West Coast Road Trip (Lots of pics) and more to come...

[ANDRÜ]

Awesome pics, looks like a blast

[geoffp]

Day 8: Forks, WA - Ashford, WA

Started the day in Forks, WA (apparently this is where Twilight takes place)


Cape Flattery, WA (The most North Western point in the continental US)









Crescent Lake


Spotted this in Port Angeles


Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park





First time seeing one of these:


These guys were on a cruise in Washington


Never seen this at a toll before


Day 9: Ashford, WA - Enterprise, OR

Mt. Rainier




Drove back to Oregon and hit up Multnomaha Falls along the Columbia River Gorge


Mt. Hood


Staying the night in eastern Oregon, driving Hells Canyon tomorrow then cutting through Idaho and into Montana!!

[Farbin Kaiber]

Yay for Idaho. Are you coming back through Yellowstone or anything down this way?

[Vtec?lol]

Awesome. I'm planning on going to the west by car before winter.

[delatlanta1281]

Great pics!
As far as where to live in Sac, it depends what you want. I liked J-street @ 47th ave, near the university. You may be able to find an apartment @ there that is cool. Further west on J street is downtown, I would look between there and the university. There are all kinds of cool little pockets down there. If you aren't into the "city" (I use that term pretty loosely) lifestyle, I can't really help you, We lived DT when we were there. I know that therte was a big development push going on near the rivercats baseball stadium when we were there, but it wasn't near finished by the time we left, so that could be pretty cool. Jean may be able to give you some insight on that.
In any case, catch a ball game, go have a burger here.... http://www.yelp.com/biz/hamburger-patties-sacramento-2. Make sure to have an open mind though ;) . Go hang on the river, and make sure to go to Davis and check that town out, Napa, SF (obviously), Sausalito, santa rosa, Chico (hippies), Redding, Tahoe... ETC. You are living in the land of In-and-Out, take advantage, I love that place. Plenty of mountian biking, photography missions, snowboarding, boating, skateboarding, and car meets. The VW club is strong there. Valley Motorwerks is there. Walter (owner) is super nice. There are alot of drives and meets, but I can't remember the local forum there, but there is a good age mix and plenty of nice BMW owners out there. I am actually STILL a member of the Golden Gate chapter. I only renew my CCA membership in person so they don't put me in the Peachtree chapter. I am stoked to be a part of the GGC, it's just cool to be able to say I was and still am ;)
Have fun, whatever you do, it is hard not to in Nor-cal.
Rich

[geoffp]

Day 10: Enterprise, OR - Lowell, ID

Drove through Hells Canyon this morning/afternoon. Nice drive and very scenic. This part of Oregon is so much different than the coast. It's very nice out here as well. Idaho was beautiful, we stayed the night in a cabin by the river. Continuing on with our mission of not taking any major highways and eating at local joints we have had great success!

Hells Canyon Overlook:





Idaho...that's it? Lame sign...



I love these "old" beer signs




The old man and I


Idaho night sky


Day 11: Lowell, ID - Kalispell, MT

Montana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally, I've been wanting to come here since I was a kid. Hit Missoula around 10AM or so. I was surprised at how built up it is, I didn't expect all the McMansions, and malls. We followed MT 200 North to Glacier around Flathead lake and got to Western Glacier around 3:30 or so. I love it here. I'm going to retire here.



Lots of bugs...(yeah I'm not going to blur out my plate, I don't care)


Diamond Mountains



Glacier National Park

[geoffp]

Day 13: Kalispell, MT - Whitefish, MT

Back to Glacier National Park today. It was rainy outside but we went anyway, we drove over to the Eastern side of the park because Going To The Sun Road is still closed (it should open next week). We decided to take the "Jammer" tour of Secret Valley. It was okay, our driver brought us to Two Medicine Lake and we took a boat ride out and back then finished off the tour. We grabbed lunch at Glacier Lodge (which was GREAT) and drove up the Eastern side of Going To The Sun Road. AMAZING drive - we drove 13 miles up the Eastern side.

Glacier Park Lodge - beautiful inside



Day 14: Whitefish, MT - Kalispell, MT

Okay, up early today for a drive to Eastern Glacier. The weather was forecasted to be much better today. Oh it was! Seeing Glacier is amazing regardless of the weather, but on a nice sunny day -

















This little b@st@rd bit me!







