Victoria, Vancouver Island

We’ve spent the last few days seeing the sights of Victoria, taking the kids to the park, playing on the beach looking across to the USA (very bizarre concept for us, looking across the water to another country) and even some kid free shopping for me, thanks to Arianna.  John has kindly been chauffeuring us around and Arianna has given me some reprieve from the kitchen, three lunches and two dinners, I’ve been spoilt.

We were blessed with perfect weather when John and Arianna took us out of their boat for the day.  They sold their sailing boat whilst in Australia and now have a leisure trawler, beautifully fitted out and perfect for cruising their waterways.  Their boat is moored 30 minutes north of Victoria, in Sidney and we cruised around the islands in the Strait of Georgia, a very pretty area, reminding us both a little of the Queen Charlotte Sounds in New Zealand.  

The kids enjoyed the boat, especially the dingy ride ashore. Chloe loved wearing her life jacket and only decided to take it off when she realised she couldn’t bend over to pick up pebbles on the beach to throw in the water.

Port Angeles to Victoria, Vancouver Island

Goodbye USA, Hello Canada

We caught the ferry, RV included, from Port Angeles, Washington to Victoria, Vancouver Island Canada.  The ferry venture was relatively stress free, well for me anyway.  Rich had to squeeze the RV between a large Semi and a steel wall with inches to spare.  We even had to pull the side mirrors in, the spot was so tight.

The customs at Canada took less than 5 minutes and as we drove out the ferry terminal, friends who we met whilst sailing the Pacific, John and Arianna ,were there to greet us.  They followed us to the RV Park (well we followed them) and Rich commented how nice it was to see a familiar face.  It was great to catch up and we made some tentative plans for the following few days, including sightseeing and a day on their boat.  I think Rich really enjoyed being amongst ‘boaties’ again.

So excited to be in Canada, snapped photos from the window of the RV just off the ferry,
plus my girlfriend had just stayed here about 2 weeks ago.

Cannon Beach to Elma to Port Angeles

Goodbye Oregon, Hello Washington

We changed our plans due to the broken arm and decided not to venture into Seattle.  Luke was travelling well and we decided he was probably better in his car seat, immobilised.  We were continually reminding him he had a broken arm and couldn’t do certain things.  We whizzed through Washington and felt bad we hadn’t seen more of the state but with a rough plan of our route for the next 4 months, we do not want to be too far north when winter starts.  Spring on the west coast has been quite cool and like Australia I don’t think they are going to have a very warm summer here.

Cannon Beach & Broken Arm !

Cannon Beach is a very picturesque seaside town, quaint shops, lovely houses on the hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean and also a great RV Park.

Unfortunately though we will remember this spot as the place where Luke broke his arm!  A simple little fall, from the last step of the motorhome he tried to jump to the curb, didn’t quite make it and fell with all his weight on his right arm.  He has a break at the base of the humerus (elbow) and a green stick fracture mid-way up the humerus.  The hospital was fantastic, there was no waiting in the Emergency room and our travel insurance covered everything.  We’ve stayed a few extra days at Cannon Beach and Luke’s biggest disappointment at this stage is that he can’t go in the swimming pool.  Thank god for Toy Story 1, 2 & 3!

I think the face says it all!

Coos Bay to Newport to Neskowian

Big Day – finally found ‘Toy Story 2’ DVD.  We have been looking for it for the last 2 weeks, every supermarket we go into, Luke makes Rich look through the DVD’s, every store, Macy’s, Sears etc.  It’s been an ongoing saga, we even bought Toy Story 3 as well.

The weather forecast was for rain for the next 5 days so we sourced RV Parks with the best facilities for the kids – a heated pool.  It’s amazing how much Luke’s swimming has improved.  The floaties have also given him extra confidence in the water.

Goodbye California, Hello Oregon

We spent our last night in California on the coast at Patrick’s Point.  We crossed the board with a big cheer, watched the petrol prices drop and the conditions of the roads improve greatly.  (California is broke, high tax on petrol and govt jobs cut).  We stopped for lunch at Azalea Park with a massive wooden fortress playground.  Luke’s eyes were like saucers when he saw it.

We stayed one night in Brookings, then moved on to Coos Bay and stayed at the Casino with an RV Park.  We had our first raining day for a while, so we took advantage of the indoor swimming pool.  We went out for dinner at the Casino and ate way too much.  The kid’s meals were even too big for me.  We still haven’t got the ordering right yet.

Caspar to Redcrest to Patrick’s Point

We headed slightly inland to the Humboldt Redwood State Park, home to the biggest Redwood trees you’ll ever see.  Our RV Park was situated on the scenic drive known as the ‘Avenue of the Giants’.  For some crazy reason we chose this area for me to have my first drive of the motorhome.  At times there wasn’t any bitumen on the other side of the white line and these massive trees appeared to crowd the road.  I think Rich was more nervous than me.

As we left the ‘Avenue of the Giants’ we were still amazed at the size of these Redwoods.  Unfortunately the pictures cannot capture the enormity of these trees.

Cloverdale to Caspar

From Cloverdale we headed back to the coast and cooler weather.  We went for a scenic walk around the cliff tops, which took its toll on the pram.  As Rich pumped up the tyres after our walk, the tyre blew breaking the wheel frame with it.  We’re not sure how long the minor repairs will last!! Rich met some of the other RV’ers who were retired Fire Fighters who travelled here to scuba dive.   We were treated with some abalone for dinner.

Napa to Cloverdale

Just south of the State Park was a very quaint looking town called Saint Helena.  We returned the next morning and strolled along the street.  Rich was very lucky most of the shops weren’t open yet as they had some really nice boutiques.  We had coffee and a ‘special treat’ then hit the road for another ‘big’ drive, one hour heading north east back to the coast.  We spent two nights in Cloverdale, a small RV Park situated on a hill overlooking more wineries.  We spent the afternoon in the pool and have finally got into shorts and t-shirts.

San Francisco to Saint Helena – Napa Country

We farewelled Jerri and Charlie and we’re extremely appreciative of the hospitality of two people we had only briefly met in Yosemite. 

Once again we tackled the freeways to get out of San Francisco.  Rich is doing a great job driving the RV and I haven’t quite summoned the courage to tackle it yet.

We travelled through some pretty country side and an amazing number of wineries on our way to Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.  There are 230 wineries in this region and we didn’t even stop at one, can you believe it!  The state park was very pretty and once again the boys built a campfire.