We entered California today and quickly encountered the Redwoods, a herd of elk and huge numbers of surfers despite the 63 degree weather. We will travel through the Golden State for the next two weeks taking in more Redwoods, some wine country, Marin County, the Big Sur, Sequoia National Park, the Sierra Nevadas, Yosemite National Park and lastly, Lake Tahoe. We may get a quick trip into Mexico as well. Then it will take us nine days to cross the country arriving back in Woodstock on 10/22. We love the road! And we look forward to our next six-week road trip in January. It’s all booked and, in the meantime, we are anxious for the holidays and spending time with our 14 grandchildren, beginning on 10/29 in PA at Matthew’s first birthday party. We can’t wait to be with our family again!

We then left town after taking some coffee hut photos seen here and headed west along the Ocean Beach Highway that followed the Columbia River.

We crossed the mouth of the Columbia via the Astoria-Megler bridge into Oregon and made our first stop at Fort Clatsop where Lewis & Clark spent the winter of 1805-06. Mr. C was taken by the fort’s deep-woods location. There were roughly 26 members of the expedition who spent a cold and wet winter here waiting for spring to begin their return journey.

Here’s a photo of Mr. C at nearby Seaside, standing at the Lewis & Clark sculpture titled “End of the Trail”. This was where we had our first view of the Pacific! Mr. C actually walked down to the water to taste it. We had lunch at a cafe called “Pudgy’s and sampled a new chowder called smoked salmon clam chowder – very good! We walked around the promenade and enjoyed the seaside ambiance of Seaside, which is one of Oregon’s largest beach resorts.

We ended our journey for the day in Lincoln City at a Comfort Inn right across from the ocean. This morning we woke up to another perfect day! The highway along Oregon’s central coast actually runs closer to the Pacific for much longer stretches so we were gasping at the breathtaking views continuously.

Yesterday Mrs. C was thinking about Jack Nicholson when she saw a logger truck pulling into a gas station. She remembered the final scene in one of her all-time favorite movies, “Five Easy Pieces” when Nicholson abandons his honey and hitches a ride with a logger. Today when Mrs. C was reading an Oregon Guide book, she read that Depoe Bay, the town right after Lincoln City, was the location of a scene from “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” when McMurphy (Nicholson) takes his fellow ward patients for a getaway jaunt on the sea.

Speaking of logging trucks, I can’t tell you how many we’ve seen, especially here in Oregon. In fact, if it is a truck, it’s a logging truck. Here’s a photo of a lumber yard Mr. C took today in Coos Bay.

Today we often saw these signs posted along the highway. Mr. C said the sign makes it obvious what you should do – RUN!!!

Mrs. C is very happy with our accommodations this evening – we’re staying at the Bandon Inn. It’s a charming seaside town – on a small scale like Cape Cod. We had fish (Pacific cod) & chips at the local fish market – the blue building in the photo taken from our room on the hill above the town.

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Before we left town this morning, Mrs. C continued being pampered with a stop at a nail salon. Then we were off on I-5 going south on our way to Longview, WA. We passed through Everett, home to Boeing, and then Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia. Here’s a photo of Seattle’s skyline and the Space Needle.

Mr. C was delighted once again that his route took him by another baseball venue, Safeco Field, where the Red Sox play the Mariners. Mr. C has been keeping up with the the Red Sox reading the Boston Globe online and following the team’s historic collapse. He obviously hasn’t missed anything worth watching during the month he’s been on the road.

I asked Mr. C why we weren’t stopping more often in these famous cities, such as Seattle, and he replied, “Monty, this is a ROAD trip! We only have seven weeks to see the country from the great plains to mountain ranges to national parks to rivers and lakes and oceans and other natural wonders. This journey will give us an appreciation of the immense size of the United States.”

The town we’re staying in tonight is an old lumber town and still makes its money in timber products. When we entered the town, I was taking a nap in the backseat when Mr. & Mrs. C began shouting “Ugly!” “Ugly!” They were referring to the houses. It seems like most homes are little boxes with no more than one bedroom with old-fashioned shingle-sided exteriors from the 50s. Many are poorly maintained but it’s the size of the houses and their lack of any decent architecture that make the residential neighborhoods particularly unattractive.

Tomorrow morning we will visit the town park and library and look for the famous Nutty Narrows Bridge. It’s the only suspension bridge in the world designed and built strictly for squirrels. Mr. & Mrs. C have asked several people at the Chinese Garden restaurant tonight and at the hotel where they might find it because it eluded them in their first effort. Everyone assures them it’s actually there; however, no one can tell them exactly where they can find it. Stay tuned… We’re all looking forward to a sunny drive on the Oregon Coast tomorrow.

We took the Sea-to-Sky Highway from Vancouver to Whistler, a distance of 60 miles with Puget Sound on the left and coastal mountains on the right. It seemed like one curve just went into another. Great scenery and an exciting highway for motorcyclists, which we saw a lot of. In the beginning we had partly cloudy skies and the vistas were awesome. Here’s a photo of sailboats out on Horseshoe Bay.

