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It is funny how things work out sometimes. When we were in Manhattan Beach in LA at the beginning of our trip we had put our name down for a table at a restaurant and the host recommended us to have a drink at a bar down the street while we waited. At that bar we sat down at a long table and before long we were talking to 2 women in their 50ies about where we had been and where we were going. One of the women lived in Sausalito on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge and told us to look her up when we got to the area. We only talked to the ladies for 30 minutes but they were so nice and it is always fun to talk to strangers. Anyway a couple of days ago we decided to pick Jenny from Sausalito up on her offer and called her - over a month after we met her at the bar in LA - and she immediately invited us to stay with her and her husband. So here we are. In a beautiful big villa from the 1870s, sitting on their front porch overlooking the bay while I'm writing this blog post. We even got our own little guesthouse to stay in, fresh berries were waiting for us when we got up and last night we went out for tacos and margaritas with them. And all this would never have happened if there had not been a wait at the restaurant.
Well I guess I left of at Larry and Daphne's amazing home in Lake Tahoe where we spent 4 great and relaxing days. While we were there we did some running, some yoga, some city exploring and some hiking around the actual lake but mostly we just relaxed in the backyard with Larry's New York Times enjoying the peace and quiet. Larry and Daphne have a Cancer Center in Tahoe, which we got a VIP tour off - it was really fascinating and moving at the same time. We just loved our time in Tahoe and can't thank them enough for opening their home to us. We have sworn that we will be as inviting to visitors once we again have a home in DK.
We arrived in Tahoe Monday and Friday the 17th we were of to Sacramento - California's capitol where the Terminator used to hold office. The capitol kind of fades next to cities like LA and San Francisco but it was still cool to explore the city. We went to the California Museum, visited the capitol building and saw the old town - real tourists.
The next morning we started to head north towards Portland, Oregon. We hadn't actually planned to see Oregon but my time scheduling had proven to be a bit pessimistic so now we had time to spare before our planned arrival in SF on the 29th of April where an apartment was waiting for us. We had heard good things about Oregon and especially its coast so we headed North through the Oregon Wine country towards Portland with a few stops on the way. First stop was Ashland - what a beautiful city. Spring is really the most amazing time of year, everything was picture perfect green and flowers were blossoming everywhere. And yes there were also some cherry trees in blossom like in the Gardens in Copenhagen, which seemed to be the thing to post on Instagram. Anyway - we walked around town had amazing dinner in a very hip restaurant, and hiked in the nearby mountains the next day before driving further North. We had planned to drive all the way to Portland and spend two nights there (4,5 hour drive) but when we were 2 hours out of the city we got stuck in extreme traffic. So we decided to wing it and through Yelp (our new best friend) we found the cutest little B&B in Eugene, Oregon. It was an old house turned in to a B&B with a huge garden and the best breakfast ever. Eugene is where Oregon University is so the tiny town also had some cool wine and tapas bars - absolutely perfect. We arrived in Portland Monday around noon and checked in to a guesthouse in the hipster area of the city. A guesthouse is something between a B&B and a hostel and even though we were sooooo over hostels this was actually a really cool place surrounded by small restaurants, bars etc. We spent the day exploring downtown having lunch at the local food trucks (again real hispterism at play) and walked to the Japanese Garden and the Rose Gardens in the park (Portland has the biggest Urban park in the US - even bigger than Central Park - according to themselves J). It was really stunning and Portland is just the best city. You can walk most places, there are cool restaurants on every corner and the people are really warm and welcoming - definitely a city to come back to.
As we drove North inland through the wine country we were now heading West towards the coast to make our way back down to San Francisco (I read that only geeky tourists call it San Fran so I will try not to do that ;-)
First stop on Oregon's coast was Seaside where I had booked a small Airbnb apartment by the ocean. As it was mid-week and the weather was a bit dodgy there were not many people on the coast. We were just happy to be back by the ocean which we hadn't been since we left San Diego over a month ago. Again we enjoyed having a kitchen and cooked an informal spaghetti Bolognese for dinner while drinking loads of good red wine. The weather was cold and windy but that just gave us an excuse to cuddle up in front of the "fireplace" (it was basically a movie of a fire connected to a heater) after a long walk by the ocean.
Next stop: Depoe Bay. We drove along the coast the next day with a few stops on the way overlooking the most stunning coast with haystack rocks everywhere (picture viewing needed to understand the beauty of it all).
In Depoe Bay I had again found a tiny B&B for us overlooking the ocean (everything was affordable as people mostly come to the coast on the weekend and during summer). The work distribution between Andreas and I is as follows: I am the travel manager making sure we know where to go and where we are going to stay and Andreas is the designated driver making sure we get there safe and sound. Perfect J
The owner of the above mentioned B&B suggested a local restaurant for dinner and what a treat it was. We sat right next to panorama windows overlooking the sunset while having amazing seafood - the very fair corkage fee of 7,5USD also added to the positive atmosphere. Why had we not thought of that before?!
The next morning we drove further south still very impressed with that the coast had to offer and ended up in a small town called Florence. Again we had a great dinner with amazing views and while we were walking to the car we spotted this bar with a huge sign saying that it was karaoke night - this we had to see. And what a cliché the place was. All cowboy hats and wannabe country singers having a blast while getting drunk on their beloved karaoke night. We had so much fun people watching and just enjoying the extremely authentic atmosphere. The next morning we woke up to rain rain and more rain. We had been so lucky with the weather since we arrived that we hadn't even considered bad weather. We planted ourselves on a coach in the local coffee shop by the fire until it stopped raining - or so we thought. We had planned to go out to some sand dunes in the area on a 4 wheel drive trip but the weather was just horrible so instead we decided to play minigolf - in the rain. When we got back on the road it actually started to clear and we were lucky enough to enjoy the coast with sun the rest of the day. We did a short stop in Bandon - the most amazing little coastal town that is very high on our "must-visit-again-at-another-time" list - which is actually getting quite long I must admit. We spent our last night in Oregon in Gold Beach - another small coastal town - with take away and movies.
By now it was Saturday - it had taken us about a week to drive through most of Oregon (north and south) and now we were back in California… We spent the whole day in the Redwoods. The oldest and largest living trees in the world - they were quite impressive. We did various hikes through the woods including one to a secluded beach. The redwoods really are spectacular and we continued to be amazed by the size of them. On Sunday we even got to drive through a Redwood tree (height 315ft, diameter 21ft and age 2400 years) - only in America!
We had booked a small cabin in the woods for Sunday and Monday through Airbnb which my waxing lady in Sacramento had recommended (again it's funny how things plan out). The cabin was so cute and we just relaxed and enjoyed the peace and quiet loading energy for 11 days in San Francisco. Monday we went to a nearby winery for champagne tasting and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings. Tuesday we headed towards San Francisco - still on Highway 1.
So here we are. Yesterday we arrived in Sausalito at this wonderful place and today we are driving over the bridge to the apartment we are going to stay in for the next 10 days. So many things to see and do while we are here - can't wait to explore the city. Any tips and tricks any one?
Well that's it for now. Enjoy the spring and the cherry trees J
- comments
Pernille Savner Jer såååå meget❤️❤️
Jannik Friis Det er bare så sjovt at læse - og iøvrigt følge med på Google Earth med satelite views over jeres landeveje og byer.... Enjoy Frisco ;-))))
Vibeke Ih altså , du beskriver det hele så levende, føler næsten man er der , når man samtidig ser jeres skønne billeder samtidig . ❤️❤️❤️❤️ , men nu må i altså godt snart komme hjem