West Coast with Yosemite and Las Vegas

[Halvard]

Yes,Hearst Castle as pretty spectaculare! And they have a good setup for the rounds. Recommended!

Today we reached San Francisco. Another good day along the coast. A report will of course follow within a couple of days, but now it is time to go out and be tourists :)

[Halvard]

Up bright and early on Monday. Discovered that we actually had a room with an ocean view.



We took a short drive around Carmel. Nice small town. Looks like many of the inhabitants are in the upper level incom region…








We actually stumbled on the “17 mile drive” and decided to take it. Think the fee was $8. As all along the coast, they have great scenery in there, but really not anything more than other places. Actually, the people who live there is a better reason for paying. With all the big houses, high fences and expensive cars, we felt we were in a drive trough zoo, with only the non carnivores being allowed out, and they are usually found on the golf course. Somebody should put up a sign “Do not feed or interact with the locals, as it will disturb their fragile eco system”













Then we drove to Santa Cruz for lunch. Drove out on the pier, and had some great seafood.



Seals living under the pier


We were starting to feel the tempo we had been keeping for the last days, so after a short cruise trough town, we set the GPS for fastest route to SF.





More pictures-->

[Mark Sedenquist]

Some of the nicest yet of 17-mile drive on this forum!

Mark

[PNW Judy]

...great observations! I love the zoo analogy. :)

[Southwest Dave]

It made me chuckle though.

..... should put up a sign “Do not feed or interact with the locals, as it will disturb their fragile eco system”

I read ................."will disturb their fragile ego system" ;-)

I agree with both the above statements, great report and stunning photo's.

Thankyou.

[PNW Judy]

I read ................."will disturb their fragile ego system" ;-)

Am I bad for saying that this might be just as accurate? <winking>

[Halvard]

Hi all. Very glad you are still enjoying this thread!

We are still in San Francisco. Hard to leave this town, so it is going to be a marathon run back up to Seattle. Today they have a big soap box derby here, wich is supposed to be lots of fun, so not leaving until tomorrow.

Even though SF is one of the more ped friendly places so far, it is still nice to have a car to get around. Some of the things we have done so far:

Alcatraz


Golden Gate


Twin Peaks mountain


Worlds most crookedest street


Roy Brizio Hot Rod Shop


Tomorrow its back on the road. We don't know where we are going yet, but the plan is to spend 2 days on the I5. Hopefully we will be able catch a glimse of Seattle before we go home.


SF day 1
SF day 2
SF day 3

[PNW Judy]

I actually like Seattle just as much as San Francisco. It has a similar "flavor" but is a bit more laid-back. If you only have time for one thing, go to the Public Market and surrounding area.

[Halvard]

As I said earlier, we stayed an extra day in SF. We did catch the Red Bull Soap Box Derby in Doleres Park. Together with 75 000 other people. Great day, lots of fun and the sun was really baking on a couple of pale Norwegians :)

We started the car just before noon Sunday. Just after midnight we ended up in Tacoma! That was a long day, but now we only got 45 minutes to get in to Seattle. The reason we stopped here was just because we had not booked a motel, and figured that at this late our, it would be easier to look for a room at the motels along the interstate. We lucked out on the first we tried.

This morning it is 45 degrees and raining. Guess that is what you get for driving 12 hours north. But no big worries, it will just get us ready for the weather back home. We leave for Norway tomorrow, so no we are trying to figure out what to do on a rainy day in Seattle and our last day the US.

[Mark Sedenquist]

We've enjoyed your trip -- have a safe flight home.

Mark