Fremont Peak State Park and the Central Valley of California

Monterey was the farthest south we were going on the California coast so we headed inland, past Salinas (of Bobby McGee fame), to find a place to camp for the night. We ended up driving up a fairly tall mountain and stayed at Fremont Peak State Park. Twice during the night we awoke to coyotes howling as a pack.

Because it had been dark when we drove inland, the next morning we were very surprised by the change in environment. We had only driven about an hour or two from the coast and had landed in a dry, savannah looking oak forest. The campground was teeming with birds in the morning, including scrub jays, acorn woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches and California quail.

We went for a hike on a dry, grassy slope up to the top of Fremont Peak. Saw lots and lots of Southern Alligator Lizards, mostly juveniles, and another species of lizard we couldn’t ID. At the top of Fremont Peak we learned that it was the first place the American flag was raised on California soil, however the wind blew the flag down so they took it as a sign to retreat and leave the peak to the Spanish for a little longer.

Later in the day we drove across the Central Valley of California to Yosemite. The valley was entirely agriculture, mostly cotton, fruit and nut trees, but almost nowhere to actually buy produce! Guess they export it all...

Nice cones...

Manzanita tree

Scott, surveying the hills

Spot the Alligator Lizard

Dry, grassy hillside with the valleys in fog

Santa Cruz & Monterey

We landed in Santa Cruz late at night and went to a vegetarian junk-food diner called the Saturn Café... it was exactly what we needed. We spent our night outside Santa Cruz in an oak forest... the trees were dropping acorns all night and sounded like nocturnal animals. Still, it was beautiful.

In the morning we went to the Santa Cruz waterfront. There were loads of sea lions sleeping under the wharf, as well as pelicans. Even though it was chilly there were bikini-clad folks playing beach volleyball near the boardwalk. We tried to get a look at the surfers in Steamer Lane but it was a little far away.

In the afternoon we went to Monterey and sampled some fish tacos at a restaurant on the wharf. Basically it’s groundfish in corn tortillas with lettuce, onions, and a chipotle mayo. The ones made with fried fish were tastier than those with grilled fish, probably because fat=flavour. It was a bit of a tourist trap but we got to watch pelicans fishing right outside our window.

After lunch we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. WOW. Photos and videos tell it best. We were most fond of the seahorses and the jellies, the kelp forest, and the circular sardine tank where they swim over your head. After 5 hours we were still rushing to see everything before they closed. It was a good way to end our stretch of coastal driving before heading inland across California.

Purple Striped Jellies

3-Story Kelp Forest

A sleepy Black-Necked Stilt

Bioluminescent Comb Jellies

Purple Striped Jellies

Weedy Sea Dragon

Zoom-Zoom!

Leafy Sea Dragon - ouch my eyeballs!

Shrimp? Prawn? Sweet dance moves!

Feeding Seahorses

Kelp forest in action

Tropical coral reef

Nemo!

Stylish eel

Anchovies and Sardines

San Francisco

We stopped just north of San Francisco at the Golden Gate Recreation Area to get a picture of the Bridge and to see the radiolarian chert (a rock made entirely of silica that used to be part of tiny creatures that lived in the ocean).

After driving over the Golden Gate Bridge we parked downtown near Fisherman’s Wharf. We had lunch at Boudin Sourdough Bakery and got out of the touristy Fisherman’s Wharf area as fast as possible due to people overload.

We got downtown on the trolley system and walked through Chinatown, which was very clean and Westernized compared to that of Vancouver. After downtown we caught a bus to Golden Gate Park, past the famous City Hall and Opera House.

At the park we checked out some of the neat architecture. The California Academy of Science building was the most impressive, as it had a huge living roof, but the Conservatory of Flowers was also pretty impressive. We took an abbreviated stroll through the Botanical Gardens because our feet were killing us from all the walking. Afterwards we took the trolley back to our car and drove south out of town on a crazy 12-lane highway. We were glad to be out of the city by then.

Northern California

What do you go see when you go to Northern California? Redwoods!

We went to Redwoods National Park and did a couple short hikes through different groves, then headed south to Humboldt Redwoods State Park to get our fill of these gigantic trees. We also got to see some elk.

We also drove inland and through the Sonoma Valley on the way to San Francisco... hot, dry and more grapes than you could ever want. We didn’t sample any of the wine but we did see a palm tree!

Just before San Francisco, we cut back to the coast. The coast only an hour or two north of the city was surprisingly unpopulated and rugged. Foggy, almost no trees, neat succulent plants, surfers and lots of interesting road kill, including a ringtail (like a raccoon but more lemur-like with a long skinny tail). Also got to see shorebirds including egrets and herons.

