Surrey BC

Back into Canada.

Yesterday we drove to Surrey.  The weather was clear but cool.  It's in the upper 50's.
We have switched over to our Canadian Cell phone so if anyone has to get ahold of us call
that number.
The truck is in getting an oil change and I'm sitting in McDonalds using their WiFii.  We don't have good WI Fii at the campground so I may not update the blog every day.
We'll be here for 3 or 4 days then off to Kitimat.

Mount St. Helens

Today we took a drive up to view Mt. St. Helens.  It was rainy and very cloudy so we couldn't see the mountain. We went to 2 visitor centers and couldn't get to the last one because the road isn't open for the season yet.  We saw a nice video of the event in 1980.   and tried to drive up to where the road is closed but decided to turn around when it was snowing and the temp was falling to below freezing.  I didn't see anyone salting the road and they were very wet and steep.  So I decided it was time to turn around and head back down.  The photo is from the second visitor center looking toward Mt. St. Helens.  The mountain is in the middle of the picture but behind the clouds. (At least that's what we've been told)

Tomorrow we head to Surrey BC.

Lincoln City Oregon

Today we drove to Lincoln City Oregon.  The day started out nice, cool but dry.  The afternoon brought light rain and some fog.  The coast was beautiful, but much of the drive was inland.  The roads had a lot of repair work for rock-slides and sink holes.



Stopped along the way and visited the Sea Lion Cave.  We walked down a path then took an elevator down about 200 feet to the cave.  It was filled with Sea Lions, about 150 laying on the cave floor and swimming. They winter inside the cave then come out in the spring.  After we came back up to the surface we took the trail to the coast and saw many that have come out of the cave and were laying on the rocks.

Fortuna to Crescent City

As we continue to continue our Journey we drove a short distance today from Fortuna to Crescent City.  We passed a heard of Elk just off the highway. They were not afraid of us at all, but were very curious as the trailer passed them.  They were right at the edge of the road as we drove by slowly.






After we arrive at the KOA and got the trailer set up we drove  to a scenic lookout searching for gray whales.  We spotted at least 3 feeding at the mouth of a river.  It was a thrill to watch them. We had lunch and stayed for a couple of hours.
Tomorrow we leave California for Oregon.  The drive up the Oregon coast is supposed to be very beautiful.

San Fransisco - Fortuna

San Fransisco was a bust.  The idea was to go to Fisherman's Warf and Pier 39,  Lesley loves Bubba Gump's coconut shrimp.  We left Patches in the trailer and headed off to San Fran.  We were advised to take the ferry, free parking on this side and we get a boat ride.  Well, we just missed the ferry so had to wait almost an hour for the next one.  We did get a very nice ferry ride to downtown San Fran.  We wanted to go to our bank which had a branch not far from the ferry dock.  It took almost an hour trying to find it.  Then we went to take the old trolly car down to Pier 39.  We waited for a long time with a lot of other people and no trolley.  They must have had some kind of problem.  There goes another 1/2 hour and we were no where near getting lunch.
It was a half hour boat ride there and we would have another 1/2 back.  It took 1/2 hour drive to the dock from the campground, so it would be another 1/2 back.  We were running out of time to get back to Patches. With no trolley in sight we decided to head back.  Once on the ferry we both bought a beer, a bag of Frito's and ate a free sample of humus we got while walking downtown.
Yesterday we drove North on the Redwood highway to Fortuna.  Part of the way we took an alternative route on the "Avenue of Giants". This road goes into a Redwood forest, it was a beautiful  drive.  Today we drove to Ferndale, which is a historical Victorian town then we took a scenic drive along the coast.  It had some white knuckle spots as we climbed and went down some very steep curves.  The road was very narrow and dropped off hundreds of feet just off the pavement.  Sometime the pavement had fallen into the ravine and the road was only 1 lane.  At some points we were at the very peak of the mountain and could see down both sides.  It was some ride, but had some beautiful views.
Tomorrow we head North again.

Yosemite National Park ... Napa Valley

As we continue our Journey we visited Yosemite National Park for the day.  What a great place, from huge waterfalls to the large Sequoia trees that are over 2,000 years old.   Patches had a ball hiking with us but boy did he get dirty.  The snow was melting and the trails were very wet and mucky.  He was a trooper!  We had a couple of people tell us the dog was pulling us up the hill.  He was a real motivator.  Now we are in the Napa Valley.  Tomorrow we go on a wine tour.

Bakersfield California

Sunny California?   We arrived today to temps of 45.  It got to a low of 31 as went went over the mountains.  Lots of snow, thankfully the road was wet  but had no snow.  The winds were still gusty, but sure glad we waited in Vegas for an extra day.  We're only planning on staying here one day but we'll see tomorrow. Heading North, the weather is supposed to warm up tomorrow.  I hope.