California Road Trip: Red Wine and Redwoods

After spending the past two months soaking in the wonders of Oregon, we crossed the border into California. Driving along Highway 199, we were immediately impressed with the state as we were welcomed by the towering Redwood trees of the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. This park is home to over 45% of California's old growth Redwoods and the last major free flowing river in California. We followed Highway 199 until it ended at the ocean in Crescent City, CA. 

We found a map that basically listed out all of our stops down the coast, but what's Paul doing in California?

We chose to stay off the major highways and continued south on the quiet Highway 1. We were traveling in November, not exactly prime tourist season in Northern California, which meant the roads were clear of tourists and the campgrounds empty. Unfortunately, campground prices remain the same regardless of the  season and at $35/night it was the most we had paid anywhere in the country. Luckily, split between three people, it becomes a bit more reasonable. We chose to stay in the Elk Prairie Campground and were immediately aware of the significance of its name when we came to a sudden halt before we ran into a herd of elk.  

We found a pristine campsite, located at the edge of a rushing river and settled in for a few days. The setting was ideal, but the nights were chilly. Even wearing all of our clothes, hats and mittens, we shivered the night away in our sleeping bags. I awoke in the middle of the first night to the noise of splashing water that sounded like a large animal stomping through the river. I tried to persuade Chase to go check it out but he only kept sleeping. The next night, we heard the noise again as we were sharing our campfire with a few new friends and brought our flashlights over to explore. It turned out to be dozens of King Salmon splashing against the river's current and swimming upstream. Their ancient struggle was magnificent to witness first hand. 

Our days were spent with our heads tilted backwards as we tried to peer to the top of the  Redwood giants. We walked for miles through the old growth forests and never once felt like we had seen enough. They towered above us at over 350ft, they can live for over 2,000 years and their bark is 12 inches thick. Surrounded by such wise, statuesque trees I felt young, small, and naive. The miles seemed to fly by as we hiked through the forest in awe. 

At one point, we found a tree that had fallen years ago and had rotted through from end to end. Alex and Chase, the brave explorers, managed to climb their way through the center, without too much screaming. I struggled behind them, barely breathing as I reached the pitch black center, where I had to feel my way across wet moss and climb up to another level of the tree's core. I crawled the rest of the way, with the tiny light at the end guiding my way out.

After days in the woods, we decided to increase our standard of living and splurge on a few days in wine country.  My handy-dandy California guidebook explained that Napa Valley is the more expensive part of wine country and that Sonoma Valley is reasonable, welcoming and home to a younger crowd. 

Day one in wine country found us driving through Sonoma and stopping at the Kaz Winery for wine and olive oil tasting. Kaz was the first organic winery in Sonoma, and has helped usher in an era of winemaking where almost all the grapes in Sonoma Valley are now organically grown. The tasting was only $5 and included a thorough introduction into the winemaking process. We walked through the vineyards, explored the gardens and wished we owned our own little winery in Sonoma. 

The next day we said a heartfelt goodbye to our good friend, travel companion, and the best musician we know - Alex Deely. He was off to San Francisco to stay with friends before heading home to Maine. We met him at the Zig Zag Mountain Farm, where we shared a house and worked together. We traveled with him down the West coast and we were very reluctant to let him board his bus and wave goodbye. At least we know that the next time we make it to Maine, we will be staying with one particularly great Maine-man. 

Chase and I decided to have a little romantic weekend in Sonoma and booked a cozy cottage at the Glen Ellen Inn. The town of Glen Ellen is located five miles north of Sonoma. It is off of the beaten path enough that prices drop drastically in the off-season and even more during the week. We spent the next couple of days exploring wine country, with stops in the city of Sonoma for a picnic, wine tastings throughout the valley, hiking and relaxing in our beautiful, private cottage - complete with our own personal steam shower, hot tub, fireplace and canopy bed. I wish I could share the entire wine experience with you visually, but somehow we forgot to take a single photo of the weekend. I just blame it on all the free wine tastings we stumbled upon. Our weeks on the road had come to a relaxing end and we were on our way to the next farm, Lockewood Acres. 

Oregon Road Trip: Crater Lake, Umpqua River, Ashland

We set out on the winding Rogue-Umpqua Scenic Byway the next morning and found ourselves easily distracted on the 90-mile trip to Crater Lake. The road traverses alongside the stunning Umpqua River almost the entire way to Crater Lake, which meant that we were driving in a secluded, wilderness dream and could not imagine missing a single drop of the beauty. Our intention to reach Crater Lake in one day was officially squashed as we read about the waterfalls, hot springs and hiking that awaited us along the road up to Crater Lake. 

