I went one day to the Japanese Gardens.

They're a very nice place to wander around.

These were right next to the koi pond in the garden. Lovely.

Very close to the Japanese Gardens are the rose gardens, which house over 60 varieties of the flowers.

I drove south from Portland and, after a stop in northern California, made it to the Bay Area. I didn't take too many pictures during this part of the trip, but enjoyed it anyway. I stayed in Palo Alto, not far from the San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge. I spent some time in the Mountain View portion of the refuge and saw lots of birds, including my first look at an avocet.

Odd looking things, but quite attractive.

I also took a drive down the coast from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz. It was a little gray out, but the coast was still very impressive.

That's all for California - I headed back up towards Seattle.