Where Are We Sleeping Tonight: Rodeway Inn, Yreka, California
After the joy of being woken in the middle of the night by Britney and Duane arguing over which bottle to use to feed their crying baby, we skipped the long queue for the free pancakes and chose to drive back to Astoria and visit the Astoria Sunday Markets where we had donuts for breakfast - I hate to think how much weight I have put on while driving around this country! We enjoyed walking around the many stalls where we got to see a lady wearing a large cob of corn for a hat, sampled a huge array of food including smoked beef jerky and stuffed olives, and Clare bought a huge bag of cherries that were crazy cheap. As we were still hungry, Clare got some crapes while I tried a llama burger. Tastes just like beef... although the best beef isn't put into beef burgers so I would guess that the nicest tasting part of a llama doesn't make it into the llama burgers...
Walking through the town, we saw a photography studio where someone had left a nice message for the photographer (Lisa) about her images in the window. After a giggle at that, we rounded the corner to see Amazing Stories comic book store. With a life-size Yoda in the window, we had to have a look inside. They had a great range and were a reasonable sized store (bigger than Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash) but their prices were a little high. With the day getting away from us, it was time to see a bit more of the town.
With Clare enjoying her big bag of cherries, we drove to the other end of town to visit the Oregon Film Museum, more commonly known as the jail from the opening credits of Goonies. It is a great idea that is unfortunately stuck in a small building. Their was heaps of Goonies info and the actual cell that you could walk into, but there was also heaps on the other films shot in Oregon as well as a couple of rooms dedicated to hands on film making techniques. If only they could expand into the building next door, then they could really go crazy. After Clare had a great photo taken in the museum, we walked outside to see the Flavel House Museum (also seen in Goonies) where we learned about Captain Flavel and the history of Astoria. Back in the car, we drove by the High School used in the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Kindergarten Cop on our way to the Goonies House. The owners of the house bought it after the movie was made and welcome visitors who want to look at the house from the gravel road. They were having a garage sale and I looked through their things hoping to find something I wanted to buy but sadly nothing was terribly interesting. The house 2 doors down is for sale though...
From the Goonies House, we could hear a weird noise coming from the marina - the same weird noise we heard yesterday. We had no idea what it was so we had to have a look - turns out it is a huge harem of sea lions! Abandoning the car, we walked down to the marina through a wonderful little suburb. All the houses were nice (except one grumpy person had stuck up a metal fence and grumpy signs) and this would be a great place to live. Arriving at the marina we couldn't believe not only how many sea lions there were but how damn noisy they are! One of the locals we were talking to said they were like "big dumb dogs"! And thankfully, there were no "discharges" from the pipe while we were there.
Crossing the bridge (which can bee seen in the background of Stephanie's house in Short Circuit) we arrived back in the state of Washington. Driving the longest way possible, passing by several stacks of lumber, and some over-Photoshopped photos of the local news team, we finally arrived in Portland.
When we were in Seattle, the chef at the sushi restaurant told us about Voodoo Doughnuts and said that any trip to Portland would be wasted if we didn't visit here. Arriving in the carpark we couldn't help but notice that the queue was out the door! Getting on the end, after a short wait we got inside the building only to discover how big the queue was inside! Seeing a couple of frustrated people in the queue, we didn't know if the wait was worth it but then I noticed that this store is open 24 hours a day! Anywhere that is that popular has to be worth it! Avoiding the maple bacon bar, we ended up getting a mixed box of doughnuts and one of their signature Voodoo Doll doughnut. I am glad we came here because these doughnuts are great!
Despite confusing intersections, we managed to head out of Portland. After filling up at the Chevron in Lake Oswego, we headed to the town of Brownsville where they filmed Stand By Me - it didn't ring any bells so we might have to rematch the film when we get home. With the daylight slipping away, we didn't have time to explore the town.
Stopping in the town of Grant's Pass, we visited Denny's for dinner - I think this is probably our favourite fast food restaurant that we have found in America and we will probably miss them when we get home. Filling up at the Texaco next door, we continued driving into the night.
We continued driving until just after 10pm when we crossed the border back into California. I wish I had thought of stopping at the time because this was the last state border crossing we will be doing on our US road trip. I am impressed that we have visited 47 out of the 49 mainland states. More impressive is this border crossing was the only border inspection we have seen. We declared no fruit but somewhere hiding in the car is Clare's missing bag of cherries - she didn't eat them all and we haven't seen them for 12 hours - I bet we will find them when we clean out the car in a week, probably discovering a new strain of penicillin!
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