Back to L.A.

We got up early and went for a walk on the beach in Morro Bay. It's so beautiful there. There's a little park not far from our hotel, and from there, there's a walkway that goes all the way through a protected wildlife area to the beach. We took that walk, and saw lots of ducks and other birds; there are also, according to the signs we saw, raccoons and other animals, but to Lulu's great disappointment, we didn't see those. There were a few people walking dogs, though, and that made her happy.

At the end of the walkway, there's a boardwalk that goes a short distance out onto the sand dunes. We waited there while Lulu played in the sand, looking at the scenery--including the huge rock that's Morro Bay's claim to fame. It sticks straight up out of the harbor, and it's an extinct volcano. The coast is lined with them; also with not-so-extinct volcanoes, although most of them are quiet for right now, thank goodness!

Then we went back to the hotel, ate breakfast and got on the road. We went south and took a side trip off to Avila Beach, where we went down to the pier and watched the harbor seals for a while. They gather on a platform under the pier to rest and squabble. They'll all be sitting nicely for a few seconds, and then one will want a better place in or out of the sun, and he'll climb over the others and they'll all bark at him. Then they're quiet for a minute or two, and then it starts all over again. While were were watching, a seal tried to jump out of the water onto the platform. The platform is a couple of feet above the water, so he tried a few times and couldn't make it, and then when he finally got onto the platform, another seal pushed him back off! What a dysfuntional family! We could have watched them all day, but we tore ourselves away and went down through the town and sat on the beach for a few minutes.

After that, we didn't make any stops except for lunch, in Ventura. We just headed straight for home. Lulu was counting down the miles as we went. When we got to Ventura, she said, "Are we in Los Angeles now?" I said, "Not yet," and a few minutes later she said, "How about now?"

When we got here, the dogs were SOOOO happy to see us. And we were happy to see them. Barry had cleaned the whole house for us (well, he hired a cleaning service to clean the whole house for us, but it's the thought--and the cleanliness--that counts), and Lulu went into all the rooms saying hello to her stuff. And when Barry got home from work, we were all so happy to see each other.

It's good to be home.

Sort of.

When's our next trip?

Cloverdale to Morro Bay

We set out from Cloverdale early and drove through the wine country, past Santa Rosa and into San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge. We didn't get the famous view, though: the city was fogged in. You couldn't even see the top of the bridge! But we went through the city past Golden Gate Park and everything was beautiful and San Francisco-esque, as usual. I love the row houses painted all different colors, and the shops, and the hills.

MapQuest sent us on a route to the Monterey Peninsula that I've never followed before, and wouldn't have known existed, on tiny, winding roads through the hills. It took a long time, but it was just beautiful! I have no idea where we were. I was just following the directions. If I'd missed a turn, we'd probably still be up there!

We came down out of the hills into a cute little town called Soquel. They have a great playground, and Lulu played there for a while. We followed Route 1 down past Watsonville and Castroville, where Lulu held her nose at the smell of whatever they were growing (garlic? onions?). And then it was Monterey, Carmel, the Carmel Highlands, and Big Sur. Beautiful scenery all the way! The road goes through tiny towns, past big houses and estates in Carmel, and smaller houses and farms further south. The cliff appears to be sheer drops of hundreds of feet, but every once in a while you'll see a cluster of mailboxes and a steep, narrow dirt road leading down to God-knows-where. I didn't have the nerve to follow any of them, so I still don't know for sure if there are families of mountain goats down there getting mail, but I have my suspicions.

The views are spectacular: the ocean, the cliffs, the rocks, the hawks and eagles soaring overhead. I took a few pictures, but they don't come close.

I must say, though, it is a bit nerve-wracking driving on that curving, narrow road, with all the thousands-of-foot drops just inches away, for so long. I loved the beauty of it, but I was happy to finally come down (after 70-some miles) onto flat ground again.

And there, almost immediately, right near San Simeon, were the elephant seals on the beach! You can't get too near them, especially when they have babies, as they do now. But their size is amazing! One of the babies was very curious about all of us tourists staring at her, and she came a little way up the beach toward us and kept peeking at us over a sand dune.

We drove past Hearst Castle perched up on its hilltop, then past Cambria and Cayucos, and finally arrived in Morro Bay. We unwound for a few minutes after checking into the hotel, and then went down to the waterfront looking for some dinner. We came upon a place called The Flying Dutchman, with a big pirate statue out front. Lulu was having a good time being scared of him, and she especially liked the fact that right next to the restaurant were a toy store and a candy store.

Then it was back to the hotel for a swim in the pool. It's our last night on the road, and even though it was an outdoor pool, and it was cold by now, Lulu couldn't pass it up. I refused to go in--too cold for me! But Lulu jumped right into the water and wouldn't admit it was cold...until finally she said, "Okay, that's enough!" and ran for the nice warm room. She spent the rest of the evening wrapped in a blanket eating cookies and watching weird cartoons about Japanese hero-ninja warrior kids on the Cartoon Network.

