The Oregon Coast

We've finally left the state of California. Shortly after 3pm today we crossed into Oregon as our USA West Coast road trip slowly makes its way north. We stopped overnight in a sleepy coastal town called Gold Beach. It's the sort of town where deer cross the main street at will to graze on shrubs planted by the local bank's front door.

Yes, this really happens. As we sat for dinner in a tiny bistro opposite the bank we witnessed a deer trot across the nearby pedestrian crossing and into the bank's parking lot.

 

 

This experience capped off a remarkable day of natural wonders. Our first highlight came as we ventured up Cal Barrel Road in the Redwood State Forest north of Eureka. This winding one lane road took us deep into the heart of a forest filled with mature age trees. Being quietly enveloped by these soaring red giants was truly magical.

We stopped for photos by one enormous specimen that simply overwhelmed us. To give things a sense of scale, we stood with our arms out-stretched far enough apart such that only our finger tips touched. The diameter of the tree exceeded this span by almost another set of outstretched arms. It also seemed to soar impossibly skyward. We suspect that it and many of its surrounding companions were easily more than 300 feet tall.

 

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Location:Gold Beach, Oregon

The friendly train called Skunk

 

In 1956 National Geographic published an article about a scenic tourist train winding its way through the coastal Redwood forests of northern California. It described a local anecdote about the smell of the rail company's first petrol driven railcars. These fossil fuelled vehicles had replaced steam trains on the line in 1921 but according to local they came with a distinctly unpleasant oder. Shortly after this article appeared the rail company formally renamed itself the Skunk Train.

 It's an unusual rail journey crossing the coastal mountains between Fort Bragg on the Pacific Ocean and Willits, 40miles inland. Most trains coming from either terminal only travel halfway, stopping at Northspur, a remote redwood grove 21 miles from Fort Bragg. Garry and I caught one of these daily services this morning. We spent four delightful hours weaving our way through redwood forest and crossing tranquil mountain streams.

The train stopped at Northspur for 45 minutes, enough time for us to enjoy a light BBQ lunch and a cold beer under the shade of towering redwood trees. Sadly the route included only a handful of mature redwoods including one notable giant that's at least 1000 years old.

The railway was originally laid down in the early 20th Century by loggers keen to access a rich load of mature old growth trees lining the Noyo Canyon. Its location also reflected the fact that Fort Bragg had one of the region's few sheltered ports from which timber could be transported down the coast to build the city of San Francisco.

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Location:Northspur, Fort Bragg

The first thousand is always the hardest

Today we clocked up the first one thousand miles of our West Coast USA road trip. The milestone occured   as we drove into Santa Rosa, enroute to Fort Bragg on northern coast of California. We ultimately drove 160 miles today, winding steadily up the wild coastline from the mouth of Russian River.

The river mouth was a picture perfect way to start our next coastal adventure. Here we saw several groups of seals basking in the sun on a broad sandbank along the river's edge. Further up the coast we spotted a family of deer, including two fawns, grazing by the roadside. They seemed not the least bit peturbed by passing traffic.

Balcony by Napa

Ink House Inn, St Helena, is our current location; or to be precise, the shaded southern balcony overlooking lush grape-laden vines. This graceful Victorian home, built in 1884, is our base for two lazy days in the Napa Valley. According to the welcome blurb in our room the house was built from old growth redwood and has featured in a Elvis movie (which one we're not told).

 

We've spent much of today relaxing in cane chairs on the balcony, soaking up the morning sun, then sheltering in the afternoon as the temperature rose above 27C. We briefly interrupted balcony time for a delicious late lunch at a local favourite, Bottega.

This is a modern Italian restuarant serving its own home-made pasta among other delights. Our meal was delicious!  We also got to watch the chef preparing fresh Ravioli afterwards. On the way home we stopped in at another Napa favourite of mine, Alpha Omega, for a complimentary wine tasting and two bottles of its 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon.

We're now enjoying one of these bottles on the balcony with some crusty bread, cheeses and cold meats. Imagine this scene.  As the sun set over a small field of vines, the local wine train is rumbling past, briefly disturbing us from our red wine and recreational reading. Yes, we are r-eee-laxed.

Groveland

It's easy to forget that the Sierra Nevada mountains were once gold rush territory. Therefore we shouldn't have been surprised to discover the wild west charm of Groveland, tonight's hotel stop. We're staying in the delightful Charlotte Hotel, a two-storey wooden structure with a classic roadside verandah. The building is beautifully maintained and has obligatory creaking pine floor boards.

The hotel sits just across the road from the Iron Door Saloon, reputedly the oldest continually trading saloon in California. It's one of a number of carefully restored buildings that line the narrow main street. To call Groveland charming is an understatement. Furthermore, despite its tiny size there appear several quality dining options available. Our hotel even has its own restaurant with a rather tasty menu. I think we'll be dining in this evening.

