Mother-Daughter road trip - fabulous!

It was my privilege to ride with Carla on the next leg of her sabbatical journey - and we headed for the coast and took off on Highway 101, traversing all of the Oregon coast and into northern California. And we made memories--crossing the Megler-Astoria bridge, the last link in Highway 101 connecting Canada to Mexico; staying in Astoria, the oldest settlement west of the Rockies; seeing Lewis & Clark sites, like the "end of the trail" statue in Seaside, and Ft. Clatsop, where they spent their last winter.l On the coast of Oregon, we saw the remains of the Peter Iredale ship which crashed in 1906; and we drove a portion of the beach as a highway--what a thrill! We climbed to the top of the Yaquina Lighthouse and feasted on clam chowder at Mo's in Newport. In California, we hiked in to Stout Grove in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods, drove the Avenue of the Giants to view those magnificent redwoods up close and personal...driving through one, standing inside another. We picnicked on the beach, walked on the beach, found sand dollars, learned how to dig for clams, saw the water spout of a whale, stayed in the most magnificent B&B in Waldport OR with a view I'll never forget, and made new friends along the way. Thank you, Carla, for including me in your sabbatical journey.

Our final day we knew our drive would take us through Healdsburg CA on our way to Stockton CA for our last night...and we also knew that some of our good friends were vacationing there over the holiday weekend...so, thanks to cell phone communication, we caught up with each other and were able to meet for coffee. The Garretts (Monett MO) and the Griffins (Geneva IL) have been friends of ours for many years, and it was so good for our hearts to have a little bit of time with them.