All in all, a good day!

The Redwoods

Well, once again, this was a beautiful drive. Mom hasn't been here in years, and she loved the beauty of it. We drove through the northern redwood forest, and then along the coast again, and then into the southern redwood forest. The northern forest is wetter and more mossy; the southern forest is drier, but the trees are just as huge.

We stopped and took a picture of Lulu and Mom next to Babe, Paul Bunyan's ox; that's Paul you see off to the side. But Lulu wasn't interested in him--she just likes animals. We stopped again along the Avenue of the Giants and took some pictures next to big trees. And we went through the drive-through tree, of course. There's a place near the drive-through tree where someone has carved two whole small houses out of a single tree. Lulu played in those for a while, and had a good time.

We stopped for lunch in a small town in the redwoods called Miranda. There's a cafe there, some gift shops, a campground, a motel, and the high school and junior high that serve the area. The high school's sports trophies are proudly displayed by the cash register in the cafe, and everyone seems to know everyone else. There's a beautiful mural on the side of one of the stores, and the woman who painted it was there. It seemed like a very cool little town. As always, I wondered what it would be like to live there. Lulu said she'd like it--you'd probably see lots of wild animals in the forest. I asked the waitress in the cafe there if it snows in the winter, and she said it snows a lot; in fact, last winter they had snow at the end of April. Brrrr! Too cold for me!

Then we headed south through the wine country (no, we didn't stop for any tastings. Next time) and stopped for the night in Cloverdale, a charming little town about 80 miles north of San Francisco.

It doesn't sound like a long day, but it was--and all of it was gorgeous to look at.

Newport to Crescent City, CA

Yes, folks, we're back in California!

We sadly left Newport. On the way out of town, we stopped for gas. They still have only full serve in Oregon; no self serve! The gas station attendant gave me a lecture on the evils of self-serve. Apparently, many kids used to get their first real jobs pumping gas, but now they can't do that. And of course we complain about unemployment, but self-serve takes hundreds of thousands of jobs away. He was quite passionate about the whole issue, and who's to say he's wrong? It sure is nice to have someone greet you politely, pump your gas, wash your windshield, and offer to check your oil.

We took 101 south along the coast, and it's so beautiful! You can see a few places that are starting to be developed, but there's still plenty left untouched. I took a few pictures which you see here, but really, every time you go around another curve in the road, there's another beautiful scene laid out in front of you. And there are plenty of friendly little towns along the route, so you feel uncrowded, but not isolated.

The only thing I noticed was that there seems to be lots of clear-cutting going on. Every once in a while, you'll see whole hillsides where all the trees have been taken. It's not a pretty sight. I don't remember seeing as much of that last year when we came through here; and I read in the local paper here that the Bureau of Land Management wants to increase logging seven-fold.

I know there are probably good arguments on the side of clear-cutting, but I hate seeing it. It's so ugly, and I always wonder what happened to the animals who lived there, and I wonder what will happen to the soil, now that there's nothing to keep it from being eroded. Lulu doesn't like it either. Her question: "Where will the squirrels live now?"

But luckily, most of Oregon's trees are still standing, and they're lovely. The drive was a pleasure. We stopped for gas again in Brookings, which is just north of the California border. Gas goes up 30 cents when you cross into California, so lots of people fill up before they cross the border. And lo and behold, the gas station had a cat: Edna, a beautiful calico. She's lived there for about 10 years, and she watches all the activity with amused superiority. She doesn't like the paparrazzi, though: when I tried to take a picture of her, she turned her back and went behind a garbage can.

We crossed the border into California a few miles later and Lulu shouted, "Hooray! We're home!" I warned her that we're still miles from Los Angeles, and she said, "That's okay." I thought she'd be anxious to be home by now, but she likes the hotels and the new sights every day. She's quite the little vagabond. I told her we'd be seeing the redwoods tomorrow, and she said, "It will be a BIG day. Get it? BIG day?" Oh, brother! She's inherited Barry's sense of humor!

Newport, Oregon, Day 2

What a way to start the morning: the waves outside your window, the seagulls squawking, dogs running happily on the beach...I love this place!

We went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in the morning, and it was fun. I didn't take any pictures there because, alas, I'd left my camera behind. But take my word for it: there were lots of fish. And then there was the aviary: puffins everywhere! They have a huge netted area and you go in with the birds. The puffins and the other birds are nesting on the rocks, diving into the water, flying around your head. Very cool!

