San Francisco to Santa Monica

I'm tired and won't be writing much.  It was mostly a driving day anyway.

• Drove both on the coast and freeway today.  The coast is very rocky, cliffs, not many beaches - weird. That's what I'd have expected from Oregon - and they mostly had beaches!
• Stopped at Julia Pfeiffer hiking trail to see if we could find some California Condors.  No luck according to Sophie.  We did see some birds far, far away, who knows perhaps they were condors... impossible to know.  We also saw a little lizard there and a beautiful waterfall.  We did see whales off shore - lots of them! 
• We then drove on and stopped at Elephant seal beach.  Pretty cool to see these giant blobs on the beach.  Males can measure 16 feet and weigh 5000 lbs!  Crazy!  They smell bad and they snort.  There were also "plain" seals.
• We wanted to stop at Hearst Castle but opted out as the parking lot was so full we figured it would be a long wait time.
• We stopped at bubblegum alley in I don't know where and got a $33 parking ticket.  My fault. That was an expensive gum.
• Arrived in Santa Monica, went to the laundromat to do laundry.  It was Sophie's first time at the laundromat, first time playing Pacman, first time drinking cactus cola and we made a homeless friend.  I think he was a very smart man - with a mixed up mind... just like in the movie Beautiful Mind.

Other things worth mentioning:

• 10 500 steps today - told you it was a driving day
• even if you stop for one second, put money in the parking meter.  The meter guy sits there and waits for you not to.
• The American "loonie" is useless.  None of the pop machines, laundry machines, games take them.
• saw stellars jay, tons of turkey vultures, red tailed hawks, pelicans, gulls, cormorants, 
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do not enter? You kidding? it's a cliff!!

who says this isn't a condor?

 

San Fran -day 2

Today's plan:

• sleep until 8:30 - I've been up since 7
• go for a run at 9
• visit this and that - painted ladies, Golden Gate mosaic stairway, Grand View park stairs, mission district, Haas-Lilienthal House, eat at Straw, Twin Peak Summit, 
• end the day with 4th of July fireworks.

P.S. Remember to click on photo to get bigger view.

It's three o'clock and we are taking a break.  This is how the day went so far...

We went for a beautiful run in Golden Gate Park.  Beautiful place!  We just followed trails wherever they brought us.  One of them took us through the AIDS memorial grove.  What a beautiful, respectful place.  We ran for 4.39 km.  Luckily, there were washrooms close to where we had parked the car so we changed into regular clothing to continue on our journey.  

We got in the car and drove to see the mosaic stairs.  We parked the car and heard the elusive parrots.  Those darn birds don't want us to see them!  They flew overhead but too fast for us to really see them.  We start walking, climb up 140 stairs, climb down the other side of the mountain to figure out we were not in the right place.  We walked around the mountain to the original side we started at and finally found the famous staircase.  WOW! What beautiful work!  I should've counted how many stairs there were... but thought of it too late.  There were 163 - it took over 2 minutes to get to the top. 

The second set of stairs was even more beautiful I think...Although it seemed much longer, it only had 148 steps.  The hidden garden - very colourful mosaic. 

After looking at the beautiful artwork, going up and down stairs, we moved on to twin peaks.  That was a bit useless because of the fog.  We could see absolutely nothing but white... all around, just... white.  I'm guessing that on a sunny day - they do exist right? - you would have a 360 panoramic view of the Bay... Oh well, we climbed up more steps just to say we were on top of one of the peaks.

Down, down, down we went to see the painted ladies - a row of very cute little homes.  Nothing like the Jelly bean rows in St.John's Newfoundland though.  We had a difficult time finding a parking spot... it's crazy here on Saturdays!  Doesn't help that it's the fourth of July - parks are filling up with party goers! 

We looked at the houses for a whole 2 minutes and moved on to see the Mission District.  Parts of this neighbourhood seems quite poor and shady.  Not someplace you wander alone at night... We were looking for the graffiti walls and found them.  Beautiful artwork!  I guess you could say we are having an artful day! 

We had lunch in a little hippie sort of restaurant called frjtz.  Their fries were really good! 

Now, we are sitting in our hotel room, I'm typing, Sophie is looking at her pictures on her phone and Rémi is doing I'm not sure what on his phone.










