Northern California and the Pacific Northwest

Mid-April to early June found us continuing our West Coast travels northward, through the San Francisco Bay area to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington.

Corte Madera Marsh in Marin County, San Francisco Bay area. (All photos by author)

Our RV park in the Bay area was in Marin County, across the Golden Gate Bridge from the north end of San Francisco. The Marin RV Park was located next to the Corte Madera Marsh, which provided peaceful walks with Hershey and the chance to see some interesting birds and other wildlife.

Stilts and avocets at the Corte Madera Marsh; in the immediate background is the Greenbrae Boardwalk, with houses accessible only by walking down a long boardwalk; behind that is the Corte Madera Channel for the Larkspur Ferry to San Franciso; then San Quentin Prison in the distance.

Wild fennel and California poppies by an abandoned railroad track between the Marin RV Park and the restored Corte Madera Marsh.

A snail with a gorgeously patterned shell.

New piles of scat from the Black-tailed Jackrabbit (a kind of hare) appeared each day - but we never saw the secretive animal. Nor what animals (foxes? coyotes?) were leaving larger scat.

Of course, we also found time to visit San Francisco twice: once by public bus (the bus stop was only a block down from the RV park) and once by ferry (the Larkspur Terminal was only a few blocks away).

The famous Golden Gate Bridge from the ferry.

Riding the bus over the Golden Gate Bridge. (Doug also bicycled over it one day.)

The iconic Transamerica Pyramid, tallest skyscraper in San Francisco from 1972 until 2017.

The Dragon Gate entrance into San Francisco's Chinatown neighborhood, with beautiful jade jewelry and art in many store displays. Ethnic enclaves such as this offered protection and economic opportunity to immigrants facing discrimination and violence.

The ferry dock at the old Port of San Francisco wharf is a lovely entrance to the city...

...while modern container ships use the Port of Oakland, on the other side of the Bay Bridge.

Fisherman's Wharf has great restaurants and attractions on display...

...and, behind the scenes, working fishing boats.

Our next stop was Yreka, California. Because we only drive on Alison's off-work days (Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday), we stayed in Yreka from Wednesday through Saturday. Our RV park, located down a hill from a truck stop, had lovely views of nearby wilderness areas and mountains (our rig is at the lower left, just behind the two poles in the foreground of the picture):

An interesting feature of the RV park was a row of covered, solar-powered, long-term RV sites (with the best views!)

Just out of line-of-sight was Mt. Shasta, which we photographed on our drive into Yreka:

This was the first of three scenic mountains in the Pacific Northwest (Mt. Shasta at 14,179 ft, Mt. Hood at 11,239 ft, and Mt. Rainier at 14,411 ft). We plan to come back another year to hike them, not just view them from a distance!

From Yreka, we drove to Portland, Oregon to celebrate the college graduation of Doug's niece. Our RV park was coincidentally less than a mile from the hotel where our daughters and other family members stayed during the festivities, which couldn't have been more convenient! While the graduation itself was virtual, it was a pleasure for all of us to clap for Doug's niece and her housemate when their pictures and names appeared on the livestream on their living room TV. Plus, while other graduating students were being displayed, we could grab more pizza slices from the kitchen!

On our way to Portland, we made a side trip to the beautiful Crater Lake National Park to have lunch with friends of ours from Virginia. (Earlier, another traveling Virginia friend had visited us in Marin County, and we had visited a college friend in Marin County and a high school friend of Alison's in San Francisco. In the Portland area, we visited two other Virginia friends - one who had relocated to the area and one who had returned to his hometown after retiring - as well as another family friend from Texas. It was a very social time!)

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, at 1,949 ft, and is fed purely by rain and snow (so no river silt to muddy the water).

While in Portland, we visited Multnomah Falls and the Columbia River Gorge in memory of Alison's sister. It was a lovely family hike - even Hershey came!

There are a multitude of other beautiful sites in the greater Portland area:

A glimpse of Mt. Hood in the distance.

One of ten waterfalls (the South Falls) at Silver Falls State Park. Note the walkway behind the cascade!

And we haven't even mentioned the many food truck sites! Whether in the central city, outer neighborhoods, or surrounding towns, there was always a fantastic selection of great food to be had!

