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…

San Francisco - Day 2

Bright and early, I headed out with a big bag of washing to the closest Laundromat. This helped me check out the neighbourhood a bit before everyone tagged along. On my travels, I came across another funky older hotel a block or two away…with a pool! Good thing the boys will never read this blog. They won’t forgive us for not packing up & moving immediately.. I also came across a couple of bike shops that rent bikes for our ride over the Golden Gate today, and cheaper than Fisherman’s Wharf prices. They look fine to me; guess it’ll be on me if the chain falls off half-way across the bridge!

We headed off by foot towards the water and from the very breezy shore, we watched some America’s Cup competitors racing through the Bay between us and Alcatraz. Norbert was especially excited to watch the finely-tuned boats in great sailing conditions. Our goal today was to do some cable car riding and to generally get a sense of the downtown, so we left the bay behind.

The line-up for the cable car turn-around on the Powell St-Hyde St line was long and naturally full of people just like us fascinated by old technology. The SF transit employees were not at all put off by our impatience - union breaks are sacred! We rode the crazy hills up and down; the boys’ eyes widened but they stayed predictably cool; California Screamin’ was of course MUCH more thrilling. I was clinging to my seat, I have to admit, even though I know that these well-trained union employees have done this thousands of times before.

From the end of the line, we bussed it around to the Ferry Building, a beautifully-restored terminal that also houses a marketplace of wonderful fresh food and artisans’ shops. I could have stayed in there all day, but none of the rest of my party were impressed by anything other than the ice cream. We got our cones, and headed back to the wharf on one of the beautiful old streetcars. On Pat and David’s recommendation [a great one, Pat!], we had an In & Out burger, a California favorite. Best burger any of us have had for a long time - all of us Canadians agreed that the closest we’ve come is our A&W burgers.

The boys were impressed by an artist on the wharf doing airbrush painting, and Alex was committed enough to consider parting with some of his holiday money - the first time he’s done that! On the way home, we enjoyed another SF tradition - an Irish coffee at the Buena Vista. I was ready for a nap after that, but unfortunately a hike was ahead of us. We got home in time for the nap, but then we headed out to the ball game.

The game had already started but the crowds were still filing in when we got to AT&T Park, and we took our seats close to heaven. Alex was excited for his first MLB game, and we stayed for almost the whole 9 innings - it was 5-5 at the top of the 8^th, when somehow things went awry for the home town team. Suddenly, it was 10-5 for the NY Mets, and even die-hard Alex was ready to admit that it didn’t look good for the Giants. We bussed it home with the rest of the bailing fans, and called it a night.

A Sobering Start

The day got off to a positive start; we cleared Anaheim on the 10:30 bus and got to LAX in plenty of time to get through Security and onto the 2:00 flight…unfortunately, I neglected that crucial step of checking online to make sure the flight was on-time. We got through to our gate and I was checking to make sure everything was on schedule - and it wasn’t L

Last Saturday’s Asiana Airlines 777 crash at SFO had set the flights upside-down, and even by our Monday’s flight, it wasn’t back to normal schedule around the airport. Our flight was 2 hrs late departing, and when we landed at San Francisco, it was pretty clear why. Debris from the crash was still strewn all over the runway beside ours, and the fuselage and wings were still lying there waiting for the NTSB to continue their investigation.

When we got on the shuttle bus to retrieve the car from the La Quinta, we could see the TV crews’ vans lined up outside the airport terminal like vultures waiting to catch the latest news tidbits that might drop from the SFO airport press officers’ news release. It was a sobering thought that we’d come so close to getting in the middle of the melee of the disaster. Seeing all that wreckage and wondering how all those people managed to walk away alive makes a person consider how fragile our grip on life really is sometimes.