For dinner, we went to a pretty cool restaurant called Straw - circus themed restaurant. The menus were glued inside children's book covers, the dessert menu was in a notebook and people wrote/drew messages.  Pretty cute little place! The food was actually pretty good!  Rémi had a doughnut burger!! Instead of buns - doughnuts!    I had beef quesadillas.  Sophie had some sort of pasta dish with chicken.  It was pretty good as well!

Other things worth mentioning:

• The fourth of July is not as impressive as the 1st in Ottawa.  No red, white and blue, it's not as patriotic as home.  I would've thought it would have been more.  Tons of people watching the fireworks - which were beautiful.
• None of the streets were closed during the "concert" and fireworks - are they nuts? Every downtown street is closed in Ottawa.
• I have never seen as many homeless people as I've seen here - with the exception of Los Angeles.  What are they doing wrong that there are so many here?  It's kind of sad to see.
• 20 000 steps.

San Francisco -1st day

Good morning!

I have a feeling this will be a long day.  We were up at 3 am with a sick girl.  Perhaps it's the chocolate covered bacon? or the chocolate covered orange? or maybe it's wolfing down dinner at 9pm?  Whatever it was, not pleasant.  Sorry! No pictures of puking child.  Poor Rémi!  He walked to Walgreen's at 3:30 am - thinking it was a block away... ends up it was more like 2 km away!  Oh well, look on the bright side - he has 1/5 his steps done for the day! ha!

It's 3:40 and we are taking a little rest.  Thought I'd get a head start on my entry.

Washroom at telegraph hill - unfortunately it was out of order.

 So far today we've walked 14 km or so.  I have 25 000 steps done and we aren't even close to being done for the day!  This morning, we walked up (my goodness they are trying to kill us with all these very steep hills! Who thought it would be a good idea to build a city here?) Lombard street to Telegraph Hill.  On the way, we went up Lombard street and down Lumbard Street - the crookedest street in the world.  You can't really see it in the picture but between each row of flowers, the street turns.  We were hoping to see the parrots at Telegraph Hill but no luck.  They were nowhere to be found.  We did catch a glimpse of them flying though.  Perhaps we will be luckier tomorrow.

We then walked to Pier 39 to visit the aquarium.  On the way, we saw this random fire alarm... Why would you need that on the sidewalk?  The aquarium was beautiful.  A place filled with all sorts marine life.  We managed to touch a stingray and a leopard shark I believe it was.  The ray is very soft while the shark feels more like a lizard.  In the other touch tank there was a variety of starfish and some anemones.  After the aquarium, we walked around the pier.  The seals were not on their docks.  Must have been fishing time for them.  We had lunch - we ate delicious crêpes with strawberries and chocolate.


We walked back to the hotel to change as it has finally decided to be warm outside.  Off to Crissy Field we went.  This is a large park, beach, bike paths, sidewalks, walkway to the Golden Gate Bridge.  We park and started walking.  Problem is, the parking we chose was a long way from the bridge... not knowing there would be parking spots much closer... that's why our walk ended up being 10Km! The parking lot was over 2km from the bridge!  Good thing it's a pretty location...  Our adventure took 2 hours.  Took lots of pictures, got a decent picture of the bridge - as decent as will get - seems like there is always fog here.  Weird.

Alcatraz - What a great experience!  It was so interesting!  I should've known to bring tissues... but no... of course I didn't!  Don't ask me what was sad, I couldn't tell you. Perhaps it's the voice of the actual prisoners and guards.  Maybe it was their stories.  Either way, there were sad parts, funny parts, interesting parts - I really enjoyed the tour and would recommend it to everyone - especially the night tour.  Something that really doesn't have to do with Alcatraz but is cool - on the grounds, there are nesting sea birds of various kinds.  We could see baby seagulls and could practically touch them.  Very cool!

Other things worth mentioning:

• We saw brewer's blackbird, an egret, gulls, surf scoter, great blue heron, some other bird we have no clue what they were - will try to find out.
• the hills are brutal.  If you are not going, you are going down.  There is pretty much no flat parts except at the pier and Crissy Field
• Make sure you bring more than one pair of pants - even when going south -or else you look like you only have one thing to wear - my suitcase is filled with clothes.  I just can't wear them because it's too cold!
• I ended the day with 38 125 steps - walked up many very steep hills, walked up hundreds of stairs - and appr. 25 km!!!  No wonder my legs feel like they want to fall off!
• In the city, we saw someone trying to scare away the gulls with a little drone - then, on Alcatraz we see signs do not disturb the birds.  Make up your minds! 

