Las Vegas

Heading south from Santa Barbara the Pacific Coast Highway grew into a 12 lane freeway occupied by chronic lane changers. As the smog of LA became visible over the hills we knew we didn't want to get any closer and turned east across the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas.

Billion dollar hotel complexes include the Bellagio and Venetian.

Fashion at the mega malls by day - reflective of the entertainment by night.

Tacky - symbolized in this casino sculpture - is superceded by real people. Middle aged men in tank tops with white gym socks pulled up high. Elderly women in velour track suits, butts hanging from collagen impregnated lips, wigs slightly off center, plugging quarters into one armed bandits to no avail. Girls in too tight and too short dresses learning to walk in 7" heels.

Stars of days gone by.

Central California

San Francisco would not be complete without a little seafood at the wharf.

'Going green' taken literally on one of the steep streets of San Francisco.

The twists and turns and rolling hills along Pacific Coast Highway 1 provide a peaceful pace and scenic vista set against a mix of blue skies and coastal fog.

Flower boxes are part of the charm in Carmel.

After several nights camping we opted for a B&B that included a wood burning fireplace in the room and wine & cheese around a fire pit before dinner.

Northern California

Highway 101 then the smaller Highway 1 provide magnificent vistas of the rugged Pacific coastline. We crossed into California at noon - then pulled into a viewpoint for a tailgate lunch.

Redwood trees live 500 plus years - some to 2000 years and over 12 feet in diameter. These trees provided a backdrop and a canopy along the Redwood Highway and in our campground for the night.

Oregon Coast

The haystacks at Cannon Beach stand prominently in the Pacific Ocean with kilometers of clean sand beach on either side.

Sea grasses sway on the coastal sand dunes under clear skies.

Quaint cottages with weathered shingles and picket fences align the seashore towns.

The sign reminded me of my Vancouver to Tijuana bicycle journey along this same route many years ago.

Olympic Penninsula, Washington

Tall stands of second growth cedar and douglas fir alternate against vast areas devasted by clearcut logging. Weyerhauser and Interfor show no hesitation of advertising their 'contributions' on the Olympic Penninsula. Gas below $1 per litre makes the road trip a little easier.

Waking up to a mist over the small lake adjacent our State Park campground. 

Pender Island, BC

Our first stop after leaving Vancouver was our humble cottage on Pender Island.

Hiking, kayaking and a little gardening. The plum crop will be vast this year. Please go and help yourselves.

On to Victoria where the sailboats were assembling in the Inner Harbour for the Victoria to Maui Yacht Race.

We're off

After years of hard work, putting a little aside each year and spending judiciously - we are finally where we set out to be. We are now unemployed, homeless, of no fixed address, with no phone number and living out of our car. Marvelous!