The End of the Road!

We are now back in the UK after an uneventful journey home. Our last evening and morning were spent packing, repacking, weighing, repacking, re weighing and repacking! We arrived home yesterday afternoon, tired but happy to be home.  We have had an amazing time and have some wonderful memories.  Now it's back to reality and moving house!

We have been amazed at the number of people who have been following our adventure, reading our blog and commenting on the updates and photos over the last couple of months! Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment and for taking an interest. Our prime reason for the Facebook updates and particularly the blog were to keep a sort of diary/journal of our trip for us to look back and remember - it's amazing how quickly everything becomes a blur and one day blends in to another and we wanted to make sure we don't forget anything! It's a bonus that other people have enjoyed keeping up with our adventures - so thank you once again.

You will probably find this hard to believe after following our updates, but today is my last official day in the Royal Air Force! Tomorrow I turn 55 and become Ex-RAF!

 

Wenatchee and Back to Seattle

The Last Bit Day 3: We left Coeur D'Alene after breakfast and headed back west to Wenatchee. We drove along Highway 2, which was a lovely journey along an almost deserted road. The weather was lovely until near Wenatchee, when it clouded over and became a bit drizzly. The scenery was very different, much of it through huge agricultural areas. For long periods we drove through rolling plains, barely a tree or a bush and fields the size of Wiltshire!! Then suddenly we were in mountain country, driving through big canyons! Wenatchee would appear to be fruit growing country, acres and acres of fruit trees, mainly apples, growing on any spare, flat piece of land! We arrived quite early and checked in, to find we'd been upgraded to a King Suite with Jacuzzi! What a great way to spend our penultimate night on this journey through the USA! Tomorrow we head back to Seattle and prepare for our flight home on Wednesday.

The Last Bit Day 4: We woke up to a lovely sunny day. I eventually managed to drag Jilly away from the Jacuzzi and in to the car for the drive back to Seattle! We had a quick drive around the town of Wenatchee but it didn't look like there was much to see, apart from a bustling little town full of shopping malls nestled alongside the river in a lovely mountain valley. The drive back through the mountains was spectacular, the fall (autumn in English!) colours were gorgeous although probably not quite at their best yet. Unfortunately it started to rain as we passed through the highest passes and then drizzled all the way back to Seattle! Sadly, we are getting the impression that Seattle is rather a soggy, grey City, which I'm sure it's not, but of the 3 days or so that we have been in and around Seattle, we have only seen the sun on one afternoon. Great shame, but still. After more shopping, we got to the hotel in time to check in for our flight tomorrow. Sadly there are no bulkhead seats available, so we're not looking forward to trying to sleep with the seat in front in our laps and my knees squashed against the seat. Oh how I miss the company paying for premium economy!! We have spent most of the evening attempting to get a quart in to a pint pot! It looks like we have failed dismally and excess baggage is on the cards! Ho hum. It's still worked out cheaper than buying it all in the UK despite this.

 

 

I-Diddley-Idaho!

The Last Bit Day 1: The next few days are neither Route 66 nor PCH so very originally I am calling this phase The Last Bit! During the original planning stage of our trip way back in 2013, we were intending to do the round trip back to Chicago. We decided that this might be too much to fit in, so we planned to finish at Seattle. However, one of the original night stops was going to be just over the border in Idaho at what looked like a lovely spot in the mountains called Coeur D'Alene, and we decided that it would be nice to take a trip up there anyway. So that is what we have done. It was a bit of a slog to get here (300-odd miles up the I90) and the traffic getting out of Seattle was heavy, plus it was horrible weather again. However, the drive was quite pretty, especially going through the Cascade mountains just to the east of Seattle. The weather improved dramatically and we arrived without incident. We even took advantage of the sunshine to put the roof down. We have a day off here tomorrow, before returning to Seattle via a little town in the backwoods called Wenatchee. I thought I might mention that today we filled up on gas (petrol in English!) for the equivalent of 46 of our English pence per litre!!!

The Last Bit Day 2: We had a lovely day relaxing and enjoying the fabulous scenery around Lake Coeur D'Alene in I-diddly-Idaho. We were very lucky with the weather, it was lovely and sunny and warm today, perfect for wandering around the lake shores. I love the fact that it is possible to do so much here in the US of A. There are boat launches and parking areas all around the lake, all free, there is sailing, jet skiing, walking trails, cycle paths, running paths - all just minutes from the town. This place has everything going for it - mountains, lakes, winter sports, the lot. It's just a shame it's hundreds of miles from anywhere! Tomorrow we head back towards Seattle, but this time we are travelling the scenic route along Highway 2 via Wenatchee. 

