My New Ride

Here I am, a couple of weeks out of school. Relaxing at last! And working on getting Sadie comfortable in our new environment. I'm going to take Thai lessons in January so I can finally understand what people are saying to me. I've learned a few words, mostly involving food and how much things cost. But that's not enough of course!

Recently I traded in my rental scooter for my very own ride! It's a Yamaha Mio ZR, and it's not something that exists in the States. In fact, nearly all of the cars, trucks, and motorbikes are different here. (Toyota Fortuner or Honda CBR150R, anyone?) They're smaller than in the US,  but usually you don't notice. Until you see an actual Honda Civic and it looks like a freakin' Cadillac, it's so big. It's interesting, that's for sure!

Here are some pictures of my new scooter (or motorbike as they're called in Thailand).  It's kinda pimped out :)  When I finally (a) get a job, and (b) learn how to ride a manual, I'll upgrade to a Honda Dream. I hear they are the best thing around.

 

Here are some pictures from a road trip I took recently, my first long ride on my new bike!  I went in a big loop from Chiang Mai to Samoeng and back to Chiang Mai. It was beautiful. Funny how I've moved smack into the middle of some of the most beautiful and famous motorcycle riding in the world, for those who pay attention to such things. I might have to get more into riding!

View Chiang Mai to Samoeng Loop in a larger map

Road Trip Recap - Kalaloch to Forks to La Push to Sequim

Sunday through Tuesday I took a circular road trip along the Northern Washington coast. It was the perfect time - the weather was beautiful, and since it was not the weekend traffic was nearly nonexistent, I was able to get great camping spots, and I was left in blissful solitude most of my trip.

As you know, I had some trepidation about making this trip...the last time I was in the area, it was 1995. I was a depressed 19-year-old Coast Guard enlistee, fleeing from the desolate area and vowing never to return. 2 years after I left, while I was stationed in Boston, MA, there was a tragic accident at the station and three Coasties died during a rescue, including two former coworkers of mine. One of them was my good friend and mentor. It was several years later that I reluctantly acknowledged that I had to go back, if not for me, then to pay my respects to my friend.

Finally, Sunday was the day. I packed up the dog and my camping gear and set out in the sunny afternoon. I arrived at Kalaloch campground in the early evening and set up camp at a beautiful oceanside spot - another one of the benefits of unemployment is being able to camp midweek. Sadie and I played on the beach, then I made dinner and did some reading, then it was time for bed.


Sadie romping on Kalaloch beach

The next morning I broke camp and we headed for Forks, Washington. I was both excited and fearful to see it again. I remembered Forks as this dismal little podunk town populated with out-of-work loggers - this was shortly after the spotted owl controversy that severly limited logging in the Washington coastal rainforests - and punk-ass high-school kids. I was pretty impressed with myself, having spent part of my young life in Seattle, and did not want to mingle. (Actually, I didn't know how to meet new people...I used to be really bad at that. But I digress.) And always the dark and the rain. Oh god, the rain. Maybe good for a vampire family, but not good for people suffering from S.A.D., that's for sure.

And...Forks was nothing like I remembered it. I'm sure it helped that it was sunny. And that now I'm 33 years old, not 19, and can appreciate small towns. There are cute Victorian houses there. And of course the surrounding Hoh Rainforest is absolutely gorgeous. If you've never seen it, you must go. Seriously. I'm not sure how the logging industry is going these days, but the whole town has been revitalized by the Twilight series. There are shops selling Twilight merchandise, several Twilight tours, and the visitor's center even has a 'Twilight map' that shows all the locations mentioned in the book, including Bella's and Edward's homes. Everyone I talked to in town seemed excited about the Twilight phenomenon. The punk-ass kids were still there, but that's small town life for you.

The city of Forks welcomes you

And lest you think the residents of Forks are annoyed by the renewed interest in their tiny town due to Twilight, here is some evidence to the contrary:

A note from Esme Cullen to visitors of the "Cullen family residence," which is actually a B&B.

Dr. Cullen has his own parking spot at the Forks Community Hospital


The Swan residence, which is a private home, has a sign outside for visitors

After my Twilight self-tour, I was off down the road to La Push to see the Coast Guard station that was my home for a little more than a year from 1994-1995. I visited the memorial at the station and it was more emotional than I thought I'd be. I'm getting to be such a sap in my old age.

Then I took Sadie to First Beach, which is another location from the Twilight series. For some reason, they renamed it in the movie as "La Push Beach," though it was written correctly in the book. Lame.

