Days 5 + 6 were not as exciting as the first four. There were no photo opprotunites other than a big car wreck on the I-5. I didn’t want to take pictures however of that. Day 5 + 6 mainly consisted of driving on the I-5. A long stretch of road with hardly any curves or turns that goes down the middle of CA. A couple interesting little tid bits though. I drove a total of 1550.8 miles on the trip. If you divide that by 6, the number of days on the trip, I drove an average of 258.5 miles per day. That is a lot of driving. I also got about 33 miles to the gallon. So that is pretty good. I will be loading some more pictures up when I get better editing software, and I have the patience to go through the rest of the photos. I probably have at least 500 or more pictures from the trip. So I will upload those later.
Today we arrived in Eureka California. This is the northern most part of our trip. In other words after today we are turning around and are headed back home which will take us two days. We are about 800 miles north of home according to my tripometer. That is a little off however because of all the curvy roads which are higher in mileage than the way we are taking back. We only have to go 294 tomorrow and another 327 on saturday. Still that is a long way, a total of 621 miles in two days. So I don’t know if I will have much to say on those days as the trip is just going to be the quickest way with nothing special planned to go see or areas to take photos.
Through today’s journey we went through the redwoods which was really awesome. Specifically the area called the Avenue of the Giants which have huge Redwood trees. Took a lot of photos in the forests there. That there has to be the most beautiful drive ever. There wasn’t a lot of turns like before which I was really happy about for a change. I really enjoy the forest so I still got to see a lot of that. That is what the day really consisted of which was checking out the forest and the redwoods. We arrived in Eureka too early to check into our hotel so we went down to downtown / oldtown Eureka where they have a lot of little shops. Nothing interesting there. After that we checked in and went to dinner and then checked out the local mall. It is mini compared to local malls around in So Cal like the Montclair, Ontario, or Santa Anita. But it was nice that it was smaller because there were a lot less people in it. I think the local Target has more people in it at its busiest our than this mall did. But it was nice because you could check places out that normally are packed. Like I noticed the comic book aisle in the borders store had no one in it and was actually organized. Never would happen around in So Cal. Now we are back in the hotel and that is that. Not sure if there will be more posts on the Northern Trip as I don’t know if we will do anything special. We shall see though. Ok to everyones favorite part of the post, the photos and as always … enjoy!
Today has been the best so far of the vacation. One because as I said before the drive is quite amazing but today it was surrounded by better scenery. Yes the Pacific Ocean and different rock formations make it great but I think I like the forest and thus the overhang of the trees on the curvy mountainous roads. It makes for better scenery. I also realize how much more I appreciate this trip. Earlier when I would go on this trip I was younger and thus more immature. Now I can appreciate the nature the drive the trip so much more. I mean most Southern California residents love the sun and the beach so much that they will never come up this way. Either that or they detest Nor Cal for just being that, Northern California. So I am so happy to have matured enough to understand just how awesome this really is.
Today we got up and went about our business getting breakfast. We only had to drive another 175 miles or so to get to where we are tonight in Garberville. This is basically the heart of the redwoods. Anyway we were able to stop for more pictures as we didn’t get into town till pretty late, like 4:30p.m. We checked out Fort Ross, a Fort that the Russians had when the started colonizing the Americas, and that was pretty cool. I had been there before but I wanted to check it out again. It seemed smaller and not as extravagant as the previous times. We also went by a lodge called the Timber Cove Inn and we normally stay there on this trip. It is a great little place that is very rustic and has an amazing view. But I am sad to report that it doesn’t look good as it once did. It is under new management and construction and the people didn’t seem to happy or helpful. Maybe next summer it will be done and look and feel like the old cove. I didn’t even see the old Raccoons that used to run around there.
One interesting thing happened while driving today which were cows. Yes, I said that correctly, Cows! One who makes this trip sees them all over the place. Whether you look left or right … provided that you are not directly on the coast but the parts of Route One that cuts into the farmlands of Northern California .. you’ll see Cows. Now today was a bit different. I have never seen cows directly on the coast, or on the street to where cars were having to stop or honk at the cows because they were blocking the roadway. It was quite a site to behold and to laugh at because we had pulled over for to take pictures.
Other than that today was just fun. Had dinner at the Waterwheel where the food was quite excellent. Best of the trip so far. Funny thing is that is that it doesn’t look like much but it is. Even though our waitress looked like a 50+ y.o. drugged out biker woman who barely had any teeth. But until this place, where I had a calamari bacon sandwich, was good where all the other restaurants were sorta disappointment.
Sorry I didn’t have a better write up for today. It was a lot of fun but a lot of the major fun happened on the road and driving as it was pretty crazy with the windy roads. I guess that is sorta over as the rest seems to be mostly straight aways followed by easy turns. But tomorrow we are going deep into the redwoods so that should be fun. Oh and speaking of that I was driving so fast today that I went right through a redwood tree today. Just kidding there is a redwood tree that is hollowed out in the center where one can drive through it. And just because I wanted a picture of my car I said “lets go!” It was sorta scary though. Picture time… enjoy!
Coast:
A mini S curve:
Another Road Pic:
Fort Ross Enterance:
My Dad taking a picture next to Cannons:
WTH?! I don’t believe this is historically accurate!
Other Fort Ross Photos:
Woodland:
A Cow (this is the one that ended up holding up traffic in the middle of the road):
The Coast:
Ok I know it is day 3 but there was no Internet connection at last night’s hotel. So I have to write two long posts instead of one today.
Day 2 was very fun. We I only had to drive about 170 miles instead of 300 some miles. We started off the morning by eating a decent complimentary breakfast at the hotel which was”eh” at best. I mean the food was not so good but it was free … then we proceeded on to San Francisco CA.
