Lingering Memories on my Travels With Luca


(This blog is part travelogue, part advice on traveling with a dog, part discovery of what’s on the minds of Americans, Canadians and other nationalities, part commentary, and other musings.)

I’m back in Pine Mountain Club from my awesome road trip with my wonderful dog Luca. Here are some stats and major lingering memories. (I hope in this blog I have also provided good advice on traveling with a dog, on great campgrounds, and on places you might want to visit, or revisit.)

• Miles covered: 4,000 (from Pine Mountain Club to Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada and back).

• Number of days of the journey: 35 (5 weeks)

• Number of days/nights tent camping: 16 (nightly rates ranging from $7.50 to $40)

• Number of days/nights in Oregon campground yurts: 2 (average rate about $55)

• Number of days/nights in motels/hotels: 17 (average rate with taxes about $100. Some charge a pet fee while others, including La Quinta and Motel 6, do not. One beachside hotel, Deane’s Oceanfront Lodge in lovely Yachats on the Oregon coast, provided me a “doggie bag” with treats, a water bowl, a doggie bed and a towel to wipe the sand off Luca after walking on the beach.)
(Beach in front of super dog-friendly Deane's Oceanfront Lodge)

Honestly, just about every drive, every place I stayed was amazing. But my main memories include:

• Hiking with Luca in stunning Jedediah Smith Redwoods in Northern California near the Oregon border, the ground still wet from rain the day before.

• Luca tangling with a nasty raccoon in a Washington campground but emerging unscathed. He was actually sanguine about the encounter, once he chased the animal up a tree.

• Reconnecting with friends in Mendocino, CA; on Fox Island, WA; and on the ferry ride from Vancouver to Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada.
(Reconnecting with Dan Boyle at his beautiful home in Mendocino)

• The stunning Oregon coast, with its geographic diversity and historic lighthouses.
(Heceta Head Lighthouse on the Central Oregon Coast)

• Cozying up with Luca in our Oregon yurt as the rain pissed down.
(The cozy interior of a yurt in an Oregon campground)
  
• Sleeping 10-11 hours each night in a tent, but an average 8 hours a night in motels.

• Eating the best American-made baguette I have ever had at the Blue Heron French Cheese Company in the small town of Tillamook, Oregon.

• Being amused – and impressed – with the “Washington Cannabis Tourism Map” I found. Why hasn’t California capitalized on this?

• Being shocked by huge scars on some of the mountainous landscapes on Vancouver Island where logging had occurred.

• The beach at sunset in Cape Disappointment, WA (the most southwestern part of the state on the north side of the mighty Columbia River) and at sunset at Deception Pass, WA.

• Luca preferring to go into the tent rather than hanging out at the campfires I made.

• The surprisingly charming town of Long Beach, WA – and eating lunch overlooking a sunny golf course in that town.
(The golf course at Long Beach, WA)

• Finding myself surprised at how strict the border guards were as I made my way into Canada.

• Falling in love all over again with Victoria, B.C. Canada and discovering the city has a thriving theatre scene.
(Beacon Hill Park in Victoria)

• The beauty of the fall tree colors, matching perhaps the beauty of the autumn season in New England.
(Vancouver, WA)

• Meeting and interviewing furniture maker Allie Rivenbark in Portland, Oregon.
(Allie Rivenbark, right, talking to a client in her Portland furniture making studio)

• Enjoying a new play, “Mother Road,” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland just before the end of its season.

• The surprise of having almost an entire campground to ourselves on the Klamath River in Northern California, just south of the Oregon border.

• The delightful discovery of charming McCloud, CA – with stunning Mount Shasta to the north – built originally in the late 1800s to house all the lumber mill workers.
(McCloud, CA)

• The gorgeous waterfalls on the McCloud River.


• Castle Lake near Mount Shasta, a pristine alpine lake at about 5,000 feet.

• The somewhat nostalgic return to Sacramento – where I began my journalism career and where I had my first play produced. It was also fun to see the film “Judy” in the old Tower Movie Theatre in Sacramento, hang out in the Midtown gay area, and revisit California’s spectacular Capitol Building.
(The rotunda in the State Capitol Building in Sacramento)







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