3000+ mile road trip in winter: Portland OR to Tucson, AZ and small towns in between.

This blog gives you a lot of information about less known places, good bites and reasonably priced good places for staying. 

December gets cold in the northwest so where can you soak in the sun, this year we decided on Tucson, AZ via California.

Redding, CA We have been driving from Portland to California for years now, but we never really stopped at the small towns on the way, now with the long road trip, we had time, and we stopped at Redding on I-5.

A small town but it has its own charm. Its fame is the Sun Dial bridge which is worth visiting but the best part is the path by the river that goes up to Shasta dam. It is a 17-mile bike ride and you can rent bikes near the bridge. I think we will do that one of these days.  But this time we just went south after taking a one-night break. We were headed to Long Beach.  Look at the blue sky in the photo. Needless to say, we knew we were headed in the right direction to soak in the sun.

Long Beach is a pretty town with a long walking/biking trail right by the sea. I love the this town. After spending a few days in Long Beach, enjoying the local farmers market, the flowers, the sea beach and the gentle sun, we went a little bit south and parked ourselves at Dana Point, just south of Laguna Beach. 

Laguna Beach is famous for being a cute little town, but someone recommended us to visit, the piratetower. We would not have known this place by ourselves. This small strip of the beach was pristine. 

Dana point pier is a place you have to visit if you are in the area. Around Christmas time, it was really well lit with beautiful lights.

We stayed across from the Capistrano beach. There was a casual but nice restaurant called Sunset’s Bar and Grill, close by and they had a very good happy hour with fabulous Mai Tai for $5.

We also visited the MissionSan Juan Capistrano, historic landmark and museum, it is called the Birthplace of Orange County. It was founded more than two hundred years ago.  It shows California’s multi-cultural history, embracing its Native American, Spanish, Mexican and European heritage. It was built as a self-sufficient community by Spanish Padres and Native Americans, and it shows how agriculture, industry, education and religion was done in those days. It is also famous for the Annual Return of the Swallows. 
We would not have gone to this place unless somebody told us about it. It is worth visiting and paying the 20$ entrance for the mission. 

This time in San Diego we stayed at a Best Western in Gaslamp quarter.  We stayed at the Best Western Hotels in this trip, because I found out that most of these are small franchises in the good parts of the cities and the owners are generally the ones welcoming you.  They are very courteous, the hotels follow Covid-19 rules and all the big chain standards followed, most of these have started out as individual hotels and have now joined Best Western chain to get the marketing arm and other benefits.  These hotels are small and are well decorated, really cozy and they give you a feeling of staying at home, especially when you are on a long road trip, it is important to not feel like you are going from hotel to hotel. The Best Westerns also have a decent breakfast. This hotel in the Gaslamp district was really well decorated and welcoming.

What can I say about Seaport village and the Gaslamp Quarter? The weather was perfect as it always is in San Diego, the food was fabulous and the music that was playing on the street was adding to the ambience with all the Christmas lights. From San Diego, we drove on Highway 8 to Tucson. A little detour down south took us so close to the border that we could see the border wall.  We were actually looking for the Talavera Mexican pottery but did not get it near the border, neither at Calexico near Mexicali.  Calexico turned out to be a bigger place than we imagined. The drive to Tucson was interesting because of the little detour. We reached Tucson in about 7 hrs. Our hotel in Tucson, was not expensive but luxurious.

The lodge in the dessert.  They also had a nice breakfast every morning. It was a nice sit-down breakfast. The lodge had a pleasant décor.  They actually, had a cactus garden with such a variety of cacti, wish they added some information about each cactus. We used the swimming pool and a hot tub every day after our daily excursions.

We went to the art district in Tucson with small cafes and restaurants, we also went on what looked like the most popular hike in Tucson, the Tumamoc hike. The trail is only 3 miles but it climbs all the way to the top of the hill where you get some 360 views of the city. Southwest is famous for the sunset colors and we got to see them on the hike. You have to start climbing around 4 pm when it is not too hot, and then when you come down, there is still light.  

The Saguaro National Park was as expected a typical landscape with huge Saguaros but we did not go on any hikes there because we went   after 11am and it was quite hot and sunny in December, for us people from Portland.

We had heard about Tucson being a dark city so we drove to the outskirts of the city later in the night and we were treated to luminous stars and our milky way up above. I wish I had a map of the stars and constellations that we were seeing.  There was one thing we could not do in Tucson and I wished I had looked into earlier, that was a tour to Mt Lemon, because of Covid-19, they had a dinner, astronomy tours only couple times a week and they were completely booked. Wish I had done the reservation earlier.

