Driving through California

California

Spending the summer on Vancouver Island wasn't looking promising for us. We canceled our reservations and looked for a new plan.

 

California "closed down" and we couldn't extend our stay in Hurricane, UT because the Inn was full. Bullards Beach's host coordinator had contacted us to see if we were interested in hosting. We threw caution to the wind and signed up for March on the coast. It has been a brutal winter on Oregon's Coast. It felt like it was time to leave Arizona when people were cursing at wait staff in fast food restaurants, political flags were replaced with pullet proof vests for sale on street corners and a man lifting his fist at me for watching the inauguration in the laundry room. We will see if there is a little less crazy on the coast.

Who doesn't love these fruit stands throughout the farm belt near Gilroy California. This one even has a restaurant and a small train for the kids and of course, the pie stand. Even though California said they were closed due to the virus, we didn't see much evidence and could have easily spent a few weeks instead of pushing through.

While visiting the Farm market, I grabbed a blood orange and a few rolled off the stack. As I was replacing those rolling on the floor, the pile shifted and things went downhill from there. I backed away from the runaway blood oranges and casually but briskly walked away. It is sometimes better to leave it to the pros.

Of course, there is garlic in Gilroy

Lots of blossoms promising spring.

Driving through San Francisco wasn't too bad since we previously had lived there for 3 months and knew the flow of the narrow streets. I kept my backseat driving and recommendation to myself as Mike navigated the way to the Golden  Gate Bridge and breezed through on a Sunday morning without a problem.

Trinidad, California is a seaside city, located on the Pacific Ocean 8 miles north of Arcata. Situated above its own North Coast harbor, Trinidad is one of California's smallest cities by population. Fishing operations in Trinidad Harbor are vital to both local tourism and commercial fishing in the region. What a treat!

The Seascape Restaurant had only outdoor dining with heaters strategically placed to keep us cozy while we watched the fishermen empty their boats and shared fish and chips with our chowder.

Trinidad Head Lighthouse Trail was a perfect way to work off some of those fish and chips with great views.

Our campsite overlooking a pond.

We knew there had been rock slides along Highway 101 in several places blocking the highway. We continued towards the Crescent City as the rock slide had been cleared to a single lane of traffic. Our lane of traffic started moving as we arrived. Halfway through the zone, the flagman stopped the semi behind us and a worker above us jumped off his equipment yelling "GO! GO! GO!" Mike hit the gas, kicking up mud and rocks and moving us out of the area. It still makes the hair on my arms stand up.

Driving straight through California was tiring for us even though we kept the daily mileage down. We settled into the beautiful Harris Beach State Park for a couple of days. Oregon provides a free night in a state park in transit to a hosting position, before landing in Bullards Beach State Park for a while. We will see how the weather treats us on the coast.

Heading up the Highway 101 coast

Sonoma County Bike Rides

We managed to avoid avalanches and rockslides leaving Colorado along with the Snow cyclone. And then, made some changes in our plans to avoid the 50 mile per hour wind gusts across the Mojave Desert. I am not sure why we drove through Oakland but managed unscathed once we paid our $21 toll to cross a bridge. It has been a long trip but finally got a chance to get our bikes out and enjoy Sonoma County.

Spring has sprung in Sonoma County.

 We visited Cloverdale three years ago and enjoyed riding between the vineyards and olive farms but vowed that we would not stay at the Thousand Trails RV Park in Cloverdale ever again after our first visit. The RV Park in Healdsburg was closed after the Russian River flooded last month. This left the KOA way upon the hill. The bridge was out in Asti which meant we had to drive through Cloverdale 4 miles down steep, winding country roads.

 

 

We were tired on our arrival and wondered if it was worth it to drive back and forth from this campground to ride our bikes. When we are tired and want to throw in the towel, we give it a day and good night's sleep before making a decision. The next day, we were happy with our place in the hills and didn't mind the drive to town. In fact, we were enjoying ourselves so much, we added another day even if it was $71/ night, bought some firewood and settled in.

 

 

It is the off season so we didn't realize how large the place was until we walked around and watched the kids fishing in the little pond in the mornings and evenings.

 

After not riding our bikes in a month, it felt strange to be back in the saddle again, so the song goes. Our first day was through the flat country roads near Geyserville. The next day had lots of hills to remind us of the month that we had been off the bikes.

Alaska Airline has a deal for wine drinkers that every bag that is checked with a bottle of wine on a returning flight is free. One winery we stopped in had a bottle of chardonnay for $145. I would think twice about putting it in a bag to be checked. I have seen how they throw bags on the luggage carts.

 

 

At the end of the ride, we stopped in the Dry Creek General Store for lunch. At the counter we gave them our order, the girl at the cash register told us to go get our drinks and then rang us up. She called our number when it was ready so we could get it and take it to our table. When I paid with a charge card, there was a place for a tip. I wasn't sure what I was tipping for since I basically served myself and thought that I should get the tip myself since I bused by own table when we were done. Am I missing something?  It is just too confusing sometimes.  She did have a nice smile. 

