A Trip to California – day one

Day One – driving and arriving in San Jose

It was quite the surprise to find myself packing for a trip to California on a day that began just like any other. It was January 15th and we got a call that my uncle, the one who lives in California, was in trouble. His girlfriend was the person who called and told us that he had a mental breakdown and needed some support. Dad and I knew that he would never ask for help so after convincing mom and my grandparents to let us go help we were off to California.

We began our trip around 8:00pm. The night was cold, minus seven degrees celsius, and dark. There were few people on the road and it did not snow at all. The man at the border made us shut off our engine and he checked the back of the Jeep. I think he was just bored because he was very nice.

We arrived in Goldendale, Washington at 5:00am, January 16th. We stopped at a Holiday Inn for directions because it appeared to be the only place open in the whole town. The woman inside told us that the main bridge over the Columbia River was closed because of construction work and made a point of showing us an article in the local newspaper all about it as if we actually cared why it was closed. She told us to head along the river until we reached a place called The Dalles and to cross at the bridge there. The other side of the Columbia was Oregon.

Oregon Sunrise

We drove for another hour before stopping for a quick nap. We were in the high plains of Oregon. I could not sleep so I watched the stars turn over the horizon while dad snored. I saw two shooting stars just before the sun began to rise and wished on both. It wasn’t light enough to write until 7:03am. The rolling hills were dead dark at night and quite eerie, but they were very pretty by day – all covered with frost that sparkled in the sun. Strange windswept trees, almost Asian looking, and baskets full of rocks dotted this foreign landscape. I still have no idea why there were rocks in baskets. The plains turned to hills back to plains again and we listened to the radio as we drove.

Cold Oregon

We came into Bend, Oregon at 9:14am and stopped at IHOP for breakfast. Dad had pancakes and I just had coffee. Across the aisle sat two cute girls in cute clothes listening to war stories from their grandfathers who I assume were Vietnam veterans. The girls looked my age and seemed very respectful and sweet. I hope that I have granddaughters like that someday. In the booth in front of me was a fat man and his fat wife. He was upset because IHOP no longer served his favourite breakfast, the chili omelette. It took him a long time to decide on his breakfast.

It was sunny when we left Bend, but it was cold. We continued south through more mountains and I thought I saw Peter O’Toole driving a car that we passed. I also began to notice signs that said, “It’s unlawful to..” as opposed to Canada’s “.. is prohibited”. I think that saying something is prohibited is much more civilized.

Mount Shasta – Northern California

At 3:13pm we arrived in Redding, California and saw the first palm trees on our adventure. We stopped at Subway for a late lunch and I had a 6 inch sub and double chocolate chip cookie. Redding seemed like a nice place, but like all the other places we’d been to so far, I would not want to live there.

We remained heading south. It was still sunny, but now it was twenty two degrees warmer with the Jeep’s thermometer reading 12 degrees celsius. Dad was sick of listening to my iPod so he put on the radio and found some bizarre Mexican radio station that was playing a sort of mariachi polka. I had still not slept. I noticed that there was a sign that mentioned olive tasting and I know that Dani loves olives, so I wrote it down. It’s south of Red Bluff, California if you’re ever in the area.

The land was flat and rich and boring. After a while hills started to appear and then the sun went down. We crossed a bridge where I was able to see San Francisco in the distance. We were going to San Jose. An hour later we were close, but not quite sure where to go, so we stopped at a gas station where the attendant asked us if we were “Spaniards” because of our “Beautiful British Columbia” license plate. I thought that was quite funny.

California Road Sunset

We found a hotel by 8:00pm and were glad to lay down. We met my uncle a half hour later and he showed us around San Jose a bit. This is a city that seemed to drain the energy out of me. There were some nice parts, but it just went on forever, like Los Angeles. I like to be able to see some mountains, or grass or something that hasn’t been built upon. This is very rare in San Jose. We went back to the hotel and I went to sleep.

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I will continue the story soon. I will also add high resolution versions of the pictures once I’ve finished these entries. They were all taken on my beloved Pentax SLR and deserve to be shown off in all their glory. Thanks for reading so far.