Heading Home!!

We departed Astoria, Oregon yesterday morning in the pouring rain...it had rained and rained on our parade for 3 days in a row and our plans to take our time in Seattle were not panning out...We almost made it to Seattle and alas...it was still raining...

Since we were at the tail end of our journey and we were quickly running out of money and going into debt (which is not what we had planned on doing) we made the decision to NOT go to Vancouver Island for the month of May...we are heading home to Terrace....we should be arriving home this weekend!

We have mixed emotions about going home earlier than our 1 year but we did have 11 excellent months!

Astoria, Oregon

Astoria, Oregon

Seattle, Washington

getting closer to Canada!!

yay!

Canadian Customs

Oh Canada!

great to see Grandma in Langley!

The Redwood Highway

After 3 grueling days on Hwy 1 we finally joined up again to Hwy 101, The Redwood Highway.  We drove down the Avenue of Giants and stopped for a walk in the enormous old growth Redwood forest...wow..these trees are huge!

We spent the night in Eureka and met Joel's brother-in-law, Solomon, I guess he is my cousin-in-law?

After a late start we drove through the Redwood National Park.  Terry and I drove south through here on our Harley trip on our honeymoon in 1997, it looked different heading north this time!

The Redwood trees are absolutely massive, we thought that we had huge trees in the northwest with the Sitka spruce but the Redwood tree is the tallest living thing on earth!  The average height is 100-250 ft with the tallest one ever recorded was 379 ft tall!

We stopped at a few touristy places for some photo ops, Michael got to see a 35 ft tall Paul Bunyon and Babe his blue ox!

Pacific Coast Highway, California

We have followed Highway 101 and then Highway 1 from Carpenteria, just north of LA up past San Francisco along the coast.  Highway 101 was a freeway most of the way and then once we turned off onto Highway 1 it also had parts that were designated a freeway.  It was great to see parts of San Francisco again, we were here 4 years ago and recognized a few things.  Michael and I walked out onto the Golden Gate bridge but it was so foggy out we couldn't see much...

The best part of Highway 1 was after we crossed the Golden Gate bridge, through Sausalito, then up a few hairpin corners to Muir Beach and winding our way along the coast...wow....we are now camped in a private RV site in the woods right on the San Andreas Fault..yikes!  Who would have thought that our little 23 ft motorhome would be having such an adventure!

The weather is foggy and cool, we are not acclimatized yet for out normal weather after spending so much time in the desert.  (My sinuses are actually starting to feel better, I had hoped that the dry desert air would have solved my sinus problems but all the dry air actually made them worse...ahh...feel the moisture..I can breathe again).


California a very expensive state to be in compared the others that we have traveled through.  Fuel is up to $4.50 ga and camping has been $35 for a cheap place and $52 for a so-so place per night! 

we finally made it to the Pacific again!

Carpenteria, California

San Francisco

San Francisco

fog obscuring most of the Golden Gate bridge

the Golden Gate bridge

Hwy 1

steep cliffs on Hwy 1

PCH Hwy 1

Apple Valley, California

We spent 2 days and 2 nights at my cousin Joel's place in the Mojave Desert.  Joel, his wife Angel and their 3 children, Judah, Ethni and Silas have lived there for 5 years.  Angel is from California and grew up not far from where they live today, Joel is a BC transplant and now an American citizen.  The 2 older children were very happy to meet Michael, their big cousin!

Joel took Terry, Mike and I out to the desert to go target shooting.  Mike and I have never fired any guns before so it was a big eye opener for us!  Mike was pretty impressed, Joel let him shoot a .45 automatic handgun; a 9 mm automatic and a Smith and Wesson assault rifle.  Americans sure love their guns!

We had a BBQ on the 2nd night and met some of Angels family.  Joel built a HUGE picnic table to seat all of us, the dimensions were 12 ft by 5 ft, maybe we will have to build one for ourselves too!

Mike all ready for shooting

Terry and the assault rifle

Mike with the 9 mm

Joel showing Mike how to hold the rifle

watch out terrorists!

Ethni

Judah

Silas

Angel, Terry and Joel and the huge picnic table!

cousins!

Viva Las Vegas!

Mike's version:

Hi, its me Michael yet again.  So my last post was about Tombstone.  So then from Tombstone, we went to the Grand Canyon.  On the train there, we had an attendant named Shea.  He was really nice.  On the train, we had music and entertainment.
Then we arrived at the Grand Canyon itself, we could look to the bottom, but not long before fright of heights pushed us back, then we took the train back.
A few days later, we were in Vegas, yeah you heard me, Vegas!
Although I couldn’t gamble, I didn’t really care, because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, especially Money.  We didn’t stay in a hotel, they could accept dogs, but we can’t leave them alone when we leave, and we can’t bring them into stores and stuff, so we just stayed at a Campground.  But we did do so much, and I got a special collector card from a comic store that my dad bought me for 40 dollars, the card name is Tezzeret, agent of bolas.
We left Vegas and  I was surely sad to leave, but life is life, and thats how life goes.

Kelly's version:




This was our very 1st visit to Vegas...WOW...quite the place!


We spent 4 days in Vegas @ the KOA campsite on the Circus Circus property.   It was more or less just a huge parking lot but we did have a palm tree beside us and a bit of grass....luckily we backed right onto the pool and K9 park...we could watch people bungee jumping off the Stratosphere right from the RV!


We walked everywhere the 1st day then decided that the bus was a better idea for all the rest of the days!  We went through the majority of the casinos and hotel lobbies, watched as many of the free attractions as we could....we missed a few hotels due to being so tired we didn't feel like crossing the road, it was enough effort just to find a bus stop!  


We ate dinner at the Mandalay at the House of Blues, and had pizza and Chinese food from Caesars Palace. I think if we ever fly back I would like to stay in either one of those 2 hotels! 
Gambling isn't really our thing either but I did donate a few dollars to the slot machines!


Michael went to the Adventuredome and also ziplining on Fremont St and he also had his face sculpted into clay!  




Terry's version:


Big city, not enough money in my pocket to do it right!  Will fly back here at another time!  Loved the live blues music at the Mandalay and Fremont St was the best place to hang out.... 2 large beers for $5 !!








Sampson's version:


The K9 park was great, but just as soon as I get used to a new area we are always leaving...I hate it when my people leave me all day long to go out and have fun...what about me???

our RV park

The Adventure dome

Mike's winnings!

Fremont St

going ziplining

Fremont St