We left Canada after two months to spend a few days back in the Bay Area before heading east. We had an 11 AM reservation on the ferry from Vancouver Island to the mainland but we received a call shortly after 8 AM to inform us that it had been cancelled due to an equipment problem. We were all packed so we roared out of the condo and made it to the ferry terminal in time to catch the 10 AM departure. We had a wonderful buffet breakfast on board, looking out at the Gulf Islands as we ate. We crossed the border on I-5 and were greeted by a rather surly US border agent, quite a contrast to the friendly and efficient border agent who had welcomed us into Canada.
We decided to travel down the east side of the Cascades in order to see some different scenery. We crossed the Cascades in northern Washington, passing through the tourist town of Leavenworth. Of course, we also made a detour to Carnation, Washington, to visit a yarn store.
Along the way we spent the night in Bend, Oregon, and arrived early enough to take a walk along the Deschutes River, which passes right through the center of town. It was Labor Day weekend and the river was packed with kayaks, canoes, and tubes. Bend is a great town for all sorts of outdoor sports, both summer and winter.
We spent most of the next day in Crater Lake National Park. It is a spectacularly beautiful place, not to be missed if you are in eastern Oregon. The sky was rather hazy due to all of the summer fires in the northwest.
We traveled back to California on I-5. We later learned that I-5 was closed the very next day due to a fire in the Mount Shasta area. We settled into a small hilltop house in Port Costa overlooking the Carquinez Straight near Vallejo. We enjoyed watching the ships and trains go by, far below us.
On the weekend we took Andy and his friend, Jeff, to the USC/Stanford football game. Before the game we visited a new brewpub in Alameda that had a great barbeque food truck parked outside. Sunday was Carrie’s birthday so we celebrated with brunch at the Bull Valley Roadhouse, right down the hill from our Port Costa house.