By the time we reached Whistler, the clouds had moved in and remained so for the rest of the day. (big sigh) But Mr. C says you can’t always count on sunny skies in the Pacific Northwest. The ski resort was, again, very upscale and we enjoyed lunch there. When you entered the village, you encountered the Ilanaaq the Inukshuk sculpture, which symbolized the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Today we were scheduled to visit several islands as well as take a ferry back to Washington. However, rain and strong winds put a damper on that plan. Rain is in the forecast through Tuesday so we have also canceled our drive through Mt. Rainier National Park. Boo! We have instead returned to Bellingham, WA, where we previously stayed. We’ll wait out the rain and re-start our itinerary on Tuesday in Longview, WA.

On the positive side, Mr. C’s hives appear to be getting better. The welts are smaller and paler today and he’s feeling optimistic.

We crossed the border into Canada and finally got to use our new passports. The custom officials asked Mr. & Mrs. C a number of questions but they only asked me one – Where did I buy my nifty boots? It wasn’t until we entered Canada that Mr. & Mrs. C realized they had no Canadian maps on their Garmin. You may remember they had purchased a new GPS in Indiana but didn’t know that the pre-loaded maps did not include Canada. Their Tracfones didn’t work in Canada either but fortunately, they have Onstar. So they had to navigate on their own using a handful of google maps Mrs. C had prepared for their itinerary back in Woodstock. In order to reach North Vancouver, it was necessary to drive through downtown Vancouver. What traffic! Mrs. C felt like she was in NYC. And Mr. C kept complaining about how narrow the lanes were. We were trying to follow these little green signs for “99 N” but it wasn’t easy as we weaved through the city.

Our first observation were the numbers of Asians. 30% of the city’s population is Chinese and that doesn’t include the Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Indonesians and Cambodians. We also had the chance to drive through Stanley Park, very similar to Central Park. North Vancouver was a little quieter, more tall apartment buildings than businesses. Sometimes you had the feeling you were really in Hong Kong because of their architecture and the people. The average condos and residences also have their own unique architecture with lots of dormers and angled roofs. Most of the time they’re very attractive. Mrs. C didn’t especially care for our room at the Comfort Inn. She complained it felt more like a motel with your car parked outside your door. It was pricey but they didn’t give you their usual services like a hot breakfast (love those waffles!) or spacious room or comfy chair or fridge or microwave.

We tried a Canadian chain restaurant called Boston Pizza that turned out to be a good choice. They offer not only pizza but several sandwiches, burgers and pasta dishes. The food was exceptional. Because Mr. & Mrs. C are trying to keep their food budget to a minimum, our taste buds are not always satisfied so this place was a treat. We have found all the Chinese restaurants above average and here on the West Coast, there’s an Asian restaurant on every block so we’re in luck.

We’re looking forward to our drive tomorrow up to Whistler where the skiing took place during last year’s Olympic Games. We hope we’ll see some sun because the next few days are supposed to be rainy. That will most likely result in a change of travel plans. Here’s hoping also that Mr. C will be much improved by morning.

We anticipated rain today but at least it held off until we were halfway through the North Cascades Scenic Highway. We were thankful our sightseeing during the early part of our drive wasn’t marred by clouds so we could view some of the glaciers.

We loved the tunnels, waterfalls and the Diablo Dam, holding back the emerald-green waters of the Skagit River. The further we traveled west, the more lush the forests became and by the time we reached the end of the highway, the countryside looked more like a rain forest with heavy green growth close to the road and moss growing up tree trunks, covering the rocky hills, as well as covering the roofs of homes! At times the forest didn’t seem that much different from Woodstock considering how many days we’ve been driving through desolate landscapes.

Tomorrow we’ll be crossing the border and spending the next couple days in North Vancouver. The weather looks poor for tomorrow so we’ll do our scenic drive on Saturday taking the Sea-to-Sky Highway to the highlands in British Columbia.

The land is so beautiful partly because of its ruggedness. It is amazing how much land is unpopulated and this vastness gives you a greater sense of how big the United States is. Mrs. C says it also deepens her patriotism and it makes her want to start singing “God Bless America” or “America, the Beautiful”.

While we traveled SW toward Missoula, we followed the Flathead River, which eventually brought us to the 27-mile-long Flathead Lake, the largest natural fresh water in the western US.

We often had a two-lane road to ourselves where you are the traffic and the only distractions are provided by the constantly changing scenery.

The Idaho panhandle proved to be an extension of Montana with both high plains and forested hills. We spent the night in Coeur d’Alene and this morning took off for Eastern Washington, apple country! At first the countryside was just farms and rolling hills of golden wheat in all directions.

