Originally Posted By Mrs Nurmi I would like to dedicate this thread to Dave and my sister, tiggerdis_. I hope they realize that they are taking away precious time from my son’s birthday to force me to write this trip report. ;-) So, we started out on Friday, March 10th. All five of us (Me, hubby, DS17, DS15 and DD13) crammed all of our crap and our little (or not so little, as it were, lol) bodies into our Kia Rio. It was pouring rain here – pretty icky stuff. We were prepared to drive from Vancouver, BC to Eugene, OR on our first day; a nice, simple start to our journey. We got out our way around 8:30am, and found ourselves through the border into Blaine, WA just shortly after nine. Woo hoo! It was a sign! We would be having an uneventful, simple jaunt down the I-5. NOT!! We got to Burlington, WA at around 9:30 am. We had a mission – to find the Vans shoe outlet for my oldest son. Not really thinking ahead, we had no idea where it was. So, I whipped out my handy, dandy Treo, looked up the Vans site, and lo and behold, got the address for the store. After driving around the block a couple of times, we managed to locate it in the Prime Outlets (d’oh. I should have figured THAT one out). So we pull in, walk up to the door aaannnnd… they don’t open till 10. Rats. What does one do in North West Washington when one has 20 minutes to kill? Why they go to Starbucks, of course!! Found one a block up the road, (no mystery there, I’m sure there were 15 of them in the 6 block radius…) and parked. I got out first, and I’m EXTREMELY glad I did, because directly beside the rear passenger door where Stewart was sitting was a giant pile of vomit. Mmmm. Great way to start the morning. So, we moved the car. The whole Starbucks was smelly. Methinks that the purveyor of the outside chunks didn’t quite make it outside on the first go around. Oh well, we’re on our way to Disneyland. Nothing matters. We make our way back to Vans, get some killer shoe deals, and head out. We marvel at how quickly we make our way through Seattle. But then, about an hour and a half south of Seattle, something goes awry. We end up stopped dead on the freeway. It takes us nearly two hours to go three and a half miles. We never did see why, there was no sign of an accident by the time we got through it. We felt a little ripped off – if you’re gonna have to sit in traffic, at least some glass or other auto-carnage should be in order. (Kidding. Really. Car accidents are bad.) Soooooo, off we go again. We’re just past Kelso, WA, back in the groove, swingin’ down the 5. We stop for lunch somewhere – I don’t remember where, but it was Taco Bell – then go through Portland. Thanks to the crappy earlier traffic, we manage to hit the rush hour going through the city. Not too bad, though, we get through it okay. Now, we’re about a half hour past Portland aaaaaannnndd…..stopped on the freeway. Stopped dead. Sigh. Takes us over an hour to go about 2 miles again, but this time there is quite a bad accident on the Northbound side of the freeway. Once we passed it, and saw the traffic backed up in the other direction, I was very glad not to have been stuck in THAT side of the I-5! The rest of our drive to Eugene was very uneventful, we made it there at around 7:30 or 8 (the drive *should* have taken about 9 hours including all of our stops) and stop at our Motel 6 for the night. Day two proves to be much less eventful. Just the standard cram-the-kids-in-the-Kia-day. We’re at a bit of a loss finding our beloved Starbucks outside of Eugene, so I whip out the handy dandy Treo once again – Yay! There’s on in the Albertson’s in Roseburg!! We have about a 12 hour drive ahead of us to Bakersfield, and we make it there around 8pm. There was a little snow through Grant’s Pass, but not on the roads, and really only a skiff. We think we’re back on track, and that our driving woes are over. NOT!! As we approach Bakersfield, there is a caution on the overhead highway signs – the I5 is closed through the Grapevine. No. Way. We figure, we’ll sleep on it, and then it’ll all be cleared up in the morning. We get a call from Dave in the evening warning us about the closure – he gives us the number for CalTrans so we can call in the morning to find out if it is open. Guess what? It’s not. So, we pull out the California map. Look, we can go east on the 58 and then go south from there! Nope, that’s closed too. Well, there is this other route – we’re not really familiar with the area, but we keep our options open – this route is open all the way through, but we want to try the 5 first. No luck, it’s still closed when we get there. Okay, so we go back north and pick up the 119 (I think that was it, maybe 116) to the 33. It’s closer to the coast, we bypass the mountains that way, right? Sigh. Let me just start by saying that remote doesn’t even begin to describe this area of California. It was beautiful and amazing, and the drive was TERRIFYING. We pass through one little town where we pick up the 33, and it’s kind of cute. Very small town farmish. Then we start up (and oh, I do mean UP) the 33. We come to this area of dilapidated houses and trailers with rusty lawn chairs out front. Oh, the Deliverance jokes were just a flyin’ around the Kia. (The best one? In your best Billy Bob Thornton-Sling Blade-Hick voice – “Your boy has a purty mouth.†I know. We need help.) (That doesn’t look nearly as funny in type as it actually was. But I digress). Then, the road starts to climb. And climb. And go around blind corners. And have rock slides. And have no guard rails when there is a 1500 foot drop down a jagged cliff. Oh, and to top it all off? We got some bad fuel as we left Bakersfield and the Kia starts to struggle going up the hills. Great. We get to 4000 feet and think we MUST be at the top, but no, it keeps going up for at least another 10 minutes. There is snow and gravel on the road – it’s a mess. There are also families parked on the skinny little shoulder so their kids can play with the two inches of snow on the side of the road. Not safe, people!!! It’s just snow! We finally start our descent down the windy road, trying not to plunge to our deaths in the abyss at the side of the road, and get to Ojai. We make a quick pit stop to check little car, it’s running rough, but doing okay, so we continue onto Ventura, then up to our ultimate destination – Disneyland and the Grand Californian!!!! It took us 5 hours when it should only have taken two, but meh. We are there and that’s all that counts.
Originally Posted By chickendumpling Great title. Great writing! I can see why Dave encouraged you to write one. Funny stuff! Eagerly awaiting further installments.
Originally Posted By Misty Very very entertaining! We moved to Cal from the east coast. Growing up driving the mountains of Virginia and Maryland, then living in Massachusetts and Vermont, I got used to some nice mountain drives. Move to California and holy smokes! Where are the guardrails? Who the heck built this road? Thanks for the report! Can't wait to read the rest.
Originally Posted By 4Disnee What troopers you guys were. I would have been a nervous nelly. lol I cant wait to read the next report. Thanks
Originally Posted By RAM1984 >> It was beautiful and amazing, and the drive was TERRIFYING.<< My husband and I were forced to take this route on our way back to Northern CA at Thanksgiving. How about the places where there is only one lane because half of the road has apparently fallen off!!? >> We finally start our descent down the windy road, trying not to plunge to our deaths in the abyss<< When we got home and told our tell we were told that was the rosd where 50's actor James Dean met his. Glad you all made it safe. I drive from CA to Seattle a lot and I know about the Portland and Tacoma delays. WHEWWW (Please bear in mind that SoCals do not see snow very often.)
Originally Posted By Disney_or_bust It's this sort of trip report exactly that keeps me coming back to this section! Just loved reading it. Thanks!
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 I don't know how I missed reading your reports. I'm loving your writing I would have been FREAKING out on that drive!
