Pacific Road Trip

A California road trip can be one of the nicest drives in the world. Good scenery, good food, good wine.
Here are a few photos from our recent road trip from Scottsdale, Arizona through California and the Oregon coast, ending in Portland, Oregon.  If you haven't taken a road trip through California yet, you have a treat in store.  We have done it numerous times so ask us if you want more details.

Spring in Scottsdale, Arizona.Yes, Arizona is a desert, but is a very lush desert. The Sonoran desert has more plant species than any other desert in the world. It is also the only place in the world where saguaro cactus grow. Those are the tall ones in the photo. 

My local mountains, the McDowells on a rare cloudy day.

Western Arizona and Eastern California. A whole lotta nothin'.

But further west it gets a whole lot better. 

Calistoga, California in the Napa Valley. A charming town in the Napa Valley. Known for hot mineral springs.  

We got an early start leaving Calistoga. It was beautiful and misty. 

Despite passing numerous vineyards, we didn't stop at any wineries here or in any of the other wine growing regions we visited this past year, including Mendoza, Argentina, Tuscany, Italy, and the Napa Valley. I have almost never visited a winery. I think I toured one, about a decade ago.

Either they just happen to grow grapes in attractive places that I like to visit or these places are attractive because they grow grapes there.

 

The California redwoods were the highlight of our road trip. Although we have spent our years together living on islands or in the desert, we both really love trees.

Then we headed to the ocean.

Eureka California has a some wonderful Victorian architecture.

In very northern California there is a very cute free museum right on the highway with terrific exhibits about Native Americans throughout North America. Here are just one or two photos from their exhibits.

Along with big trees, and ocean views, Northern California has herds of wild Roosevelt elk. In some places you can get all three at the same time.

Bye Bye big trees, hello, Oregon coast. We spent four summers on the Oregon coast and it was nice to go back. 

We discovered a small park with cobra lilies, a carnivorous plant, local to Northern California and Oregon. 

Last stop: Newport, where we summered for two years. Newport has a charming river waterfront with some docks that often are covered with sea lions sunning themselves and taking a nap.

Finally, we headed east to Portland. We are once again staying on a large houseboat on the Willamette River. I'll show you some photos from there soon.

The big excitement so far is a Canadian goose nesting a few feet from our door. It looks like she has three or four eggs. I hope they hatch soon so I can watch them grow up.
Update a day later: 4 eggs yesterday, 6 today. It takes about a month for them to hatch. I don't remember geese from other years. What are they even doing here? This isn't Canada. Don't they have a GPS?