October 27, 2011
Left Pacific Border RV Park, in White Rock, BC at 9:00 am. Arrived at Peace Arch Border crossing at 9:15.
Prettiest border crossing we have been through, only non-commercial vehicles. On the peace arch itself the words are “Brethren Dwelling Together in Unity”.
With all the questions I had prepared to answer for customs, I could not come up with one they asked. When we told them how long, he wanted to know how he knew we would go back to Canada as we could only be here 181 days, we said because it is our home and he kept repeating it so I finally said, I really don’t know how to answer that one other than that we are returning. He did let us through with no questions on what we had in trailer or taking back so I guess that part was OK.
We are heading towards Seattle today, not a very long driving day but we wanted to stop at the Boeing Airplane factory for a tour as we had heard it was pretty good. Unfortunately, there are two Flight type attractions and I put the wrong one in our GPS. SO, we got to see Seattle from the southbound lanes and the northbound. Yes, one in GPS was south of Seattle, Boeing north.
The turnaround was worth it as it is amazing seeing these huge planes in a warehouse size of football fields. They have for their employees several different restaurants, hospital and rest areas. This facility in Everett is home to 747, 767, 777 and 787 Dreamliner, which is one of the newest they make and are one of the smaller ones that go to the small airports. I am going to attach their website as I would just be telling what they have in it. http://www.boeing.com/commercial/tours
By the time we left here, it was rush hour traffic in Seattle so we got to see it again but a little slower this time! Managed to get a picture of the Space Needle (Sleepless in Seattle). We arrived at our Tacoma KOA park around 6:00 PM which was dark so really did not see much of park at all.
October 28, 2011
Left Tacoma, WA for Oregon. Washington scenery is quite like northern Ontario, lots of trees, some open spaces. Then they go and throw mountains at you! We went past Mt. Rainier which is still an active volcano but has not had any activity since 1800 and as of 2010, no imminent activity. This is the one that they expected to erupt rather than Mt. St Helen’s.
Further south is Mt. St. Helens with did erupt in 1980 and it is still a very active volcano with earthquakes and steam from it as of 2008, but no actual eruption. We did stop at the information centre at Mt. St Helens and did the tour, very interesting.
**Trivia – word volcano is from Vulcan’s anvil – he is the god of beneficial and hindering fire and the sound was as an anvil being struck.
Drove through downtown Portland, Or. Bridges everywhere and totally amazing. This is definitely a port land. Just driving through, was an experience in itself. Long drive today, staid at Shamrock Village RV Park. Since we have already discovered/decided that all R.V. parks must include railway access, it was funny that this is the only one that said “frequent train traffic in area”. First time since we have been travelling that actually ordered in something for dinner – pizza, don’t get that much anymore a we have a relatively small freezer on trailer, won’t fit Delicios>>>
October 29, 2011
Left Eugene OR headed for California! This area is another mountainous one and everyone has been saying that as long as we get through the Siskiyou’s we are OK. This trip through south end of Oregon has a location called Grant’s Pass and people who normally travel this way to go south say that if the trucks come through the Pass with snow on them, they just stay put and don’t go through. There are signs about chains, etc. through here as well. Once we started, was not bad at all. We have been through much steeper and higher and longer mountains going through Alberta/British Columbia. It was a great ride and not that scary.
Arrived in Redding CA and was hot and sunny – so we were sitting out in the warm California sun, glass of wine in hand. Do you all realize how many songs there are about California and their cities? I now do know the way to San Jose. (we didn’t go though)
Lovely country side, Mount Shasta in the background and the lake is beautiful as well
We only going to stay overnight, but got up in morning and had a flat on one of the trailer tires. We called out ERS which is our trailer insurance, they came and changed the flat but we could not get a repair done as tire places were closed on Sunday and not sure what we would need. So we unhooked the truck and did a bit of sightseeing in the area and out for dinner.
October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween to you all!!
We drove from Redding CA to Petaluma CA which is just outside of San Francisco. On the way down we saw acres of trees and not sure what they were. We were advised by one of the welcome centers to stock at the he Olive Pit for a taste testing. That’s when we found out that this whole area is olive trees and that is what we kept passing. We ended up buying a jar each of Jalapeno stuffed and Garlic stuffed – yummy! The country side was mountainous as well, but just small ones all around. We drove around San Pablo Bay and then into Petaluma KOA Park. Very nice KOA, people very helpful, nice sites, a bit expensive but most KOA are as they tend to be closer to attractions. This one had shuttle service to San Francisco but it ended today so we had to do our own driving which we will see how that works out.
November 1 2011
Went into San Francisco today, drove over the Golden Gate Bridge as this is another thing to do in San Francisco and turned right instead of left. Good thing about it, we ended up at the Pacific Ocean side which we had not really planned on doing here. We went to the Seacliff area; there were sea lions on the rocks on the cliff. There were huge waves coming in and we did see some surfer’s and yes I did put my feet in the ocean.
From there we drove through town again and to Fisherman’s Wharf area. Parked at Pier 39 and walked around the pier (this is mostly stores, restaurants and shopping). They had sea lions just lying around the area, calm as could be; they feed them of course so they will stay. Could see Alcatraz from the dock – did not do the tour, was not a must do. From there we walked around the actual Wharf for a while looking at boats. Got so see Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant. We did get on a cable car as that was a must do in San Francisco (I didn’t see anyone with flowers in their hair). Pretty nifty, cables only, no motors, and the drivers are actually called “brakemen” as they put the brakes on going down hills. They don’t go roaring down the hills though. We did go down the Bullet hill (Steve McQueen movie for those that don’t know it), but he went much faster. Took a different one back to the Wharf and did some more walking around. Took pictures of different shots of bay and bridge.
