Aboard the Prius - Our Trek to the Pacific Northwest (Pt. 6)

Day 6 - May 13


Drove through the Redwoods.  Those are some windy roads and towering trees.  Ancient.  Silent guardians.  There isn't a way to capture how tall these trees are.  As good as Mom's camera is it couldn't capture the awesomeness of their height.  In some patches the trees are so high their leaves form a canopy so that barely any sunshine penetrated the forest floor.  The air is thick with age, and time is trapped beneath the tree's wings. It is quite a feeling driving through the Avenue of the Giants.  I was hoping they would have a visitor's venter and a nice gift shop.  Nope.  Nada.  The gift shops we encountered were so cheesy.  Such as the Big Foot gift shop we decided to stop and have a look-see.  I succumbed and purchased a mug and several refrigerator magnets.  We probably won't see anything else that will top this.

At some point we entered a town and encountered a cherry stand by the road.  We stopped and purchased a bucket--a pint.  Oh, they were delicious.  Their flesh were firm and bursting with sweetness only good soil and sun can produce.

Vastly disappointed with California.  I liken it to an unkept, shaggy haircut with exposed split ends.  The landscape is vastly different from Oregon's.  It looks like there's a drought here.  The grass and hills are brown.  Very dull.  There's so much sunshine that the leaves appear faded.  The grass alongside the highway are overgrown with bits of trash clinging inside its bushy long-bladed weeds.  I'm quite saddened we are no longer in Oregon.  Matt commented that he's jealous that we're in California and he's not with us.


We drove past the Coppola winery and vineyard outside of Sonoma.  We saw the Kendall Jackson winery and vineyard from the highway.  We hit rush hour traffic.  Ugh.  The grass and weeds along the shoulder are way overgrown and unkept.  Where I live they would never have been allowed to grow so much; they would have been mowed promptly.

Scenes taken from inside the Prius

My favorite scenery...

brings to mind the Tuscan landscape

We arrived in Vacaville where our hotel was located around 5:30 p.m.  I'm so ready to go home.  If Napa looks like this I'm sorely disappointed.  We unloaded our bags and went to our room (in Hampton Inn) to discover it only had one bed and a sofa bed.  Dad went back to the front desk to request if we could get a room with two queen beds.  Thankfully they did have a room available.  We switched rooms then left to go downtown to find a place to eat.  The streets were lined with restaurants.  It's a lovely downtown.  We decided on an Italian restaurant, Fuso.  Good choice as it turned out.  We were the first dinner patrons of the evening.  The establishment was charming with exposed brick decor.  We were seated at a table next to the front windows, and we had a direct view into the open kitchen.  Mom ordered the spaghetti and meatballs.  I ordered the capellinni.  Dad chose the large house salad and requested tomatoes.  When asked what we would like to drink, I ordered a glass of Riesling...as did Dad.  One of the waitresses who served our bread basket and plate of olive oil and balsamic vinegar commented that I looked like her friend in Australia.  You two could be twins, she said.  No one has ever told me before that I looked like a friend of theirs.

Inside Fuso's restaurant

Our dinner salad...

with slices of strawberries

My dinner

Mom's dinner

After our delicious meal we strolled the sidewalk of downtown Vacaville for a bit. I asked Dad if we could go to Borders.  We made our way back to the Prius and located the bookstore with my iPhone app.  I found several books I wanted but decided not to spend money.  We then went to Lucky's grocery store and purchased a gallon of drinking water.  Back at the hotel we showered, and Mom turned on the television.  We laid in bed watching the last hour of "Air Force One".    

All photography were taken with my iPhone.

© 2010 Sriprae P. McDonald