Day 9 - ocean shores, wa to hillsboro, or

Ignore the bit at the top I had a sending malfunction!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Victoria Lindsay" <toerzy@googlemail.com>
Date: 7 Oct 2010 22:11
Subject: Day 9 - ocean shores, wa to hillsboro, or
To: "toerzy.kirsty@blogger.com" <toerzy.kirsty@blogger.com>, <toe@googlemail.com>

The started with a walk at the beach and fresh waffles, can a day start any better?

We hit the road and soon said goodbye to Washington state and hello Oregon! We entered Oregon by crossing the 4 mile long astoria bridge.

Astoria was exciting cause the goonies was filmed there! We saw the jail that the Fratelli escapes from at the start, the museum where they pass mikey's dad and mikey's house! We also saw the school from kindergarden cop! Exciting times!

Next we went to the town of seaside, on the drive there we saw some pelicans. Seaside was a proper resort town with many tourist shops and an amazing beach but as the weather was pretty rubbish today it had the off season feel about it. We both had a hotdog for lunch then we browsed the shops, K bought A LOT of salt water taffy and I bought A frozen banana on a stick like the ones george michael sells in arrested development, it was delish.

Our next stop was cannon beach, the scenery is pretty stunning and the haziness of the day only added to it. From there we saw haystack rock which is the one from the goonies that fits in the hole in the dabloon.

We continued to drive down the coast til we got to tillamook where we went on a tour of the cheese factory and ate yummo free cheese. We also both got a milkshake made with their ice cream.

As it wasn't too late we decided to power on to save us some time tomorrow so we headed inland through the tillamook forest and we're now at hillsboro for the night.

Tomorrow we're going to The pumpkin farm from little people big world (if you don't know what this is then google it) which is nearby so we can sleep in a bit, this is needed cos we're both exhausted!

Day 9 - ocean shores, wa to hillsboro, or

The started with a walk at the beach and fresh waffles, can a day start any better?

We hit the road and soon said goodbye to Washington state and hello Oregon! We entered Oregon by crossing the 4 mile long astoria bridge.

Astoria was exciting cause the goonies was filmed there! We saw the jail that the Fratelli escapes from at the start, the museum where they pass mikey's dad and mikey's house! We also saw the school from kindergarden cop! Exciting times!

Next we went to the town of seaside, on the drive there we saw some pelicans. Seaside was a proper resort town with many tourist shops and an amazing beach but as the weather was pretty rubbish today it had the off season feel about it. We both had a hotdog for lunch then we browsed the shops, K bought A LOT of salt water taffy and I bought A frozen banana on a stick like the ones george michael sells in arrested development, it was delish.

Our next stop was cannon beach, the scenery is pretty stunning and the haziness of the day only added to it. From there we saw haystack rock which is the one from the goonies that fits in the hole in the dabloon.

We continued to drive down the coast til we got to tillamook where we went on a tour of the cheese factory and ate yummo free cheese. We also both got a milkshake made with their ice cream.

As it wasn't too late we decided to power on to save us some time tomorrow so we headed inland through the tillamook forest and we're now at hillsboro for the night.

Tomorrow we're going to The pumpkin farm from little people big world (if you don't know what this is then google it) which is nearby so we can sleep in a bit, this is needed cos we're both exhausted!

Day 8 - Olympic peninsula photos

Day 8 - hit the road - the Olympic peninsula 338miles

So today was the day we finally picked up the car. Weirdly we got the same car we got the last time we drove down the west coast except black not orange this time.

We hit the road and managed to get on the interstate no problem, we pulled off after a bit to get some petrol and a sweet iced tea for k and we were on our way! (There were some issues with the fueling process but we'll skip right over them)

We drove down to tacoma, went over the tacoma bridge, which thankfully wasn't moving then headed back north to the peninsula. The scenery was amazing and there were lavender farms everywhere so there was a relaxed air to the journey. Everything went smoothly til we were near port angeles (yes that one twilight fans) then suddenly the traffic ground to a halt, for a long time! A looong time! When we got back on our way we soon passed the scene of an accident with police, fire brigade and the shell of a car that had recently been on a fire! Scary stuff!