Toketee Falls beckoned to us and we listened, making our first detour of the trip a mere 50 miles from where we started the morning. We hopped out of the car and hiked on the perfectly maintained trail until we reached the highlight of the hike, the roaring, two tiered Toketee Falls. The falls' first tier drops 40 feet into an upper pool, then crashes another 80 feet down basalt rock into another gorgeous, green-blue pool. 

Toketee Falls on the Umpqua River, Oregon

After feeling the mist of the Toketee Falls, we were eager to soak in the elusive Umpqua Hot Springs. We had read online that it is rather difficult to access, but we thought that together the three of us could figure out the cryptic maps. We read that it was a short, but steep hike up to the hot springs - which perch atop a rocky bluff that drops 200 feet to the rushing Umpqua River below. After circling the area a couple times, we jumped out of the car and started hiking on a trail that seemed to match the descriptions we had read online. An hour and a half of hiking later, we decided we were likely not on the right trail and turned back. The unintended hike may have wasted time, but it did make if feel like we actually deserved a soak in the hot springs. With new determination we found the hidden turn in the road, climbed the steep trail and found ourselves in heaven. 

The cloudy, blue-gray pools line the cliff of the mountain as they descend down to the river. The top pool boasts a temperature of 112 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a bit steamy to soak in for too long. The pool temperatures gradually decrease as you descend the mountain and we found ourselves, like Goldilocks, testing each and every pool until we found the one that was "just right." By the time we left the hot springs, the sun was beginning to set and we needed to find a place to stay the night. 

Umpqua Hot Springs

I have read that the best time of year to visit Crater Lake is from late May to mid-October when all of the roads are open, but we pressed our luck in my little Honda Civic and were rewarded with cheap hotel rooms, zero tourists, and lovely snow. After spending the night in a questionable motel, we found ourselves slowly driving up a snow covered mountain to Crater Lake. At the top, we spent a whopping fifteen, frigid minutes gazing out at the deep-blue water before heading into the gift shop for heat. 

Crater Lake is a caldera lake, which was created by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama. Mount Mazama once stood at a little under 12,000 feet, but when it exploded about 7,700 years ago it was reduced to just over 8,000 feet. Left in place of the mountain peak was now a caldera, which filled with rain and snowmelt over the years until it became Crater Lake. Reaching a maximum depth of more than 1,900 feet, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and among the deepest in the world. 

Crater Lake National Park

Nestled along the boarder of Oregon and California, lies the friendly town of Ashland, Oregon. As we explored the town, our extreme disappointment in Eugene was suddenly replaced with visions of our future home in Ashland. Home to the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland welcomes over 400,000 visitors each year from February to October to attend plays produced by William Shakespeare. The majority of the plays take place on one of three outdoor stages and the city bustles with tourism. I kept imagining Chase having a solid career in prop design with such a theatrical culture. I imagined myself owning a farm in one of the most fertile parts of our country - where the climate is so mild that they can even grow tropical fruit! 

We ended up staying two nights in Ashland, where I was able to catch up with a friend from my days working for F.H. King at UW-Madison. Vincent is now a professor at Southern Oregon University and just as eager as always to get students interested and passionate about growing food. I had a delicious dinner with his family and noted that if we did move to Ashland, we would actually know someone in our new town. 

After a few busy days of sight seeing and hiking, we were anxious to finally cross the border into sunny California. Next on the agenda: Redwoods and wine country. 

Oregon Road Trip: Tillamook, Lincoln City, Yaquina

When there is no defined schedule, no planned route, life's most difficult decision each day is, where do we go next? Yes, the fact that such a trivial matter is our daily burden means that our life is utterly incredible at this moment, but somehow it still tends to become a major point of anxiety. I look at the atlas and I am suddenly paralyzed with indecision, I read through the guidebook and imagine visiting every wine tasting, lighthouse tour and picnic stop within our general vicinity. If we miss the beach covered in mysterious ocean glass, will I ever see it again? If we head east instead of south, will I never see the continent's largest sand dunes? What if I never smell the sea cavern that is home to hundreds of sea lions? At some point in the morning I always end up realizing that I must make a decision or we will be sitting at the Arco gas station for the rest of our lives. Luckily, for the next part of the trip I had Chase and Alex in the car to calm my worrisome mind.

We left Portland first thing in the morning knowing that we needed to reach San Francisco within the next month. If we wanted to take the shortest route, we could have cruised down I-5 for 650 miles and reached it without a hitch. But, how boring is a road trip that only drives on one road, and a four lane interstate for that matter? Instead, we left Portland and went west, back to the beach. Chase and I were still in a delightful daze from our visit to Cannon Beach and we wanted to show Alex the beach beauty.  The lovely highway 101 runs all along the coast of Oregon, making it easy to leisurely explore the wild coast.

