California has been suffering drought
conditions all year… and then we showed up. In the last ten days a third of its
annual rainfall fell from the skies and each evening we have been tuned into
the Weather Channel on TV in our motel
room in an attempt to dodge the downpours. And by and large we have been
successful.
Locals we have encountered, as we have have
made our way north from Los Angeles to Vancouver have inevitably commented “You
guys must right at home with this weather”. It’s certainly been colder than
home, that’s for sure.
Our first day driving north from LA up the
Pacific Coast Highway to Morro Bay was amazingly dry though, but pretty overcast,
but by day two, after a night at Morro Bay, a rock slip closed Highway One, a
few miles short of Big Sur, and we had to make a 50 mile detour to get round
it.
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| We check out Muscle Beach, below the pier at Santa Monica |
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| In Morro Bay with Morro Rock in background |
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| Morro Bay with our Chevvy Equinoz SUV |
We rolled along in a big Chevvy Equinox
SUV; a bit of a gas guzzler compared to what we are used to at home, but very
comfortable and it stuck to the wet road like glue, which was just as well,
with the dozens and dozens of hairpin bends we had to negotiate, often with a
big drop down a sheer cliff and not much of a barrier between you and the
roaring Pacific.
We got to Santa Cruz on my birthday. I know
Santa Cruz as the Ukulele capital of the US, though we saw no evidence of that
as we roamed around, just an awful lot of elderly men and women looking for
hand-outs in around its famous boardwalk.
The following day we arrived in the Bay
area of Oakland for the weekend. We have been to its more famous neighbour San
Francisco, across the water, so were delighted when a family friend in the city
of Oakland invited us to stay. Carolyn turned out to be a great tour guide and
pulled out all the stops to show us the area, despite student riots upsetting
her schedule.
Her pal Kate popped over bearing a variety
of acoustic instruments, which included a uke. Being a Beatles fan we found a
number of tune to play together and it was great to get my hand around a guitar
again – it’s been a while – especially her very rare 1938 Martin which sounds
fabulous and is in great condition. She thinks it is worth several thousand
dollars! We had a great weekend with Carolyn, went to a concert in somebodies
house, which was unique and very intimate, visited Berkeley and the old state
capital Benicia and even found time for Sunday lunch in a traditional American
diner.
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| Lunch in diner in Oakland. Not too sure about having fruit on the plate, but this is California |
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| Kate on her 1938 Martin and me go through some old Beatles tunes. |
We swapped the very “hairy” Highway One for
Highway 101 on leaving Oakland, after a quick stop in Sonoma in the driving
rain. 101 swoops between hugging the coast and cutting though the forests of
giant redwoods which line the road and are a feature of the coastline. It
certainly is a spectacular route, rain or sun. We drove some of this road back
in 2003 but I couldn’t remember much of the detail. However, we did stay one
night in the same motel that we did 11 years ago, for it was difficult to
forget it. The Curly Redwood Lodge in Crescent City is constructed from a
single giant redwood, so was a refreshing change from the Motel 6’s and Days
Inns we were inhabiting most evenings.
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| Cruising through the forests of Giant Redwoods |
By the time we crossed into Oregon and got
to Florence, the weather was really starting to be a concern, so we ditched our
coastal road and heading inland to pick up Interstate 5.
Now we were really moving and soon got to
Portland and into Wahington State. We overnighted in its neighbouring city of
Vancover, Washington. The city father’s there crow in their tourist literature
that their Vancouver was founded 30 years prior to its Canandian upstart 150
miles to the north over the border. It was a pleasant stay and we could escape
the rain in the giant Mall, beside the hotel.
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| An early morning journey on the Amtrak Cascades service from Seattle to Vancouver |
And to finish our US leg we spent much of
last Friday in Seattle, a city we have visited several times. Amazingly (for Seattle)
it didn’t rain until we left the following morning. I like Seattle, though not
driving around it. Pat is not quite as much a fan as I am. It’s the home of
Boeing, Microsoft, Kurt Cabain and Starbucks though it’s main tourist claim to
fame is Pike Street Market where they have turned selling fish into a comedy
routine that involves a lot of throwing salmon, crabs, and other creatures of
the sea huge distances between the traders to great cheers from the assembled
crowd. Our overnight accommodation was in Chinatown and we had a crazy meal,
ordering stuff we were not at all sure about, though we gave the “Bulls Balls”
and “Pork Bladders” a miss. We worked those out. Everything we had ordered
arrived in one huge bowl. Very tasty is was.
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| Part of the entertainment at Pike Street Market in Seattle |
A three-hour train journey on the Amtrak
Cascades line, brought us very comfortably, but very slowly into Vancouver
Saturday lunchtime. Our internet research into how to get from the station to
the ferry terminal north of the city, helped us considerably and despite
driving rain, it was a smooth crossing across to Vancouver Island.
So now we are in Parksville, which is a few
miles north of Nanaimo, on the islands west coast, where we are staying for
Christmas and New Year with Pat’s sister Monica, Garry and all their family,
who we will see over the next few days. Parksville is a coastal resort and I am
looking forward to seeing it, if it ever stops raining.
Finally, I spent much of last night playing
with my new uke, which I had built in the US and shipped here. I have been hoping
that I would not be disappointed with it. I had high expectations… I was not
disappointed.
Toodaloo chums
