Made a new friend tonight! charlie, the cable car brake operator. the cable car was crazy!

It's hard to be a blogger when you're on vacation!
~penny k.

Breakfast on the wharf, off to the vera bradley store! woop woop!
~penny k.

Made it safely through devil's rejects town of redway, ca. eeks! we just wanted some sandwiches...scary!

treehuggers

The weather in cali is just perfect today! we took the top off the mustang and drove through 'avenue of the giants'...stunning! the kerrs heart big old trees!

Wow! $.59 avacdos...i
LOVE The west coast!

The Kerrs are one with nature

May 29 - tomorrow is what?  My birthday!!!

So we left Grant’s Pass bright and early today.  I could really get used to this morning business!  I don’t mind it so much if I can do what I want, like ride around and explore with my husband instead of going to worky-work!  He had to stop at Walmart today on the way out to pick up a few things…and let me tell you – this place was hillbilly heaven.  Yes, it was what peopleofwalmart.com dreams are made of.   I didn’t want to stay too long for fear that I might get cooties!

We spent most of the day in the car today…enjoying the leisurely drive down 101.  We did, however, make it to Cali!  WOOHOO!  We drove right through the National Redwood Forest – it was amazing.  Utterly amazing.  Those trees are SO BIG!  We stopped The Trees of Mystery and took a tour through the woods.  We got to see Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox at the entrance of the park.  He winked at me!  And then he apologized to Steve and let him know that he wasn’t “trying to steal [his] girl, just posing for the photo.” It was great!

Upon entering the park we saw one of the biggest family trees – a redwood with 12, yes, 12, other trees growing off from it.  One of the parents in front of us told his little girl it was “like sticking your arm out and another Jessica growing on it”.  So cute!  We saw the elephant tree, an octopus tree that’s made it into Ripley’s Believe it or not, and the most beautiful thing ever – the Cathedral trees.  It was so very humbling.  There was a sign that read:

This is their temple, vaulted high,

And here we pause with reverent eye,

With silent tongue and awe-struck soul;

For here we sense life's proper goal;

To be like these, straight, true and fine,

To make our world, like theirs, a shrine;

Sink down, oh traveler, on your knees,

God stands before you in these trees.”

— Joseph B. Strauss

and it is true. So very true.

After the redwood tour we stopped for a bite to eat at the Forest Café – I had a turkey sandwich and Steve had a burger.  Who would guess?  We bought out Alcatraz tickets online while we were waiting for our food…so YAY we won’t miss out this time!

We drove through the trees (and saw some elk!) for about another hour and Eureka! Stopped here for some much needed r&r.  And so, my dear readers…off to bed!  Love ya! MUAH.

The search for Emmett

Thursday, May 28.  Day Three.

So today we started out bright and early from Cannon Beach. I sent out some postcards as we left the hotel and we headed on our way.  Our plan was to make it to the Redwood forest in Orick, Ca today. Plan was shot to hell!  Who needs plans on their honeymoon, anyway?  It made for such a great day to have a goal…and then throw it out the Mustang’s window!  

We took drive down 101, stopped for breakfast at the Pig n’ Pancake, stopped and bought me some sneakers (to better walk the forest in, my dear) at the Tanger Outlet in Lincoln City, and stopped at numerous “observation areas” along the way. On the map, there’s an “Otter Rock” listed and I wanted to see it before we cut over on the highway to save some time. We saw some really, really beautiful places along the way. We stopped at Cape Foulweather – where it’s advertised as a whale watching area…and is not.  It was hilarious!  I was standing there overlooking the ocean saying “is that a whale? Is that a whale?” pointing at different places.  Alas, it was just some big rocks.  But, it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  Overlooking the cliffs, there are gigantic rocks out in the sea (which I thought were whales!) and a big ol’ strip of land off to the left with hills and houses and oh it was just glorious! We thought maybe that’s where the otters were, but another traveler told us that it was further on down 101.  

We kept on keepin’ on down route 101, stopped to see the Devil’s Punchbowl and looked for some sea otters…no luck. Well, here I am in Grant’s Pass, Oregon and have still yet to see a sea otter, but had a fabulous day crusin’ with my honey-pie!

I'm so sorry

My dear readers,


Last night was a rough night (see excerpt below - which is totally hilarious...today) and the wi-fi at this joint I'm in tonight is sketchy at best.  More pictures and lots more insight on our travels tomorrow!


-p.

May 28, 2010

UGH! I just had far, FAR from the romantic evening I envisioned. We stopped here in Cannon Beach and decided to stay in this quaint little town in order to relax on the beach. You know, I pictured us sitting there wrapped up in each other’s arms with a blanket around us, laughing and kissing, enjoying the beautiful sunset.  That’s what happens on tv, and what happens on tv is just like real life. Where did I go wrong?  Oh yeah, that’s right – thinking that it might be fun. Yeah, not so much. So I sat on the stupid beach for over an hour and 40 minutes today, freezing my ass off, wrapped in a blanket looking like “a gypsy”, while Steve took pictures every thirty seconds. So much for fun.  I sat there stewing for a bit and then realized what an idiot I was being and tucked my legs under me ‘indian-style’ to try to create more warmth. I thought about starting a blog on how I’m going to be a better, more patient, realistic person.  Yep. I thought about it.  But really, why shouldn’t I expect the very best all the time?  Why shouldn’t the sun set faster because I’m cold and bored?  And guess what – the freakin’ clouds rolled in so we didn’t get to see the sun set any way. OMG. And now I’m so cold we have the heater AND the fireplace on in our tiny $169 room. Holy shit.  I hate the beach. And I hate the sun – even more than I did before. I usually hate the sun because it makes me hot.  Today I hate it because it wasn’t fast enough or warm enough. Oh the horror! I’m a Kerrsicle!

