Eureka to Gold Beach 8/7/11

Last night we went to a restaurant that was recommended by the front desk at our hotel. The place seemed nice and had a lot of choices, but none of us were very pleased with the food we got. I had halibut and chips that was disgustingly greasy, Derek had a a buffalo chicken sandwich that he said tasted like poo, dan had wings that were alright and cheesy fries that weren't too tasty and Reuben had a chicken parm sandwich that tasted like pot pouri. We were also told last night that a 45' grey whale and her calf had come up the Klamath River a month ago and they were able to get the calf back to sea, but the mom has stayed up near the bridge for the last month. They aren't sure if she is sick or not.
We left this morning around 9:30 and got to the bridge around 10:30. There were probably 100 people there already. We were able to get some pictures and video of her, but it was kind of sad. Hopefully they figure out what's going on with her and get her back home.
We drove through some more redwoods that were amazing and then several stops on the coast to get photos of the sea stacks. We arrived in Gold Beach around 3:00 and drove all over town, with Dan as our guide as Reuben and I don't remember much from here, and saw many of the places we used to live, work and play. I was surprised that no one recognized us from when we were here over 20 years ago. I did go into the hospital where I was born 35 years ago and asked what went wrong, but no one was around from back when I was born and we were asked to leave. It was cool to still see the "Birthplace of Nathan Kernan" under the "Welcome to Gold Beach" sign though.
We are now in a beautiful condo on the beach. There are two queen beds and a balcony in the upstairs bedroom and a comfortable living room with full kitchen and a deck of the living room. Very nice accomodations for the night. Also have washer and dryer to get caught up on clothes. Will post pictures shortly.
Gold Beach to Lincoln City tomorrow!

San Fran and Redwoods

Pictures from SF/Redwoods

On top of a mammoth fallen Redwood.

Chandelier Tree - 2400 years old, 315 feet tall, 21 foot diameter

Taken from inside the bunker.

At the Headlands trying to get a picture through the fog.

Inside of a fallen Redwood.

In the Battery Spencer overlooking the Golden Gate.

The Battery Spencer - built in 1897 to protect the Bay. Armed with 3 rifled guns having 12" diameter barrels.

At the Headlands overlooking the Golden Gate bridge and SF.

Sat 8/6 San Francisco to Redwoods

Reuben takes photos from the safety of an abandoned bunker at The Headlands, north of the Golden Gate bridge.

Derek accidentally knocks over a redwood while messing around.

Taken from inside the hollowed out roots of afore-mentioned tree.

Night 1 - San Francisco

Good morning everybody,

We all got in safely last night, we actually got in a little early; Reuben, Dan, and I 40 minutes early and Nate 20 minutes early. We were able to breeze through getting the rental car as well thanks to Nate's "Gold Club" status.

The flights went off without any hitches, other than the maroon red haired girl in front of us wearing a viking hat, really short salmon colored shorts, knee high tie die socks, carrying around a giant pikachu doll (Pokemon character for those of you who don't know - Google it) reclining her chair right in Reubens face and flopping her hair over the top to brush her hair, it made for a rather uncomfortable situation for Reuben with her hair inches from his face. I also spilled a cup of water right on my lap making it look as though I was too lazy to excuse myself to the bathroom before relieving myself. The girl in front of me also reclined her seat right in my face and decided to rest her head on the wall which allowed her hair to drape itself over my leg which was essentially pinned between her chair and the wall. But anyways, it was pretty chilly when we got in, around 55 degrees and the high today is only around 65.

It was dark on our drive from the airport to our hotel but it was about a 20-25 minute drive so there was enough to see; the bay bridge, AT&T Park, trollies, Coit Tower (difficult through the fog), and a bunch of the piers. Everything looked awesome and I'm looking forward to seeing it in the daylight. The bay bridge looked really awesome through the fog, we drove right past it and you could see it really well and the lights would fade as it got off into the distance and at the top of the suspension supports, it looked really cool but unfortunately we were not able to get a good picture of it. We also drove directly by AT&T Park (home of the San Francisco Giants) just as a game was getting out so it looked pretty awesome but it did cause a problem with traffic as well. Nate got some good pictures on his camera that we'll try to get up here soon.

Once we got to the hotel we just got settled in, ordered some pizza, watched TV and then headed to bed to try to get a fairly early start this morning.

We're all pretty stuck on East Coast time for now so we're all up early and planning to get breakfast and then head up the coast to the Redwoods.

I know there may of a been a couple of people who were having trouble posting comments, if you just click the "Comment" link directly below the post you want to comment on it will bring you right to the comment page.

All made it safe and sound.

Flights on time! 6.5 hours from now we will be riding trollies and eating rice-a-roni!

Itinerary

August 5, 2011 - Flights arrive in San Francisco at 10pm. First night at the Marriott - Fisherman's Wharf.

August 6, 2011 - Breakfast in San Francisco and off to the Redwoods. Night at the Holiday Inn Express in Eureka, CA.

August 7, 2011 - More Redwoods and up the coast to Gold Beach. Night in a condo at The Pacific Reef Resort.

August 8, 2011 - Coastal drive to Lincoln City. Night at the Chinook Winds Resort and Casino.

August 9, 2011 - Lincoln City to Salem.

August 10, 2011 - Salem.

August 11, 2011 - North To Portland. Dave Weaver arrives and night at the Portland Downtown Marriott.

August 12, 2011 - Southwest to Bend, via Mount Hood. Night at www.vrbo.com/163756.

August 13, 2011 - Day at Crater Lake, night at Bend.

August 14, 2011 - Back to San Francisco via the Redwoods. Night at the Marriott Fishermans Wharf.

August 15, 2011 - San Francisco sight seeing.

August 16, 2011 - Back to reality.