From Redwoods to Almond Blossoms

Written: Thursday, February 21st - S. of Portland, OR

We slept outside of Portland last night at a rest stop. There was this cool older woman parked a few spots over sleeping in an old Chevy Camper-van with her cat. Geoff and I keep talking about getting a traveling companion of our own. Maybe we’d find a stray kitty or dog along the way. Actually the more we think about it the less sense it makes. I couldn’t imagine a little litter box to go along with our cat, or scratch marks or puppy barf on our seats. I wish we could get one that didn’t do any of those things…like a travel puppy. I guess for now Zeddy will have to do.


A fountain for four in Portland, OR and well...Broadway Street.

5:00pm – Florence, OR

Well we made it to the Pacific Ocean! We’re at the Sand dunes National Recreation Area. The ocean here is so incredibly breathtaking…and loud. The water is especially violent because there’s a storm a brewing. When we came over the dunes and saw the ocean we ran to the water along the dry beach and stood looking out, when everything went strangely silent…in a really unusual way. Then out of nowhere this huge wave came crashing in and we barely made it off the beach dry. The wave, we later learned is aptly named the sneaker wave. After seeing the ocean and driving along cliff edges looking down on the ocean we both have developed a pretty strong fear of the ocean…which will likely complicate any attempts at surfing.



8:00pm – Coos Bay, OR

We snuck onto a truck weigh station…the grand total is 3850lbs!


Written: Friday, February 22nd – California!!

I think that somewhere I was hoping to cross the border to California, and the clouds would part and the sun shine down. It is quite rainy here today but we’re excited to be heading into the redwoods, we are already beginning to see monstrous stumps lining the road.

10:20pm – Eureka, CA

There is a big storm coming on it’s way, and I don’t want to be on the coast when 50mph winds hit. We’re going to head into the central valley in search of warmer/drier weather. Today we went hiking in the redwoods, It was so amazing! We found it so hard to capture the essence of this place on film…”ambassadors from another time” as John Steinbeck refers to them. This is a picture of one of these 'ambassadors' if you look close you can see Zeddy.

Oh, and about this ocean thing…I’ve been thinking. There are times when I’m confronted with majestic things in nature that are initially quite scary, like looking over a cliff, or entering a cave. Once you stand there for a while and let your eyes adjust and you feet firmly plant themselves you inevitably start to feel at ease. But this ocean…It’s been days now and it’s still gives me the heeby geebies. Tonight we are the last people at this lookout spot, up on a large cliff overlooking the surf. The storm is coming in tonight and you can feel the wind shift towards the ocean as the weather system pulls the warm air in from the shore. We are about to hit the road soon, we were going to sleep here tonight but it's just too creepy.

Written: Saturday, February 23rd – Meyers Flat, CA

It’s STILL rainy today. Geoff said that he wouldn’t be surprised if there was moss on Della by the time we made it out of this rainy area.





We went through the drive through tree today! I can’t believe that Delilah made it…She just barely fit. I had to get out and guide the car through.

3:50pm – Willits, CA

The Guy on the cover of my California tour guide holds a big fat glass of wine up to me as if to raise a toast. He is surrounded by his beautiful tanned friends around a table full of flowers, food, and warm sun. I’m so cold in the van my feet went numb, literally. Having no heat really makes a difference when the temp drops a little. We just stopped for some warm soup and hot green tea. I spent a few minutes under the hand dryer in the rest stop bathroom. I’m now feeling quite content with my tea, a fleece blanket wrapped around my legs, and the down slippers I stole from my mom. They are starting to defrost my feet despite the fact that I’m losing feathers through a hole in them that I can’t seem to find.

“Other people’s lives seem more interesting because they ain’t mine” – Modest Mouse

Written: Sunday, February 24th – Fairfield, CA

Bad Day. Don’t want to talk about it.

Written: Monday, February 25th – Rio Vista, CA

The view out my window is like a Microsoft background. Beautiful green hills roll along the road while puffy white happy clouds float overhead. We are on route to Lodi, a region know for it’s wine. Today we sampled a less sophisticated Californian delicacy at the Jelly Belly Factory tour. It was actually pretty neat…but I have no pictures of the inside. Apparently Willie Wonka doesn’t want his recipes stolen by that Mr. Smudgeworth. The air in there smelled so sweet it hurt my teeth. They had a sample bar there and you could try anything. They even made you recipes like mango pineapple salsa (mango + crushed pineapple + jalapeño). And the to end it all I got my picture taken with the jelly belly portrait of Arnold, the governor of California.

Written: Tuesday, Feb 26th – Antioch, CA

I have a sunburn! And it’s February. Today was just perfect. We went to the Black Diamond Mine Preserve for a whole day since yesterday's hike wasn’t enough to fully take this place in. How can I describe this place? If I asked God to make me a piece of land, just for me…this would be it. Giant rolling hills covered in grass, wildflowers, blossoming trees and grazing cattle. We just hung out for the morning, and went hiking to the top of one of the hills in the afternoon. This place is so tranquil and at peace, I can’t help but feeling the same when I’m here.

Written: Wednesday, February 27th – Lodi, CA

We are in wine country, and are of course…touring wineries. We just went to Jewel Vineyards – such a beautiful place. Tip#1 for California Wine tasting: make friends with your wine tasting bar guy and he’ll hook you up. We were in there for an hour, talking about everything from wine to the environment and he let us sample tons of things even from the fancy estate series. Needless to say we need to take a break in the beautiful picnic area before we operate a motor vehicle.
Feeding the goats at Michael David Winery.
The bottling facility at Woodbridge, just like in Laverne and Shirley.
These are giant redwood barrels used for aging wine. Usually it's done in the smaller barrels seen below. In this old room there were frogs hoping around. I guess the love the cool damp environment in there.

Written: Friday, February 28th – Modesto, CA

It’s the last day in February, and the almond trees are in full bloom here. Acres and acres of trees line the road. We are in the home of Black Diamond Almond Co., we even went to the factory and gift shop. Not only are there cheap almonds everywhere but fruit too!! I’m in heaven. Everyday we make it a point to eat at least one orange. These oranges are like no other. They are so juicy it’s hard not to choke while eating them. “Crystal Rousseau, Found dead, drowned in orange juice, with a smile on her face” I could think of worse ways to go.
almond blossoms...so pretty.watching the sunset after dinner.