USA – Week 5 – Millerton Lake to Sacramento.

Another BIG tree

The famous No 3

What a feast



 


 




Leaping frogs

View along the way

Local shop

Apprentice mechanics

Millerton Lake

Monday 18th June – With nowhere planned to stay for the next couple of days we set off ‘looking for a site en route.’. We ended up following signs to a camp on yet another lake!! This time it was Millerton Lake, nowhere near anywhere but an idylic setting and very quiet with good facilities. As it was still hell hot we plunged ourselves into the lake, it was superb. Now to date we have to endure or look out for Bob Bear, Sam Squirrel, Charlie Chipmunk and Col Cockroach to name a few, now we have to watch out for Ron Rattlesnake – whatever next!!!! A super quiet evening was had by this beautiful lake with no near neighbours to be seen. Thankfully no rattlesnakes were seen or heard either!


Tuesday 19th June – We like it here so much we decided to do another night to fill the gap between here and Tuttletown (just like saying the name.) With a day to kill we decided to head down to Kings Canyon to see some more trees and maybe a canyon. It is also Budget day again and we need to call them to extend our car contract to 5th July. Off we go towards the canyon. A lovely drive en route with a slight detour into an unsceduled town because we were yacking on and both missed the turn. Oh well, twas a nice town.

We arrived at Kings late morning and 1st job was the car phone call, yet another farce ensued….. At first phone the card wouldn’t work, at the second phone we got through but it was an automated service. Don’t you just love it, the system could not understand my accent as I yelled the answers into the phone. I was just about to destroy the phone into oblivion when the computervoice decided to put me through to a real person to see if they could tell what I was saying. After hanging on for about two and a half weeks I spoke to a real bod who could only just hear so I had to shout again and share my booking with half of the car park at Kings Canyon. The upshot was the contract was extended to the desired date and I had lost the will to live!!

After the battle with Budget we drove down to a grove of giant sequioas where the 3rd largest tree in the world ‘General Grant’ was. Yep, it was one hell of a big tree and so were most of the others around it was quite a splendid trail. After here we headed for yet another lake where we could have our picnic lunch. We found the lake but no picnic site so we had to haul ass back the 15 miles to another one. By this time it was mid afternoon and we were treed out and brassed off (Budgets fault) so we headed back to our lake side camp. Another swim in the warm waters before the usual evening rituals of a shower, glass of pop and some food.

Wednesday 20th June – Moving on day to the famous Tuttletown. What is it famous for, well I’ll tell you. Not only Tuttletown but the whole area hangs onto Mark Twain who was here once many moons ago and wrote some book called “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” (apologies to Mark Twain fans here.) More on frogs later. We had a lovely drive round the outskirts of Yosemite through the stunning scenery and gorges of the area before arriving at Tuttletown Recreational Area late afternoon. Nice pitch overlooking another lake but no Bob Bears but still the old rattlesnake warnings. All we saw this time was Dan Deer wandering around at dusk thankfully.

Nice big park but not enough toilets tho’. Also we had to don hiking boots to go and seek out the water tap. Nevertheless, the weather was great and we had a nice spot. Must do a piece on toilets/restrooms/bathrooms sometime soon.

Thursday 21st June – One of the problems we have been been having is a milk problem. Now because it has been so hot in sunny California we have been trying to get milk in the mornings for our breakfast and my tea as we have had a few that have turned into damn good lumpy cheese. We have a cool bag which we have tried filling with bottles of cold water, did work sometimes but not once we got over 100 dgs.

Anyway I digress, I had to go out and get some milk and it was 2 miles just to get off the campsite and to the main road. Anyway fuelled up with breakfast we headed out to downtown Senora which has a famous main street that has been used for a few movies. We did manage to get hooked up to the local free wifi hotspot in town so we caught up with the world and made a few bookings for the next few nights.

