Dateline: Everett, WA - What a Long Strange Trip It's Been

Mount St. Helens 

We left Sacramento around noon on Wednesday, after spending the morning in Old Sacramento. As we made our way further north on Interstate 5, the scenery began to change from the flat, semi-arid farmland of the central valley to forested slopes as we started to gain in elevation. On a previous trip between Washington and California in the summer of 2018, I'd promised the girls we would have an enthralling view of Mount Shasta (elevation: 9772 feet/2979 meters), only to be foiled by thick smoke emanating from severe brushfires. This time the climate cooperated as we approached the potentially active volcano:

We pulled off the freeway at the promising-sounding Vista Road:

My wife got out for a better view. My daughter, looking up Mount Shasta on Google, was more entertained by some of the loony legends surrounding the mountain:

Crossing from California into Oregon:

The drive north continued on Thursday after spending the night in Medford. We took a break in Salem to see the state capitol building, an Art Deco design finished in 1938 that is certainly different from the usual domed government buildings:

Although we hadn't planned on doing so, we were making good time on the road, and so decided to stop in Portland, with Shu-E suggesting we first visit Washington Park. The high entry admission for the Japanese garden was a deterrent, however, so we instead spent some time in the free rose garden, where Mount Hood (elevation: 7706 feet/2349 meters), another potentially active volcano, lurked in the background:

There was a pair of Chinese women taking glamor shots of each other outside the entrance to the Japanese Garden, so I had my daughter take some of me striking the pose:

From the park it was a short drive to our favorite Portlandia institution, Powell's City of Books, where it took all my willpower, plus an acknowledgement of the lack of space in our bags, to resist spend, spend, spending on reading matter (though Amber managed to find a small volume to take with her):

Introducing my wife to two essential aspects of American culture, steak and eggs...:

…and the 24-hour donut shop:

After spending more time in the Portland area than we'd intended, we found a room for the night at a Motel 6 in nearby Troutdale. Though it smelled of pets (think cat litter box or wet dog) and breakfast wasn't provided (hence the stop at Heavenly Donuts), it was quiet. Better still, it was only a short drive on Friday morning to the hella scenic Multnomah Falls:

The upper section of the falls is 542 feet (165 meters)…:

…while the lower part falls a further 69 feet (21 meters):

The wife and I had visited the Columbia Gorge area back in 2005, but this was the first time for Amber:

Looking across the Columbia River to Washington state:

Next, we drove up to the 1918 Vista House for some more incredible views:

On the way back to the freeway we made a brief stop at a small lavender field:

Shu-E also wanted to introduce our daughter to Mount St. Helens (8363 feet/2549 meters), a volcano that certainly lived up to its potential in 1980, with devastating effects. First sighting of the mountain at the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center:

Then it was onward to get a close-up view at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, first perusing the exhibits on what took place 42 years ago...:

…and then going outside to take it all in:

The last time the wife and I were there, smoke was visible coming out of the crater. This time, however, what appeared to be smoke was just ash being blown about by winds:

I had first visited the mountain in the early 1990's, and at that time the landscape resembled a barren lunar scene, with many trees that had been blown down by the eruption still lying about. In the years since, nature has appeared to be making a strong comeback:

Mount Adams (12,281 feet/3743 meters) peeks out in the distance:

Mounts Adams and St. Helens:

It was just after 1900 hours on Friday evening that we rolled up to our accommodations in Everett, Washington, the end of a three-week journey by car that took across us eleven states and approximately 5000 miles (I forgot to note the odometer at the end). On this trek we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere in the southern California desert, followed by time spent in the center of the second-largest city in the U.S. It was fascinating to see how the landscape of this huge country changed going from Virginia to California, and then north to Washington. 

For our daughter, the highlight was visiting national parks like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. For my wife, it was the opportunity to see Mount St. Helens again. For myself, it was the ironic realization that being a Foreign Service Officer in the State Department has allowed me to see more of the United States that I probably would have had in any other potential line of work. We're going to spend a couple of weeks seeing family and taking care of business in the Seattle area before returning to Washington, D.C. next month, and then moving on to China. Until then, thanks for coming along...

