California!!The land of Beautiful Sunsets

So we made it to California. We have been here a little over a week now. The days are starting to run together, this will be like the 65 Saturday in a row now. Its great!! We started our adventure into California on a small road (hwy 199 I believe). There was a customs office we had to go through to get into the state. This was strictly for food purposes on the account that California grows most of the USA's food. Crescent City, CA was our first stop. We were directed to a beautiful spot on the rocky beach by a Ranger in the information center at Crescent City. He was such a nice man, and very helpful. Upon arriving at this secret spot...located at the end of Enders Beach Rd. we stopped to make dinner. We meet two friendly people Gab and Daniel. Daniel was a glass blower in his late 50's and Gab was traveling back to Portland,OR after bumming around for a month. He was such a nice guy we ended up hanging out with him the rest of the night and he didnt like sleeping alone so we let him sleep in front of our car. The SUNSET WAS SPECTACULAR!! From Crescent City we headed to the King Range. BY FAR the most remote beach on the west coast. It was beautiful. The mountain roads that followed the ocean were incredible to drive on. Imagine driving down an old country road in the mountains with no center line and pot holes littering the path in front of you. To one side you see pristine mountain scenery and on the other side you see the ridges of these mountains sinking deep into the ocean right beside you. These mountains stand at a staggering 4000 ft. Which is quite a feat considering the ridges of these mountains go directly into the ocean. After Exploring this forgotten place for a few days we slowly meandered down the cost stopping in sever small towns that were not even on the map. Ferndale was a very wonderful town that is located at the northern part of the King Range. On the southern end of this Wilderness Area we decided to take Hwy 1 one hundred and seventy-five miles into San Fransisco. San Fran is all that you hear and see in pictures. On our way to San Fran, Rachael had to pee really bad and had been holding it for quite some time....so finally she decided to pull over and pee on the side of the road. This is the spot that we believe she got POISON OAK!!! all over her body... The following three days her face began to swell shut. He has it on her stomach, legs, in her ears, neck and all of her face. Poor girl just hasnt seen any good luck. But she IS a trooper. We spent the day in San Fran and walked around...her with a puffed up face, and still had a good time. We headed to one of her sisters friends house who lives in San Jose. Here we doctored Rachael and I took her to the hospital to get checked out....BUT for the record...I told her it was poison and benedryl would help...thats for the record...we ended up going to to doctor and guess what he said...poison oak! none the less Im watching after her and TRYING to make her not scratch it...shes doing pretty good on that part. I just hope she gets over it soon. Its no fun to have P.I. on your FACE!! luckily Im not allergic so Ill just be watching after her for the next week. Shes recovering just fine though. Our time in San Jose was very nice though. Rikki and Chris were so nice to us and allowed us to stay for two days. Rikki hung out with us the most..not that Chris didnt want too, he's just trying to finish his MB at school and hold a full time job. I wish I could have gone climbing with him though. He seems like a very competant climber from the conversations we had. Rikki is a Massage Theripist just like one of my best friends Clayton. She was so much fun to hang out with. Me and Racheal had a lot of fun with her. After we got the Poison Oak thing straitened out we said our good byes and headed for Lake Tahoe. That brings us to today. Tomorrow there is a Halloween festival outside of Yosemite that I would like to go to. So we are leaving Lake Tahoe today and going to head towards Yosemite. Im excited about Yosemite. I'm hoping I can teach Rachael a few things about climbing and then spend a day or two climbing with some locals. We plan on spending about a week there. Our money is on its last leg....and we are still in Cali. Its going to be fun trying to be as frugal as possible with what we have so that we can attempt getting back to North Carolina. HA I have no worries about it! just so its out there..we have $300 left in our joint account and I have about $400 left in my personal.(I have no idea how much Rach has left...she keeps financial information very quiet) ...BUT....I figure it will cost us at least $500 in gas to get back and then $____ more on other expenses. Oh I cant wait to see how this all turns out! Its just another aspect of an adventure that I just love. Its like a big game...because really whats the worst that can happen??? We go home from here?? I think I can deal with that.

This blog marks the turn in our journey that will head us back East. We have moved away from the Pacific Ocean and are now heading back to the Rockies and then back to the East Coast! Day 59 of our travels and we have so many stories(for those that want to hear them) and many more stories yet to live out. I love you all and cant wait to see all yall again!!

