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USA west coast
  • Hannah Pa
  • Hannah Pa

USA west coast

A 26-day adventure by Hannah Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 14, 2023
  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    2
    11

    Day 2 - Seattle explorations 👀

    August 15, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    The day started with a tour of Pike Place market, then an extended city walking tour. Next a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island, and lastly a bus ride up to Kerry Park for the “Grey’s Anatomy shot of the Seattle Skyline”. Met two fellow solo travellers during the first tour and we spent the remainder of the day together. Best comment of the day from one of them (21 years old from South Korea): “What, you’re 35?! How’s that possible, you look so young and healthy!!” 😂 🤷🏻‍♀️ now off to the Hostel’s “free ice cream night” 🥳🍦Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    1

    Day 3 - From Seattle to Packwood 🦌

    August 16, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    After a sleepless night in Seattle (jet lag after all), and a very early morning walk to the water front, I packed my stuff to catch the bus to Tacoma, to pick up my car. Unfortunately, the bus ride wasn’t as straight forward as I had hoped, but in the end I made it to the Hertz car rental shop with some 2h delay. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Finally a proud (temporary) owner of a Kia Forte, I took off in south-eastern direction towards Mt Rainier. Stunning views on the way there!! Will stay in Packwood tonight, and prepare for a hike in Mt Rainier National Park tomorrow 🎒🥾🍫🧃😎
    Update: there is Kölsch in Packwood 😂    Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    1

    Day 4: Mt Rainier NP Trails & Portland

    August 17, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    What a day - very beautiful, but also very exhausting. Started driving from Packwood to enter the National Park at 07:00h, to be early enough to secure a parking spot - which worked 😁👍🏼 started my first fast hike/slow run around 09:00 and returned in time for lunch at the Paradise Ranger station. Then drove to Reflection Lake (it’s supposed to reflect the Mt Rainier glacier when waters are quiet, but it was too windy for that today) and did another hike/run in that area. Sooooo nice! 😍 Had some wildlife encounters with chipmunks, marmots and a deer. The ranger said there was even a black bear on the Skyline trail (first trail I did) the day before, but today - luckily - no bear encounters for me. After a quick afternoon snack, I started driving towards Portland, and I’m now lying knackered but happy in my hostel bed 😊 good night!Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    11

    Day 5: Portland to La Pine

    August 18, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Woke up in Portland (very early!) to a beautiful warm day. Took a tour of the city in the morning before exploring a little bit on my own. Portland has a Ned Flanders bridge! No wonder - Matt Groening is a local Portlander 😀 Also visited the biggest independently owned bookstore on Mother Earth (Powell’s).

    Then started driving towards La Pine in the afternoon, approx. 4h south of Portland. This was supposed to be an overnight stop to visit crater lake the next day (today). However, due to wildfires, crater lake is covered in smoke (I can track the developments through the national park webcams and the app MyRadar, which was recommended by the Airbnb host in La Pine). Also, Ashland (what would have been my next overnight stay) is in a red smoke zone, and the Redwoods are kind of circled by wildfires. Hence, I am going to change my plans and drive down to Sacramento as a next step. Good thing I didn’t book far ahead and can spontaneously adapt my route 😁👍🏼 I am also closely monitoring the hurricane situation further south in California, and will adapt my plans again, if necessary. 🔥🌀😮‍💨

    Looks like I’m in for a full west coast experience, incl. natural disasters and all 😀    Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    21

    Day 6: Driving! California! Sacramento!