 

Avenue of the Giants

The small logging town of Scotia on Highway 101 in California was a 250 mile drive, putting us at the northern entry to Avenue of the Giants.   A 31-mile portion of old Highway 101 parallels Freeway 101 with its 51,222 acres of redwood groves is surrounded by the Humboldt Redwoods State Park which has the largest remaining stand of virgin redwoods in the world.

You have got to love a tree house in the redwoods with room for four.

Dryerville Giant

 The giant Dryerville Giant redwood once stood 362 ft. tall and was considered the tallest tree in the park before its fall in 1991. The redwood’s crash to the ground moved the earth so much that it registered on a seismograph 10 miles away. One local, who heard the impact from half a mile away, thought a train had crashed.   362 ft. in height 17 ft. diameter 52 ft. circumference Possibly 2,000 years old

 

Harris Beach State Park, Oregon

 As we headed up the 101 in California, parts of the highway had been washed out by mudslides, making a one lane road in several places.

 

 

We made it to Oregon! Last spring we had stayed in Southern Oregon at Harris Beach State Park and enjoyed it very much. We stopped again for a few days to stock up on groceries at the great Fred Myers and just walk the beach. The grocery stores in small towns along the ocean can get pretty expensive.

What a difference a day makes. We were glad to enjoy the sunshine before the rain.

You can't keep us inside...





It was so funny to watch the black oystercatchers marching on the beach.

Whale Watching

Whale-watching enthusiasts from all over the world head to the Oregon coast for Spring Whale Watch Week as 20,000 grey whales migrate from Mexico to Alaska.

Each year, the Whale Watching Spoken Here program places volunteers at 24 locations spread out on the coast during spring break week, beginning March 23.We had hoped to volunteer for the week but weren't able to attend the training in December.

 

Volunteers document gray whale habits and traits as the mammals make their migration north past Oregon to Alaska during warmer months with whale watching sites from Astoria to Brookings. Volunteers are on-site from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day during the week.

During the Whale Watch Week, it’s estimated that about 10 whales per hour are passing any given location on the Oregon Coast. On a perfect day — very beautiful, calm ocean and nice blue skies — you could see a half a dozen or more whales in a very short period of time.  We managed to see whales even though the surf was rough our first evening after a rainy day.

 

Hanging around in the Redwoods

Heading to the coast

What a difference 40 miles can make. It was 80 degrees when we left Cave Junction and in the 50s when we arrived at Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park in Redwoods National Park. We were lucky to find a walkup site and happy when the $30 per day was half price with our Senior National Park Pass. No hookups but enough light to use our solar to keep our batteries good. We like a little heat in the morning when the temps drop below 50 degrees.

Many of the wild flowers were in bloom like these trillium.

Across Smith River was Stout Grove and the Riverside Trails. We had to drive a short distance since the suspension bridge isn't put in until the river is lower in July.

Crescent City, CA

On the way to a hike on the back of the Park, we stopped in Crescent City for a beach walk and breakfast.

Returning after a morning dip

Battery Point Lighthouse Tours are given in accordance with the tides. You have to walk across an area to get to the lighthouse.

We were glad to have our hiking sticks with the slick roots on the path. Fern Falls were very small.

It was eerie as we walked deeper into the forest and not see another person on the path. It would have been neat to see a bear but I was glad we didn't.

Notches were  cut to allow loggers to climb high enough to be able to cut through a more narrow section of the Redwood.

Harris State Beach in Brookings, OR

The drive was only 30 miles. But we wanted to stay at the state park on the ocean that we had heard great things about. There were walkup sites available as we arrived in the morning and the host was glad to let us find a place and park with full hookups without waiting until the afternoon check in time!

Of course, we had to get some clam chowder with the most tender clams before going by the local seafood market and doing our laundry.

We enjoy checking out tide pools at low tide to walk. It is good to be here before summer break.

 Rather than sit at our campsite and read, we brought our chairs and books to the day use area. We enjoyed watching the people and dogs on the beach. It was good to have some downtime. The bluff behind us blocked the wind. Sometimes, we forget that it is 6 months before we stop for a while and we should probably pace ourselves.

In Bandon, OR people meet at low tide to make  "Circles in the Sand" for meditation several times a month.

 This guy looked graceful as he spent a lot of time with his rake on the beach making circles. Then the tide came in and washed them away. He seemed to be enjoying the sunshine and making those circles.

Chetco Point

Chetco Point in at the end point out on the bluff. We had an uneasy feeling as we followed the trail through the foliage across a wooden bridge to a bluff with a 389 degree view over the cliffs at the end.

It was a little uncomfortable getting close to the edge and seeing the rocks below. It wouldn't be so good to slip.

The bridge to the Point.

Low tide

We have 10 more days along  the coast as we head north soon.