I was at the western end of route 20 yesterday and traveled on it from Newport to Corvallis and then to Bend this morning, so I have covered about 200 of those 3,300 miles. But I won’t see route 20 again until Nebraska.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I will be visiting Roy’s family in Seattle Sunday and I am checking out two of their regular spots in Oregon, Cannon Beach tomorrow and Bend today.

First, I visited the High Desert Museum, which has outdoor and indoor exhibits and many dioramas that describe how the American settlers got to Oregon and how the native peoples have reacted to all the resulting changes.

But what I found most interesting (as someone who has planned and is undergoing a big journey) was an exhibit on scientific study of how animals navigate and how that could help humans. I knew but still marvel that both sea turtles and salmon travel thousands of miles somehow by memory to spawn and lay eggs exactly where they were born. Even more amazing, the monarch butterflies that happen to still be alive at the end of summer migrate on their own to somewhere they’ve never been before.

The other highlight of the day was hiking around and up an extensive lava field under Lava Butte, a volcano that erupted thousands of years ago – look at the photos. Then I ended the day hiking and taking pictures at mountain streams and reservoirs around the Scenic Cascade Lakes Highway.

Today’s song is “Oregon Trail” by Woody Guthrie.

When I was planning my trip, I was often asked to what I was particularly looking forward. I would usually answer “I hear there’s a coastline along the Pacific between San Francisco and Seattle and I’ve never seen it”. Well, today I saw the central Oregon coast and it is spectacular. I will briefly describe what I witnessed, but the pictures will speak thousands of words for themselves.

I was in the Cape Perpetua section of the Siuslaw National Forest and saw places called Cook’s Chasm and Devil’s Churn, where high tide waves form water spouts and soaking splashes. Then, just a mile inward is a hike to a grove of giant spruce trees.

Up the coast a bit in Newport, I visited a very well-designed aquarium that was mostly outdoors, a lighthouse with an 8 room house for the keeper’s family (whose youngest daughter was born inside the lighthouse) and oh yes a street sign I had been waiting to see.

I wound down in the late afternoon in Corvallis, walking around the campus of Oregon State University and a couple of trails along the Mary’s and Willamette Rivers.

Today’s song is “Don’t Take Me Alive” by Steely Dan, with the lyric “I crossed my old man back in Oregon “.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I was looking forward to visiting Eugene, Oregon and it did not disappoint. According to my AAA book, it has about 20,000 University of Oregon students and another 130,000 earthy/crunchy folks, all of whom seem to be running or on bikes or skateboards.

I first toured a late 1800’s Victorian hilltop house built by one of the city’s early prominent families. Then I visited the university’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History, which showed me a lot of good info on the state’s different geographic/geological regions. I walked around campus a bit, but was sad to see that Hayward Field, the country’s most renowned track and field stadium (and the site of Roy’s fastest marathon) is in teardown/rebuild mode.

Then I went to a couple of parks on the outskirts of town. Hendrick Park has hiking trails among forests of tall (but not quite redwood) trees and a large garden of rhododendrons and azaleas. Skinner Butte Park has the highest summit and the best views. This park is named after the city’s founder Eugene Skinner, simultaneously solving the riddle of the origin of the city’s name. In the evening, I prepared for Rachel’s big upcoming Zamir Chorale concert by attending a concert of many high school choruses in the beautiful Hult Center Performanc Center.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I have to choose Dolly Parton’s song “Eugene Oregon” as the song of the day, even though she doesn’t actually say anything about the city (except that it somehow made her feel less homesick for Tennessee than usual).

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Today marks the halfway point in my journey. I’m having a blast so far and hope it continues that way.

This was a full day of outdoor activities. First, I hiked in the Lady Bird Johnson grove of redwoods in Redwood National Park. In the adjacent Prairie Creek State Park, I was pictured with a giant not named after a general or president, but simply known as “Big Tree”.

Then I was in a group of nine who were led through the Oregon Cave by a tour guide of about 40 years who was very good and funny – he made it a point to remember where everyone was from (he lived in Springfield Mass for a couple of years as a child).

Next I did some hiking and picture taking in a huge state park that featured the interestingly named Illinois River and the Eight Dollar Mountain. I ended up at twilight at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival complex – no shows tonight but many of their productions have made it to Broadway and Boston.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Today’s song is “The Redwood Tree” by Van Morrison. The youtube I watched had some great photos of what I witnessed in person today.

It was a day of hellos, good-byes and carrying on. I said farewell and thank you to Patty and Mike for hosting Rachel and me and inviting us to their Seder last night. Then we met my cousins Helaine and Jeff at their hotel in Oakland, in from LA to meet their two children. Then I said au revoir to Rachel, until I return home on June 3rd. Rachel later saw her old roommate Cheryl and husband Eric, before flying back to Boston tomorrow.

Ï resumed my trip in Sonoma, where I got a brief lesson in the history of the Golden State. California was claimed by Spain, which established the last of its many missions at Sonoma in 1823, to convert Native Americans to Catholocism and to defend against encroachment by the Russians, who had opened trading cities in the Pacific northwest. Mexico won independence from Spain and became the ruling country. Then a small group of American settlers declared a California “republic” in Sonoma in 1846 with the bear flag that became the state banner. But this republic only lasted a couple of weeks, as the United States took over California as a territory and a state by 1850 after the Gold Rush.