BEFORE THE SUN WENT AWAY

PS - we went to Mt. St. Helen's today and it was utterly amazing. seriously. It was so very very cool. Pics later.

It can't rain all the time

So today we got up early (is it really early if we're still on East Coast time?) and had some continental breakfast in the La Quinta lobby. Steve has been longing for their delicious waffles since our trip to NC last year, so it was a great treat.

We headed out to discover Seattle. I didn't see anything that looked like the sets from The Crow, nor did I meet anyone from Nirvana or the Melvins. We did, however,visit the Space Needle (twice) and visit the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. The Space Needle was really cool. It was so rainy, though, that we couldn't see much. My favorite part was looking out over Puget Sound at the barges and the fog. It was just beautiful!

After the photography session reminiscent of our wedding day, we headed out for some lunch. We didn't really have many options and didn't feel like $25 cheeseburgers at the Sky City restaurant at the Space Needle so we ... went to

McDonald's. Yes, good ol' Mickey D's. Sweet Tea and cheap hamburgers, woohoo! We're definitely living! But it was a quick bite to eat and we were on our way again.

Right across the street was the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame and Experience Music Project. Both were pretty cool. We got to see an actual script from "The trouble with Tribbles" from the original series! It was Michelle's aka Uhura's copy. And Captain Kirk's uniform...and an ET replica, a fan-built borg costume, AND Picard's Locutus borg head! No way, right?!?!? So exciting...at least for me. We also got to see old school sci-fi astronaut costumes, lots of books, the death star, and a small wall of original Star Wars action figures. And just when we couldn't take any more excitement, we moved on to the Experience Music Project.

There was quite a bit to see, but we managed to get in the good parts. There was a fantastic section devoted to the Grunge era -

Nirvana, Mudhoney, AIC... some guitars, records, and even an old tape from back in the day when Nirvana made their own tapes and had handwritten the labels and included their phone number in hopes of getting some gigs. There were some HUGE pedals from Mudhoney and the sound board (that might be the name?) used to record all the bands at Sub-Pop records. Seriously, this was close to being a dream come true...I just wish it were a little more...more what? I don't know. Just more I guess. But it was really, really cool. The gift shop was pretty lame. I ended up buying a sticker of my fave Kurt Cobain poster, not the super-cool-totally-awesome Kurt Cobain action figure. I wanted it, but really...at least the sticker fits in my bag.

Speaking of luggage - I am the WORST packer in the history of the universe. Yes, I remembered my towel (see excerpt below on the importance of always having a towel), but did not, I repeat, DID NOT, bring any rainy weather shoes.

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels...

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

Ballet flats and flip-flops are definitely NOT Seattle shoes. In fact, all day, I only saw one person with flip flops on besides me. And walking around all morning in the rain made my ballet flats completely soaked in less than a half an hour. After that I walked around with squishy feet mentally berating myself for not packing sneakers OR a jacket. Well, I would've packed a jacket if I had one...

After the rainy day adventure, we headed back to the hotel for some rest. And by rest, I mean a 3 hour nap. I was totally wiped out. Steve, he watched tv and hung around the room while I slept the daylight hours away. But I got up in just enough time to take another trip downtown and have some of the #1 best donuts in America under Lani's recommendation. She saw it on the travel channel so we decided that since Steve LOVES donuts, we better check it out. We drove to Capitol Hill and had some old-fashioned cinnamon sugar donuts at Top Pot. Let me tell you, the Travel Channel was totally right! The donuts were superb! And I even got an extra one for the morning. Yumm-O!

We figured that we should get out and see some more sights and went back to the Seattle Center and took night photos of the places we were at this morning. They turned out much better...almost like a postcard! Then we sat on a bench just enjoying the night and each other's company. It was like a Hallmark moment!

And now I'm back at the hotel in my wonderful jammies, with my wonderful HUSBAND, ready for bed and another exciting day of exploring the West Coast. Tomorrow - we're moving on to Oregon, hopefully stopping by some spectacular views of the ocean and beautiful haystack cliffs!

Thanks for reading!

And so we're off!

We left Buffalo on Tuesday, sweating. OMG - it was almost 90 degrees! And here we are in Seattle, enjoying the beautiful rainy, cold day. Steve, he's enjoying the heater...

So we got in yesterday without any problems. Well, except that the Northwest seems to be on the same line as the South when it comes to service. Everyone has nowhere to go, nothing to do, except to sit and chat with you. It took us over 30 minutes to rent our car. There were two people in front of me in the Hertz line, but holy crap! It took forever. The girl was so nice, but it just took so long. And all of you likely know that I am far from patient. But in the end, we got the convertible Mustang...WOOHOO! That baby has some oomph! I only drove it from the airport to the hotel, which is about 2 miles, but I know that I love that car. We're going to have a hard time returning it.

We got checked in to the hotel, La Qunita - SeaTac. It's definitely a home away from home. Since we've stayed at other ones before, it gives us that sense of grounding that reminds us of home. But I still miss my kitties. Yes, already.

After freshening up a bit we needed some nom-noms. So we headed across the street to Dave's Diner. It's an old-fashioned looking diner, with neon lights, route 66 signs, old cars...you know, the same old thing. BUt boy do they have a slammin' turkey sandwich. Steve had a hot roast beef sandwich, surprise! Anyway, the best part of the whole experience for me was that our waitress, Ashley, thought we were young and fun enough to invite out to a 22-year-olds birthday party. I wish we could've taken her up on the offer, but we were far too wiped out to be party peeps. Instead, we went to Best Buy and bought a GPS.

We came back to the hotel and got ready for bed, watched some tv, smoked cigarettes and went to sleep. Not a very exciting first day in a new city, but there's always tomorrow...