We then had a wander round town looking for another post office which we found and was open this time but we didn’t have the post!! Quite a splendid looking old street with shops selling things like tobacco, liquor, bate, guns and ammo. Like you would expect in any old town high street. With a boot full of huge cigars, a couple of shotguns and a shed load of ammo we headed up to Safeway to get some serious food shopping for dinner. (We did actually pay for it we didn’t hold up the store, only joking about the ammo!!)

We got back to the site early and got our BBQ fired up and had some pop to wash it down – super…..

Friday 22nd June – Another fine and sunny day and yippee wer’e off to see some more trees. We went to Big Trees State Park, where there were more sequoias and redwoods all on the rather large size but not quite as big as the ones seen at other groves. After another tree fix we headed back down the valley to Angels Camp where Mark Twain allegedly was staying when he wrote his famous short story mentioned earlier about jumping frogs. Now, this whole area has Mak Twain post and signs dotted all over the place including the hut in which he actually stayed when he was here. However, Angels Camp steals the show on Mark Twaining by actually building the whole town around jumping frogs. There’s one every ten feet on some building somewhere and they even host an annual frog jumping contest. That’s only half of it, the winners of this amphibious olympics get their name, the frogs name and the lenth of the jump carved into a stone which becomes a paving stone on the towns main street. A bit like Hollywoods walk (or hop) of fame. The winning jump currently stands at about 14 feet!! It’s actually the combined length of two hops, I had to ask in the visitor centre as I don’t know many frogs that can jump 14 feet, not sure there’s many that can do 7!! After such excitement we headed back for the usuals. The evenings highlight was spotting an ospreys nest atop a telegraph pole with two young sat in there. Very entertaining, I’m sure they would have appreciated a couple of frogs………….

Saturday 23rd June – It’s 3rd time lucky with the post office this morning and yes it was a success, the mail is finally on its way after a 600 mile drive round California!! Now off down to Jamestown, another famous movie town for different reasons. Here in Jamestown is a small steam locomotive line called Steamtown 1897. On this line runs a superb little engine called the No 3 which is in fact hollywood super star status. It is the most filmed train in Hollywood and the list of both TV and movie appearances is endless. It starred in the Virginian, Back to the future 3, High Noon, the Unforgiven and even the Marx brothers Way Out West to name but a few. We of course had a run up and down the line on the train in a super old western carriage. We then had a guided tour of the site which included the famous roundhouse where all the exhibits are kept.

From here we headed up to Columbia State Park which is a kind of western style Beamish museum with all the attractions of the time. It was very good with saloons, jail, shops, blacksmith and of course stage coach rides. It was a very well done attraction and so much so we headed back in the evening to see some live music and dancing but sadly that didn’t start ‘til much later and when we arived we sat through the auctioning of blueberry pies etc so decided to get back to base.

Sunday 24th June – It’s goodbye to Tuttletown and all it’s attractions today as we head off to Sacramento for a night in a motel before heading up to the high altitude wilderness of Lassen Volcanic Park.

The drive to Sacramento went well as it wasn’t too far so we were there early afternoon. We were on the hunt for stove fuel again so we ended up at the Home Depot an American type BnQ but 4 times bigger, as you would expect. Armed with fuel we headed back to the motel where there was a pool so we swam then we TV’d and got an internet fix. All this done it was a good break from putting the tent up and a good nights sleep on the outskirts of Californias state capital.

USA – Week 4 – Yosemite to Lake Isabella.




Giant Sequoia & small D

 



Lake Isabella



Whiskey flat trail

 



  

Vegas

Vegas

A higher lake

  



El Capitan

A mirror lake





Yosemite Valley

  