A key figure during this entire period was Mariano Vallejo, who governed the mission many years for Mexico and then became a California State Senator. I visited his house and large Adobe cattle ranch house.

Then I got just a taste of the city and surrounding vineyards of Napa without actually tasting any wine. Maybe in a subsequent long stay in San Francisco.

I had a long drive to my motel in Eureka, on the far north Pacific coast. My head grew weary and my sight grew dim, so today’s song is The Eagles “Hotel California”. Tomorrow morning I will check out AND leave, on my way to Redwood National Park and Oregon.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Happy Passover or Happy Easter to all!

Rachel and I concluded our national parks excursion this morning with a visit to Sequoia National Park, the second oldest in the system, after Yellowstone. We first went to the Big Forest Museum, which had a lot mooof hands-on and graphic information about what enables sequoias to grow so massive (the short answer is – seeds from pine cones; enough open space, nutrients and water to get started; and, surprisingly, periodic natural or planned fires to open up the grove for the healthiest trees).

Then we hiked through the Big Forest Grove to witness the largest (in total wood volume) tree in the world, General Sherman, named in honor of the commanding officer of the leader of the first major expedition into the grove.

Then we made the long drive back to Palo Alto and had a wonderful seder with 16 relatives and friends of Patty and Mike, including two of their sons, Arly and Noah.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Today’s song is “Going to California” by Led Zeppelin.

Rachel and I spent the day in Kings Canyon National Park, again after taking pictures of dazzling views all the way there. First we went to the visitor center and saw a film that shows the three main features of the park. The first two, the deepest canyon in the country and the highest mountains in the lower 48 (the Sierra Nevadas, topped off my Mount Whitney) are not open yet for the season so we experienced them on the film. We did get to hike around the third highlight, the General Grove, featuring some of the largest sequoia trees in the world.

Then we drove a mountain road up and then down to Hume Lake for a two and a half mile hike around the lake, a camp, a former dam and some houses that made us amazed that people actually live there.

Tomorrow, Sequoia National Park in the morning and then back to Patty and Mike’s house for the second Seder.

Today’s song is “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie. That would be an appropriate song for my whole trip.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Rachel and I had another wonderful day in Yosemite National Park and we didn’t even get to the valley until about 3:30.

Our hotel is in Oakhurst, a cute little town south of the park, so we entered throug

h the South gate. We learned yesterday that President Lincoln first protected in 1864 just two relatively small parts of the current park, Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove, home of the giant sequoia trees. Our timing was good – the Grove just opened for the year last Thursday. So we got to hike in the middle of these magnificent living things, including Giant Grizzly and the California walk-through tree (both pictured below).

Then we walked around Pioneer Yosemite, a little Sturbridge Village of hundred plus year old homes and buildings moved from other parts of the park. From there at the end of a two mile dead-end road and a hike through the woods, we bounced around on a “swinging” bridge over the rushing south branch of the Merced River.

Then we finally took the winding Winona Road to the valley, did one more hike through a meadow and bid farewell to perhaps the most spectacular set of square miles on the planet.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We had a second straight excellent dinner in Oakhurst and are off to Sequoia and Kings National parks tomorrow morning.

The song of the day is “California Girls” by the Beach Boys.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

It took Rachel and I a while to get to Yosemite National Park this morning because we kept stopping to take pictures. Then we took even more in the park. It’s an absolutely amazing and beautiful place.

After getting soaked in the mist of Bridalview Falls, we searched a long time to get a parking space around the visitor center – we couldn’t believe how crowded it was for a Wednesday in mid-April. We had lunch, saw a couple of films (including one by Ken Burns), visited a recreated Native American village and hiked to Yosemite Falls, which is four times the height of Niagara Falls. Then we got great views of El Capitain, Half Dome and the whole Yosemite Valley. We’ll be back for more hiking and seeing tomorrow.

Today’s song is “The Yosemite Song”.

Today was a very stressful day, but all’s well that ends well.

My plan was to leave Reno at 7:00, arrive at Sacramento about 9:30, visit the state capitol and a nearby park until about 11:15 and leave to pick up Rachel about 1:00 at the San Francisco airport. Then I had a 2:30 appointment to bring in my car for an overdue oil change and tire inspection/rotating/balancing at a gas station in Palo Alto, recommended by Rachel’s cousins Patty and Mike, who live just a few blocks away.

I was about 40 miles into my trip on interstate route 80 (with alternating rain and snow making the road wet) when traffic came to a halt and a sign said “Accident – I-80 closed – turn around”. When we went down an exit ramp, the only driving option allowed by the state police was to go up the ramp to head back east. I certainly expected a detour sign with a suggested alternate route. After many slow treacherous miles without any guidance, I realized that California would have been happy for me to continue on 80 east all the way to the George Washington Bridge.

So I pulled out a map and saw that US route 50 passed south of Lake Tahoe and headed through the mountains and hooked up with 80 at Sacramento. So that’s what I did and finally picked up Rachel over an hour late. I made it to the gas station by 3:00 and got the promising report that my tires should be good for another 10,000 miles back home.

Then Rachel and I unpacked the car at Patty and Mike’s house, walked around their neighborhood lush with flowers and fruit trees and the four of us walked over for dinner at Tofu House, a Korean restaurant. Tomorrow morning Rachel and I will be off to Yosemite.

Today’s song is “California Dreaming” by the Mamas and the Papas. I only took two pictures all day – here they are.

• 

•