The Escape..... California

Having had rather inclement weather in Vancouver, Washington and Oregon, we ditched our plans to arrive in California for the last few days and arrived over the border with 12 days to go. We were in desperate need of some Vitamin D before heading back to winter in the UK. Mike here in italics again to clarify Wendy's comments.  It was wet and cold and we needed sun.  Northern California was still a bit cold and wet but as we headed south we found the sun again. Here are the highlights.

Californian Sunset- Crescent City
Our drive down the Oregon coast had been spectacular- as reported in the last blog. The day was the finished off with a beautiful sunset in Crescent City- we have been blessed with some wonderful sunsets and this was right up there.

Avenue of the Giants
Our drive down Highway 101 from Crescent City to Fort Bragg gave us the opportunity of driving through the Avenue of Giants. Holy moly! These Redwoods were massive!  Mike's attempts at tree hugging were an epic fail so he decided to add some nutrients to one particular tree by having a piss..... not the only massive things in the forest then I hear you say

Pacific Highway 1
Our favourite road in the world! Up until now we have only ever covered the sections between Monterrey and LA- the most famous section is the Big Sur. This time we picked up the road 20 miles south of Fort Bragg and then continued on it the following day as we drove to Santa Cruz, 50 miles south of San Francisco.  Please note that when we picked up this road we had about 25 miles of petrol left and we were in the arse end of nowhere and I was desperate for the loo. We didn't speak for that first 20 miles.....Please note Wendy did not speak.  I tried to make some amusing quips and was warned that one more amusing quip would be my last.  I should also add that I found the petrol station with a good 3 miles left in the tank....The road didn't disappoint whether it presented us with stunning coastal views or beautiful bays and inlets. An added bonus on this drive was that we were able to listen to updates on the Everton v West Ham game.......Not really my sweet - I hasten to add that I took defeat a lot better than the cup half empty scouser next to me would have.  The dots you see in one of the photos are hundreds of sea lions enjoying the surf not the remnants of Wendy's suitcase as I threw it in the sea after another rendition of 4-0

Santa Cruz
When you are covering 1200 miles in five days you have to work out where along the route will be the best places to stay. We hit the jackpot with Santa Cruz. Apart from the fact that the hotel was shit, the place itself was beautiful. We were able to watch the surfers as the sun fell- they must be mad as this is the time when the sharks are the hunt- and then experienced one of my highlights of the trip! A colony of sea-lions had found a section of the pier to spend the night on. THE NOISE THEY MADE WAS UNBELIEVABLE! Noisier than a night out in Formby I had one particular favourite and spent a bit of time chatting to him... I swear to god when I talked he would look up at me- see picture for evidence. Two of the sea-lions were particularly fiesty and I had to use my 'Oi' to stop them fighting... they stopped!!!  They stopped because they couldn't understand a word she was saying - it was more a quizzical is she speaking English?  

Santa Barbara
No visit to southern California should leave out Santa Barbara. We normally stay outside of the city but this time we were lucky enough to get a hotel on Main Street- The Orange Tree- which was close to the beautiful shops and restaurants of Santa Barbara. We arrived here on the 30th November, the day before their Christmas parade- the decorations were up but it just didn't feel like Christmas was on its way. We had dinner in our favourite fish restaurant- which was clearly owned (probably stolen) by Everton fans-  and went for a walk on the beach and around the beautiful harbour. We love it here.

Palm Desert
We figured if we headed for the southern California desert it would be warm... most of the time it was but the temperature dropped on a couple of the days we were there. However, it was still warm enough for shorts and flip-flops. Palm Desert- and Indian Wells next to it- is a strange place. Everyone seems to live in gated communities with security guards at the entrance. At the sides of the roads are perfectly manicured flowers and grassed areas. Even the Walmart supermarket car parks were spectacular! Even though it was all a bit ''artificial'' you could see the attraction of the place... we have never spent a week in December in shorts and have to admit, we rather enjoyed it! We went on some beautiful walks, a number of which were cut short because of some of the local inhabitants.....

And that is it....... Road trip number 1 is over. We have had such an amazing experience that it is hard to comprehend a return to ''normal life''. We would like to thank all the family and friends who 'hosted' us and to those family and friends who followed our adventure via our blog and facebook posts- we hope you have enjoyed it.

One last thank you goes to Mike.... thank you for giving me the courage to quit my job and embark on this unforgettable experience. It has helped me to realise that there is indeed more to life than an 80 hour working week and that life is indeed for living. I love you very much and there is no-one else on the planet I would rather have shared this experience with. Actually if I'm being honest... apart from 'Freakin' Deacon Claybourne. Oh and Gary Barlow. and I quite like you too xx

89 days gone. 0 to go. Feeling blessed to be on our way home to see our family and friends, meet our first grandson and get excited about Tash and Sean's wedding.