Yosemite Valley

Monday 11th June - Our last day in this natural history wonderland and no sign of Bob Bear yet…..On that subject the warden told us that black bears are very intelligent and have a sense of smell 15 times stronger than a bloodhound. With this obvious intelligence I propose to design a sign similar to the ones used by white van man in the UK but it will read ‘no food left in this vehicle overnight.’ Should do the trick and stop all this Bob Bear food and cosmetic storage nonesense…..dream on. I have actually seen a video of Bob Bear ripping off the passenger door of a car to get to the grub!!! Sorry, I digress, back to the days events. We went to tunnel view for an alleged better shot of El Capitan, which we did and walked a trail from there to Inspiration Point. The trail was steep, hot, sweaty and I was not inspired when we got to it!! There were more inspiring views on the way up to the point. Anyway, on the way down there was a family with a herd of kids doing the trail. The kids were walking in front as kids do, generally fitter and slimmer than their parents. All of a sudden there was a right to do, parents hollering for the kids “come back, come back quick there’s a bear!!” Well wow we thought ace, we’re gonna see Bob Bear after all but there was so much screaming and shouting going on that Bob siddled off the trail and headed back into the undergrowth. We did manage to see him heading away from us down the trail. Fantastic but could have been a whole lot better without the oscar nominated performance of the muppet family…. Needless to say by the time you get your camera out the big lad had cleared off. What a super treat never the less.


After this episode we drove up to Glacier Point which is an elevated position above the Yosemite Valley. What a place and what superb views. We could see the waterfalls walk we had done the day before, all the famous ‘domes’ and the Yosemite Falls. It was well worth the drive up as the vistas were the best we’d ever seen!! After the excitement of the day we drove back down to the yosemite valley for the last time and had a beer and cooked dinner by the river. What a wonderful, unforgettable place.

Tuesday 12th June – Up and off early today as we have a long drive to the other extreme from natural history to the man made excesses of Las Vegas. Vegas was not on the schedule and lets face it it’s 300 miles in the wrong direction. We love it having been before and we were enjoying the great weather after our damp and dismal start. The weather in Yosemite was in the mid 90’s every day and it is expected to be at least 100dgs in Vegas. We drove out of Yosemite via the Tioga Pass which climbs to 9500 feet and goes through some stunning scenery. The journey once we were over the Sierra Mountain range was pretty desert like all the way down to Vegas past Death Valley. The temperature outside was 105 and it was not good in the car so we had to get the air con fired up!!

We arrived in Vegas 5ish and were booked into a motel just off the strip for two nights, opposite the MGM Grand (hows that for name dropping.) We ate locally and had a stroll down the strip to see the hotel sights which just seem to get better and bigger. Finally a good nights sleep in a room we didn’t have to erect before we could sleep in it – super……

Wednesday 13th June – After another laundry morning, bit of internet stuff (booking the next few nights accommodation and catching up wth the world) we had a walk out into the heat and had some lunch and a look round the MGM Grand. In the afternoon we had a swim in the motel pool then headed out onto the strip a bit earlier via the monorail system this time. We headed to the end of the strip and the tallest hotel the Stratosphere. A giant sized hotel with a theme park and restaurant etc built on the very top of it. It was quite a site to see but the area it was in was a bit dodgy so we hurried back to the monorail and back up to the centre of the strip. We wandered some more, had a beer and sat and people watched, did a bit of shopping then got back in just after midnight. The slots in the casinos now take plastic, how quick is that to run up a big bill!!!!

The strip is a fascinating place, an area of vulgar excess in every sense of the word but at the same time there is something about it that makes it and gives it that attraction that it has. A super couple of days, thoroughly enjoyed it and were clean and recharged for some more camping at Lake Isabella.

Thursday 14th June – Today we are ‘leavin Las Vegas’ via H&M so Mrs D can get some retail therapy before we head to the sticks for a few nights. Armed with a bag full of goodies and a smile she returned. In actual fact H&M was not too good and the bargains were found in the Old Navy store. Enough of this, off we go again. Heading in the wrong direction again, as according to our plans we should be heading north by now and we are in fact heading south west towards Los Angeles!! A lovely steady drive through desert lands and we lunched at ‘the Mad Greek!’ An American chain with all the Greek goodies like gyros and souvlaki but as you can imagine the portions are three times bigger but no where near as tasty.

We are on the lookout for a Walmart as our inflatable camp bed has developed a huge lump in the middle as the 2 sides separate. Most inconvenient as it was like sleeping on a hill and I ended up pushing Mrs D out of bed or falling out myself. Anyway, we found a Walmart and a new bed so all was well!!

