This is my Oregon trip report July 2005.
A rather uneventful trip. We drove up 101, 128 and 1 to Eureka, then on
to Eugene, Salem and Wood Village where Deb's sister Peggy lives.
It was a fun and easy trip to 128. This was a beautiful drive with
several wineries along the way. The appellation is "Alexander Valley".
We stopped at Navarro for a taste and
bought a couple bottles of excellent wine. We also hit Husch winery which has the best tasting room.
We drove highway 1 along the coast past Mendicino, through Fort
Bragg and on to Eureka. We stayed at a nice enough motel. In the
morning we went to the Samoa Cookhouse for breakfast. It's a local thing. It's an old
logging mess house. You eat at long tables family style. Always fun.
Then on up 1 and through part of the Avenue of the Giants and a stop at
Crescent City. We ate lunch at a place along the coast with a great view. We cut over to 5 near Eugene and
began making time to get to Peggy's
place. We went to Peg's favorite Mexican place where a good meal
was had by all.
The next day we and Amber went to the zoo and had a wonderful time
including a train ride(Movie) over to the rose garden. Very beautiful. The butterfly house was the best thing.
We got together with Peg and went to a brew pub
that has a good happy hour. A couple drinks and a bunch of appetizers
later we were pretty loaded. We went back to Peg's and gabbed and
partied the evening away.
Saturday morning we took off on our drive to Seattle. It was a bit of
an adventure finding
our hotel. A nice older place with no air conditioning. No problem,
there were fans and the weather didn't seem to be too hot.
We went down to the art museum
and on to Pike Place Market. We bought some flowers and walked around.
We had a beer and an appetizer at Kell's. That evening we went to a
very nice Italian restaurant near our
hotel.
The next day we went to the market for a short visit then
took the bus to the Space Needle where we had an expensive but elegant lunch in the rotating restaurant. We then rode
the monorail, then got on a bus to go to Pioneer Square. It was my
understanding it was a park but it was the old part of town with
several elegant galleries including a wonderful African art place. We
had a couple beers in a neat old place.
Very quaint but a bit scary as this is also the mission area.
We looked all over the place for a place to eat but ended
up at a place in Pike Place Market.
Monday we hiked down to the piers and took a boat tour of the
sound. The weather was perfect and the trip was excellent. We then
grabbed a cab and went to Safeco
baseball stadium. We took the tour.
Wow that was really neat. Then a hike back to Pioneer Square and on to
checkout and drive back to Peggy's.
That evening we went to dinner at a nice
place Peg wanted to try. I had a very good New York steak.
Tuesday we drove to Klamath Falls on our
way to Lava Beds National Monument. Turns out there are no falls in
Klamath Falls, they were wiped out by a dam many years ago. We tried to
find a place to eat and have some local conversation, no luck. We took
KFC back to the room and watched Lance
Armstrong compete in the Tour de France. An enjoyable evening.
Wednesday we got up and got on our way to Lava Beds. We visited several
caves using borrowed flash lights. Quite
interesting.
Then on our way home. The drive around the back side of Shasta with a view of Lassen was beautiful and
pretty fast. We stopped for lunch at a quaint
little place with a wonderful lunch. I had a prime rib sandwich that
was
GREAT. Then on to our long long drive home.