TOP LEFT......PACIFIC NORTH WEST

Having had a wet week in Vancouver we headed back across the border into the USA and spent the next 11 days in Washington state and then Oregon. Mike here...one of my favourite activities in life is meeting members of homeland security.  They cost billions of dollars a year, do FA and just irritate happy go lucky travellers such as I.  My latest experience took me 45 minutes to explain that I did not indeed keep the two crappy pieces of paper I supposedly was given in LA three months ago.  $14 to enter the USA - tossers.  For the most part the rain followed us but we were still able to have a fabulous time in Seattle, Portland and along the Oregon Coast. With Seattle I sort of expected it to be cold and wet- Frasier always seemed to be wearing a heavy coat and it always seemed to be raining in the scenes with Tom Hanks and his cute kid in ''Sleepless in Seattle''. However, the rain when it did come in both states, was something else! ''Just like being in the grim North west of England'' pipes up Mike....yes it was says Mike but without the hundreds of the unfortunate homeless people that seemed to congregate outside our hotel and on the sea front.  Not sure why they don't head down to the warmer weather.... Here are the highlights:

Seattle- Chihuly gardens.
So when Mike suggested that we visit these gardens I was under the impression we were going to see flowers.. I did think well this is bound to be crap at this time of year but I went along with the plan. HOLY MOLY. I have never seen anything like it. 'The Gardens' is in fact an art museum which displays glass work by Dale Chihuly. We are only including a few pictures on this blog but of any of our art friends would like to see more then let us know. MAGICAL.

Seattle- Pike Place market.
This is a public market- since 1907- which overlooks the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle. We tried not to spend too much time in here because it was filled with FOOD that looked to die for. A lot of it was fresh and, as we were staying in a hotel, we couldn't cook. Gutted because the fish looked amazing. The flowers were pretty spectacular too. The alleyway next to the side entrance to the market had an interesting feature.... a chewing gum wall.... the most disgusting thing I have ever seen... not really THE most disgusting thing my sweet (that is what you tell me anyway)

Seattle- Sky Observatory
There are two places to head for in Seattle to get the best views of the city- the iconic Space Needle and the newer Sky Observatory. We settled for the latter having read the reviews on Tripadvisor. It didn't disappoint. We were blessed with a beautiful day which allowed us to get breathtaking views of the city and its surroundings, the bay and Mount Ranier.

Seattle- The Locks, the Piers, the Waterfront
The beauty of Seattle lies very much with its water. We spent a rainy few hours on a cruise of the Seattle locks which was lovely and allowed me to see the house which featured in Sleepless in Seattle and allowed Mike to get some stunning pictures of the Seattle waterfront. The Piers are full of souvenir shops and fish restaurants... I had my first ever clam chowder in a bread bowl as it was tomato and not cream based. DELICIOUS! I then caused carnage by feeding the actual bread bowl to the seagulls at the back of the restaurant... what a noise. When the sun is out there is nothing better to do in Seattle than to walk along the waterfront. We were fortunate to have one beautiful sunny day which allowed us to see Seattle at its best.

Oregon- The coastline
We stayed in a wonderful Airbnb in a really bohemian part of Portland. Thousands of hippy types living in the same area (and of course the ubiquitous cannabis shop)  There were heaps of anti-Trump posters all over the shops and bars which of course we loved. We spent 'Thanksgiving' walking around some of Portland's picturesque parks and I made a nutritious salmon and vegetable dinner but the beauty of Oregon lay in its coastline. Our first taste of it was when we drove across the mountains to Tilamook from where we drove north to Cannon beach. It was absolutely bloody freezing on the beach but the views were so spectacular that you just had to suck it up. Two days later we drove 200 miles of the coastline from Newport to the border with California. It was without doubt one of the best days of the entire trip. Around every corner was something spectacular... stunning coastal clifftop views and raging seas, sea-lions bobbing about, beautiful forests, glass-like lakes, saharan- style sand dunes, giant trees and the previous days rain causing everything to be in a beautiful mist. The trip was 200 miles but it took us over seven hours because we just had to keep stopping....Mike stop the car we need a picture of this.  We have decided that when we win the lottery we will buy a house here.... along with the house we are going to buy in Colorado and Arizona...

As a result of the wet and cold weather we have had over the last few weeks, we are escaping to southern California for our final ten days. This time will feature on our final blog.

79 days gone, ten more to go. Feeling blessed.