Seattle

Well, the drive was awesome. I had a "compact" Chevrolet Cobalt. Compact over just means it's not a 4x4 or a SUV though I think. It was a fairly average sized 3 door saloon; automatic, with cruise control - driving it was a doddle. I headed out of SF Wednesday over the Golden Gate bridge and drove to Cloverdale to pick up Highway 128, where there were a lot of big trees and not a lot else. This took me across to the coast and Highway 1, which twists and turns through forests and over bridges and cliffs and stuff. All very pleasing on the eye, although you daren't take your eye off the road for long. I stopped overnight in Garberville, which was a pretty small town, staying in Sherwood Forest motel. It was fine, but the motels I stayed in since made it seem kinda seedy (it was the most expensive one too!).

Next day I drove the Avenue of the Giants, where some of the biggest trees in America are. It was a nice sunny day again and the drive was great. I stopped off a few times and took a walk in the woods and took lots of pictures. I didn't really cover that much distance what with all the stops, and so it was relatively late (small town time) when I got to Grants Pass. The Redwood motel was really nice and the woman told me to head to 'G' street for some food. There wasn't a whole lot open gone 8pm though so I ended up eating leftovers in a Chinese buffet restaurant!

Friday I headed out to Crater Lake. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect there, but the name sounded cool and the map said it was a scenic area so I took my chances and just followed the GPS. I'd moved from California into Oregon at this point and I have to say it's a lovely state. Very green, with forests and mountains and farmland everywhere. As I got nearer to Crater Lake, there was snow still on the ground among the trees. The higher up the climb to the peak I got, the more snow was around. It ended up being piled up about 10ft high either side of the road. When I finally got there, there was snow everywhere. I'm not sure when it last snowed but they didn't think it would all be clear until July. They have a very short Summer apparently. Turns out Crater Lake is awesome though - a lake in an old volcano, made purely from rain and snow water, no rivers. It's the deepest lake in America and is perfectly reflective. I'll try and get some photos up soon. From here I headed to Eugene and then Springfield, where I stayed overnight (no, I didn't see the Simpsons). I did see Harold & Kumar 2 though, which was as stupid and funny as the first one!

Today was a fairly boring drive up the Interstate 5 highway to Seattle, Washington. I arrived about 3.30, the hostel crew were all at the beach (it wasn't sunny) for a birthday party so I popped along and said hello, then returned the car downtown and had a walk around. The hostel is really nice, I'll try and get some photos of that too. Hope everybody is ok back home. Not long til I'm back now. I'm almost looking forward to it!