The we went down to the old harbor to have lunch. It's still a working harbor, so there are lots of fishing boats around, but they've also turned it into a tourist attraction, with lots of restaurants, bars, souvenir shops, art galleries, and ice cream parlors. We ate at a place that had an outdoor deck, so we could watch the boats and birds. From where we sat, we could see a seagulls' next on top of a piling. The waitress told us that last Friday, the baby seagull was trying to fly and fell out of the nest into the water. The parents were very upset; they were yelling at him to come back, swooping around him in the water. He's apparently okay. He's living under the dock for now. He can swim, but he can't fly yet. So maybe everything will still be all right for him.

Then we went back to the hotel. In the morning, Mom had bought Lulu a SpongeBob DVD, and she watched it for a while. Later we went down to the beach and Lulu ran around and splashed in the water. I stayed at a safe distance taking pictures. That water is cold!

We had dinner in our room, relaxing and watching the water. Then we settled in for the evening: I did some work on the computer, Lulu watched TV, Mom went back to her room and read. I was just changing into my pajamas at 9 pm when Lulu said, "Oh! We forgot to go swimming in the pool today!" I groaned, but we put on our bathing suits and went over to the pool. The water was warm, and even though I hadn't wanted to go, I ended up having a good time. It was really relaxing, and Lulu was so happy.

We have to leave in the morning, and I'm going to be sad to go. A great room, a warm indoor pool with a hot tub next to it, a spa in our room, a maid, a good restaurant where someone else does all the cooking, and best of all, a view of the beach, the lighthouse, the bluffs, and the ocean from your own balcony: as Lulu says, "It doesn't get any better than this!" Next year, we'll stay longer.

Newport, Oregon

The Hallmark at last! This is what Lulu has been waiting for the whole trip. Maybe next year we'll just come straight here and stay for a week.

We arrived in Newport at about 2 and checked in at the Hallmark, Lulu's favorite hotel. She loves this place: it has a fireplace, a Jacuzzi in the room, an indoor pool with warm water, balconies that face the ocean, a kitchen, and a beach that has sand dunes and allows dogs. I agree with her--it's a great place. The view is not to be believed: ocean and beach as far as you can see, a point in the distance with a lighthouse on the end of it...it's the stuff postcards are made of.

We showed Mom around the hotel and then went down to the beach for a while. It's cooler than normal here today--only in the 60s--and the wind is blowing, so there were lots of people on the beach flying kites. And a few dogs were running around looking unbelievably happy. It really was great sitting there relaxing.

Mom didn't want to come down to the beach--too many steps down and up again--so I finally had to tear Lulu away from the beach to go meet her for dinner. We ate at the restaurant in the hotel, Georgie's. I like Georgie's because no matter where you sit, you get a view of the ocean. Lulu likes it because out front, there's a pirate chest, and kids can go pick out a treasure after their meal. Lulu's been looking forward to that for over 3,000 miles now!

After dinner, we went back to our rooms and watched the sunset from the balcony. The perfect way to end the day.

You know how, some places you visit and you're just visiting them, and other places, you immediately feel at home in? Newport is one of those places where I feel at home, and so does Lulu. And tomorrow, we'll explore more of it :)

Spokane to Hood River, Oregon

Lulu was a bit grouchy about leaving Grandma's house ("WAS NOT!!"), but we got going at a reasonable hour anyway. We stopped in the TriCities for lunch, and Lulu said, "Hey, this is the same Denny's where we ate lunch on our road trip last year!" And you know, she was right!

We crossed into Oregon (after a lovely Denny's lunch) and drove west along the Columbia River. The wind was blowing like crazy. We got out to take a picture of the river near the John Day Dam and nearly got blown off the cliff! When we got back in the car, we laughed at what the wind had done to our hair. We looked like witches :)

Our hotel in Hood River, the Vagabond Inn, is wonderful! If you're ever here, I recommend it. It's a sort of compound, with several buildings spread out across a large bluff just above the river. There's a playground, picnic tables everywhere under shady trees, BBQ grills, and best of all, Freckles, the official greeter cat. She hangs out by the front door of the office so everyone who passes can pet her. She's very fat and very friendly. Our room has a balcony with a view of the river. In the afternoon, a flock of blue jays flew by, and in the evening, we watched the hawks hunt for fish over the river. It's just beautiful.

Right next door is the Charburger Grill, which sounds like a burger joint but also has steak and seafood. Mom got a really good dinner of wild sockeye salmon. And Lulu was thrilled because they have a gift shop. Yes, folks, you guessed it: she bought YET ANOTHER stuffed animal, a stuffed chihuahua this time. Oh, well, at least it's small and doesn't bark.

And speaking of barking, Mom called Mike to check on Cindy, Mom's dog. We knew Cindy would be happy with Mike's dogs, but we were nervous that she wouldn't behave herself with the cat. Well, not to worry: Mike says the cat put Cindy in her place immediately. A few claws across the nose, and Cindy has instant manners.

Tomorrow: Newport, Oregon, and Lulu's favorite hotel, the Hallmark. She can't wait ("CAN TOO!!")