Venturing Into The Great Unknown

We woke up bright and early, and after considering how hard parking would be at Busick Court, decided to just have coffee and juice at the hotel. We got on the road and headed to the coast. Not long after reached US-101 we were detoured up Cape Lookout Road due to an accident that closed the road. We had initially planned to possibly do that detour up and around the cape, but this sealed it. It was a nice, but curvy and hilly drive that afforded one awesome viewpoint with parking, and several beautiful views that my mum described as I watched the road for potholes and dips.

We then arrived in Tillamook…my favourite cheese place ANYWHERE! The last two years we went to just the Tillamook Cheese Factory, but this time we also went to the Blue Heron French Cheese Company. It happened to be “sample day” at Blue Heron and we had a good snack of cheeses, dips, and sauces. My mum grabbed some Brie and I grabbed some white chocolate truffles and a homemade spicy blue cheese dressing. We then went up the road to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, where I grabbed a couple pounds each of Jalapeño Monterey Jack, Habanero Cheddar, and Garlic Pepper Cheddar. My mum grabbed an 8oz package of both old cheddar and a Jalapeño Monterey Jack. With our cheese mission accomplished, we were off again and heading north.

We stopped for a picnic lunch on Cannon Beach, close to Haystack Rock, and munched on last night’s leftovers from the Outback. Although the sun was shining on and off it was quite windy and, in turn, cold. I took a few pictures and then we headed back to the car to warm up. Off we were again up the 101 to Astoria.

We arrived in Astoria and headed straight to the Oregon Film Museum where we took a look at the different films that were shot in and around Oregon. The number one movie that interested me was, of course, The Goonies. I am a Goony at heart, so I was like a kid in a candy shop with all the memorabilia from the movie (My mum has still not seen the movie and was not as impressed). One cool thing that they had was a room filled with quotes from a lot of the movies that were filmed in the area and if you could match ten different quotes from ten different movies you win a prize. This helped get my mum into the mood and she was just as excited as I was, when we were able to get the ten movies. The prize was just a plastic gold coin that represented One-Eyed Willie’s treasure, but it was fun and something that brought my mum and I together with a common goal. I also bought myself a T-shirt that says “Hey You Guys”. (I bet all you Goonies out there read that in Chunk’s voice). After we finished up at the museum we drove to the Goonies House where I had a nice chat with the current owner of the house and thanked her for keeping the dream alive (including the “THE GOONDOCKS” sign on the front porch). After leaving the Goonies House I drove over to John Jacob Astor Elementary to take a picture of the school where Kindergarten Cop was filmed, and then the house where Ally Sheedy lived in Short Circuit. After that, it was off  to dinner…

We had dinner at the Wet Dog Café & Astoria Brewing Co., which is right on the water (Columbia River). I had a blue cheese and peppered bacon chicken burger and my mum had clam chowder and a Greek salad. Not only was the food extremely good, but the atmosphere itself was perfect. They had cute signs on the walls and our waiter, albeit new, was great – I even picked up a cute T-shirt (that read “In dogs beers, I’ve only had one) as a gift. With dinner done, we headed across the Astoria Bridge and into Washington; staying in the quiet hamlet of Ilwaco.

Below are a handful of pictures from today; I hope you enjoy.

Talk to you tomorrow.

L

Oregon Coast from Cape Lookout

Haystack Rock – Cannon Beach, OR

Oregon Film Museum – Astoria, OR

Goondocks SIgn – Oregon Film Museum

Sign at base of Goonie House – Astoria, OR

Goonie House, – Astoria, OR

School from Kindergarten Cop – Astoria, OR

Short Circuit House – Astoria, OR

Cute Sign – Wet Dog Café – Astoria, OR

Astoria Bridge – Astoria, OR

Today was a good day. After waking up to a crisp 2°C temperature and frost on the motel roof, we headed to breakfast. We had seen signs up and down I-5 for the Black Bear Diner, so we decided to try it for breakfast. Not only did it look like a nice place to eat, but it was conveniently located between our motel and the onramp to the I-5. We had a great waitress, and we both thoroughly enjoyed what we ate. After breakfast, while I was waiting to pay, I looked at the souvenirs that they had for sale. They had cute black bear souvenirs, but they also had some from the “State of Jefferson“. I heard of this “state” when I watched the show How The States Got Their Shape, and think it’s the coolest thing that I was actually there.