Eureka to San Francisco

Today was a long, nerve wracking drive.


It started with sleeping in - until 8:30 - a bit of a mistake because then it cuts in your plans... but oh well.

We got up, had breakfast and went to see Carson Mansion.  WOW!  My jaw dropped when I saw this beautiful "home"!  The original owner was actual a Canadian - born in New Brunswick - very interesting story - you should look it up some day.  I thought it was fascinating - http://www.ingomar.org/history-begin.html.   The house across the street - the Pink Lady - was built by this same man as a wedding gift to his son.  I can't even believe that someone would live in a house like this!

Off we go to find the Pigmy Forest.  We drove on the freeway for a while and turned off to drive on the Avenue of Giants - where we could see more redwoods - even larger than yesterday.  I'm still in awe of these 2 000 year old trees!  Just think the stories they would tell if they could speak!  We were supposed to stop at the eternal tree but didn't missed it somehow.  We stopped at an interpretive center and learned more about this forest of giants.



We also stopped at a "tourist trap" =) where we drove through a tree.  How could you not do this activity?!  It was a tight squeeze or so it felt!

After leaving this last place, we made our way to Highway 1 - OH MY GOD!!  I've never seen a rode with so many twists and turns!  Truly unbelievable!  My nerves were shot by the time I got to San Francisco.  These people are crazy!  There are no guardrails in most places - the drop is long... scary for someone who doesn't like heights... anyway - beautiful views - absolutely gorgeous!

We stopped for a hike to see the pigmy forest.  What a hike!  It was a VeRY steep trail! Took
us almost an hour to do 3.4 km.  It wasn't as exciting as we expected - I wouldn't call those trees - more like shrubs...on the bright side, we will have buns of steel by the time we get back home!


Other things worth mentioning:

• we saw seals on the beach, 
• we found a bird skull on another beach, 
• we saw lots of birds of prey - mostly turkey vultures, 
• Sophie thought she'd lost her phone - ends up it fell under the seat, 
• we didn't get to see the Golden Gate Bridge when we crossed it because of the darn fog, 
• we tried chocolate covered bacon - not my thing
• Birds we saw today: Steller's Jay, wilson's warbler, lots and lots and lots of turkey vultures, red tail hawk, pigeon guillemot, western gulls, cormorant, peregrine falcon.
• took 15 700 steps

I'm now dead tired from the stress of the drive.  Off to bed I go.

Yachat to Eureka

Today, we leave Oregon and enter California!  Maybe it will be a little warmer?

Our first stop this morning - tidal pools at Cape Perpetua.  Beautiful stop!  We walked down to the beach and rocks were we found some tidal pools filled with anemones, orange and purple starfish and purple sea urchins.  There was a second path that led you to a blowhole, but since the tide wasn't high enough yet, we didn't get to see much of anything - only where we suspect the hole might be.  Oh well.


We then continued on our merry way to Sea Lion Caves.  It's a humongous cave where sea lions go.  It's the sea cave in the world - or so the sign said.  We saw sea lions and pigeon guillemots.  We saw nests with baby cormorants as well.  Pretty cool sight!


We drove off and by golly - there were very large sand dunes so we stopped to play for a few minutes.  You would've thought you were in a desert - without the heat!



We then drove for a few hours and stopped at a "safari".  It was similar to Papanack Zoo in Ottawa - except prettier.  There, we petted: a baby bear, a baby tiger, 2 baby fox, a baby cirv
al, a capybara,  and a Canadian lynx!  It was probably a highlight of our trip.  It was so neat to be able to touch these creatures!   After spending probably about 1 1/2 hours here, it was time to go as we wanted to stop at the Fern canyon.

Finding fern canyon... what an adventure!  My friend Ann would be proud.  First off, we leave Oregon and enter California - where we should be going through the redwood forests.  Let me tell you!  These redwoods are something else!  Redwoods are also known as giant sequoias.... they are giant alright!  I've never seen anything like it!  I guess I did - in Vancouver - they have redwoods there... but not as many as here!  It's almost ridiculous how big these trees are!  Even the car looks like an ant!  Anyway - you can probably tell I'm in love with these trees and would love on in my yard =)

The gps is telling us to turn on this scenic route, which we do.  WOW!  more big trees!  It's a winding road (well, pretty much since we got in our car in Seattle), and it's just gorgeous.  Ferns cover the ground, giant trees everywhere.  The gps says "turn on the road".  Ok, what road?  There is no road.  We continue on, knowing that this road will eventually connect back to the 101.  We stop, look at a map on the side of the road that shows various trails.  We see there is an interpretive center not too far away and we make our way there.  It's closed but there is a better map showing how to get there, so hiking we go.  Problem is it's getting dark.  It says it's a 4.8miles hike.  Is that one way? two ways? We decide we can make it, aware that it's bear and cougar country.  Well, we hiked for about 25 minutes and decided to turn back.  It gets dark very fast in a forest of giant trees!  Disappointed that we were not going to see the canyon... that's life right?

