Homeward Bound

How Amanda spent most of her time in the car

So we're back in Canada tonight. Staying in Kamloops before driving home to Calgary. We finally had a hotel with a hot tub...and time to actually use it. Usually they've been closed by the time we check in and have dinner. We went shopping this morning at the mall in Bellingham and went to Target. Then we went to the an awesome scrapbook store there. Got me lots 'o scrappin stuff. Drove to the border and got through very quickly. We drove straight to Chilliwack where Jacky wanted to go to....London Drugs. :) I think it was withdrawl. But really she just wanted to see some of her old co-workers from her days at that store. Had lunch at the food fair and drove to see Jacky's dad. After our visit there we drove straight here to Kamploops. Had dinner and chillaxed. Tomorrow will be the last official trip post. And since we only took a couple photos today, I'll post some other ones from the trip

Things close too early around here!

Lucky pig at Pike Place Market

Market

Mount Rainer

Yesterday, we started out driving over the bridge to Washington, and then it was all driving from there for a while. We stopped in Olympia for lunch (Jack-in-the-box!) . Then onto Seattle. By the time we got into the city, found Pike Place Market and a parking spot, the vendors were already closing...at 5PM!! So we quickly walked though the market, tried some amazing fresh smoked salmon (Amanda was grossed out) and went to the 1st Starbucks. Spent about 2 hours in Seattle and drove on to Bellingham, where we are now. Went shopping and had dinner at Denny's. Today we are Canada bound...after some more shopping of course. There's a giant scrapbbook store here! (With the new "Love, Elsie" line!) Tomorrow's post will be from somewhere in BC.

Jacky and Nancy conquer their fear of heights!!

Historic Bridge in Astoria

The Astoria Column, Jacky and I climbed to the top, despite our fear of heights (and my fear of going up 165 stairs :) )

Seaside, OR - The end of the Lewis and Clark trail

=

Haystack rock

Poor baby seal got beached

So Monday we checked out the Bay in Newport - when the stores were finally opened at 10. But while we waited for them to open, we watched all the seal lions in the harbour. We love sea lions (especially when it's free!). After our shopping we drove on to Lincoln, with of course more scenic stops. Got stuck in two traffic jams. The 1st due to an accident and the 2nd (which was for 35-40 minutes!) was because a tree fell on the road. So when we FINALLY got to Lincoln, we tried to blow glass, but it was too expensive. Then we tried to go to the beach, but there was no parking. So we left. Grabbed some lunch on the way out of town, then we headed to the 3 coves scenic drive, where we saw the poor seal beached on the beach. We moved on to seaside and then to Astoria, just before the Washington border. Very pretty and historic town.

All wild

We started out on Sunday in Brookings, we checked out the azaleas. Very pretty. Then we drove onto the Wildlife Safari Park in Bandon. Kinda lame, but cool that we could hold and pet some animals. The baby caracal was too cute. So was the baby bear, but Jacky was sad she couldn't hold it. :( But she did hold a ferret and a goat. The ferret loved her alot, it gave her kisses. :) Then it was on to the sea lion caves. With a few scenic stops along the way of course. The cave was also a little lame, since we couldn't get too close. Pier 39 in San Fran was better. But it was still fun and we took lots of pics. We drove on from there to Newport in Central Oregon Coast. Very cute town. Got an awesome deal on a hotel room. Checked out the historic bayfront, but everything was already closed....everything so far has seemed to close so early (like 6PM)

Sunday May 27 - Central Oregon Coast

On the coast

Sea Lion Caves

At the Wildlife Park

Baby Caracal

Jacky's new ferret friend

Baby Possum

Azalea festival

Gotta check out of the hotel...details coming tonight alongs with yesterdays pic. :)

Saturday, May 26 - The Redwoods Rock!!

Fog in the redwood forest

1500 year old redwood tree

Tree hugger!

3 in the tree!

Today we drove from San Rapheal to Brookings, OR, which is just past the California border. The first few hours we drove straight thorough on the main highway, back to the coast in Eureka. Then we drove through the Redwood forest on the coast. So amazing! They are huge. We did 2 scenic drives throught the forest, the 1st one was called Avenue of the Giants. The 2nd one had a short hike to a 1500 year old tree. We tried to go to the Trees of Mystery, home of the world's largest Paul Bunyan, but we were 1/2 too late. So we drove on to Oregon, only stopping to take a picture at the border. Spent the night in Brookings the 1st town on the Oregon coast. They were having their annual azalea festival that weekend, so the next morning we checked out the azalea garden.

Finally we have internet access again!

So the last two hotels claimed to have wi-fi, but the 1st one we couldn't get a signal and the 2nd one only had it in the laundry room. But we have it tonight at the Lamplighter motel in Astoria, Oregon. So read on to hear about our last 3 days....

The woods are dark & creepy

It was so foggy you could barely see the bridge!

Yesterday was our first day of cloudy weather. But we decided to do the 17 mile drive around Pebble Beach Gold Links anyways. The 1st two stops of the drive were pretty misty, but after that is was awesome! Amazing views of the ocean and golf courses. And the houses around there are huge! We probably took a combined 250 photos. Here are a few:

This was at the beach in Carmel...very cold!

18th Hole at Pebble Beach

The Lone Cypress

After the drive we looked around Carmel, which was much more touristy than Monterey. Did some shopping and headed towards Santa Cruz. We stopped at the Santa Cruz Boardway where Jacky has always wanted to go (cause the Lost Boys was based and filmed there) and had lunch. We checked out the sights and bought a few souvieners before heading North towards the Golden Gate bridge. We got stuck in a little traffic, but it wasn't too bad. When we e ot across we decided to start back on the coastal highway which was very twisty and beautiful! But

we soon realized that at the slow speed limit, we wouldn't make it to a town with hotels before dark. So when it got dark we decided to head towards the main highway and stay in San Raphael, which isn't too far from San Fran. After a creepy drive through the woods we found a Days Inn and spent the night. Today we're heading towards Cresent City and the Redwoods National Forest to see the giant trees! And then tomorrow AM we'll cross into Oregon.

Monterey Pics

Monterey Bay

More Monterey Bay

Painted Ladies in San Fran

And more Monterey Bay

The Pool at our Hotel

Where we ate our overpriced Dinner

Thievey hotel staff stole our cooler!!

Well the day started out good....with another breakfast at IHOP. But wl e arrived back at our hotel we discovered they were already cleaning our room. We noticed some of our stuff on the cleaning cart outside our door and when we went inside our cooler was missing! Luckily we'd already loaded everything else in the car, we were just saving the cooler so the ice packs were still extra frozen (our room had a mini fridge). So after we ask the maid about it, she says she'll get her boss. 15 mintues later, we're still waiting. So we go to the front desk and after another 15 mintues, they tell us that the caretaker took is and is MIA. So we ask for a refund of one night (and we get it). So 1/2 behind schedule we hit the road. Drive to the painted ladies mansions to take some pics. (famous houses, from the Full House credits). Then we drove to Monterey. Checked into the Super 8, which is very nice. Took a swim in the outdoor pool and chillaxed in the sun for awhile. Then we drove to downtown Monterey and had dinner. Tried to go shopping, but apparently everything closes super early. So we drove along the water and took a bunch of pictures. Tomorrow we're driving the 17 mile drive, which goes by Pebble Beach golf course.

Pics from today

The Palace of Fine Arts At Coit Tower

Jacky & Amanda showing their American Pride :)

View from Coit Tower

Another View from Coit Tower

Lomard St!

Chocolate Sundae!

Alcatraz

Golden Gate Bridge