California Road Trip, May 2025: Part 1

California road trip to Monterey via Santa Cruz; preview of 3 theme parks; the road less travelled to Santa Cruz; subdued fun at The Boardwalk, Santa Cruz; On the Carousel… or not; and then we have an ice cream; lunch at Carmel-by-the-Sea; whisky and wines of the best; a visceral flinch; Old Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey; smelly old sea lions; Osteria Al Mare; scenes from Cannery Row and a couple of Steinbeck quotes

For my previous post about how we got to San José to embark on this California road trip (spoiler alert: by train), plus some almost inconceivably lovely photos of Roy, click here.

To Monterey via Santa Cruz

Today’s sightseeing felt like visiting a series of three theme parks, albeit with very different themes. Here’s a quick preview:

#1 The first was an actual amusement park, The Boardwalk at Santa Cruz.

#2 The second was the almost impossibly cute town of Carmel.

#3 And the third was Monterey’s Cannery Row, themed around Steinbeck’s novel of the same name.

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Train to San José, California, May 2025

Train to San José: all aboard the Amtrak overnight choo-choo; dinner in the diner; dissing Reese’s and devouring Frank & Louie’s; Rock Me (un)Gently; stunning San José station; Santana Row and shopping

It’s an overnight journey of 19.5 hours from Portland, OR to San José CA. With a couple of hours to spare before our 2.30pm departure, we enjoyed the comfort of Portland Union Station’s Metropolitan Lounge. (Here is our Amtrak eTicket.)

Lured by the help-yourself drinks and snacks bar, I succumbed not only to the Reese’s peanut butter cups but also to Miss Vickie’s Jalapeño Kettle Cooked Chips. (Purely in the interest of cultural research, of course. Fortunately, though our local supermarkets in Western Australia do stock Reese’s peanut butter cups, I’m now relieved to know that they’re fairly yuck; definitely not worth the calorie and chemical splurge.)

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Two Nights in Portland, Oregon – May 2025

Two nights in Portland: Bypassing Tillamook and taking the road less travelled to Oregon’s capital, Portland; desolation in downtown Portland; more trams than people, and a weird weather machine; hanging on grimly: hurrah for Zara; Oregon Maritime Museum, closed as usual; the kindness of cabbies; Elon doesn’t care, but Uber does; dinner at Huber’s; Washington Park and Nob Hill; fragile waiter at Andina restaurant, saving us a trip to Peru

Having spent two nights regrouping and doing laundry at Oceanside (click here), we drove the rental car up the road to Tillamook, home of a famous cheese factory. (Interestingly, or perhaps not, ice cream from the Tillamook Creamery, which is part of the factory, is available in Australia from Woolworths.) The factory only opens to visitors at 10am on a Monday, which was too late for us, sadly; Roy had planned to return the car by 11am.

There were two possible routes to Portland. We chose the northern one, Route 26 (Sunset Highway), which winds spectacularly through national parkland forests, to reach the capital of Oregon in just over an hour and a half.

Two Nights in Portland’s Harlow Hotel

As you can see from the pictures and the blurb in the poster below, Harlow Hotel (built in 1882) in Portland’s Pearl District has been sympathetically restored and redeveloped in our beloved Art Deco style. Taking into account the bare-bones room amenities, palpable under-staffing and minimalist service, I would give it a 3/5.

 

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Washington Coast, May 2025 Part 2: Ocean Shores to Oceanside

Washington Coast highlights: Close, but no seafood for us from Brady’s Oysters; coffee and donuts at Westport; an accidental lighthouse; oysters Southbend; fun and museums at Long Beach; sorrow, vituperation and f&$@-all of interest on the Long Beach peninsula; disappointment at Cape Disappointment; grim wenches at Hotel Shelburne (1906); Timberlands at Cannon Beach; rainy interlude with halibut cheeks at Oceanside

For my unmissable previous post on exploring the magnificent Washington Coast by car, click here.

First stop today on the way from Ocean Shores to Seaview was Brady’s Oysters at Bay City, near Westport. Beautifully signposted from Route 101, this would be a good spot to spend a lot of money on seafood, whether fresh, smoked or tinned. It is also a good spot just to use the restroom, and not to spend a lot of money on seafood.

Brady’s Oysters, Bay City Washington
Basking in sunshine at Brady’s Oysters

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Washington Coast Part 1: Forks to Ocean Shores

Washington coast and the Olympian Peninsula, Route 101; Olympian National Park and Crescent Lake; Pacific Inn at Forks of Twilight fame; bones of the rain forest at La Push and Ruby Beach; clam chowder at Pacific Beach; Japanese whisky at serendipitous Seabrook; bleak beach at Ocean Shores; Canterbury Inn and the Oyehut Bay Grill

Recap, and the Olympic National Park

As you may remember from my last post (if not, click here), we comfortably coached it from Vancouver, Canada to spend our first night on US soil at Seattle.

From Seattle, Roy pointed the rental car in the direction of Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. After a coffee-stop detour to picturesque Port Townsend (again, click here), we continued along the 101 to the relatively featureless Forks, apparently named for the forking of three rivers. (Forks is where the Twilight series was set, though only a few scenes were actually filmed there.)

Route 101 to Forks, through Olympic National Park

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Seattle & Port Townsend, Washington State

By Cantrail coach to Seattle WA; one night good, two nights better; Pike Place Market; not anti-Starbucks per se; Mayflower Park Hotel and vesper martinis at Oliver’s Bar; seafood dinner at The Athenian; Travel Mode and padkos; heading to the Olympian Peninsula; delightfully historic Port Townsend; onwards to Twilight country: Forks and La Push

It’s not just trains and planes, boats bikes and cars that feature on Travels with Verne and Roy. Now it’s coaches, too!