Because of this we were pressed for time so we had a quick taco bell and a drive about port angeles then hit the road again. It was cool cause you could see Vancouver island. We soon came to lake crescent which could only be described as stunningly beautiful, we had to keep stopping to take more photos.

Our next stop was forks, there were millions of twilight shops and signs, We went to the hospital as there was supposed to be a parking space reserved for carlisle but we didn't find it. We went to the tourist info office but we arrived dead on 5 just as it was closing! Drat!

Back on the road we drove into the rainforest for a wee bit but due to time ticking on we had to turn back. Next we came to the beautifully named beach 4, it was a beautiful, rugged stretch of sand also the sun had started to come down a wee bit. We had to go inland again to go round the quinault Indian reservation, we also saw lake quinault which seemed to be about twenty different colours.

By now it was starting to get a bit dark but we wanted to stay in the report of ocean shores cos we saw a hotel that had free crazy golf! So we battered on. We arrived and got a great room with 2 big beds, free cooked breakfast, hot drinks tonight and of course crazy golf for 60 bucks! The hotel backs onto the ocean so I am looking forward to seeing it in daylight tomorrow.

Lots of the restraunts in town stopped serving at 8 which is when we arrived so options were limited. So we went to a pizza restraunt across from the hotel that shut at 9 but it looked to be closing soon too so we ordered to go then came back to the hotel to eat it.

We're now chilling with some rubbish America tv and a hot chocolate!

Day 7 - photos

Day 7 - back in seattle

Today was our last day in seattle before we hit the road tomorrow, so we packed a lot in!

First of all we went down to pike place market for a wee look about. Then we went to find the bus to georgetown to go to the fantagraphics shop (a graphic novel publisher that k loves). The bus ride was about half an hour and it was a nice industrial area. We arrived a bit before the shop opened so we went to a really nice coffee shop next door to wait, I stayed there for a while when it opened to give k a head start. K went wild in the shop, I don't think I've ever seen her so happy, needless to say she bought a lot!

Then we got the bus back in to town the went up to capitol hill to check out a new area. It was a great mix of little shops and coffee shops. We went to a great coffee shop called bauhaus with a view of the space needle first, then shopped, then ate burittos, then ate amazing frozen custard, then shopped, then finished our trek at a coffee shop called Victrola! Ace name!

We came back to the hotel to drop off our purchases and a wee chill. Then we went down to the waterfront to watch the sun set over the Olympic mountains, then we walked along the waterfront for a while, it was lovely!

For dinner we went to a sports bar and watched the seattle sounders fc win some cup or other, it was weird cos no one else in the bar seemed to care! Football just isn't that popular here.

After that we went to the attached games arcade and played millions of games - car racing, pinball, tennis, air hockey, golf, pool, street fighter and skee ball amongst others! Hours of fun for ten dollars each!

Back at the hotel now planning tomorrow when we hit the road. We're watching frasier too, actually in seattle!

Day 6 - vancouver day 4: farewell Canada

Today was our last day in Canada and we are now back in Seattle. It was a great final day. we had breakfast at tim horton's, bagel and coffee for me, donut and milk for k and then we said fairwell to downtown and headed to the train station.

But only to use the lockers for our bags! Woo, more vancouver time.

We then hopped on a bus up main st a bit before starting a wee (massive) walk up and back down the street. Over the next 4 hours we went in to many awesome shops, a couple of coffee shops and had a fantastic early dinner/late lunch before heading for the train.

K bought a lot, as usual, but it was mostly nice for a change - except some 'I'll use it for craft' junk that we agreed to disagree on. It was raining today for the first time since we arrived but stopped in time for the walk back.

We had our meal at Lucy's eastside diner, it was super! K had a burger and I had a (no surprises here) pulled pork sandwich. If you are in vancouver check it out!

After that we walked back to the station and passed a car repair place called kirmac, k got very excited!

Then we got the train back to seattle, the view was again beautiful, we watched the sunset over the pacific!

Back at the hotel and they upgraded us to a massive room - score! We are both wearing our hotel housecoats currently.