I'm pretty sure that's Jacob the werewolf in the distance...

Finally, the memory lane jaunt mostly concluded, I pointed the car East and drove through the beautiful rainforest and past Lake Crescent, stopping once for rumination. How could I have ever hated this place??? Its forested beauty is intoxicating.

I ended the second day at Sequim Bay State Park, which was mostly deserted - only 2 other campers besides me. On the beach I found this strange object. WTF is it??? I feel a sci fi story brewing...

Radioactive dinosaur egg?

Yesterday I came home and resumed the regularly scheduled programming of my life. The end.

More pictures here.

Pilgrimage

Many eons ago, I was in the United States Coast Guard (yes, it is real military - one of the five armed services). For the first couple years, I was stationed at Coast Guard Station Quillayute River in La Push, Washington. I was 18 years old, living on the remote Washington coast on an Indian reservation. Yeah, I loved it about as much as you'd think.

You can imagine my surprise when, in recent years, La Push and Forks, Washington have gained worldwide fame at the setting of the immensely popular Twilight series of books and movies. These days, crazed fans flock to Forks to view Bella Swan's home, Forks High School, Forks Police Station, and of course they go down the single road to La Push to wander First Beach.

I haven't been back to the area since I moved away in 1995. For awhile I didn't want to go back ever. Then a few years after I left, some of my former coworkers were killed in a tragic accident just off First Beach...After that I realized I needed to go back, for them if not for myself. And last week I saw the Twilight movie for the first time, then read all the books in the series. It was funny to read the books and watch the movie and know that I used to live there (unfortunately the movie was not actually filmed in Washington, but they did a pretty good job faking it).

I've decided I'm ready. Fourteen years after I left, I'm packing up the dog and the camping gear and going back. Back to visit the old Coast Guard station, play on the beach, and pay my respects at the memorial statue that was erected in remembrance of my friends. I'll let you know how it goes.

James Island at the mouth of the Quillayute River, as seen from First Beach

Road Trip: This is the End

Today I completed my road trip with a jaunt from Portland to Seattle a/k/a my home. I swear I will add text to these last few posts soon, but I'm just exhausted right now. I will have plenty of time for such things in the coming weeks.

Find all these pictures and more here.

Hungover? No, just sleepy


Portland was completely encased in ice. Literally.

One of five accidents I saw on the way home, though after Portland I thought the roads were pretty nice.

The snow in my unused parking spot at my condo in Seattle


Soon, my sweet...muah!

Road Trip: Florence to...Portland, not Seattle

Next up: Dunes and snow. Someday I'll actually complete these blog entries, but for now I do hope you find the pictures sufficient. I hope to get home tomorrow. Of course, I hoped to get home today and I'm in Portland. Utter armageddon on the streets. Thank goodness for Subaru!

The rest of the pictures are here.

Dunes in Southwest Oregon, just south of Florence


Sadie really, really likes the dunes




50 miles south of Portland on I-5, things started to get bad


I-5 heading north into Portland

Road Trip: Arcata to Florence, Oregon

Arcata to Florence was a beautiful jaunt north along the coast. Sometimes the weather was nice, but mostly it was high winds and rain (I happen to think that qualifies as 'beautiful'). I was kind of dragging by this point and pretty much just wanted to get home. There's something about not being able to get home (due to the weather in this case) that really makes you want to get there!

Once I arrived in Florence I checked into a hotel which unfortunately was really crappy. I'd had good luck with the hotel sitch through the entire road trip though, so I guess I won't complain too much. Next time I will do my homework before I get to a town. Although I didn't do that before I ended up in Sonoma and ended up in a great place! Actually, the entire Sonoma side-jaunt was unplanned, but I'm glad I ended up there.

Northern Coast of California


Elk! From the largest Roosevelt elk herd in the world


Beautiful redwoods. So that's what the big deal is about...


Bandon, Oregon


The Sadie-ear-windometer says that we are at gale force

More pictures here

Well, wonders never cease

I'm holed up in Small Town, USA (a/k/a Florence, Oregon), and we are experiencing a storm similar to Seattle's except with rain instead of snow. Internet connection is pretty crappy, and after about 20 minutes of finagling I've managed to coax a tenuous signal out of the air. Not sure how long it'll last. I have to go eat dinner now, but if this wifi cooperates later I will update last night's post and write tonight's. And pictures! Dunes, big trees, and elk, oh my.

