by iainandcai | Aug 25, 2015 | California
DAY TWENTY FIVE Still recovering from the kitsch-overload of Day Twenty Four, we got back in our ‘monster truck’ for the final leg of the honeymoon roadtrip — San Simeon to LA. We were going to be staying with Iain’s relatives in Pasadena for a...
by iainandcai | Aug 24, 2015 | California
DAY TWENTY FOUR We had saved the best for last. Our day started with a trip to Hearst Castle, a lavish mansion on the top of a hill overlooking San Simeon. Designed by Julia Morgan for the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, the ‘castle’ was the...
by iainandcai | Aug 23, 2015 | California
DAY TWENTY-THREE By this point in the honeymoon we had been driving for three weeks so you would think that we might be tired of driving down the Pacific Coast but there was one place that could rejuvenate our roadtrip mojo… Big Sur! Unfortunately we...
by iainandcai | Aug 22, 2015 | California
DAY TWENTY TWO We were reluctant to leave San Francisco, especially since our trips to Alcatraz and Napa Valley meant that we had spent so little time in San Francisco proper. To help make up for this, we decided to take a quick detour up to the Haight Ashbury area in...
by iainandcai | Aug 21, 2015 | California
DAY TWENTY ONE Wine Tour! For Day Twenty-One, we booked a trip to four vineyards in the Napa Valley. Initially we were apprehensive about joining a formal tour — especially since we were being transported in a 40 seater coach — but we had a fantastic guide...
by iainandcai | Aug 20, 2015 | California
DAY TWENTY This was to be our only full day devoted to sightseeing in San Francisco so we did our best to make the most of it — starting with a morning tour around all the most beautiful sights in the city. Even better, our tour wasn’t with a formal tour...
by iainandcai | Aug 19, 2015 | California
DAY NINETEEN After visiting some picturesque towns on the Oregon/California coast, it was time to get back on the open road and head down to another major city — this time San Francisco. We had three days planned in the ‘City by the Bay’ and it was...
by iainandcai | Aug 18, 2015 | California
DAY EIGHTEEN Before coming on honeymoon, we wrote up a detailed itinerary with plans for all the places we were going to visit but there was one last minute addition that we just had to do — horseriding on the beach! This was Iain’s first time horseriding...
by iainandcai | Aug 17, 2015 | California
DAY SEVENTEEN If Day Seventeen could be summed up in two words, it would be ‘HUGE Trees’. We had read that Northern California is famous for its giant redwood trees but nothing had quite prepared us for seeing them up close. Originally we had planned a...
by iainandcai | Aug 16, 2015 | California
DAY SIXTEEN By day sixteen, we couldn’t face any more long-distance drives or whistle-stop tours of tourist sites so we decided to spend the day simply focused on relaxing. Thankfully, Arcata offers its very own ‘Finnish Country Sauna’ that promises...
by iainandcai | Aug 15, 2015 | California
DAY FIFTEEN Before coming on honeymoon, we had pictured ourselves driving down US highways in the blazing sunshine while rocking out to great music and it was Day Fifteen when we felt most like we were on that kind of Easy Rider inspired road trip — out on the...
by iainandcai | Aug 14, 2015 | Oregon
DAY FOURTEEN From Nehalem, we drove 100 miles down the coast to the town of Yachats – pronounced yah-hats – (one of the ‘Top Ten Coolest Small Towns of the USA’ according to Budget Travel magazine) and the Overleaf Lodge where we had booked an...
by iainandcai | Aug 13, 2015 | Oregon
DAY THIRTEEN After our brief sojourn in Portland(ia), it was time to get back onto Highway 101. Driving out to the Pacific Coast, we decided to take a little bit of Portland with us — in the shape of a wonderfully kitsch cherry-pie air freshener. First stop when...
by iainandcai | Aug 12, 2015 | Oregon
DAY TWELVE We were only in Portland for a couple of days so we decided that the quickest way to learn about the city and see the essential sights would be via a morning walking tour — luckily we found a free tour run by Portland resident Erik Kennon that...
by iainandcai | Aug 11, 2015 | Oregon
DAY ELEVEN At first glance, the itinerary for day eleven was fairly nondescript. Much of our time was simply travelling on the interstate highway from Olympia, WA to Portland, OR, and there was nothing particularly remarkable about the journey itself. But there was...
by iainandcai | Aug 10, 2015 | Washington State
DAY TEN When we told our American friends about this roadtrip, a few questioned the worth of travelling to Olympia, WA… Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, et al they could understand, but why on earth would we want to travel to Olympia? From our...
by iainandcai | Aug 9, 2015 | Washington State
DAY NINE Today was a significant moment — this was the first time we reached the Pacific Coast, and therefore the proper start of our road trip down the coast. This made Cai very happy indeed.* * Cai has asked me to note that the real reason she looks so pleased...
by iainandcai | Aug 8, 2015 | Washington State
DAY EIGHT Did I say yesterday that we had just eaten the best breakfast of our lives? Scratch that. Today we had an even better breakfast. We started with an orange pull-apart mini loaf, followed by baked banana with caramel salted yoghurt, then smoked salmon and...
by iainandcai | Aug 7, 2015 | Washington State
DAY SEVEN If we had been impressed with the Red Caboose B&B when we arrived, we truly fell in love with the place when we went for breakfast. Served in a 1937 art-deco dining car, our hosts Olaf and Charlotte provided an indulgent four-course meal including a...
by iainandcai | Aug 6, 2015 | Washington State
DAY SIX This was the start of the roadtrip proper. We picked up our hire car in the morning and discovered we were going to be driving a huge SUV for the next 3 weeks — we had asked for a smaller car but this is the US so no small cars were available! Before...
by iainandcai | Aug 5, 2015 | Washington State
DAY FIVE After taking things at a relatively relaxed pace in Day Four, we wanted to make sure that we saw the key things that Seattle has to offer in Day Five — namely the Space Needle, the EMP Museum and, of course, the local music scene. Oh, and some tasteful...
by iainandcai | Aug 4, 2015 | Washington State
DAY FOUR After packing a lot into our time in Vancouver, we decided to take things at a gentler pace on the fourth day of our trip. In the morning, we traveled on the Amtrak Cascades train down to Seattle. There were beautiful views all along the coastline and we were...
by iainandcai | Aug 3, 2015 | British Columbia
DAY THREE For our final day in Vancouver we decided to tackle the two most famous tourist spots in the area – Capilano suspension bridge and Grouse Mountain. The entrance to Capilano was crazy busy with lots of queuing but we did get a chance to learn about the...
by iainandcai | Aug 2, 2015 | British Columbia
DAY TWO The day began with a stroll around the sights of Yaletown and Gastown — on the way we encountered David Bowie posing as Batman and a White Walker inviting us to drink an iced beverage. Summer is coming, indeed. One of the activities that we were most...
by iainandcai | Aug 1, 2015 | British Columbia
DAY ONE. We arrived in Vancouver bleary eyed after a nine hour flight. While we waited for our apartment to be ready, we found a lovely Gastown cafe called Nelson the Seagull. Eating sourdough sandwiches, drinking artisanal coffee, sitting on reclaimed school chairs,...
