Salem Oregon

We left late this morning and spent the day driving down the I-5 in the misty rain! The traffic got quite slow through Seattle. As soon as you get across the border you notice that so many more people live in the US. The are so many more lanes on the highway and much more industry, homes, restaurants etc along the freeway. We packed a lunch to eat along the way -but there are a few places I have never eaten and I really think I need to try -- Taco Bell (they are everywhere) and Jack in the Box - I see the commercials, and I'm not really sure what kind of food they serve there, Jim says they serve a beef on a bun. Although I don't think he's ever eaten at a Jack in the Box either.

We stopped at a grocery store in Chehalis and got a big piece of goat cheese with herbs and garlic for $1.79 -- amazing, and smoked Gouda for 1.69. I love American grocery stores.

We are staying at a Best Western in Salem Oregon. Tonight we had a good seafood dinner at Newport Seafood Cafe - great Calamari with a hot pepper Aaoli. And to top it off we can watch Canadian hockey on OLN -- Ottawa eliminated Tampa Bay and Calgary beat Anaheim.

We plan to drive to Sausalito tomorrow. It will be a long drive but we will just head down the 1-5 and drive straight through. I think Oregon needs a holiday all of it's own instead of just driving down the coast and having a quick look. I want to come and spend just a week in Oregon, so for now we will just drive through and plan a proper holiday on the Oregon coast at a later time.