The Charlotte Hotel was built in 1921 by Charlotte DeFerrari, a feisty miner's widow. I overheard the staff telling one guest that people claim to have seen her ghost, most often in Room 6. We're across the hall in Room 9 so hopefully we'll sleep undisturbed tonight.

Groveland has been an unexpected gem. I found this town and our hotel via a random online search. If you're heading towards Yosemite, stay a night at the Chalotte Hotel.

UPDATE: 9.00pm
We've just finished dinner. Without a doubt it was one of the best meals we've had on the road in the USA, if not worldwide. When we went to offer our compliments to the chef we discovered he was the hotel's owner. Doug and his wife, Jenn, bought the complex last year. The owner is a local boy who trained as a chef then sailed the world working as a private chef on the yachts of billionaires.

PS: Did I mention Charlotte Hotel has the fastest wi-fi connection we've ever encountered on the road? This hotel just gets better and better.

Deep in the heart of Yosemite

We've reached Yosemite National Park after driving four hours across the state of California. We made Wawona Hotel on the park's southern boundary our first overnight stop. This is an incredibly quaint old Victorian hotel nestled among a grove of towering pine trees. The wooden structure and it's numerous annex buildings have been preserved largely in their original wooden form down to the weathered pine shingles that clad the roof.

 

Wawona was an ideal staging post for visiting the giant Sequoia trees in Mariposa Grove the following morning. These enormous trees are billed at the most massive living things on Earth. This means that they're not the tallest trees or even trees with the widest trunk; however in total mass these towering giants have no equal. it's an awe inspiring sight to see their red trunks soaring skyward.

 

 

Access to the largest grove involves a two-hour hike up a track that rises almost 300 metres in elevation. It's not for the weak hearted. However an open air tram takes tourists up the slope every 30 minutes. No prize for guessing which option we chose. I did get off the tram about one kilometre from the car park to spend a sobering moment walking past these wonderful trees.

Our second night's accommodation is somewhat less salubrious. We've based ourselves in a hard wall tent at Camp Curry. Sadly the tent looks rather worn and definitely not the "glamping" (glamorous camping) experience we'd hoped for. Fortunately the disappointing accommodation is more than compensated for by our simply stunning surroundings. Yosemite Valley is breathtaking. It's proven far more spectacular and jaw-droppingly beautiful than expected. It's easy to see why Abe Lincoln was moved to declare this area the world's first National Park back in 1863.

Our first taste of this remarkable valley came earlier today as we turned into the Tunnel outlook perched high above the valley floor.  This location offfers the most extraordinary view down the entire valley, taking in both its towering granite cliffs, jagged peaks and lush river-side meadows. Our next stop was lunch by the river in the shadow of a granite face called El Capitan, before moving on to hike to the foot of the delicate Bridalveil Falls.

UPDATE: August 16
Our final day was spent exploring the museums and art galleries in Yosemite Village before heading out of town to hike to the foot of the Yosemite Falls. These falls run dry towards the end of Summer so we were thrilled to find some water falling, albeit somewhat haphazardly.  Access to the falls is via a trail carefully constructed so that a row of pines frame the distant falls.  It's the perfect union between nature and planned human intervention.

However, its been the animal encounters that have created the most memorable moments.  Yesterday evening as I sat reading a magazine outside our tent an inquisitive squirrel showed up at my feet.  He was clearly keen on the pre-dinner nibbles I was enjoying.  Incredibly, the furry fellow was soon eating out of my hand.  Amazing.  This experience was then topped this morning when we walked out of our tent and found a deer calmly sitting in the shade of trees nearby.

 

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Location:E Keyes Rd,Ceres,United States

The California Aqueduct

The California Aqueduct is an impressive civil engineering feat.  Built between 1962 and 1973, its sole purpose is to divert and transfer water from Northern California to the state's dry southern regions.  The main aqueduct stretches more than 444 miles, beginning in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and finishing in the dusty valleys south of Los Angeles.  Every year it transports as much as three million acre-feet of water; 70% to urban users and 30% to agricultural users.

Along its reaches a series of dams and lakes have been constructed to store excess water and assist with flood control.  The largest of these is the San Luis Reservoir, located midway between the Californian coast and the Sierra Nevada mountains.  It's also the largest of its type in the USA.  Garry and I decided to make the lake our lunch stop while driving from Monterrey to Yosemite.  This was one the longest driving days we'd planned during our entire road trip so we hoped the lake would prove a picturesque location for lunch.

