Road Trip: Grants Pass to San Francisco

The second day of our road trip started auspiciously, as Sadie and I shed our divey Motel 6 digs in anticipation of a fun drive and a lovely 4-night stay at the San Francisco Airport Marriot, which I got for $60 a night courtesy of priceline. Props to my sister for teaching me the trick to getting swanky digs for cheap. Never accept less than three stars!

First, a necessity: coffee! I saw these Dutch Brothers coffee stands all over the place, and the coffee was actually really good. I will surely go back, especially as I've seen them quite a lot around here. Had a nice chat with Mr. Barista about my trip. He asked about the road conditions between Seattle and Grants Pass, and I told him they were great, except for one kind of scary spot. Then I was on my way.

Coffee? Why, yes I will.

After that I stopped in Ashland, Oregon, which boasts the famous annual Shakespeare Festival. Ashland is very cute, cool, and funky, and I hope to go back sometime. It reminds me very much of Hood River, Oregon.

Like Port Townsend, only cuter!

Then it was on through the Siskiyous to Weed, California. I went there looking for Snoopy's brother (who I though lived in Weed but it turns out he lives in Needles. Doh! No wonder they didn't know what I was talking about), but all I found were these kooky artists, Arthur and Isaiah. I walked around town and had coffee with Isaiah and he showed me their joint art studio. Isaiah said he was looking for some inspiration for his art and he thought the Creator had brought me to Weed to meet him. Hey, if it helped him get past his "block," I'm okay with whatever he wants to think. Isaiah is an interesting guy, but I finally had to leave to flee the talk of love and vibes, man.

Not named after the tumbleweeds that were everywhere like I had thought

After Weed, the snow started coming down hard and the conditions quickly got fearsome. The whole experience was pretty terrifying, even thoughI know how to drive in the snow. I think it's because of the sheer length of the mountain crossing - in Washington state you go over one pass and you're done. In the Siskiyous IT NEVER ENDS. It's mountain pass after pass after pass. I won't go into details because I don't want my Mom to cry. Suffice it to say that the car, the dog, and I are all in one piece.

After coming down the passes, the snowstorm turned into a simple rainstorm. Still sucky, because the visibility was limited and there was some hydroplaning going on among various cars. But still waaaay better than the Siskiyous experience! I think I will take highway 101 up the coast on the way back, at least to Eugene.

The what?! Oh, the BASShole. Snicker.

The rest of the drive it was pouring down rain the entire way. When I say 'pouring down rain,' I think I will sum it up with this one observation: it was so bad, the California drivers were driving 10-20 miles BELOW the speed limit. And that's all I have to say about that.

Coming into San Francisco I came into traffic once I got on the San-Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and onto Highway 101 South toward my hotel. I was actually glad to slow down to 20 miles per hour, it was relaxing! It ended up taking us, with stops and weather difficulties, 10 hours to get to San Francisco. Just a tad bit longer than the 6 hours that google maps predicted. Needless to say, Sadie and I are exhausted. I left her sacked out on the king size feather-bed and came down to the lobby bar to blog. Now I am heading upstairs to get some much needed rest myself!

I may never get out of this bed. Ever.

More pictures can be found here