We arrived at Lake Isabella late afternoon and it was a lovely setting overlooking the lake. The trouble was it was 105 degrees and not good for sleeping or storing food. We also had ground squirrels and chipmunks to contend with so we couldn’t leave anything out. It was midweek so the site was quiet. It was a popular fishing and water sports lake with many camps dotted around its shores.

Friday 15th June – We drove to the visitor centre in town and got bit of info. It was then back to the site for a lazy day at the camp. We had a walk along the lakeside and late afternoon moved pitch a bit further from the road as the traffic noise is not good. It was also a windy night previously so that didn’t help either. While we are on the moaning front, we also had cockroaches charging about all over the last pitch and the showers are cold and not been cleaned for a while – end of rant. New pitch has less roaches but didn’t change the shower temperature. An earlier dinner and drinks before an early night.

Saturday 16th June – Down to post office 1st job, closed – good start. We then drove up valley to check out another campsite at Kernville. Twas too expensive and too busy for us so it looked like another night with bugs and squirrels. Anyway, moving on we had a coffee in Kernville which was a very twee touristy place with a real saloon. After coffee we headed out to a trail head called the whiskey flat trail. Described as a riverside trail heading up stream 14 miles but obviously you walk as far as you want. Point 1, as said before when it says flat here it isn’t. Point 2, as for a riverside walk well it was if you had a pair of binos with you!! We walked a couple of miles upstream but it was over 100dgs and not much shade so we had to turn round and find the river to cool off. Called in for some grub at shops on way back before dinner at the tent.

Sunday 17th June – Today we are heading up north to look at some more trees. Ahh, not just any old trees but giant sequioas. A hundred of them apparently as it’s the trail of a 100 giants. Education time again chaps…..Sequioas are actually redwood trees. The inland broad bottom type are the sequioas and the tall coastal types are the redwoods. One is taller – the coastal and the other is wider generally the inland ones. Now having seen pictures and video of these giants, it doesn’t really prepare for just how big they really are and wow are they big!! Pictures don’t really do them justice you have to see them. We walked round the grove in awe at these huge trees some of them over a 1000 years old. There’s something about walking amongst trees, it’s almost a calming, relaxing feeling. Can’t really explain so I’ll give up. Anyway we got round the grove and were wondering why these giants need fire to breed (that’s what it said on the sheet but didn’t tell you why.) Will find out and report back later, if you’re still awake. After a picnic we headed back down the Kern river gorge which was stunning. We managed to find a quiet spot by the river for an hour before we got to Kern and had an entertaining hour in the local saloon. Back at the camp we had a chat with the camp hosts who spend their time travelling around different state parks every year looking after the site for the summer and ‘holidaying in the winter.’ very nice. After such an exciting day we headed back to the tent, tired, weary but pleased with the day.

USA – Week 3 - San Francisco to Yosemite.

Yosemite Falls

Bob Bear Grub Store

The stars of pier 39

Famous bends on Lombard Street

Cell Block

Locked up!!




 

California Street Cable Car

Alcatraz

Alcatraz

The Bridge

Downtown skyline

Monday 4/6 – An early start down into the city to sort out the Budget car mess. We managed to get there OK despite accidentally walking through one of the most seedy areas of town. The staff were very good and half sorted us out but we now have to ring Budget on the 19th June to renew our contract, yet another farce. We then had a coffee in Starbucks, cup size, coffee type, milk shade, sugar type, water temparature etc – so much choice you’ve lost the will to live by the time you get it!! Then the train back to the digs in order to check out andhead across town to our 4 night digs up the Mission Road. Clean tidy but not as handy as the first we stayed. However, we got the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) into town for the evening. BART is a kind of underground that runs above ground too. Very quick, economical and comfy way of getting about.