We get back to the center, get in our car and look at the little paper map and see... there is a parking right next to the place we want to go!!!!! OMG!  We've hiked up, up, up for nothing! Good thing we turned around when we did!  So we get back on the highway and see... the sign for Fern Canyon - Yippee!   It's a tiny gravel road, up, up, up the mountain.  On the tiny road we finally saw some elk!

Fern Canyon was beautiful.  This is where they filmed part of the Jurassic movie.  The canyon walls are covered with ferns.  There is a little stream on the floor of the canyon.  Pretty place.  We then drove to our next destination:  Eureka - just for the night.

Other things worth mentioning:

• took 17 000 steps
• saw pigeon guillemots and cormorant nesting
• saw lots of turkey vultures - they are not endangered that's for sure! 
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Ocean Shores to Yachat

Pretty uneventful day today.  Nice drive - out of Washington state into Oregon.  It's pretty cold - sunny one minute then my goodness! Thick fog rolls in off the ocean.  It's weird how that happens!

We left the hotel, went for a stroll on the beach and saw a coyote feasting on something.  He looked pretty skinny but that could just be that he was wet from the mist.  We saw lots of gulls feasting on crabs and other little shelled things.


We drove to Oihut conservation reserve to see what kind of birds we could see.  We saw loons (who knew then went into salt water!) and some surf scotter.  It was a little disappointing.  I was expecting to see and hear lots of birds...  There were lots of dead jellyfish.  Very pretty.


After spending a little bit of time there, we drove off again. We did stop at various lookouts and bird watching places.  We saw song sparrows, white crowned sparrows, hummingbirds (couldn't get a photo of them yet - they are just too fast), turkey vultures (got some awesome shots if I may say so myself), bald eagles, and a spotted towhee.  We saw lots of beautiful sights.

Interesting how the forests have changed since Washington!  It looks a little more like home now.  Weird!

The picture on the right is a banana slug - the key is to show its size.  They are huge! Stepping on one would be totally disgusting I'm sure!

In Ocean Shores, there were these beautiful sculptures made of driftwood.












Other things worth mentioning:

• Big walking day! over 22 000 steps!
• slept in a motel - Sophie doesn't like motels - she thinks they are scary.

Leaving Seattle -to Ocean Shores

We got up bright and early to make our way to Port Angeles to go whale watching.  We got on the boat and made our way to see the orcas off the coast of Vancouver island and San Juan island.  The ride there was ok - a little chilly but calm enough.  We got there and saw the whales!  They were not what I expected... I found them a little boring - no fluke, just very large fin.  We did manage to see mom and baby though! That was pretty neat!

The way back was not fun!  I guess the winds picked up and it was a very rough ride... Did not enjoy it at all!  Not too many did I don't think!  People were puking left and right.  I managed to keep it in but came close a few times!

I was really happy to get off that boat!  felt queasy for a while but had some ginger ale and that solved the problem.  Phew!

We went on our merry way.  We stopped at a beach - if you can call it that - called Ruby Beach.  You can't swim there but it is beautiful!  We stopped at the first and the fourth one - where there was supposed to be tide pools, but since the tide was coming in we didn't get to see it.

The forests here are just amazing!  I can't explain it and pictures don't do them justice.  On the way, we passed through a couple of rainforests.  They are so dense you would get lost within feet of the trail - if you could even get in!  There are beautiful ferns everywhere and the trees are already very big - not sequoia big but huge nonetheless!

white crowned sparrow

We've seen interesting birds: tufted puffin, white crowned sparrow, pigeon guillemot, barn swallow, osprey, rhinoceros auklet, common muir, possibly a petrel, glaucous winged gull, heermann's gull.

barn sparrow

Other things worth mentioning:

• took 10 208 steps. Not many - spent 5 hours on a boat
• Rémi was attacked by little sparrows.  That'll teach him to walk past a nest! 
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