(One other aspect of Portland - and, really, the whole West Coast of the U.S. - was the prevalence of tent cities. With regional economic opportunity often favoring higher income workers, such as those in tech industries, skyrocketing housing prices and rents have forced a large number of people out of traditional residences. On the one hand, the human ability to adapt and survive is admirable; on the other hand, the mess that is visible from the outside and the lack of dignity for those on the inside seems unsupportable in the long run.)

From Oregon we continued north to Washington state. Once again, our ability to stay at military recreational campgrounds provided two beautiful campsites. The first was on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle . There we could let Hershey run free on the rocky shore, or take a walk to the tall tree where a pair of Bald Eagles kept an eye out for an otter sunning itself on offshore rocks. (We were glad that the otter kept getting away when the eagles swooped toward it.) The sunsets were spectacular, and the military jets screaming overhead as they trained were thrilling (if very loud!)

The Whidbey Island, Washington campground.

Polished driftwood lined the shore; across the water toward the left, not quite visible in the distance, is Canada.

One of the pair of bald eagles perched at the top of a shoreline tree - they really are as majestic as their reputation!

Beautiful sunset, thrilling jet flyover.

We spent our second and third weeks in the area south of Tacoma, at Joint Base Lewis McChord. This was a peaceful piney campground with meadows of yellow Scotch Broom (a beautiful but invasive plant) and occasional military cargo plane takeoffs overhead. Doug and Isabel - she had joined us in Portland and continued with us for a few weeks' travel before returning to New York City for a summer job and her senior year in college - bicycled all around the area. Meanwhile, Alison flew back to Corpus Christi, Texas for a few days to visit her mother.

A meadow of Scotch Broom.

An inviting path...

...and not-so-inviting Thatching Ant mounds on another path.

We also took a trip into the City of Seattle:

Mr. Rainier - scenic peak #3 ! - from the bus window.

Seattle is overflowing with incredible murals, like this one seen from the bus window.

Pike Place Market, a multi-level warren of markets and shops, was established in 1907 by the city so that farmers could sell directly to the public rather than to wholesalers who had been capturing most or all of the profits.

A delightful lunch at Pike Place Market.

The iconic Seattle Space Needle, here framed by the Chihuly Glass Gardens. The Space Needle was built for the 1962 World's Fair (so it's Alison's age!), and the views from the top are breathtaking. On the next level down, the view of the ground below through the revolving glass floor is downright dizzying!

Seattle, Mt. Rainier, and Puget Sound as seen from the Space Needle.

More than one friend recommended the Chihuly Garden and Glass (located at the base of the Space Needle). It did not disappoint! Tacoma-born artist Dale Chihuly studied in Venice, Italy and returned to the U.S. with a vision of a center where glassblowers could work as a team to create fantastical landscapes and other art pieces. Do not missing seeing this!

Our time in Seattle concluded, and the Canadian border still closed, we turned east. Our final stop in Washington state was Cheney, where we overnighted next to Clear Lake and caught a fun glimpse of a balletic muskrat swimming and somersaulting next to the dock after sunset. Sadly, no pictures!

In addition to the interesting attractions in each city we've stayed at, the road itself holds interest. We've enjoyed rivers, hills, windmills, changing vegetation, and historical markers. (We really appreciate the Historical Marker Database for close-ups of markers we can't easily stop at.) One of the most interesting sights has been agricultural fields. In an earlier post, we mentioned the orchards and crops and berries throughout California. In Oregon, we appreciated the roadside crop identification signs that farmers obtained from Oregon Aglink and put up at the edges of their fields. We saw so many grass signs that we researched (via the internet) to find that Oregon is the world's major producer of cool-season forage and turf grass seed, such as ryegrass and fescue and even Kentucky bluegrass! The grass is grown in the fields and then the seed is harvested. We also discovered that fields of snowy white were meadowfoam; meadowfoam oil is used by cosmetics manufacturers worldwide.

A field of meadowfoam in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

In Washington state, similar fields of yellow were identified as canola - the cooking oil we have in our own pantry.

Oregon is proud of its distinctive blackberry, the sweeter and juicier Marionberry. (Thank you to our Portland friend Jeff for adding some jam to our pantry!) And several northwestern states are producers of the huckleberry. (Yes, we bought a bag of frozen huckleberries to go with Alison's morning cereal or yogurt!)

From Washington state, we continued east. Our next stop would be Missoula, Montana. Stay tuned for tales from the northern Rocky Mountains and the northern Great Plains!