Fresh Montana Huckleberry pie...



That's pretty much it from Glacier. If any of you guys or gals want a link to the full set - let me know. :beer:

[geoffp]

Day 15: Kalispell, MT - Sheridan, MT

Left for Southern Montana this morning. Nice ride down, drove along Swan Lake and other scenic routes. We ended up at Virginia City, MT and Nevada City, MT - two "Ghost Towns" in Montana. Cool little towns to visit.

Cool house I saw off the road:


Wrong way!! Just kidding...



Anaconda, MT - this stack was huge, I think like 500 feet. Used for mining silver way back when. I guess when it was built it was the biggest masonary structure in the world.









Came across this 1956 Cadillac Fleetwood on the way home (so many cool antique cars everywhere out here!)





And this 1956 Jeep


Beartooth Highway "is an All-American Road that has been called "the most beautiful drive in America," by late CBS correspondent Charles Kuralt. Because of heavy snowfall at the top, the pass is usually open each year only from mid May through mid October, weather conditions permitting."



Mmmm!


People were skiing and snowboarding down the mountain here...



The highway snakes between Montana and Wyoming a few times





Hit up the Red Lodge Brewery for dinner

[geoffp]

Day 16: Sheridan, MT - Red Lodge, MT

Got up early today and drove through Yellowstone National Park, then out of the North East entrance onto the Beartooth Highway to Red Lodge, MT. Yellowstone was pretty congested (it was a Saturday) but very scenic. Beartooth Highway is EXTREMELY scenic and beautiful. Here are the pictures:

Montana in the morning light











The "dot" on the hill is a Bison

[geoffp]

Day 17: Red Lodge, MT - Jackson, WY

Drove the Beartooth Highway back to Yellowstone this morning and drove through the park, then onto Grand Teton National Park and into Jackson. Yellowstone was absolutely ridiculous!!! I've never seen such a blatant dis-respect by the people visiting a park. People running all over the place where they weren't supposed to, people running up to wild animals, stopping in the middle of the road to get out and run up to bears, bison, etc (where there were no pullouts) causing huge traffic jams. I'll never go there again. Grand Tetons was beautiful and ver quiet compared to Yellowstone. Ended the night in Jackson which is a great place (lots of yuppies though).










Yellowstone



Driving through Yellowstone



Grand Teton National Park

[z31maniac]

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

We are heading to Great Falls next week to visit family. WOn't get to spend as much time meandering down all the back roads though.

[mrsleeve]

Wow So weird to see pics of home posted on here from someone other than ME. Nice work, I love it here, and there is a reason its called the last best place, but you have to get out away from town and the big tourists spots to really let it sink it as to why.

I live in the North West end of the Flathead Valley. Between Kalispell and Whitefish but up in the hills a little ways, yup lots of Mc Mansions, and "famous" people buying it all up like they did with colorado in the 70's-80's. You have only scratched the very surface of the area, come back up sometime when I am home and I will show you some places few tourists ever see. Shame you were not a week or so latter Logan opened last monday I think

[geoffp]

Day 18: Jackson, WY - Orem, UT

Got up super early today to catch a sunrise at Grand Teton National Park. Such a great park and it seems like its over shadowed by Yellowstone National Park in some ways. Grabbed a nice breakfast in Jackson then hit the road. We drove a scenic route to Orem, UT. We hit the Bear Lake in Utah and it was quite amazing! Looked like tropical waters.








Made out of antlers


Back in Idaho

[geoffp]

Day 20: Hurricane, UT - June Lake, CA

A lot of driving today. Got up in Hurricane, UT then we headed to the Hoover Dam to see the new bridge that was completed in 2010. When my Dad and I did our first trip back in 2007 we saw the bridge being contructed so my old man wanted to see it completed. We stayed in June Lake, CA outside of Yosemite National Park. Temps were high today and the road just kept going and going...

[geoffp]

Day 21: June Lake, CA - Lee Vining, CA

Got up and drove to Yosemite today. Such a great place, I've been here 3 times prior to this. This time around I got to drive to the valley via Tioga Pass - Wow!