We somehow navigated our way through the San Francisco rush hour without the help of our trusty Magellen OR the Smartphone GPS Human navigation - 1 TECHNOLOGY - 0!) and found ourselves at the Motel Capri in beautiful quirky Cow Hollow. It reminds me of how Vancouver’s Kitsilano would have been if it had kept its old buildings and interesting mix of shops. The Motel Capri is, well, let’s just say, kind of stuck in a time warp, but not without its charms. The boys are looking for a pool, but it’s hard to see how they’d get enough use of it with the unpredictable SF weather and our busy schedule. Secretly I’m glad to not have the smelly dripping bathing suits in the bathroom! What they are happy to see is a big beautiful HD screen in our room! This almost makes up for the tiny funky 60’s colours in the bathroom and the fact that we can just barely close the door to it.

We ventured just far enough for dinner to take in some Chinese food and retire to our new beds for the first night in the big town. One more big annoyance in our funky old hotel is a VERY unreliable internet connection. Despite the front desk assurance that we do have Wifi, none of us have ever been able to connect in our room, and all manner of Europeans we meet in the lobby every day keep asking us the same question in broken English. They seem genuinely puzzled at the hotel’s inability to grasp this essential piece of technology. See how dependent we’ve become?!

I'm already a day or two behind, but I'll continue to try and post from the hotel's lobby. It seems to be the most reliable, and that's not saying that much!

 

Goodbye Park Hopping

By now it seems pretty evident that the 3-day Disney park hopper has been more than adequate for these particular travelers. Evan and Alex have ridden California Screamin’ 8-9 times and the Tower of Terror 4 times - the biggest ticket items. Norbert and I have covered pretty much all rides bar the ones Evan & Alex loved the most, and some of them more than once and feel like we’ve hit all the highlights we expected, and a few more - Star Tours was WAY more fun than I expected; mmm Beignets and New Orleans coffee……New Orleans jazz in the afternoon with a mint julep….both completely unexpected, but terrific!

Parents with little kids understandably need more time to do the rounds of Character Breakfasts and stage shows [CK and GK, take note!], but we’ve focused on the on/off rides and pool time. Unfortunately the weather has turned much hotter, and Disney-time + pool time has led to some sunburns all around. You think we’d know better L TSA prevented us from bringing along all the sunscreen we had but I didn’t buy any as soon as we got here, so I’m taking all the heat for this one (in more ways than one)

The World of Color water/light spectacular was supposed to be on this evening’s agenda, but SOMEBODY named Norbert failed to push the button on the Fastpass machine that would have spit out his admission to this event. L oh well, it wasn’t meant to be. Maybe I should have gone alone and cheered along with thousands of other strangers; it wouldn’t have been the first time! Instead we all came home; we need to get through Anaheim-LA traffic and LAX airport traffic in the morning, so preparations need to run smoothly. Once we get off the plane in San Francisco, we’ve got to make our way downtown and find our way to Hotel #2 - Motel Capri and the next part of our California adventure.

Disney - Day 2

It was up and at ‘em early in order to get to the park before the real crowds descended. After a mediocre hotel breakfast the boys headed out, promising to return to the hotel for lunch noonish. The two of us got to the gates fashionably late, but still in plenty of time to get a Fastpass for the ‘Cars’ attraction…at 5-6 pm (!), and to get into the ‘Soaring over California’ virtual-reality experience.

That one was a lot of fun, and not at all as scary as us two ride-cowards thought it would be. Our height-trophobia didn’t get the better of us with it, and the ride gave us a 360-degree appreciation of all kinds of cool California landmarks. We both gave it a thumbs-up and swore to save time tomorrow for another try, even if it meant another long line-stand.

The monorail was another good overview, and our morning thrill-ride was the Matterhorn racers. After they’d peeled me off the handrails, we treated ourselves to coffee and New Orleans-style fritters.

The boys joined us for lunch, and we all took a pool break before heading back to the parks mid-afternoon. Norbert met a man from Calgary who put us up to date on the flooding and rail disaster that we’d lost track of once we crossed the Canada-US border.