Okay TTYL.

Road Trip: Sonoma to Arcata and Spots In Between

After my wildly refined night in Sonoma, I awoke rather...slowly the next morning. I sneaked the dog out of the room (oh, the things we do) and headed into town to find sustenance. But how to find good coffee in this town? Of course. I found a man sitting on a park bench drinking coffee and asked him where I could find some for myself. He very helpfully directed me to the Basque Boulangerie just across the street. And yes, the coffee was delicious! There were dozens of delicious-looking pastries available to drool over, but unfortunately Sadie started barking at delivery men and we had to boogie out of there. After wandering around some more and making a brief stop in Three Dog Bakery (we go there all the time in Seattle!), we hit the road for points north.

Mendocino was beautiful on the outside, but I was a bit perplexed by something that happened to me there. I needed to change a headlamp bulb in my car, and I had bought one at an auto parts store in Sonoma before I headed out of town. As it was getting dark when I was in Mendo, I decided I'd better get that baby in there before finishing up Highway 1, or "22 miles of misery" as my friend calls it. I had some difficulties getting the old bulb out of the socket, so all told it took me about 15 minutes to complete the switch. For the 15 minutes I was parked by the side of the road with my hood up, lots of people drove by. And nobody stopped. What the hell?! Where are all the friendly Californians I've met my entire trip? I decided Mendo is dead to me (what isn't, really) and hit the highway with Arcata as my destination. Later that night, I was out with my cousin's friend Brooke in Arcata and I told her this story. "It's not that they don't want to help you," she explained. "It's Mendocino. They don't know how to do anything menial." For some reason this cracked us up. That's pretty sad, but it's pretty funny!

Arcata...I think maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind for Arcata. I understand that it's a pretty cool place, but I didn't see much of that, unfortunately. Homeless kids with dogs on ropes begged for change and smoked weed in the town square. And I saw a guy in a homemade t-shirt that said, "Dominate me with your cunt." Really, do I need to say any more?

Sonoma town square in the morning

Mendocino


Mendocino

The end (or beginning) of Highway 1

Here's t-shirt guy trying out his moovs on an unsuspecting lady. She didn't succumb to his charms. And yes, that is indeed a Native American 'dream catcher' attached to the back of the shirt.

More pictures here

Road Trip: Mysteries and Wine Country, etc.

This morning started out with a frustrating trip to Walgreens to get a prescription refill. I won't go into detail here, but let it be known that Millbrae California is DEAD TO ME. I hate them, I hate their google map directions, and I hate their inhabitants. That is all. Moving on...

Driving to San Jose from my hotel, the weather and the surroundings were beautiful.

In San Jose, I went to the Winchester Mansion. I'd read a story about it as a kid that said Mrs. Sarah Winchester built the strange parts of the house to confuse the spirits of people who'd been killed by Winchester rifles. I always thought it was a normal house with some weird spirit-foiling additions. Today on the tour I learned that a psychic told her that to keep the spirits confused, Mrs. Winchester had to keep up construction on the house constantly. Therefore, the house remained under construction 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 38 years until Mrs. Winchester's death in 1922.

It turns out that, far from being normal, the entire house is pretty wacked out. Staircases that go nowhere, doorways that go nowhere, and even a chimney that goes nowhere. Plus cupboards opening onto walls, windows in the floor, "easy riser" staircases built into hidden closets for Mrs. Winchester. I don't care what they say, Sarah Winchester was batshit insane.

After the Winchester Mansion, I drove to Santa Cruz to see the Mystery Spot. Far from being simply a place that men need to learn more about, the Mystery Spot is, in my expert opinion, fucking crazy! I took pictures, but even those don't do the spot justice. You need to just go there yourself. Seriously. Gravitational (or whatever) forces cause people to gain or lose inches of height based on where they are standing. It also causes people to have to fight against a strange force that wants to push you in a certain direction. Balls roll uphill, and none of it's an illusion. It's just wacky gravity (or aliens, or whatever theory you prefer. I go with gravity and/or magnetic fields myself.)

I finally got a bumber sticker to cover up the Obama/Biden sticker. Because, you know, they won.

