Reflections of My Travel » 2007 West

Day 19 – Portland, OR

arcanai — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:59:18 +0000

Last night, Hayman made a point of telling us how it never rains here. “When they say it’s raining, it’s really just a mist, or a heavy fog.” This morning, it was pouring. Our plan was to visit Mt Hood after work this afternoon but it’s just rained (rain, not mist) on and off all day. We looked up the conditions on their webcam and decided there just wasn’t much of a point. It’ll be good to have a day of rest anyhow.

Day 18 – Roseburg, OR / Portland, OR

arcanai — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 06:59:31 +0000

click for pix
We made it back to the coast after work this afternoon and drove as far as we could before the 101 stopped hugging the coast. It was a beautifully coast day. We got out and climbed on some of the big Oregon dunes and we even saw (and smelled!) some sea lions lying around lazily on rocks. When we realized that our drive would no longer be coastal, we called my friend Hayman and invited ourselves to his place for the night (originally, we weren’t supposed to arrive here until this weekend). It was pretty late when we got here so we only got to take a quick tour of his new condo and talk a few minutes. It’s good to see him again. He moved here from Orlando a few months ago but I probably haven’t seen him since sometime last year. It’s nice to have friends like him and Brian and Sylvia around the country who will welcome us into their home (even if we just call an hour ahead).

Day 17 – Crescent City, CA / Roseburg, OR

arcanai — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:59:49 +0000

click for pix
We decided today was the day to part from the coast a bit. We left after work to head inland to Crater Lake. It was a four hour sidetrack but I would say it was worthwhile. We got there and made the rim loop around it. Some vantage points were definitely more picturesque than others, but that probably has something to do with the angle of the blinding sun so late in the afternoon. After driving all the way around and getting plenty of pics, we started to make our way back to the coast. We put in another three hours of driving until we stopped at a town big enough to have a hotel. Although really, it was the first town that had anything at all along that road.

Day 16 – Fortuna, CA / Crescent City, CA

arcanai — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 06:59:01 +0000

click for pix
Today was a leisurely drive along the coast and through Redwood National Forest. The coastal redwoods are much taller than the sequoias (tallest redwood=379’; tallest sequoia=286’) but only about half as girthy. It was a very pretty drive. We considered doing some hiking into the Tall Trees grove but we were both feeling a little unwell so we figured a nice drive good enough. The coast was much prettier today than yesterday. Crescent City is by far the nicest beach we’ve seen. It’s a pretty little town. On a side note, we did some negotiating today with the potential home-buyer and we’ll see what happens. The important thing is that they love my house.

Day 15 – Graton, CA / Fortuna, CA

arcanai — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 06:59:20 +0000

click for pix
We finally got to sleep in a little bit today so, of course, I was awake at 05:11. Figures. Luckily, I did at least have the luxury of being able to lay there and doze on and off a while. Once everyone else in the house was up, we gathered up and headed to the airport to get our rental car. I was amused to find that we were at the Snoopy Airport! I really am easily amused, you see. After transferring all of our stuff (you’d really think we moved out here) to the rental car, we followed Sylvia to the Korbel Winery for lunch followed by the champagne tour and tasting. The property was beautiful, the tour was educational, the champagne was bubbly. It was a great Saturday activity. I believe I’ve only really had champagne once before (wedding toast, of course) so it was interesting to learn about it and then taste some different varieties. I found it fascinating that, while I only like sweet wines, I liked the dryer champagnes the best. Is that common? Korbel is where we took our leave of Sylvia and the kids. We had contemplated going to the beach with them but we had a destination in mind for the day and wanted to have plenty of time to get there. It was a good call. We drove up the coast and it took us all day to get to not-quite-where-we-wanted-to. We finally stopped in Fortuna, just a little below Eureka which was our original destination. Turned out that there was something big going on in Eureka so all of the hotels were booked, even in Fortuna. We managed to find a room but, the Ritz it ain’t. However, the truly exciting part of today happened at approximately 19:30 (that’s 10:30 pm back home!). We got a call (luckily, they called in the mile or so that we had coverage while driving) from some people that had looked at the house this afternoon. They called (at 10:30 at night!) to make an offer on my cute little house!!! I am so very excited about this. Today is exactly three weeks since we put the sign in the yard. Their offer was low, of course, but we’re really not that far off. Tomorrow we’ll make the counter offer. I feel practically homeless!

Day 14 – Vallejo, CA / Graton, CA

arcanai — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 06:59:56 +0000

click for pix
This afternoon we got to go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. It’s a smaller park than Six Flags Over Georgia but that was fine by us since we had a shorter amount of time to spend there. It was actually a little reversed from ours in that ours has a ton of adult rides and a relatively small kiddie section. This one has a handful of adult rides and an enormous kiddie section. Plus, it has a mini Sea World (not nearly as extensive but an outdoor aquarium world nonetheless). Apparently this park started out as a Marine World kind of place before Six Flags bought it and built roller coasters. The big coaster was Medusa. Randal and I rode it thrice; twice on the front and once in the middle. The front, as always, is the only way to ride. We also rode Kong twice. It was a much jerkier and shorter ride, but much tighter and more thrilling. They were both fun, all in all. We then rode Cobra – The Largest Junior Coaster in Northern CA – twice with the kids. Having nothing much else on the adult side to do, we walked through the fishy stuff, saw a bunch of sharks, missed the walruses (must have been a union break, which is a shame because one of them is Jocko, star of 50 First Dates). Since the kids were getting tired and so were we, we decided to try to make it to the San Francisco bridge before sunset. Though we didn’t actually get to see the bridge, what we did see was absolutely beautiful. We caught it just as the coastal fog was rolling in. It covered the bridge but it was just so pretty. No regrets at all there. We finally headed to Sylvia’s mom’s house to crash for the night.

Day 13 – Gardnerville, NV / Vallejo, CA

arcanai — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 06:59:53 +0000

click for pix
After the long workday, we got all of our stuff together and us two, Sylvia, and the kids made our way to Vallejo for the night. After work tomorrow, we’re going to Six Flags!

Day 12 – Gardnerville, NV

arcanai — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 06:59:00 +0000

click for pix
This afternoon we did the drive around Lake Tahoe with a few little vista stops. Emerald Bay is quite pretty and the lake is much bigger than I had thought. Once we made the 72 mile loop around the lake, we headed back to Gardnerville. We stopped in on a friend of B&S (the one we dined with Monday) and he cooked us some yummy Chinese vittles.

Day 11 – Gardnerville, NV

arcanai — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 06:59:12 +0000

click for pix
We are really not doing a great job of getting to bed early enough for this 05:00 thing. We stayed up far too late last night socializing and I have been dragging all day again because of it. Oh, and it was Monday II. After work, we headed to Topaz Lake with the sailboat. I’ve never been sailing before so I was looking forward to the experience. Not to mention that it seemed like it would be pretty relaxing and hopefully cool. The weather was actually a bit iffy. It looked quite stormy on our way to the lake and it started raining while the boat was being prepared. Luckily, the rain passed fairly quickly and left behind just a little wind. Sailing is pretty nifty. It’s amazing the speed that the wind can generate. We spent a few hours at the “beach” and had a little picnic there for dinner.

Day 10 – Gardnerville, NV

arcanai — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 06:59:28 +0000

After such a tiring day yesterday and not making it back to the house until after 23:00, 05:00 was just brutal this morning. And it was a Monday so the emails and cases just kept flooding in and smacking me upside the head. After work, we rested up and had a nice dinner with some friends of B&S. I’m still tired.