Day 21 - Back on Track

Day 21 

Merced, CA - Yosemite NP - Sequoia NP

Milage: 6700

Days remaining:  14ish  I’m slightly behind and hoping for a time warp of some sort

I’m feeling slightly stuck on the west coast and realizing that it may be time to get a move on.  I have about two weeks left and lots of stops left to make.  Today I made the two hour drive to Yosemite, snapped a few shots, did a few up in black & white in homage to Ansel Adams and headed on down the road.  Next stop, entrance to Sequoia National Park.  Tip:  If you don’t want your car to start overheating in the mountains, turn off your air conditioner and just sweat instead.  When I arrived at the visitor center at 8:30 the campground was full...but, the nice ranger lady gave me a special tag to park in the parking lot near a picnic table and bathrooms so I wouldn’t have to try to drive to another location.  It’s nice to sleep legally.  :-)  

Tomorrow I will finish out Sequoia NP and am determined to make it out of the state!  Next stop...The Grand Canyon - South Rim.

Day 20 - The Good News Is...Tomorrow Will Have to be Great Compared to Today

Day 20
Richardson's State Park, CA - Merced, CA (80 miles from Yosemite)

Milage:  Not sure because the oil change guy reset it!  I hate round about numbers!
Money Spent on Gas:  Not sure since I forgot to get a receipt today after 19 days of saving them all.
Are the Animals at Farm Sanctuary California as adorable as the ones in New York?  Your guess is as good as mine since I drove up and down mountains, on dirt roads, in The Mendocino National Forest most of the day and couldn't make it to Farm Sanctuary before it closed.
Are those sea lions still near the piers in San Francisco?  You mean the ones I missed to go to Farm Sanctuary today?
What should you do if you get lost in the Mendocino National Forest, you ask?  I recommend stopping at the Soda Creek Store to ask for directions.  You'll know it because it's the only store for about 2 hours in all directions.  You'll see lots of broken down cars, trucks and various other equipment strewn around the yard and if you turn down the radio you'll likely hear some gun shots from the people hunting in the woods.  As you approach the store be sure to check out the kittens in the playpen on the front porch and heed the sign to leave all your dogs in your truck.  If you dare go inside you can tell the owner I sent you.  He'll be the guy behind the counter cooking food with a grizzly gray ponytail and beard, no shirt, home done tattoos and several missing teeth.  Lucky for you he is extremely nice and great at giving directions even if they do take you 2 hours to get back down the mountain and on to pavement again.  Also, in case you're not great at remembering directions there may be a lady eating corn dogs sitting at the counter who will write them down for you while bickering with the shirtless man about the best route.  Oh, and when you walk in to ask for directions she'll tell you you're in Nevada but then feel bad when she sees the shocked look on your face.  About half way through the directions another lady will probably walk through to see if the dogs have been fed and watered yet.  The shirtless man with ask her to give you directions up over the mountain.  She'll look at your car, look back at shirtless man and mutter...I'm not sending her over the mountain in "that".  Apparently and Element is not a good mountaineering vehicle.  If you follow your directions well you will eventually make it out alive.  While on your journey you may see dozens of squirrels running beside your car, a wild turkey and some fabulous photo opportunities.  You'll surely be too exhausted, stressed out and worried you may not make it back to civilization to stop and take any shots though.  I'd recommend stopping once or twice.  Watch out for the fire rescue truck and the four wheelers, though.
Tomorrow a whirlwind tour of Yosemite and surrounding parks. Tonight I used to make to make it to Merced...not the GPS!

Day 19 - Redwoods, Roosevelt Elks & A Gray Whale

Day 19

Brookings, OR - Richardsons Grove State Park, CA

To Do List:  Purchase satellite phone, get a pop-up feature installed on the Element, send postcards, find a moose

Reasons to love Washington State Part 2:   poison ivy doesn’t grow there, Dunkin Donuts doesn’t exist there, there are as many recycling bins as trash bins and even the pit toilet huts don’t smell.  Did I mention that I didn’t sweat once the whole time I was there?  Well, actually I haven’t sweat since Wyoming.  I have a feeling that is about to change drastically starting tomorrow!

You might be in Oregon if...you don’t notice the light turned green and no one honks at you to hurry up.

You might be in Oregon if...someone nearly runs you down with a grocery cart and then gives you an apology instead of a dirty look.

You might be in Oregon if...you receive unsolicited advice about the best place in town to purchase windshield wipers and the ones you have in your hand are crap and won’t fit anyway.

You might be in Oregon if...there are more people riding bicycles than driving cars.

You might be in Oregon if...hitchhikers expect to get picked up and look for an explanation if you aren’t stopping for them.

You might be in Oregon if...you are eating breakfast at McDonalds and a crazy old man with caterpillar eyebrows sits down beside you and loudly complains about the milk being 1% instead of 2%.  He doesn’t know why they had to change it...he liked the 2%.  His attention was only diverted when someone in the parking lot, parked beside his vehicle which started an entirely new rant.

Number of people who have commented on the “slide to unlock” magnet stuck to my car door:  6...three of them actually asked me if it works to unlock the car

Number of restaurants I have seen that have signs that simply say restaurant: 4

By the way, if you’re coming to northern California be sure to buy gas before you get here.  $4.09/gallon is the cheapest I could find for over an hour. 

