South Through California

Some of you may be wondering what has happened us the last few days. Well, we have been town hopping down the coast towards LA. At the moment we are in an RV park in Santa Barbara. The plan is to hit the beach tomorrow, six flags on Monday and then LA on Tuesday. It's been hard to get online recently as the sides of the road we have been staying aren't the most reliable for internet access. Anyway, here's what we've been up to since you heard from us last.

First port of call after departing San Francisco was San Jose. In this city is the Tech Museum of Innovation, basically a museum that attempts to make science fun. And it succeeds. Here we rode segways, designed our own roller coasters, designed wind turbines, had our heads mapped in 3-D and a whole manner of other enjoyable "experiments" before we headed off into the warm evening sun. We stopped off at a sports bar to watch some basketball and grab a bite to eat before hitting the road to Santa Cruz.

We found a place to stay in the town and hit the beach the following morning. Santa Cruz is a real beach town and the seafront is awash with arcades, food stalls and roller coasters. It's still out of season so it was easy enough to park and find a good spot on the beach. Here we lay in the sun, threw some disc, watched some of the wire on the iPod, admired the flocks of Pelican diving for fish in the crystal blue waters and generally just took it easy. We treated ourselves and Ita to a stay at an RV park to empty and fill tanks, recharge batteries and a worry free nights sleep. RV parks also mean a BBQ for dinner and this one was no different.

We rose early with the intention of hitting the road to get to our next destination to have the whole day to enjoy it. It didn't quite go to plan but we still made it to Monterey by lunch time. Here they have a world famous aquarium and it didn't fail to disappoint. It is a top class facility with a 3 story living kelp forest, million gallon "open ocean" tank, sea otters, penguins, seahorses, jellyfish and all manner of sea creatures in between. During our visit we got to see the sea otters and penguins being fed as well which was nice. After the aquarium we decided to do the 17 mile drive.

This is a minor toll road that goes around the Monterey peninsula. It passes through some of the most famous golf courses in the world, most notably Pebble Beach. It costs $9.25 to drive it (you quickly learn that everything in America costs money so you have to get used to it pretty quickly). The scenery along the drive is simply stunning as are alot of the houses that you encounter, especially the coastal houses around Pebble Beach. This area really seems to have been hit hard by the recession as there seems to be more houses up for sale than not. It really struck me as a rich persons playground and when you see that number of lavish holiday homes up for sale it is a sign of how hard the recession is hitting even the "super-rich" over here too. After the drive we headed on into Carmel-By-The-Sea, found a laundrette and then parked Ita by the beach and went to bed.

We woke the next morning and took a stroll around Carmel-By-The-Sea. It seemed to go hand in hand with all the mansions around Pebble Beach. The streets are full of expensive art galleries, fine restaurants and "designer" antique stores. Most of these were having sales and were extremely quiet as well. Similar to Pebble Beach, I believe this kind of place will become unnecessary as Americans find ways to tighten their belts over the next while. There wasn't much going on in the town so we hit the road again, south through Big Sur.

Big Sur is known for it's stunning scenery as the highway hugs the Pacific coastline as it snakes south towards LA. Unfortunately the heat of the last few days brought fog rolling in from the sea. This caused us to have to drive through some thick fog and made sight seeing fairly difficult. For this reason we didn't do much stopping along the way. We did come across Nepenthe which is a restaurant I had heard about before coming over. We arrived in the afternoon and found out they started serving dinner after 5pm. We hung around and were treated to a wonderful meal. The restaurant is nearly as famous for it's views (it's on a cliff over 800 feet above the Pacific Ocean) as it's great food. Unfortunately the fog removed one of those but the other lived up to expectations. We had a wonderful meal and stayed down in a lay by off the road.

