04.14.21

From Ukiah we bombed south to Monterey. I’ve never explored that area, and Big Sur has been on my bucket list forever. The plan was to stay two nights, but we ended up staying for three because Highway 1 south of Big Sur was closed due to a landslide, which kept us from continuing south from there as we’d planned.

This first night we splurged on an ocean view hotel room. We couldn’t help shaking our heads at the choices the hotel’s architect made though. The view was truly gorgeous, but why would you have the public hallway run in front of the floor to ceiling windows? Why design the railing with such thick, view-blocking beams? And why, oh why, did the laundry and ice machine room need a view?

Still, it was amazing to sleep with the sound of the waves right outside, and we walked the beach and watched both the sunset and sunrise from our room. I will forever feel most at home by the ocean.

04.13.21

After escaping our Motel 6 room under the watchful eyes of the still-drunk men next door, we traveled through some yummy early morning light along the coast back through Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Dogs are allowed on Walker Road, so Norman had a great time in among the giant old souls there.

Next we headed south to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, where we hiked up Cal Barrel Road, another dog-friendly spot, and drove the length of the Avenue of the Giants.

I really love the redwoods. They feel like protectors to me. Wise old sentinels that know more than I could ever imagine.

At the end of the day we headed down to Ukiah, California and flinchingly checked into our second Motel 6. We spent less than 2 minutes and 27 seconds in that room before demanding a refund and accepting the fact that our fond Motel 6 days are over. We aren’t sure if we’re older and less “adventurous” these days, wanting our creature comforts, or if Motel 6 has truly gone down hill since our last big trip 12 years ago. Either way, decided we’d shell out the dough for the remainder of this trip to ensure that we at least had rooms that weren’t previously occupied by heroin addicts (no offense to the heroin addicts of the world).

04.12.21

I am slowly making my way through the thousands of photos I took during my recent three week road trip through the Western states. My mom and I are well practiced together on road trips, and this time we had merely an anxious dog with us (Norman) rather than an anxious AND carsick dog (miss you Faithy!).

Day one took us from Seattle to Crescent City, California.

All our previous road trips have seen us staying in Motel 6s for their prevalence, dog- and budget-friendliness. While not glamorous, most are at least adequately clean and chill for our purposes. Well, this first night in Crescent City, (and a near miss the next night, which I will share later) has cured us of our love for Motel 6s. The room smelled like literal shit - I actually searched the whole thing to find what was causing it, unsuccessfully. Bare floors, no decor to speak of, patched walls, and most excitingly, our lovely next door neighbors had an all night bender complete with yelling, swearing, and door slamming.

Oh, and while mom was doing her nightly meditation we had the pleasure of overhearing an employee boasting about his previous work at a mortuary, scooping brains, plucking eyeballs and generally experiencing close contact with other amazing body parts. So much for that meditation.

But the beach was pretty!