I would translate this, except that over the course of our road trip I've forgotten much of the Mandarin I'd supposedly learned during the previous ten months

Dateline: Folsom, CA

 

Tower Bridge, a Sacramento landmark since 1935

"Where are you from?" and variations thereof have always been difficult questions to answer. An army brat, the first three years of my life were spent in West Germany, followed by a year split between my mother's hometown of London and the Fort Hood army base in Killeen, Texas. When my father left the service, we moved to his native California, and it was in the southern part of the state that I spent my elementary, junior high and first year of senior high schools. We didn't move to the Sacramento area until I was already my daughter's current age. And yet when asked about my hometown, I will invariably answer with California's capital city. It was while living in Citrus Heights that I formed my closest friendships, and it was while studying at UC Davis that I made the decision to travel to Asia. And speaking of friends, this ongoing road trip provided me with an opportunity to meet up with a couple of them, by far the highlight of this trek across America.

But first a tip o' the hat to the Yosemite Nights Bed & Breakfast in Mariposa, California. The family running the establishment do a great job at making weary travelers feel at home, and the home-cooked breakfasts were excellent (with the added bonus of being able to watch deer and wild turkeys feeding in the backyard). The wife also packed us off each morning with some delicious home-baked treats. It's a great place to stay in the Yosemite National Park area.

We checked out of the B&B on Monday morning and headed north towards Sacramento. Rather than taking State Route 99, we opted for the longer but hopefully more scenic highways 49 and 120. The sky initially was dense with smoke, presumably from the Washburn Fire:

Evidence of the ongoing historic drought was also apparent:

Chinese Camp is a former Gold Rush mining town, noted for the thousands of Chinese immigrants who settled there seeking their fortunes. Though the Chinese residents would all eventually move on (or were driven out), the name of the community stayed. The sole elementary school was designed in the style of a Chinese pagoda:

Amber relaxes in the garden of the local general store:

The large number of abandoned buildings gives the area a ghost town feel:

The old Catholic church:

Eventually we reached the historic town of Folsom, in the Sacramento suburbs, where we would stay two nights at the Lake Natoma Inn. The American River flows just behind the hotel, and I went for a walk along the riverside on Tuesday morning while the girls were getting ready for the day:

Folsom is known locally for its large lake, but you probably know it for the classic Johnny Cash album recorded at the state prison, and in particular this song:

But in addition to correctional institutions and reservoirs, Folsom has a history dating back to the Gold Rush, and it was into the nearby Old Town that we ventured on another brutally hot Sacramento summer day. I'm used to it (the dry air beats dealing with humidity), but my daughter wouldn't stop complaining, and wondering why anybody would choose to live in such an oven. Here she is putting up with the heat and the sunshine while in Pioneer Village:

An example of a prospector's family's home. It could actually be moved from place to place on skids, an early forerunner of the mobile home:

Amber discovers the competing origins of the crescent moon on outhouse doors:

For lunch we went to Hop Sing Palace, a very Chinese-American restaurant named after a semi-regular character in Bonanza:

In the afternoon we drove out to the Sunrise Mall, a once-thriving shopping mall where I spent a lot of time as a teenager. Seeing all the vacated shop fronts, a part of my childhood died. Or, as a friend aptly described it, more like "Sunset Mall":

Back in Folsom, and waiting for a light rail train to cross the road:

And it was back at the hotel where we met up with Joe and Rich, good friends of mine going back to the 11th grade. Memories were shared and stories were related over dinner at Hacienda Del Rio:

Later in the evening the brothers took us to see the Chung Wah Cemetery, which once served the afterlife needs of Folsom's gold mining Chinese community. The gate, which was supposed to be locked, turned out to be wide open, so we went in to have a look. We couldn't see any gravestones, but there was an incinerator for burning ghost money:

Saying farewell at the hotel following a very enjoyable evening:

Before leaving the area this morning, we stopped off in Old Sacramento. While my wife wandered off to have a look around, I took Amber to see the excellent California State Railroad Museum, which I had last visited sometime in the 1990's:

A nod to those who built many of the first railroads in the western part of the country:

The western portion of the first Transcontinental Railroad originated in Sacramento:

We've got more bounce in California:

I wasn't expecting a mannequin to be there:

My daughter was impressed with the first-class meals in the dining car, and wondered why we couldn't be taking the train across America instead of driving. My answer to her was "Amtrak", that's why not:

A sad reminder of the lack of a high-speed rail system in this country:

Back in the Golden Age of the railways, some of the engines were huge in size:

Following the museum, the two of us took a brief stroll along the waterfront:

Shu-E shared some the photos she took while Amber and I were in the museum:

When we first moved to the Sacramento area in the late 1970s, I was unhappy at having to leave southern California. However, over time and thanks to friendships, I've come to appreciate the charms hidden beneath the flat surfaces, shady trees and blistering summer heat. While it's doubtful I'll ever return to settle down there, I'm not ashamed to choose it as the best candidate for when I'm asked from where I came:

From the same Scottish group that brought the world "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep":