Denise and I have safely arrived in The Villages, Florida where we are preparing for the next leg of our trip to the tropical beaches of Panama. The 13 days started off rocky but by the time we got to lucky 13 we were cruising. We purposely drove all and any coast road we could within reason. We first stopped off in Portland and had lunch at the vast fields of food trucks with dessert at Voodoo Donuts. From there we headed SW toward the coast. We went through the Willamette and Tillamook Valleys. I never saw such a great variety of wineries and vineyards. We didn’t get any Tillamook cheese but did see way to many people who looked like they ate our share. Lot of dairy in the airy-a. The drive down the coast was amazing, views were spectacular. I am so glad we came this way.

Proceeding into Californication we first wanted to see the redwoods. All this time out west (24ish years) and never stopped to see these. We went through the Valley of the Giants where we saw supposedly the world’s tallest tree as well as a big statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe. The quantity of trees were impressive but I feel that for anyone who has spent time in the Olympic Peninsula and Hoh Rain Forest has also seen some pretty damn big pieces of wood. I guess it would have been more exciting for people who had never been to the PNW (Pacific North West – for you newbies). There were a lot of signs in Northern CA about Bigfoot. Ya right, I didn’t see him once in CA. You want to see Bigfoot, then come to the PNW. I saw him 4-5 times up there.

From there we continued hugging the coastline on Highway 1 and 101. California has some beautiful coastal roads but nowhere near the ruggedness of Oregon. Finally on the 101 we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. Sure it is big and picturesque but does it swing and collapse like in Washington? Neat bridge though. We made our way to the Fisherman’s Warf, again another first. Other than seeing Alcatraz from a distance it was a bit of a let down – tourist trap on steroids. I wouldn’t go back. SF as a city seemed really neat but unfortunately we decided to get on down the road and not stay there for the night. A return to the city of SF could be a future trip. California has all kinds of wonderful smaller cities on the coast that we passed through. Many we saw on TV or heard about in songs. It was neat to drive through – Malibu, Carlsbad, etc..,etc.. We avoided LA as much as we could. I have been there, done that. Before you know it we were passing through La Jolla, past Torrey Pines (played and stayed there – highly recommended) and heading to our lodging on Hotel Circle in San Diego.

Lodging is another story. Some places were cool and some dumps. We used Trivago a lot but one person’s 3 stars (our agreed min in quality) is anther persons dump and then they add smiley faces, frowns, and color shades to the ratings so hell it becomes a crap shoot at times. Our San Diego lodging was not to bad.

While in SD we decided to stay 2 days and spent time with Rich and Ginny – my oldest brother and wife as well as Neil and Nicole, my Nephew and his wife as well as Grace and baby Stella. We had never met Nicole or the kids before. We had a wonderful time and got to know Neil and his family a lot better. They live in a very nice house a 5-minute walk from Hotel Del Coronado so we were able to go to the beach with the kids for a while and also spent an extremely pleasurable evening dinner at Hotel Del with Neil and Nicole. They were great hosts/hostess. Grace and Stella are cute as buttons. We also spent some great time with Rich and Ginny. We haven’t seen much of each other over these many years. We missed the rest of Rich’s family so Tracie and Erik and family will need to come to Panama to visit us.

From SD we headed East on I-8/10. We had crossed the country multiple times but never this far south. New Mex, Ariz, and Texas are for the most part very rugged but beautiful at the same time. We stopped overnight in Tucson and had a wonderful dinner at the home of the infamous Steve and Sandi Parker and their daughter Katie. What great hosts and beautiful home. We really enjoyed the visit. After that it was 80 MPH across desolate Indian lands and amazing giant cactuses. Seemed we were always going up but not coming back down the hills. Denise’s car developed a drinking habit and we ended up putting in 7 quarts of oil in the puppy over 13 days. That speed and those climbs were brutal to her baby.

Entering the San Antonio area we saw things start to green up, pretty area. We stayed overnight there and visited the Alamo. In honesty it was a bit of a let down. Our expectations were different from what is there but it is worth checking it off your list with a visit. While in San Anton we watched an online Jimmy Buffett Concert live at Orange Beach, Alabama. At the end Jimmy said for folks to follow him, as he will be playing in NOLA Sunday. We said, Damn, we will be in NOLA Sunday. Bottom line is we went to the NOLA Jazz Festival and were 30 yards from the stage for the J. Buffett concert – way way cool. NOLA is now one of my top 5 favorite cities. We stayed in a quaint French style place near Frenchman Street that was real cool. We had the typical gumbo, music in the streets, red beans and rice, hurricanes, dancing with a hula-hoop (Denise) after the hurricane on a dance floor at about 11AM with about a dozen other die-hards. Nola is just real cool, beautiful architecture, great food and drinks, and on and on. All we wanted to do was walk around and see the crazy people. Well the day we were there they had Tornado Warnings and massive downpours. Yes we were the ones out in that. We became the crazies we came to see.

From NOLA we stopped at the Flora-Bama, made somewhat famous by Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Chesney. It was not what we expected. It really is a hole in the wall with well over a dozen different bars, rooms, and tents. We had a lunch of boiled shrimp and Oysters on the deck looking out to the beach. I found a small pearl in my oyster!

The Alabama/Florida panhandle beaches are a beautiful as they say – powder white sand. We again drove the coast as much as we could. We arrived in the villages and our truck of goods beat us here. We now need to hit the ground running to get it emptied and get ready for the next leg of the journey.

Comments or questions are tolerated. If you don’t want to share my ramblings then why are you reading this?

I need to practice my Spanish so – Adios

RB