A view you'll kill for

We've arrived at Crater Lake National Park. The view is everything you could imagine and then some. I literally gasped as we walked over the crater rim and the vibrant blue vista unfolded before us.

Furthermore, our 11th hour room reservation has exceeded expectations in spades! The room is spacious, sunny and contains one of the lodge's largest bathrooms. Even better, the lodge was able to secure us a reservation in its grand old dining room.

We're now relaxing by a log fire in the lodge's main hall sipping appropriately blue tinted cocktails. The fire is needed. Surprisingly we're 7,100 feet above sea level so the air is cool despite blue skies and sunshine.

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Delfino Winery

Garry and I continue to make our way towards Seattle. Overnight we drove north along the Oregon coast as far as Bandon before turning inland towards Roseburg. The coastal road offered more stunning views culminating in a stop at the spectacular Face Rock outlook on the outskirts of Bandon.

We had hoped to enjoy a picnic lunch here. Unfortunately, despite glorious sunshine, the wind blowing off the Pacific was bitter. Instead we drove inland and found a sheltered spot on the bank of Coquille River. This proved an idyllic location for a classic picnic as we stretched out on some soft long grass under the shade of an old tree.

We stopped overnight at Delfino Winery. I'd booked its guest cottage months ago after reading rave reviews online. Our hosts, Terri and Jim, were delightful; both warm and friendly. Terri brought us a breakfast basket this morning that included her home-made cranberry scones. We'd read rave reviews about these scones in the cottage's guest book which we can confirm are all accurate. They are delicious.

The winery itself is set on a sunny hillside overlooking a large pond and rows of ripening vines. It was perfect spot to stop and unwind before we make our way to Crater Lake this afternoon.  We've secured a room in the famous lodge overlooking the lake thanks to a last minute cancellation. I called the Lodge on a whim earlier today and was thrilled to discover that a room has indeed become available overnight. Watch for stunning photos in the days ahead!

Solitude Oregon Style

I woke early this morning and found myself immediately mesmerised by the blue skies and foaming waves on display outside our motel. While Garry slept I went for a wander along Gold Beach, Oregon. For almost an hour it was just me and gulls enjoying miles of sea misted beach. What a perfect way to start the day!

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Location:Gold Beach, Oregon

Fog bound

Gold Beach, Oregon is proving to be the perfect place to unwind as we continue making our way north.  I booked us into the Pacific Reef Resort Hotel overlooking an unspoilt beachscape.  We can literally step out of our room and into the grass clad sand dunes.  As you can see from these photos the view can change in minutes.  When I woke this morning the scene was one filled with a vivid blue horizon, within 15 minutes it had been transformed by an intimate shroud of fog.

The northern end of Gold Beach (and the town itself) ends abruptly at the edge of the Rogue River.  This impressive expanse of water is crossed via an impressive art deco style bridge.  Completed in 1932 the 1,932-foot bridge closed the last remaining gap on coastal Highway 101.  Once opened, travellers could drive from Portland, Oregon to the Mexican border along the entire West Coast.

As with most coastal towns we've passed through fish canning was once the local economy's mainstay.  Today the original cannery buildings are undergoing something of Renaissance.  Gold Beach's refurbished pier and cannery is now home to a jet boat tour company, a cafe and souviner store. Nearby sits the rotting hulk of a small steamer, the Mary Hume, that's been cleverly recast as a local artistic landmark.  Built in Gold Beach in 1881, it saw service along the Pacific Coast for 97 years.  The locals claim no other boat on the coast has ever been active for longer.

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.