More rides in the afternoon, and lots and lots of people-watching. There certainly is a lot to take in…somehow it all makes me want to run and run and run, and eat salad every day for the rest of my life.
It's a hot humid day, and people are wearing some pretty interesting get-ups.

Fireworks tonight were spectacular - the boys missed out; they were all played out for the day, but somehow managed to drag themselves down to the pool just one more time before 10 pm closing. We’ll hit the park for early opening one more time tomorrow - water-ride, MAYBE Space Mountain for us (if I can find that Valium I packed), and the World of Color light show in the evening. As Pat said to me, you just have to make up your mind to be 12 when you walk through the Disney gates, and somehow it all falls into place.

　

Disney Day 1

We left foggy blustery San Francisco behind us, stashing all excess luggage in the vehicle and heading to SFO for a 10 a.m. flight to L.A. Despite all flying’s hassles I think all of us are glad we didn’t end up on another 10 hrs drive down to Anaheim. By the time I got there, it definitely wouldn’t have been The Happiest Place on Earth.

All went reasonably smoothly - thanks CRJ900! The plane ride was fine, and the boys got through TSA security without any hitches. Alex was a bit puzzled about the officer wanding over his chest and coming up with some strange beeping…secret pace-maker? Implant from Mom & Dad? Tracking device? It remains a mystery.

With only carry-on bags we made a dash for the exits….right into another line-up to wait for our shuttle bus. Hurry up and wait seems to be the name of the game everywhere! Finally the Big White Bus came to take us away, away to Disneyland, to Disneyland. The Cars movie kept the boys entertained for the whole 45min ride south (yet another screen to look at!)

Too bad we couldn’t get into our room until 4^{; the} luggage went into storage and we headed across the road to Disneyland. We are, literally right across the road from the park gates, which is a good thing for the in-and-out back to the hotel.

The hotel is definitely a bit lower on the budget scale, but there is breakfast (sort-of), and the beds are clean and comfortable. Good enough!

After the WORST PIZZA EVER for lunch (thanks a lot, Evan!) we spent the next few hours getting the lay of Disneyland. Norbert and I split off to take in some of the tamer rides, leaving the boys to get their kicks on Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, etc. We got a Fastpass (the way to go for the big-ticket rides) for Indiana Jones, and returned to by-pass the looooonnnnnngggg outside line-up - so long, suckers! Little did we know that once you entered the ride, there was yet another long line snaking through to where you actually get ON the ride itself! They’ve really got this line-up thing down to an art here. The ride was thrill-packed enough for us, but I was expecting more drops and swoops - not looking forward to them, just expecting them. I think if I’d waited the whole 1 ½ hrs in line up for it, I would have felt kind of ripped off…

Took a nice long break in the afternoon, and the boys had had enough, they decided. They spent some good hours in the pool, and we watched the fireworks from across the road as we walked down to pick up food supplies.

Day 2 at California Adventure awaits.

4th of July - almost Disney-bound

July 4, 2013



The Millers took on the California freeway experience today, heading from the peace and quiet of the Sierra foothills to the wilds of the Bay area. Pat and Dave were terrific hosts, and we said goodbyes, promising to see each other next while they’re in the Lower Mainland visiting the Lillian Belle. David promised to put Norbert to work on the boat, and I promised to return their hospitality with a home-cooked meal or two or three, as their time allows. It was wonderful getting to know them better, and to be welcomed into their family. The next time we see each other, they’ll be a new grandchild and they will have lots of proud grandparent stories to tell!

So clutching David’s thoroughly-Google researched numbered and arrowed map printouts we drove down towards San Francisco, and only missed ONE major turn-off and ONE minor turn-off.

We’re pretty proud to say that for us, that’s pretty damn good.

The San Mateo bridge was pretty impressive, and the $5 toll almost felt worth it. The bridge itself took nearly 15 minutes to cross, and gave us a really panoramic view of the bay, with sailboats scudding along the surface at crazy rates of knots. We arrived at our airport hotel and looked forward to relaxing by the pool for a few hours before retiring to our room.

