Redwoods to Mount St. Helens

Despite the unsettled coastal weather, our tour up the coast of northern California, Oregon and Washington was spectacular. The landscape is riddled with unique features such as the Redwoods, coastal dunes, expansive beaches and volcanoes.  Some of the nicer coastal communities are found along the northern half of the Oregon coast and we were excited to run into some great local produce (and Tillamook cheese!). As we dodged the weather up the coast we encountered some special places and will most certainly return some day.

Big Big trees of Jedidiah State Park

Redwood wonder

Ripple foot

Put her down!!

Oregon eve

Oregon lighthouse

Mount St. Helens Johnson Observatory

A land recovers

A must see in Washington

Oregon dune flight

Sonnet turns 2!!

On the California Gold Rush Trail

Our favourite part of California was our journey north along highway 49. This highway connects all the gold rush towns including places like Angel's camp, Sutter Creek, Caloma, Placerville, Nevada City and Downieville. Not only does it connect these colourful and quaint towns that have preserved some great gold rush era buildings, but it follows the juicy geology of the motherlode beld (great road cuts to drool over that are begging "ASSAY ME". The south and central sections of highway 49 are in the Sierra Nevada foothills, a rolling savanna type landscape that is absolutely beautiful. This region seems to be now dominated by ranching, however we did notice one small hard rock mine at Sutter Creek (rumour has it took 30 years to permit!). The north end of highway 49 climbs deeper into the Sierra Nevada and ends up following the deeply incised Yuba River. We spent three nights at Sierra Streamside Cabins for Sofia's birthday and managed to get in some fly fishing on a very picturesque section of the river. After reaching Sierra City, the last gold rush town on 49, we ventured over the Sierra Nevada and spent a few days on Lake Tahoe. Apparently it is a zoo around Lake Tahoe in July and August but in June or September it is pleasantly quiet. This lake is something to see with its deepest point being 1645 ft! If you are thinking about a trip to California and want to get away from the coastal congestion then we recommend driving highway 49 and be sure to include a side trip to Lake Tahoe.

My kind of town!

Nevada City

Angel's Camp main street

Sierra Nevada foothills

49er Fuv

Addict at the trough

Gold!

Replica of Sutter's Mill where they discovered the gold in January 1848

Native grinding rock

Sierra Streamside cabins

The Yuba River from the deck

Album cover for our new band "Rum and Coke"

Sofia turns 12 on the Yuba River

The foot bridge to our cabin

Last load over the bridge

Fly fishing on her birthday

Nature's present

A Yuba River giant!

Sierra City fountain

Sardines at Lower Sardine Lake

Paddling Lake Tahoe

King's beach Lake Tahoe

Going for the record

Way up yonder in the Sierras

Flip flop geology-what ever it takes to get a sample

Tahoe Blue

Wandering our way through spring

On most days we set out with a rough plan of what we are going to eat, how far we are going to drive, where we are going to sleep and what interesting places we are going to visit. Most of the time it works out, but occasionally you get snookered by a full campsite or (rarely) lousy weather and your rough plan gets thrown out the window. So you find yourself driving by the seat of your pants, hoping you stumble across a new destination. This morning I find myself writing from the Gold Country Inn in the small town of Angel's Camp. Angel's Camp lies in the foothills of the Sierras in central California on highway 49, which follows the settlements of the famous California gold rush. The towns are close together and from our preview last night full of character. We planned to drive highway 49 but our intention yesterday was to camp further south in Yosemite National Park. Twice we have learned that you can't show up in a famous US national park after noon and expect to get a camp site. This also happened to us in Zion national park. Both Zion and Yosemite are jaw dropping beautiful (if you can see over the guy in front of you) and definitely worth visiting. Unfortunately their beauty has got the best of them and they are now magnets for sedans and cell phone cameras. Our journey out of the desert two weeks ago and onto the California coast saw us leave relative quiet and enter a zoo of humanity. The coast of southern California is beautiful but feels down right packed with people and loaded with regulations. Its obvious to me that we missed the heyday of the area by about 100 years. The best part about our time in Los Angeles was our reunion with Leyla's old university friend, Sina, and his family. They welcomed us with open arms, Sofia and Sullivan got a chance to play with their own kind, and their home provided us a base to explore and embrace the big city. We can't thank them enough for the hospitality. So now we find ourselves back on the road. We spent a few nights on the Big Sur coast and now its all about gold rush towns, antique stores, saloons and of course, juicy rocks. Time to dig out the gold pan...

Zion Canyon

Zion River

Camping in Zion

Sofia on the brink

S

White House campground on the Paria River

a

Wandering down the Paria River canyon

Who lives here?

Desert beauty

D

Dead End

Sonnet morphs into lizard

Grand Canyon south rim

Two lovely girls and a big crevasse in the earth

Joshua Tree party

Playful camping in Joshua Tree

and here is the tree

Hugh Hefner's new friends

A day at Disneyland = big smiles

Dad's Disneyland, Dire Wolf skulls recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits in downtown Santa Monica

Wise old Orchid at the San Diego Zoo

Sonnet lands in paradise at Ocean Park dog beach near San Diego

Carmel beach also is dog friendly :)

Sullivan, the master of Jiffy Pop

Sofia discovers Big Sur, California