Until I find wifi again,
Nathan

From Washington to Oregon

So been a while since I last wrote on the blog. GOOD NEWS!!!! Pictures are here!! http://www.photobucket.com/ my user name is nathan31586 . That should direct you to my pictures. Sorry but Internet has been scarce the places that we have ventured. Upon entering the USA we drove to the North Cascades National Park and spent the night near George Dam. It rained alittle but not very much. After planning a 3 day backpacking trip into the interior of the North Cascades I called my Aunt Lisa and discovered she had the weekend off and that it would work better for her if we visited her that weekend. So we nixed the trip and headed for Seattle.It was a great decision!! before we left I stoped into a Salvation Army store and filed for a food voucher that was worth 20 buck! it was awesome. Racheal was very hesitant about me doing this but hell, I needed the money and it was going for a dang good cause... feeding me! After all I technically fall into the lower class economic bracket. After the grocery shopping we b-lined to Seattle. In Seattle we meet up with Aunt Lisa, Uncle Barry, Norma Jean, and Adrianne at there house. It was so much fun to hand out and get to know them a little better. After all their family (family that i deeply love at that!) We saw Seattle, rode a ferry to Bainbridge Island, Had a BLAST at Red Hook Brewery, watched football by the fire place, and meet a couple of Adrianne's friends/co-workers. It was so much fun!! After leaving Seattle we headed to Olympic National Park. A beautiful rain forest. We spent 3 days backpacking in the rain forest and venturing deep into cougar country (and grizs too!) I took a picture of a massive mountain lion track when we were on the trail. I hope to have it up on photo bucket soon!! After eating sea food all around the coast of Washington state, we headed for Portland, OR. No to mention the stops along the way on hwy 101. My first view of the Pacific Ocean occurred during this stretch of road. On 10/9/09 to be exact. It was cool. check another one off the list. Walking the shore was great. Big rock cliffs 60-80 feet high jetting up from the sea. After following the coast we arrived in Portland. My FAVORITE city so far. Man what a great town. Ive heard that its like a big Asheville...which its NOT! But none the less its a fine town. Great music scene, lots of young people, great cost of living, voted one of the best beer towns the the world, what else could you ask for? Mountains Oceans? ohh yea they have that too... Its less than an hour drive to get to the ocean and the same to get to the mountains. Mt. Hood can be seen in the distant horizion while crossing one of the many bridges that separate the city. We meet several really great people and rode the public transportation all around the city. Thanks to Rachaels friend Amie for letting us spend the night one late night. I have lots of stories to tell from this city!!!

After leaving Portland, we headed for Bend, OR. We took a beautiful road 240 I believe. Went to Sisters, OR. A great little town as well. Bend was amazing. worth a weekend trip for sure. Mt Bachelor is located here. One of the BEST skiing mountains in the North West with more than 3,600 acres of groomed slopes...dont tell many people though,...its a local secret still. Most of the people that ski there are from Oregon or Washington...only a few people from the East Coast venture to ski on the Mountain that has the longest skiing season on this side of the state...or anywhere for that matter! A great find for later in my life. Bend Brewery was great. as well as Silver Moon Brewery and Deshutes Brewery. One of the about 30 different local brews we have tried in this state! I think...rather i know thats were my money went, as well as the unexpected trip to Canada!! I'm sitting pretty thin in the pocket right now but Im sure I can stretch it out until at least December 1st.

After Bend, we headed to Eugene. A medeocre town at best. About 80,000 live there but I was not impressed with the over all feel and structure to the town. The best part of the town was the Rose Garden that boasted over 400 different types of roses. It was absolutely breath taking. With in the park, the oldest Cherry tree known in existence was held together with wires and supports, its was planed by the town founder, Eugene something in 1847. We also attended the Beer Tastival in Eugene. it was about $5 and you got a "free" pint glass. and every taste of beer cost a dollar. Each taste being 4oz. I spent $10 total. It was worth it. Meet some more really cool people and one was actually the brew master for Lompos brewery. After the Beer we headed down the road (sober mind you) to the coast of Oregon. Florance is where we hit the rocky shore and headed to see over 500 seals playing and sun bathing. At this point I believe we have only seen rain 4 out of the 49 days. Not a bad ratio. Dont worry we will bring the sunshine back to the east coast when we come! :) I find myself sitting in a Starbucks right now in a town called Roseburg, OR off of I-5. I will more than likely never come back to this town. We head out tonight to Crater Lakes National Park to spend a few days. The plan is to set up a base camp somewhere where we dont have to pay for camping and have about three or four down days to just chill. It will be the first real down days yet. Im really looking forward to it. I bought some Myrtle wood today. The rarest in the world, and some say the most beautiful. Im making someone special a necklace! I'm really looking forward to Crater Lakes Nat'l Park and the down time. My next post will not be unil California. That will more than likely be in a week. Well they are kicking me out of Starbucks right now. They close at 7pm...its 7:11pm.


Checck out the pictures i have a few up already! http://www.photobucket.com/ my user name is nathan31586. if you cant find it from that I think this may work...
http://s786.photobucket.com/albums/yy141/nathan31586/Roadtrip%2009%20Wis/
Until then,
I love you all and keep on truckin'. I know I AM!

Nathanael

Back To the Good 'ol US of A!

Vancouver was a great town. I have my quarlls though. As I could figure, everybody in BC was polite, but not friendly. They would tell you how to get around, but after that, you would be lucky to get another word or have a friendly conversation with anyone except the hobo's and druggies cluttering W. Hastings St in downtown. There were lots of Homeless people in that town. For the most part me and Rachael stuck out like a sore thumb. From our cloths ,to the way we talked and the smile on our faces, it was obvious that this was not the normal attitude of a Vancouver resident. They seemed to all have the dark british style of dress. Dark cloths, petty coats,... the whole nine. Smiles were rare, and the pace of life probally coouldn't get any faster than how fasted they walked around town. Im a fast walker and I had trouble keeping up with most of them. As they walked around town, it was like they were on a mission (to make money more than likey....!). The bars we visited were stale to say the least. Not close to the friendly bars that I have visited in the bigger cities in the US. Atlanta being one of the hippist bar towns I have visited so far..(That lines for you Terry! I know you love your Atlanta)

Well, now we are in the states and heading to Seattle to hopefully visit my Uncle Barry and Aunt Lisa, and then to explore Washingtion St. Northern Cascades, Mt. Rainer, Then Olympic Nat'l Park! all within the next week and a half. I contacted a friend from Montreat that now lives in Seattle and I hope she calls me back! If so I might drop by and say hello to her! Second round of postcards are being sent out this week! Iv'e sent about 6 so far! Rachael has sent about 8.

Til next time,
Love and Blessings,
Nathan