Unfortunately the fog hadn't cleared by the morning so we didn't get to experience the view. We were quite keen to hit the road as we wanted to be in San Luis Obisbo for the famous farmers market. En route we passed by a viewing point of a beach filled with Elephant Seals. It is mating season and there were literally hundreds lying along the beach right by the highway. We stopped to have a look and then continued on towards todays destination. Every Thursday, the main street in the town is closed and alot of the shops come out from indoors and set up stalls on the street. BBQ fills the air as chicken, hot dogs, ribs and corn are cooked and sold. Strikes of metal ring out as men try to impress their women on the strength machine, local farmers sell fresh fruit and vegetables and all manner of people hit the streets to soak in the atmosphere. The vibe around the area was amazing and we both thoroughly enjoyed the few hours. We watched the Lakers game in a bar and then headed back to where we parked the RV with our shopping in tow.

We headed back into the centre the following morning to see what it was like normally and there was no sign of the party from the previous evening. The street was like any other town we have seen along the way. We got a couple of things that were needed and hopped into the RV to head south again. Next on our list of towns to visit was Santa Maria. To be honest, it should never have made it onto the list. It is basically a town full of malls with 4-5 lane highways going in every direction. We spotted a crazy golf course from the freeway so after dinner we played the 2 courses. Emer won by one shot after 36 holes, winning it on the last. We drove through dusk and dark and arrived in Solvang. We pulled into a residential area and found a dark spot to park and head to sleep.

When we woke we seemed to have wandered into the set of a TV show or film. We were in a beautiful neighbourhood surrounded by huge house with perfectly manicured gardens and convertible Mercedes in the driveways. We had breakfast and went to find a more suitable parking spot before having a walk around the town. The town was settled in by Danes in the past and alot of the buildings retain the Danish influences. In addition, there was a car show on where loads of Datsun (old Nissans) enthusiasts had their remodelled cars out on show. It is a nice quaint town but a couple of hours walking around was enough for us. We hit the road again and continued south to Santa Barbara.

Upon entering the city we looked around and found a space for Ita and went for a stroll downtown. It is a very colourful town and the sun had people out in force. It was also "Santa Barbara Dance Day" so there were various groups out salsa dancing, line dancing, ballet dancing and everything in between. After our stroll we decided to book into an RV park this evening as we are hitting LA in a couple of days. There was only one in our directory so we booked a place. As well as being the most expensive we have stayed in so far, it is also the worst. It's right on the freeway and is very cramped. It is close to a downtown city in Southern California so it is to be expected but we certainly won't be making a habit of it. As mentioned, we're hitting the beach tomorrow and then it's Six Flags for some thrills before hitting LA.

Bug Watch - Out of San Francisco

We discovered recently that Ita is a cold blooded killer. Well, of bugs anyway. Most vehicles are aerodynamically designed so that the air flows up over the bonnet and windscreen and down the back. This usually provides a safe outlet for the majority of bugs to avoid being splatted as they navigate busy highways.

However, Ita isn't most vehicles. She has a conveniently placed big box above the windscreen which acts as a massive bug swatter along the highways. We will take photos along the road to show here progress but the early prognosis is good. I'm looking forward to getting into the real sweatbox of the middle of America where the bugs get bigger and the roads get wider.

Watch this space.....

California - From the Valleys to The Hills (Wine and San Fran)

Grab a cup of tea and a sandwich before reading this one.

(edit: or try and piece the week together from the photos here)

We spent Monday afternoon in the Napa Valley. The drive from Sonoma was on proper Irish style back roads so it's nice to know that they do exist. One of the hills we went up had Ita really struggling, she slowed down to 12 miles an hour. With no place to pull in until the top, the queue of cars behind us grew quite large. We visited 3 wineries in the Napa Valley. The first was St. Clement which was a very nice, small local winery with 5 of their own wines. Emer did the majority of the tasting here. After this we had some lunch parked in a turnout on the side of the road. 

From here we headed to the second winery of the day. We hoped to partake in a tour at Mumm Napa but the last one had left for the day. It was mainly a sparkling wine producer so we left and went to the last winery of the day. Girard's was a much more fashionable tasting room, sampling wines from grapes grown around the valley. We bought a bottle of white here for a meal somewhere along the road. The evening was young so we decided to head to San Francisco. Highway 101 brought us over the Golden Gate Bridge and into the city to Jack's apartment.