On the way to the beach we made a pit stop at the Tillamook factory. While you in the Midwest may have never heard of Tillamook cheese, it is a regional mainstay in the West. We have seen it on grocery shelves from Seattle to San Francisco. Tillamook is famous for it's rain, they receive over 90 inches each year, which makes for lush green grass and the perfect place for cows. There are about 120 dairy farms in Tillamook County, which amounts to 28,000 cows countywide. In the early 1900's local farmers organized their efforts and created a dairy cooperative that is still responsible today for running the Tillamook factory. Together, their farms produce about 1.3 million pounds of milk each day, all of which is processed into award winning cheese, yogurt and ice cream. We spent a couple delicious hours sampling cheese and watching the incredible workings of a dairy factory. After our tour and tastings we felt like we deserved lunch and we were well rewarded at the factory cafe with gooey grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

The famous Tillamook baby loaf of cheese in the factory and on the road!

After such a filling morning, we walked off our calories along Lincoln City's beach. This isn't any ordinary beach, this is a beach filled with treasures. Each year between October and May, the city hides over 2,000 glass floats along a 7 1/2 mile stretch of beach. They commission local glass blowers to create these wonders to promote tourism in the off-season. It sure worked for us. We called the local Visitor Bureau when we were 15 minutes from town and got the scoop. Each day they hide 7-10 floats along the beach to be found by anyone dedicated enough to walk 7 1/2 miles in the rain and wind. We were adventurous, we had rain coats, so we set off determined to search until we found treasure. Three hours later, soaked to the bone and chilly we got back into our car feeling like pirates who couldn't remember where they had buried their treasure. I wish so much I could show you a picture of us holding our treasure, but it will have to wait until the next time I return to Lincoln City.

As evening approached, we decided that it was going to be a bit too blustery to sleep in a tent. We found the next best thing at the Beverly Beach State Park - a yurt! Yurts became our new best friend on this road trip. For only $40 a night we had the luxury of electricity, heat and shelter. After a warm, restful night of sleep we awoke to find that we were only a couple steps from the beach. There were seals swimming in the ocean and we soaked in the beauty of the coast.

Our yurt at Beverly Beach State Park, Oregon

We jumped in the car, eager to get a few miles under our belts, but became distracted within the first six miles by the Yaquina Head State Park. Earlier this year, we splurged and purchased a National Park annual visitor pass for $80.00. Anytime we think we will be able to use it, we do and Yaquina head was the perfect destination. We received an 1800's style lighthouse tour from the daughter of the keeper, we watched seals bask on the rocks and we touched sea creatures in tidal pools.

Yaquina Head State Park

Night number two found us in another yurt, this time at the Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, home to North America's largest coastal sand dunes. We walked around the beautiful freshwater Lake Marie and ended up on the ocean once more, but this time surrounded by sand as far as the eye could see. We had only managed to travel 200 miles in two days, so we decided to pick it up a bit and head inland to Eugene. We had extremely high hopes for Eugene - too high, in fact. I had spent some time researching it's appeal as a city and on paper it checked all the boxes: decent size city, entrepreneur friendly, thriving art scene and decent weather. However, seeing something in reality is much different than reading about it online. It felt worn out and grungy, not a place where we could see ourselves living. Although we had planned to stay the night in Eugene, we ended up getting out as soon as possible and driving south. Our next destination was Crater Lake and we stayed in Roseburg for the night, a great launching pad for exploration into the Umpqua National Forest.

Only three days into our road trip and we have seen beaches, oceans, sand dunes and mountains. On the agenda next is Crater Lake, hot springs and moldy motels. Check back soon!

Road trip roadies: seals, seagulls and us! 

City Livin'

It has been far too long since we have updated you on our travels. We left Zig Zag Mountain Farm the first week of November and since then have been vagabonds, exploring the western coast without a care in the world. That's not completely true, we are always concerned that we are spending too much money or that we won't find our next farm, but overall life has been blissfully tranquil. 

It's incredible how quickly a new place can feel like home. We left our farm in the mountains sad to go, but excited for the adventure ahead. The owners of Zig Zag Mountain farm also own a hostel in downtown Portland, so our first stop was to spend a night at the Northwest Portland Hostel. This hostel is unlike any I have experienced traveling abroad. We had a private room, with a fireplace and down comforter on the bed. For this type of private room it runs around $60 / night, but if you prefer to stay in a dorm room it will only set you back $21. The hostel is located in Portland's quietly cool Alphabet District, close enough to everything downtown Portland offers but secluded enough to feel relaxed. 

