Day 6: Victoria to Fort Flagler State Park
We sadly left our nice guest suite and continued on our road trip. We caught a big ferry down to Port Angeles in Washington State and only got marginally grilled by customs. The sour reception was made sweeter by the cheap on board duty free, through which we managed to get a bit bottle of Captain Morgan and a carton of Budweiser for only $38.

Given the cold temperature and likelihood of rain we had decided to travel down the more Eastern coastal route of Washington, and not go through the Olympic National Park. While this was something I really wanted to experience, it is pretty chilly, with snow making a lot of campground inaccessible, and I can't imagine we'd enjoy it too much if it was raining the whole time. I hope we will get the chance to go there in the Summer months.

We stayed in Fort Flagler State Park, a 19th century established military fort. We went for a look around the fort itself but it didn't really have any information, and was covered in graffiti. The campground itself was overlooking the water and it was a beautiful sunny afternoon. I made Panang Curry for dinner, which sounds amazing but in actual fact it was turkey mince (half price), drowning in curry sauce, poured over gluggy rice. It looked like slop but it tasted pretty good and it was hot and filling.

I failed again at the shower, as I only had two quarters and thus three minutes of hot water time. And three minutes later I was left in the cold with a head full of conditioner. Using my creative side I managed to wash out the conditioner under the cold hand basin faucet and then dry off under the hand blower. Success!

Day 7: Fort Flagler to Ocean City
It rained during the night and we got up and went pretty early and just drove west towards the 101 coastal road. Another stopover in Walmart and we picked up a little TomTom GPS which will help us greatly, despite sometimes getting confused and thinking we are driving on water...

We drove through Aberdeen, which is the hometown of Kurt Cobain. As you enter the city the sign says "Aberdeen; Come as you are". It was raining very heavily by this time so we trucked on through to our campsite, Ocean City State Park.

Here we encountered a new pinnacle of shit weather. Zane cooked dinner in hail. Luckily it was an easy meal to cook (noodles) so it didn't take long and we were soon enough nice and warm in the van.

Day 8: Ocean City to Astoria (Oregon!)
Unfortunately the weather hasn't improved so we haven't had much of a chance to enjoy the coastline. We are now in Oregon, right up at the tip, near Astoria. We're pulled in for the night and I think it'll be another quiet one.

We stopped in Astoria today for some clam chowder in this little smokehouse that has been open since 1920. Then we went to a microbrewery and had some truly foul beer. Mine was quite nice but Zane got the IPA and Keiths it wasn't. The flavour card describes it as 'a big straight forward blend of citrus notes and flavours followed by a smooth malty finish'. In my own words, 'a thick, heady brew that goes down like soup and leaves you retching with its acidity'. I had to help Zane finish it off and there were chunks down the bottom and two hours later I can still taste it in the back of my mouth.

I'm pretty excited as we have just found out that there is a Crab, Seafood and Wine Festival in Astoria this weekend and buses that will take us from our campsite to the event. I think Zane is keen to continue down the coast but I hope I can talk him into staying just one more night.

Much Oregon love,
T and Z.