For those of you who don't know or remember Jack Hanley, he was over in Ireland a couple of years ago and played Ultimate with us on Johnny Chimpo during that time. On Monday, himself and his roommate Mike were organising a shufflepuck tournament in their local, the Buckshot. There was space for another team so myself and Emer made a team and followed them down. We had a great night with Jack, Mike and all their friends. Few of them could believe us when we told them what we are at but every single one of them were really nice people and we had a great night drinking beers, playing pool and shuffle puck, having chicken fried bacon (yes it's as unhealthy as it sounds - it's bacon that is cooked, breaded and fried in chicken fat - absolutely delicious says Mark) and generally just having the craic.

But boy did I pay for it the next day. We headed up to the park to play a round of frisbee golf. It's a full 18 hole course which is free to use. Myself, Emer and Jack met up with Dimitri and Garrett (who were in the Buckshot the night before) played a round. However, I was in such a bad state that I had to retreat to the RV after 13 holes to have a nap. After the golf, Dimitri and Garrett were given the tour and then we dropped them home. That night we were treated to a lovely lasagne cooked by Jack's girlfriend Tara (pronounced Tera) so Jack sent us up to a view point to have a look at the city while they prepared dinner. After dinner we went to another local for Trivia Night (Table Quiz to you and me). The standard of answering at this was incredibly high but we were able to chip in on some of the questions, even getting an American History one correct ("I got this one, I was delighted with myself as you can imagine"-Emer)(A natural disaster in 1980 that killed 57 people - Mt. St. Helen's erupted). Everyone was still feeling it a bit from the evening before so we were back and in bed fairly early.

Wednesday brought some baseball. Dimitri and Garrett are big Red Sox fans and it was $2 to go and see them play the Oaklnad A's. The lads had 4 tickets and Mike drove myself, Emer and the 2 boys over the bay bridge to Oakland. On the way we passed the Oakland Port which is where George Lucas was inspired by the cranes to create the AT-AT Walkers in the Star Wars films. We hit heavy traffic and had trouble parking. By the time we got to the stadium and got the fifth ticket it was already the 5th innings. It was a pitchers duel which meant the innings were very short and there were not many hits. Emer went off to get Hot Dogs and we settle into our seats. After queueing up for half an hour and making it to the top of the queue they ran out of hot dogs on Emer so she came back very disappointed. Eating hot dogs is part of baseball so I headed off to see if I could do better. I got very lucky and found a short queue and bought 9!! They were only a dollar each after all. I brought them back and we enjoyed the rest of the game. It was Jackie Robinson day so every player was wearing 42. Garret explained it to me that he was the first African American baseball player and they are celebrating the fact that they are a little less racist. Dimitri however never got to see an innings as he got thrown out for drinking from hip flask in the queue for the hot dogs. After the game we all met up and Mike brought us back to his place. We had a few drinks, watched some basketball and headed down to the Buckshot to play some more shuffle puck. Tomorrow was to bring our first touristey day so we didn't go at it that hard.

So we woke on Thursday quite excited about the upcoming activities. We pre-booked our Alcatraz tour a couple of weeks ago as everyone and all the travel books said that they are really popular and can get booked up. April isn't high season so things haven't been too bad yet but we fully expect that to change in the coming weeks. Anyway, our trip had us leaving dry land at 6.45pm as we booked the evening tour as it looked better so we had a whole day of things to see and do. We started of in Union Square which is the main high end shopping area. All the main stores are here from your Versache's to Hugo Boss and the likes of Apple (which is massive over here-nearly everyone seems to have an iPhone) and Virgin. Virgin are closing down so they were having a massive fire sale of all their stock. The whole shop was 50% off so we went in to have a look not intending to purchase anything. Naturally enough I picked up the first thing I saw and bought it, the collectors edition of Ten by Pearl Jam which has 4 LP's, 4 CD's, a DVD and a load of extras. Now I have to sort out sending it home.

