And then, it’s time to go home again. We have two loooooong days of driving ahead, so we leave early. We start the day off with driving over that one special bridge known by everyone worldwide (I think) : The Golden Gate Bridge. Since I was last here in 2009, the toll regime has changed. Back then, you had to pay toll at a booth when you drove out of the city. Now, you can drive North (out) without paying. You only pay when you drive South (in), and only online, there are no booths anymore.

Jonathan is driving of course, since we didn’t get to bike on the bridge, it’s only fair for him to drive.

After this, we continue heading North on the I5, and it isn’t until after we left that interstate and near the border with Oregon that we next see something interesting : Mount Shasta. This giant is a volcano and far from sleeping. Apparently, it is active, and though not posing any immediate danger of erupting, it might someday in the near geological future erupt again. (note : the geological timescale is somewhat different from “our” timescale. When we say near future we think of sometime in the next few years, on a geological scale it’s more like “sometime in the next 100,000 thousand years).

After Mount Shasta we cross into Oregon and soon are traversing a quite big flat larea filled with pine forests, on a very long and straight road.

Past Madras in North Oregon we keep following Highway 97, and end up in an area with badlands, huge grain farms, and very small, old, and silent little towns. The Highway is called “Sherman Highway” and there is road signs that make me suspect it’s also a touristic route.

Our final stretch for the day is on the I84 along the Columbia river, and we spend the last night of our trip in Umatilla. This lies right on the border with Washington and in that state there’s a town named “Walla Walla” which I absolutely love!

The final day brings is through Washington, and into Idaho. I can see why many Albertans go on holiday here and in Montana. There’s mountains just like at home, but way less tourists. We enjoy the drive and the scenic views and before we realize it, we are at the border with Canada! After a few questions and showing our PR cards and passports, we may enter and can continue along the final stretch of the journey.

Once we are in Canada, we are eager to get home and we drive to Radium Hotsprings, and then on to HW 93 in the direction of Banff. And from there it’s just a short hop