Day One, Road trip to San Fran

 After a rocky start ... we left BC behind for Astoria, WA; our first overnight stop on the Road Trip To San Francisco. You know how there are signs in everyday life that make you question what you are doing. Well I can't tell you how many we had on this trip, and as it turned out, we really should have been paying more attention. Maybe it was the broken (brand new) prescription nasal spray (necessary for breathing) or maybe the dash pocket (under the newly installed sirius radio system) that fell into the wiring behind it, and yes, our passports were in it at the time; or perhaps the 2.5 hours wait at the border crossing, or even the abject amazement of the border guard who asked if we were crazy when we told him we were driving to San Francisco... these things all happened on day one.  Oh, yes and lets not forget about the GPS that wouldn't keep a charge. .. ...
We had decided to take I-5 from Vancouver to Astoria, this route had an interesting merge at Kelso we almost missed.  Anyway, Bad Decision. I-5 was a nightmare of really bad and very angry drivers.

After 750 km or so and much moaning and groaning we arrived late in the day to the beautiful seaside town of Astoria, Washington. Just behind the Safeway (with the first Starbucks we saw) ran this lovely little trolley car. It was full of people. I'm not sure where they had gotten on, or where they were going to; but it looked like they were all having fun.

One of the most remarkable things about Astoria is the bridges. I had no idea that along the coastline there were so many spectacular bridges. And yes, I took pictures of most of them! After an amazing seafood dinner at the Cannery Cafe in Astoria, we headed out to find a room for the night. Suffice it so say... not a good idea at 8:30pm on a Saturday. We drove to Seaside, the next town to the south, all booked! Yikes, we then backtracked a bit to Gearhart, a small town between Astoria and Seaside. We were lucky (really lucky) to get the last room in a little motel called the WindJammer around 11:30. More on our adventures tomorrow...