After this we grabbed a quick bite to eat and hopped on the cable car which was to bring us to Fisherman's Wharf. They are as much fun as they look. We both stood on the edge holding onto the rails as we trundled up hills and down the other side, passing dangerously close to parked and moving traffic. We hopped off at the end of the line and walked down to the water. The area is your typical seaside touristy village type setup but a little classier. There are buskers everywhere, from the incredibly talented to the downright mental (we were informed that Reagan closed all the mental institutions and basically turfed a load of people that needed help onto the streets which results in alot of homeless people wandering the streets with a screw or seventeen loose). We also experienced the "bush man" which is a guy who hides behind a couple of branches to make himself look like a bush. He scares unsuspecting passers-by and is known all around the city. We also took a tour of a World War 2 submarine that is docked in the harbour. It's fascinating to go on board and see the cramped conditions that up to 80 sailors had to endure back in the 40's.

As we were strolling along the piers we bumped into Garret, Dimitri and Lauren (Dimitri's Girlfriend). They were on their way back from Alcatraz and on their way to the In N' Out Burger. I didn't need to be invited twice so we headed down with them. It's basically a fast food restaurant but they only have 4 things on the menu and they do all of them really well. Their fries are cut from real potatoes every morning and it is really nice. Everyone enjoyed their food and we parted on seperate ways. We headed down to pier 33 where we were due to board our boat to bring us to Alcatraz.

And what a tour it was. I'm sure the people who have been and are reading this know how much I am going to rave about the tour but it really is brilliant. As we sailed out to the island the sun was starting to set behind the Golden Gate bridge which was a nice beginning. We reached the dock and were brought up the route the prisoners took as they entered Alcatraz for the first time. Where the prisoners were given prison wear, we were given audio tours to guide us around the prison. It's an award winning tour narrated by former guards and inmates and is really well put together. It brings you around the cells, tells you about attempted breakouts, through the kitchen and into the wardens office. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. We caught a couple of buses back to Jack's to hit the hay before another touristy day.

Friday brought the bikes. We took two buses back down to the piers and we rented a couple of bikes. Our plan was to cycle over the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausilito and get a ferry back over to the wharf. The cycle itself was lovely. It brought us along the sea all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. After 3.30pm the west side of the bridge is opened exclusively to cyclists (no pedestians wandering into your way) so we took that side. However, due to all the stops for photos by the time we actually got across the bridge the ferry was due to sail from 20 minutes down the road. We decided that it would be as quick to cycle back and we wouldn't have to pay all the money for the ferry. We crossed the bridge again on the east side and the pedestrians really made a difference, constantly getting in the way. Emer decided to cycle it in one and left me to take photos and we met up on the other side. For the return cycle we had the wind at our back so it was alot easier. After dropping the bikes back we walked up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower. Telegraph Hill is incredibly steep, so much so that we took steps up the majority of it. At the top is a 21 story tower. I climbed it while Emer stayed at the bottom chatting to a kettle bell instructor who was having a break from a lesson he was giving. All the windows at the top had cheap glass in them which kind of ruined the view from the tower but it was nice all the same. From here we walked the length of Lombard Street, a portion of which is more commonly known as "the Crookedest Street". A portion of it is so steep that they have to have a series of cut backs to get down it, similar to a road in the mountains. The majority of people driving it are video taping themselves so it's funny to see a local get stuck behind them. From the end of this we got a bus home and helped the lads with packing as they are due to move out in a couple of days.