There was just one flaw in our plan - the weather. It is DAMN cold down here. The wind is blowing a small-scale gale, and the temperature is definitely at least 15 degrees lower than it was in the foothills. One day ago we were dreaming of these temperatures - now, I’m not so sure that I’m liking it!

So no pool for the two of us, although the boys are braving it with help of the hot tub.

We’ll head out early on the airport shuttle in the morning, and with any luck, Disney will be warmer and calmer than it is here. We're fairly sure that one thing it won't be is quiet - on a holiday weekend like this is, Norbert and I are saving all our spare Valium for the ride line-ups. The boys are pretty excited, but as usual, too cool to show it.
 

And On the Sixth Day They Rested - Murphys and Angel's Camp

July 3 - Murphy’s and Angel’s Camp

We decided to take pity on our hosts on our last full day at Pat & Dave’s. Today was initially meant to be flight day for us with David at the controls, but the ‘Tour de Sierra’ was bit more taxing than all of us thought, so today is a day of rest…sort of.

After another great full breakfast prepared by David, we left behind and the two of them to their own chores and drove up to Big Trees State Forest Park. Outside of Arnold, about 9 mi away, it is the site of some of the biggest sequoias in the state outside of Yosemite National Park. We took a couple of hours marvelling at the hugest and most majestic trees we’d ever seen. The sheer girth of these giants takes your breath away. Alex, Evan and I tried to stretch our arms round one and didn’t even make it ½ way. Fantastic!

Leaving the park behind, we dropped the boys in Angels Camp to have a dip in the local pool and to get themselves to the movies afterwards.

Norbert and I headed back to Murphy’s to catch up on the shops that we missed the other day. We got into a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar sampling, olives being one of the major crops down in the valley, and dropped back into the winery that Ashley works at to pick up a bottle of their beautiful Barbera red. This is only one of about 25 wineries in the local area. The Sierra Foothills wine-growing region is one of the best-kept secrets in the California wine industry. Judging by the people filing in for the wine-tastings over the course of the past week, the secret seems to be getting out.

We headed down to Angel’s Camp before picking up the boys to have a look around the town. Its claim to fame is being the home of the Mark Twain classic story “The Jumping Frog of Calaveras Country”. With frog motifs on every other building and signs plastered all over the town, they’re trading on the theme as hard as they possibly can.

Pat and Dave hosted another beautiful meal and we sat on the patio late into the evening. It’s been a great visit with them, and we’re looking forward to returning the favour on one of their next visits to the Lower Mainland to be on the Lillian Belle.

Tomorrow we’re off to San Francisco for a quick one night stay, and then flying off to Disney first thing Friday morning.

Bodie, California high desert to Yosemite National Park

2 July, 2013

Bridgeport, California

 Hi everyone your writer for today is Norbert and I will try to give you another twist to our little adventure. I hope you enjoy.

 After a hearty breakfast with  the Hitchcocks at the ornate Bridgeport Saloon we headed out of town to an old 1800’s mining ghost town named Bodie. The road into the town proved to be challenging with 10 miles of ungraded goat track. The landscape around was typical high desert sagebrush and temps in the mid 30’s at 10 am in the

 Our arrival at Bodie  was a sultry walk into a deserted town except for a handful of tourists wandering around the abandoned buildings. The town was active from 1860-1940 and from then on it was deserted. Townspeople virtually left the town overnight and did not bother to take any much of their personal belongings. So the town is rich in artifacts and history. Alex and Evan marveled at going through the large cemetery and taking in the saloons and the old schoolhouse. They couldn’t believe how much was left in the buildings as if the townspeople had gone on holidays. Bodie in its heyday had over 10,000 people and became known for badmen, bad climate. The town finally died with the advent of WW2 and low gold and silver prices.

