The West calls…again!
It is no secret that I love the mountains and all of the places true nature can be found. Whether it’s the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the German Alps, the Accursed Mountains of Albania, or the mighty Hindu Kush of Afghanistan, I feel at peace. Even when it was, or just felt, a little dangerous.
The past year was one of exploration and tempered expectations. National Parks, Germany, Kentucky Bourbon country, off-road adventures in the Jeeps and more. We also learned (or were reminded) that life is often full of unexpected lessons and trials. My youngest, after graduating from college, spending a year in Europe as a National Scholar and starting graduate school, had the rug pulled out from under her health. Chronic migraines, with blackouts and seizures, stopped us in our tracks. She had to withdraw from Grad school and move back home. Months of ER visits, several trips to the Mayo Clinic and visiting a host of neurologists and other Doctors ensued. Her dream was to go back to Europe, Germany specifically, as one of her minors was German, (she is near native fluent). Her goal was to join the U.S. foreign service and work in public diplomacy and strategic communications.
This required an all hands on deck approach of family to help manage medical appointments, differing medications and home care. We were pretty sure our travel plans were indefinitely on hold with no real end in sight. We are very grateful for her Grandparents who have stepped up and been a Godsend to us in her care.
As luck would have it, an opportunity arose that allows me travel again. A former colleague asked me if I’d like to do some contract work. His son, an electrical engineer, had formed a company that won a contract with the Dept of Defense. It had come up in the past, but the contract award process didn’t look promising to succeed this year. That coupled with our new reality, put thoughts of independent travel as a distant dream now.
Fortunately, after months of a “trial by error”medication approach, she is showing improvement and stabilizing! This has allowed us to get out more and more. I accepted contract work over the next year that will see me on the road more than at home. This accomplishes two goals; travel and make some additional income to help pay off some medical bills and other costs we’ve accrued over the past ten months. The original plan was to do it all together. Now, we will be together when we can make it work. I am a single month into to it, with a month to go, as of this writing. I have been to Idaho and am now in California. I am taking a couple of months at home after California before starting up in Arizona after the new year.
By Mid-August, I was packed and prepared to start a new adventure. I expected high mountains and pine forests in Idaho, I was wrong…it was a high desert environment, hot and rocky, more akin to Nevada. Regardless I was able to see some incredible nature around the Snake River canyon.
The contract work took two weeks to complete, and I moved on to near Sacramento, California. Fortunately I had a gap week before the work started! This is where Lori and I made it work. She flew to San Francisco where I picked her up and we headed north to Oregon. Neither of us, for all of our travels, had been to the Pacific Northwest. Our plan was to drive to Portland and base from there, eventually making our way down the coastline back to San Francisco. Portland, at least what we saw, was very industrial and not anything that said “come see Portland!” Our goal there was to explore the Columbia River Gorge; which we did. It is beautiful, an incredible oasis of nature. We visited a few of the iconic waterfalls and stopped at a small restaurant where I had the best Halibut fish tacos I’ve ever had! They offered a very good local Lager, which I enjoyed as well. Before leaving I bought some smoked Steelhead and a Ceviche from the same shop that was incredible. (Brigham fish market, in Cascade Locks, OR) if you ever get up there.
I will add that on the way to Portland we stopped in Eugene, OR for lunch. If you didn’t know, Eugene is the home of the University of Oregon, the Ducks! I was impressed with Eugene, I could live there, the overall “vibe” for me, was much more appealing than Portland. This is not said with any shade thrown at Portland. It is obvious there is great industry and hard working people there. You have to be to work the Port, the rail yards and lumber yards that are there!
We started the next leg of our journey by going to Astoria, OR, the most northwest tip on the coast with a little detour through Washington state. The first beach we stopped at reminded me immediately of the movie “The Goonies”. I almost expected to see “one-eyed Willy’s” ship come around the rocky point on the ocean.
This was the first stop of many along the Oregon coast. I’ve been to L.A. and San Diego before and realize now how much rougher the northern coast is after seeing it for myself. Our goal for this day was to work our way down, in no hurry, to Coos Bay, OR. We stayed at a Casino hotel, had an “okay” dinner there, but did come out $30 ahead from the casino floor!
Lori’s little devil guy came thru, lol!
The next morning we found a great little diner for breakfast and headed to Eureka, CA. Before we got to Eureka we made the best decision ever. We visited Redwood State Forest along the Smith River. I was mesmerized walking amongst these giants of nature. Hollywood had me expecting to see Stormtroopers zooming through the trees on speederbikes, or Velociraptors hunting through the ferns and downed trees. The Redwood Forest was a spiritual experience.
We found Eureka to be a charming sea town with a great history and a lot of 1800’s buildings restored and still in use. The Eureka hotel dates to 1922, showcasing many early 20th century artifacts as well portraits of many famed politicians and actors. I found a number of fun murals painted on the buildings in town as well.
