The Cross-Country Trip!

--Irubai 27 Soruji--

Starting September 12, I went with my mom on a trip all around the US! We don't have an exact plan for the trip--just a few things in mind. But, this trip will last quite a long time--all the way into November. But, I will tell you about my progress in the trip! So starting in Caifornia, it goes...

Tuesday September 12, Day 1--Up to the Red
We left on the trip at about 12:45 PM. Nothing really interesting happened today--we just went up the center of California (I did pretty much all the driving) and stopped in the town of Red Bluff. The only semi-interesting thing there was a dam that had a "fish ladder" where salmon and such could pass through. We saw a few fish swimming up that, but not many. Anyways, that was pretty much it...

Wednesday September 13, Day 2--Through Forest and Smoke
From Red Bluff we headed west--again I did almost all the driving. So we went, via the twisty highway 299. Parts of that road were interesting, and others were frustrating. There were five times when construction was taking place, so only people from one direction at a time could go on the road, making us wait up to fifteen minutes. And of course there's the usual slow trucks on curvy roads that are difficult to pass. There was one section of the road that was either foggy or smoky--but there was an orange glow about it, so maybe a fire was going on in the distance...

We ended up in the coastal town of Eureka. There we did a little shopping, a little driving around... But what was really neat was a zoo we went to there. It had a few interesting animals in it, like this cute little monkey with what looked like a lion's mane... There were a couple of animals walking freely throughout. One was a peacock, and the other was a cat! What is a house cat doing walking around in a zoo?!?

Thursday September 14, Day 3--On to Oregon
Today we drove up the coast! I don't think I need to say who did the driving for the next few days--it was all me... Anyways, we came to this one place where there were lots of redwood trees and some interesting rocks and beaches. After that, we finally left California and entered Oregon, and we stayed in a town in the southern part of the state--Grants Pass.

Friday September 15, Day 4--Mist and Snow
We went to Crater Lake today! We were so excited--we had been there before, and the lake was a beautiful blue colour... But don't get too excited. It was so foggy up there this time that we couldn't see the lake at all... Well actually, there was one time where the sky cleared up a little, so we got about a twenty-second interval when we could see the lake pretty well. It still looked pretty even then! Anyways, the only other interesting thing in the park was the fact that it was snowing there--hey wait, isn't it still summer? It looked very wintery and Christmas-ey to me...

After that we continued driving up until we hit the town of Albany--that's still in Oregon by the way.

Saturday September 16, Day 5--From Light to Dark
The first place we went to was a little amusement park called the Enchanted Forest, which we had been to on our trip to Crater Lake I may have mentioned yesterday. Everything in it was a fairy-tale theme, and the most interesting things in it were all these structures and other little places that really gave a feeling of being in those fantasy worlds. It also had a little water show that was pretty neat (and I mean the pretty as well). It was amazing overall--and not very time consuming at all.

After that, we went on to Portland. That was a most interesting city. First we went to the Saturday Market (how appropriate, it is Saturday), a sort of flea market where there were a lot of interesting shops. I even bought a new bag there--a pretty one at that! After that, we took a tour of the underground area of the city--a place which really was not a good place to be eighty or so years ago. That was a place where men were kind of kidnapped (well, they called it being "Shanghaied") and held until they were sent off to work on ships for the rest of their lives. There were even claims of ghosts and such in the underground as well--which is quite understandable in such a place. Overall though, it was a pretty neat tour, and after that--well, it was getting pretty late, so we called it a night.

I don't have time to post the rest now, so I'll hopefully do it tomorrow...