Saying goodbye to Amy (family) is always bittersweet, not
knowing our next time together. Fortunately we still had adventures ahead, to
look forward to, since our time in LA was midway in our trip. Sam was still
with us for another day of travel to the San Francisco and Oakland area.
We hoped for an early morning LA departure but ended up
instead, with an early afternoon exit. Original plans were to attend the
Oakland Athletics game that evening before Sam took an early morning flight out
for return back to Buffalo. Unfortunately while parked in the campground we
developed a flat tire on the truck. With the camper on, close camping quarters,
and a rusty wheel hub, it took a great deal of effort to jack up the truck, remove
and change the wheel. Fortunately we had a full size spare to replace it with
but the nail-pierced tire needed repair before we set out for the next leg of
our trip. We knew it would be tight but with a 7+-hour trip ahead of us we set
out to try to at least make the majority of the 7PM game. Our hopes were dashed
when after 2 hours in traffic we were barely out of LA County. Another one-hour
traffic delay along RT 5 in central CA, due to construction, brought to reality
that we were not going to make it to the #20 stadium visit for Mark and Sam. We
had reservations for a hotel near the SF airport that included free parking and
free airport shuttle (4:30 AM pick up). So we kept driving in hopes of at least
a nice dinner upon arrival. Who knew that most things in the airport area were
closed up so early and the only available place to eat was IHOP! Hungry and
tired we enjoyed a late night breakfast and Sam was pretty pumped to discover
the menu item called the “split decision” which included all of his favorites!
We said farewell to Sam as he left for his predawn departure to the airport.
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One of many truckloads of CA tomatoes, here and spilling
out all along the side of the road RT 5 |
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The largest herd of cows I've ever seen!
This density went on for about a mile! |
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Close family time! Making the best of it!
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| Sun setting as we headed into San Francisco! |
It didn’t take long for Mark and I to return to our “empty nest”
lifestyle and made our way to one of the most
beautiful campgrounds of our trip thus far! The Anthony Chabot Regional Park is situated in Castro Valley, overlooking Lake Chabot, is spectacular
for it’s beauty, scent, solitude and view. This is where I wish you could add a
“scratch-n-sniff” to a blog. As we
approached the campground I was surrounded by the scent of Eucalyptus, which
instantly transported me back to childhood memories of the florist shop! I was
in my “happy place!” This small city near Oakland allowed us to take time to
get some groceries, haircuts, and enjoy a couple of delightful motorcycle
rides, campfires and post LA rest. This was also our first time to test out camping
off the grid. We used propane to keep refrigerator running and battery to power
lights/etc. It was a good test to find out that 2 days is the maximum for us to
be able to go off road!
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| $25 per night campsite with a Million dollar view! |
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| It was hard to leave this place! |
We parked at the metro station and took the train into SF
choosing to spend most of the day at the famous Fisherman’s Wharf area. We
started with coffee at Pier 1 and made our way along the waterfront to end at
Pier 47 and then to Ghirardelli Square. In between we stopped at an interactive
science museum, The Alcatraz National Park, Pier 39 for lunch and a 90 minute
Bay Sailboat Cruise up to the golden gate bridge and around the island of
Alcatraz, & finished our day up at the San Francisco Maritime National
Historic Park.
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| Pier One |
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| Get your world famous hot fudge sundae here! |
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| Golden Gate Bridge midst the fog. |
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| Putting up the sails...hang on! |
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| Love Boat! |
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| Island of Alcatraz! |
Along the way we enjoyed some yummy clam chowder, sourdough
bread, and of course ended our time with the world famous Ghirardelli hot fudge
sundae. Finally, being the tech savvy travelers that we are, we loaded the Uber
App, to be picked up by our driver, “Lee,” and transported back to the metro
station and took the metro back to Oakland. We enjoyed a short motorcycle ride
back to the park stopping at Lake Chabot to see if we could view our campsite
from the lake below.
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| Pretty... |
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| Prettier... |
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| Stunning! |
The next morning we continued to head north along Rt. 101
with plans to go along the CA and OR coasts stopping for the night in Newport,
OR. After several hours of beautiful
but
slow-going winding ocean and mountain views,
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| One last chance to dip our toes in the Pacific! |
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| Oregon Coast! |
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| Coastal Beauty! |
we opted to head inland after
we crossed into OR, making our way up the smoother Rt. 5 so we could be a
shorter distance from Portland the following day. We looked ahead in central OR
for a campground near the interstate and opted to stop for the night. Once we
neared the OR border we were aware of upcoming wildfires burning in several
spots and came up to a newly started fire in a small town not far from the
coast and as we moved inland, we could see and smell very obvious signs of
smoke hanging over the cities and towns. There were reports of some fires ahead
that had been burning for over 8 days and were still not contained. Fortunately
for us we were headed in the opposite direction but were so saddened by the
reality of the devastation.
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| Helicopter transporting water to wildfire! |
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| Traffic stop for emergency Equipment. |
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| Fire fighters on the scene. |
One lesson we have learned from our time in San Francisco is
that in order to not be disappointed, it is important to plan ahead. So after
having been unable to take the boat tour to the island of Alcatraz (booked for
the next month) and missing out on a Segway tour through SF, we decided to
schedule a tour in Portland and located a Groupon special for a 2-hour tour
that upcoming weekend.
If you have never
gone on a Segway…I highly recommend them! After a brief training, it’s pretty
easy to maneuver and zip in and out of people and traffic. I found them to be
like riding a bike that is always going “down hill,” not requiring any real effort
but you always get to enjoy the breeze.
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| Great fun! |
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| Famous continuous flow spring fed fountain. |
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| One of the many Segway stops in Portland. |
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| A famous LEED certified GREEN building! |
We also called ahead and made plans to then head to Chehalis,
WA the following day and take our Alaskan Camper to the factory where it was
made and get some needed routine maintenance. We also wanted to get a peek at
the factory where it was made, meet the small crew of craftsmen, and get a
glimpse of the operation that produces only 30-50 of these a year for the past
almost 60 years. It was great fun to talk to those who know our camper inside
and out. While work was done Mark and I enjoyed a stroll through the small
towns of Chehalis and Centralia, visit a few of it’s many antique shops, eat at
one of it’s quaint cafes, and of course, stop at a local quilt shop!
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| Our Rig in for a little TLC! |
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| Washington State Park Campsite! |
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Washington and Oregon love their drive-up coffee!
This takes the prize for creativity! |
This is
our last outbound stop on our trip west, as from here we turn eastward, back
toward home. I know there are many more sights to see but I can’t help be a bit
melancholy as thoughts of heading home means no more endless adventures!
Next stops: Mt. Rainier, Idaho pass through, Montana stop
over, Yellowstone NP, Mt. Rushmore, & Crazy Horse.
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