Day 11

Off to LA on Jon's birthday! On the way we stopped at Vandenburg Air Force Base then got back on the road!

On the way to LA, we stopped at In-N-Out Burger for our first experience at this restaurant. I got a cheeseburger, Jon got a double cheeseburger, we split fries, a drink, and a milkshake. It was a delicious meal for a fast food restaurant, but we do know now to order our fries extra crispy :)

We drove down the coast and got to drive through Malibu. Some of the houses were so pretty! Some were way on top of hills, too. It was cool to see.

We got into LA in the afternoon and checked into our hotel. We relaxed for a bit and then decided to take a walk and then find some food. We ate at a local pizza place and took a drive around LA. It wasn’t a very busy day….mainly driving and taking it easy.

Tomorrow we are going to take a tour of the city starting at the Chinese Theater!





Jon at Fox Studios




Houses




House in Malibu




Jon at In-N-Out Burger



Beach

Day 10

After packing our things and getting a few things from Chinatown, we checked out of the old Baldwin Hotel and got back on the road.

On our way out of San Francisco, we drove by the arts and civic area, City Hall, the Opera House, the Golden Gate Park, and Alamo Square and the Painted Ladies!! :) Yep, “Full House” for those of you who watched that ever-popular 90s show. It was a lovely drive through the city.




The Painted Ladies next to Alamo Square



Just another house in San Francisco

We hopped on Highway 1 down the coast! It was sunny today and a fairly relaxing drive down the coast. We took the scenic drive in Monterey. We stopped at a couple vista spots along the way to stretch and to take some pictures. We also got to see some Elephant Lions! They were smelly and fat and noisy, but they were still kinda cute. There were TONS of them all crowded on the beach mostly sunning, but a few were enjoying a swim.

We also detoured to the Hearst Castle. We were hoping to see some exhibits or something. We did get to see it from a distance, but the tours were expensive and were already done with for the day. It was cool to check out some of their pictures and information.

We finally arrived in Morro Bay, California where we decided to stop for the night. We had dinner at Hofbrau, a little German restaurant on the water. We watched the sunset as we finished our meal and headed back to the hotel.

Tomorrow’s destination: LA




Elephant Lions




Elephant Lions




Us right off of Highway 1!

Day 9

It rained a little, but this camping experience affording a little warmer temperature when we woke up. It was in the low 50s. We slept in a little, packed up our things, and heading to San Francisco!

We only made a few stops on the way to San Francisco. The first was stopping to see the tree you can drive through! I know…sounds crazy. It was a redwood that you could actually drive your car through. It was called “Chandelier.” The car actually fit through the tree! It was only a little scary, but sweet! We took some pictures and got back on the road.




Jon with the Chandelier (the redwood tree you drive through)


Our second stop was at the Chevron gas station in Laytonville. We fueled up, got a beverage, and then decided to get some tacos from this little taco truck called “Paco’s Tacos.” Jon got some tacos and I got chicken and homemade mole. Jon and I both enjoyed the food and were glad we took a break.

We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge! Yep, we made it to San Francisco, to our hotel, and had time to walk around the city a bit. First we walked through Chinatown on our way to the Coit Monument/Tower which gave us a great view of the city. We had some sesame chicken, pot stickers, and green tea ice cream at the Chinatown Restaurant. The sesame chicken and pot stickers were good and I really enjoyed the green tea ice cream. It was a little difficult for Jon to decide.




Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge!

Jon and I both enjoyed everything about this city. We definitely want to come back. We even had time to walk to Pier 39 and see a beautiful sky around the sunset, see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge in the evening. We walked around Pier 39 for a bit and made our to Ghiradelli Square! We enjoyed a beverage and a free sample of chocolate and walked back to our hotel, enjoying some nighttime views along the walk.

Jon found a noodle place so we decided to go check it out. It was a little spicy, but definitely worth trying. Best ramen in town.

Plans for tomorrow: head towards LA, but probably stop somewhere in between.




San Francisco: us with the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset




View from Coit Tower




Chinatown





Karla enjoying hot chocolate at Ghiradelli




San Francisco at night from the Crooked Street



Ghiradelli factory!




A ship and submarine in the bay

Day 8

Our plan of attack: eat the delicious breakfast provided by the hotel and get ready to leave for the Redwood National Park!

We left Portland about 9 a.m. and didn’t have any huge traffic problems. We made our way over to the highway along the coast!

We did stop at some dunes along the way.





Jon by the dunes

We got to Redwood National Park and were ready to find the campground. It wasn’t easy finding it, so we stopped at a little visitor’s center to find out where to go. It took us at least another 20 minutes to get to the campsite. We got to stay right next to the beach! We set up camp by a little log structure in to block some of the wind from the ocean to keep us a little warmer. We were able to walk along the beach a little and enjoy the sunset, as much as we could through the clouds. Then we settled in for the night.





Our campsite at Gold Bluffs in Redwood National Park




Redwood National Park




Karla in the ocean!




Jon in the ocean!





