My wife and I recently completed an epic almost 5 week long road trip in the western US. We originally planned an international trip for the month but.. Covid19 changed those plans. So we booked a road trip instead, originally planning for a week stay in Victoria British Columbia, a week stay in downtown Portland Oregon and a third week in downtown Seattle. All nixed. Canada won’t let us come into British Columbia, Portland had too many protests, Seattle the same. Plus large densely populated cities seemed too risky with the virus spreading. So here is how our agenda worked out. We travelled just shy of 6,000 miles in our 2015 Jeep Wrangler Sahara staying as socially distant from fellow travelers as possible.
- leaving Palm Springs early on July 30th
- Angels camp California for the night of July 30th
- Bend Oregon for the night of the 31st
- Washington Coast from August 1st to the 11th
- Bend Oregon for the night of the 11th
- Clearlake CA from the 12th to the 16th
- Angels camp from the 16th to the 24th
- Eureka CA for the night of the 24th
- Cannon Beach Oregon from the 25th to the 30th
- Stockton CA for the night of the 30th
- Back to Palm Springs on the 31st
Washington’s coast – Long Beach Peninsula
After a couple of single night says on the trip north we landed on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula. They say this is the longest ocean beach on the west coast. It’s a blast to drive on it although you’ll need to stay on the firm stuff to avoid getting stuck. We took the jeep on a drive for about 20 miles just feet away from the Pacific. Awesome! It’s wide, sandy and isolated, making it a perfect pandemic getaway.
Angels Camp California
Angels Camp in Calaveras county is a wonderful small town in the foothills of the Sierra. We explored this part of California for about a week and a half. Highlights were Arnold, Sonora, Ebbetts pass, and even down to Bass Lake. Here are a few photos of the area.
Apt name for the state park just outside of Arnold. The trees were truly big. I’d recommend this park walk anytime. We hardly saw a soul so it was peaceful and not a difficult walk into the trees of about 2 miles.
Lake Alpine about half way between Angels Camp and Ebbetts pass. Another nice walk around the lake for some exercise. The California wild fires were making the central valleys way too smoking to walk much but this was clear and much cooler.
Cannon Beach Oregon
Cannon beach in Northern Oregon is beautiful and lively. If you ever have a chance head over there it’s just south of the Washington state line and Astoria Oregon (lots of nice breweries in Astoria). We went there to attend a wedding on the beach of long time friends Mel and Liz. It was a perfect place to socially distance and still be around old buddies. Following are a few photos of the adventure.
