A Place Where Everyone Can Spell Diego

We left Long Beach and drove south.  Diego has family in this area too, so we were planning a little reunion.
We camped at Guajome Regional Park in Oceanside, CA.  The campground was just okay.

We spent a couple of days in San Diego.  We drove by Balboa Park to see things.  Then to Seaport Village to get some work done.  The weather was just beautiful and there was a Starbucks right next to the village.  We all got a little work done and then the girls all headed down to the park by the water.

Butterfly Trees

This next stop was picked because it was literally the only place we could find for Thanksgiving weekend.  Making reservations has proved to be our least favorite activity this past year and in our denial we waited until the last minute to reserve something.  As we started calling around we realized, wow, a lot of people go camping on Thanksgiving.  Finally one lady called us back and had a spot.  At this point I was wondering, why does she have a spot?  How bad is it? :)

It turned out to be fine and the girls loved it because there was a Boomers next door.  It's a race car, putt putt, batting cage place.  The weather was very nice and even warmer than our previous stop.

Visited the little Danish town of Solvang that was nearby.  Cute little place with a neat history.

Not a Derelict to be Found

We cut back across the state and headed back out to the coast.  We were aimed for Watsonville, because I had found a campground that seemed nice.  We arrived in the dark and it was raining. When we arrived I looked at Diego and said, "I'm not gonna stay here."  We have driven into several campgrounds this past year that have not been the best, but this particular evening I either wasn't in the mood or it was that bad, I'm not sure which.  We found another place and headed that way.

 We ended up staying at Santa Cruz Redwoods RV Resort.  It was fine and definitely better than our first option.  Paid the most for a week at a campsite that we have the whole trip.  We were just outside of a town called Felton and it was a quaint place.

This week we visited San Francisco and spent some time on both sides of the Golden Gate Bridge that we learned is called that because it is built over the Golden Strait.

Golden Gate from the north end.

The Trail Ends with the Goonies

Beautiful drive from Port Ludlow to Astoria.

Bridge from Washington to Oregon

Our campsite was at Fort Stevens State Park, just over the bridge from Astoria, in Warrenton, OR.

The park was very nice.  Well maintained and the biggest state park I have ever seen.  It has over 400 sites and a very nice biking/hiking system that goes for miles.

Lush Coast

Headed back down through Seattle and looped around to the Olympic Peninsula to stay in Port Ludlow.

Port Ludlow

We stayed at a park run by the city and it was very nice.

Port Ludlow campground

Tons of trees and felt very much like a small state park, but was right near the middle of town.  "Middle of town" meaning the one gas station, post office, Italian restaurant, and hair cutter in town.
It was a short drive to several things we wanted to see and the spot was perfect for our purposes.

Got Boat?

We left the Leavenworth/Wenatchee area and had a beautiful drive on Hwy 2 through the Wenatchee National Forest.

Beautiful drive

Great scenery.

We were headed west and north towards the coast, to Anacortes.