Oregon-Washington-Day 7-Exploring Portland

Mari and I decided to go out and explore Portland on our own.  Marissa stayed at the hotel, as we were taking two sightseeing trips the next day and we had had a long driving day the day before.  We had lunch at Old Town Pizza and of course, had to go to VooDoo Donuts.  Public transportation is great in Portland and it helped that one of the stops for the trolley was in front of our hotel.

Enjoy the pictures!

Chinese dog in front of gate

Old building

Front door to Old Town Pizza

Portland

Sign

Voodoo Donut

Where are we going?

Oregon-Washington-Day 6-We arrive in Portland, OR

Day 6 was a lot of driving along the coast and along I-5 or as we Southern Californians know it as the "5".  We started the day in Brookings, OR with a beautiful sunrise and a walk along the beach.  Great way to start the day!

Morning view from Brookings, OR

Left Brookings and headed up 101 and stopped in Port Orford, OR for lunch.  Port Orford, Oregon is the oldest town on the Oregon Coast and is the most westerly in the 48 states.  Port Orford, OR is a working fishing port and has an active art community.  The rain cloud found us in Port Orford, OR and we had rain the rest of the way up to Portland, OR. We drove up 101 to north of Coos Bay and cut across to I-5 and went through the little town of Drain.  I find some town names interesting.

Along 101

Bridge in Port Orford, OR

Building in Port Orford, OR

Scotch broom

Sea gull

View from the bridge

Wall art

When we got to Portland, we found the hotel, which was another Residence Inn, and checked in and parked the car for the entire time we were in Portland.  I like taking public transportation, when it is good and available.  We had an awesome view from our room and we totally enjoyed this hotel.

Oregon, Washington trip-Day 5-Leaving California

Today's drive took us from Vacaville, CA to Brookings, OR.  This post is mainly a picture post, as the pictures speak for themselves, as this day was mainly a driving day.  Our route took us up Interstate 5 to Redding, where we had lunch, then we went west on 299 to Arcata and then north on 101/1 to Brookings, OR; which is just across the border into Oregon.

Enjoy the pictures!

The beach right outside our hotel in Brookings, OR

More beach

Sunset in Brookings, OR

Clouds along the highway near the coast

Clouds along the highway near the coast

Clouds along the highway near the coast

Bridge along the coast

Sights along the way

Sights along the way

Sunset in Brookings, OR

Traffic along 299

Beautiful country

Secret Stairs Walk #8

This walk takes place in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles.  The walk starts near the intersection of N. Figueroa St and Avenue 53, near the old brick Faith United Presbyterian Church.  This section of Figueroa Street is Historic Route 66.

Red door of Church

Window of church

We head north on Avenue 53 toward the hills and cross the Gold Line tracks at Marmion Way.

Wall art

Wall art

We head along Avenue 53 and turn right onto Monte Vista Street and then turn left onto N. Avenue 54. where there is an elementary school with a mural on the side of the school.

Wall art on school

Wall art on school

As we continue to walk we find our first stair case.  This is a wide set of stairs, fitted with handrails, but not lights, rising over multiple landings.  Climb up 127 steps.  At the top of the stairs is the cul-de-sac end of Granada and we continue to walk straight ahead as the road rises and crests.  There is an Historic-Cultural Monument along this walk.  From here you can see Eldred Street and the staircase on the hillside across the canyon.  Eldred Street is the steepest street in California and was in Walk #7.

Turn right onto No. Avenue 53 and begin our ascent.  We see older homes and freestone rock walls, as we walk along.  We continue on winding up and around, to the corner Avenue 53 and Abbott Place, where there are two old homes with grand views.  Avenue 53 continues along until we get to Aldama Street, where we turn right and continue to the bottom of the hill, where we turn left onto Avenue 54.  There are some older homes in need of repair along this street, but we keep walking until we find Raphael Street. We turn left and walk up a half block of roadway and find the next staircase that has not been kept in good repair and has graffiti.  At the top, we keep walking straight ahead on Raphael.

Turn left, one block on, onto Aldama Terrace, where there are some interesting houses and then we turn right onto Aldama Street.  We walk straight ahead and following the road as it crosses Avenue 53 and bends to the left, where we find Avenue 52.   We walk on Avenue 52 and look for a driveway that leads to a staircase and up!  This staircase is a newish, double-railed set of 56 steps over several landings in condition, but not well maintained.  The top of the stairs puts us at the bend where Avenue 51 meets Shipley Glen Drive.  We walk straight ahead going down Shipley Glen.  At the bottom of the hill, we turn right on Avenue 50 and observe a pedestrian underpass.

Altar

Calico cat

Cat

Decoration on an address

Stairway

Front Porch

Fruit tree

Nature

Stairway

Tree Decoration

Up the stairs

View

Windows

Pedestrian Underpass

Day 4 of our Oregon-Washington trip-Wine Country in California

We are staying in Vacaville, CA, which is close to where we would catch the Napa Valley Wine Train, which would take us from Napa to St. Helena and back.

One of the cars on the Napa Valley Wine Train

This information is taken from their website-http://winetrain.com/train/route.  The Napa Valley Wine Trains' route runs through one of the top wine growing regions in the world.  The Napa Valley is located in Northern California, about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco and about 60 miles west of Sacramento.  The Napa Valley is 30 miles long and 5 miles across at its widest point.

Samuel Brannan, who was San Francisco's first millionaire, had a rail line built in 1864 to take visitors to the resort town of Calistoga, in northern Napa valley.  About 100 years later, Highway 29 was installed next to the rail line, being the best travel corridor through the Valley.  This rail corridor runs through the western side of the Valley, with the Silverado Trail traveling up the east.

We boarded the train at the McKinstry Street Station, which is located in Napa and after the train got moving, we traveled through the old industrial section of Napa.  The train crossed the Rural Urband Limit Line about ten minutes into the journey and we were greeted to the spectacular scenery of the wine country of Napa Valley.  While we were traveling along we were served lunch and a couple of glasses of wine.

Views from the train

Views from the train

Views from the train

Views from the train

Views from the train

Views from the train

Views from the train

Views from the train

Mari and I had decided to take advantage of one of the specials that we were offered and got a tour of the winery at Castello Di Amorosa.  Castello Di Amorosa is the only authentic medieval(13th century) Italian Tuscan castle and winery built in America.  The winery officially lowered its drawbridge for business in April 2007 and is located on 171 acres just south of Calistoga.

Castello di Amorosa

Castello di Amorosa

Dining room at Castello di Amorosa

Castello di Amorosa

Castello di Amorosa

Dining Room at Castello di Amorosa

It was an interesting day and I am so glad we did the train and saw Castello Di Amorosa.  Marissa had decided to stay at the hotel, which is typical, especially when we deal with lots of people, plus she wasn't that interested in the wine tour.