After breakfast we headed north up the I-5 and stopped in Grants Pass to check the hotel we stayed at on Day 2, to see if my mum’s nightie was in the lost and found…it was. We grabbed gas and coffee and then continued back on our way, and stopped in Eugene for a picnic lunch. We drove to Skinner Butte Park and had leftovers while watching some Western Scrub Jays play in the nearby trees. (I was able to get some good pictures but will post when I’m less tired). One of the leftovers that we had was the English Muffin from Model Bakery – it was a very good baked good, but it was NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, a true English Muffin.

After our picnic, we headed back to the Interstate and north to Salem, where we checked into our hotel and relaxed before dinner. I had originally planned on going to Willamette Valley Grill, but we decided that it wasn’t what we were in the mood for. On a whim, I googled the Outback Steakhouse and was tickled pink to see there was one close to the hotel. I realize that this is a Food Network tour, but I absolutely LOVE a blooming onion and haven’t been able to find one elsewhere; and unfortunately no longer live anywhere close to an Outback since the only Canadian locations are Edmonton and Niagara Falls.

We went to the Outback, I got my blooming onion and Alice Springs Chicken and my mum got steak – now we have leftovers for tomorrows picnic. After dinner we headed down to the State Capitol to take a short walk around the park and, of course, take tons of pictures. (I will post some soon, I promise). After the Capitol we came back to the hotel, did some wiki research and now, blissfully, going to bed.

Talk to you tomorrow.

L

Update: Pictures included below

Eugene from Skinner Butte

Oregon Pioneer on top of Capitol – Salem, OR

Western Scrub Jay – Skinner Butte Park

Western Scrub Jay – Skinner Butte Park

Mount Shasta – Yreka, CA

Oregon State Capitol – Salem, OR

Is the day over yet? It seemed like the drive lasted forever. The morning started off quiet enough with me being able to jaywalk, not run, across a 5-lane street to grab coffee. We then packed up the car and headed towards the obelisk to get close-up pictures of the bicycle parts. We made it as far as downtown before we started running into barricades – turns out that today was the Annual Luther Burbank Rose Parade and Festival, though we didn’t know it at the time. After being turned around several times, we decided to forego the close-up and headed out of town towards Healdsburg.
We arrived in Healdsburg, found a great parking spot, and then headed to Downtown Bakery for a coffee and donut muffin. This is always a necessary stop on our trip, though my mum now has the recipe and does a bang up job of making them herself. We wandered around the Healdsburg Plaza for a while, waiting for the stores to open at ten, and noticed that one of our favourite stores had moved to Cloverdale (Oh well, next trip). We also stopped at a fabric store but decided against buying anything as the prices were a bit steep.
After Healdsburg, we headed just out of town to the Jimtown Store to grab a picnic lunch. My mum had a roast pepper and fennel salad with a side of olives, and I had a small potato salad. We walked around the grounds, looking at flowers, then back on the road we went.
We drove to Calistoga, passed by Chateau Montelena (which had a line of cars out the driveway), then headed towards Lake Country. My GPS tried routing us down a road that barely looked like a cow path, so we pulled over and reverted to a good old-fashioned paper map to find what highway we wanted. We found the correct road – which turned out to be the road we were already on – and off we went again. Now, I say we were on the right road, but the road was definitely not one that I was too happy driving on. After what seemed like hours of switchbacks and drop-offs (it was only 90 minutes), we arrived on the other side of the mountain range, and located our picnic spot – Clearlake.
We sat by the water in Redbud Park and watched the various species of birds that were around us. I was able to add another bird to my list – a Bicolored Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus gubernator) – a subspecies that is only found in California and Central Mexico. I also saw a Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis), though I had initially thought it was Clark’s Grebe (A. clarkia). On closer inspection of my pictures, albeit blurry pictures, I made the determination it wasn’t a new bird to add my list after all – I added a Western Grebe in Salmon Arm, BC on my cross-Canada trip with my mum in 2010.
After lunch, we headed back out, and this time ran into a bicycle ‘event’ on the highway. For the majority of the drive to Williams (and the I-5) we shared the road with the cyclists in scattered groups. Needless to say I was sick of driving already and there were still four hours left to drive. We finally reached the I-5 and headed north, passing newly planted patty fields where rice is now being grown.
The drive up the I-5 was fairly uneventful, but every rest area between Williams and Weed (180 miles) were closed. When we finally reached the one in Weed, it was raining and we were only a few miles from Yreka so we pushed on to the hotel. We checked in, threw our leftovers in the microwave, and ate in front of the television. Both my mum and I were just done and my mum was snoring before 10 o’clock. I intend to follow suite as soon as I post this and organize a few things for tomorrow.
Enjoy the pictures, and I will talk to you tomorrow.