Saturday was to be our last full day in San Francisco and since we had seen and done all the things that were "essential" we asked Jack to recommend a few things. First up was a view point of the Golden Gate bridge from Presidio Park. As we were there we could see some fog rolling in from the sea so I persuaded Emer to hang around a bit. And it was totally worth it. There was a 3 minute window where the deck of the bridge was in fog and the pillars were visible and then the whole thing was gone. It was amazing how quick the fog rolled in. We thought the whole city was going to be like that so we were happy when we found that it was locally only to the bridge. From here we headed to Haight Avenue, known locally as hippy hill. This area is credited with the birth of the hippy movement and the proof is still very much in evidence today. We parked up by Buena Vista park and walked towards Dolores Park. Along the way we stumbled upon a "Dogfest" which was a dog show for local dogs. Emer was delighted with this and went around talking to all the dogs and scratching their ears. When I finally managed to distract her and get her away we went to Dolores Park which was full of people having a good time throwing discs, playing dodgeball, tennis and lacrose, having BBQ's and drinking beers in the sun and just having a good time in general. We had a quick throw and then went to head back to the RV. Along the way we stopped at Burgermeister, a Michelin recognised burger place which does really good food.

After this we drove up to Twin Peaks which has the best view of San Francisco. Up here is the old TV tower which is not used anymore but is a protected structure after it was supposed to be dismantled back in the day. From here we could still see that the deck of the Golden Gate was covered in fog. We took some photos and then headed back to Jack's as we were attending a concert that Mike was playing in. Mike plays the violin and the orchestra he is in performed 3 pieces: Concerto for 2 Violins, Strings and Basso Continuo in D minor by Bach, An Outdoor Overture by Aaron Copland and Dvorak's New World Symphony (No. 9). It was something I didn't expect to be doing when planning this trip but we really enjoyed it. There was free food and beer afterwards which always helps. We headed back to the lads, had a couple of drinks and went down to the Buckshot for some more beers, Off-Road (a brilliant arcade game from the 80's) and some shuffle puck. I got a two dollar note in the pizza place on the way home which is safely in the do not spend section of my wallot.

Sunday brought a final check of the apartment to make sure we didn't leave anything, a couple of photos and some goodbyes. We had a tremendous time here in San Francisco and having Jack and Mike to do stuff with that we wouldn't have done if it was just the two of us contributed greatly to this. It's the first place I have been really sad to leave but there is so much left in the trip. We said our goodbyes, fired up Ita and hit the road to San Jose.....

ps All our photos from this fantastic week are now online so go and look at them here and here

California - Out Of The Forests And Into The Vineyards

Upon waking on our first morning in California we were greeted with blue skies, exactly what we were hoping for. We spent the morning in the RV park preparing the RV and ourselves for the next few days on the road. Bad tanks were emptied, good tanks were filled and a batch of bolognese was cooked. We then put Ita into drive and headed for the Redwood forests for some hiking.

At the northern end we went to the information centre which was closed until the season starts. Thankfully there was a couple of park officials who recommended a couple of hikes for us. We started out on the short, flat Simpson-Reed grove to test out the boots and our willingness to do it. All went well and we were treated to some awe inspiring trees. Again, plenty of photos were taken so have a look here and here. With this short loop under our belts we took on the much more challenging Damnation Creek trail.

This trail began at 1,500ft elevation and dropped the whole way to sea level over 2.3 miles. To say it was steep in places would be generous to it. Going down was the easy part and the view of unspoilt Californian coastline when we emerged from the forest made the return uphill trek worth it, but only just. There was an immense sense of satisfaction upon making it back to the RV but we vowed to take an easier trail the next day. So we drove off towards the south of the forest and parked up in a small village called Klamath along the way.

We woke the next moring having not been interuppted from our slumber to weather we have been used to over the last few days - cool, overcast days. We had breakfast and headed south the few miles to Prairie Creek Visitor Centre. The new boots and steep trail had taken it's toll on our feet and ankles so we started off on the easy Revelation Trail. Again, this went well so we took on the 9-mile round trip of the Miners Ridge Trail. Again this made it's way out to the coast but upon arriving there the view wasn't half as impressive as the previous day. We had a quick snack on a picnic bench and psyched ourselves up for the 4.5 mile return.