    August 19, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    State number 3. As there were too many wildfires in Oregon for my liking, I decided to take off and drive quite a bit further south to California, to Sacramento. So today was mostly that - driving 🚙💨 said bye to my very nice and helpful host Linda, and a fellow solo traveller who has visited all 48 continental states of the US. She drove through all of them!! 🤯 She gave me some good tips where to go and what to avoid. During my drive, I passed through veeery different environments, and it’s fascinating to see how quickly it can change from thick forest to desert and back. Also lots of burnt areas from former years. And beautiful lakes and rivers! Now I’m residing in a very cool hostel in Sacramento - feels like I’m in some Great Gatsby movie 😀 I’m a bit sad not to have visited Crater Lake, it was high on my list of places to go. However, there was just too much smoke 🤷🏻‍♀️Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    1
    211

    Day 7: Time-out in ‘Sac’

    August 20, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    After the long drive down from La Pine, I needed a rest day, and also a planning-the-next-steps day, and so I decided to spend another night in Sacramento. After a nice long breakfast and doing some research on this area and the surroundings, I went for a run through town (incl. Old Sacramento, Capitol Hill, and some random weird streets), had lunch, did the laundry, and had an early night in. No major adventures today 😀 tomorrow, I’ll be driving down to North Fork, as an access point to Yosemite (to go there Tuesday). Apparently, Yosemite is crazy busy this year, so I made sure to definitely avoid going in the weekend. Curious to see if this plan will work out and make it possible not to be stuck in traffic for hours. Updates soon on this channel 😎Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    11

    Day 8: From Sac to North Fork

    August 21, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Enjoyed my last morning at the Great Gatsby Hostel before I made my way towards North Fork. On the way, I had the worst lunch (avoid Olive Garden at all costs 🤢). But the drive towards North Fork was rewarding, the surroundings were quite beautiful 😍 at least for the last hour or so of the drive. My hostel in NF (Jackass Hostel) is great 😀 feels like a little school trip here, it’s very open plan and everybody is hanging out together. Got some really good info for my trip to Yosemite NP tomorrow. Also went for a short run at Bass Lake and visited the weirdest grocery store to get some proper healthy stuff for dinner, too make up for the lunch fail. Really enjoying my time here so far 😊Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    1

    Day 9: YOSEMITEEEE! 💚

    August 22, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Wowwwzie, what a day at Yosemite NP! I’m still in awe. Spent the whole day there incl. a hike up to Yosemite Falls, which had 15km horizontally but also 1km elevation gain 😬 my legs are a bit mad at me for trying to run down again. Now in my bed exhausted but happy. More detail might follow, for now I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves 👀Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    1
    211

    Day 10: more Yosemite and San Francisco!

    August 23, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    This morning, I enjoyed a bit of a slower start (apparently sleeping until 7 is late for me these day), and then drove to Yosemite NP/Mariposa grove again. Having missed the coastal redwoods in Oregon due to the fires, I looked forward to seeing the Giant Sequoias of Mariposa Grove. Fun fact: Mariposa Grove was the first site in the US to be declared a protected area because of its natural beauty - and thus National Parks became a thing. And the trees really are beautiful! And ginormous.

    After lunch, I took off in north-western direction towards San Francisco! I’ve wanted to see and feel this city for the longest time, so I was super happy to finally arrive here. My hostel has a great location at Fisherman’s Warf, overlooking the bay, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. But honestly, I came here bc it’s the only hostel in SF with free parking 😂 priorities!! The sunset at the beach was so beautiful! And I touched the Pacific Ocean for the first time - at least this side of it. It was cold!

    Then, travelling to the location by cable car, I went to a hostel-organised pub crawl with a rock-paper-scissor competition. I lost every single game. 😡 Good night.    Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    11

    Day 11: No need for arm twisting

    August 24, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    … I’m already convinced 😀 San Francisco goes on the list of cities I would move to immediately, should a (temporary) opportunity present itself. On this list are also Melbourne, London and NYC. In another life, maybe I would like to be a realtor in SF? Bc look at these buildings!!

