Oct. 26, 27 Klamath CA
We have had sunny weather since we entered the state of California. We are going to be sightseeing all day so pack a picnic lunch to eat along the way. First thing we see along the highway is a herd of Elk. We saw 3 different herds along the highway. Stopped at a visitors center for the Redwoods by the town of Orick. The road through the Redwoods in this area is closed because a week ago several trees fell across the highway. We are our lunch along the ocean and headed towards Eureka. We decided to check out the town of Willow Creek because our neighbor, Gordon had camped there many years ago. The area is known for Big Foot sightings. There is even a Big Foot Museum in town but it was closed. The town is located 30 miles deep in the mountains and it was a beautiful ride there. In Eureka we visited the Humboldt Bay Wildlife Refuge where the Aleutian cackling geese winter.
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Bull Elk beside the road |
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Beach neer Orick where we had lunch |
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| Bigfoot Museum in Willow Creek |
Oct. 28, 29 Redway CA
This campground is located by the Avenue of Giants which is a scenic drive through groves of Redwoods. In places the groves of trees are right along the edge of both sided of the road. We ate dinner at a good Mexican Restaurant in a little town in the Avenue of Giants. The second day in the area we drove highway 1 which was very steep, windy and narrow road for 22 miles. Not a road for the Motor Home, glad we were in the Jeep. Finally got to the ocean and it was beautiful. The road was up on a cliff so we had a great view of the ocean. I saw a whale blow a spout and then the back and tail came out of the water. Dick was able to pull over in time to see the second time the whale came to the surface. Driving along we saw another whale. Drove to the town of Fort Bragg and then took another road back. This was also steep, climbed over the coastal mountains and windy but a little wider.
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| Avanue of Giants |
Oct. 30, 31, Nov. 1, 2 Cloverdale CA
This campground is located in the famous California wine country. We are close to both Sonoma and Napa Valleys. We spent one day in the town of Sonoma where we found the old part of town where there are many interesting shops. Next we drove to the town of Napa and found a visitors center and got maps and information of places to visit. Checked out some of the shops in Napa also. Most of the wineries in this area charge anywhere from $5 to $25 to taste. We didn't feel like spending that much on tasting so we only stopped at a couple of wineries. We bought a few bottles of wine and enjoyed the beautiful countryside. We ate lunch at La Texanita in Santa Rosa which Dick has seen on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Good Mexican food.
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| Wineries on the way to Santa Rosa |
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| Beringer in St. Helena |
Nov. 3, 4, 5, 6 Morgan Hill
This campground in located south of San Francisco. We have had sunny weather for the last several days but today it is cooler and cloudy. After getting settled we drove to Gilroy which is the garlic capital. The town had the scent of garlic even though the garlic had already been harvested. We found a couple of places that had garlic products and went to Garlic World and bought some garlic salsa. Drove to the little town of San Juan Bautista. Chickens were running loose all over town. We stopped at a mission in the town but it was closed for the day so I took pictures of the beautiful grounds.
On Friday we leave early to drive into San Francisco to spend the day. With traffic it took a couple of hours to get there. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped at the view point on the other side. Had a great view of the bay and the city. The area surounding the bridge is the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. People were biking and walking the bridge. We tried to see Point Bonita Lighthouse but the road over to the lighthouse was closed for repair and even the path to see the lighthouse was closed on the day were were there. Went back across the bridge and drove to Fishermans Wharf which is mostly restaurants. We grabed lunch, I had clam chowder in a bread bowl and crab coctail and Dick had a crab sandwich. We did a little shopping in the stores around the wharf.
Dick drove up Hyde Steet which is the famous street that is very steep and seen in movies (with a stick shift and having to stop a few times). We drove down the crookedest street, Lombard St. and that was fun. After our fun day in San Francisco we were invited to my Nieces house, Debbie and Gary, in San Carlos for dinner. Their house sits high on a hill overlooking the bay, what a fantactic view. They are moving out for a few month so a complet remodel can be done on their house. We saw the plans for the redo and it will be beautiful when done. Had a wonderful dinner and a great visit with Debbie, Gary and son Garrett.