Gold Bluffs at sunset



Gold Bluffs at sunset

Day 7

We woke up in Seattle! We worked on trying to plan the next few days, especially lodging, showered, and had an amazing breakfast. They had cereal, waffles, fruit, yogurt, pastries, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, bagels, coffee, juice, tea, and milk. We had a scrumptious breakfast, checked out of the hotel, and said goodbye to downtown Seattle.

Mt. Rainier here we come!

We made it to Mt. Rainier. It was awesome driving up to the visitors center, going through forests and getting to see the mountain in the distance…awesome. The visitor’s center was really nice and looked fairly new. There was still a significant amount of snow. People were sledding, skiing, and taking some trails that were open. On our way up and down the mountain, we saw lots of waterfalls because the snow was melting. It was incredible. We decided not to take a trail so we could get to Mount St. Helens.





Karla and Jon at Mt. Rainier



Jon with Mt. Rainier




Mt. Rainier

We took a state highway to Mount St. Helens so we got a view of something other than an interstate. We saw some gorgeous flowers, lakes, and the mountains as a backdrop.

Mount St. Helens was sweet! We walked around outside the Johnston Observatory a little and checked out the inside of the building. They had a cool display of what happened when the volcano erupted. We took some pictures outside while waiting for the next video showing. The video was about 15 minutes long and ended with the movie screen and a curtain going up and outside the big picture window was Mount St. Helens! It was definitely worth the couple hour drive from Mount Rainier.




Mt. St. Helens




Karla with Mt. St. Helens

We were not going to get to Lincoln City, Oregon until after dark so we decided to stay in Portland, Oregon for the night. We got a great deal on a room close to downtown. We took a short walk, got to see them raise the bridge for a ship, observe some of the Rose Festival happenings, and enjoy the calm of a Sunday evening stroll. We took advantage of the whirlpool at the hotel and had a relaxing evening.

We did notice a large amount of bicyclists in Portland. I don’t think we looked out the window at breakfast without seeing a handful of cyclists. We also got to see the Portland Street Car going around the city on the tracks.




Portland at night with a boat that has just gone under the raised bridge

Day 6

We woke up about 8 a.m. and took our time getting ready to leave. The campground did have nice showers for us. We packed up the tent, showered, and got ready to leave for Seattle.

At a little rest area in Idaho we saw a sign for free coffee so we decided to stop. The rest area building was not open, but we saw a Marine Corps trailer with a couple gentlemen. They were offering coffee, iced coffee, hot chocolate, tea, and cookies! It was so nice. We just thought we were stopping for free coffee, but they said “And we have breakfast for ya.” We saw a couple more rest area signs with free coffee signs, but continued on our way.

Before we arrived in Seattle, we stopped at Snoqualmie Falls in Washington. It was pretty cool, but there were tons of people. You would've thought there was some giant celebration going on. We figured it was a nice day, a Saturday, and maybe people really are sticking close to home for little getaways.

We got to Seattle around 4 p.m. We checked into our hotel first and then walked around the city. It was very busy being a Saturday and beautiful weather so we were able to people watch at its finest. We visited the Pike Place Market and walked from there to the Space Needle. There was quite a crowd in the market, but it was fun to see the variety of people. Jon and I did try some smoked salmon, so we can say that we had some fish. Off to the Space Needle!

They have some cool attractions around the Space Needle like a science center, science fiction place, and music place. We didn't go into any of them because they were expensive, but they looked pretty cool.

We decided to ride the Monorail back to our hotel from the Space Needle. When we got back, we took a break in the hotel and walked around a bit more in the city. We took a scenic tour of some residential area and found some eats in down by Pike Place. It is cool to be right by the ocean, to have witnessed all the hubbub of the city, but also to enjoy the scene at night.

Plans for tomorrow: Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens and hopefully camping around Portland.

Day 5

Camping was fun, but when we woke up, it was 36 degrees. Brrrr….We got up early, packed our things into the car and started exploring more of Yellowstone.

Where did we go?
Beryl Spring
Artists Paintpots
Steamboat Geyser
Norris Geyser Basin
***while going through Hayden Valley, we saw a grizzly bear and a 2 year old cub off in the distance….so cool
Mud Volcano
Sulphur Caldron
Lower/Upper Falls
***Here we walked the entire south ridge of the Canyon by accident
Tower Fall
***Here we saw a goat on the side of the mountain
Lamar Valley
***Here we saw a black bear and her 2 cubs, a pronghorn in the middle of the road, and a bid horned sheep
Petrified Tree
Mammoth Hot Springs

We saw tons of bison everywhere! They were out in valleys, in the rivers, by the road, on the road….everywhere. We got to see a baby one up close today. He had just taken a drink of water and was joining the rest of the group.

Animals we saw in Yellowstone:
bison
pronghorn
deer
big horned sheep
marmot
otter or beaver
birds
squirrel
chipmunk
black bears
grizzly bears
goats

We left Yellowstone after a break in Mammoth Hot Springs. We stopped at Helen’s Corral Drive-In to get a fantastic buffalo burger, coleslaw, and fries.

Off to Coeur D’Alene, Idaho! Tonight we’re going to camp in Idaho at the Coeur D Alene Campground and head to Seattle tomorrow.




Big Horn Sheep!



Black bear! We were told to keep going and not to stop!