We seemed to walk miles, down to the harbour building, around the business district, up to California Street where they hang on the cable cars we were goosed. We eventually found a bar – like you do – and sat and had a couple of drinks and some food. Very nice but the tipping lark is so complicated you end up tipping everyone who goes by just to make sure you haven’t missed anyone!! We then headed back to the digs via the good old BART.

Tuesday 5/6 – BART to town again, the a tram to Pier 39. Listen up – Pier 39 is the 2nd most visited place in California after Disneyworld!! What a joke it’s like Blackpool with sunshine set in a strange place full of weird accents (sounds familiar actually.) Well we weren’t impressed, it was full of tacky shops with same old sh**t* in every other shop. All the usual suspect food chains including the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Can’t imagine it in August!! I’m sure lots of people love it as it’s obviously popular but it wasn’t for us miserable old gits….The best thing about it was the seals which live there undisturbed and unknowingly entertaining the crowds with their antics.

We managed to get a tram out of the place back to the pier we we wandered some more through the streets and saw the shoe shine guys, lots of trams and other modes of trqnsport. The thing that hit us the most is the homeless problem there. We were both shocked at how many people were living on the streets and how widespread it was. Apparently the city throws lots of money at it building shelters etc but the problem seems to get worse not better. Very difficult to understand. I guess there is a lot more to it than the small snippet we read, it was very sad. We BARTed ut of town back to the Mission Inn. We stopped off for Burritos on the way back, very nice.

Wednesday 6/6 – Now today is Alcatraz day, we booked our trip back in May in the UK. We BARTed into town, tried to use our city tour bus ticket to get across town but failled so we had to get a tram to the Alcatraz ferry pier. Very well organised, very well done and a fantastic day out. The prison is as it was. Looks overbearing and not like somewhere you want to be for a long time. Apparently it was the only Californian prison with hot showers. Why I hear you ask, it was so the inmates didn’t get used to cold water and try to get out for a swim across the bay to freedom. It was an audio tour read by former guards and covered all the things you wanted to see. Al Capone, the Birdman, the attempted escapes and its subsequent closure. An excellent tour if you ever manage to get out there.

We then had to get the bus back to town because some fool had cut a power cable and the trams were off. After a bit more wandering we found a 50’s style diner where we ate and drank before BARTing back home.

Thursday 7/6 – Today is our hop on hop off bus tour off the city. Well we did the city tour on open top us and hopped off and on all over the place. We saw Pier 39 again – no escaping the place. We then hopped off at Lombard Street – the steep windy one in the movies. We then walked to Coits tower for an elevated view over the city. We then hopped on the bus to be dumped off again at Pier 39, aahhh!!!! We had to get a tram and a train back to base for the last night. We were lucky with the weather in San Fran as the famous fog often rolls in. We didn’t see any ‘til today and when we got back to our digs we couldn’t see anything!! Other weather news, the Oregon coast, beautiful as it is was cool, cloudy and damp in the main. Tomorrow we are heading inland where temps are set to climb.

Friday 8/6 – Drive to Yosemite today, super drive arriving at our campsite in Crane Falt – which was far from flat around 4.30ish. Our campsite was at 6000 feet so it was cool nights surrounded by more trees. We were camped 17 miles from the famous Yosemite Valley which I was looking forward to seeing tomorrow. We are now in Bear country so we have to lock all our food and cosmetics and pretty much anything that has a scent in a huge steel bear proof box. We had to sign to say we would and the fines as well as the bear problems for non-compliance were huge. We were also in mountain lion country and more info and rules. The main advice that caught my eye was that if we were attacked by a mountain lion we had to fight backl!! Just call me Tarzan!! After a quick scout round for Bob Bear and Leo Lion we finished the night with a wee dram of malt and a camp fire – we know how to live!!