Mrs. C kept saying “Where are the apple orchards? All I see is wheat and more wheat!” Soon enough the land began to get rougher, and it even looked like there were lava eruptions in the fields. It surely didn’t look like a place for fruit trees! But then suddenly, right on the barren hills appeared a patch of greenery – yes, orchards on the hills! We had finally reached Apple Land. At each orchard entrance, wooden crates were stacked high ready to receive the fall harvest. We pulled over and took some photos -

Today we also had the chance to see Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River. Mr. C was surprised at how much the area resembled the Hoover Dam in Nevada. It was barren rock holding back blue water.

Normally we stay over at Comfort Inns or Best Westerns but tonight we were booked at a inn situated on Pateros Lake, the Columbia River according to Mr. C. By the way, if anyone in the car mentions either the Columbia River or the Missouri River, Mr. C is likely to go off for several minutes on the hardships of the Lewis & Clark expedition. Our room is much more upscale than I’m used to – there’s a fireplace, these weird purple lights in the bathroom and French doors leading to the balcony overlooking the lake. We dined at the restaurant next door and had the same fantastic views. Mrs. C says she’ll never get used to water abutting brown hills but she finds the landscape interesting because it’s so different from everything she’s known.

Naturally the town of Browning was inhabited mostly by Native Americans and totally lacking any mountain ambience. We stopped at a convenience store to pick up lunch. We had to admit we had never seen such an assortment of sandwiches and entrees at a gas station. Mrs. C chose a Mr. Rib sandwich, hoping it might resemble the McRib that has been offered intermittently at McDonald’s for over 30 years. It’s her favorite McDonald’s sandwich but it’s rarely offered. It was Mrs. C’s lucky day – sure enough, it tasted like the real thing!

Heading west from Browning, we skirted the Glacier National Park and Mr. C was happy when he realized he was closely following the route of the Lewis & Clark expedition. Although we weren’t seeing glaciers, the tree-covered canyons provided spectacular scenery as well as the emerald-colored Flathead River.

Our overnight stay was in Hungry Horse, Montana – a Mom & Pop motel, chosen because it was the only motel under $120! It came with no coffee maker, fridge, nor friendly Mom and Pop. The 70-ish couple’s hospitality left much to be desired. The motel bills itself as “squeaky clean” and we’ll agree on that.

As there are no restaurants open at this time of year in Hungry Horse, we drove 13 miles west to the upscale town of Whitefish. Mr. & Mrs. C had seen a couple episodes of House Hunters showing off the attractive town so they wanted to check it out. On one of the latest episodes, they showcased a couple from Nashville, TN, called Reed and Kelli who were looking to move to Whitefish and open a yogurt & coffee business. After dining at the Buffalo Cafe in town, Mr. & Mrs. C went down the street to visit the Red Caboose where they enjoyed a good chat with Reed and Kelli.

Mr. C told the young couple that he had been disappointed in Montana coffee and so they whipped up a strong Oregon blend to his satisfaction.

As we entered Yellowstone National Park from the west entrance, dark clouds appeared and we weren’t sure if it would rain by the time Old Faithful erupted. Twice traffic had to come to a halt because the buffalo sometimes strut their stuff right down the center line of the road. The only other wildlife we saw today was a lone coyote but we didn’t get the chance to get his picture.

When we arrived at the visitors center at Old Faithful, we had no idea as to the next eruption time. Since we hadn’t eaten in a while, we dropped in at an eatery to grab lunch when Mr. C noticed a handwritten sign indicating Old Faithful was about to erupt in seven minutes! We abruptly left and drove over to this huge parking lot. Since there wasn’t much time left, Mr. C made a run for it while Mrs. C and I stayed in the car. My legs are too short to run quickly and Mrs. C could never keep up as well. The time between eruptions varies from 45 to 126 minutes so we felt lucky we had seen that sign. A short while later Mr. C returned to the car and shared his photos of Old Faithful with us.

Last night we dined at the Three Bears Restaurant in West Yellowstone but Mrs. C insisted we drive by the town’s McDonald’s to capture this photo showing its unique western flavor.

Today we needed to go north nearer the Glacier National Park although we’re not sure we’ll do the scenic drive tomorrow because the weather doesn’t look good. Showers are predicted so we may do a more southern, easier route to Hungry Horse, Montana. So far we can’t complain about the weather. It’s been mostly sunny since we began our sightseeing and the past few days have stayed in the 60s. Mr. C’s favorite quote for days has been “This scenery just goes on and on and on.”

We stopped in the capital of Montana for lunch – Helena – but we never could get a feel for the city since it sprawled for miles. We were looking for a specific cathedral and could never locate it. We ate at the Jade Garden – delicious Chinese food though we spotted no Chinese actually working there – similar to P.F. Changs. Mrs. C delighted in our waiter’s accent and finally asked him about it. He said he was from Montana but folks often thought he had a Minnesota accent. Mrs. C couldn’t help thinking he sounded exactly like William H. Macy in “Fargo”.

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