Home at last

OK so I missed the last official day of posting, since we arrived back late yesterday afternoon. Routine took over as soon as we opened the house door and started unloading, and I did not get back to the concluding post of our California adventure.

We left Portland by 9:30 on Tuesday morning, and both of the boys caught up on their beauty sleep in the vehicle. Alex snoozed his way through most of Washington state, and Evan actually picked up a novel for part of his waking time! I did NOT capture this on camera, so you'll have to take my word for it. Both of them were fully conscious again by Tacoma, and took in the sights of Tacoma/Seattle speeding by. Alex says that mum is planning a trip for all of them to Seattle to see a Mariners game, so he was happy to point out Saveco field as we passed it on the freeway. Wow two MBA games in one summer. That's a pretty impressive stat for any young Canadian ball player.

After a quick lunch outside of Seattle, we continued ever closer to Canada. I needed to get my Trader Joe's fix and we made the obligatory dairy stop at Lynden, but after that we were nearly home free!
The border line-up was mercifully short, and then the boys excitedly pointed out where the official border was as we crossed it. Home at last...

It's been a great experience, traveling together and experiencing everything we did. I don't think that any of us would hesitate to do it again, except perhaps if the Canadian dollar takes another REALLY dramatic drop. The highlights for the boys were definitely the water-slide and the dune-buggying. The low-lights I'd say were sitting in the w-a-y-y-y back on the 2-day trip in Jessica's Toyota Highlander through the back country of the Sierras. Possibly also standing in line at Tony's Pizza for 1.5 hrs in San Francisco, or another hour at lunch for a seafood lunch they had no idea they would be eating. Hey, I did say it was going to be an ADVENTURE, not always a picnic!

Norbert and I had a lot of highlights - we loved spending time with Pat and David and seeing a part of California that we would never have seen otherwise (Bodie - so interesting and unexpected - now I know what 'arrested decay' really looks like, our Basque lunch in Nevada, the majesty of Yosemite), San Francisco's many sites, and the yet-to-be explored wine country of Oregon.

Traveling the U.S. is a great eye-opener in so many ways. We saw so many terrific things, made some fast friends (thanks again for everything, Pat and David!), and were never disappointed by the welcome we got in so many different places.

But it also made us thankful for our many blessings here in our own Great White North, warts and all.
The boys got along terrifically, and we're grateful to Greg and Sue for trusting us with their boy for all those weeks. Hey Sue, anytime you want to take Evan away for a few weeks...? let us know LOL! I promise to send Evan to Charm School for a boot-camp first!

This will be my last official post on our adventure - thanks for following, and all your comments along the way. It's been a great experience, and I will definitely try this experiment again.

Happy trails of your own-

Esther

Last Days

Norbert and I agreed that we’d both really like to come back to McMinville, even if we don’t visit the aviation museum again. Who knew it was such great wine country around here? It will definitely up for consideration when we get the chance for an adult holiday again. Coincidentally we happened to be in town for their annual Turkey-rama festival. I had been told that it was the time when the ‘wine meets the beer’ in the town in a bit of a culture clash and I was looking forward to seeing how that all worked out. Alas all the celebrations seemed to be over by the time we drove through; better luck next time.
There are approximately 80-odd wineries in the area, as well as all kinds of fruit trees and crops. Definitely a rich agricultural region in some transition I‘m sure..

On route to Portland for our last night, we made a stop at the large outlet mall outside of Woodburn and did some last-minute tax-free shopping. (Gotta love Oregon!) The boys were generally unimpressed, having achieved their own personal mother-lode yesterday - the highly-coveted Airsoft guns. Everyone on their next paintball outing will be jealous, at least until they nail them with their own paintball ammo.