However, while the vast expanse of water was impressive, its arid shoreline consisted of dull brown gravel that really wasn't a show-stopper. The heat of sun, less than 100 miles from the sea, was surprisingly intense. Our arrival also appeared to coincide with the start of powerful winds, no doubt generated by the expanding thermal currents sweeping across the lake and surrounding hills.

Instead, the compact visitor's centre proved the day's unexpected bonus.  It included some fascinating displays about the entire State Water Project (SWP).  In addition to the aqueduct, the SWP includes 17 pumping stations, 32 storage facilities, 600 miles of canals (the main aqueduct account for two-thirds of this total) and five hydroelectric power stations. California is a state of incredible contrast.

Big Sur Magic

Wow! Big Sur delivers! We've just finished an incredible day driving California's Route 1 coastal highway. The views were truly spectacular; soaring cliff faces, rugged, storm-beaten headlands and a surprising array of wildlife. At times these magnificent scenes were interspersed with feathery shrouds of seasonal fog.

The wildlife was definitely today's highlight. The first encounter of the day was a beach covered in sun-basking Harp Seals and lumbering Elephant Seals. We stood mesmerised along the shore watching these sand-coated mammals do their thing; largely nothing.

Volunteer rangers were on hand to explain everything including tidbits like, "as the sun's heat gathers strength during the day, the seals slowly rotate on the beach until they're directly facing the surf line. This allows the crashing surf to keep them cool. The result is a spectacular line of animals 'striping' the entire beach."

The next highlight of note was a small crest where we encountered California Condors riding the thermal currents sweeping up the hillside. We watched half a dozen birds swooping and gliding mere metres away from us. I could have stood there for hours. Wait until you see my photos! You'll understand.

I'll write more shortly and upload a few photos. For now we're comfortably settled in for the evening at the Best Western Monterey Beach resort enjoying views of expansive white sand beaches.

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Location:Monterey, California, United States

Hearst Castle

Day Two of our grand road tour has ended on a real high. We started the day with a quiet wander through the clean, quaint streets of Solvang. I counted at least five replica windmills. The town is littered with Danish bakeries offering all manner of tempting pastries. I was particularly taken by a selection of toffee apples offering all manner of exotic coatings from Rocky Road to English Toffee crumble.

We then headed north, stopping for an hour or so at the nearest Walmart for picnic supplies and food for lunch on the road. Our first picnic this trip was held on the shores of Morro Bay. This is a fascinating location of monolith contrasts. The town of the same name is set on the edge of a picturesque tidal bay. The bay's headland is framed by a large 177 metre high rock outcrop while it northern shore is dominated by a power station sitting on the edge of town.

Our final stop for the day was San Simeon, a small remote village on the Pacific Coast. The area is renown for one unique sight; Hearst Castle. This was once the private home of Randolph Hearst, one of America's greatest publishing moguls. His majestic homestead sits on a hill overlooking the coast. It contains 122 rooms, which made it the second largest private home in the USA at the time of its construction.

Today the home is a state-owned facility. Visitors gain access to the site via a series of shuttle buses continually transferring passengers from the coast to the castle hilltop. The castle itself is set in beautiful grounds filled with gnarled old trees and flowering rose beds. It's interior is an eclectic mix of antique furnishings, fittings and sculpture; paired with modern twists, fakes and tacky imitations. Where else could you see 16th choir cloisters used to line a cavernous dining room dominated by a lengthy imitation banquet table.

Perhaps the most impressive complex on site is Neptune's pool; an oval, outdoor swimming pool encircled by elegant roman colonnades. It takes very little to imagine yourself transported to a pre-war world of silent movie stars lounging and partying along the pool's edge.

More details and photos to follow in the days ahead.

• Posted from my iPhone

• Location:Balboa Ave,San Simeon,United States

Going nowhere fast

We've arrived safely in Los Angeles after a rather long and eventful flight. Our three-week road trip up the US West Coast has begun. I say eventful as it started with a 3.5 hour delayed departure after our plane suffered damage in the gale-force winds that swept through Sydney yesterday. Apparently, the wind flipped an unsecured set of stairs into the side of an engine, causing some serious damage.

Engineers worked through the night on repairs. However, at the last minute, Qantas decided to substitute the A380 we were meant to fly on with a smaller B747. This decision resulted in 70 passengers being bumped off the flight, while those who made it aboard found every available seat was filled. The substitution also meant that our entire flight crew was a team pulled from standby with less than four hours' notice.

We cashed in a wad of frequent flyer points for an upgrade to First Class. On the A380 this is a magnificent experience. The same cabin on the B747 pales in comparison. The old cabin is tired, cramped, and no better value than a regular business class seat. We'd never spend points on an upgrade so the late substitution of our aircraft was a real disappointment. We'd have preferred to have saved our points for another occasion.

