my name is Elliot and in late February 2020 my wife and I set off on a road
trip from Vancouver to Napa California where she was going to run in the napa
marathon the trip was going to take us a full seven days with six stops along the
way Astoria New Port Eureka Napa Medford and Portland it would be the most
driving I would do in a week but it was also a new experience to be on the road
hopping from one hotel to the next seeing small towns and having the
freedom of my vehicle to stop whenever I want
there was nothing like a road trip the drive down to Astoria was wonderful it
was a beautiful day and it was a Wednesday so crossing the border into
the States was the fastest I've ever experienced it isn't usually like that
it's also worth mentioning that this was literally a week before the virus
outbreak was escalated to a pandemic and before Trump issued a state of emergency
preventing any non-essential travel across borders so we were lucky to have
gone when we did because I don't know when my next trip will be so yeah I know
the route down to Portland pretty well I mean it's just one road and I've
traveled there almost annually it's a good distance away around five hours
which is usually when I start getting really tired of driving five hours is
about my limit when I was planning this trip I decided not to cut all the way
down the i-5 but to take the scenic route down the 101 Oregon coast
something new it will add another 10 hours of solo of driving to the trip
giving me some days with way longer drives but for me to visit some new
towns was completely worth it Astoria Oregon I've heard a lot about
Astoria but it didn't know what to expect it turned out to be a bit of an
industrial railway port town famous for being the filming location of the
Goonies and Kindergarten Cop so famous that the hotel we stayed at the
Riverwalk in had many many DVD copies of those two movies in our hotel room the
balcony opened up over the water so we were literally right beside
Maryna during the day a story was beautiful
the Columbus River and the big narrow bridge that almost looks like a rainbow
was simply unforgettable at night and made my way to boy brewing to grab a
drink the way I see a city the way I remember it is through their breweries
if your city has a brewery then in my opinion it's worth visiting boy brewing
reminded me of a lot of other brew pubs in Oregon
something about wooden aesthetics I got an oyster dish there their specialty
they put jam on it for some reason which I felt defeated the whole point of
eating oysters oysters should be the star flavor not the jam the beer was
good though Newport Oregon the next day we set off from Newport it would be the
shortest duration of driving during this whole trip just over two and a half
hours so that put me in a good mood however it was very foggy and rained at
various points nevertheless we arrived in Newport nice and early with plenty of
daylight to spare Newport was a surprise stand out of the trip there was so much
liked about it we stayed at Nye Beach in which from the rear there was a big
staircase that led down to a wide windy Beach there's something so unique about
beaches in the Pacific Northwest it's not like tropical beaches it's much more
modest it's just you the sand and the horizon I'd love to see this place in
the summer another great thing about Newport and the end we stayed at was the
hot tub no trip is complete without a dip in a hot tub we got a clam chowder
at a place called chowder bowl and the obligatory brewery I visited in Newport
was beer one brewing this place had a lot of wacky furniture for example the
chair i sat on was some sort of modified toilet that was fun
Eureka California leaving Newport was bittersweet deep down I wanted a
relaxing vacation so I could have definitely spent another day or two
there walking down the beach soaking in the tub reading by the fire pit but the
adventure continues this was a long day from Newport to Eureka about a six and a
half hour drive it was a beautiful route though passing a lot of great views of
the coast on the way down to California we took a break around the halfway point
in a quaint little coastal town called Bandhan where we got fresh crab for
lunch I'll be honest I'm not a big crab guy but the crab sandwich I had was
pretty awesome I knew that this was the type of food I was gonna miss when I'm
back in Vancouver as we got further south down the 101 the route continued
his wine dienes but soon we were off the coast and into the forest of redwood
trees while driving it was hard to appreciate how big the redwoods were
they were just kind of obstructions a part of me would have loved to spend a
night camping there I felt as though I've entered another world by the time
we arrived in Eureka at our Best Western hotel the Sun had set on what was a
beautiful day Eureka in the night was far from beautiful we stayed just
outside of Old Town about a 15-minute walk and when we were heading there for
dinner at a place called 511 a higher-end restaurant I came to the
conclusion that Eureka is perhaps the sketchiest city I've ever visited there
was just something about how deserted it was with the warehouses wide alleyways
and shadowy streets keep in mind in Vancouver I live near the Downtown
Eastside a notoriously sketchy part of town but there all the craziness is
concentrated anyways in the morning Eureka was much more approachable it
still had his blemishes but when we got to the harbor and walked through the
small historical neighborhood it felt more welcoming our stay at Errico was
short and I didn't get a chance to visit any breweries there but during dinner I
did order a beer from booth Brewing which apparently originated from South
Korea before migrating to Eureka Napa California there is certainly a
different vibe when passing from Oregon to California once we got closer and
closer to Santa Rosa I really felt it the small natural laid-back vibe that I
liked about Oregon was gone and suddenly I'm on one of the most stressful