Norbert picked up his own mother-lode in Portland - a new racing bike to replace the bike that went A.W.O.L. off the back of his bike carrier while traveling up the Coquihalla. The boys and I waited patiently for a long long long time while the adjustments & transactions took place, and we made our way to our hotel for the last night in strange beds. Pie at Shari’s and a good brisk walk (Norbert and I only, of course!) finished the evening off, Tomorrow we blaze our way through Washington and hopefully arrive home at a reasonable hour. Alex will say goodbye to all of us on Wednesday and travel back to Kamloops. Before much longer our California adventure will be just so many good memories.

Wings & Waves in McMinville

Alex-   Today we drove for a few hours, once we arrived Evan and I bought our air soft guns, after searching for weeks both of us are really excited to shoot them. After the guns were bought we headed out towards the water park Wings and Waves, that was a blast. All slides started from within a Boeing 747. Their was a wave pool which did a really good job at simulating waves crashing. I still have a lot of money left and I will keep that for future trips to the U.S.

Evan- Today I have to say was one of my better days. Once we left our hotel in Florence we hit the road to McMinnville. The drive was only an hour of so, Once we arrived in McMinnville we headed to the Big5sportinggoods and picked out some airsoft guns! We really wanted to open them but my parents said they have to stay closed unit till Tuesday. After that we found a park and had some lunch on a bench. Once we finished our lunch we finally headed off to the McMinnville Wing and Waves water slide park. In my opinion I found it one of the top water parks I’ve been to - just under Dreamworld water park in Australia. But still I found it an awesome experience. I really found this trip one of my favourites, I would really love to do it again!  

Esther - while the boys were having their waterslide adventure at Wings & Waves, Norbert and I got to a long-awaited destination next door, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. During our last trip south 12 years ago, we didn‘t have time to stop, but promised ourselves to come back here to see the Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes’ huge aviation miscalculation that flew only for a minute or so before being mothballed for good. I don’t think either of us were prepared for the sheer size of the plane, which is now in the purpose-built museum here at McMinville. The museum also has some other terrific exhibits, including a separate space museum next door.
The afternoon we spent there was pretty tiring, but it was a great experience.
Both of us had pounding headaches, and were grateful to get to the hotel for a good rest.
Tomorrow is a big day to & in Portland, so we’re going to need it!

Yes that IS a de-commissioned Boeing 747 on the roof of the waterslide building! All 4 of the waterslides start in the fuselage, pretty cool according to the boys. On a really hot day, they were happy to get into all the fun the slides and wave pool could dish out.

Florence and the (Dunes) Machine

The Medford Quality Hotel got a resounding thumbs-up, probably because we were all comparing it to the Motel Capri. After a well-deserved night’s sleep, the truck turned north through Grant’s Pass en route for Florence and the Oregon Dunes coastline. Alex and Evan knew that dune buggies were on today’s plan, but didn’t really have any idea what they were in for. We couldn’t tell them too much other than that they may actually enjoy it more than their California Screamin’ rides at Disneyland.

We made good time, stopping only for a quick picnic lunch outside of Eugene. I took my turn at the wheel and we wound our way through the outskirts of Eugene, playing ‘spot the Route 126 sign’ for an awfully long time. We narrowly missed continuing north up the I-5 again several times, and Norbert and I could see our lead time to the Florence 3:30 dune buggy time slot evaporating. Eventually we found our way onto the 126 itself, and joined ANOTHER line-up - imagine that! The one-lane secondary highway to the coast has few passing lanes, so we had to just settle in for a long, if scenic trip. The last time we headed this way Evan was only 2 ½; the only thing he remembers from that trip was how scary the park ranger mascot at J.R. Honeyman State Park was. Not exactly a memorable holiday for a little boy, but we hoped that this one would turn out a bit better.