Saturday we left in the morning again to drive south to see Monterey Bay area. In Santa Cruz we had lunch at a little reastaurant on the boat basin filled with sailboats. Drove around the bay to the town of Monterey and along the rugged coastling stopping at Pt. Pinos Lighthouse. This is a working lighthouse and they had the keeper's house like it was when it was lived in. Next stop was the quaint town of Carmel. Bumper to bumper traffic and so many people, no place to park. Drove down to the ocean before heading back through town. Finally found a place to park so checked out the shops. Things were expensive in the high-end shops but it was fun to look. Went into Tiffanys and they has no prices on anything. I guess if you have to ask the price you can't afford it. We drove all the way to Big Sur before turning around. On Highway 1 out of Carmel there is spactucular scenery of the California coast. On the way back to the motor home we stopped at a produce stand and bought artichokes, brussells sprouts and strawberries. We saw acres of different kinds of produce being planted and harvested. With the mild weather here in California something is always being planted or harvested or the ground being prepared to plant and we saw lots of people working in the fields.
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| Chicken in San Juan Bautista |
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| Mission San Juan Bautista |
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| Rows of houses hooked together |
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| Golden Gate Bridge |
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| View of San Francisco and Bay Bridge from other side of bay |
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| Fishermans Wharf |
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| Going up Hyde St. |
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| View from Hyde St. and Lombard St. |
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| Alcatraz Island |
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| Cars going down Lombard St. |
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| Driving along Monterey Bay |
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| More Monterey Coast |
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| Pt. Pinos Lighthouse |
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| Inside Lighthouse |
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| On the way to Big Sur |
Nov. 7 & 8 Paicines CA
We move about 40 miles further south by the town of Paicines. After getting settled and ate lunch we go to Pinnicles National Monument. The area was formed by an ancient volcano, which lies 195 miles southwest. The San Andreas Fault Zone is just east of the park and the magma oozed up from below the surface and formed the rock spires, crags and sheer-walled canyons. We hiked a one mile trail to a lookout. It was an up hill hike so we were both tired when we got back to the car. We saw 3 bobcats today. One in our campground and 2 ran across the road near Pinnicles.
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| Bobcat in Campground |
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| Pinnacles Nat. Monument |
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| Pinnacles |
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| At the viewpoint |
Nov. 9 & 10 Pismo Beach
Pismo Beach is a neat beach town with the houses on the hillsides so they have a view of the ocean. Disapointed with our campground, no grass, just blacktop and not much room between campsites. Glad we are only staying 2 days and sightseeing both days so not spending much time in the campground. On Wednesday we walked about 1/2 mile to the Monarch Butterfly Grove. From late Oct. through Feb., thousands of Monarch butterflies cluster on the limbs of Eucalyptus and Monterey Pines giving the appearance of yellow and orange leaves. They were high in the trees so even with my zoom my pictures don't show the butterflys close. A man was there with a long zoom lends and we could see the colorfull orange and black butterflies in his camera. We walked back to the campground on the beach.
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| Clusters of Monarch Butterflies |
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| Sunset on Pismo Beach |
Thursday we spent the day driving north to San Simeon where the famous Hearst Castle is located. We stopped at the visitors center but didn't go on any of the tours. We had seen the castle on a prevous trip to California. We drove a little further north and saw the large number of Elephant Seals lying on the beach. There is a boardwalk above where the seals are on the beach to take pictures and not disturb them. We had lunch in the little town of Cambria and then drove to Paso Robles. Lots of interesting shops there and bought some olives, sticky buns and smoked sausage. It was dark when we got back to Pismo Beach. Tomorrow we leave here and our next stop is Santa Barbara. We will spend 4 nights there. Happy Travels, Barb
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| Hearst Castle |
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| Elephant Seals |
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