Vacay Piccies

(These are tiny, but I'm far too tired to care right now. Right-click and select "view image" to see full sizes.)

Jesse and Sharon picked us up on Friday, July 18th after work. We hit the road after loading up the car and camped about 4 hours North of here in Idaho.

Idaho hills.

On Saturday we made our way up to Washington, and on Sunday we headed to the Washington coast. We stopped to get some cherries along the way and stopped at a farmer's market in Olympia. We were all happy to see the ocean.

Playing in the water.

Chris and me. You can't tell, but I am soaking wet here, having just gotten entirely in the ocean fully clothed. Chris is (sensibly) dry and wearing a fleece. That just kind of sums up our personalities.

Animals follow Chris around like he is Snow White or something.

We drove down the coast to Northern Oregon on Monday. We took our time and stopped a lot, and ended up camping at a beach that had a lot of driftwood. And ravens.

Jesse and Sharon's awesome dog, Alex. She was our guard dog for the trip.

We camped here in Northern Oregon. I think it was in Barview County?

This made me think of The Cure song, "A Letter to Elise". It made me sad. Elise and Tim, I hope you're still in love.

I love the way this tree was just growing out of the sand.

On Tuesday we packed up and drove South to Coos Bay, Oregon. We stopped at a couple of wineries and at the Sea Lion Caves on the way. We picked up some clams, scallops and prawns at a fish market and ate a good dinner that night.

Chris tries to coax a squirrel over.

Gratuitous lighthouse picture.

Improvised clam shell receptacle.

We slept late on Wednesday, because we were staying in Coos Bay for another night. We went to the boardwalk and to a farmer's market. Also while in Coos Bay I went surfing for the first time ever. The waves were really big, but it was so much fun. I want to do it again, soon.

Boats in the bay.

Me in a wetsuit, with the world's largest surfboard.

Me and the instructor in the water.

On Thursday we drove from Southern Oregon into California. It was kind of a hellish day of driving because we hit the really wind-y part of the drive, and it was slow and nauseating. We drove through the Redwood National Park area, and saw a Bigfoot memorabilia flea market and various large tree tourist things, like the drive-through tree and the one-log house. We stopped along the coast in Northern California late that night to crash. On Friday we got up early because we were anxious to get on to San Francisco. It was a gorgeous drive.

There is a seal out there somewhere.

We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge (A $5 toll? Are you kidding me?) and got into San Francisco at about 1pm, where Chris and I changed out of our pajamas in a gas station bathroom (classy!) and we all went to a sushi place recommended by the gas station clerk. It was basically our first meal out since we'd been on the road, and we ordered a ridiculous amount of food. We were surprised that they didn't make us put up a downpayment. We went to the Fisherman's Wharf and walked around there for a while, and then headed to a campsite. Jesse made us an awesome dinner and I drank a whole $2 bottle of wine by myself. Again, classy!

We packed up on Saturday and went back into San Francisco. We drove around, seeing, among other things, the Haight/Ashbury area, Nob hill, and Chinatown. We ate some good Thai food and then hit the road again. We camped along the Truckee River near Lake Tahoe on Saturday night, which was beautiful. The town of Truckee is just adorable, too.

The truckee river.

On Sunday we made the long drive from Lake Tahoe to Salt Lake City. We concluded that Nevada is full of freaks, based partially on the man driving along the interstate, alone, wearing a FULL ON gas mask. Also of note was the car that pulled into a gas station behind us and was painted with skulls and the like, full of very unshowered (yet obviously well-fed) individuals. One guy blindfolded HIMSELF and started wandering around the gas station parking lot, while the others got out to reveal the car's interior, which was full of bloody handprints. Awesome. We arrived back at Salt Lake City at about 10pm on Sunday.

The sun setting on the Salt Flats.

We crashed, and while we were laying in bed I remarked "This really isn't any more comfortable than camping." Chris responded with "I was just thinking the same thing."

posted by Ami @ Friday, August 01, 2008