Again, making it back to the RV provided us with relief and satisfaction but the trail had taken it's toll on both our ankles. Where the trail was easier in terms of elevation difference it made up for in distance. The boots are packed away now for a few days and hopefully they will be sufficiently broke in for their next airing. We stopped off at Corkscrew Tree and Giant tree but these were right by the road so they were visited in flip flops. We had a large meal and hit the road south towards the Avenue of the Giants. It was getting dark as we passed through a town called Eureka so we parked up and had a well earned sleep. But not before spotting a herd of wild elk on the way.

We rose on Easter Sunday, had breakfast and hit the road nice and early. We drove the Avenue of the Giants which is a scenic alternative that runs parallel to Highway 101. It is amazing to be driving along the road and have these massive trees all around you. We stopped at the drive thru tree tourist attraction but unfortunately our Ita was too big to fit through. Another few miles we bid farewell to the Redwood Forests of Northern California and hello to the wine valleys of Central California. The sun had come out and it became noticeably warmer. Although the road has left the coast, the scenery is continuing to impress and the road follows through the sweeping valleys, sometimes up high to allow the soaring eagles come into view and other times staying low following the meandering rivers along the base of the valleys. The less strenuous driving conditions has also enabled us to get our fuel economy up to 8 miles to the gallon! 10 here we come!!!

We chose an RV park about 50 miles north of San Francisco in a place called Sonoma County Fair. The plan is to spend the day visiting wineries and then heading into San Francisco for a few days tomorrow. We haven't decided who is going to be the designated driver yet though.....

South Through Oregon

Highway 101 brought us the whole way through Oregon. And what a beautiful drive it was! Even though it rained pretty much the whole two days it took us to drive the length of the state, which meant we didn't stop off much. The only interesting places to stop were the viewing points along the battered Pacific coastline as most of the towns along the route are seaside towns and it clearly isn't the season yet.

The journey started in the north where we crossed the mighty Columbia River to enter Oregon. This area of the state is heavily industrialised, the main industry being the timber one. Lumber yards and ships dominate the area for the first few miles. Forests are a common sight the whole way down the coastline as Oregon has the only temperate rainforest in the world. And boy does it rain.

We travelled west from Longview until we reached Astoria where we joined the famous Highway 101. This will eventully bring us the whole way to Los Angeles. First up was the forests, farmlands and wave battered Pacific coastline of Oregon. Naturally, being a coast road it was windy but I don't think either of us were prepared for the hills. It made for some breathtaking views that broke out from behind dense vegetation and it seemed like there was a viewing point every mile along the road. Perhaps it is the reason why the highway is so well known.

This route travels the wholeway down the coast until San Francisco. In Summer it is full of tourists (like ourselves) but it is quieter at the moment. It's not that we can go that fast anyway, in an effort to use less gas (petrol) we drive it alot handier. We are up to 7.2 miles to the gallon at the moment, hopefully when we get onto flatter routes we can push that towards double figures. Anyway, back to the driving.

The highway leaves the industrial timber areas and reaches the coast around Cannon Beach. >From here it takes a detour inland a bit through the farmlands around Tillamook which is famous for cheese in this parts. It rejoins the coast around Lincoln City and follows it pretty much the whole way to Newport. Just south of here is where we stopped for the night in a small little lay by where there is a hiking trail down to a little cove called Devils Churn. When we woke up in the morning the tide was out so we didn't get to see it which was a little disappointing as the Shell attendent back up in Washington had recommended it.

We hit the road again and the further south we got the taller and denser the forests became. The coast seemed to be taking alot more abuse from the sea down here, there were lots of sea stacks to be seen around each corner - some about a hundred metres out to sea.

We made one stop in a small town called Bandon but as mentioned previously, it seemed to be a town waiting for Summer to come. Which is what we hope to find as we crossed over the border into California. After a quick Agricultural checkpoint asking us if we had any fruit on board. We had stocked up on food in the o% sales tax region of Oregon so a quick Irish "no" sufficied and we crossed into the Golden State.....