After leaving Eureka, our next destination was the “Glass Beach” in Ft Bragg, CA. Of course, there were more things of interest along the way. There was more Redwood Forest, and the iconic Chandelier Tree. The giant Redwood that you can drive through. Well, not with an F250 diesel truck anyway. It is estimated to be 2,400 years old and is still alive and well despite having a massive tunnel cut through it. The gift shop was fun and it made for a nice restroom and leg stretching stop.
The Chandelier tree was a good stop, such an iconic tourist location, how could you not stop? After leaving the tree, we headed back to the coast. There was more shoreline, beaches and the famed glass beach at Ft Bragg, CA. Once the site of a town dump, apparently predominantly glass bottles, it was closed and cleaned up many years ago. The constant action of the waves tumbled the sharp, broken glass into smooth sea glass over many years. At first glance it honestly was not that impressive. The shoreline is very rough, a lot wave action and sea spray. I did craft some more impressive photos by getting very close to the sand. (looking out from normal height wasn’t that photo worthy.) We wandered around the beach until it was close to noon. We found a fun little burger joint up the road that was really good. Basic flat top grilled burger and very good French fries, hot and fresh.
with our bellies full, we got back on the road. We still had to get to San Francisco. We originally intended to stay along the coast most of the way, but the navigation reverted to its very helpful algorithm. This took us on the faster interior route without bothering to ask us first. Oh well, pay better attention next time. We got to San Francisco in good time, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge a little after 5 pm.
We made it to our hotel, checked in, and then got the truck valet parked in a garage; to remain until we left the city! We went to our room and rested for awhile. Driving all day for several days wears you out, so give the long haul truckers you see on the road a little grace…
The was a little local bar at the end of the block near the hotel. We figured a cold one would be nice after a long day on the road. The Sutter Pub was a cozy corner bar with a good crowd. We squeezed ourselves into barstools and ordered a drink and watched a little college football for an hour or so. It was getting close to or after 7 and we were getting hungry. We walked to a nearby Japanese restaurant and were not disappointed. We had very good sushi rolls, salad and I had a very good giant calamari to boot!
The next day was our only full day in San Francisco. I think we did a pretty good job of seeing about as much as we could. Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, China town, the Fine Arts Museum, Fort Monroe, Alcatraz island etc. etc. By the time the day concluded we had traveled over 9 miles on foot alone. There were several more miles on cable cars and buses as well.
We were out before any businesses had opened for the most part. A lot of people were out jogging, cycling and walking their dogs along the marina. It was a pleasant morning and felt good to stretch our legs. However, I don’t think either of us were prepared for the hills. We decided to walk to the location of home featured on the series “Full House”. It felt like my legs were going to fall off!
We did find the full house location, then a sewing shop we were asked to find. Fortunately there was an excellent Kabob house, “Presidio Kabob” very close by. The food was excellent and made up for the climb.
Once lunch was nicely settled, we decided to visit Chinatown. We walked to a bus stop and rode the bus to as close as we could get to Chinatown. It was probably about 3 blocks to walk from the bus. I was surprised that Chinatown, to me, seemed very long and narrow, going for blocks and blocks in one direction. I expected it to be spread out more, like a large neighborhood. It was fun to walk a few blocks of it and see the sights regardless.
The day had been pretty full to this point. We knew we wanted to go back to the Wharf and Pier 39 etc. but we were also a little beat by this time. We went back to the hotel for a couple of hours to recharge for the evening. I don’t think we’re “old” but we are certainly not young anymore either. I took an enjoyable nap after a solid six hours of walking hills!
We walked a couple of blocks to pickup the street car for Pier 39, (it was two miles from the hotel and I didn’t have the desire for more walking). I made up for that at the end of the evening however. We got to Pier 39, walked through the tourist traps of small shops, the traditional tourist eateries etc. We stopped at a locally owned place, (it was happy hour) and had a beer while we decided what to do. After a beer and a really good crab cake, we left and found the area where the Sea Lions basked and made a ruckus for the tourists. It was fun to see them and watch their antics! We settled on a local restaurant, locally owned, several blocks from the Pier 39 area. Betty Lou’s Seafood and Grill was the winner tonight! Lori had a very good Seabass and I had a fantastic Ciopinno. We took our time and enjoyed a leisurely dinner. The plan was to take the bus back to near the hotel. However, in my comfort of a full belly I didn’t set the map to “bus” so we walked a few miles back to the hotel. I felt I like I was put on a punishment ruck march, by me! We only went through a few dark, sketchy looking areas, but made it back in one piece.
It was getting dark when we finally did hoof it back to the hotel, but there are good sights at night in the city as well. It was definitely good to take our shoes off after that last hike!
All in all, it was an incredible week. It was so nice to have a “vacation” with my wife and no other responsibilities. It reminds me to always keep hopeful for the future and make your own opportunities where and when you can. Just being able to write this shows the positive affect on my mental health this trip has had.
Thanks for sticking with me on this, I am sure it feels like a never ending story, but it was worth it.
Keep walking, Allen and Lori! And don't you ever ever stop! The night photos were particularly cool. Love it, and look forward to seeing you relatively soon!
Love to read about your travels. The pictures were great. Can't wait to hear about more adventures!