It seems hard to believe (to us at least) that there are only 2 more days before we start the journey home :( - the time seems to have flown by.

 

 

 

Seattle

PCH Day 16: Sadly, a damp and drizzly day in which to explore the delights of Seattle. We spent a lot of time at the Pike's Place Market area, a very vibrant and bustling part of town, even on a wet day like today. We were going to do a tour of Underground Seattle, the old city now buried under the new city, but there were large numbers of people queuing to do the same thing (probably because of the weather) and the tours we saw leaving had, in my opinion, too many people, so we decided to give it a miss. We did spend some time in the gift shop finding out a bit about the history of the underground city, so it wasn't completely wasted. After returning to Pike Place for a bite to eat, we headed off for the Seattle Center (Centre in English!) and had a bit of a look around there. We didn't go up the Space Needle; we decided that $50 bucks was a bit steep to ride an elevator and look at thick cloud! Again, the drizzly conditions put a bit of a damper on what I'm sure is a great place to wander around on a nice day.  Despite the weather we have enjoyed our day and our visit to "The Emerald City".

 

 

Washington

PCH Day 14: We made an early (ish) start as we had a few miles to cover today. It was pouring with rain and stayed that way for most of the day. Our first visit location was Lake Quinault, part of the Olympic National Park. Most of the forest surrounding the lake and in the National Park is temperate rain forest (one of only 3 in the Western Hemisphere, I believe). Unfortunately we did not have the rain gear necessary to allow us to walk any of the trails, so we had to satisfy ourselves with the 30-mile drive around the lake. The forest measures its annual rainfall in feet, not inches, and gets between 12 & 15 FEET of rain per year!!! Almost everything is covered in moss and lichen and the trees are amongst the biggest of their kind in the world (not quite up to Giant Redwood size but not far off). In many ways the pouring rain added to the atmosphere of the place. Well worth a visit. Moving on, we stopped next at one of the beaches along the coast, called Ruby Beach. It is very picturesque and again, worth a visit. We continued our journey on to today's destination - Port Townsend - driving through the little town of Forks and the slightly larger town of Port Angeles on the way. We were going to take a detour up to Hurricane Ridge, up in the National Park on the way up to Mount Olympus (Washington, not Greece!) but with the weather being so poor we decided to give it a miss as we wouldn't have been able to see anything. After checking in, we had a wander round the "historic downtown" of Port Townsend, once a booming port during the age of sail but now a bit of an upmarket holiday/arty type town. Very pleasant place to visit though. Tomorrow: Seattle! 

We have now completed our journey along the West Coast of the USA along the Pacific Coast Highway! We have travelled from the Mexican border, South of San Diego, all the way along the coast line and along the top of the Washington coast to Seattle. It's not the end of the trip, I hasten to add. We have a couple of nights in Seattle and then we are taking a short trip up in to the mountains, popping in to I-didley-Idaho (to quote Harry Enfield!) and returning to Seattle in a few days' time to return back to the good old UK. So, keep reading for a few more days yet!

PCH Day 15: There was a slight change of plan and pace today. We agreed to travel to Seattle across the sound by taking a ferry to Whidbey Island and then motor across the island and catch another ferry to the mainland and in to Seattle from the north. Jilly did all the planning and arranging and it all went like a dream! She even managed to arrange some glorious sunny weather for our journey. We had time before our ferry left Port Townsend to wander around downtown in the daylight and capture some memories on "film". A delightful town and well worth a visit if you are in this part of the world. It was flat calm on the water, not that either of the ferry journeys were long. We checked in to the hotel relatively early for us and made use of the gym, pool and spa! Tomorrow we explore the sights and sounds of Seattle. Sadly the forecast is not looking as great as today, so we may not see much if we go up the Space Needle. We'll have to see.

