Road to California

So, anyone who cares will realise that this is now a bit behind the times, things have been busy.
Leaving Portland for a Cachagua visit to see Zarosh on a cloudy day was a little daunting; just because of the distance.
Doing the trip in one hit is quite a mission - satnav says 12 hours.
Setting off around 7 helped I'm sure.
Leaving the prairie-type lands of Oregon & getting into the Cascade mountains which run down from Washington to California the clouds started to thin out & lift a little.

Then as Grants Pass came & went the stunning scenery was in full effect.

If I do the trip again Klamath falls would be a definite, but that would make it a 2 day run I guess.
Eugene (To see where the Goonies was filmed) & Medford (to skate the park) also would be on that list.
As far as the I5 Freeway goes Mt Shasta is the last peak of the range & the town is really close to the road.

Mount Shasta from the I5

Last time Zach, Sarah & I visited, we didn't skate the park. Just were burned out at that point of our trip.
Anyhow, this time it was great fun to skate & the coping is pretty unique. The blackest blocks I have seen.

The line in the open ended top bowl is perfect for regular footers to get bs / bs grinds.
There is a rock in the small steep pocket bowl to skate over.

As there was a group of BMXicans hanging round that point it didn't seem worth the embarrassment to take the slams that would nave been required to figure it out.

The setting is very special.


Finding Mt Shasta skate park isn't hard, just head up to the mountain side of the town & behind the schools is an Army depot, the park is just behind here.

Then onto Santa Cruz.

Wade Creek Estacada & more food carts...

Bit of a late start today,
After some cakes for breakfast.

We headed over to Estacada & skated the new park out there.
The bowl is really nice & the coping is perfect.
There is a printed brick bank & the most perfect hips to pop off.

Then evening meal at Food Carts, was such a pleasant evening, would have been rude not to.

All about Sushi.

Gin was starving.

Looks & sounds like we will get rain tonight.

Beaverton, Commonwealth & Brooklyn St spot, Portland

Skating today in Beaverton, I had a few runs & a few goes on the wooden one next to this. Was a bit busy.

Then Commonwealth, totally to ourselves.
Quite a workout for the 2 of us.

Then Brooklyn St, with trains clanking by.
Here is a little vid of Zach & Chris.

And some pics too.

Then it was tea time. Mini Pancakes.

Scorcher - Battleground, Woodland & Pier Park.

Not all food cart locations look that great. This one has a bar at the back. May visit it soon.

There was a plot of land with 2 old Portland houses, they were knocked down & these little places were built. Seem a bit cramped to me.

The day kicked off in Burnside, one more surreal experience; we met Osage & he told me all about how he has the native American rights to fish the river next to Burnside. How I wish Zach had taken our picture together, maybe there is still time? I worry that the PBR at 10 am will not do him any good (It's on offer in Portland, with 16 cans for $10.99 I think we paid later in the day). He also told me about the collaboration with Red in the early days & then took me to the nearby workshop where people are making iPhone covers out of old decks (they look really nice). Then we hightailed it out to Battleground.

I like the stars & stripes in this one.

Next stop was Woodland, a nice little park by the I5 with a pretty little lake that was nice to paddle in, with crystal clear water which was warm. Zach said it was full of duck crap, but seemed great to me.

Must remember to give the vicar his teeth back when I get home.

Watch out for stones.

Then onto Pier Park, the big one I have been waiting to visit. we have all seen the footage. Someone had burned a sofa in the bottom of the 11 feet deep end so it was prohibited to skate. Just pumping back & forth in the pipe was enough for me. Feels bigger & a lot scarier than Woody's Art Bowl pipe in Blackpool.

Was super hot though. Finally left the British weather behind?

Final stop Slappy town, the idea of getting busted in a parking lot did not appeal, so I watched this one, anyhoo I can't mess with this stuff anyways.