We went to Newport Beach in LA on one of the days during our California road trip. It was our relaxing day. I wanna stay there and live there. Here are some of the beautiful scenic photos I'd like to share.

Images of wildlife and animals taken during my westcoast road trip. A few shots of wild cats. My favorite animal is the tiger. It took several shots for me to get the perfect frame.









© Jennie Yuen
My work is copyrighted and may not be reproduced, copied, or edited in any way without my express written permission.

We woke up at 8:30am and checked out our hotel just before 9:30am. We did a little detour to Carter's to get some kid's clothes for Brandon before heading back home northbound. We got back to Vancouver at about 5:45-6pm (just in time for dinner). We just picked up cooked food from T&T Supermarket.

It's funny... when we left Vancouver, it was somewhat cloudy and rainy. We came back to Vancouver and it was cloudy and rainy. Bummer!

Milage: Odometer before and after photos (total 6145 KM)

Map summary route of our overall road trip. The red route is going southbound and the blue route is going northbound. Driving across 3 States (north-south) is our new record.

It's shopping day in Portland area. Yay for the tax-free shopping.  We went to a few malls.  I couldn't find what I was looking for at the first mall, so decided to go to the other ones.  Here's a few snapshots of the shops we went and stuff we bought.










Shot glasses for my sister's and my mother-in-law's collection. Each of them have the same set/group, so I got like about 20 total (didn't realized I bought so many).

It was a bright and sunny day. We got up at 7am and left our hotel by 8am and were on our way to the Oregon Coast and Dunes City.

We took the exit on 136 to connect to highway 138 west and then connect to highway 38. We arrived in Florence at 12pm, so it took about 4 hours drive to Florence/Dunes City from Medford.




The next sand dunes tour at Sand Dune Frontier wasn't till 2:30pm, so we drove around and had lunch first. Then went over to Sand Land Adventures (another sand dunes tour place), but just did the go-karting. We walked around to kill time. Finally, we got to go riding on the bigger dune car. The tour was aout half an hour.  Our driver/guide mentioned that the type of sand is called snow sand, unlike the sand at the beaches. It is more finer here. It was like a desert out there. I was like, "wow!"




There were also other people in their ATV's



We got back to the lot at about 3pm and we were on our way to our next destination. We wanted to check out the sea lion cave just a bit north on Route 101. The view was amazing.








After checking out the nice scenaries, we continued driving up on Route 101 highway. At about 8:30pm and we've finally arrived in Portland, OR. It was a long day for us. Time to rest up.

Florence on Dwellable

We woke up super early at 7:15pm and left our hotel hotel at 8:30 am after grabbing coffee and breakfast (yogurt and muffins) from the lobby.  We drove onto the I-5 freeway and were on our way to Medford, OR. The weather got better later in the day.

It was around 12pm noon and we stopped at Burger King near Mt Shasta for lunch.  We passed by Mount Shasta (EL 14,162FT) again, but going northbound. There weren't as much snow as from the first time we saw on our way southbound couple weeks ago. It was still nice to see such a nice view on this sunny day.




On our left, we saw lots of snow on Mount Eddy (EL 9025 FT):




While driving along the highway, we passed by several farm houses and many cows, sheeps, and a couple of horses roaming around.  We were also driving through more of the smaller mountains.

 

At 2:05pm, we finally arrived in Medford.  Shopping time in Oregon ( tas-free State). We walked around the mall and afterwards checked into our hotel nearby.

I was glad to leave that hotel soon because the floor was filthy. This was Ramada Hotel and was supposed to be a good one, but this particular hotel had carpets that made the bottom of our feet black. I wore socks every time I walked on the carpet. It was so dirty I had to throw away my dirty socks.

It was another new day and another new place. We had the continental breakfast, checked out Ramada hotel at 8:00am and were on our way to Sacramento, CA.  It's a big city, so there were a lot to see.  We drove along the I-680 freeway, whick is a new route and not passing by San Francisco.

Passing the toll ($5) crossing on I-680 and connecting to I-80

Day 17 (May 16, 2011): Railroad Museum and Old Sacramento

At about 10:10am, we arrived in Sacramento. So it was about a 2hr drive from San Jose to Sacramento.  We first went to visit the Railroad Museum (http://www.csrmf.org/) and walked around Old Sacramento.  There were quite some interesting history about the trains and how the railway was built. There were toy train displays as well.




 

We had lunch in Old Sacramento at this restaurant called Ten22. I had Ahi Tuna Sliders (mini burgers) and hubby had pasta.



A brief view of Old Sacramento town.



After walking around Old Sacramento, we went to the Sacramento Zoo. Photos will be posted in my Art & Photography Blog.

I kept sneezing all day.  Don't know if it was hayfever or if I'm starting to get a cold.  It was chilly outside though and also some cotton puffs flying around the air.  I just hope I'm not getting sick.

At about 3:20pm, we went to check in to our hotel and rested.  Little Brandon was tired and sleeping so we just let him rest on the bed.

Day 18 (May 17, 2011): Car Museum, Governor's Mansion and the Capitol Building

The weather was quite cold. What a big difference from LA. I already miss the LA weather (and the palm trees). Our first stop was the California Automobile Museum. The museum showcases antique cars, muscle cars, race cars, as well as unique cars.




Automobile Museum Gallery




Next stop was the visit to the Governor's Mansion


Capitol Building





It did eventually stopped raining outside. We went back to our hotel and then called it a day. I was sleepy and didn't want to do anything else.