 

Astoria and On To Washington

PCH Day 12: We spent a nice relaxed day doing some admin (laundry!) and such like and then had a little look round Astoria, which is the oldest city this side of the Rockies, so I'm told. We went up to the Astoria Column, which provides fantastic views of the surrounding area, particularly from the top. We made it just in time to see those views before the rain came sweeping up the river and obliterated them completely! Then we took a trip to visit Fort Clatsop, which is where the Lewis and Clarke Expedition ended up before returning back East in 18-something or other. Because it was chucking it down we didn't spend long there, hence the vagueness of the date! The plan is to return tomorrow morning before continuing North as it looked very interesting. We found an outlet mall and I got dragged in to do some shopping - I'm hoping we'll have room in our bags to bring at all home! Tomorrow we cross the mighty Columbia River and head in to Washington state.

PCH Day 13: The weather was much improved today. After breakfast we ventured back to Fort Clatsop to have a proper look around the site and the Visitor Centre. It was very interesting and we could have stayed there for hours but sadly time was against us. A little more shopping at the Outlet Centre (goodness knows how we're going to get this home!) and then we started off for today's destination, Ocean Shores, Washington. Amazing scenery again, but different again - vast rivers, bays and evergreen forests. Tomorrow we have a long journey to Port Townsend, with quite a lot to see on the way as we go around the Olympic National Park and the Olympic Peninsular.
For those of you who have never heard of Lewis & Clarke (as I hadn't) you can find out more at: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition

 

Oregon

PCH Day 10: We had a fairly leisurely day today as we didn't have too far to go. The weather was much better, although there was still a lot of patchy fog along parts of the coast. The landscape is changing now - the coastline seems to be more sandy beaches, although still quite rocky in areas. Also, the redwoods have given way to spruce, hemlock and Douglas fir trees and it is quite heavily forested. We passed through Coos Bay, which used to be the largest lumber port in the world and you can see the remnants of that industry, although on a much smaller scale now. The scenery is very reminiscent of Northern Ontario, with the large rivers and lakes, all surrounded or edged by pine trees. Nearer to Florence the coast becomes much more sand dunes rather than rocks. Huge sand dunes, many covered in pine trees. It looks like a fun place to get the dune buggy or quad bike out (if we had one!). We had originally planned to take a Jet Boat trip up the Rogue River, but sadly they close from the end of September (which we knew) but having seen the river, that would have been great fun. We arrived in Florence at a reasonably early hour and found our hotel straight away. Later on we shall take a drive up the Siuslaw River, which is a pretty huge river that Florence is at the mouth of.

PCH Day 11: We spent the morning in and around Florence, Oregon. The town has a lovely old downtown on the River Suislaw. We then took a drive up river for a few miles in to the wilderness and then went down to the beach at the mouth of the river. Back on Hwy 101 we headed north to our next destination, Astoria, Oregon. The surf was up again today, with some big waves. We stopped off at a number of places along the coast to admire the views and the waves. We managed to find the actual Twin Rocks this time, at exactly the right time, so we went on to the beach "and watched the sun, disappear in to the Ocean"! We took loads of photos and video. We eventually got to our hotel at about 8pm. We have a rest day tomorrow and some time to look around Astoria and the magnificent Columbia River. Tomorrow will be our final day in Oregon.

Giant Redwoods

PCH Day 8: We woke up to a foggy and overcast day. After breakfast we backtracked slightly to have a second look at Mendocino and the Russian Gulch National Park, just south of Fort Bragg. Mendocino is very quaint and "New Englandy" but a lovely setting, and somehow the mist added to the coastal atmosphere of the place. We found a shop selling hippy stuff - Jilly is now reliving her youth and becoming a hippy! Great clothes, but a shame they didn't have any men's stuff! We eventually started North again and on to the main event of the day: the giant redwood forests. We did the touristy bit and found a "drive-thru tree" then ventured on to the Avenue of the Giants, which is 30 miles of spectacularly huge redwood trees - amazing. We finally made it to Eureka, Ca, after stopping for a pizza in a small town that really was straight out of the movies - full of rednecks and what seemed like in-breds! A bit cruel I suppose but it certainly seemed that way. Everyone was very pleasant though and the pizza was good! Tomorrow - Oregon!

PCH Day 9: This morning was another grey and foggy start. We spent a pleasant  hour or so wandering around old town Eureka, another quaint and "New England" style town. There are some fantasticly ornate houses and old buildings - it must have been a very wealthy town in its heyday. Afterwards we headed north to today's destination, Brookings, Oregon. En route we passed through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. We thought it was more impressive than the Avenue of the Giants, although not covering such a vast area. Some of the trees were humongous! Photos just cannot convey the enormity of these trees, they are simply awesome! It is only when you see one of us next to the tree do you get some sense of the scale, and even then you still can't really see it. In John Steinbeck's words:

"The redwoods once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always...from them comes silence and awe. The most irreverent of men, in the presence of redwoods, goes under a spell of wonder and respect."

