Day 5: Mendocino, CA- San Francisco, CA

The drive today was a little rough. Route 1, along the coast turns into a bunch of switchbacks and ups and downs along the coast. We caught some glimpses of the ocean as we drove but it was very fogged in. I'm quickly coming to realize that this may not be the best time to be doing this drive, but it's a blast nonetheless. Mom drove, and avoiding smacking me in the face when I made rude comments about her driving (which really wasn't her fault, it was the road). I watched out the passenger window in search of any pods of whales but there was no luck.... maybe tomorrow?

We drove in and out of some crazy weather again (clear blue skies and then right back into the fog). This coastline is like nothing I've ever imagined. It's unbelievably majestic. We are seeing more and more kelp forests in the water and then playfully mistaking them for seals popping their heads up to say hello.

Then we went to the Point Reyes Lighthouse, which is the tallest lighthouse on the West coast. It was so foggy, you had to be right up on it to see it. We hung around and then took a few steps near the cliffs and saw what I'm thinking are leopard seals, taking a snooze on the rocks.

Our destination prior to San Francisco was Bolinas, which is a town that mom's friend has told us we HAD TO see. This is a town that isn't on your typical map and all road signs have been removed by the locals to avoid major tourism- SUCKERS! Bolinas is the most unusual hippy town I've ever see, Boulder beware! It's a beautiful, small, artsy, hippitty-dippity town. The locals are.... what can only be understood when you see the town. We stayed for dinner and then headed right back into the fog to our hotel in San Francisco. We're staying at the Best Western on Fisherman's Wharf and it's a beautiful hotel within walking distance to lots and lots. We drove over the Golden Gate and probably wouldn't have even realized it had we not been stuck in traffic and saw that the metal was red. Hopefully we'll get a better view tomorrow.... HOPEFULLY!

Mendocino used to be a lumber town and these are photos and descriptions of how they brought the lumber from the cliffs onto the boats- CRAZY!

Dispensary central!

There's always time to try on hats!

Point Reyes Lighthouse

SEALS!

Back into the fog!

The few signs for Bolinas, but none of them actually SAY Bolinas!

HUGE starfish

MORE seals!

And that's our view of the Golden Gate Bridge!

MOMMA'S NOTES

Woke up to the charming town of Mendocino which looks like a stage set and I guess it was. Besides looking like New England it has these odd water towers next to or above the houses, beautiful, bursting gardens. It's a little difficult to distinguish the locals and their dogs and bicycles from the hippie hobos and their dogs and bicycles except for their cardboard signs.

My turn driving the challenge course that is route 1 or 101 following the coastline. Eliza's turn to turn green. When the fog lifted the scenery was spectacular but sometimes we were grateful for the fog because the shoulder-less roads and the dramatic descents were a little unnerving.

Bolinas was a very quirky short side trip and a delicious dinner locale. Also a pretty great sunset as we left and looked back at it across the inlet and saw egrets and seals basking on the sand bars.

Before we knew it we were in San Francisco crossing the bridge. We couldn't see much but tomorrow we may get a closer and maybe, if we're lucky, a clear view.

Day 4: Gold Beach, OR - Mendocino, CA

Another beautiful driving day. Today was especially interesting. As we drove further inland towards Redwood National Park the fog seemed to disappear and the sun showed it's face. We went from 52 degrees to 90 degrees in what felt like minutes!

The redwoods are magical and driving thru the forests you feel like you're in the rainforest. But then you see all of this acreage of land where the trees have been torn down for lumber. Those trees are way older than you and I, and they can be on the ground in the blink of an eye.

We didn't drive the entire length of Avenue of the Giants because we had booked a room in Mendocino and had quite a drive ahead of us. From Gold Beach to Mendocino, it's about 5 hours and when you make a bunch of pit-stops to take photos, that time creeps up.

We arrived in Mendocino around 7:30pm at the Sweetwater Inn & Spa (clothing optional in the sauna & hot-tub- yikes). It was not what we had expected. I had read a lot of reviews that it was a cute and unique place to stay. Each room was in it's own little cottage. It sounds cute, but I quickly picked up on how much cuter I could make it (or even you, Claire).

Mendocino is where the "Murder She Wrote" series was filmed. The series was based in a little town in Maine and it's easy to see why they picked Mendocino. This tiny cliffside and beach town has the New England architecture and feel to it that many of us are used to.

Here's the highlights!

PS. My DSLR camera is out of commission until we get to San Fran. It seems to have a black speck in the lens that I can't reach by myself. Cross your fingers and pray that it's nothing major!

Goooood morning Gold Beach!

Here we go!!!!!!

MOMMA'S NOTES

How do you dress for a 38 degree temperature change that happens in the space of ten minutes? That didn't stop us from driving with the top down through the massive splendor of the Redwoods and turning our faces toward the sun when it penetrated the fog and the tree canopy.

Eliza drove throughout the day, not an easy task with miles and miles of wicked switchbacks. Not having any lunch helped me not lose my lunch but it was a challenge.

Checked into a very funky establishment and carefully avoided the hot tub/spa with the interesting dress code. Caught up on Hurricane Irene and ascertained that everyone back home was okay. So odd to be on an opposite coast through that scare. Great to know that we left our home and dogs in good hands.