Well. You know what they say... "the best laid plans" and all that. The great thing about road trips is that plans can change, and you should never be in a hurry. As you know, I'd intended to be in Ukiah tonight, but thanks to delayed timetables and San Francisco traffic, I'd only made it to Petaluma by 7:00 p.m. I'd been stuck in traffic for 2 hours and was at the point of weeping, so I decided to get off the freeway and find a place to stay for the evening. I wasn't thrilled about staying in Petaluma, but what choice did I have? Until I exited from 101 and saw the sign, "Sonoma 17 miles; Napa 24 miles." My eyes opened wide. I heard angels singing a chorus. 'Wine country? I'm this close to wine country?!' I thought. A phone call to my mother plus a AAA tour book led me to the Best Western Inn in Sonoma, which takes dogs, has a surprisingly awesome room with a king size bed and a fireplace, AND has a free breakfast that is delivered to your room! Kind of hard to beat that. Plus they have free parking and coffee, and it's one block to the center of Sonoma. Which is a good thing when you've had a few glasses of amazing wine and you need to get back to your dog and make sure she's not barking in the hotel. Or, ahem, so I've heard.

My room in Sonoma. King-size bed and a fireplace!

I went to dinner at A Girl & A Fig, which is on the Southeast corner of the town square in Sonoma. It was pretty great. Not the food, which was tasty but not amazing, but the people I met! The bartender, Mark, was cool, plus after the dinner crowd left (I got there late due to getting to town around 8 p.m.), all the local service industry folks rolled into the place and I got to chat with them. It reminds me of Port Townsend, though maybe not as dysfunctional. One can only hope. I was chatting with an attractive, shy guy, and at the end of the night he had to take off because of a conference call in the morning. I gave him my info in case he's ever in Seattle, and he gave me his card. He's a winemaker! Well, I love wine, so maybe it's a match made in heaven. Or something. At any rate, I had a really fun time tonight.

The cozy bar at A Girl and A Fig

My revised schedule has me staying in Eureka, CA tomorrow (Friday) night and Reedsport, OR on Saturday night. I hope to be home on Sunday. But as long as I'm home by the 25th, I guess I'm ok.

More tomorrow night, hopefully from Oregon! More pictures here

Road Trip: In the City

Today was another beautiful sunny day, and I didn't even need my down jacket till about 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. Much of the day was spent in the car, driving around seeing all the important sites. Molly drove, since she lives here, but we took my car because it has the fidorido. Of course, after a couple of hops in and out of the car I just held Sadie on my lap. We weren't going very fast anyway.

We are light on pictures today because I was silly and forgot to charge the battery in my camera. The below pictures are courtesy of my cell phone. [EDIT: added a couple of pictures from the camera now that it's charged.] Of course, I also forgot my phone in the car during one walking excursion, so maybe pictures weren't meant to be taken today. I think I have plenty already!

Getting Sadie out of the room and into the car this morning was quite difficult. I think she's had enough of this road trip. Too bad for her that we're a 2-3 day drive from home.

First a delicious pastry and coffee at La Boulange near Molly's place.


Boulange dogs

Then we drove the long way through Golden Gate Park, checking out the new science museum, Stow Lake, and the polo fields, before heading down to Ocean Beach in the Sunset neighborhood.

Sadie loves Molly, so they were happy to walk down the beach together while I took pictures of the surfers. Unfortunately, none of those came out! Dang it. Later we let Sadie off the leash and she played chase with another dog. That tired her out to the point where she tried to drink the ocean, though much choking and gagging convinced her that it was not a wise choice.

When taking a driving tour of San Francisco, of course you have to drive down the Russian Hill section of Lombard Street, the "crookedest street in the world"! It was like an amusement park ride, and pretty popular with the tourists based on the attention it was getting. Man, I would hate to live on that street, not only because of the difficulty of getting in and out of your home, but because of the constant traffic.

We saw many other interesting places today, and unfortunately I have forgotten much of it. There's so much to see! I should have taken notes. But I will recap some of it: Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Twin Peaks, SOMA, Fisherman's Wharf, Financial District, Sunset.

Oh, at Fisherman's Wharf I tried In-n-Out Burgers for the first time. Um, sorry, but what's the big deal about that place? Maybe it got too built up for me, so when I finally tried it, it was just a...burger and fries. Call me crazy but I'll take Dick's Drive In any day. Also at Fisherman's Wharf we went to the Buena Vista and had an irish coffee, where the drink was invented. It was delicious! Later in the afternoon we took Sadie to the dog park in Cole Valley near Molly's place, then relaxed in her adorable apartment until it was time to meet Cinthia for dinner in the Haight. We ended up getting takeout because the restaurant was packed, which was even better because we went back to Molly's place and ate dinner and had wine. The night ended with plans to meet up soon in Seattle, since both Molly and Cinthia will be there for the holidays. Now they can see my condo! I'm very excited :)

Tomorrow I get up early and leave the city. I'm heading down to San Jose to see the Winchester Mystery House, then back down to Santa Cruz really quickly to see the Mystery Spot. I guess tomorrow is 'mystery day.' Props go to Ryan for suggesting these intriguing sights.

