Day Seven, How Stuff if Made Like Jelly Beans and Wine

It's just one big field trip.

We did, in fact, go to the Jelly Belly factory and got the whole tour and history of the Jelly Belly company, and of the humble jelly bean itself, whose humble begins start with Turkish Delight.    One of the really interesting parts of the tour was the jelly bean mosaics, done by artists over the last few decades.  Seriously incredible.  Did you know it's the fiftieth anniversary of the buttery popcorn jelly bean?  I bet you didn't! So we got free samples of that one and a few others and walked through the enlightening tour of the lifecycle of the jelly bean.

Nearby there was a winery that was recommended to us, so we went with it for tour, tasting, history of the winery.  So cool, actually, because this family (the Clines, of Cline Cellars) purchased a model of the Spanish missions (one of the highlights that we'll be visiting in the next week) that was done for the Expo of 1939 that was held in San Francisco.  The winery has set up a museum, displaying the original models of all the missions that line the coastline of central to Southern California.  The northernmost of the missions is right here in the Sonoma Valley where we've been all day.  

The wine was awesome, too...

On the highway back to our hotel is the Sonoma Raceway.  Nothing would do but to stop there, for there were cars there making car noises.  So they let us in to watch some practice races.  Vrooooom.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Day Six, Awesomeness

Turns out that unassuming Ukiah is home to a very assuming coffee shop called Black Oak Coffee Roasters.  Here, coffee is not merely a hot beverage, but an experience.

We picnicked in Lake County today in a little town called Middletown, which one  would have to conclude is in or near the middle.  We've been ranging though foothill roads, overlooking vineyards and Oak forests, so pretty.  We crossed into Napa on Highway 29.

A bladder stop in lovely but unremarkable Kelseyville turned into a play in the park and we lunched at what appeared to be a visitor centre in Middletown.  Turns out our visitor centre is an interpretive centre for the geothermal energy company is in this area (The Geysers, creatively named for the geysers), and other parts of California.  Like a mini-museum, very cool.  

Although we only had a couple of hours travel, it took us all day.  We stopped several times along the way just to be in the beauty of the wine country, Calistoga, Oak Knoll, Rutherford, Yountville and Napa and several other viticultural regions.    

So, seriously, we're driving along, and I say, "hey honey, there is a California Old Faithful somewhere around here."  He says, really, where?  AND then we see a sign saying, "Old Faithful Geyser"  turn in and check it out.   There it is, geysing all over the place.  

So we are staying in San Rafael, half an hour north of San Fransisco.  Tomorrow we'll tour the Jelly Belly factory.  I'M NOT KIDDING.

  

Day Five, Palm Trees

Last night we stayed in Crescent City, on the 101 just past the California border.  It's the beginning of the Redwood forests area.  Today is a long travelling day, just winding our way through the forest area.  We'll be making our way to Ukiah.

Well, we had some serious coffee aficionado recommend some coffee stops to us...and I just want to tell you, Patrick G, you get to be my new best friend.  We drove an hour and a half from Crescent City to Aracata this morning to check out your coffee recommendation there.  Ring.  Er.  And now we'll trust you forever.  

Friends don't let friends drink bad coffee.  

But here's the deal.  Arcata is just the epitome of California coastal cuteness...take note Mary L.  They don't even allow fast food there, so as not to mess with the deco-ness of Arcata's historical buildings. So we hung out there for a while, in a little square (a circular one) in the middle of town under our first palm trees.  Qu. Aint.  

Picnic stop.  I'm feeding my family  little whole wheat wraps rolled with Tillamook cheese and bologna.  Yes, my friends, I'm feeding my family bologna.  Well.  It's round and fits perfectly in the ww wrap, which is about four inches across.  Don't need mayo or anything, they love it and I'm bleeding this one until they get tired of it.  Don't judge.  

We also eat the likes of snap peas, baby carrots, rice crackers, fig newtons and roasted almonds.  Car food.  

But today we are stopping at Eureka...

We found a nice park to eat and play and lay in the grass and after a leisurely break we got in the van to head to Leggett to drive through a tree.  And see gazillions of giant Sequoia, some with a fifty foot or more circumference.    

The landscape changes frequently, oceans, mountains, ranches, forests...much like the Island but on a far larger scale.  We just entered wine country, and tomorrow will prove a whole new kind of beauty.  