Also for some better photos you can check out mine (Emers) here!

Out of Washington and Into Oregon

We put the RV into drive and left Seattle for the last time with the late Spring sun finally in our eyes as we took the I-5 south. Our initial plan last Sunday was to head to Olympic National Park and then onto our first RV park by Mt. St. Helen's. We stopped at a Shell and obtained some insider information for the sales assistant and she recommended going to the RV park as Sunday traffic can get very heavy and then head back up to Olympic NP on the Monday.

So we took part of her advice on board and just scrapped Olympic altogether. There are going to be much more spectacular places to be seen along the route so neither of us were too bothered by this slight change of plan. So we got to the RV park and plugged in to our hook up and got cooking the barbeque for dinner. The sun was setting as the food was cooking and it was a great setting for the first cooked meal in our new home.

We had incredibly fast broadband at the park so we "obtained" some shows that we had been missing, most noteably 24. We watched this before heading off to bed.

The next morning brought more clear skies and we filled up our van with fresh water and headed for Mt. St. Helens. We went to the only open visitor centre at this time of the year and were told we couldn't actually reach the crater as the road was still closed for winter. We could reach a viewpoint that enabled us to see part of the crater but not the whole way in. I thought this a bit strange and we headed off up the route on our merry ways.

And what a route it was! Have a look here at the photos of the various places along the way. I couldn't believe it as we got closer to the crater how much snow was still on the road. It got so thick that there was only one lane to go up and down. At this stage Emer got a little worried that we wouldn't be able to turn around. Thankfully, at the last open viewpoint the road was wide enough to allow us to turn the van around. Not before taking a picture on top of knee deep snow in front of Mt. St. Helens. Notice how much of the top of the mountain is missing. This was blown off with the force off the last eruption which took place in 1980. Unbelievable.

We then drove back to the I5 and headed south on the I5 towards Portland. We had a quick stop off at a rest area to have some dinner and ended up staying the night as it seemed an ideal place. And it was, I reckon we will be making use of these places in the coming days and weeks.

Tuesday brought the Historic Columbia River Highway drive. Another drive with spectacular scenery that only photos can attempt to do justice to. Glacial erosion has carved a massive U-shaped valley that the Columbia river now runs through west of Portalnd. There is an old highway that runs along this seperate to the big freeway and along it there are various scenic areas and viewing points. The most amazing of these is without doubt the Multnomah Falls. We then did a bit of shopping and finally picked up good quality hiking boots which will hopefully be a sound investment for the coming months. The plan is to get onto Highway 101 and take it south all the way to Southern California. Watch this space.....

Seattle

Well we have just left Seattle after spending 2 days discovering the wonderful things the city has to offer a tourist - the best burgers in the world, the romance of Sleepless in Seattle and a revloving restaurant to name but a few. 

Strangely enough we did it on two seperate days. The first of those was Thursday while the RV was in the garage. First port of call was The Pike Market while our RV was in for a tune up amgonst other things. We still had the rental car so we drove into the city for the first time, an experience we won't forget too soon. The sat nav said one way and the road diverts said another!!

The Market wasn't like your typical market but is known the country (and alot of the world) over. It's a large farmers market with plenty of fresh seafood, fruit and veg and your typical markey brik-a-brak. It was both indoors and out, it ran over many levels; some of which gave great views out onto the ocean. Unfortunately we were there on a terrible day so we didn't see much. We found the orginial starbucks on one of it's corners which still has the original logo on their door. See if you can spot the difference from our gallery :-) 

We took a quick trip down to Alki Beach which is where a part of Sleepless in Seattle was shot but to be honest it was cold and wet so we left fairly quickly.

Part two of the trip took part on Saturday. A quick note on the previous evening though. We went to the mall after we picked up the RV to get some supplies. We found a Wal Mart in the "Great Northern Pacific Mall" and stocked up there. It was late evening at this stage and we found a theater (cinema to normal people) and decided to go and see a film. We went to Taken which has Liam Neeson in it. After the film we hopped into the RV in the Wal Mart car park and went to sleep. 

