We left San Francisco and made our way to Arcata. This was a lovely american town. We were lying on the bed chatting about the Titanic for some strange reason when the whole room started moving. It was wierd and scary. We made our way to the reception and asked what was going on. The receptionist seemed unconcerned and said it was just an earthquake. Well we found out later it measured 5.5 on the Richter scale. Mine & Anna's first earthquake experience. We made our way up through the Redwoods National Park. The giant redwoods are very impressive. See the photos of the car driving through the trunk (only in America). We headed up through one of the Native Indian reserves. I guess we were expecting to see them in traditional dress etc, but thats so lame. I did however take my bike out and go for a 40km ride. It was a stunning day and so Anna waited for a while and then followed. We stayed at a motel that night. I was always amazed at the quality of the motels. Anyway we had dinner in a restuarant where the ceiling was painted to give you the impression that you were at the bootom of a pond. You could see duck legs, boat bottom, fish etc. Quite funny really.We made our way up to Portland where we stayed in a hotel. Anna loves the Beatles and there was a program on about Yoko & the Beatles getting together to talk about there music being used for a Cirque Du Soleil in Las Vegas. So we ordered in and watched the show. The significance is that there has always been a rift between Yoko & the Beatles. The next day we made our way to Mt Hood & Mt Ranier. We managed to get a room at a hotel whose backdrop was Mt Ranier. The scenery was spectacular. Anna & I went for a run. It was one of the most spectacular runs of my life. I had to climb up the mountain for about 600m and then ran along the ridge. At one point I came out of the forest and wham... the view of Mt Ranier in front of me was spectacular. That evening I chose dinner both for me & Anna and she ended up with the best dish once again. Damn, I really wanted to break this jinx.We then drove through to Seattle. We stayed in a Holiday Inn as we were being picked up the following morning by Brad, a friend of Anna's. He was taking us to the San Juan islands for the weekend. At the ferry we met a friend of Brad's called Edi. It turns out she grew up on the island and still had a palce there. We were invited to stay over at hers. Brad is a writer and a singer. He even has a CD out. He is a really cool guy and it was great getting to know him. When we got to the island Edi invited us to meet her parents. We would have a drink or 2 with them at the Vetrans Club. When we walked in we were the youngest by about 25 years. Anyway I met some nice folks and even met a guy who built part of the special effect sets for George Luka's Star Wars. Edi's place was more of a wooden cabin. Still rustic with long drop toilet and outside shower. On the Sat we went for a kayak. Edi's folks have 4 kayaks and it was great to get out. That evening we joined the locals for a get together. Someone had hired a band from Vancouver. It was good fun. On Sunday we went to watch Orca's from the side of the water. There is a resident pod that moves up and down the coast. It was spectacular to see them so close. They are difficult to capture on the camera, but its great to hear them breathe and see the mother and calves.