State parks are wonderful places to stay but they haven’t caught on yet that internet access might be a good thing to offer… hence no blog from yesterday.
Crater Lake was spectacular and Tillie made it without any problem. There was still plenty of snow on the ground. Half the rim road around the lake won’t open until the end of July. The 6% grade on the way down was made for Tillie – she purred contentedly and used just enough gas to keep her engine running.
Then it was on to California, mainly so Mary could say she’d been in California & could put another state on Tillie’s map. It proved to add several highlights to our trip. The northern edge of the National Redwood Forest is on that route. The redwoods here were probably some of the smaller ones but they were HUGH! Then it was on to the Pacific. We just realized that even though Mary flew into Newark we did not take her to the Atlantic becomes starting west so she cannot yet say she’s been coast to coast. Guess we’ll have to bring her back east with us.
Anyway we’ve been taking old, scenic route 101 up the coast seeing such highlights as the world’s largest Monterey Cypress; the area that produces more lily bulbs than anywhere else in the world; the sea lion caves (the only mainland place in the world that’s home to sea lions) – from a distance they look like giant slugs and sound a bit like John some mornings when he’s waking up; the breathtaking Oregon coastline (perhaps we shouldn’t use that adjective as we kept going into and out of “Tsunami Hazard Zones”); and of course the Tillamook cheese factory (Oregon’s largest tourist attraction). Mary managed to eat all of her VERY generous ice cream cone and half of Patty’s – she seems to have inherited the Grossmann appetite. Hopefully, she will return to France before she develops the all too typical American back profile we witnessed at the factory.
Tillie decided she needed a little sprucing up for the beach so left her old, dented gas cap at the first Oregon station we stopped at. She is now sporting a shiny new jazzier model. From Boise on she seems to be feeling at home. We’re now up to 40 “on the road” VW’s like her. She’s no longer so lonesome.