Funny thing...when you drive from Oregon into California they have a checkpoint set up that looks like a country to country border crossing.  I was asked if I was carrying any produce into the state.  I admitted to my one banana hoping the vegetable sniffing dog wasn’t around the corner.  She said one banana would be okay and offered me a map of the California State Parks.  It felt a little like what I imagine the twilight zone is like.  

Northern California is full of amazing Redwoods.  Everyone should walk in a grove of Redwoods at least once in their lifetime.  Photos cannot do them justice.  I met a man and his son from Kentucky there.  The father filled me in his sons interests, college choices and current grad school studies then offered me map of Kentucky in case I end up there on my way home.  I also met Jackie Rave.  Jackie is a nut.  I know more about her than I know about the majority of my friends.  I could not lose her.  She talked about her children, nieces, taking photos, her first camera, her first digital camera, her current camera, shooting weddings, facebook pages I should check out and much, much more.  I must look like I want to meet people.  I’ll work on that.  ;-)

Big driving day tomorrow.  Hoping to make it to the Yosemite area.

Day 18 - Oregon Coastacular

Day 18
Cape Lookout State Forest, Pacific Sunset Inn, Brookings, OR
Splurged on a flash back to the 70's hotel for $60 tonight.  The owner Lydia is nice.  She has lived in this area for about 35 years.   She likes the weather.  Who wouldn't?  Love it.  I'm only 14 miles from the Redwood Forests.  I've wanted to see them since I first heard about them in elementary school.  I still can't comprehend how a tree can be large enough for a car to drive through.  Oregon coast is spectacular.  It took me forever because I couldn't pass up a viewpoint.  Visited a spot with sea lions.  Wow!Maybe I'll be rested enough to think of something witty to blog tomorrow night.  :-)

Day 17 - The Day of No Room at the Inn

Day 17
Hoh Rainforest Olympic NP, Washington - Cape Lookout Campground, Oregon
Milage:  5,071
Favorite State Ever:  Washington State

It has...Seattle, the ocean, average temps in the 70's in the summer, rugged coastline, mountains with snow & baby deer.  It has...Chipotle, fresh, sustainable food markets, elk, wildflowers and diversity.  It has...rainforests, national parks, moose (although well hidden), marmots and wildlife sanctuaries.  It has fresh seafood, scenic vistas, ferries, inlets, sounds, herons, eagles, osprey and cool breezes.  Tomorrow...Oregon!

Today started with a walk in the rainforest where I spotted a pileated woodpecker, a Stellars Jay and a dark-eyed junco.  Traveled the rest of the Washington coast, crossed into Oregon and realized it was Saturday.  This seems to be a day when everyone decides to go camping.  After several failed attempts to find a campground or a hotel I pulled into the day parking of Lookout Point State Park in Oregon.  After avoiding the sign that said no admittance between 10pm and 7am I found a quiet spot and squeaked in a few hours of sleep before waking up early enough to beat it out of there before the people who put the sign up got there.  I even successfully snuck a shower at the campground bathrooms before hitting the road for Day 18.  :-)

Day 16 - The Night Camped in the Rainforest (Okay, it’s a temperate rainforest, but still.)

Day 16

Seabeck State Park Campground, WA - Hoh Rainforest Campgroud, Olympia NP

Milage:  4,780

Clothing:  95% dirty 

Accidents: 1 - thankfully I wasn’t in it, I just had to find a way to drive around it or wait the estimated 1-2 hours for the road to be cleared.  I love my iPhone navigation feature!!

Herons:  24

Bald Eagles: 1

Ducks:  6

Robins: 2

Gulls:  5

Deer: 17

Moose: 0

I’ve hit my favorite area of the country so far!  Northwest you are the best.  Washington state is super great.  For Seattle I’d go to battle.  Route 101, you’re #1.  Excellent breakfast at Barbie’s Cafe in Seabeck.  An omelette with onion, shrimp, avocado and cream cheese with hash browns and a grilled english muffin.  Mmm...in fact that was lunch as well.  :-)  When I move to the northwest I will live in the city and have a weekend home on one of the bays or sounds southwest of Seattle.  

Day 15 - Seattle Public Market

6:45am - Time I left the campground

10:00pm - Time I rolled into tonight’s campground

Cheney, WA - Somewhere else in Washington on the other side of the state.  :-)

Time in car...about 10 hours.  My foot is starting to resemble a gas pedal.

Today’s spot to not sight a moose:  Turnbull Wildlife Refuge - I did see lots of great birds including a Canadian Goose that just stood in the middle of the road and then ran alongside the car when I would try to squeeze past it.  See video that I’ll post to my page later.  (Does anyone know how to rotate videos before uploading to facebook?)

Seattle’s Public Market area could be days worth of fun!  Also, there is a Chipotle only three blocks away.  Double score!  I think I could live in Seattle.  It has a great energy.

After leaving Seattle I punched in my next destination and hit “go” on the GPS.  It let me to a ferry instead of giving me land directions to my next location.  An hour and a half through rush hour traffic both ways.  I think I may need to shut the GPS off and just use my spidey sense instead!  Worst news:  The ferry was in the opposite direction of where I was actually trying to go.  How did I not notice this?  I believe I had ceased to think at that point.

Oh, forgot to mention the guy who came running toward my car waving his arms last night when I got off an exit in Spokane to look for a park.  Luckily the light turned green and I sped off...only to have two people on the highway honk at me.  Doggone those headlights!  At least I didn’t have another run in with the men in blue.  

Tomorrow:  Olympic National Park - Hoh Rainforest, Oregon and maybe Northern California