File Photo
Sometimes, for a vacation, we like to book a flight to a region we haven’t been to before, rent a car, and then spend a week exploring with no real schedule other than to make it back to the airport in time for the flight home.
This fall our destination was Portland, the gateway to western Oregon and northern California.
Pacific Coast Highway 101 is a scenic drive along the seashore; in this case, from Astoria to Brookings in Oregon, then onward through the majestic redwoods located just over the state border.
When you travel unfettered to a schedule like this, it is best to be flexible.
If you are lucky, you run into an unexpected treasure, something you weren’t aware of until you bump into it.
When we did a similar trip out of New Orleans, it was the Natchez Trace, a federal parkway running from the namesake Civil War heritage community on the Mississippi River to Nashville, Tennessee.
Travelling from Houston, it was the area north of San Antonio with the highlight for us being the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville.
Don’t pass it by if you are ever in the area. The pecan pie in the local restaurants was to die for as well!
I could easily become a “winter Texan”, enjoying a landscape very similar to the midwest.
Of course, there is the other side of being a modern-day vagabond.
We lost a day circling around a huge wildfire on the border between Oregon and California as the highway we wanted to use was shut down, allowing only emergency vehicles and personnel.
I prefer to book our hotel for the night by noon, to ensure we have a place to stay “down the road.”
Even with online reviews, there are times when the accommodation, or neighbourhood it is in, may not live up to the online reviews.
On this trip, we encountered a lot of mature adults working in the hospitality industry plus numerous signs on businesses looking for workers.
By the prices for food, gas, and other necessities, I suspect they also were working to obtain health benefits, a privilege we enjoy in Canada, through our taxation system.
Often at reception desks, there was a placard stating, “Please respect the staff here who showed up to work today!”
Portland has changed significantly in the 20 years since I was last there. The homeless or people in temporary shelters are almost overwhelming.
We have our own issues here, but nothing like what we saw there. It reminded me of downtown Vancouver.
So, it was nice to go, but there is still no place like home.
Vern McClelland is an associate broker with RE/MAX of Lloydminster and an active partner in his family’s livestock operation. Comments on this article are welcome either by emailing vernmcclelland@remax.net or calling 306-821-0611.