Saturday 9/6 – After a good nights sleep with no wildlife activity to report we headed down to the valley. A mega WOW day, El Capitan, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, Centinnel Dome. The list goes on and on. The park offers a free shuttle service around the various sights and to the trail heads (walk starts to you and me.) We sat and watched some guys climbing on El Capitans vertical face. A local guide was telling us that they take from two to five days to make the climb and the record stands at just over 2 hours and this is free climbing!! They actually sleep on the face, how does that work?? After so much jaw dropping we headed back up to base for some more grub n camp fires. The facilities were a bit grim on this site with no showers and only cold water. However you have to take what you can here because they are booking now for October camping!! We should have been booking for sites here back in January as they fill so quickly. No sign of Bob Bear or his lion associates again.

Sunday 11/6 – Today was our ‘big walk day’ in Yosemite. We were heading up to Nevade Falls via Vernal Falls. It was a superb walk with a steep climb and rewarding views of the area throughout. We stopped for lunch at a superb vista to find our butties contaminated with stove fuel and uneatable. Even Bob Bear wouldn’t have them! We struggled on after coffee and biscuits, awfully filling you know and finished the walk hungry and weary. We showered in the valley facilities, got a few beers and headed back to camp for some food and another fire. What a place, a very close second to what our favourite New Zealand has to offer on the scenery front.

USA – Week 2 - Coos Bay to San Francisco.

The Golden Gate Bridge





An ex giant redwood

Oregon Coast

Happy camper

Otter Point

Little Myrtle



The Oregon Dunes



Monday 28/5 – Moving on day again to day. Still in Oregon we are headed for the dunes area of the state. Education time again… There is an area that stretches for 50 miles down the coast from all the way down from Florence to Coos Bay. It is known as the Oregon Dunes area. The dunes can be up to 300 feet tall and up to 3 miles inland!! Our stop was at Coos Bay and we were having a treat in a motel tonight, by we know how to live!! On the way down we stopped off at the dunes and had a stroll out on the sandy masses, quite impressive. We checked into our digs and headed off to Fred Meyer for some retail therapy but were thwarted by the Oregon Police Department dealing with some fool who’d locked himself in a nearby store with a gun so we had to second rate shop at Safeway across town. The motel had a spa and sauna so we were in luxury for a night. Spa was great, motel comfortable. Mrs D got a TV fix and I got an internet fix and all was well with the world.

Tuesday 29/5 – With the gun seige over at Fred Meyers, we headed on in for some shopping. Then it was off down the coast towards a place called Golden Beach. En route today we called in at an ‘aminal park’ a mini zoo to you and me. We were petting a 6 month old lion cub, a 5 month old black leopard cub and a 3 month old black bear. There were all sorts of things wandering around from llamas to deer and goats. All good fun but the big cat enclosures were a little on the small side for our liking. Lunch time looming, we stopped on the coast at Port Orford before arriving at ‘the secret camp’ in Golden Beach. Superb little site with a character owner – Donna who appeared a little on the fresh side when we were checking in. Camping among more trees but lovely facilities. Super…..

Wednesday 30/5 – A morning stroll around giant Oregon Douglas Firs and Port Orford Cedars. A lovely wee trail dedicated to a former conservationist warden Frances Shrader. After this we headed off to see what was allegedly the biggest known Myrtle Tree on earth. A staggering 88 feet tall and 42 feet round the base with a 70 foot canopy spread. What a whopper. Late afternoon we headed for a spot on the coast known as Otter Point for another stretch before dinner at site. Now you know all about Slim in Corfu, now we have Myrtle the moggy, who sat with us all evening. A very pleasant litle thing apparently abondoned there by her owners, how could they!! Anyway we fussed and fed her before heading off to bed. What is it with cats and us?

Thursady 31/5 – “ Bye bye, going to California, bye bye.” Off to California today and the Giant Redwood area on the north coast. The tallest trees on earth. Obviously a trip all about trees of varying sizes so far!! We stopped off at a couple of good view points along the way and arrived at Hiouchi mid afternoon. Ace place, a campsite free of trees!! At last we could see the sky and the sun!! Lovely big site, good facilities and the use of an indoor area in the evenings. We had a local stroll though a grove of massive trees before a beer and grub in our huge plot.

