I caught the travel bug again. It didn't take much, just the idea of going somewhere completely new is the most appealing thing to me. So when my boyfriend Wyatt suggested we road trip up the west coast I couldn't say no. The idea was to travel from San Diego, California all the way up to Seattle, Washington and back in 4 weeks flat... and that's exactly what we did.
I flew into San Diego from Denver on July 11, 2019 and we started driving on July 14. Our first stop was Mammoth, CA. We camped at Lake Mary and made our way into Red's Meadow a place I can only describe as magic...pure, unadulterated magic. We picked some wild mint and made mint tea later that night. After spending a couple of days in Mammoth we headed out to San Fransisco and met up with one of our friends from the Italy trip, Caroline.
The night in San Fransisco was one for the books considering we tried to find a spot to camp, but due to creepy men, we found a hotel instead (thanks mom). We spent the night spooked in a room with 2 queen beds and a TV. We woke up to a warm breakfast preprepared for us and headed out to Humboldt county.
I used to go to school at Humboldt State University, so I was beyond excited to be coming back. As soon as we saw the redwoods it felt like home. We camped at Hidden Springs Campground in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. There's something with the trees that make everything seem so enchanting when you enter. They stand taller than you could ever imagine, they're so inviting. We spent several days in the enchanted forest, traveling 50 miles every day to get into Eureka. Then we said until next time and headed up to Oregon.
Once we headed out of California it was easy sailing. Oregon is a small state comparatively and the only stops we made while driving through were in Coos Bay and Eugene, for food and coffee respectively. We decided to grab an Air BnB just outside of Portland, OR in Vancouver, WA. We stayed on a horse farm owned by a lovely woman named Debby. The first night in Portland we decided to have some Thai food, it was delicious. If ever in Portland and you like Thai food try Thai Peacock, just east of Powell's City of Books. Portland is full of great food and cute little holes in the walls. We even saw the Japanese Gardens, which were absolutely stunning. Wyatt and I ended up having traditional Japanese tea for lunch overlooking the entirety of the gardens.
After Portland, we headed...well, north. Once settled in Tacoma, Washington we headed out to explore Seattle. We walked to the first Starbucks, saw the Pikes Place Market, gagged at the Gum Wall, and headed down to the pier. It was nearly dark when we got to the pier, but we decided to take a journey on The Seattle Great Wheel. Once we got to the top of the Ferris wheel, I asked Wyatt "Well? Where's the Space Needle?" As soon as those words left my mouth the Space Needle snuck out from behind the buildings and scared the living shit out of me. There it was in all of its glory. We stayed in Tacoma for a total of 3 days but spent 2 of them exploring the beauty of Seattle.
The last leg of the trip is a blur to me. We went from Tacoma, WA to Gold Beach, OR in a day to meet up with Pier and Duane, Wyatt's parents. We surprised them by showing up at their trailer, we spent a couple of days with them before booking it back to Humboldt county to meet up with Wyatt's friend Azier who took us in for the night. We woke up the next morning and got breakfast at the cutest spot in Arcata. Afterward, we drove just shy of 500 miles to meet up with Wyatt's uncle, Todd. Todd made us burgers with homemade french fries and swiss mustard (his wife, Corrine is swiss). They were so kind and ended up making us a dessert of grilled peaches and vanilla ice cream, which I crave to this day.
After everything that we went through during the trip, Todd's house was probably the craziest night. We went swimming in their backyard and, out of habit, Todd locked us outside for about 10 minutes before Wyatt and I made enough ruckus to wake him up. We then both took showers, which was refreshing after not having one for quite some time. After which we both fell asleep so fast and left the fan on...we were in Fresno after all and it was HOT. I got up in the middle of the night to adjust the fan from its "low" setting to "medium", then an hour later Wyatt and I awoke to a loud CRASH. Once we both opened our eyes, we saw that the fan had broken loose from the ceiling and was dangling just inches above our bodies, still swaying from being on. Wyatt got up and turned the fan off, we both huddled at the top 1/3 of the bed and fell back asleep. In the morning I was awoken by sparks flying and Wyatt and Todd screeching. They took the fan down and Todd apologized profusely for his house almost killing us, but we didn't mind at all...the bed was so comfortable.
After the night at Todd's, we made pancakes and left for San Diego. We officially ended the trip on August 9, 2019. We spent a total of 26 days on the road.
I wanted to thank everyone we met on the trip, every person who let us crash with them and all of the kind Air B&B hosts we met. Thank you to my family for helping us financially. And last but not least, thank you Wyatt for teaching me how to camp, make a fire, and enjoy being outside.