 After spending nearly2 hours bedazzled in Bodie our action packed tour continued on to Hwy 395 with Dave at the helm driving at a frantic pace to make our next itinerary stop. Lunch was a quick sandwich stop near Mona Lake a huge salty body of water similar to the Dead Sea. As we moved off Hwy 395 on to 120 we gradually gained elevation up to around 9500ft with landscapes changing to evergreen and massive granite etched mountains and startling fast flowing creeks and rivers to stunning waterfalls. The entrance to Yosemite National  Park was a ranger stop where we were greeted with lots of maps and info sheets to all the wonderful things you can do in this huge Park.

 Driving on saw us enter the large Yosemite Valley where countless turns and undulating roads opened up new views of glacial cut mountains and large groves of Ponderosa pines, cedars and black oak trees.

 
Next we moved on to a 2hour tour of  the Park with a commentary as we rode in a open seated carriage pulled by a truck. The highlights were the El Capitan, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. We stopped afterwards for coffee at the beautiful Ahwahnee Hotel. It reminded us of something similar to the Railway Hotels like the Banff Hotel in Canada. This hotel mostly caters for higher end spenders but it has the most beautiful open air hotel we have seen. Esther particularly loved the Antipasto served and wished we could have stayed a couple of nights.

 

Back in the car again and off we drove back to the Hitchcock’s lovely home in Avery. We agreed  afterwards that the daytrip was the most scenic and action packed trip done to date. We were all weary and made it an early night.  

Canada Day California style

Canada Day California Style

We got an early start on our Sierra roadtrip on Canada Day, heading away from Avery by 7:30 - almost on time! As we drove out of town, I serenaded everyone with our national anthem - hey, someone had to do it!

The plan was to head up the mountains and stop for breakfast near Mosquito Lake. To the dismay of our coffee-deprived brains, the restaurant was closed, so after a few photo opportunities we continued on our way. After a VERY winding, fast (I thought!) trip up Highway 4 towards Ebbetts Pass (8700+ feet!!) Pat and I decided that it was probably just as well that all of our stomachs were empty. I’ve never had quite as much of a white-knuckle journey as that one. I can only imagine what it’s like in the middle of winter. When David pointed out the wreckage of a Cadillac at the bottom of the cliff at “Cadillac Curve”, I had visions of us slipping off the edges of the same cliff - not the way I’d intended this holiday to end!!

But all ended well, of course. We all stopped gratefully for breakfast at Minden and enjoyed sitting out on the patio at Ali’s Café.

The next stop was the Grover Hot Springs State Park, a quaint older hot springs in the middle of the valley. It seemed an unlikely day to hop into the 102 degree pool, being almost 38 degrees outside, but we enjoyed it all the same, jumping between the hot and the cool pools regularly. The boys would have liked a diving board and a lot more space, but I think they really relished being in the water no matter what.

From Grover Hot Springs, we headed over the Nevada border for lunch at a really funky Basque-style restaurant in Gardnerville. Who knew there were so many Basque sheep-herders in that part of the U.S.? not me, that was for sure. We enjoyed a family-style meal with way too much delicious food for a lunch meal - salad, soup, bread, fries, vegetables, lamb, dessert and coffee - and that did it for all of us for food for the rest of the day. Amazing food, great atmosphere and good company. Evan pronounced the fries the 2^nd best he’d ever had, no small praise.

Once we had settled up, Pat and I took a quick spin on the 25c slots in the restaurant (of course, it’s Nevada!) and we left Gardnerville for the high desert of Bridgeport, California. We’re in the East Sierra and the countryside reminds us a bit of Kamloops country, although the high mountains are more reminiscent of the Rocky Mountain foothills. By the looks of all the guiding outfitter stores and fishing boats that pass by on trailers, we’re in outdoor lovers country. Tomorrow we head up to the ghost town of Bodie, #6 on the Youtube list of abandoned towns, according to Evan. From Bodie we’ll head down the valley again towards Yosemite. Big day ahead!