    Had a slow morning at the hostel, then some random explorations of the city, and a comedy show in the evening. Another great day 🥰    Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    11

    Day 12: More of San Francisco

    August 25, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Breakfast, SF walking tour, waiting for an Italian sandwich for half an hour (but it was soooooo good 🤤), lazy afternoon, run in the evening with a beautiful sunset and view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Tomorrow: wine tasting in Napa 😎Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler

    Day 13: Napa and Sonoma 🍷 🥂

    August 26, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Spontaneously booked a wine tasting bus tour around Napa Valley/ Sonoma 😁 obviously the better choice than driving myself or having to stay in the area overnight (too f****** expensive!!!). We stopped at three wineries and tasted 12 wines in total 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🥂 I have to say - they were all good! The tour guide told us that Californian wines once won against French wines in all categories of a competition. Which I had never heard of, but I’m sure in Europe this isn’t really propagated too much 😂 Anyway. Really enjoyed it, met some crazy-ass girls from SF, who adopted me for the day, and came back home tipsy but happy. Yay for Napa Valley wines!

    P.S. the merchandise was awful!! Can anybody imagine European wineries to sell shirts like that along with their wines?? Hilarious! 😂    Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler

    Day 14: Bye SF - Hi Santa Cruz! 🏄🏻‍♀️

    August 27, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Today was the day to finally say byeeee to SF and move on down the coast. Arrived in Santa Cruz in the late afternoon & walked around a bit. SC seems like a fun and pretty place and also a hippie hotspot 😀 lots of singing, jewellery-making, fire-juggling and bongo-drumming going on along the cliffs and beaches. Not much surfing though - I guess it’s not the right time of the year for big waves?

    Spotted (brown) pelicans, cormorants 🐦, seals 🦭 and see otters 🦦 tonight 😍    Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler

    Day 15: Santa Cruz day at the beach

    August 28, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Slow morning in Santa Cruz with breakfast at the hostel, then a second coffee and pain au chocolat at the ‘Shrine Café’ (a really nice coffee place, but adjacent to a church 🥴). In the gardens of said church, I saw my first ever humming bird 😍 then a short visit to the surf museum of Santa Cruz (apparently it was SC where the first ever surf club was founded? Uli, weißt du das?). Anyway, Jack O‘Neill, who invented neoprene wetsuits for surfing (Uli?), was also part of the SC surf club later in the 70s. Now there is a restaurant is his name in the city.

    Again - no surfers out today. Apparently, the water has been quiet for the past week or so?

    Dumb me got a big old sunburn from not creaming my back well enough by myself. 😡 What a beginner’s mistake.

    Went for a nice long run in the evening 😍    Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler

    Day 16: driving to Santa Barbara

    August 29, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Today, I drove to Santa Barbara via Monterey, Carmel by the Sea and St Luis Obispo. The water is getting more and more turquoise and light blue, the further south I get. There were so many beautiful places I could have stopped at, so many coves and bridges and little beaches, but this way, I would’ve never arrived at my destination - Santa Barbara. I’m now officially in Southern California. Booked myself into a new and shiny hostel, which only opened 2 months ago. Very comfortable. After a short run, I joined the hostel crew for marshmallows (S’mores) around the fire 🔥😍 🍡 creamed my back with aloe and now off to bed 😌Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    1

    Day 17: Santa Barbara ✨

    August 30, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Met a nice bunch of people during the S’mores last night, and during breakfast the course of the day was decided by the group: beach, lunch, shopping, dinner and drinks. So that’s what happened today. 😁 And the beautiful sunset / moonrise of course 😍 Tomorrow, I’ll move on to Santa Monica.Read more

  • Hannah PaUSA west coastTraveler
    2

    Day 19: Somewhere in LA

    September 2, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    A day in LA
    - first checked out a shopping mall for Labor day sales and did NOT end up buying the Barbie crocs 🐊🤢
    - at the super hip café in Beverly Hills, everybody was wearing crocs though. So point one might have been a mistake?
    - driving a lot, being stuck in LA traffic a lot - probably the most LA thing to do 😀
    - quick check-in at the Griffith Observatory (incl. Hollywood sign photo ✅
    - The Getty museum for a little bit of culture
    - then a drink in a rooftop bar in Hollywood (😀) with some people I met in St Barbara
    - the end.

    Btw: it is raining in LA today 😭    Read more

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