Border Patrol and Drive Thru Jerky...

Last time we were together, we were in Spokane, Washington. While we were at Spenser’s house, we took the time to re-organize the back of the car, something that we desperately needed to do. Everything loaded back in the car out on the road we went. Oh, I90 how we missed you. We stopped at a Perkins in some random exit off of i90 where there were only whitehead diners and young pregnant waitresses. My fear for the end of our trip, not so much the pregnant part, but the waitress off of a random exit of the highway serving eggs and scrapple to truckers, trying to make enough money to put gas in the car to get home. I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

After our brunch at Perkins we stopped at the little farmers stand in front of the gas station. We picked out our produce, four nectarines, a cantaloupe and a bag of cherries, our total, $10. Well, it appears as though we have just been raped by the produce Nazi. We wanted to get some of the plums but he would not allow us to. We continued on our way complaining about the price of the cherries the entire way. Looking at the scenery we feel as though it is a letdown after being in Montana and Glacier Park.

We made it to about half an hour outside of Seattle when we decided to stop for the night. We pulled off of the highway to camp at a State Park. When we pulled in, the campground was full. Well, there was a campground on the other side of the highway. We headed over. It was literally on the side of the highway with three other campers there. We set up camp and headed to bed early. We got up early in the morning packed up and ready to go. Off to Seattle we go. Neither of us really knowing anything about Seattle, we were just kind of winging it. We parked in one of the first parking garages we came across. The walking shoes went on and we hit the streets.

Brunch was at a lovely little bookstore café where they had Yerba Mate on the menu. Not something that is easily found in restaurants. If you are a tea drinker and never had it, I highly suggest you try it. You either love it or hate it. I happen to love it, so I was super psyched!! Along with the mate was a herbed goat cheese and tomato jam on grilled rosemary bread. WOW! Incredible! After our bellies were full, we set out to discover the city. To our surprise, there were many stores that were empty and for rent. It was almost like a ghost town. There were very few people on the streets and very little traffic. We walked all the way to the space needle, which was at least 30 blocks from where we parked. But we are in Seattle, so we have to see the Needle, right? Well, we saw it, however, did not go up in it. We were entertained by a juggling unicyclist and people watching. This is where all the people were, Space Needle Park. We stopped by a little café for an afternoon crepe and coffee, both disappointing.

We walked the 30 blocks back to the area where we parked along the piers. Looking down in the water, there were starfish all over the rocks in the water. The street lights were all adorned with hanging baskets of flowers. Once we were back in the area of the parking garage we decided to take the Seattle underground tour. It is a 90 minute tour of the city that once lived underground. The great Seattle fire burned down 32 blocks of the city. Business owners were anxious to get things up and running again and rebuilt. The city decided that they wanted to raise the city’s elevation by building concrete walls and brick to connect them. To learn more, you can take the tour, email me, or read “Sons of the Profit”.

Our full day of touring the city by foot we were exhausted. We attempted to stay at three different campgrounds. The first one was a trailer park, not a campground; the second was nonexistent and the third full. So, we found a nice rest area off of the I5 and slept in the car. Probably one of the best night’s sleep I have had since we left. Who knew sleeping in the front of a Toyota Highlander would be comfy…

Rest areas get busy first thing in the morning, so we were up early and headed to Portland for the day. We arrived around 11 AM and went to the Saturday Market. Yes, I know it was Sunday, but it is now open Saturday and Sunday. Lucky Us! We walked the market and found millions of things that we could have spent millions of dollars on. Everything in the market has to be produced by its vendor. We met the nicest girl Nicole that fitted us with the most unique hats, perfectly fitting our personalities. Wait until you see them. We ate interesting food, tasted interesting teas, and heard great music, saw lots of bums. Lots of bums with brand new cutest little puppies begging for money. Not sure what else to see in Portland and after spending the day in Seattle the day before we were anxious to get back out to the country and beautiful scenery.

Crater Lake here we come! Back out in the country both of us were feeling much better. More relaxed, at ease, at home. We pulled into Crater Lake just about sunset. What a sight! If you ever get the chance, this is another place I would highly recommend. After many stops for pictures and to inhale the beauty we finally got to the campground. They do not accept cash! What kind of a place does not accept cash? Kate’s tent went up in the dark and having such a good nights sleep the night before in the car, I opted to sleep in the car instead of putting my tent up and getting all my gear out. It was just easier, and some more comfortable than some nights. It was COLD!!! The temperature went down into the low 30’s that night. We have been freezing ever since.

We decided to have breakfast at the little camp restaurant before hitting the road. It was a buffet, so we ordered our coffee and tea and went to the buffet and filled our plates with one pancake, a scoop of scrambled eggs, a strip of bacon and fresh fruit. When the bill came, it was $11.25 a person, $2.50 for a cup of coffee and $2.25 for a cup of tea. $11.25 for a breakfast buffet and you can’t even throw in a cup of coffee??? Come on now!

Winding through the byways of Oregon we come to the California border. At which point we are greeted by an inspection station. They stop all incoming traffic to check for illegal contraband (I am starting to shake in my boots…) or in this case corn and cherries. Well, remember the roadside produce that we got raped for? Yes, that’s right, our $10 cherries. Well, we either have to eat them, or dispose of them. And the corn had to be husked by the officer. He husked our corn while we ate as many cherries as we could. No way we were throwing away $10 worth of cherries on our tight budget. As we are eating our cherries, I look across the street to see a Drive-Thru Jerky stand. Of course we stopped. Rocky wasn’t sure of the couple questions that Kate had so he had to get his sister, Carol to answer them.

We picked out our campground from the book and headed in that direction. When we pulled in, it looked like a trailer park again. What is the deal with trailer parks calling themselves campgrounds on the west coast? It was not as scary as the first trailer park campground so we thought we would give it a try. Our site was on beachfront property. It was wonderful to sleep with the waves crashing on the beach. Very peaceful. The campground manager told us about a breakfast special at the casino right up the road, so we checked it out. It was a $2.99 special. Can’t go wrong there. It was kind of a dreary day so we stayed put and just had a mellow do nothing day. We both needed it. In the afternoon I went for a walk on the beach and found some of the most beautiful stones. The colors were very unusual. Farther down the beach out on the sandbar were seals, just sunning themselves. There must have been 50 or 60 of them. It was amazing to see. I put the extra strong lens on my camera and got a few good photos of them talking to each other.

The next morning after another breakfast special at the casino we headed to the Redwoods. The Redwoods are just massive. There is no other way to describe them. We even drove the car through the trunk of one. While driving through we met a group of wild hogs. Nice guys out for a couple day trip. Needless to say, we played leap frog with them most of the day. We stopped at an attraction and they drove by, then we happened to be at the next attraction together. I tried to get them to buy us lunch, but we were not their type. We parted ways just before the Avenue of the Giants. A very scenic drive through the Redwood Forest. That night we slept with the giants. No, get your minds out of the gutter. Not the football team, the trees. Although, I don’t think either of us would have minded the first one.

Today, we took scenic route 1 down the coast of California. It was very beautiful and picturesque, but made us both very car sick. It is a tiny narrow, windy, hilly road. Not at all good for those who have motion sickness tendency’s. There should be warning signs before you start out on a road like there are for roller coasters. Finally we made it back to the 101 and over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. Not at all what Kate expected it to be. We had dinner and got the hell outta there! We are not in a city kind of mood these days. We just wanted to be in our tents under the stars listening to the crickets. We are on our way to Yosemite. Hopefully not all of California is as well for the holiday weekend.

The adventures were not that amazing this week, but we both had a great time nonetheless. Please stay tuned for scenes from the next leg of our journey.