American Sports and the State of Oregon

Racing back from the hot Mohave dessert (reaching 115F / 50C), our first stop was Santa Barbara, on California's Pacific Coastline. Wow, what a beautiful city! With yachts and mansions everywhere, we felt slightly out of place in our campervan. And given that there are laws against sleeping in your vehicle in this part of the world, our stay was short lived. But we did manage to try some of the region's wines. It seems self evident that the proximity to the wealth of the neighbourhood and the nearby millionaires of San Francisco / Silicon Valley means they can overcharge for pretty ordinary vintages. My opinion – save your dosh for the vineyards further north – you’ll get more bang for your buck. But it was still a lovely change to be sipping wines by the ocean after so much desert.

Our friends Anne & Scott live just north of Santa Barbara in a little town called Atascadero. It was so nice to visit them and chat to someone other than ourselves! We spent a couple of lovely days picnicking, hiking, drinking too much, shopping, and killing a piñada – thanks Anne & Scott for your hospitality!

Anne & Nathan - victorious piñada hunters

Mmm, hangover cure at Denny's the next morning

We then set off for the famed Pacific Coast Drive from Morro Bay to Monterray. Much like South Australia’s Great Ocean Road, we weaved our way in and out of the cliffs along the coastline. Highlights were the Hearst Castle Tour and the nearby beaches packed with (noisy) Elephant Seal cows.

Pacific Coast Drive

Elephant seal cows

The brochures said that Yosemite National Park surpasses Switzerland in grandeur. Having a natural Australian scepticism to standard American hyperbole, and especially as we’ve been to Switzerland (and loved it) - we were a bit dubious. But Yosemite was impressive. Grazing deer in the outstretched meadows are overshadowed by sheer vertical cliffs where you can only see the rock climbers as dots through your binoculars… On top of that we also saw TWO bears, one a wonderful golden colour, and one a dark chocolate. Wow. Neither words nor photos do it justice, but here’s our attempt…

Giant Sequoia Redwood in Mariposa Grove, Yosemite

View of Yosemite Valley

Below Bridalveil Waterfall, Yosemite

A bear!

It was now around the start of June and we were looking forward to the warmer weather as we excitedly headed into San Francisco. Mark Twain once said that the coldest winter he ever experienced was summer in San Francisco. Too true. Donned with ski jackets, gloves and beanies we explored this lovely little city and her prison island. The best part was going to the baseball. We’d been planning an all American day at the ballpark for several months and enthusiastically tucked into a hotdog and beer in the bleachers watching the New York Mets narrowly beat the Giants on a Wednesday afternoon. Better than working J. We followed it up with ridiculously alcoholic martinis at “Martuni’s” (mmm appletinis, pineappletinis, whateveryoulike-tinis) and then rolled down the street for some cheap (and fabulous) Mexican for dinner

Golden Gate Bridge

Sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf with San Fran's skyline in the background

At the ballgame...

Drifting inland slightly, we headed up towards Napa and the Redwood forests. Surpassing the Pacific Coast Drive in beauty, we really liked this area. And not just because of the wine (which was better quality than Santa Barbara, but still overpriced) but because of the vast array of hiking options though these beautiful forests. Remember the planet Endoor that the Ewoks lived on in Return of the Jedi. This was filmed in this area, and we kept expecting a little Ewok on a jet hovercraft to fly around the corner any second.

Heading into Oregon, we had a warm afternoon, and I was thinking – yes, summer is here! So you can imagine my surprise when we woke the next morning to discover that it was 34F/1C and our furnace was broken. We started driving to Crater Lake that morning, and my dismay grew when I started seeing more and more snow by the side of the rode. By the time we got to the summit, there were literally metres of the stuff! We’ve never seen so much snow in mid-June – Thredbo would be jealous. As for Crater Lake – well, we could just make it out through the fog. I guess we’ll have to wait until next time to see how blue it can get in fine weather J
We sensibly decided to camp beneath the snow line in McKenzie River Valley that night. We woke to see a couple of keen fishermen set off into the lake at around 8am. They had a little boat each that kinda looked like an inflatable armchair with their legs in the water! It must have been freezing, and I reminded myself why I am not a fisherman (and for Nick – that you are not all fish). Anyhow, back to the story, after breakfast we headed out on a hike (as we often do) but didn’t anticipate that a few miles in we’d hit some serious snow. Whilst it was hard to find the trail at times, it was one of the prettiest hikes we’ve done so far!

Roadside snow at Crater Lake National Park

McKenzie River Valley Hike

McKenzie River Valley Hike

On our way through Oregon’s wine country (in our opinion much better than both Santa Barbara and Napa – in terms of both quality and value), we met up with Mark, who is a fellow Aussie and a good friend of our good friends Matt and Felicity. Mark also happens to be the winemaker at a little winery just outside the town of Eugene. It is always a good thing to be made homemade dinner when you are on the road, and to have it paired with wines poured by the winemaker himself – well, you could hardly say that it sucks to be us!

Mark & Kayla

Sweet Cheeks Winery

Next stop was Portland to meet up with some friends of ours that we had met in Thailand and also in Sydney earlier this year. Thanks Naomi, Hannah, Wesley, Michael and Arlene for taking us out in true Portland style!

So to get over our accumulated hangovers, we headed back out to the wilderness, this time in Washington’s Olympic Pensinsula. One of the highlights was a hike to some hot water springs, enjoying our first bath since leaving Sydney (as the camper is only shower-equipped unfortunately!)

Hot Springs at Olympic National Park

Salmon climbing a "fish ladder" in Seattle


To help visualise (especially for those with poor US geography like me), here’s a rough map of where we’ve been so far.

Cheers big ears, Danya & Nathan