Our trip started in Vancouver heading south. The first stop was Seattle where we picked up our car, a blue Hyundai Accent or Blue Lightning if you will. A medium size sedan by our standards, a go-cart size micro-machine by American standards. From Seattle we headed for Portland, spending the night right outside the city where motels are cheap and restaurants are made for hungry truck drivers.
From Portland we took the scenic but slower Highway 101 along the coast stopping only once before we came to the wine district Napa valley in northern California. Napa is a gorgeous place eight hours north of San Francisco. The whole district looks like a postcard, it’s absolutely stunning and makes you want to become a vegan and live there forever. The Swedish firecracker and I checked out wineries and enjoyed more then one glass of northern California’s finest attribute; red whine.
From Napa we headed to Salinas, birthplace of John Steinbeck. Having read everything Don Steinbeck has written except his shopping lists, my expectations were high.
The majority of his books take place in the Salinas valley, so driving though this part of the country I found my self keeping an eye out for Pilon or Jesus Maria or any other of the epic characters Don Steinbeck so perfectly has portrayed. To my disappointment the only people I met were gas station attendants and waitresses.
The National Steinbeck museum was ok, but nothing compared to what his legacy is through the books he has written.
From Salinas Blue Lightning took us to San Francisco, landing us in a hostel in the middle of town. Coming from Highway 101 to city traffic nearly killed me from stress, we scarcely avoiding being towed for parking in the commercial zone. However I learned that the secret to persuading the parking attendant to not tow you is to speak poor English with a heavy Norwegian accent combined with plain old begging. It evokes sympathy from even the most hardened civil servant.
From San Francisco Interstate 5 carried us to Los Angeles, the city all un-pretty things go to die. LA has close to no charm and is so huge and spread out it takes away your will to live. Coming from beautiful San Fran, LA looks like the city that fell out of the ugly tree hitting every branch on its way down. Weird place not worth spending too much time in, but still a cool place to have visited.
After fleeing from purgatory our schedule was getting tight and we had three days to drive 2000 kilometers. We headed north on Interstate 5 making it all the way to Seattle in record time. The marathon driving gave us a bonus day in Seattle and we stayed at hotel so cool it could make Winston chill; the Ace Hotel. Seattle is a lot like Vancouver with friendly people, not so friendly climate compared to California, some great concept restaurants and a laidback west coast vibe.
Yesterday we arrived back in Vancouver with a suitcase full of dirty laundry, sore asses from sitting in Blue Lightning for ten days and more cool experiences then we had hoped for. Ten years after reading Kerouac’s “On the road” for the first time, I’ve got my own little part of the American road and wouldn’t you know, road tripping is the only way to go. Who knew it would be the day of days?
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