After getting tightly strapped into the VERY basic-looking dune buggy, we were off for the rides of our lives!  When I called to make the booking, we were offered two options - “Fast or Slow” - I really wanted “Medium”, but was too chicken to ask if this could be Option 3. Our driver, Buddy, had come to his career driving tourists like us around after racing stunt motorcycles and testing bikes for an offshoot of Harley Davidson. I had to put my trust in him, and when I couldn’t, I shut my eyes and put my trust in the Higher Power (I‘m hoping that He was listening even though my tuner is pretty rusty!)
I just kept telling myself that our driver was no more interested in dying than any of us were!
For the next hour, Buddy raced up 90 degree dune hills and down the other sides, skidded along the tops of the ridges, along the beach at top speed, and deep around the bottom edges of the sand wells by the tree island. Norbert was whooping at the top of his lungs, the boys were yelling (if not like little girls, then at least like big ones!), and I’d say it was all they thought it would be and more.

It took a good while to shake all the sand out of our nooks and crannies, but we made our way back to the hotel and enjoyed a good swim and hot-tub, then drove to the A&W drive-in we’d seen on the way through town for our supper. I hadn’t been to a drive-in since Grade 6, so this was a rare treat. The boys thought the whole idea was kind of strange, but we had to try it out. American A&W food didn’t quite match up to our Canadian palates, but having a chance to experience it again made it worthwhile.

Tomorrow morning it’s off to McMinville and the Spruce Goose, waterslides and more! Wait for it - Turkey-rama!!

Oregon - Day 1

We left San Francisco behind by mid-morning, winding our way through the over & underpasses and freeways to get back to the I-5 itself. Norbert was driving, and as a semi-responsible navigator, I wasn't game to bury my nose in my Vanity Fair until I'd reliably guided him to the biggest road of them all.

The boys snoozed their way through most of northern California's fields, but woke up when we pulled into Granzella's Deli & Gourmet Foods at Williams. Business was brisk; people KNOW about this place. This was another good tip from Pat & David, and we all enjoyed fresh hearty sandwiches before hitting the road again. These definitely were so much more superior than the usual burgers & tacos we've had a lot of our time on the road.

Tonight we're breaking in southern Oregon's Medford - taking some time to rest and get ready for tomorrow's dune buggy adventure in Florence. The boys are pumped, and once we recover from our shock and awe, we'll probably have enjoyed it too. Pictures to follow!

Goodbye to California

With an Alcatraz tour off the table, we decided to make the most of our last day and cover as much ground in the city as humanly possible on transit and foot power. The boys were given the Rock-Paper-Scissors choice of a boat ride around Alcatraz or a visit to the aquarium. Nature won out over the consequences of crime this time around.

Bussing it down to Fisherman’s Wharf one last time, we visited the Aquarium at the Bay and took in some great exhibits of Pacific west coast sea life from around the Bay area. I was having a lot of trouble keeping warm with the stiff shore wind, so we stopped off for a quick coffee and cookie before heading off on our next expedition, an uphill trek to the Coit Tower.

We climbed the 172+ steps up the hillside (without any real complaints from the peanut gallery, but they were quite aways behind us down the staircase) to the 1933 landmark. The height gives a fantastic 360 degree view of the city. The high winds were still blowing, and we could see the Italian and New Zealand America’s Cup catamarans were racing across the bay below us - the helicopter with the tv crews were keeping up, but the tracking boats were really struggling.

The downhill walk was a lot quicker if harder on the quads, but it wasn’t long before we were climbing again on the way up to the crookedest street in the world. Lombard Street’s twists and turns were crowded with tourists and cars/trucks trying to make it down the street without mishap while snapping photos the whole way. The boys VOTED it the “Worst Street EVER” and we headed down the other side of the hill in search of lunch.

….and straight onto the end of another line-up. Swan’s Oyster Bar at the bottom of Polk Street came highly recommended all round, so we thought we needed to give this SF institution a try as well. Thousands of happy seafood lovers couldn’t be wrong, and Evan was curious about how the clam chowder was going to stack up to mom’s. After almost an hour, we took our seats at the small lunch counter in the vintage lunch spot. Swan’s celebrated their 100^th anniversary last year, and their tried and true plain but oh-so-fresh seafood dishes still serve customers who are happy to line up for Swan’s food and service at least as long as we did. Evan proclaimed my chowder STILL better than what he ate at Swan’s (J ) but we really enjoyed our own, and Norbert slurped his way through an entire order of local oysters. Ours was definitely worth the wait!