L

Red Flower

Colourful Flowers

Jimtown Store

Poster in Jimtown Store

What a great day we had. We ate a delicious breakfast of Eggs Benny for me and eggs and biscuit for my mum at Hank’s Creekside, we headed out of Santa Rosa. Our first stop was Calistoga, and we found ourselves travelling on an ‘interesting’ road that was quite curvy and hilly, but quiet at least. We arrived in Calistoga, looked around a bit, and then headed south down the Napa Valley towards St. Helena.

St. Helena is a cute little town with a great bakery. When we went to St. Helena two years ago, Model Bakery was sold out of their English Muffins, but this year we were able to get one as it was much earlier in the day. I can’t tell you if they live up to Michael Chiarello’s claim (on The Best Thing I Ever Ate) that “they are unlike any other”, as we were still full from breakfast, but we grabbed one to go and plan on sharing it tomorrow morning. We also stopped into the St. Helena Olive Oil Co. where I grabbed a bottle of lemon olive oil for my mum as a belated Mother’s Day gift. After a short walk around the downtown area we were again back in the car and heading south. We bypassed the city of Napa, as we find it just too ritzy and over-priced for us, and headed to Sonoma via Schellville.

Once in Sonoma we grabbed the first parking spot we could find, set my countdown timer on my watch for 2 hours (the length of time you can park for free), and headed to Basque Boulangerie for coffee and a small bite to eat. There I had my first Snickerdoodle, which I quite enjoyed, and my mum had a healthier snack of a poppy seed bun with brie. We then wandered around downtown, stopping in this shop and that shop – basically just being tourists. We visited Wine Country Chocolates in one of the quaint courtyards that are scattered amongst the mid-nineteenth century Spanish mission-style buildings, but decided not to buy anything. I also went looking for a bottle of wine for a friend of mine, but couldn’t find a white zinfandel with a cool enough name.

After Sonoma, we headed back towards Santa Rosa and detoured through Agua Caliente and Boyes Hot Springs. Both are tiny little hamlets, which I’m sure have hot springs, though we saw no signs of any. We also stopped in Glen Ellen and visited the Wine Country Chocolates tasting room in Jack London Village. This time, we gave into the chocolate and each bought a box of 7 truffles. I also saw a sign for Laurel Glen Vineyards, but unfortunately their tasting room is no longer open at this location. It would have been a perfect place to buy a bottle of Zin.

On the drive from Glen Ellen back to the hotel, I happened to notice that we were around Kenwood, and mentioned to my mum that we were near Figone’s of California Olive Oil Company, where we both bought some olive oil last year. Since my mum hadn’t been too enamoured with the plain olive oil in St. Helena, we stopped and she picked up a bottle of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil for you non-foodies out there), and I grabbed a couple of small flavoured olive oil bottles to give as gifts.