I have to admit that I actually like San Francisco. It is cool in terms of the weather and there is an awesome bridge that is called the Golden Gate Bridge. Seriously I have been on it, much less have seen it in person countless times. Ok well I could probably count them all on one hand but every time I see the bridge or cross it I am in awe. Plus there are a lot of good looking women there. Although they are all probably tourists. Took a ton of photos there, probably for an hours worth. The pictures didn’t come out that great but it wasn’t my lack of camera skills but the weather. It was pretty crazy foggy. Due to that when I was driving over the bridge … and taking pictures at the same time it was pretty cool. I don’t know but besides the insane liberals, a crazy mayor, the way people from other parts of America look at you if you are male and in San Francisco, and the expenses of living there, I could actually live there.
After San Francisco we went up to this place called the Station House Cafe for lunch in Point Reyes. Nothing really special there except the drive. Driving as I said before, on Route 1 is amazing. Especially if you take the turns a bit quickly. I mean there are a lot of hairpin curves and S turns. It is so much fun. Especially after San Francisco. It is also great for my dad because normally he does the driving and I do the looking and when you drive you really have to pay attention because you are on the side of a mountain and one wrong turn or getting too close to the side of the road and you will drive off the side of the mountain and hundreds maybe a thousands of feet to your death. So I get to drive and my dad gets to see Northern California like he has never been able to see before. It really works for us both because I love to drive and there are a lot less idiots on the road and he gets to see the nature. I get to only see a part of the nature but I get to drive!
We got to our really nice hotel w/ a view in Bodega Bay. Bodega Bay isn’t a really exciting town in fact i’d be surprised if there were more than 300 people living in it, as it is just a little fishing town but it is extremely relaxing. We got to eat dinner along the Bay and actually got some great shots of the sun going down. I have always wanted to see that in a clear setting and I did. You can look at the pictures below. The only bad thing was I got sick from the food I had for dinner. I had Jalapeno Fettucine which was really good but I don’t know if the shrimp was cooked all that well. So besides that and stopping at a few places along the road of route 1 for photos that is what Day 2 was about. OK now for my favorite but most pain in the butt part to upload, the photos! Enjoy!
Me @ the Golden Gate Bridge (and yes that is a Dodgers hat in San Francisco):
Me driving along the Golden Gate Bridge in the Fog 1 (yes I took that photo while driving):
Me Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge 2:
A quick stop for a picture:
Sunflower Macro Shot:
Sun before Sunset:
Sunset Pictures:
Hello everyone, I am writing this from the Holiday Inn Express in Marina California. Marina is only a short 10 minute drive from one of my favorite places in California, Monterey Bay. In fact I nearly went to Cal State Monterey Bay until I started talking to their recruiters. Anyway that is getting off topic. I left my house at 7am this morning and drove 350 some odd miles to get here. That is only one tank of gas on my Corolla S! I think that is pretty good. We made a few stops on the way. One for breakfast in or near Ventura and then for a restroom / stretch the good ol legs break at Ragged Point.
Now Ragged Point is barley even a point on the map. Basically is just a restraunt, a gift shop, and a makeshift gas station. Now I think I figured out what Ragged Point’s motto should be and here it is: “Ragged Point the place where you can get two old candy bars for four dollars and pay 5.59 for a gallon of Gas!” Yes that is rght Ragged Point is a freaking rip off. No, we didn’t get gas there but I found that astonishing and appaluling.
We also stopped at one of my dad’s favorite bridges the Bixby Creek Bridge. We drove a lot on Route 1. Now I have been on this route many times before, but this time I am driving instead of my father. I must say driving the very curvy route one is quite fun. It takes a lot of concentration but it is like driving a car in a car commercial with lots of turns consistently. Seriously, Route 1 is my favorite place to drive at. Too bad it is way too far away to drive if I just want to go for a drive.
Besides that today wasn’t that much of an eventful day. It was a ton of driving. We didn’t get into Marina until about 3:30 or 4:00 PM. So that is roughly 8 hours of driving or more. That isn’t counting the breaks we took for breakfast or to stretch out the legs or anything though. So maybe 7 hours of driving total.
Once settled in Marina I drove my Dad and I to Monterey Bay’s Canery Row to go to Bubba Gump’s for dinner. Wow that place is good. Sure it is extremely expensive but it is a fairly interesting place to go and have dinner. I mean you get a view of the pacific ocean and it has a tie in with Forrest Gump. It is just a fun place to have dinner at. I had a nice steak, potatoes w/ cheese, sour cream, and onions, Shrimp, and my dad and I split a huge Strawberry Cheesesteak w/ Ice Cream. Dang, I don’t know if I will eat until the weekend. Oh and there is an Irish Pub here in the lighthouse district of Monterey Bay named “Shane’s Irish Pub!” I was just looking at the map and found that … I want to go just for the heck of it.
So yeah not a big day but tommorrow I think we only have 175 miles or so to drive and will have more time to do things worth talking about. So I hope you enjoyed me rambling on about my first day of the 5.5 day trip. Tommorrow we will be ending our trip in Bodega Bay, hopefully they have free WiFi … yay for free WiFi so that I can make this part of my blog work. Here are some photos of the day. Enjoy!
Me at Ragged Point:
The cool Fog at Ragged Point:
Bixby Creek Bridge:
Pacific Ocean / Coast slightly off the Bixby Creek Bridge:
My Dad in front of the Bixby Bridge:
Bubba Gump in Monterey:
“Life is like a Box of Chocolates:”
Duck Crossing (some people might get this):