In Tucson, we came across a chain of Mexican restaurant name Blanco Tacos and Taquilla, I would strongly recommend their skyline location for their service, drinks, fajitas and overall atmosphere.  We also found amazing Talavera Mexican pottery shops very close to our lodge.  Mission successful. When you have a car, you can bring some heavy and delicate stuff with you too.

The little man, we have named him BOBO, is sitting at our house in Portland reminding us of our wonderful time in Tucson. We found something so simple but useful on the signals in Tucson. Every signal had a left signal and it was right below the normal signal and it turned on when the straight car signal stopped so one did not have to worry about whether you will get to complete the left turn in the current signal or not. I think this simple addition helps drivers a lot and I am sure will reduce left turn accidents in big cities.

From Tucson we stayed only 1 day at Scottsdale, Phoenix, Visited Papago mountains and the fashion district to see the art galleries.

Then, we drove to JoshuaTree National Park on Highway 10. After the exit from 10, it was a 1-hour drive thru complete isolation with no life in sight. I think the road from Palm Spring is better to go to Joshua Tree. We stayed in Twenty nine palms, a small town near the west entrance. We also found a local pizza place, called Rocky's Pizza  and the food was so tasty we went there the next day as well. Their tiramisu was out of this world. The locals also recommended the Campbell Hill bakery where we actually stood in the line to get some of their goodies which were selling fast in the morning. Joshua Tree National Park, where two  desserts (Mohave and Colorado) meet,  has 3 entrances. We got in the west entrance and went to our first hike to Barker Dam, there were warnings of flash floods and weather was convincing, I had heard about these flash floods, Luckily, we did not encounter any.   There is no food available in the park so you have to plan well or take your lunch and water with you.  Ryan mountain hike is very good and you should time it such that you return around sunset, to get the best views. Another hike we went to was Black Rock Canyon Panorama loop. We got a bit lost but because of that, I saw a campground there. And if I were younger, I would have loved to do camping there right under the stars in a little chilly but good weather.  That said, we were happy to come back to our bed in the hotel room. 

Our next stop was Temecula. We had rented a  house and we met out friends there. Temecula is So Cal’s Napa. So many wineries and beautiful vista.  They also have hot air balloon rides, had we known earlier, we would have book that too. But it was good to see the hot air balloons in the sky every morning. We went on a hike to Eagle rock where the rock formation is truly like an Eagle. It was a 6-mile round trip hike, very easy, moreover the hike also gives you bragging rights for walking on the Pacific Crest Trail!   We were so hungry after the hike, that when somebody in the group suggested a restaurant close by, we just followed them. The Farmhouse turned out to be such a cozy place with excellent choices of foods, good wine, quick service. We were also very hungry so it all worked well for us and on top of that, it was next to the Julian Pie Company. People from San Diego and Long Beach have always told me to try a pie from Julian, here we got to choose the freshly baked pies right where they were made and now, I will join also tell people, if you have not had a pie from the Julian pie company, then you have not had a pie yet.

After spending 2,3 days in Temecula, we headed back to Portland via San Fransisco.  It was raining in San Fransisco before we went and after we left, so we lucked out with the good weather. We stayed in downtown, couple blocks from the Union Square. So, we walked around and went to The Thonglor, Thai lunch place. I was glad to see that they did not let anybody enter the restaurant without checking their vaccination card.    

On the way back, I-5 was closed due to heavy snow, so we took 101 N, and it worked out really well, the road was slow but driving thru The Redwood National Park is a delightful experience. Those Colossal coast redwoods never stop to amaze me with their beauty.

We stopped at Crescent city. A small coastal town with a lighthouse that can be visited only if the tide is low. We like the Light House Inn there to stay.  There are quite a few options to eat at in the town.

 

Coming up via Brandon, Umpqua was a wonderful drive, it was rainy but not pouring rain, nothing an Oregonian cannot handle, no big trucks like on I-5. A vast sea that you can see all the way,  some wonderful music playing on the radio. This is what a road trip is all about.  

After Coos Bay we took route 38, passing Elkton where you can see elks roaming and grazing.  

 This road meets I-5 near Eugene, it is a pretty flat road so no worries about the snow in winter especially if you are driving a non AWD car.  We drove a Tesla and had no issues with charging because the car maps out where you can charge and those ½ hr. breaks really help.  Most of the charging stations are next to some coffee shops or restaurants.

 

We entered Portland around 4, 4:30 and there was a beautiful sunset seen from the rear-view window, when we left, we saw rainbows around Portland and Eugene and this sunset on the return, we knew we have returned to a beautiful place, our home.

 

Thank you for reading my blog.

my other travel blogs are 

New Mexico - The land of Enchantment

Trip to Ketchikan, Alaska

When you are going to Shanghai, be sure to go to Hangzhou

Lake Titicaca

Grand Canyon - Traveling 2 billion years in 2 days!