The plan, when hatched, seemed perfectly sensible at the time. Leave Ottawa while snow was still on the ground, fly to Vancouver, fit limited luggage tightly into the limited space of my brother’s Miata’s trunk and drive down the west coast of the USA to enjoy warmer weather and beautiful scenery. We got the packing right. Forgot to speak to the weatherman. Need warmer clothes. Dilemma – no room for more clothes in the trunk of the Miata . The weather was okay in Vancouver, plenty warm enough in Seattle but as we traveled further south, the temperature dropped rather than rose. Now in California with temperatures of about +15C while temperatures in Ottawa have hovered around +25C and higher.

They do grow big trees here though and the tree branches have kept the rain off of our heads!

Spent a couple of days with friends in Napa, California. Avoided BottleRock and opted instead for winery tours. Ladies enjoyed shopping while guys went for a short bike ride (10 miles) through vineyard country. Lots of sales in the ladies shops so they happily came back telling us how much they saved LOL. Roses in bloom with warm temperatures so looks and feels like the month of July in Ottawa.

Yosemite next.

After a bit of a picnic lunch along the river and a bit of hiking, we waved goodbye to the ever-popular Yosemite Falls and began our journey back toward Canada just as the rain began to fall. Clouds had threatened for most of the day and rumbling thunder would, from time to time reverberate through the canyons but we managed to stay dry until just before leaving the park.

Our next destination was the sand dunes along the Oregon Coast. Along the way, we stopped in Elkton at the Elkton Community Education Center. It was a delightful place to stop and stretch the legs and the rain stopped just long enough for just that.

The Oregon Coast is quite spectacular with its soaring sand dunes and expansive beaches. Although a series of rain showers were passing through the area when we were visiting various locations along the shoreline, we managed to pick our times and locations in a way that we managed to explore what we wanted to explore between rain showers and managed to stay dry.

For our last day in the USA we had a number of options but when we woke and looked out of the window the rain and overcast skies was still with us so rather than exploring in the mountainous areas around Seattle we opted instead for a ferry ride to Victoria, B.C. and it’s beautiful inner harbour.

Today we will explore some of Victoria’s tourist sites such as Butchart  Gardens before finishing our trip back in Vancouver, B.C.

Tech note – images from iPad will be added along our route. Additional entries and photos will be added one we return to Ottawa.