Having kindly hosted us in Vancouver for ten days, cousin Brad and Ingrid dropped us off at Vancouver train station to catch the 11.30am Cantrail coach to Seattle. (Click here, here and here to see what a great time we had with them in Victoria B.C., Gabriola Island and Vancouver City respectively.)

The Cantrail coach leaves from outside Vancouver train station

There’d been various options for travelling from Vancouver, Canada south to the USA, and the coach turned out to have been a great decision. Around $55 each (half-price for those moderately advanced in years, thank you very much!), the four-hour journey was not only comfortable but excellent value, too.

What’s more, compared to the individual cars waiting in line to clear immigration at the US border, our coach – the only one at the time – completed formalities in double-quick time.

We were first off the bus for immigration (or rather, Roy was, me trailing in his febrile wake) and so first through a smooth and friendly immigration clearance from two nice young men.

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A Night in Seattle WA

In retrospect, two nights would have been better, in part because main attractions like Pike Place Market open only at 10am and start winding down mid-afternoon.

Seattle harbour view

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Vancouver, May 2025 – Part 3: Vancouver City

Vancouver False Creek townhouse and marina; snot quotient obstacle; famously fit Vancouverites; downtown and the skytrain; no dogs allowed, but bring on the coyotes; inukshuk welcome; marathon supporters; A-maze-ing Laughter by Yue Minjin; uber-glam quintet in Morton Park; the club of clubs; the Sandbar never disappoints; Whistler day trip; most scenically situated Lululemon in the world; not just family, but new-found friends – thank you, Brad and Ingrid, for your amazing hospitality!

Sandbar, Granville Island, Vancouver City

My cousin Bradley and his lovely wife, Ingrid (scroll down for a great picture of them), have a beautiful townhouse that’s ideally located in Yaletown, right on the False Creek marina where he keeps his boat. They are the same my-cousin-and-his-wife who met us off the HAL Westerdam a few days ago and took us to their home on Gabriola Island. (Click here for that post, Part Two of three on Vancouver.)

Marinaside, Yaletown, Vancouver

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Vancouver, May 2025 – Part 2: Gabriola Island

Where is Gabriola Island?; coffee, hiccups and kindness; Route of the Totems; dream home; Elder Cedar forest where Hobbits tread; Folklife Village, island artists and chi chi shops

Not everyone has heard of Gabriola Island, and I suspect that many of the locals would like to keep it that way. It’s about 14.5km long and 4.5km wide, located in the Strait of Georgia, between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia. We will be spending three nights here with my cousin Brad and his wife, Ingrid, who have their main home on the island … and what a home it is.

Bradley and Roy, Gabriola Island

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Vancouver, May 2025 – Part 1: Victoria B.C.

Fresh off the boat in Victoria B.C.; an excess of polite wondering; extreme salubriousness at The Empress Fairmont; tiptoeing through tulips, around flower baskets and past the homeless and abject; marijuana debate; dinner at Il Terrazzo

After five days at sea, Roy and I were ready to disembark from HAL Westerdam and face the immigration process in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. We’d been extensively coddled during our 28-day cruise from Sydney; now we were going to be looked after by my cousin, Bradley, and his wife Ingrid, South Africans who emigrated to Canada over 30 years ago.

(Click here for the first of my five posts on that Westerdam cruise… but please remember to come back.)

There’s nothing better than having family or friends living abroad, and it’s clear we’re going to have a fabulous time being shown their neck of the woods, as Brad put it.

Brad and Ingrid had to wait outside – in glorious sunshine, fortunately – while we gnashed our teeth in the long immigration queue. A single official was on duty. This is Canada, famous for niceness and courtesy, so there was a lot of polite wondering going on ahead of and behind us. After about half an hour of little movement, a second and more energetic young man clocked in, and things started to happen.

One night in Victoria B.C.

To my delight, my cousins had booked rooms for the night at the Fairmont Empress – their favourite – to give us a chance to see a bit of Victoria.

Horse-drawn carriage in Victoria, B.C.

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South Pacific Cruise, Part 5 – Hawaii: Hilo & Honolulu

Cruise to Hawaii; Aliens, like me: immigration frustration in Hilo; walking it off; Michener’s Hawaii; Hilo Highlights tour; 3 days in Oahu; shopping Honolulu’s Ala Moana; ghastly strawberry guava jam and other sugary low-lights; Round the Island coach tour of O’ahu; upscale local fare at Fete in Honolulu’s Chinatown; walking to Waikiki, wow!; seen around the ship

Our first stop in the Americas! Fun fact: Hawaii is the 50th state – the 49th being Alaska and the 48th Arizona.

Cruise to Hawaii with aliens like me

Clearing immigration into the States was a most annoying exercise, as it turned out that physical visa-holders like me (only a handful of us on board, it seemed) did need an I-94 form, without which the officials declared we couldn’t be processed. (Non-pariahs like Roy, all of whom were on the e-visa system, simply filled in the visa-waiver form.)

Eventually, a clever woman with an even cleverer smartphone was apparently able to call up the entire USA immigration admin system, match my new visa photo to their records – which included a previous 10-year US visa that expired eight or nine years ago – and let me off the ship and into the country.

Cruising to Hawaii
Reeds Bay Beach Park, with a view of the Westerdam

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