Day 3: Newport, OR-Gold Beach, OR

Today was a great day! We woke up to the sound of the waves crashing and the smell of bacon. I don't know what's better than that! It was a foggy day and that seems to be what the weather is like here on the Pacific Coast. It was about 60 degrees with a breeze AND foggy. The fog seems to burn off later in the day and then roll back in in the evening. We checked out of our hotel and walked through town a bit to find a place to eat and realized that most of the restaurants were closed for some reason! We ended up at the Shilo Cafe and had a great breakfast (mom got her beloved sausage gravy and biscuits). We had called the Tu Tu Tun Lodge in Gold Beach to see if they had any last minute cancellations. This lodge had been recommended by our friend Leslie Johnston. Luckily they had two free rooms! The dinner menu was prix fix and we had a choice between pork cooked two ways (pulled pork and smoked) or shrimp scampi. We both chose the pork. Why am I writing so detailed about our trip? Who cares!

ANYWHO

We continued our drive along the coast and our first stop was Cape Pepetua which is the highest point on the coast that you can drive to. I had a little bit of vertigo as we were driving and strictly instructed mom to keep her eyes on the road!

Our next stop was the Sea Lion Caves, which might be the coolest thing that I've ever seen. It's this cave within the mountain that sea lions seem to flock to. The sea lions look like slugs or worms on this little rock as they huddle for warmth and then bark at each other when someone gets pushed around or trampled on.

The rest of the drive was a few minor pit stops to take some photos. This coast is like nothing I've ever seen before. East Coast beaches don't have $hit on these beaches. There's almost a half mile of sand before your feet touch the water and then you get to look at these awesome rock formations. I'm sure that the body surfing can be fun but something tells me that the undertow probably isn't.... either way if I lived on the beach it would have to be on THIS coast!

So here's some highlights!

View from our hotel room this morning

The beach thru the pines

Some of these awesome bridges that we've driven over

Mine?

Sea Lion Cave

This is also home to the largest sea cave in the continental US

Miles of dunes!

Our hotel room at the Tu Tu Tun Lodge! We overlooked the Rogue river, had a FANTASTIC dinner, slept like babies and are sad to leave!

Mom feeding the deer some apples and pears from the fruit trees

We sat here and had some hors d'ouvres and cocktails while we waited for drinks

The view of the river from the lodge

MOMMA'S NOTES

So many layers of beauty seen today from the long, deep beaches and dramatic coastline to the soaring pine covered peaks along the coast. Oregon is stunning. There should be advisories along rte 101 telling you to keep your eyes on the road, a blow-your-mind view is around the bend. TuTuTun Lodge is a very welcome and luxurious place to land with a fine sampling of OR wines. Managed to stay out of a potentially volatile debate on Obama because of a nice pinot noir I was really more interested in.

No photos?

For whatever reason blogspot is giving me a hard time about uploading photos here at our hotel. So hopefully tonight I'll be working hard to give you all some photos!

Day 2: Seattle- Oregon

Today we left the Flora's home after an awesome breakfast and pulled ourselves away for our next stop: Astoria, Oregon. We wanted to see the Lewis and Clark National Park and Fort Clatsop, the winter camp for the group. I think by the time we had arrived at the Fort we were more interested in staying along the coastline so we headed out of there and continued on route 101 towards our hotel, the Elizabeth Street Inn, in Newport. The drive was much longer than anticipated and stopping every few minutes to take some awesome photographs didn't help! We stopped at Canon Beach which is a cute town but also home to Haystack Rock, which I swear is the part of the rock formation from The Goonies. All I could picture was the pirate ship coming out of the cave and passing through the rocks! We walked down the beach and saw some cool things but felt like we had to get on the road again rather quickly.

Today was a great day for my friend Jennifer, who gave birth to her son Kody Alvarez. They are both healthy and she is recovering from a stressful day but they are doing well and I can't wait to meet the little meatball!

Mount Saint Helen's

Mount Rainier

On our way!

Lewis and Clark's winter fort: Fort Clatsop. This is not the original fort but a replica based on their drawings.

At Haystack Rock

Awesome sunsent

The beach of our hotel room. Fell asleep to the sound of the waves crashing!

MOMMA'S NOTES

Eliza has told me a few times now that I need an "attitude adjustment" because I can't seem to believe our good luck. Great weather, views of Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helen's, sunset at Canon Beach with an other worldly light as the clouds rolled in, a gas station just before we hit "empty". Also a long day and it's wonderful to have a fire going in the fireplace in our room while we can hear the waves crashing on the beach outside. Good night's sleep ahead.

And congratulations to Jen and her husband and Kody on becoming a family today.

DAY 1: Seattle, WA

Hey Folks,

Mom and I arrived in Seattle, WA around noon, picked up our FABULOUS cherry-red Mustang Convertible and met up with some of our favorite family friends, the Flora's. John, Brenda, and Sarah took us around downtown Seattle and Pike's Place market and then we returned to their beautiful home where we enjoyed a fantastic feast and the best coleslaw I've ever had! Kristen, Jason, and Ana joined us for dinner and it was great to catch up with them since I haven't seen them (and hadn't met Ana until then) in at least 10 years! It was great to spend time with some familiar faces before we embark on the rest of our trip. Here's some of the highlights from today:

A view of Mount Rainier from the plane

Our ride: Tabasco

Pike's Place Market

Beautiful bouquets everywhere!

The first Starbucks.... I wonder where the first Dunkin Donuts is....

Downtown Seattle

Mom with Brenda and John Flora

Two little hookers and their spicy car!

MOMMA'S NOTES

Great launch to our adventure, thank you fabulous Flora family.

I had forebodings at the car rental check in line. We hadn't seen a convertible in the lot. Eliza told me to think positive and sure enough, an almost brand new, red-hot car was pulled up for us, now dubbed Tabasco. The GPS we've renamed a few times but is now Queen Anne. A crazy pairing but then so are we.