Day Four & Five, Trip to San Fran

I can certainly think of worst places to be stuck when your car breaks down.   This is a view of the lighthouse in Crescent City, CA.  One of the gents we met while waiting at the auto shop told us that when the tide was low you could walk all the way out.  I wonder if he was pulling our leg?   Anyway, it was so beautiful ~ I took far too many pictures of it.  In a couple I captured an adventurous fellow out in a kayak.  What a great way to enjoy the water.  

We did a lot more driving around the city today, we now know all of the ways  in and out of Crescent City.  I even spent some time at the Home Depot here.  I wish I could take plants with me across the border.  So many different species than what we have available to us.  I imagine most of them would require a greenhouse to survive. 

The main beach that wraps around the city is called Pebble beach.  On our first day here you could hardly see anything it was so fogged in.  Today it was just spectacular. 

We weren't able to leave Crescent City until after 3pm so we made the difficult decision not to carry on to San Francisco.   We just didn't have enough time to do the things that we wanted to and get back to BC in time for both of us to return to work.  We know we will likely fly there this winter.  February is a great month to miss in BC....

The upshot of this episode with the car is now we can take our time heading back north and stop in all the wonderful little towns that I saw blur by in our rush to San Fran.  Rockaway Beach here we come.

Day Three, Road Trip To San Fran

I have taken so many pictures in the first two and a half days of the road trip that I have to put at least two on every post.

Now, where was I? Oh yes, we have broken down in Crescent City, California. A lovely lady at the Travel Lodge directs us to a local garage called "Two Guys". I know what you are thinking, because I was too. We manage to locate it after a couple of wrong turns and a quick stop at Starbucks... There are definitely more than two guys at this place. They do it all! The local car repair, tire repair, welding, car rental and hot tub sales. We felt we were in good hands immediately. While waiting for the verdict on the car we met a couple of real characters. One recommended a drive along Pebble Beach ~ where these pictures were taken. The fog was miraculous, the way it rolled in over the landscape. I've never seen anything like this before. I am sure the pictures won't do it justice. http://www.crescentcity.org/

So, the car.... needs a couple of sensors and they aren't stocked locally. They are coming via courier tomorrow. We decide to check into the Travel Lodge next door then rent a car from the nice woman who works with the two guys and jet off to see the Redwood forest and Paul Bunyan. Maybe we'll even drive through a tree.

http://redwoods.info

Here's our little rental car driving through the redwood.  A very touristy thing to do but hey! we couldn't help ourselves.

Don't forget about Nehalem, OR

Between Manzanita and Rockaway Beach on hwy 101 is the fair city of Nehalem.  There was an odd sense of deja vu when we drove through this delightful little town.  Both sweetie and I realized that it reminded us of a small town we had visited somewhere on Maui.  It could have been the beautifully colorful buildings or the profusion of plants and glorious flowers, even the feel of it was so amazingly familiar.  I will have to go through all those pictures and find out where it was.....

We made an ever so brief stop here (this was on day two of the road trip to San Fran and we had a schedule to maintain, or so I was told over and over and over :)

There was rich, vibrant art displayed along side lovely antiques..  We could have taken a car load with us if we dared.  As it was we escaped with a lovely local print, a colorful coffee travel mug (something about a three peckered billy goat??), a colorful balloon kite for my office at work and a sample of some local fudge. Yum   http://www.neahkahnie.net/nehalem.htm

Day Two, Road Trip to San Fran

Don't they say every road trip is all about the food? (Who are They?) After finding this wondrous little cafe in Gearhart, Oregon we certainly were persuaded. Breakfast on day two convinced us that all our bad luck was behind us.... just good times to come. Little did we know what was to be (I think they call that foreshadowing) 

As we sped south on Hwy 101, we came upon the awe inspiring views of the Pacific Ocean. I look at the pacific ocean every day at home ~ but this view, off the coast of Oregon is a sight to behold. The raw power of that water is beyond intimidating to those of us who walk and swim along the inside passage of Vancouver Island. The coastal communities of Rockaway Beach and Manzanita were definitely worth stopping at. We had designer ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery in Lincoln City.

That's where it all started to go wrong again. Yes, folks, the engine light on a nearly new vehicle lit up like a Christmas tree. Okay it wasn't that spectacular, but please.... nothing has ever gone wrong with this car and now, miles away from home... this happens. So, what do you do but take out your trusty manual and read. All is well, not to panic, if the vehicle is still running well, as whew, it was, just schedule a service. Let's mention right now, the thing had been serviced five days prior to this road trip. Okay, on we go.... destination Crescent City, California.

After passing though the agricultural border crossing between Oregon and California, we were just a few miles from our next motel room. 365 or so miles today (note the change from km to miles, we are in the US of A now). Pulling into Crescent City, we lose power. Sure, it's intermittent, it was sort of like a bad movie of the week ~like the cruise control had taken over. We limped into a Travel Lodge and decided to call it a night. Things always look better in the light of day. Don't they?

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...

Tiger Lily

Why is it that deer only eat the lily that you spent too much money on at the garden centre? I have a lily that grows faithfully every year but I have yet to see what the flower looks like. The deer eat them ~ just as they are about to open! I am so glad I can provide them with such a succulent morsel. So tell me .. why don't they touch the profusion of tiger lilies that my sister gave me when they overran her garden?

That my friends is one of life's little mysteries.