Hellooo! Remember us? It’s been a while, but we couldn’t possibly get away with not documenting the last leg of our epic journey on here.
Canada was calling our names; one final ‘new’ country for us both before returning home to New Zealand. We picked up our new home for the next couple of weeks, a spacious Jucy Dodge Caravan, and drove north for our first stop, a night with Phil just north of the Bay Area.
Phil was one of the 3 friends Luke shared the epic East Coast bicycle trip with a few months earlier, and had since returned to Sonoma County to begin his new job at an Outdoor Education School. Due to a slight miscommunication on the isolated country address, it took a few attempts to find the camp, but once we got there it was well worth it! It was super great for Luke to catch up with Phil for the first time since the trip, and Jelley to meet another of Luke’s friends! We spent the night stargazing and catching up on a spiderweb-style rope course over a creek, listening to the sound of pine cones falling around us.
We were treated to an amazing homegrown breakfast before we were on our way north again, through the dry wine country towards Mt Shasta. It was to be our first night sleeping in our Jucy camper, and we were so excited to try out all of its features! Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the instruction manual so it took a while to pull out the table inside the van, figure out how the fridge turned on and find a few other bits and pieces, but it quickly felt like home! With a cheeky Walmart shop to stock up on supplies on the way, we became comfortable driving the wide van on the 80mph highways and completed the first leg of the journey!
It is legal to freedom camp (or ‘stealth camp’) in National Forests in the USA, and we were lucky to find such a spot around halfway up Mt Shasta. We witnessed a stunning sunset on the drive up and arrived in the dark to a beautiful clear sky filled with stars, falling asleep in excitement for the view when we awoke!
Travelling for such a long period can have a slightly negative impact on general fitness and health, and after 5 months we were feeling the difference. It was awesome to be reconnecting with nature and the outdoors, in a climate where we could bare to be outside during the heat of the day, and finally hike again! This was a big aim of the trip, and we started it off on the right foot with a small track around the base of Mt Shasta, on a very poorly marked track.
We had been in California for an entire month up to this stage, and it was time to cross the border into Luke’s 21st state in 3 months, Oregon! We were really looking forward to this state and seeing what all of the fuss was about! Our campground for the night was in a lush forest right by the coast, in Sunset State Park. It was a serene location to be based, and made for great evening and morning walks. Our entire road trip was going to involve a lot of time on the road, so it was great to have scenic stops along the way like Sunset park to stretch the legs! There were a lot of interesting local characters around, collecting mushrooms in the forest, and this stop was also the first of many unique animal encounters on our journey. We saw a coyote with a big fuzzy tail wandering down the road, possibly a little confused of where to go and not even flinching at the oncoming traffic.
Driving up the Oregon Coast was strikingly beautiful, it was surreal to see the coastline filled with pine forests right next to the contrasting Pacific Ocean. Crazy to think on the other side (kind of) of that big stretch of water was little old New Zealand where the adventures all began! We visited the Sand Dunes National Recreation Area, a giant stretch of towering dunes which reminded Jelley of larger version of 90 mile beach in Northland, and we were keen to try out the ATV buggies here. Unfortunately the time difference, bank transfers and general life wasn’t in our favour and we couldn’t fit it in – but definitely a reason to return!
The next stop along the way was the hipster city Portland, where we met up with Luke’s childhood friend from the Lair, Sean, and his girlfriend Julianne. They had just moved up to Portland 3 weeks earlier and were still new to the city themselves and it was great to discover some of the city together with them. The city is quite divided, with beautiful old historic buildings repurposed into architectural genius. Jelley tried her first ever Philly cheese steak as we shared a great meal and reminisced on life after the Lair (a common theme in these reunions haha), and their big move to Portland.
We wanted to explore the city a little more before we carried on up the coast, so we caught the local bus into downtown Portland for a bit of exploring. The first stop was Powell’s Bookstore, one of the most famous bookstores in the world, and for a good reason. Powell’s takes up an entire block, is multiple levels and has every book on every topic you could ever imagine! We were in awe at the selection and just the grand size of the bookstore! As always, with too many options we couldn’t choose a single book to purchase to remember our visit, but enjoyed our time nonetheless.
Downtown Portland left a lasting impression on us, but unfortunately not in the most positive way. 50% hipster, 2% good coffee, 48% homeless.. the city apparently has various schemes underway to control the current homeless crisis, and hopefully if we return in the future, progress will have been made. Historic buildings near the river and port were tarnished by dodgy deals, and we were happy to be heading north that afternoon.
We drove into Seattle at sunset, imprinting a stunning first impression of this big city. Surrounded by the Olympic Peninsula and Mount Rainier standing clear in the background, it was an amazing feeling to be both by the sea and surrounded by such beautiful natural landmarks.
There were a couple of great friends to catch up with in Seattle – Jelley’s friend Katie, who she met on Christmas Eve in Thailand in 2015 as they were both travelling solo through SE Asia, and one of Luke’s best high school friends, Meghan, who had moved up to Seattle after graduating as a PT. It was super fun to catch up with both Katie and Meghan over dinner and also meet Meghan’s man – we had such a great introduction to Seattle with these ‘locals’ that we already wanted to stay another night! Katie kindly let us park up in her driveway and we were set for an adventurous next day in the city!
First up was the main tourist spot in downtown Seattle, visiting Pike’s Place Public Market, made famous from movies such as Sleepless in Seattle before wandering down towards the Seattle Space Needle. We didn’t hold high expectations for this area and after spending the last week or so based in cities, we thought we might be a little ‘citied-out’. We were amazing by not only the Space Needle, but the museums and developments around this part of town. On the walk down, we stumbled across a unique art gallery filled with moving structures, and once we got there, Chihuly’s glass blowing exhibition. Neither of us had heard of Chihuly, but we were so intriguied that we stumped up the $25 entrance fee (high budget for our travels!) and entered the complex, ready to be mind-blown.
Feeling cultured, we then spent the afternoon at one of Seattle’s well-known craft breweries, and took in the view of the city across Union Lake from Gasworks Park. It was the perfect end to a perfect city, we loved Seattle so much, but then remembered we were probably blessed with the only 2 days of sunshine they have in a year haha. It was time to the leave the USA, where we had been for several months at this stage, and leave for Canada.
One last night camped out by a lake on the outskirts of the city before a gentle hike in Rattlesnake Ridge, then we were at the land border crossing into British Columbia, Canada.
We’re a little slow on this blog post – we’ve nearly been back in New Zealand for one month already! It’s been a little tough adjusting to routine again and finding the motivation to sit at a computer and type after 5 days a week of doing just that, but we’re determined to complete the writing of our journey and can’t wait to share the highlight of our 6 months around the world with y’all – Canada!
Until then,
A Kiwi & A Cali xoxo
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