Baja Bound, Part 5

Garberville California to Healdsburg California

One of those amazing trees in the Redwood Forest, California

Tight fit to get the truck through.

We left Garberville on a sunny but crisp (6 C) morning.

We had a wonderful drive on Hwy 101 taking in some more of the Redwood forest continuing in direction Legget. We also tried to drive through a tree?!

Arriving in Legget we decided to head for the coast again and took Hwy 1. Well... let me tell you this highway is not for the faint at heart.

The road is like a grape wine, up and down, around the bend, in circles, just dizzy thinking about it.

Sure glad we did not have the 5th wheel trailer with us. We finally reached the coast, beautiful but very narrow road, a bit tiring to drive.

Along this road the coast lends itself for surfing, and we have seen many surfers out there. Looks really cold. Mendocino is a nice seaside village.

Just past the town of Manchester we have had enough of windy roads and decided to head inland.

Beautiful Coast line

Rough driving in this back country

We took Mountain View road from Manchester to Hwy 128. Wow, talk about a cow trail, this was so narrow there is no need for a center line, it is only one lane.

With incredible steep grades and 180 degree curves, this is probably the most trying road, incredible.

It was a pretty country side, but it will be a long time coming before we drive that road again.

Once back on 128 and then 101, we both took a deep breath. We sure experienced wonderful vistas today, but the roads will get no compliments.

Eventually we arrived in Healdsburg and checked into the Best Western.

Here is a tip, ask hotel staff if they have any complimentary or 2 for 1 wine tasting passes.

Wine tasting can cost up to $30-40, most common $10-15. We got 6 passes. If you buy some wine, most of the time they wave the charges.

More pictures here from this part of the trip.

Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley

The next day, October 17th we did the wine touring thing. First things first, we had to do our morning walk for 45 minutes  through some pretty parts of Healdsburg.

Wonderful metal sculpture.

Sonoma Valley

I got the truck going and I looked at the gauges like I always do and there was no or very little oil pressure!!! Panic sets in, and I checked the oil six times.

Lots of oil and I just had it changed. This is my baby, it can not happen. I paced back and forth on the parking lot, a small cloud over my head.

I then got in the truck again and started it up.... I somehow looked at the temperature gauge, its all fine, the motor is not warm yet so the gauge is not showing anything and of course the oil pressure is just fine :))

We first headed north on the road and toured both the Sonoma and later the Nappa Valleys. One winery was just down the road from our hotel, The Seghesio Family Vineyards.

They have some great wines. I am not a Chardonnay fan but they have a fantastic one.

Also their Venom is absolutely incredible. The wine is made from Sangiovese grapes.

This vineyard was first planted in 1910 by the founder of the winery, Edoardo Seghesio. It is the oldest Sangiovese vineyard in North America.

Liz in Sonoma Valley

Lots of Olive trees

Town of Napa, California

We really liked the Sonoma valley and visited several wineries including Rodney Strong.

Rodney Strong was a ballet dancer in New York in his early days, before he became a winemaker. The Pinot Noir  from Rodney Strong is wonderful.

The Rodney Strong winery has a really good self guided tour with lots of interesting information.

We later drove the Napa Valley and enjoyed the valley, but we do prefer the Sonoma Valley.

The town of Napa seems to be suffering from the downturn in the economy.

Many stores are empty and closed. There were a lot for sale and for lease signs.

We hope this will change in the future.

For more pictures from this part of the trip, have a look at our web album.

Happy travels,

Anders and Liz


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Baja Bound, Part 4

Gold Beach, Oregon to Garberville, California
The Redwood Forest

Going for our morning walk in Gold Beach, Oregon

Anders on the beach

It is October 15th 2013. We took it easy in the morning. Went for a breakfast and then a nice walk on the beach.

The waves were just unbelievably beautiful as they were crashing in on the beach. We watched one person trying to surf, it looked challenging as well as cold.

We were on the road around 11 am after we fueled up with Diesel. Interesting, Oregon (and New Jersey) has state laws requiring gas attendants to fill up the gas.

You can not pump your own gas. This helps to employ a lot of people, not a bad idea.

We drove Hwy 101 south toward Brookings. Wow, some unbelievably beautiful beaches and arched rocks and small islands.

This is the Samuel Boardman State Scenic Corridor and with sunshine like we had, it is unsurpassed.

Oregon Coast is one of the most beautiful

In the Redwood Forest, California

We arrived at the California border (sort of), however we could not see welcome sign? Continuing in California we arrived in
Crescent City, a very quaint little town.

We stopped by the National Park Info Center. "Sorry we are closed due to government shut down".

We helped ourselves to some maps outside, and kept trucking on. Actually a local couple we chatted with told us where to go and what to see... nice people!

We left Hwy 101 and took the Newman Dury Scenic Parkway. The forest and its giant Redwoods are very impressive.

One of the trees in the park is over 379 feet tall. The worlds tallest tree.

There are three types of Redwood:

1. The Dawn Redwood, found in Central China. Can grow up to 43 meters or 141 feet.
2. The Giant Sequoia, found in Sierra Nevada and central California, up to 95 meters or 311 feet.
3. The Coast Redwood, found in Northern California Coast. Grows up to 115 meters or 379 feet.

Fantastic coast line in Northern California

Andres among the giants.

We motored on south, the forest is a lot like the rain forest we have on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Over all, we both felt the Oregon coast was more beautiful and interesting so to drive along.

Hwy 101 turns inland a this point through valleys and over hills. Nice driving. We eventually ended up in the little town of Garberville.