Until 2am when we were woken by Mall security to inform us there was no overnight parking allowed. So we got dressed and drove across the road and parked in an industrial office type place until half 7. We then went back into Wal Mart, picked up a few more supplies and headed back into Seattle.

We parked on Admiral which is one of the avenues the Downtown buses use to get in and out of. It is a good wide avenue and we (I - Mark) noticed it is a potential parking spot on our way to Alki the previous trip. It proved to be. We found another camper parked out past 58th street and parked in front of it. Right beside a bus stop that we took to go downtown.

First stop was the Underground tour. This was excellent. The streets of Seattle were between 8 and 32 feet below the streets today and we went on a tour of these and got to see the various ways these features have been implemented in modern day Seattle. Some are used as extra basement space, some are used as storage of building waste after renovations and others have just been closed off.

Next we headed towards the needle. We went into the Frank Gehry designed Science Fiction museum and Experience Music Project show, both housed in the same building. The best thing about these were that they were housed in a building designed by Frank Gehry so that should be enough. The photos will show you just how bizarre the building is. The actually museum itself was boring!

We went for food in a sports bar across the road. Luckily enough we picked the place with the "Best Burger in Seattle". It was a kobe beef burger and I tink it was the best one I ever had. And it was only $14. Also, the NCAA basketball semi finals (College basketball - absolutely massive over here) were on so there was a good crown in it watching. We saw Michigan State upset University of Conneticut to book their place in the final. We left before the second semi-final started to go up the Space Needle.

It's a nice building and is really iconic but it was like any other tall building once you got up there. It was a nice view but nothing exceptional. On the way back down the elevator (lift) stopped at the restaurant and that looked very nice. It revolves so there are great views to be had but main courses at $60 were a little pricey this early in the trip. We got the bus back to the RV and had an uniterupted sleep which was nice. I reckon that will be the plan of action going forward.

All in all I found Seattle to be a nice enough city. The area around 1st Avenue at Pioneer Square (by the underground tour) is alot nicer and has much more character than the quite drab downtown. They absolutely love their coffee - it is the place where Starbucks was founded after all. There are coffee shops absolutely everywhere. As we continue our tour we will come across places alot better than here but it was a nice start to the tour.

We hit the road around 11 to head south and tonight we are in our first RV park by Mt. St. Helen's.....

RV Hunting

So we did it. We are now the proud owners of a 1988 Itasca Sundancer. It’s 24’ long and has a 5.7 litre V8 engine up front. It goes about 70 miles an hour downhill and really doesn’t like going uphill. Fuel economy is to be seen but I will be surprised if we get 10 miles to the gallon out of it. Thankfully a gallon of petrol only costs just over $2 here (that’s about €0.40 a litre). Pictures paint a thousand words so have a look at it for yourselves.

It was priced at $8,000, they wanted $6,000 and we refused to give them any more than $5,000. Having it in cash made the deal an easier one to close so we put down a deposit subject to it being checked in the garage and a test drive. The test drive went fine and it needed new belts and hoses and a bit of an engine tune up. The mechanic mentioned something about a new exhaust manifold but when he heard we were selling it in 4 months he offered to weld up the air intakes which would do the job and save us $600 so that was fine with us.

Getting insurance was a little trickier. Since we are living in the RV (not a CV Brenda!!!) we are supposed to have another vehicle to run errands. Thankfully the lovely Tracey at Camping World argued to her bosses on our behalf and found a loophole to slip us in under the radar so insurance was sorted too. It came back from the garage on Thursday evening and the dealer spent Friday morning going through the internals to make sure everything was working.

We called up at lunchtime on Friday and were given a walkthrough of the ins and outs of the vehicle and were then sent on our merry way. We dropped back the rental car and headed on our adventure. First stop Wal Mart for some supplies…..