Grand American Tour Day 26: Cape Flattery to Seattle

Waking up in the morning, I realized something. This trailer-like tiny room is actually very comfortable. It’s very basic, but every thing worked as it should. The bed was fine, the sheets and pillow were clean. The heater worked fine, and the shower was hot. Towels were provided and I had my own soap and shampoo. So there wasn’t anything to complain about. Plus, I had bonus wifi!

Right across the street was a nice restaurant. Nice in the sense of clean, simple with plenty of big windows to look out into the fishing port. Every local I met was polite, friendly and helpful. This is not a middle-of-nowhere town after all.











Cape Flattery is just a few miles away from Neah Bay, separated by beautiful Olympic forest connected by twisty roads. That’s my cup of tea! As I was driving on the roads leaving town, there were a bunch of hand painted signs, signs that illustrates the problem that native Indian community faces. Alcohol and drugs, which of course lead to more problems. In general, I feel that, even though the community seem to be in a vulnerable state from the stand point of survival and struggling with challenges, it is tightly knit, just like the small village that my grand parents grew up at. The signs are not just some standardized manufactured signs issued from the government telling people to stop taking drugs in an cold, emotionless and authoritative manner. They are hand painted with personal touch with messages that speaks right into the heart of the locals. It’s about a better life, not just things that will get you into trouble.





The drive to Cape Flattery is, needless to say, an enjoyable one. The trees are shorter, thinner and smaller as I approached the coast. Then I arrived at the trail head and to my surprise, there were quit a few hikers. Just yesterday, feeling that I was in a remote town, I thought I will be the only one on the trail and was feeling a little resistive to hike it by myself not knowing how long it is. Well, I have a lot of senior folks around me to make me feel less unwanted.





Talk about forest bath! If you have watched Miyasaki’s Prince Mononoke animation, you will know what I am talking about. Moist air with lush green where algae covers the landscape along with ferns and temperate trees. The hike is simple. The trail is easy to walk, and in no time, I was at the end of the trail.











“Is that it?!” I asked, starring into the white fog of….. nothing. Well, this is the most north-western tip of the country, and I drove 7000 miles to see nothing but white. At least I have a photo to prove it.


Here's the view of the most north western corner of the country. Sigh.....






So it wasn’t much of a hike at all, good! Now I am finally on my last drive, heading to Seattle!

Between Neah Bay and Port Angeles was the last stretch of twisty roads. Thinking that this will be the last time I am driving my car on an enjoyable route, I just want to live every second of it. However, instead of pushing for hard braking, I strive for minimum braking instead, modulating the speed with how much gas I put in and choosing the right gear. The result is smooth driving cruising around the corners in a way that both the car and I will appreciate. I think the road trip is the best I can ever give to my car. It’s amazing how many different types of roads and surfaces it’s been through. Straight open roads of Texan highway, high speed turns in the desert canyon mountain pass, dusty and hot desert off road that even SUVs fear, endless salt plain of the Bonneville Salt Flats, mountainous and scenic pass of Yellowstone and lastly, lush green and twisty roads of the Olympic Forest.

But wait, there’s one more that it hasn’t experienced. Ocean.

As I was driving towards Seattle, I have two options. I can either take the land route and detour to Tacoma before heading north to Seattle, or I can take the ferry. Just another experience to fulfill, I took the ferry. It’s a lot simpler than I imagined, just like taking a bus. For once, my car didn’t have to do the traveling, and enjoyed the ride as the rider, not the horse. Just one more to add to the resume I guess.







That that’s it, Seattle! Now, it’s city driving time. Short unpredictable turns, dodging traffic and pot holes. I guess my car has really seen it all now. Tomorrow is a day that I have mixed feelings about. It’s the end, but also a beginning of a great relationship.





Click HERE for more photos!!

Grand American Tour Day 25: Seaside to Neah Bay

So this morning, I went back to Cannon Beach to take a final look since I arrived here late the day before. Well, you can’t get more typical. High end beach vacation town. Not a gas station. No fast food chain. Every business is geared towards high end spending like art galleries, restaurants and resorts. Strangely enough, there’s a small basketball court and a concrete skate park in the back of the town, no kids though. I guess the senior tourists aren’t fans of sports.











There are also residential houses in town. I doubt these are locals. I doubt there are any real locals. Each house is beautifully maintained. Almost every structure here is made of wood, very New England style. In fact, I’d think that I am in Maine or something.