Friday 1/6 – A day out of the car today with a reasonable hike planned. We were heading on the Hiochi trail then a loop on the Mill Creek Trail and back via Hiochi. Keep up please. Trails superb, trees jaw droppers and we had an unplanned fording of a river to deal with. There was no mention of this in the local guide!! However Mrs D took it well and quite enjoyed the challenge. Sadly the trail was a little longer than anticipated so a quiet evening followed with tired and weary feet.

Saturday 2/6 – The plan today was to leave highway 101 for highway 1 on the last coastal stretch down to San Francisco. Pick up a campsite en route and ease on down into San Fran the following day. Big mistake, the road was windy, narrow, the famous fog was rolling in and every man and his dog in California was out camping as every site was full!! After many hours of coastal road we decided to head inland away from the fog. Still no empty campsites. We ended up back on the 101 in a posy little town in a motel we both had to go out selling our bodies to pay for it!! What a chore………………Not the best of days. Missed out on the sausages we’d bought for camp dinner too.

Sunday 3/6 – We checked out of our Travelodge and were away fairly early. As we were only 60 miles from San Fran it didn’t take us long to get there. We arrived via the famous Golden Gate bridge where we stopped for a while, had a walk to the end of the bridge, took far too many pictures and cooked the sausages, they were great!! It was then a short drive to our digs for the 1st night. Nice tidy spot next to the railway into town and across from the mighty Pacific Ocean. More TV fix for Mrs D and more internet catch up for me. We did manage a walk along the beach before we beers n bed. The San Francisco adventure begins……………………..

USA – Week 1 - Seattle to Newport

1st camp at Fort Steven and BIG crisps



Longest Bridge



Big Tree time

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

Fort Steven Beach

Driftwood at Cape Disappointment





Fort Steven Seafront

Whale Watchers Camp



Local Brews



Another Campfire & More Crisps

MONDAY 21/5 - An early start out of Leeds Bradford got us into Amsterdam for 8.40am. The overweight baggage we were worried about got through OK with 3 kgs to spare, we did have almost 2 bags of camping gear tho’!! We had just over an hour in Schipol before we boarded for Seattle. A reasonable flight with plenty of aircraft type food and aircraft type movies on a screen you almost need binos to see! Got some great views of the icy wilderness of Greenland and Canada on the way over. All was going well until we came to land in Seattle. On approach and going into land when the engines roar and we are seriously going back up again. Problems with space between landing aircraft was reported, super just what you want to hear. In to land again, same thing happens but bad weather to blame this time an even better news. Third time lucky the captain quips, what a comedian when we are all worried to death. Thankfully he finally gets the plane on the ground in the pouring rain.

The US immigration nightmare was actually quite quick and painless after the fingerprinting and the face photo. With bags in hand we set off to find our motel. We found it OK but due to the famous Seattle rain we were wet through when we got there. A quick change and we headed down town to find some fuel for our camping stove. After a train ride into town and a five mile hike across town we got some and headed back to the digs to get some sleep. What you have to remember here is actually 3am in the UK and we are now 9hrs behind the UK and well knackered trying to get onto US time.

Tuesday 22/5 - Up and off after a great nights sleep to get our hire car. So it’s a haul ass back down the road to the airport (no rain this time) where we board a bus to the biggest car hire lot you’ve ever seen!! Then we get the most obnoxious person on the desk who pretty much forces us into a better bigger car because apparently the car we have hired is so small and unsuitable and we need to upgrade. After a while we go down to the garage to get our upgraded car where we see a lady driving out of the garage in it!! More discussion at desk and we finally get a car. (More on this later.) Off we go onto the US highway at max speed of 55mph. After a bit of a mess looking for a turn off and getting lostish in a town, we finally arrive at our first camp.

Fort Steven State Park is just over the border from Washington State in Oregon. It was a lovely setting in a forested area but the weather was cold, cloudy and damp. It was a massive campground with good facilities and wild deer wandering about all over the place. It was also pretty quiet but that was all set to change.