Back at the hotel, we went over our Google/Wiki list and researched a few of the easier topics before we left for dinner at the Russian River Pub in Forestville. I had called and made reservations before I left Canada, just in case it was busy being a Friday night – I needn’t have as it was quite quiet. My mum and I both had chicken sandwiches, hers with pesto and Swiss (and salad) and mine with hot sauce and blue cheese (and fries). The food was unbelievable and the service was top-notch as well. One thing about the restaurant that I really liked was that the walls were all wood and people have signed their names and left messages and such in black marker. I also decided to leave my mark and used a Sharpie pen to sign my initials – if we go back next year, I will come prepared with a bigger Sharpie.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and finished up the original wiki list and also what we had added to it over dinner. My mum decided to turn in fairly early, and I also need to get some shut-eye before the long drive we have tomorrow to Yreka. I have included a few pictures below from our adventures today…I hope you enjoy and I will talk to you tomorrow.

L

Baby Bacchus Statue, Sonoma, CA

Wine Statue in Sonoma

Flowering Hen and Chicks in Sonoma

Duck in Sonoma Park

Unknown Fruit Tree in Sonoma

Tex Wasabi Cowboy

What an awesome day. We started the day off fairly early and before even leaving the parking lot I was able to add a new bird to my bird list. It was an Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna). I tried getting a photo, but was unable as he didn’t stay around long enough for me to put all the luggage down that I was carrying and grab my camera. Then, while we were getting gas 20 minutes later, we spotted some Yellow-billed Magpies (Pica nuttalli). I was able to get a couple pictures that gave me enough information for bird identification, but were not “post-worthy”.

We had breakfast at Putah Creek Café in Winters, finding a parking spot right outside the restaurant. Not only was the food awesome, but the restaurant had some of the best customer service I have seen. One of the waitresses even went outside and helped a customer with a walker, cross the street from the parking lot to the café. The food was also awesome and was worth the detour. After breakfast we spent a few minutes walking around Winters while we let our food settle and then headed off to Petaluma.

After we left Winters, my GPS was being a bit of a pain and routed me back down to I-80 so I was unable to take the leisurely route I had planned through the bottom of Wine Country, and had to cut up from Fairfield on CA SR-12. We were still able to enjoy some of the back roads though as we headed to Petaluma. When we arrived in Petaluma, we fluked out again and found a parking spot less than a block from the Seed Bank. Both my mum and I had a list of seeds that we wanted, and although I was unable to find my most sought after seed (Trinidad Scorpion Butch T Pepper) and wasn’t even able to find Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper) and had to settle for some milder peppers such as habaneros and Thai chilies. My mum, however, found her number one pick – lima beans (yuck) – and also found a few gifts for my dad. After leaving the Seed Bank, my mum discovered an oriental gift shop across the street. For those of you that know me, you KNOW that I can’t resist…and I of course gave in to temptation. Although I did buy a couple things for me, I was able to find small gifts to give to several people.

After Petaluma we headed to Santa Rosa and had lunch at Willie Bird’s. We had originally planned on going there for dinner, but we both decided that it was not only more convenient for lunch, but that we both had a hankering for a turkey sandwich. One thing that I had forgotten, since we visited last year, was just how good the potato salad was. (On an aside, we sat in the same booth that we sat in on both visits to Willies last year). I was also able to get a picture of obelisk across the street that is made out of used bicycle parts and a picture of the stained glass turkey in Willie Bird’s window. By the time we were done eating, it was perfect timing to head to the hotel.

We relaxed at the hotel for a while and did out Google and Wiki research of the day before heading out to dinner. Since we had gone to Willie’s for lunch, I suggested Tex Wasabi’s for a light dinner. After driving around the block a couple times, we finally found a parking spot a couple doors down from Tex’s. Luckily we didn’t have to wait for a table and were seated in the same table as we were last year – I guess it was meant to be :). My mum and I shared an order of Vegas Fries (fries tossed in hot sauce and served with bleu-sabi) and an order of West Coast wings (which are coated in a jalapeño sauce). It was just the awesomest, and made me wish that I didn’t have to travel 1,100 kilometres to get Guy’s food.

After dinner we headed to pick up a couple of groceries and items that we needed and then returned to the hotel for the night. Now, full and dozy, I leave you all so I can get some shut-eye before we tour Wine Country tomorrow.

Talk to you all soon.

L

P.S. the above photo is a statue of the Tex Wasabi’s mascot that is next to the bar