California Cruising

Good Morning! It's August 5, 2011 and I'm sitting in a Holiday Inn lobby in San Francisco, CA. It's been a great couple of days of riding since I last wrote. Wednesday night we stopped and stayed in Newport, OR. While in Newport we took in the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, a wax museum, and an Undersea Adventure "show". Almost every time we vacation with Miranda we stop and visit a Ripley's museum because she loves them. Tickets to this one included the wax museum and underwater adventure. The wax museum was a little bit dates with exhibits such as the M*A*S*H tent. They did have a bitchin Star Wars and Lord of the Rings section. The undersea adventure was just sad. It was in a building that was actually submerged under the water by about 10 feet or so and they had a big window that went around the perimeter and looked out onto their "aquarium." It had a few fish in it but they all looked diseased or sick. There were a bunch of crabs that were fighting and eating each other though, so that was kind of interesting.

The next day we continued to travel south down US-101 through Oregon, enjoying the view of the coast and taking in some tourist attractions. We stopped to see Sea Lion Caves near Florence, OR and actually got to see some sea lions basking in the sun. Again, we continued to travel south and eventually found ourselves in California. We stopped at the Redwood Forest information center and got some tips on how to see some old growth redwoods from the car/motorcycle and were also informed that during the course of our journey, we'd cross the Klamath River. It just so happened that there was a whale that had made it's way into the river and was playing by a bridge on the river. Sure enough, about 45 minutes later we were staring right at a real live whale. Pictures can't possibly do justice to how majestic it was. Given the area it was "playing" in, it almost seemed like it knew there were people watching it and was putting on a show on purpose.

We stayed in Arcata, CA Wednesday night at a janky Comfort Inn, but it was the only hotel that had a room available with two double beds. Thursday when we woke up, we continued on US-101 until it intersected with CA-1, the Pacific Coast Highway. We rode the PCH for several hours. It was beautiful but we weren't making very good time and a couple of us were getting car sick from all of the twists and turns the road took as it followed the mountains on the coast line. We did get a chance to go to the drive through tree though! I kind of felt like Clark Griswold.

We finally arrived in San Francisco after night fall and another HARROWING bridge crossing. The Richmond San Rafael Bridge is longer than the Mackinac Bridge. Actually, I just confirmed that it is 5.5 miles long. After a couple of missteps, we ended up at our hotel for the evening. Most everything was closed for dinner, so we all tried Jack-In-The-Box for the first (and last) time. It was pretty gross.