Our flight across the Pacific did have one endearing quality. Jamie Durie, the former Chippendale dancer turned TV personality, was on our flight. He sat one seat away in my row, leaving me with a permanent crick in my neck after 13 hours of subversive glances. As Garry wryly noted we can now claim to have slept in the same room with Jamie.

Getting out of LA and on to the coast road proved quite a test of our jetlagged driving skills. We arrived on a picture-perfect, hot and sunny California Summer's Day. As a result, it seemed that everyone in the state was headed for the beach. The freeways were jammed and traffic along the coast road was barely crawling. The first 17 miles of our anticipated 2,000 mile journey took well over an hour to complete. Given that our first day involved a 160 mile drive this initial pace was quite a shock. Fortunately, the traffic slowly began to thin and our pace soon quickened.

We arrived at Solvang, our first night's destination just as the sun began turning fiery red on the western horizon. Solvang proved to be a great choice. The town was settled early in the 20th Century by Danish migrants. Over the years this Nordic influence has progressively shaped the town resulting a clean, quaint and slightly kitsch faux European streetscape. The contrast between this quiet, orderly town and LA's grinding traffic chaos couldn't have been more stark.

• Posted from my iPhone

• Location:Mission Dr,Solvang,United States

Road Trip!

We’ve got one heck of a road trip planned this month.  On Saturday Garry and I fly out for a three-week itinerary that takes us from Los Angeles to Seattle, via Yosemite National Park, Napa Valley and Crater Lake National Park.  Our vacation has been in planning since February.  Qantas was promoting a two-for-one sale on business class fare at time.  It didn’t take long to decide this was the perfect opportunity to undertake one of two road trips we’d often fantasized about.

Our first choice was a cross-country jaunt from Mount Rushmore in South Dakota to Seattle via Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park.  However, a little research revealed that this option was likely to cost several thousand more than a West Coast alternative.  It was also going to be a challenge to fit everything into a three-week period.

Our West Coast road trip begins with us collecting a car at LAX, then heading north to Malibu and on o Santa Barbara for a late leisurely lunch by the beach.  Our first night in the USA will be spent in Solvang.  This town was founded by Nordic immigrants resulting in a surprisingly European urban landscape.  From there we make our way to San Simeon.  It was made famous by Randolph Hearst who built a massive castle in foothills behind the town. Our final day on coastal Route One will take us north to Monterey Bay, the popular seaside playground of Bay Area residents. 

We’ll then head inland to spent three nights at Yosemite National Park, before moving on to spend two nights at a quaint B&B in the heart of Napa Valley.  With our first week under the belt we’ll then return to the coast, making our way as far north as Gold Beach in southern Oregon.  Our coastal route will take us through towering Redwood Forests, past beaches increasingly littered by flotsam from last year’s Japanese tsunami and over broad rivers sweeping down from the Cascade Mountains.

Our journey then turns inland again.  We stop for a night in Oregon vineyard cottage before making camp at Crater Lake National Park for two nights.  From here will head north again through the Cascade Mountains to Portland, before heading back to the coast for a night in Astoria.  This town sits at the mouth of the Columbia River, the largest river on the US West Coast.  We’ll finally reach Seattle on August 28 where we’ll spend 2.5 days soaking up the sights and sounds of the city that’s home for corporations as diverse as Starbucks, Boeing and Microsoft.

I've worked hard to ensure that each day's destination requires no more than three hours of driving, roughly 250 kms.  With a timely two day break in one location every 5-6 days on the road.  Our route has also been designed to ensure there's at least one memorable tourist highlight to experience every day.

Stay tuned for regular updates and plenty of fabulous photos!  Did I mention Garry’s applied for a points upgrade?  With a little luck we may find ourselves flying First Class across the Pacific.  Hooray!

UPDATE: 
Click here to read the first post from our vacation.  Then click on the newer post link to follow our journey north.

Training for a life of leisure

Today was the first day of my life after Text 100.  You'll recall I

recently posted news that I was moving from my current employer after 14.5 years of service.  I must admit it was an odd feeling this morning to wake knowing I could lie there as long I liked.  There were no critical deadlines to meet, no urgent emails to read and no dawn conference calls to attend. 

As I mentioned in my earlier post I've decided to take the next two months off to decompress and clear my head.  This is proving more challenging than expected.  I find myself constantly tempted to research career options, review job ads and make networking calls.  It seems unwinding requires as much discipline as a full time executive role. 

In the weeks ahead I'll do my best to chronicle my journey in search of new, fulfilling career.  I'll also keep you abreast of my efforts to improve my fitness and knock over list of accumulating home repair and maintenance chores.  My first personal goal is to simply make time for a daily 5km walk around Grand Drive in Centennial Park and the surrounding parklands.