Oregon and Washington

From Eureka in northern California, we continued up Highway 101 into Oregon. The coastline is rugged and absolutely stunning:

The following day we drove up the coast to Seaside, and the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail. The monument commemorates the 18 month, 4,000 mile journey from Saint Louis to the Oregon Coast 

and more of the stunning coastline on the drive back:

We stayed at a little RV park and Netarts on the coast outside Tillamook, and the bay and sunset from Cape Meares at Oceanside was breathtaking:

The next morning we took a drive south along the coast road and were rewarded again with crashing waves and more stunning scenery:

On our way back into Tillamook, we called in at the Air Museum which is housed in an old military blimp hangar and the largest clear-span wooden structure in the world. The museum has a Boeing B-377 which was delivered to Pan-Am in 1949 then converted to a 'mini-guppy' for carrying contract cargo in 1967. In 1972 it carried the Pioneer 10 Spacecraft launched by NASA, and in 1981, transported the 'Goodyear Europa' which was used as an aerial TV platform for Charles and Diana's wedding.

In the afternoon, we visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory which has been a farmers-owned co-op for over 100 years. Not only do they produce many varieties of delicious  cheddar cheese, their butter, ice-cream and other dairy products are yummy too. Here come the big blocks of cheese:

and cut into smaller blocks:

and sent off for packaging:

Time to head away from the coast and across to Portland. Sunday was Mark's BIG birthday, and as it was absolutely chucking it down (well, he did say he was getting fed up with blue skies and hot weather - be careful what you wish for), we spent the afternoon in Deschutes Brewery, where it was warm but not dry: 

Over the next few days the weather was much better so we did the usual tourist stuff and walked around Portland. We also discovered the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum about 50 miles south of the city, and what a discovery! It is the home of several historic aircraft, including the Hughes H-4 Hercules the 'Spruce Goose' - the largest flying boat ever built

They had an SR-71, the Blackbird, (Mark's favourite plane) which we got to see from a different perspective: 

There's also the 'Wings and Waves Waterpark' next door which has a different kind of waterslide :-) 

Time to hit the road again, this time to Everett, north of Seattle in Washington. Today we visited the Boeing factory which is the largest building in the world by volume and covers over 98 acres. The building is so large that ceiling fans had to be installed as it was creating its own weather system and raining inside! The factory assembles the Boeing 747, 767, 777 and 787. I couldn't take photos on the tour but here are a couple I downloaded from their site:

Tomorrow we head further north and start packing up and getting Badger ready to go into storage for the winter.

Sacramento to northern California

After spending a month in Sacramento and the surrounding area, it was time to move on. A few people I spoke to commented that 4 weeks in the capital would have been 3 weeks too long for them, but it worked for us, giving Mark the time to do what he needed to on our house and also to do the tourist stuff, such as visiting the capitol building:

Sutter's Fort built in 1839 and the beginning of the town of Sacramento and where gold was discovered in 1849 to the California State Railroad museum:

We also visited Old Town Sacramento and the History Museum where we learnt more about the gold rush and also the massive earthquake of 1906 that devastated San Francisco.

Lake Tahoe wasn't too far away so we decided to go and take a look. The views were stunning:

We carried on over the pass into Utah and stayed overnight in Reno. I thought it would be like a small Las Vegas, but was very disappointed as there were only 4 hotel/casinos downtown and nothing like the 'glamour' of Vegas. We did, however find an excellent Teppan restaurant in Hurrahs, so a good end to a long day. 

The next day we followed the old highway 40 to the Donner Memorial State Park, a tribute to the Donner Party that didn't make it across the Sierra Nevada range in 1846 due to an early winter setting in, and many other things. 

The scenic byway was very steep and winding and I would have hated to do it by wagon train or on foot!

As it turned out, there was so much traffic on this road (soon after I took this shot), including many trucks, and we found out later that I-80 (the main interstate from Reno across the pass) had been closed due to an accident. 

During our time in Sacramento we had a few day trips to the Napa and Sonoma Valleys to do a little wine tasting. Well, as we were in that part of the world, it would have been rude not to. 

Moving on up the coast, the landscape changed from wild oceans to giant redwoods and back again. The main highway (101) goes through the Avenue of the Giants and there were a few trees close the the road that had chunks taken out of the bark, about the right height for truck and RV mirrors :-) 

 This is the Shrine drive through tree, which we drove through in the car, not Badger

Unlike the Dodge pick up before us (who got wedged and had to reverse back out again), Mark had no problem getting our car through, although he only had about half an inch spare on both mirrors.

This was a lunch time stop in Badger - beautiful.

The last California sunset before we head up into Oregon.

Goodbye, old friend

We've had this cow with us since may when we bought him/her from the abattoir/butchers down the road from Pris and Bill in central Oregon. We've eaten him/her across 9 states, and shared him/her with the Reynolds in Yosemite. He's the last of his/her kind, and we shall miss him/her. Costco whole ribeye in canada just  won't be the same...

Necessity is the mother of invention

We'd  been wine tasting in the Napa Valley (or should I say I'd been tasting and Mark was sniffing/sipping/spittimg as he was driving ) and I was feeling a little left out as he got stuck into the one bottle he's allowed when we get back. So I opened a bottle of bubbles. After my second glass I decided I needed an ice bucket because it was such a walk to the fridge from outside :-)

My large soup pan made an excellent ice bucket. 

By the way, here is the (large 1.5L) and very, very nice bottle of Zinfandel that Mark chose. 

Once I finish my bubbles, and if I'm a good girl, I might get a glass of red to go with the cheese 😊