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| Inside a redwood tree |
We dropped off the RV in San Francisco and said our
farewells to Helene and Dudley at the airport and continued on following the
Route 1 up the Pacific Highway. Whoops,
I am ahead of myself here, we had a great four days in San Francisco, avoiding
too many touristy things we had all done previously, so decided we would walk
both ways over the Golden Gate Bridge which was brilliant, although very windy,
it took us about 30 minutes each way. We
also caught a ferry from Fishermans Wharf to another part of the main land North
of San Francisco bay called Tiburon, a very pretty arty, , weather boarded
village, where we sat in the sun and had an Italian seafood lunch.
Another first, ever, in America we went to the cinema as we
wanted to see The Lone Ranger, we gals enjoyed it (yes I now speak American)
but the boys were not too impressed. We had a very authentic meal in China Town,
which was not only amazingly cheap it also tasted really good.
Back to leaving SF via Route 1, we drove across the Golden
Gate Bridge and headed North, our first stop was Sebastopol where we stayed
with our American Host from the Affordable Travel Club, Emma, who was amazing,
she even took us sightseeing for the whole day to see the Redwoods and to show
us her fabulous town.
As we travelled further up towards Seattle the majestic redwoods blew us away and then we drove through the Avenue of Giants and saw the biggest, widest, tallest and oldest trees we have ever seen (some were 2 – 3 thousand years old and I am not exaggerating).
Sorry its so difficult not to make this a travel log.
Leaving California and into Oregan on the side of the road
was a herd of Elks, there must have been about 20 of them just lazing around
without a care in the world without a thought to the camera yielding tourists
watching them. As we continued along the
roads that were lined with multi coloured wild meadow flowers, we just had to keep stopping the car to look
at the rugged coast line. The beaches
along the Oregan coast are covered in huge driftwood trunks of trees that have
make their way down rivers into the ocean, quite a beautiful sight.
We have now arrived in Seattle, a land of green islands and
beauty, today we drove through the city, not deliberately, we ended up in a one
way street that we wanted to go the other way, anyway….. we boarded a ferry to an island called Whidbey,
which is were time has stood still, as you will see by the photograph of the
house we are staying in tonight.
Must make a mention of our wonderful hosts at this B & B
called Compass Rose, Marshall and Jan, we were met at the door with Jan in her
long flowing dress and pearls and Marshall with his bow tie and overalls (he
was working on his 1933 Pakard classic car) who immediately invited us into
their spectacular antique adorned Victorian house to partake in champagne and
chocolate truffles and meet the people from the local art school. We even met the world’s foremost bee geneticist,
she was giving a course on bee insemination, apparently she is the woman who is
saving bees from extinction from the world, and she only looked 35!!!!
Also we meet some ladies who were renowned artists in
‘wearable art” and in this little town called Coupeville and learning the art
of fabric art called shibori.
I can’t begin to describe the interior of the house as it
was covered in antiques, not a space to spare.
Our breakfast this morning was on a beautiful mahogany table decorated
with silver candelabras and lit candles, silver tableware, cut glass and bone
china. Just check out the photos!!!
Only two more nights to go before we catch our plane to UK
and then onto France, my plan is to write one more blog to encapsulate our trip
of a lifetime into couple of paragraphs,
but just to say now this has been a trip that has personally filled me with
wonderment and joy, with many amazing memories to hopefully call upon in my
dotage.
Highlights
Our first comfortable night sleep in a soft bed
Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge
Seeing Elks in the wild
The Redwoods
The American people we have met on the way
Lowlights
The cold in San Francisco yuk!!!
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| Beautiful beaches with driftwood along the dunes |
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| Yes young people still play crib |
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| Oregan beach and wild flowers |
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| Terry and a redwood |
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| One of many stunning lakes |
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| Saturday afternoon at a Florence pub! |
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| The Compass Rose B & B |
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| Breakfast |
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| Breakfast first course, see the miniature jug of cream and the pot of truffle chocolate!!! |
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| Our hosts |