After Santa Cruz I'm winding back up the coast on Hwy 1 to 101 and hope to make it to Ukiah,California to while away the evening in the economical digs of Motel 6 once again. The night after that (a/k/a Friday for you working stiffs) I want to be in Newport Oregon, before cutting back to I-5 for the rest of the trip. The night after that (Saturday the 20th) I hope to be HOME! Yes I love it here, and the road trip has been fun. But my car is full of maps and papers and this and that and general stuff, and I'm living out of a suitcase. And the whole car experience has been really tough on Sadie. I now feel like a terrible mother for subjecting her to this, but at least now I know she can't go on road trips anymore. I know that snow and ice armageddon has hit the states of Washington and Oregon, which is why I'm taking the coast.

See you Seattleites soon! More pictures here

Road Trip: Half Moon Bay, etc.

Today I went to the coast, starting in Half Moon Bay and working my way down to Santa Cruz. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful and sunny. It was still cold, but at least I was able to shed the down jacket in favor of a hooded sweatshirt.

There were a lot of rusty sculptures lining the road to Half Moon Bay.

When I arrived in town, I found the visitor's center and got the lowdown on where to eat and where to take the dog to work off her excess energy. That led me to the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, where I had a delicious lunch and discovered that, much to my dismay, the seas were flat at the world-famous Maverick's and there wouldn't be any surfers to watch. My waiter at the brewery said that there might be some people surfing a few miles north at Montara State Beach. No surfers there, either, but it was a beautiful beach with curling waves, and Sadie and I had a nice walk there. Sadie rolled in a dead bird carcass, which pretty much made her day. I was not quite so enthused.

After that we jumped back in the car and headed south to Santa Cruz to see the famous boardwalk and the Mystery Spot. It's funny how before I went on this road trip, driving 50 miles was a huge deal to me - I don't really like driving that far. But now it's a drop in the travel bucket. Not that I plan to become a roadhog once I get home!

We stopped at San Gregorio State Beach, but didn't stay long because the sign said 'no dogs on the beach.' I'm a law-abiding citizen, especially when I think I might get caught. Plus I was running out of time because I was due back in the city at 4:40 to pick up Molly at the airport. Molly actually lives here in San Francisco, but she was in Seattle visiting family. Since I'm here, I offered to pick her up at the airport. I thought that was pretty funny since I don't even live here, but I'm glad it all worked out!

Finally we arrived in Santa Cruz and hit the boardwalk. The place was deserted - most of the shops were closed, and the boardwalk was closed. The good news is there was plenty of parking! We had taken but a few steps onto the deserted boardwalk when a security guard appeared and said, "Excuse me, ma'am. Unfortunately no dogs are allowed on the boardwalk." I said, "are they allowed on the beach?" He said, "No, but that's not our area of responsibility." I asked, "so if we run across the boardwalk to the beach, you didn't see anything then?" He laughed and said, "that's right." So we scampered. As far as beaches go, it wasn't nearly as impressive as the rest of Half Moon Bay, but the sun was shining on me and it was quiet and peaceful, and that was enough. Then it was time to jump on the road back to the city to pick up Molly. I really enjoyed my drive down Highway 1 a/k/a Cabrillo Highway, and I think I will head down to Carmel after I leave San Francisco and work my way back up to Santa Cruz from that direction.

After I picked up Molly at SFO, we drove to her absolutely darling apartment in Cole Valley, which is a neighborhood just a few blocks from the Haight. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Cole Valley, which was good but not otherwordly good like Mona Lisa, a restaurant in North Beach. Seriously. If you're in SF and you want Italian, you MUST go there. That's where Molly and I ate in June when I came down to visit.

Molly's apartment in Cole Valley - most adorable!

So far I've had a Marin day and a Half Moon Bay day, with a bit of the city thrown in at night. Tomorrow is all city! Molly is taking me on her special tour, and I am finally going to go to the tourist spots. I'm dying to go to Lombard Street!

As always, more pictures can be found here