Wednesday 23/5 – We had heavy rain overnight so the tent passed the wet test as we were all dry!! Good start, we then went to the office to ask if we could stay another night as we liked the site and were hoping for better weather when the dreaded “Memorial Day Weekend” was brought to our attention. Apparently the whole of the USA would be out camping at the weekend and there wouldn’t be an empty space on a campsite anywhere. Well we rang here and there and ended up in a cute little library in a local village on the internet which was free (a camp park ranger put us on to it) trawling the net for a campsite. We did find one eventually down the coast, not where we wanted to be but it was OK apart from the rip off price. With the weekend sorted it was back to getting on with the day and our new surroundings. Again, we need more stove fuel and local friendly ranger has put us onto ‘Fred Meyers’ a mega supermarket that sells everything it was well fave with Mrs D. All stocked up we returned to site and had a walk before dinner by the lake, very nice just cold and damp.

Education time, pay attention please. Fort Steven is on the south shore of the mighty Columbia river, a natural boundary between Washington and Oregon states. Historically Fort Steven protected the south side of the river and Cape Disappointment the north. What you probably don’t know is that the Columbia river mouth is 5 miles wide, thus the need for the two defences. Both these areas are now state parks and are connected by the longest bridge in North America which is 4.2 miles long. Quite a sight to see, even more of a sight to drive across.

Thursday 24/5 – As our camp pitch was so cool and damp due to the millions of trees around us we had breakfast by the lake in a shelter as it was raining again. Then we drove across the afore mentioned long bridge to Cape Disappointment State park where we had a walk up to the lighthouse and back and around the park. It was actually not raining and there was a strange round yellow thing in the sky for a short while before the rains returned. A lovely area with loads of park information. We then headed back via the local town hoping for a dry night so we could get the tent away dry. We have managed to get in the spirit of the American campfire. Oh yesss, every camp pitch has a fire ring so we are now adept foragers of wood and kindling. There was an incident one evening whereby we had lit our campfire and were letting it get going when a blue coloured bird flew down and flew of with a box of swan matches!! There's gotta be a joke there somewhere……..

Back to the car…..by now we have had chance to see a few cars and we are convinced we are in the car we originally booked. Remember, the one “which was so small and unsuitable and we need to upgrade.” It was actually quite a nice car apart from the awful fuel consumption (it does half what our splendid diesel does to the gallon.) That aside we have paid for an upgrade and we believe we are in the wrong car. The problem is we need a Budget office to go to sort it out and we don’t think there is one until San Francisco so it will have to wait.

Friday 25/5 – Moving on day today, so up and pack up after breakfast. No rain overnight either so tent goes away dry, yippee!

We had 162 mile drive to the next camp which will get us through the memorial day weekend. It was a lovely drive down the coast and we also took a ‘scenic drive’ alternate and had free coffee in a village store. “just put a donation in the box” the lady said. We then sat and watched them all digging for clams with a butty & our free coffee. Arrived at ‘Whale watchers resort’ late afternoon and it was as we expected a hideous massive campground with more rules than the constitution but our pitch was OK but sadly more damn trees. We cooked dinner, had another campfire and got a reasonable nights sleep.

Saturday 26/5 - A cool cloudy day was started with a walk down to the site office area to hear a short memorial day speech by a uniformed war veteran. Very short but very to the point. I suppose a little akin to our remembrance Sunday stuff. Afterwards we headed to the local town of Newport. A bit of shopping, sightseeing and walking around Yaquina Head Coastal Park and viewing of a lighthouse, seals and seabirds. Late afternoon we headed to ‘downtown’ (central to you and me) Newport. We found the old town on the river, a splendid brewery pub with lots of beers and good food. Well we would wouldn’t we! Full of food and drink we headed back to mega site for bed, no fire tonight.

Sunday 27/5 – Breakfast down the road en route for a change and we were heading for Yachats & Perpetua Point. A good bit of walking down by a blow hole and something called ‘the devils churn’. A deep narrow rocky inlet with lots of noise, bit weird. Drove back to mega site late afternoon for grub and fire.