Saturday, July 25, 2020

Coronavirus Best and Worst of Road Trip


Seattle
A road trip during coronavirus?! It was awesome. Here are the best and worst situations we experienced on our two-week roadtrip from Los Angeles to Olympic National Park. Let me say, that we felt safe at every hotel we stayed in as they all had coronavirus measures in place. 

Stringent coronavirus checks
Most - Hyatt Place in Emeryville - asked us 3 coronavirus questions before they let us check in and gave us a handout on covid measures at hotel
Least - Bars - once you had a beer in your hand masks came off
Covid breakfast (every place except 1, staff handed you your breakfast items)
Best - Seattle - only place on entire trip with hot breakfast - scrambled eggs and bacon or sausage.
Worst - Redding - lots of cold choices, but we were allowed to grab our own food
People wearing masks
Most - Olympic National Park
Least - Stockton and small towns in Washington
Reliable bathroom opportunities
Most - rest areas along interstate 5
Least - California gas stations (many were "out of order")
Park experience
Best - Mt. St. Helens - very few people there due to coronavirus - I saw pictures from last year and observation decks were packed with people.
Mt. St. Helens
Worst - Cape Flattery - it is located on Indian Reservation and the reservation was still in Phase 1. We were turned back after an hour drive by police since we were not locals.
Dining
Best - Pastini - first sit down meal in 4 months! Seating was outside. All servers wearing masks, tables were wiped down between guests.
Worst - Oyster restaurant in small town - owner not wearing mask
Coronavirus precaution Items I brought
Best - hand sanitizer I placed in doors of car
Worst - wipes - never used them. We were very good about hand sanitizer and never saw a necessity for these.

Other coronavirus observations: many elevators had spots on floor where you were supposed to stand for social distancing purposes; one hotel said most were operating at 40% capacity or less; one gas station in WA gave out gloves so you could pump your gas; traffic was great- everywhere - even going into and out of San Francisco at rush hour on a Monday; and everywhere we went most people wore masks similar to what we see in Southern California - most people do, but there is that tiny minority that refuse.  Only in a couple of  businesses we found mask wearing lax and we abruptly left.

Being on the road filled us with a sense of freedom that we had not experienced in the last four months. I am ready for another one.

Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park

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