We had hoped to finish the day watching the sunset at Twin Rocks, Oregon, where in the words of Shawn Mullins, we wanted "to sit right here and watch the sun, disappear in to the Ocean" but sadly the fog came in so we just stared at a bank of fog for 10 mins while we imagined the sunset over Twin Rocks! To make up for that, we had a delicious meal in an excellent restaurant just next to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel, I discovered that we are actually nowhere near Twin Rocks, Oregon (Google maps misled me!) - it is actually 200 miles further north, so we might yet get to see the sunset there, weather permitting!

 

San Francisco and Beyond!

PCH Day 6: A busy day, as we had a lot to fit in to our 1 day in San Francisco. The hotel manager/owner was extremely helpful and knowledgeable and gave us a lot of useful information about what to see, where to go and how to get there. We set off for Alamo Square first up to see the "Painted Ladies" (a group of picturesque Victorian style houses, many of which are all over the city). Then we headed for the Bay and took in the Nautical Museum, Fishermans Wharf and Ghiradelli Square, amongst other things. After that we headed to Chinatown and then the Ferry Building to watch the lights on Oakland Bay bridge. That box ticked, we went back to Chinatown, had a meal and returned, weary, to the hotel. I reckon we must have walked over 10 miles today! Oh, I forgot to mention our ride on the Cable Car, and watching the Vice-President's cavalcade on the way back to the hotel! The police still use Harleys here, and I asked one if I could take a photo. He said if we wanted to see Police Harleys, that we should hang around for 20 minutes and we would see loads, because of the Vice-President. Sure enough, at least 50, plus cars, ambulances and Secret Service vehicles came thundering through - very exciting and very OTT, but fun to see!

PCH Day 7: An early start, as there were a few more parts of San Francisco that we wanted to see. After coffee and donuts for brekkie, we then took a drive over to Haight/Ashbury, the 60s/70s hippie hang out. Then we headed for the Golden Gate Bridge but, disaster! - it was completely covered in thick fog!  So, our only sight of it was yesterday from a distance. We crossed the bridge and took a few fogbound photos from the north Vista Point, before detouring through Sausalito and then picking up Highway 1 North to make our way to Fort Bragg. It was extremely disappointing about the bridge, but we loved San Francisco. It is very quaint/pretty and an unusual City, with so many different parts and cultures - and loads of (steep) hills! The coastline North of SF was equally as stunning as before. As we got further north the coastline became very much like Big Sur, only many more trees and forests. The journey took a long time as the road is very windy and quite narrow for US roads. The fog rolled in as we arrived at Fort Bragg and it is very chilly. A long, tiring day but a good day.

 

Into Northern California

PCH Day 4: Aren't Japanese/Chinese tourists odd? And extremely noisy! We have stayed in a few hotels with fellow guests from the Orient and every time we have known exactly when they have arrived and when they have left by both the noise they make and the fact that the minute they arrive the Internet connection slows to virtually nil and as soon as they leave it speeds up again quite dramatically! They seem to be permanently glued to their iPhones or iPads, talk very loudly, stomp around their hotel rooms like elephants and seem to have to have every photograph taken with one or more of them jumping up in the air! Very odd! Anyway, enough of them - after breakfast we checked out and took a leisurely drive around the Monterey coastline before getting back on to Highway 1 and making our way to Los Gatos, just south of San Francisco. After getting slightly lost in Santa Cruz, we then picked up Highway 17 to Los Gatos, where we spent a great evening/night with friends of friends (and now friends!) Micheal and Jeannette McWilliams, sampling the delights of Los Gatos. Michael and Jeannette have moved from the UK and now live here, lucky things, in an idyllic spot and only an hour from San Francisco. We are very envious! We have seen more wildlife in their back "yard", humming birds, a hawk and cats but sadly didn't get to spot any raccoons or coyotes who are apparantly quite regular visitors. Great company, great pizzas and too much booze!

