In the footsteps of Lewis & Clark

[Guest]

Darrin and I have many friends in America. We have met and even shared vacations with some of them and there are those where it has been a purely email, exchange of gifts at Christmas type of friendship.( Boy! The UK Post Office know how to charge - but I digress).

Firstly, just north of Seattle are Mark and Janine. We have met previously - dinner at the Space Needle in the "Emerald City" and also at Club 33 in Disneyland. Janine is very ill right now with acute leukeamia and her treatment isn't going exactly to plan. We are hoping like mad that we can get to see her and her hubby when we arrive in Seattle. I email her every day. She hasn't been home properly since October and didn't do Christmas or New Year. Her birthday is due towards the end of this month (January).

We also have two very dear friends, who we haven't yet met in person and who adopted and brought up their own grandchildren. The mother died young. They are God fearing people and they are adorable and yet Don has lung cancer caused by asbestos. He used to be an electrician.

Don't these two incidents make you count your blessings?

Don and Lana hail from San Diego but they gave up city life and bought a little small-holding just north of the Columbia river at White Salmon, Washington State. From their home they can see Mount Ranier, Mount St. Helens (the one that blew up in the 80s), Mount Hood across the river and Mount Shashta in the distance. Summers are short in their part of the world. Snow can start falling in October. I have the most delightful photos sent to me by Lana of the kids growing up and the eldest (girl) graduating, deer eating Lana's geraniums that she loves to plant by the front porch and wild turkeys waddling down the lane.

We "met" via an American bulletin board when they had been to Disneyland but had missed the performance of Fantasmic due to time restraints. The kids were really disappointed. I had video footage of the Disneyland show and so I sent her a copy converted to the US system (NTSC).

When Darrin and I did our great train trip across America we agreed that at exactly 3p.m. on the day we arrived at Portland station for a stop we would look to the north east and wave. In return Lana and the kids stood on their porch facing south west and waved to us. There was only 70 miles between us!

Anyhow, we aim to head for Portland and then drive that 70 miles to White Salmon for a couple of days. I always promised I'd knock on her door one day. That particular trip is supposed to be along a beautiful route following the river with cascades and waterfalls along the way. I have an awful feeling that the entire town is going to turn out to meet us. We are discussed on a regular basis with the local postal clerk when packages are sent to and fro. Don is a huge whisky fan and so guess what we will be taking along?

We then intend to head on down through Oregon enjoying its wild country and shoreline. The Lewis & Clark mention in the Trippie title is because this is where the Pacific Northwest was explored by the two gentlemen in question when they were the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States, departing in May, 1804 from St. Louis on the Mississippi River, making their way westward through the continental divide to the Pacific coast. I doubt they did it in a 4 x 4.
If time permits we will call at Crater Lake. We have been before when we stopped off on our train trip. The area is a collapsed volcano that blew its top about 8,000 years ago. The caldera (hollow) that was left behind filled with water over the centuries and you now have a lake the deepest shade of blue that you will see anywhere on this earth. I urge you to Google pictures of it. You can see the new volcano cone that is slowly forming in the lake. It's known as Wizard island. Many a year you can't drive around the rim road because some of the winter snow that falls never melts. I have a photo taken in June of the year we travelled and the drift behind me is 18 feet deep! I also reckon that it must hold the record for one of the highest toilet facilties in the USA!

We will then, of course, spill into California and enjoy a weekend in San Francisco. A must do here is Beach Blanket Babylon - a theatre which presents a satirical review of the current news which all takes place around Snow White (with a hyper vibrating voice) who travels through the news events around the world to find a prince. You are still with me? The finale features giant hats -14 feet across - one being a landscape of San Francisco complete with a cable car going up and down a hill and another being Snow's wedding cake that has hearts on it that open up to show the 7 dwarfs. You can enjoy a drink or two in your seat - they have waiters - and I guarantee you will ache with laughter when you emerge from this place.

We will then move on to Carmel. We have passed by here many times either heading to Monterey or towards Pismo the other way. So many people have told us to take some time out here and we will. In the autumn months you can see whales migrating north out at sea along this coast.

We'll continue to Pismo Beach. Hey! If it was good enough for Bugs Bunny... the hotel there is called the Seaventure and it is LITERALLY on the beach. It has hot tubs on its balconies where you can sit and simmer and watch sunrise or sunset. Breakfast arrives at your room door in a pinic basket with gingham cloths and napkins.

We plough further south - possibly having a shopping break in Santa Barbara. It has the best and prettiest shopping mall layout I've ever seen. (Spanish influences everywhere). The wharf (pier) that runs out to sea here was once owned by Humphrey Bogart.

And so to Long Island for an overnight stay on the RMS Queen Mary which is permanently berthed here. We have visited the ship previously but not stayed on it.

From here its an hour's drive and we arrive at the "Happiest Place on earth" - Disneyland in Anaheim. We'll be staying at the DVC Villas at the Grand Californian. We have a private entrance into the California Adventure park so I shall be very near the front of the line for the Carsland Radiator Spring Racers on our first day. We will celebrate 25 years together on 4th July in the Disneyland Park. I don't care if its rammed that day. It's where we want to be for our special day. We are hoping our dear friends Tim & Jimmie from Arizona will be able to join us. We've met on a few occassions. Hopefully, we will also meet up with our good friend Joe and his wife Janet. Joe was an original investor in Disneyland and knew Walt personally.

And then it will be flight home from LAX. We have no intention of visiting Los Angeles. Been before and weren't impressed apart from the Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers Studio tours. Hollywood really needs some work to restore its tinsel.

So there you are. Disney is booked but the rest I have to work on - backwards to make the pieces fit. Really looking forward to it and hope I haven't bored you with my ramblings.

[Gill H]

Wow, sounds amazing!

[Guest]

That is some trip - I hope you get to see every one that you plan to see.

[Taffy1959]

That sounds fantastic and congratulations on your 25th anniversary

[disneylover]

Wow that's some trip! I'm looking forward to reading about. Have a great time.

[Our Grumpy1]

What an exhilarating and memorable trip you have planned Geoff!
Many congratulations to both you and Darrin on your 25th Anniversary .

DH and I celebrate 27 years on 4th July , a very special day, will raise a glass to you and Darrin
Jules

[Heather1957]

We drove from San Francisco up the coast to Seattle and then crossed over into Vancouver (whale watching)

We then took a fast (well 2 days) drive down the I5 and had a few days around Yosemite, we then drove to Monterey and visited Carmel.

We flew out of San Francisco so didn't go as far down as LA.

We stayed (in the main) in some untourist areas and it was fantastic and out of all the trip (which was one of my favourites) was the scenery around Oregon especially the coast, we just kept having to stop the car just to walk along the beaches.

The West coast has so much to see and do and I would recommend it to anyone for a change.

Enjoy!

[highland lass]

Look forward to the report Geoff
Sounds a great trip

[Guest]

Heather raises a great point about the West Coast - there are places where tourism never seems to touch or at least you are not aware of it. There is a town called Solvang in CA which is a Danish settlement. Everything about the place is Danish and if you want a proper pretzel you'll certainly get one there. They have windmills and on the roofs they have nests with (plastic) storks in them. Or try watching the Elephant seals on the beaches below Hearst castle. They are enormous and quite ferocious in the mating season. And the whale watching. Seeing these monsters of the deep where they belong - an unforgettable sight.

[Glee Fan]

Sounds like a great trip. Looking forward to the trippie already!

I hope you manage to see all your friends as planned. White Salmon sounds like an amazing place