Oregon Coast

After crossing the Columbia River we were in Astoria, Oregon. The whole time we were in Oregon we stayed on the coast. All along the coast it seemed like there were huge, white-sand beaches and sea stacks for as far as we could. On our first day we made lots of little stops at beaches and took a self-guided tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Josie was like a kid in a candy store. We got three kinds of cheese to go... and tried the ice cream.

White-sand beaches? Check.

Seastacks? Check.

The next day we went surfing! Surfin’ USA. We started the day with a lesson. Our instructor was pushing 60, a real old-time surfer dude and lots of fun. By the end of the day Scott was looking like a pro, and Josie was doing not too bad either. The water was warmer than at home, and in our thick wetsuits we surfed until we were ready to hurl from exhaustion. At the beach we saw a seal and some pelicans.

Mandatory surfer picture? Double check.

Scott surfing like a pro.

The next day was spent checking out parts of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area – a sprawling landscape of giant dunes that go for miles inland in some places. We stayed on the beach, but the area is famous for dune buggies and sandboarding, which is like snowboarding, but on sand.

Plus we saw hundreds of barking and frolicking sea lions. This beach is covered

in them and there are probably just as many in the water.

Olympic National Park

We spent our first night in Olympic National Park near Hurricane Ridge, outside of Port Angeles, WA. Saw black-tailed deer and we spotted rough-skinned newts on the road, Josie’s first USA herp sighting!

The next day we drove through Forks, WA... an apology to all the Twilight fans, we didn`t get any pictures. But we did see a sign on the nearby Native reservation that said “No vampires beyond this point.”

We went to Rialto Beach, where we checked out sea stacks, a sea arch and tidal pools full of life.

After the beach, we drove to the Hoh River Rainforst. Lots of sword ferns, moss and rain made the place look pre-historic. There were rutting elk in the campground.

The rainiest place in the US makes for a lot of moss...

The next day we hiked the Hall of Mosses trail and part of the Hoh River trail.

That night we headed south to Long Beach, WA and stayed at Cape Dissapointment State Park at the mouth of the Columbia River. We ate at the Crab Pot restaurant for some fresh Dungeness crab and razor clams.

First Stop...Vancouver!

Our first stop on our cross-USA trip took us west to Vancouver. Our road trip started with a bang... well it was more of a pop. The sound a tire makes when it gets a puncture 20 minutes from Nelson. Long story short, we ended up arriving in Vancouver later than expected.

We stayed at Josie’s friend Jessie’s apartment, and although she wasn’t there, her roommates and boyfriend were very welcoming.

The next day was our first Vancouver experience, so we shopped at MEC for some camping gear we needed for our trip and headed downtown on the SkyTrain to tour around. We visited Gastown and Chinatown, where we got soaked by torrential rain and ate lunch at a Chinese noodle house, where the menu included pigs feet and jellyfish. In the stores of Chinatown we saw dried geckos, very expensive birds nests (for soup), lots of dried seafood and maybe dried caterpillars. Very few signs were in English so it was fun guessing what everything was.

After lunch we caught the bus to Stanley Park, where we walked part of the seawall and saw totem poles. The park was much larger than we expected!

In the evening, we went out for all you can eat sushi with some friends. Tasty, lots of protein and we could get anything on the menu. Feeling rather sluggish, we headed back for some rest.

The next day we officially started our USA trip by crossing the border, which went fairly smoothly, and we headed for the Olympic Penninsula.

We think this building with the giant living roof has something

to do with the Olympics

Seawall + Condos = Vancouver

Totem poles in Stanley Park

Walking the seawall in Stanley Park

Our Last Month in Nelson

Our last month in Nelson was full of water activities and mountain vistas as we tried to squeeze in all the things on the “must do before we leave” list.

We headed out in search of a natural waterslide north of Castlegar. Here it is before we got up the nerve to jump in the freezing water.

Here is the movie of us in the chute!

We also went tubing on the Slocan river, which we don`t actually have any pictures of. But there are some pictures of Josie on Facebook that a friend took while we were tubing.

Our first big hike of September took us to the famous and controversial Jumbo Pass, Northeast of Kootenay Lake.

View from Jumbo Pass

More view

Glaciers!

Scott

Scott and Josie

We camped the night and hiked to the MacBeth Icefields the next day. This picture is of the waterfall coming from the valley that the glacier field is in.

Seems like a glacier might have pasted here not long ago...hmmm

More evidence of glaciers.

Our last big hike was in Valhalla Provincial Park, west of Slocan. We hiked to the Gwillim Lakes Basin. Lots of good scenery along the way and not particularly grueling.

Josie ponders the reality of leaving the mountains.

Scott overlooking the valley

It snowed a little on the way up and when we got to the basin there was fresh snow in the mountains and snow on the ground...yay September!

That is one huge hunk of granite... I guess this is why the Valhallas are famous in mountaineering circles