PCH Day 5: We had a lovely lazy day at the McWilliams'. Jeannette took us on a guided tour up to the Mountain Winery to check out the glorious view over Silicone Valley. We then stopped in at the Testarossa Winery for a wine tasting session, which was very nice. Then followed a swim in the pool and a session in the hot tub before saying our goodbyes and heading for San Francisco. A big thanks to Jeannette and Michael for their very kind and generous hospitality - we shall have to return (if we're invited, of course)! Once again we managed to find our hotel without too much trouble. It is located very close to downtown, very comfortable, free covered parking, and very good value. Splendid! Looking forward to exploring San Francisco tomorrow.

 

Santa Barbara and Big Sur

PCH Day 2: As we arrived quite late in Santa Barbara last night, we decided to spend the morning looking around. After breakfast we took a couple of bikes (the hotel provided them, we didn't steal them!) and spent an hour or so cycling around the city. What a fabulous place! I now know where I would like to retire to if a) I was a U.S. citizen and b) I had loads of money. The beach is great, the city is lovely and very un-American, almost Spanish looking. We could have stayed a few days there easily. We had a bit of a paddle in the Pacific Ocean and a walk along the beach, then we got back on the road at about lunchtime. After a short trip up in to the mountains to see the view over Santa Barbara, we got back on the 101 and made tracks for Morro Bay, where we are now. We spent the evening wandering along the harbour front watching the sunset, then grabbed a superb bite to eat in an eatery called the Brickhouse BBQ. Superb barbecued meat, with the best pulled pork and beef/steak we have had for a long time. Tomorrow we head up the coast to Monterey Bay - we can't wait to see the coastline along Big Sur.

PCH Day 3: To paraphrase the Fast Show, today we were mostly travelling through the most amazing scenery you could ever see! The Big Sur coastline: 80-odd miles of spectacular coastline - I'm sure the photos we took don't do it justice but they will give you an idea, and those who have seen it will know exactly what I'm talking about. We've seen more wildlife today too - elephant seals on Elephant Seal Beach, near San Simeon, and we ended the day watching a few sea otters feeding in Monterey harbour. Fantastic! We popped in to see Cambria and the fairly weird Nitt Witt Ridge, a house that seems to have been built from scrap materials by an artist (can't remember his name); we saw Hearst Castle from a distance but were not able to get on a tour, it being Saturday and very busy; Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park - absolutely stunning; and Carmel-by-the-Sea, where Clint Eastwood lives and used to be Mayor; before finishing up in Monterey, which is a lovely town right next to Carmel, but a bit more down to earth and less "twee". Pebble Beach golf course is just round the corner. It is unseasonably hot weather apparently, it's been in the low 90s for a lot of the day - bummer!

 

 

Harley to Mustang

Transition Day: A major logistical operation was required today to pick up the car and drop off the bike due to the fact that the 2 locations were 20-odd miles apart (either side of downtown Los Angeles). We managed it without too much of a problem, although it took over 2 hours to get the car sorted, which delayed us somewhat. Apparently the UK company who we booked through told us porky pies and although they promised that every effort would be made to ensure we got a Mustang, it turns out a Mustang is not in the category that they booked. However, I played the military card (fortunately the guy dealing with us was ex-Marine Corps) and he did us a good deal. It still cost us a fair bit extra, but we bit the bullet and went for it! After a tearful farewell (not really) to the bike (we did a total of 3665 miles by the end!) we headed for Santa Monica Pier to get the obligatory "end of the road" photos then we headed south, a few hours later than planned, to La Jolla, just north of San Diego. The hotel is great (they upgraded us to a huge suite), and there followed a session in the hot tub and a cold beer! What more could anyone want?!
Tomorrow we start the Pacific Coast Highway - apologies to those followers who thought it was all over, I'm afraid you've got another 3 weeks of this to come!!

PCH Day 1: Quite a long first day of Phase 2. We spent a little while in La Jolla, then made our way down to Coronado Island, across the harbour from downtown San Diego. Whilst in that area, I decided to pop in to San Diego Naval Base Navy Exchange for old time's sake and a little tax free shopping! Then we headed north again using a mixture of the I5 and the PCH. Unfortunately we hit LA at rush hour (again), the sun was setting as we passed through Malibu, so the final stretch in to Santa Barbara was in the dark. However, once we got to Santa Barbara and found the hotel (which took a little while again - our exit ramp off the 101 was closed and there are lots of one way streets in SB!) we had time for a wander around State Street, which seems to be where it is all "happening". The street has loads of bars and restaurants and is very busy and exciting! The hotel is just off State Street and only a couple of blocks from the beach and is a lovely old building. We are looking forward to exploring more in the morning.