West Coast Visit

Jimmy Lee
13 minutes ago
4 min read

The last part of our USA tour took place on the west coast where we visited family in Central Oregon and Northern California. Activities included hiking, a prison, and a baseball game.

Saturday, August 8 - Friday, August 14, 2026

Travel to Oregon

Saturday - Turn in rental car

Friday night’s visit with Sondra’s nephew in Pennsylvania wrapped up our east coast friends and family tour, and Saturday morning of August 8 we transitioned into beginning our trip to the west coast. The day started with a 6-hour drive to downtown Boston where we dropped off our rental car, followed by a ride-share to our hotel in Chelsea.

That evening we had dinner in local Italian pub located in an East Boston neighborhood. The walk from the hotel was primarily through a residential area without tourists and we enjoyed the local atmosphere.

Sunday - Fly to California

Our flight to San Francisco was with Frontier Airlines and leading up to the flight several people commented on how horrible the airline is. One reason is that although the ticket price was low, passengers often end up paying a lot more after various fees are added. Other reviews mentioned poor customer service. We found agents to be friendly, but some of the rules were cumbersome. Reading through their rules ahead of time helped alleviate some of the frustration, but still we had a few surprises.

The first flight landed in Atlanta on time, but it took another hour to get off plane. Then the connecting flight was delayed by over an hour. It appeared that all the Frontier flights were running late involving multiple gate changes. We were off the plane in San Francisco two hours after the scheduled arrival time, so it was a bit late for us as we picked up a rental car and drove over the Bay Bridge towards Berkely and our hotel, checking out the nighttime skyline along the way.

Monday - Drive to Oregon

Eight hours after checking into the hotel we were back in the car for our drive to the center of Oregon. The 9-hr drive went quickly due to the varying habitat and topography of Northern California.

Traffic was light and the scenery leaving the hilly San Francisco metropolitan area was pretty. It wasn’t long before we crossed into the Sacramento Valley to view farmland for miles and miles, complete with several crop dusters dancing in the skies.

Mt. Shasta, California's northernmost mountain over 14,000' in elevation

The most magnificent part of the drive was passing through the Shasta area! The farmland landscape drastically changed to conifer forests with stunning views and lakes between the mountains. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) crosses Interstate 5 in this area, and we could understand why the PCT evokes such passion by those who have hiked it. Then we passed by Mount Shasta. Although Sondra had grown up in California, she had never seen the mountain and was impressed with its beauty.

Not much further north we entered the Butte Valley where the views may have been beautiful had there not been so much wildfire smoke. The amount of haze was quite surprising and the thick smoke continued on into Oregon as we drove further north.

Oregon

Monday through Thursday – Visiting Family

We spent three nights visiting Sondra’s sister in central Oregon, near the town of Prineville. Sondra had been to coastal Oregon about 20 years ago on a work trip on a tour of wastewater treatment plants and this was Jimmy’s first trip to Oregon.

View of Prineville
Welcome to Prineville
Barnes Butte Park

Prineville, OR is located in High Desert habitat

Some nearby wildfires impacted our stay a little bit. There was a large fire to the east which kept us from visiting the Ochoco National Forest which Sondra’s sister said was beautiful. Instead, we pulled up air quality maps and decided to head west for Steelhead Falls on Tuesday.

Thankfully there was significantly less smoke near Steelhead Falls and the weather was perfect for a hike along the Deschutes River. The river sits in a canyon with steep walls providing some great scenery. Towards the end of our hike, we found a little pool at the falls to wade in as we watched people jump off cliffs into a deeper pool just downstream of the falls.

Steelhead Falls

After the hike we drove over to Over the Edge Taproom to enjoy a local brew in their outdoor patio.

Wednesday morning, we woke up to a lot less smoke, so we stayed close to the house. In the morning we groomed Sondra’s niece’s horse and took turns riding her. By the time Jimmy was offered a turn in the saddle, the horse was a bit tired and grumpy, even to be lead, so he wisely declined the challenge.

Sondra & her sister with Snowball

In the afternoon Sondra’s sister showed us around some local parks. All in all, it was a refreshing visit, and we hope to return another time when Sondra’s niece is in town.

California

Thursday through Friday – Visiting family

We left the house early Thursday morning in an attempt to return the rental car in San Francisco before the afternoon traffic got too heavy. The drive back was a lot less smoky and uneventful. We were able to return the car and arrive at our downtown hotel by 5 pm.

This was a short visit to San Francisco where Sondra’s cousin lives. Some of our sightseeing included a visit to Alcatraz Island, another site Sondra heard of growing up, so she was happy to finally see this sight. The audio tour did a great job helping better imagine what life was like in the prison as it covered the history of the prison. After the tour we wandered around the island and admired the gardens that were left behind by the officers wives and are now being tended to by volunteers.