Heading back to Seaside, even though Seaside is also a tourist town, it is a much more diverse community. You can tell that people here are “normal”, as in, you can believe that they do live here. There are many different types of businesses here, from auto repair to window installment to dollar stores. It is definitely not nearly as glamorous as Cannon Beach, but it has much more “reality”.





So the clouds didn’t leave. It’s going to be cloudy and moody all day. It’s just my luck. Apparently, it was sunny for a week and a half until my arrival. Just like the last time I was on the west coast, it was nothing but gray.

However, this is quite different. It is like God put a low ceiling with cheap florescent lights on me. The cloud is like a blanket that covered the whole sky, hanging low making me feel that the world is a lot smaller than it used to be. After 7 hours of drive, I understand why people say the North East is the most depressing area in the US. It indeed is. I’ve never felt so depressed on a drive before. It’s strange, but I was depressed. On the drive, I cannot stop myself from thinking about sad things that happened. Even though the Olympic forest is impressive….. I mean, VERY IMPRESSIVE, and that the roads are just plain awesome to drive on, my mind was appreciating the time. I just felt negative the whole way.





Driving through the forest, I soon realized that the main industry here is forestry and logging. The whole area is controlled forestation and deforestation. There are signs to indicate when the plot was cleared and when it will be cleared again. Every time I enter the Olympic National Park, the logging will stop. And every time I exit the park boundary, I will see empty pockets in the forest. It is interesting because you will see different plots with different stages of tree growth. However, seeing tree stumps poking out of the undergrowth reminded me of tombstones, and the mess left from logging looks like the aftermath of a massacre. The entire region can’t be more green though, but scars will always be scars.









The drive today also took me through the towns along the shore. What an eye opener. I guess I was thinking of the towns along the shores of California, most of which are affluent tourist towns for the rich. Washington state’s coasts isn’t as pretty. Towns like South Bend, Aberdeen and Hoquiam are dominated by two industries. Forestry and Fishery. Simply said, people here are either fishermen or loggers. The towns are not pretty too. In fact, it reminds me of Benton Harbor or Detroit. I guess due to the moisture from the ocean, pretty much every house looks stained and moldy. Many are abandoned or run down. It just makes me feel miserable, and the cloudy day certainly didn’t help. I don’t know why. This looks so unlike the America that I’ve seen. This is so….. used, beaten, worn… The route kinda forced the traffic through the local streets, and there was no cover up with tall polished office buildings. When I think of Washington State, I think of Seattle. This changed my mind.





This region of the country, as I observed, has a large of native Indian residing here. In fact, I just went to get my $10 “Recreational Permit” since I am now on Indian Reservation Land. Now, I am in Neah Bay, a remote small fishing town on the North Eastern corner of the state. Here, the gas station only has regular grade gas and diesel. There is no cell phone signal here and most businesses close at 7pm. I am in a motel, and my room is more like a trailer than anything else. Actually, I am very shocked to be able to steal wifi here….. there’s WIFI in this town????





I think all this depression is because, after two weeks of being with a noisy companion, I am suddenly alone, traveling for hours in the woods, tree after tree, turn after turn. The scenery is beautiful, but it doesn’t seem to change much. It’s quiet. In the past, I find peace in silence. Today, it was loneliness.

Tomorrow, I will pay a visit to the most North Western corner of the country, the Cape Flattery. I am predicting that I will be the only one there given that it will be a Tuesday. There seem to be a hike to the tip from the parking lot. I will be alone, in the middle of no where. Will I find peace? Actually, I just want a bit of sunlight. Enough already.















Click HERE for more photos of forest and stuffs...

Grand American Tour Day 24: Drive to Cannon Beach

Day 24 marks the beginning of the end. Today, I start the last leg of the trip, the Pacific North West.

Today, I also part with my traveling buddy. After sending him to the airport, I am on my own again, just like the way it all started. It’s also the day when I had to tell myself to just go for it and finish it up.

To be honest, I am tired. A big part in me just want this to end early, but a bigger part in me wants me to commit to my own goals. This is what defines me. I live up to my own promises.

Driving towards the west seems pretty much the same at first. Desert landscape with shrubs much like east Idaho and much of northern Utah. One thing was a little different. Cops. Today marks the 10th anniversary of September 11th and everyone is tightening up security whether there’s a need or not. Today, there were a lot of cops on the Idaho-Oregon border. State Trooper patrol car with K-9 unit parked on the side of the free way that stopped a dark grey Prius and trip searched the car. The driver and passenger just sat on the hood of the cop car a few steps away from their Prius and looked helplessly while the cops flip the car inside out with a black Labrador standing by. What were they searching for? Explosive? Drugs? I don’t know, but it looked unusual.

