Heading South

Well... we're alive and well and are staying in Salem, Oregon tonight at my grandpa's house. We were out of cell phone and internet range for awhile while traveling on the ferry. We occupied our time with Yahtzee, movies, books, and plenty of random conversations as well as enjoying the scenery and walking around random little coastal towns in Alaska.

During our ferry excursion we explored Yakutat, Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan. The ferry stopped briefly in Petersburg and Wrangell too but it was in the middle of the night while we were sleeping so we didn't get off the ferry. I had always wanted to visit Sitka so it was neat to get to see the town and walk around a bit. We stood on the hill where the ceremony took place when Russia sold Alaska to the U.S.

We arrived in Bellingham early Friday a.m. and hit the road after grabbing some breakfast that wasn't served on a tray (ferry food was good... but got old!). We stopped in Seattle to see a good friend of mine from high school and then we hit the road again and ended up in Seaside, Oregon. We found this cute hotel and the only room available was a oceanfront room on the top floor with a king bed. (poor us, I know!) We arrived just in time to watch the sunset and take a stroll along the beach and watch the fireworks. I know, it sounds so ideal and romantic but don't worry the evening soon digressed into some pinball and air hockey at the local arcade and ended on the beach at a bonfire drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon with some Oregonians that we met and hung out with most of the night.

The next day we drove along the Oregon coast and stopped at this area called "Cape Mears" and decided to go for a hike. The hike was really cool because everything is so different - the leaves, trees, little critters, etc. It was a nice hike until the trail just kind of ended and we found ourselves boony stomping through the woods slightly lost. Just as I was about to give up hope of ever making it out we climbed up over a ledge and saw that the beach and a town were less than 1/4 mile away. We ended up walking along the beach and asking some locals how to find our car. They pointed us up some random trail that was unmarked and looked like it was asking for us to get lost "exploring" again so we walked along the road until we found the Jeep - yeaa!!! We stayed in Lincoln City, Oregon that night.

We are now in Salem and plan to cross the California border tomorrow and stay in Arcata, CA - my old stomping grounds from when I did a student exchange 7 years ago. We're going to go hiking in the Redwoods somewhere and I'll relive my youth for a day and then we'll head south. We plan to be in Alameda on Wednesday and have a few places lined up to take a look at. We would love to line up an apartment before we head further south to Monterey for a few days but we'll play it by ear.

We're enjoying out trip and the differnt sights and locales. Pictures to follow...