highways I've ever driven on this was of course after already driving five hours
there was a lot of nothingness for a few hours after leaving Eureka then we
passed a lot of small towns and then finally the city the five to six lane
wide highways when you only have a faint idea of where you're going can get a
little intense especially when everybody is driving over seventy miles an hour
luckily we made it off the highway safely and arrived in wine country and
it was beautiful the roads went up and down occasionally allowing me to see the
full view of the vineyards that was what driving was all about and it made the
whole long journey worth it here's the thing about California unless you have a
lot of time and energy nothing is walking distance I love
walking that's my ideal way of seeing a city but when we arrived in Napa
at the Embassy suite I realized that the closest restaurant within walking
distance was Little Caesars not exactly the Michelin star experience I was
hoping for the embassy suite was really nice though and there began our two-day
stay as my wife prepared for the marathon
the next morning some marathons have the starting and fishing line in the same
place but for the Napa one a bus actually drives the runner forty two
point two kilometers away and then they have to run all the way back into the
city my wife woke up at 4:00 a.m. to prepare and catch this bus meanwhile I
slept for another four hours or so and then met up with her at the finish line
every time my wife finishes a marathon I'm super proud of her because I know
how hard it is it's so incredible that she can do that that she has the mental
power and physical endurance so after she finished we celebrated we went home
and chilled for a bit with a bottle of wine and prepared for our dinner
reservation and Morimoto Napa we love sushi and this was an incredible
experience we ordered the omakase and it was phenomenal the last time we order
a mikaze we were at Tojo's in vancouver and that was the ultimate disappointment
Morimoto was great I recommend it the next morning before
we headed back on the road in the direction of home we decided to check
out a few different wineries and grab some bottles I'll be driving for the
next 5 hours so I wasn't gonna do any tasting but I really wanted to the first
winery we stopped at was born Avista this was a bit of a drive to get to but
the winery itself was historic I mean there were literally cutouts of
historical figures as we walked towards it built in 1857 this was one worth
seeing the next winery we went to was Roche as recommended by my friend Cody
this winery was a pleasant little storefront in the heart of Sonoma
lastly we went to scribe we felt it was necessary to visit this one because my
wife and I are writers it was scenic and the weather was
perfect if only we were there for another day and I wasn't driving and I
was super rich I love to have spent a day going from one winery to the next
buying bottles alas we were back on the road Medford Oregon out of all the
driving I did this leg was probably the hardest no matter what type of trip you
go on when you were heading back home you tend to feel that the commute is
more of a drag a bit of the excitement is gone honestly I didn't know what to
expect in Medford but it did pick a hotel and at the Commons which was
located right next to a brewery the common block brewing so that was at
least convenient by the time we arrived it was already dark and we didn't feel
much like wandering around Medford in the night so we had dinner at the
brewery and chilled we didn't expect much from Medford but it was an overall
nice pit stop
Portland Oregon from Medford we continued back up the i-5 towards
Portland now I've been to Portland five or six times now and I love the city we
usually stay in or around the Pearl district neighborhood which is on the
west side of the river but this time to change things up I decided to stay on
the east side the east side is certainly the more grungy ER side we booked a room
at the Jupiter hotel which was overall disappointing first they charged us like
$40.00 for valet and parking for the night which was kind of ridiculous so
every time I needed something from my car I had to go to the ballet get my
keys and go to the garage where it's parked and then hand back the key to the
valet it's a small hotel if you can even call it a hotel let me park my own car
on top of that there was a bag of garbage in front of our room when we
arrived which especially when you've been traveling all day this is not the
type of experience that you want I didn't feel welcomed and that was the
number one metric for accommodations anyways one reason I wanted to stay on
the east side was because I wanted to go to cascade Brewing which has awesome
sour beer and while the hotel was a disappointment cascade delivered it's
awesome next we went to rogues pilot kitchen and that was a delight at this
point I would like to add that my wife doesn't drink beer at all so she was a
total sport for coming with me to all these breweries as a final treat we got
a nice sushi dinner at a place called bamboo sushi and then finished off the
night in Portland fashion with voodoo doughnuts little didn't we know it would
be a long time before we'll have sushi again
Vancouver Canada and that's it that was our road trip the next day we headed
back to Vancouver and a few days after that the whole virus thing exploded as
I'm putting this video together I feel super grateful that I got a
chance to do a few trips this year and that I'm safely at home and healthy
while going on another road trip may seem like something that will happen
only months and years from now I hope I've inspired you to reflect on some of
the trips you've been on in the past and feel lucky that we've lived in a time
where traveling with ease was possible thank you for watching if this is your
first time here I tend to make videos about writing and the creative process
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