It’s been
quite a week. We started the week by
visiting our friends at Scio, OR which is not far from Salem, OR. The visit was wonderful, although it started
a little tenuous. It was hard to imagine
why their mailbox would pop out and bite us – but it did and it is still up for
debate whether it was the mailbox or the driver. The end result was a boo-boo which we are
trying to decide the best way to mask it.
We truly enjoyed visiting with Ken and Joanne, who after many years on
the road, decided to put down roots and bought a beautiful acreage and
home. While there we toured the area
which has beautiful countryside, a number of covered bridges, and great
scenery. The area is home to many
Christmas tree farmers. We were
fortunate enough to see how they transport them from the farm. The trees are bundled and a small helicopter
comes, picks them up, expertly swings them so they land in a truck – quite the
sight. There are also a number of covered bridges in the area which we got to see.
We hit the
road in some fog and headed toward the coast.
As we travelled, the fog slowly cleared and we had a great travel
day. The drive was lovely but a couple
of things happened – there weren’t many times that we were right along the
coast and could see the ocean without driving into a park, and we had actually
travelled that coast back in ’93.
We
decided that we would further south a little quicker and went back inland.
Another very scenic drive! We even got to see some turkeys (other than the one in the driver's seat)!!
Since there
aren’t a lot of highways running north and south, we took Interstate 5 –
probably the most scenic interstate that we have every travelled. We passed Mount Shasta
and crossed Shasta
Lake – wow
.
And they have some of the
nicest rest areas.
As we pulled into one
Gerry said “I smell antifreeze” and I said “So do I”.
We stopped and yup, we smelled antifreeze
alright – as it poured out of the bottom of the heater core.
So under the rig Gerry goes and finds a
couple of shut-off valves – closed them both and our problem seemed to be
solved – hopefully until we get home.
We
decided that the weather will be nice enough that we can get by without a
heater and we can manage.
As always, as
we travel along we look to see where a likely spot would be to spend the
night. We came across a little town in
California – Colusa which had a casino – often a good overnight spot. The first thing we do is go in and ask
permission, and then we get a club card – jackpot. They offered us each $25 in free play plus
$10 off supper at the steak house. The
special just happened to be Prime rib and lobster for 19.99. We played our free cash and ended up with $10.00
each – enough for supper. The meal was
excellent and the staff were very nice and friendly. What a great way so spend a few hours and the
only cost was for the tip!! The next
morning we went for a walk to discover the there were walnut orchards. We filled our pockets with walnuts that had
fallen into the ditch and our pockets were deep. We ended up with a couple of pounds of
shelled, fresh walnuts.
Next stop is
Napa Valley for a few days and some great weather.
We had
booked a campsite – at the bottom of a canyon so no cell service and no
internet.
Just an inconvenience since we
have become so used to access to the internet on a constant basis.
We head out daily so will just do what we
have to do at that time.
|
Our sample |
|
My favourite |
|
A view of Napa Valley |
|
Grape vines |
We spent the
past couple of days touring both Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley – both known for
the vineyards and wineries.
|
Pomegranite tree |
|
Pure Bliss |
Many of the
wineries that have tours are like large beautiful estates – great to see but
one can only sample so much wine and still drive.
We did one tour and the wine we sampled was
super – I really enjoyed that one.
The
others were so-so, in my opinion.
Seeing
that I am such a great connoisseur of wine and only like sweet, light, fruity
wines that you can buy in the stores for $4.00!!
We also
stopped and had lunch at the Culinary Institute of America and then stayed for
a demonstration by one of the chefs – quite entertaining.
Afterwards we got to taste what was
made.
We also got to watch as they were
making test batches for Ghiradelli chocolates.
It was great fun.
One more wine and
cheese tasting today and then on to another spot tomorrow.
We have had a
fun week and I hope you have enjoyed our week with us. Have a great week!!