My sisters house

Erin's house is in San Carlos, 20 miles south of San Francisco. A huge reminder of my childhood in another small town just 10 miles south of here... The yard has a swimming pool and oleanders, a hibiscus, a lime tree, gardenias and looks out on the sweeping hills of California, sere brown slopes dotted with live oaks... We went up to San Fransisco yesterday, walked around, the neighborhoods are so distinct, one to the other is just across the street but a world away. We could live here...

Gold Bluff beach

One of my favorite camping spots, a beach side camp ground in Redwood National Park, we stayed here for 5 days, walking in the redwoods, playing on the beach, reading and writing.

Very Big Trees

I love the redwoods. These are 2000 years old and have a simple majesty that I find calming and humbling. This is the 6th tallest tree in the world. To get here we had to get a special pass, go 10 miles to a locked gate, open the gate, 7 miles on a dirt road then 2 miles hike down into the canyon to the river bottom. They make me feel very small.

Whales

We are not used to traveling at the height of tourist season, every campground was full for miles and miles around the Redwoods, we asked the rangers and they told us about this spot, just a pullout on the old coastal road, amazing spot, just south of the mouth of the Klamath river, up on a bluff 200 meters above the sea, perfect clear day, whales feeding below, spouting and splashing in the sunset waters... We were alone at first but by the morning there where 3 other VW campers!

Bend Orgon

We really liked bend, saw the world cup, meet some very nice people then went camping up the way at Fall River. It was a strange place, we are so used to the type of river that floods every spring that we could not figure this one out. It is a meduim sized river, very cold and clear with lots of logs across the stream. Normaly these would get washed away every spring but here they had been there so long that islands had formed on top of the logs... It wasn't till the next day when we walked up the river that we discovered the river comes out of two springs just a mile upstream. Instant river!

Packing up

This is a photo of us packing up the bus at my dads...

from the beginning

So, the US has very few actual internet cafes... So we are physically already in the Bay area, staying with Nick's sister Erin. But we're going to start this blog with where we left off, so you don't get too confused and we can tell lots of stories as we go.

Starting in Bend, we left the comforts of cold beer and tv and headed out on a hot afternoon to find some cheapo camping along the Deschutes. It was late and we were getting hungry when we found the Falls River campground. It was a lovely spot, nestled in the pines right next to the river. Minutes after we parked our new hosts welcomed us with chatter, hordes of fat chipmunks (and a few skinny ones). Nick thought they were very cute, and I warned him not to feed them. He didn't think they were so cute after he threw them a scrap and they multiplied by the dozens... Little did we know, they practically ate through our propane hose for our stove and took several chunks out of our dish scrubby. Needless to say, we were both nervous about the brake lines, as the little beasties has a tendency to climb up in the wheel wells...

Anyway, it was a gorgeous spot and we kept wishing we had more time to explore the area. We both thought Bend was a fabulous town and really enjoyed all the people we met.

Bend it like...Bend

So here we are, living the high life in Bend Oregon. Just watched the final World Cup (viva la France, though it didn't help) at the Deschutes Brewery. We toodled around and saw a lot of country we hadn't been before and now know why (wind and sand, rain and meth labs to say the least), so we are taking a rest in Bend, then on to the Umpqua hotspring for a little soak and then on to the Gold Beach and the big trees in northern California.
-d

Looking at maps is like reading a novel. All the topography and nomenclature reveal some much and still are only symbolic representations. Makes my mouth water. I can stare at one for hours. Helping my dad set up his satellite system yesterday to get the world cup I came across a magnetic declination map of the world on the web... A hidden universe...

So ready...

Only a few days left. We've packed almost everything except our clothes. Laid everything out on the tarmac and realized that we did a pretty darn good job of packing. Not too many extra items and a reasonable level of luxuries.
Nick and his father are out in the yard staring at a television trying to get the dish to work... what people will do to get the world cup on the telly...