Indulging in Portland's most famous junk food

Our first stop after Portland was to spend time with my Dad's cousin, Mike, at his farm on Puget Island, Washington. We spent a restful weekend casually touring the island on our bicycles, taking the ferry to Astoria, where we educated ourselves on all things ocean at the Maritime Museum and getting to know local artists at the Tsuga Gallery in Cathlamet. At the museum, we learned what it took to be the fishing capital of the coast. Canneries filled the seaside towns, ready to process the daily catch. Most cannery workers were Chinese immigrants and were extremely efficient. An individual could clean a 40-pound salmon in 45 seconds. In a grueling 11-hour workday, this amounted to 1,700 fish cleaned per day. 

Mike's farm is a picturesque property spanning a hundred acres on the small Puget Island. It's an hourly thrill to watch ships carefully navigate down the Columbia River and into Portland. With the right phone app, it is even possible to track the country of origin, cargo and destination of each ship that passes by the living room window. 

Exploring Puget Island

We left Mike's farm with the plan of heading north to Seattle, where he and Priscilla live year-round. But, Chase and I decided to take the scenic route and wound up spending the night along the stunning Oregon coast. Yes, we went south rather than north, but it was more than worth it to spend an evening in Cannon Beach. The typical cold, windy, rainy weather disappeared when we arrived and we spent our afternoon on the beach, basking in rays of the rare November sun. It seems like the more we travel, the luckier we become with finding deals on accommodations. Of course it also has something to do with the fact that it was a Sunday in November, but either way, we scored an apartment-sized room just a stone's throw away from the beach for $75. Our lodging came complete with a full kitchen, gas fireplace and plush linens. Whenever we find a town that feels right, we start planning our future, so it may be that our next home is a farm/art gallery on the ocean, just outside of Cannon Beach. No, we haven't yet decided how to fund our future, but that doesn't stop us from dreaming.

Panoramic view from atop the Astoria tower, playing at Cannon Beach alongside the famous Haystack sea stack

The next day we cruised to Seattle along the winding, coastal roads. Seattle was never a city where we imagined ourselves settling down, but after seeing it on sunny day, we have added it to our ever-expanding list. We spent our day in Seattle taking part in all of the free activities we could find, with a little help from National Geographic. The first stop was to climb atop the old water tower in Volunteer Park to get a view of the entire city. Looking west is a panoramic view of downtown Seattle and to the east is Lake Washington. Who needs the twenty-two dollar Space Needle when there is an equally stunning view for free? The next free stop was under the Fremont Street bridge to see the famous 18 foot, one-eyed, stone troll that lurks beneath. Our sculpture tour continued at the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park. The nine-acre park traverses from the city center down to the Puget Sound. Sculptures line the path all the way to a remote beach, in the heart of the city. It seemed an oddly relaxing place within the bustling city. The weather was too nice to be wasted indoors, so we continued our outdoor adventure at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in the Ballard neighborhood. Chase and I cheered salmon as they climbed up the fish ladder and watched boats passing through the locks. 

Chase being a supermodel in the Olympic Sculpture Garden

All of this walking built up quite an appetite and we had a few hours until we were to meet Jocelyn and Scott for dinner. The Scandinavian neighborhood of Ballard beckoned us to an oyster happy hour, beer tasting and snacking on cured meats. Yes, I tried my first raw oyster. The bartender was quite the oyster shucking professional having shucked them his entire life with his family and over 900 just last weekend. He taught us all about selecting a quality oyster and encouraged me to try the first one plain - no lemon, no sauces, just raw shellfish. I tried hard not to gag as it slipped down my throat, but I wouldn't say it's my new favorite food. Somehow, Chase loves the slippery little things and delighted in each bite. We indulged in Ballard and in return felt at home in the friendly neighborhood. Jocelyn and Scott live in the nearby area of Queen Anne, where they spoiled us with homemade pizza and wine. Their cozy apartment left us nostalgic for a home of our own, maybe even in Seattle.

Oyster happy hour at Ballard Annex

Marisa, our Zig Zag farm friend, spent the weekend in Seattle so we gave her a ride back to Portland. Somehow, we found room in our car for another person. Her and Mick have begun to settle into their new home in Portland and cooked for us once again, crafting a coconut curry that had me begging for more. The next morning we picked up Alex, our other Zig Zag farm friend, and began an unforgettable two-week road trip throughout Oregon and California. Stay tuned! 

Dining and Lodging

Ecola Lodge
Cannon Beach, Oregon
Cozy, country lodge cottages with full kitchens and separate bedrooms 

Ballard Annex
Seattle, Washington 
Casual chic oyster bar and fine dining 

Noble Fir 
Seattle, Washington
Knowledgeable bartenders of extensive craft beer and cider menu