San Francisco or Bust - Cont.

Believe if or not – we made it to San Francisco. According to MapQuest, a 15 hour jaunt down the I-5. So it took us 2 days. Whatever.



Riding in Style at the Sleep Inn (Roseburg, OR)

Day two was a dream compared to the 1st. No fleeting temptations to pull a U-ee and head straight back to Canada, today. With teething baby at bay, we made it all the way. Another 10pm arrival time – but this time Lily was asleep.

Drove through a bunch of pretty towns in Oregon – including Portland. All green, luscious, volcanic.



Mount Hood - Volcanic.

A central American vibe. Kept expecting coffee plantations and monkeys. Portland was interesting. 1% of development must go to the arts and a rapid transit system (MAX) was built to link communities before the communities were built. Smart. So very green little city and quite the model for dev’t of the future. We will explore more on the way back. Specially since I am obsessed with revitalization of old buildings at the moment. (last week it was corn starch take out containers)

Stopped in a gorgeous town called Ashland, an hour or so north of the CA border. Just for gas. But ended up spending two hours there. GORGIOUS town. Lots of old houses, lively historic downtown core and real earthy feel. Big park in the centre of town that we stopped at for a fabulous organic lunch (my fav). Played in the park afterwards with 7 year old Genevieve Strawberry Shortcake. Seriously. She was one of those mothering type kids that follows your kid around everywhere and gives you a little break from entertaining. Love.

Lily was cute at the park. She’s bold and social and loves going up to groups of people and staring at them until they tell her she’s cute. If they talk to her, she will NEVER leave. She kept bugging this family picnicking with Kentucky Fried Chicken. KFC is not worth lurking around for.

Didn’t stop again until dinner at IHOP in Vacalla,CA. Our waitress accidentally spit out a tooth when she came to check up on us. She said it was a tic tac.

The one glitch in our San Fran or bust trip so far was the Bay Bridge into San Fran. Traffic was horrid. Even at 8:30 at night. Backed up for miles. To get into San Fran, you have to cross the Bay Bridge – which is tolled ($4). There’s no signs of costs or methods of payment leading up to the bridge. But Jay and I thought, if you can use credit card at the Coquihala, you can use credit card anywhere. Nuh-unh. Our first breath of San Fran air is tainted by a $30 ticket for having no cash to pay for our toll fare. Jason’s going to write the mayor.

Our hotel, the Columbus Inn, is 10 minutes from Fisherman’s Warf. In the Italian District. There’s no continental breakfast here. But a separate room for Lily. And a guy at the front desk who talks like Borat. And has a hangy mole. Everyone here seems to have hangy moles. Solid gold.


Tree at Columbus Inn. Nicer than outside of hotel.