was impressive proof of the stuff people were made of…

A view of the lighthouse from further down the shore:

Less than a mile down the road, we stopped at the Sea Lion Caves. A *treat*. The cave is a natural part of the shoreline, where there are all sorts of sea lions lounging about and arguing over space on the rocks. In the ’50s, people carved an elevator shaft in the rock to bring you down to cave level, so that you could see the sea lions in their habitat. Very fun. The bulls, especially, were quite loud, and the cave made their roars echo.

Outside the caves, there were harems of sea lions – apparently it’s mating season and the bulls spend all of their time jockeying for turf with other males, and rounding up the females to keep them in the group.

Me, overlooking the ocean and the awesome sea lions.

The foliage continues to be interesting. We’ve been seeing these all along the way in Oregon – my guess is that they’re foxgloves?

Kevin was impressed once we got to the dunes, because we kept seeing a light green/dark green/golden combination of roadside plants that he thought must be the basis for one of the colleges’ football uniforms, and before he’d just thought the color was bizarre.

After those stops, we made as straight a line as possible for our stop for the night, the Tu Tu Tun Lodge. It was a few miles inland along the Rogue River. Lovely, tranquil, and shrouded in mist. There were deer in the apple orchards, appetizers when we arrived, and wood ready to be lit in the fireplace in our room when we arrived. Luxury. We got in just before seven, and decided to take a tour down the river in the kayaks.
We’d brought our own lifejackets, chose paddles and headed for the shore. Kevin (living up to his reputation) managed, after much deliberation, to choose the only kayak on the beach with a hole in it. As he paddled upriver, I kept getting more annoyed with his insistence that he was getting *lower* in the water. Kevin kept getting wetter, and I kept thinking unhelpful thoughts like, “kayaks ARE low in the water, by definition.” Luckily we were close to shore when he decided his boat was truly sinking. We landed on a gravel beach, spent five or so minutes draining all of the water out, and he half dragged, half paddled it back to exchange it for a new version. I’d noticed, meantime, that my boat was plugged with a wine cork, and so decided to trade in for another model, too. 🙂 After that, we paddled up river and saw three families of wood ducks & ducklings, and one enormous splash. (Not sure what caused it, but it completely spooked me, as it was only feet away from my boat. Maybe a monster fish??). Kevin went to investigate, and got startled by a second splash, but also wasn’t sure what caused it. Intriguing. Once we paddled back, we felt like we’d earned an evening in front of the fire, reading the paper and supping on sandwiches from the deli down the street. Relaxing and happy.

PS. I finally figured out how to link directly to big versions of the photos — if you click on the photos, it will take you to a big version instead of the flickr photo page! 🙂

The summer we met, Kevin took a road trip down the coast to San Francisco. Since then, I’ve been wanting to see all the sights along 101. We also have friends to visit in San Francisco and Sacramento. So, today we started our own Washington, Oregon and California road trip.

We were pleased at ourselves for leaving before 10:00, but then realized that we hadn’t turned on the fan for the fishtank (and Seattle’s supposed to break 90 this weekend). Oops. So, one circle back, and we left for real around 10:30. Our route was 405 to 5 down to Olympia, then a meander through amazing countryside (and lots of logging) to Grays Harbor. We stopped for lunch at a deli & ice cream shop in Hoquiam – yummy food and they were playing great oldies. Grays Harbor was interesting – clearly older buildings, with some gorgeous and detailed exteriors, but somewhat falling apart now. I’m curious where it got its money (ports? lumber?) and when it was at its peak, and what happened. I’ll have to find a book once we’re back. We picked up 101 in Aberdeen and drove south through lumber country to the bottom of Washington. Occasional amazing views of the Olympics and Rainier through breaks in the pines. We were amused, as always, as we got closer to the coast and started seeing Lewis and Clark names about – they didn’t have much positive to say about the southeastern tip of Washington. By the time we saw the sign for (beautiful, picturesque) Dismal Nitch, we both burst out laughing. Our view from Dismal Nitch across the Columbia River was sensational. Deep fog on the opposite shore, then layers of hills above it, and Rainier off to the side. And, in the current day and age, the bridge to Astoria is impressive. Can you see the two huge tankers shrouded in the mist?

(As always, click on the picture to get a link to bigger versions.)

In Oregon, we continued down 101 to Ecola State Park. We wound through huge, lush pine forests, and emerged into a huge park up on a hill with amazing views overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Looking south towards Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock:

And towards Tillamook Lighthouse, offshore (you should really read this history of it – add offshore lighthouse builder and keeper to the list of jobs that I’m glad I don’t have!):

We spread out a blanket for a picnic feast of cherries, enjoyed the view and watched a wedding in the park. Amazing spot!

We stopped again just down the road in Cannon Beach to go for about an hour walk down the shoreline. Even at five, there were still many people out enjoying the day. Lots of families, lots of very happy dogs, just about perfect.

The tide was still pretty high, so we didn’t get to see the tide pools. Oh well. One of these trips it will work out. The sand was perfect, and it was fun to look at the big houses up on the hills along the beach – it would be a fun place to come back to.

We stopped for dinner an hour down the road at the Tillamook cheese headquarters. Crowded, but we enjoyed the free sample cheese curds, had a yummy burger and sandwich, respectively, and then got ice cream cones for the way out. Yum. Back on the road, the views continued to be amazing. The road kept ascending the cliffs along the shore, and you’d wend along with decreasing ocean views for twenty minutes and then get a series of views like this one through breaks in the trees before descending into the towns below. Gorgeous.

Our hotel was in Lincoln City – one of the first places I found south of Seaside that didn’t have 2-night minimum stays. I was a little bit apprehensive about it (it was right on the ocean but cost $89/night, and most places I’d found up the coast were in the $150 and way up category), but it turned out to be a gem. Comfy bed, clean bath, and this view from our room’s huge window when we arrived:

This was one of our longest driving days (9+ hours and 375 miles). It was good to fall asleep. What a treat of travel though – I love seeing the new places.