so i apologize if you were waiting on this installment with baited breath. I have no valid excuse other than i kinda forgot... but here i am in the bucolic Pleasanton, CA.
the previous entry had me just getting to the Seattle suburb of Issaquah where i spent the oh so soggy days hearing "Pogba!" (see below)
on 11.22 we cheered on Seattle Sounders FC in the 1st leg of the MLS Western Cup Finals at CenturyLink field where of course it rained, but it didn't matter cause i had green & blue hair!
i was invited to spend thanksgiving with my hosts which was lovely and preferable to spending it in cold & soggy Vancouver, BC which i did the next day... which brings me to "an epic Vancouver that wasn't" -- i learned the hard way that one should not "wing it" when it comes to traveling outside of the US, EVEN if that's simply a trip over the border. (i failed to get international calling plan so my phone was rendered virtually useless which then made my attempts to secure lodging via AirBnB that much more difficult. so let me just cut to the chase... I basically spent $200 going to Canada for some adequate chinese spicy noodle soup)
Eventually i departed Seattle and made way south to the Oregon coast where i just HAD to experience Haystack Rock which you will recognize from GOONIES and as awesome as that was had i known i would spend the next 68 miles on some of the darkest, windiest, wettest and foggiest mountain pass roads of my life there's a good chance i would've skipped it.
tuesday found me arriving in the pastoral enclave of Yamhill, OR where my friends have a charming compound and TWELVE prize-winning Tibetan Mastiffs.
Wedneday had me traveling with Lois to PDX at dawn where i explored the city until taking the bus across town to the artsy/ bohemian east side and a lunch time viewing of Arsenal at the coolest dive bar i've encountered in some time, Beulahland.
the end of the week saw me driving south through some of the most amazing farmland i've every seen. billiard table flat, green expanses of land dotted with sheep being illuminated by sunlightpiercing through clouds as i traveled to Crescent City, CA
near sunset i found my way through a VERY sleepy coastal town to spy a famous lighthouse perched on rocky mushroom of an island and that night i slumbered in THE coolest motel constructed in 1957 from ONE giant redwood tree!!!
Saturday had me winding my way down the NorCal coast along one of the most tranquil roadways imaginable.
by nightfall i landed in my mother's former town of Calistoga where the annual Xmas lighted tractor parade was taking place.
a couple of days relaxing in mountaintop retreat with friends of mom was a fantastic treat and then i meandered down towards San Francisco where I'm writing to you now.
so, as you obviously noticed, tardiness in writing as rendered this submission rather scant, BUT there will still be the images which is really what everyone cares about! ;D
