california coast

crossing into california i had to go through the customs check point.  all i had was an asian pare which i got from walmart and they let me through with it.   i really enjoyed my drive down route 101 and route 1.  lots of windy roadways through scenic areas, including redwood national forest.

i stopped in eureka to use the internet at has beans coffee.

i drove into the night, which was abnormal but i wanted to find a place with cell phone reception because i was expecting an international call in the morning.  it was night and it was also foggy.  i came close to hitting a deer, but was able to swerve in time.  i gave up looking for cell reception and found a pullout right at a ledge overlooking the foamy waves pounding the surf.

the waves made a constant loud hushing noise that overpowered the sound of the few cars that passed me in the night.  i slept with my side window flared open, listening to the ocean and smiling at the awesome spot i scored to park.  i pondered my trip fondly, knowing it was drawing to a close.  i was sad for it to end but ready for it to be finalized..

another friend in portland

my sister's college roommate jane now lives in portland.  it had been a super long time since we'd met last.   i found her at her counseling job in downtown portland.

she took me to a really cool restaurant called jakes.

then we walked to the powell's bookstore which was huge huge huge.

while we were drinking coffee in the cafe area i remembered that my parking time was overdue!  uh oh.  it had been 25 minutes, and a finding a ticket was certain.  but when we got back to my van there was no ticket!  wow, we were so not in philadelphia.  since i had to move the van anyway, jane got in the passenger seat and continued the personalized city tour for another 20 minutes as we drove around.   i was really glad it worked out for us to meet up on her extended lunch break.  we got to share life. : )

leaving portland i headed for a burgerville which jane had mentioned about.  

i got their tillamook cheeseburger because i figured that would be as local as it gets.  i loved how they broke down the info on the receipt!!

bend friends

my next destination was bend oregon.  on my way there i picked up a hitch hiker named bobby.  we didn't talk much but he was happy to find a ride for a hundred miles.

it was a very pretty drive

then i met up my friends jon and jamie and their new baby kincade.  it was especially nice to see them because i had missed them on two other separate occasions during my trip.  interestingly, my first attempt to visit them was before jamie was pregnant, the second was while she was pregnant, and the third was after kincade was born.  was my trip really that long?  : )

and of course, aspen!

after my visit with them i continued south

i stopped to sleep at a walmart just short of the california border.  a several day heat wave had covered the area so it turned out to be one of the hottest nights in my van on my trip.  it was a stuffy 84 degrees in my van as i went to sleep.  but don't get it wrong, i was still happy for the warmer weather!

olympic national park

i circled the olympic national park mountains, but didn't get very much of a good view of the them because it was mostly cloudy and rainy all day.  the sun came through shortly once or twice.

i continued driving west as far as i could... to the westernmost point of the 48 states which is on the makah tribe indian reservation. 

i continued south along the coast.  this was a point on the coast that was part of the olympic national park.

i stayed a night in a pullout and was startled awake several times by log trucks going by.

in the morning i found this lovely beach which i enjoyed for all of 10 minutes.  it was at long beach, washington.

i would have stayed longer but i had a few more people to visit to wrap up my journey.  this is the very long bridge that spans across the washington/oregon border.

oregon!

tacoma round two

i drove to tacoma to stay again at andrea's house.  when i got to the door i was greeted by her housemate heather who hadn't gotten word that i was dropping bye.  that didn't even seem to phase her.  she stopped what she was working on and made me feel at home by frying up some noodles and tossing together a salad.  it was so good, and she was so nice.  we got some time to chat in the midst of the entertainment from her baby daughter adele and andrea's puppy bella.

i slept on their couch for two nights.   the sunday in between i got to hang out with andrea.  we went to her church and i got to meet a bunch of nice people there.   we went to eat lunch at the house of paul and dawn who are members of the church.  they also had john and carolyn and tami there plus kids.  it was really nice meeting them.  tami is a rug designer who does custom designs and we got to see some pictures of her work.  truly amazing!  who knew people would weave intricate lighting into their rug designs?

then i went with drea and her puppy bella for a hike in point defiance park.  other dogs gathered in - time to play!

we explored down along the boardwalk behind the salmon beach residences.

it was a super cute little community.

good times.

this pup was worn out by the end!