Day Four, Oregon Dunes

We started our day off today with a rousing adventure.  As the daily gale force winds don't usually start until after 11 or 12, we wanted to get an early start so avoid injury from the pin pricks of sand coming at us at 40 miles an hour.  We hit the dunes for a serious thrill seeking dune buggy ride.  Dustin (our driver, get the joke?) ripped over drift and dune, peak and valley of eight miles of sand.  

And guess what?  I went too, and Lydia.  We're not wimpy.  Nuh uh.  Helmets and goggles, we spent half an hour on a thrill seeking adventure that I'm sure will be one of the highlights of this trip.  By 10:30 we were on the 101 again, heading south.

Something drew us to a stop at Cape Arago viewpoint, and as soon as we got out, we could hear the sea lions barking, from the small beach of a rock formation just off the shore.  Apparently this is the home to several species of sea mammals, and we could see them below us flapping in the waves.

Albert was compelled last night to finish up the last of his Oregonian beer, as we hope to get over the California border by this evening.  It's nearly 2 pm while I write this, and we are less than two hours away from said border, so things are looking hopeful.  

I brought a book along with me for the drive (thanks, Cecilia) called The Temperament God Gave Your Children.  I've read The Temperament God Gave You and enjoyed the fruits of that read and re-read abundantly over the last few years.  I thought it would be a good idea to have a book on hand when the scenery gets boring (hasn't happened yet) or redundant (I've read two pages so far and we are almost in California) but SO FAR, it's been a charming book.  Perhaps by the end of the "boring as snot" trip back on the I-5 I'll be able to give you a review.     

Four hours later...we're here, we've had Chinese food, we hanging out watching chopped and making game plan.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Day Three, Watching

At the Newport, OR aquarium we watched sharks, sea otters, auks and other sea creatures from the depths and surfaces of the ocean.  

Further down the coast in some unnamed coastal region, we got out to see a spectacular view, and ended up whale watching.  

We got our first taste of Dunes, and spent the evening driving around the historic and profoundly windy town of Florence, OR.

Day Two, Oregon

We went to Mass this morning at the local Catholic Church in Aberdeen, Our Lady of Good Help, which is nice, 'cause we're probably gonna need it.   They thought we were such a cute family that they asked us to bring up the gifts.  A nice usher guy at the church decided we looked like we needed some direction about what to see on the Oregon Coast.  He was glad to hear that we were taking the coastal highway 101, because, and I quote, "The I-5 is as boring as snot."

So that's good to know.  I guess. 

We went through a town called Cosmopolis and there was nothing there, except the sign telling us, Entering Cosmopolis, and then nothing but sea, trees and sky.  So that was a bit of a misnomer.  Like Greenland.  

We crossed an amazing bridge called the Astoria-Megler Bridge. It spans the Columbia River, and is also crosses over the border between Washington and Oregon.  A formation of pelicans flew overhead for added spectacularness. 

That was special.  Along the 101 (not as boring as snot at all) we stopped for some beach time at Seaside, and a couple of amazing viewpoints along the way. 

 We wended our way south through what was listed primarily as Tsunami Hazard Zone.   There is a seemingly contradictory but direct relationship, in many areas of life, between Danger and Beauty, the coastal hazard zone being but one example.  Here are a few others for your perusal:

Anything in the large cat family, i.e. tigers, lions, leopards
High, snowy mountain peaks
Waterfalls
New York City

the Yellow Bellied Sea Snake

teen aged daughters

Tomorrow we go to Newport to a purportedly outstanding Aquarium and Dune Country.  

Day One on the Road to the Coast.

Our main goal today day was to motor from Abbotsford, B.C. to Somewhere On The Coast Of America.  We did it, yay!  We made it to Aberdeen, WA, the hub of Gray's Harbour.  The welcome sign to Aberdeen, WA had this welcoming note:

COME AS YOU ARE

So we came as we are.  Loud.

We saw some sub-interesting sights on our way here, the Space Needle, a nuclear power plant, Target.

We picked up some locally made beer, Widmer Brothers Drop Top Amber Ale.  We thought it would be a fun idea to try the local breweries while travelling.  I hate beer.  So I'll just try make commentary on the graphics of the labels, maybe.  I know it must be good beer, because Sparky took a long time tipping bottles and speculating about the beer.

I'm going to check out the local coffee roasters instead.  But, not wanting to take any chances on foreign coffee, we did bring our own beans and our own french press.  I know, coffee snob.  Oh well.

I did some modern art this evening, representing our stepping over the border to the Land of the Free.