We needed to top this lunch/dinner off with a bang, so headed BACK up and down the Powell-Hyde St cable-car, to Ghiradelli Square for dessert. Coffee & a shared sundae for us, and malts for the boys pretty well finished us off for the night. The walk home was a must, and it was time to get started on packing for the journey north tomorrow.The natives are getting restless (see last photo)
Goodbye Motel Capri - FOREVER!!!

San Francisco - Day 3: The Thighmaster

I have incorporated an extended stay in the lobby as part of the morning ritual to check emails and do wifi business. The reasons/excuses for connection issues the front desk offers up sound phonier every day. Methinks they just don’t want to carry whatever internet costs usually go with running a hotel these days. That’s ok - one more day and we’re on the road back north again.

We made it out of our room by 10:30 and picked up hybrid bikes to head over the Golden Gate to Sausalito. I had to promise the boys that photos of them on the bikes would not make it to FB. Somehow they had the idea that the bikes didn’t make them look nearly cool enough. L The going was pretty good until we made it round the last few hills & bends before the bridge. The wind was fierce, but the sky was reasonably clear; at least we weren‘t going to get the dreaded marine fog descending on us. Everybody but…me made it without walking the uphill approaches. I’m blaming it on the extra Danish I plucked off the breakfast tray this morning. There was a steady stream of people on the bridge itself - families riding four-abreast, fast locals speeding by, pedestrians squinting ing out towards Alcatraz, etc. apparently you can even take a Segway tour across the bridge. If Evan and Alex were worried about the bikes’ cool factor, think how they would have looked riding over the bridge on a Segway (probably with bags over their heads!)

We took a break mid-span for a photo op and to marvel at the terrific current under us, then continued downhill towards Sausalito. Periodically along the bridge emergency phones with ’Don’t give up - make the call’ messages all over them are placed to dissuade those who’ve decided to go over and out in a really big way.

Sausalito is a small but lively community of galleries, restaurants and jewellery shops that reminded us a bit of Sidney or White Rock. Lunch was a deli sandwich picnic on the shore, and we continued riding around until it was time to head back on the 3:45 ferry. The ferry trip included a carefully co-ordinated exercise in bike balancing, with 150 of us leaning our bikes up against each other on the lower deck, then picking them up one by one and filing off the boat at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Alex found his airbrush artist at the wharf and picked up the picture he‘d been wanting, then we sent them back to the shop to return their bikes. The two of us continued riding to the Presidio (against the wind!) park area, and we may almost have earned the pizza that was coming up for supper.

It was probably the first and last time that I will wait 1 ½ hrs for a pizza - it was so highly recommended that I felt like we couldn’t get so close to Tony’s Pizza in North Beach and NOT try it out. We left our name with the front desk and wandered as long as we could in the cold and descending foggy breeze before squishing back into the incredibly-crowded restaurant entrance to wait our turn. The menu was a confusing array of different crust-styles and toppings; in the end we made simple choices - all that time in line wasn‘t totally wasted.

Best pizza ever? The other 3 agreed theirs was pretty good; I wasn’t totally convinced. Maybe it was a mistake to try a pizza with BBQ sauce and fried onions. Just sayin’…that might have coloured my opinion!

Some traditional things are not meant to be messed with. The waitress did give us a slightly funny look - in other words, you wait 90 minutes in line and then choose something you could have got at Papa Murphy’s?!

One more full day in town - we’ll do more wandering, visit the Aquarium, walk the crookedest street, stop by Ghiradelli Square for an ice cream sundae. One thing it will NOT include - a visit to Alcatraz. We stopped by the wharf the other day to see when we could book a tour - the answer was any day after AUGUST 1 L L Instead of booking those Giants tickets in April, I should have been online booking the tour instead. Apparently we’ll have to be satisfied with Clint Eastwood or Call of Duty: Black Ops version of the island…