The Singin’ Tourist in the SW USA (Day 1)
Sunday night after dinner with my friends, I decided to find Newport Beach, where I was scheduled officially to begin the tourist part of my trip. I had purchased a ticket through Tripadvisor to go whale watching early Monday morning. I’m glad I found where things were situated Sunday night when everything was quiet and no traffic. It meant, too, that I went directly to Davey’s Locker and was early enough to position myself to be the first person to board the boat when it arrived. When the first boat docked, I looked at it and had a hard time imagining me and my walker negotiating its deck easily. I was so relieved when I saw that that boat was for the group of folks going sport-fishing who were standing nearby. A second boat arrived, and it was far more accessibility-friendly. (Sorry I didn’t get a picture of that boat,…
Day 10: Talk about Big Trees!
Got RB all squared away, then we completed the trip towards Redwood National Park. The sign leaving Oregon looked more welcoming than the one we passed on arrival. I actually stopped to get pictures of the California welcome sign. This is far from my first visit to the state, but I’d always flown in before, so… Upon reaching Redwood National and State Parks, my first order of business was to stop by the visitors center at its entrance. (I also had to do a quick clothes change–anything that can spill on white will spill on white.) The rangers there gave me a map of the park and a couple of suggestions on routes based on the amount of time I had available to visit. I was surprised there was no admission charge into the park (nor did they ask for my national park pass). I found out why.…
Day 7: From Olympia towards Rainier
Got off to a later-than-usual start. What the heck, I’m on vacation, aren’t I?! Any way, I decided to try to get in two national parks that day since both were near the Seattle area (greedy state–four national parks?!?). Really, the plan was to see one and complete the drive to the other so I could have all of the next day there. I made it to the outskirts of Olympic National Park and after chatting with the ranger at the visitor center, I realized there was no way I could do more than a cursory visit of the beach area on the park’s outer edge and still make the drive to Rainier that day. So, RB and I drove to Ocean City and a couple of other beaches. We had journeyed 2451 miles to see the Pacific Ocean. I didn’t get out, though. The air that afternoon was quite…