Of course there’s the regular patrol catching speeders. I just wonder if this really does anything for the security of the state, or was it just to show to their supervisors that “someone is doing something about it”.

As I drove towards westward on the highway, I found myself going up and down, left and right through a mountain pass. It is still desert and there wasn’t much green, but it was interesting to emerge from the mountains into a flat plain, only to be followed by more twist and turns.

The Columbia River Gorge followed. At first, it was rather boring. Just cliff face with bare rocks. The sun was beaming down and the air was hazy, so it made the day looked hotter than it really was. Driving along the river gorge, there was nothing around it. It was much like the Pacific Coast HWY where you have a road and very little flat land because of the vertical cliffs. However, the river seems to be a very popular spot for water sports as there were many docking locations with people jet skiing on the seemly calm water.












Portland.

It was also interesting that there were many loading docks for the ships with huge silos. I am not sure what was being harvested and transported. I can only imagine it being rock material from the gorge. There was also a “dam” that doesn’t hold water. I think it just used the moving water to generate electricity in the middle of the river.

As the drive nears Portland, the landscape changed. The green became more lush. The cliff face became more populated with vegetation, and shrubs were replaced by tall pine trees. Suddenly, it looked more like Gui Lin in China.

Half way through the drive, I looked at the clock. Initially, I planned to stay over at Beaverton because most hotels at Cannon Beach are extremely expensive. However, I really want to capture the sunset and some night shots at the beach, so I stepped on the gas pedal to the metal and gunned for it.





So first, I had to drive through Portland. I have visited Portland once before and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I am not stopping this time. I was really going for the sunset!

The GPS says I will arrive at 7.24pm. I don’t know what time the sunset will be at. I looked at the sky and there is the sun in the clear cloudless sky. I kept telling myself that I am going to make it. So while dashing through the forest twisty mountain road, I was trying to strike a balance between the fastest I could go without being pulled over. It is Sunday night and every one is going home from their weekend destination. This means I was almost the only one on my side of the road while the other side is jam packed. Good for me, and I was flying. The sun kept dropping lower and I kept starring at my GPS telling me how much distance I’ve left. Then I climbed over a ridge and suddenly, the sun was gone. Everything was white. Foggy, grey and dark. What happened? Soon enough, I was approaching Cannon Beach (after 1.5 hours of mad driving and anticipation), and then I realized that there’s a strong front that came in and covered the entire beach with low clouds with really strong wind. All that effort I put in trying to make it through the forest proved to be worthless. I was stuck with a lousy windy weather with no sunset and no stars. Plus, it’s cold here.





So I went to get some food. It tuened out to be the worst meal of my trip ( Considered I had tons of grocery store deli sandwich, bad Chinese buffet and instant ramen). I had KFC for dinner.

Shower pressure is strong and internet works just fine. I guess I can’t be more glad.


Affording Experience

It is interesting driving from Cannon Beach to Seaside, two beach towns just a few miles apart. Cannon Beach is filled with high end resorts with high end stores and restaurants. There’s not a single franchise business that I could find. Everything is private. The streets are filled with older folks who can afford this kind of accommodation, and I just seemed to be out of place.

Seaside, however, has many motels and fast food restaurants. The streets are not as well maintained, more casual and definitely, affordable-looking to me. Checking into the hotel, I was waiting for a couple who was in front of me at the desk. The guy was in suit and the lady was in a gown. Not the high end suits and gown. Perhaps, something that I won’t even consider wearing. Well, here’s a newly married couple, probably just got out of the church checking into the motel for the night. The guy paid in cash. Probably very hard earned cash, and the lady can’t wait to get off the gown and get some food.

Then, I ran into them at KFC.

I guess the world is indeed very big and there is also a wide range of people and resources. It is interesting that whether you are a billionaire or street bum, when you get married, you want “the” experience. The experience of getting married in a church, wearing gowns and have some fun in a desirable location as honey moon. The difference is the scale. But, you just gotta have it.

The world is just so real, so cruel sometimes. Luxury condo beside the slum. High end vacation resort beside tent city. Million-dollar wedding beside a brief session at the chapel and a $90/night room with KFC for dinner. Everyone wants to have dreams. Some live in it, some drown in it.