We checked in at the Best Western. That is a super nice hotel. Very friendly staff. The complimentary wine and cheese in the evening was awesome, we met some really nice people. The breakfast was amazing.

For supper in Garberville we went to a great restaurant called Cecil's New Orleans Bistro. The food was fantastic and the service was great. This was a really good day.

For more pictures from this part of the trip, check out our web album.


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Baja Bound, Part 3

Lincoln City to Gold Beach, Oregon USA

It's early morning on the 14th of October 2013 and we are enjoying breakfast in our hotel room over-

Liz on our morning walk at Lincoln Beach, OR.

looking the pacific ocean. Coffee never tasted so good :)

We put our runners on and set out for our morning walk in the southerly direction on the beach. It sure was fresh out there.

After a good half hour of walking, shooting a gazillion pictures of the ocean, sunrise, and seagulls, we turn around and head back to the hotel.

Around 11 am we are trucking out of town, south on hwy 101. Not a cloud in the sky, life is good! The scenery is fantastic. We are definitely are seeing the coast of Oregon at its best. Long term forecast is for 10 days of sunshine.

We stop at Stonefield Beach Wayside State Park to eat our packed lunch (chicken sandwiches). Two

Anders taking in the sights

Mink whale surfacing while we have lunch.

Such beauty.

Sunset

bites into my sandwich a mink whale breaches out in front of us by the breakers. He (or she) is feeding like crazy going back and forth.

After enjoying the "Whale Fix" for the day we truck further south. The road is at times winding, and the speed limit varies between 70-90 km per hour.

No rush here, love it. We drive through North Bend, Coos Bay and make an Ice Cream stop in the town of Bandon.

The place to go here is the Face Rock Creamery, great ice cream and fantastic cheeses made right here. Take some along to match with the wine tonight.

Bandon is a very quaint little town with all kinds of shops. All kinds of seafood can be had here. There is even a fudge factory, if you have a sweet tooth like me (always keep a pound or two around, just in case).

On the road again, and after some more jaw dropping scenery, we call it a night in the town of Gold Beach.

We check in at the Gold Beach Inn. The hotel is fine, not spectacular but OK. The interior is fairly worn and dated. It is clean and that's the main thing.

The hotel offers 3 hot tubs on the way down to the beach which is really nice.

We go and pick us some food and enjoy a nice supper with a sunset and a bottle of wine.

For more pictures of the trip, check out the condensed album or the long version with a ton of pictures.

Baja Bound, Part 2

Lincoln City, Oregon. USA

It is the 13th of October 2013.

We arrived in Lynnwood Washington yesterday afternoon and managed to take in a hockey game of our grandson Ryan, they had a tournament here. We also met up with Mark, Lisa, and our grand daughter Sarah and her friend Kaylan.

This morning we watched another game, which they won just nicely.

So much fun to watch the young ones play.

At around 11:30 am we were on the road, we took the I - 5 South. After a few pit stops at the very convenient and nice official Rest Stops, we drove through Portland OR, a very pretty city.

By now we had driven several hours, the weather was beautiful, so we decided to leave the I - 5 in direction of the coast. We took Hwy 99W and 18 south west towards Lincoln City OR. 

We arrived around 5 pm and checked into DSands Condominium Motel right on the beach. A long walk was on the agenda before the sun went down.

Lincoln City, Oregon

Anders taking in the view of the ocean.

Lincoln City is a very quaint little town. The name comes from Lincoln County which was named after.... you guessed it, the late President Abraham Lincoln. 

This is our second time here, and we love it. According to Wikipedia, Lincoln City was incorporated on March 3, 1965, uniting the cities of Delake, Oceanlake and Taft, and the unincorporated communities of Cutler City and Nelscott. 

These were adjacent communities along U.S. Route 101, which serves as Lincoln City's main street. The name "Lincoln City" was chosen from contest entries submitted by local school children.

The contest was held when it was determined that using one of the five communities' names would be too controversial.

We first quickly went shopping for some food and wine. Once back at the motel, we put on our winter jackets and went for a walk on the beautiful

Liz on the balcony at DSands Motel, Lincoln City, Oregon.

beach and watched the sun going down. Wow.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will do a long hike on the beach again.... What can I say I'm a duck.

Till next time.

PS. For more pictures from this part of the trip check out our web album.

Baja Bound

Destination Baja California 

Getting Ready to Leave For Baja California

For weeks we have now planned, packed, and re-packed our suit cases and truck for our trip south. We are heading down to Baja California in Mexico. Our eventual target city is San Jose del Cabo where we have a condo rented.

Cortes Island with the Coastal Mountains.

On the 9th of October we will take a mid-day ferry from Cortes Island to Quadra Island. Here we will shortly meet up with John C Hansen who gave me some lessons in fusing glass.

After that we will take the ferry to Campbell River and meet up with my sister Rose and her husband Alan. We will no doubt have a great dinner together and sample some wine.

Wild Man of the Woods. Cortes Island

On the 10th of October we will head to Victoria and spend time with our family. On the 11th we will cross the border into the USA and stay in Lynnwood just outside Seattle to watch our grandson Ryan play hockey.

On the 13th we will continue or trip south through Washington state, into Oregon, then along the coast of  California, and eventually we will cross the border into Mexico on the 20th of October. Prior to crossing the border, we will meet up with our friends Lynne and Dave and travel together through the border in Tecate.

Our first night in Mexico will be in Ensenada. We will then work our way down to Mulege and eventually all the way down south to San Jose del Cabo.
We hope to see and discover the Baja peninsula to see if this would be a good place in the sun.

Our plan is to be back in Canada sometime in the middle of December.