stories

Day 9 of 10 - 2019 Pacific Northwest Road Trip - Ferndale to Carmel Valley

These views were glimpsed from our car as we headed south. Being from southern California, the northern half of the state feels foreign––almost an entirely different state. It was fun to explore, if only just sticking to the freeway, and fun to try and capture, if only from a moving car! We expected weather through our whole stay in Washington and Oregon, but instead found mostly sunny weather. It wasn't until we hit California that we got rained on and snowed on the whole way back.

I originally scheduled a stop at Point Reyes Lighthouse on this route, but it quickly became apparent that this was going to be a point A to point B only day. It was our longest stretch at 6 to 7 hours (not accounting for the surprise weather, adding more time to the clock). Ferndale to Carmel Valley, by way of San Francisco just to say we went through it.

We started the morning in Ferndale, a quaint town with beautiful old houses and lots of history. We picked up some waffles for breakfast and drove through overcast skies and light rain before the weather began to worsen. Heavier rain led to snow flurries. We drove through this for quite some time before a minor reprieve, then hit more rain and wind as we entered San Francisco. We made it a point to drive on the Golden Gate Bridge (at least one notable sight along the way in place of our lighthouse stop) and kept going until our hunger couldn't be ignored any longer. We got dinner at a restaurant along the water where, in the onset of the storm, all the power went out. Screams and nervous chatter could be heard through the restaurant as waiters went about with flashlights, adding more candlelight to the tables and informing everyone who placed orders that dinner was, essentially, cancelled. Since that also meant our dinner, we anxiously asked what, if anything, was still available from the kitchen so that we wouldn't go away still starving. The only thing available was soup, so soup it was! The large window next to us, looking out onto the bay, showed a blustery, shadowed scene of blowing palm trees, big clouds, and lightning flashes as we ate (rain water finding its way through the window side and pooling by our booth). The power stayed out the whole time. It became apparent that the restaurant would be closing early for the night. We soon funneled out of the building with the rest of the guests.

We had another hour to go before getting into our final AirBnB for the trip, where we promptly fell to our beds and slept.

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