November 2, 2011
Decided to do some driving along the coast and to Sonoma. We left park and drove along to Bodega Bay.
.We stopped and had lunch at the Tides in Bodega Bay (which is where “The Birds” with Tippi Hendren was filmed – trivia Melanie Griffins Mom). Clam chowder and salad with shrimp was really good. Saw see lions out in the bay. The Hwy 1 coastal drive is amazing, high cliffs above the ocean, large waves, views were beautiful; we stopped at one outlook point and saw the surfers again and there was a couple in a truck with binoculars and they were watching for whales as they normally are going south this way at this time of the year. We have not seen any; closest was statue at Fisherman’s Warf. We had not driven with the rig on the coastal waterways at all and I was going to suggest we do that route heading south, but having seen the above with truck, would not want to be pulling our rig through some of the hairpin turns around that way.
From here we left and went inland to Armstrong Redwoods State Preserve, which also had some really large redwoods, these trees are huge. They actually name them and post dimensions; the one we took pictures with was Parson Jones – 310’ high, diameter 13.8’ and approx. 1300 years old – this is not the oldest or biggest but was amazing anyway.
Left there and headed back inland to the Sonoma Valley – this is a smaller area and nicer drive than the Napa. As we were later than we thought we would be, we only had the chance to stop at one winery; smaller family owned one name Mayo Family Winery for a tasting. One thing down here, all the wineries charge for tasting, unlike some of ours in Ontario.
November 3, 2011
Left San Francisco and headed south to Bakersfield, this route took us on the other side of San Francisco Bay, another great view of city and bridges. The terrain around here was again mountainous but not large ones, the area was like big mounds of sand. Arrived and staid at the Bakersfield Travel Park. This was a different little park, for our rig, they gave us two sites that we were almost kitty corner in, which was fine for a one night stay and the price was right. We would be boon docking in some places if it were not for the temperatures still going down pretty cool at night and no genny. As we travel south should get warmer and we may do a bit more of that.
November 4, 2011
Left for Lake Havasu City – we are now in the Mohave Desert, did not think I would see anything but flat and dirt, but there are some terrific mountains and the shrubs that do grow here are plentiful, just very short bushes and desert plants, yucca’s, Joshua trees and teddy bear cactus. I took their picture as we came over a hill and there was a whole forest of them; they looked soft and kind of fuzzy, but up close, mean guys, but the big horn sheep eat them so there is something good in them. There were areas all around with a wash which is where the water can flow through when there is rain; they don’t get a lot but it really flows down the mountains. We went through Tehachapi pass, elevation of 4064’ and all around the mountains there were thousands of windmills, and is one of California’s largest windmill farms and wind resource areas.
Arrived Lake Havasu – we have checked out this resort and area, and have decided to stay a month and do some side trips around this area before moving on to another warmer destination. The resort is really nice and the price is right for a full month, not 28 days; full hook up, water, power, sewer, WIFI and cable TV all included plus any activities we may want to join in. There are two pools and recreation area as well as putting/chipping greens. This is the first park we have stayed at that does not have a train track practically running through it! There is a little municipal airport though, but not much traffic and none at night.
As we are staying, will just be doing up blog as to what we are doing as trips and interesting day trips. I am having trouble already remembering what day we did what, good thing my camera has a date feature!
We have done a bit of touring around Lake Havasu City area. This is west coast of Arizona, on California border, one side of the lake California, other side Arizona. We have done a bit of a drive around and have discovered that they have several light houses that we need to explore. The city was founded by Robert Paxton McCullough who was an American entrepreneur most notable for McCulloch Chainsaws and for purchasing the old London Bridge and moving it to Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Lake Havasu sparked the imagination of McCulloch, who purchased 3,500 acres (1,400 ha) of lakeside property along Pittsburgh Point, the peninsula that eventually would be transformed into "the island" (wk). .
We went north yesterday to Las Vegas and Hoover Dam. We did the dam tour which included seeing the generators and going down into the dam and going through one of the tunnels to the spillway. The dam is 726’ deep and powers Arizona and California, two separate towers diverting the water where it needs to go. They have recently built a bridge to go around the dam as the highway used to lead directly to it and the traffic jams were major. The bridge is very impressive; you can walk along it as well to see the dam. Lake Mead which is the manmade lake now is a major recreational area for both states in side of the Colorado River. From here, we headed off to Las Vegas.
We chose to stay at the Golden Nugget, as someone at the park here recommended it and as well the Fremont St Experience. This is in downtown Las Vegas where some of the older hotels are and they have covered 5 city blocks with a large screen that has different shows and music. One of the sections at one point, showed a rocket being shot off and it just roared all the way down the length of this screen – really cool. The hotel we stayed at had a shark tank inside that was neat to see and the heated pool was around it. This area is actual in the centre of the hotel but is outside so can get the sun when it is warm. This morning the life guards were at their posts in sweat suits and hoodies but there were still people in the pool. We had a nice dinner there walked around outside and the people are really worth watching – like Walmart pictures only some much better looking people. Everyone was in party mood and enjoying themselves.
We left there this morning and headed back home with a quick stop at Laughlin, NV – another city that was built on someone’s whim. Don Laughlin liked the area, had the property and built the first casino here, he has a car museum as well, some of you may know of it. There are now about 6 casino’s with more on the way. Town itself is growing quickly.
November 10 2011
Ken’s birthday today, his birthday present is service oil, filter and transmission on truck and Chinese food for dinner. Not much else happening as waiting for truck to be returned for quite a while.
Another side note, if any descriptions or observations are not quite what they should be, it because of the way we see things - and its our blog so we can say want we want - so there.... LOL
November 11, 2011
Remember.
