Bike ride in Temecula's wine country

Living in Calsbad,  CA, north of San Diego, and working in Escondido 12 years ago, we never made it over the hills to Temecula. While stopping in a Thousand Trails in Menifee it seemed to be a good time to check it out.

 Old Town district with history dating back to the early 1800's, has many boutiques, theaters, and museums dotted along its wooden boardwalk and we enjoyed walking around.  Rosa's was a good choice for some Carne Asada and reasonably priced.

Pretty fancy city hall. Temecula has remained small since it is surrounded by ranches and not a lot of places for sprawl.

Some of the artsy places.

We also took a bike ride through the wine country on a route I found online. We didn't have a printer so I wrote down the directions of the ride sheet and left out one street. That added a couple of miles. Riding in wine country anywhere can be a workout since most vineyards are planted on hills for drainage. This route met that criteria.

The cactus were in bloom.

We didn't do any tasting since we still had 12 more miles to go. Make that 14 since I messed up the directions.

More than 30 wineries and plenty of spas.

Rural in nature, sustainable in farming practices and including an agricultural preserve known as the Citrus/Vineyard zone.  Less than 60 miles north of San Diego, California and 90 miles southeast of Los Angeles, California lies Temecula Valley. Temecula has built a reputation for being the wine country of Southern California.

It turned into a very nice ride through some nice places. The traffic was nothing compared to that in Napa. But I can imagine the weekends can get pretty busy.

I really liked these cactus flowers with the bee on the left. So I had to add another with a bee that Mike took.

Leaving Yosemite and Vasquez Rocks

The rain started last night and was so nice to listen to. California is getting some much needed moisture and the wildflowers are showing up.

 

We took the twisty road back down.

Then we took another one up which was more narrow than the last with one more back down.

In Coulterville the coffee shop lady suggested that we take the scenic route. That was not a good plan due to more of the ugly roads. We had checked with the person at the RV park desk before we left and he thought this was fine. Not so much.... They said "It is only 20 miles to Mariposa".

Coulterville was named after George Coulter, one of the first whites to come to the gold camp already populated by Chinese and Mexicans.

  Highway 120 winds through rolling hills dappled with heritage oaks, past picturesque small towns including Groveland where Gold Rush history was made, and on into the dramatic high country with  views of the majestic Sierra Nevada.

Our morning visitor after another night of rain.

 

We stopped in Santa Clarita for a couple of days in a Thousand Trails resort and felt there had to be something interesting here. There was a brown sign along the road side that said Vasquez Rocks so we had to check it out.

The famous Vasquez Rocks has been used as a film site for Star Trek (Captain Kirk battling the Gorn), Blazing Saddles, The Flintstones and many others. The Pacific Crest Trail runs right through the park, and that there is a rich history that includes ancient Native American petroglyphs.

And westerns

 

 

In the canyon, you’ll see holes in the canyon walls with bird markings. There are owls that nest in there.

 

  Vasquez Rocks is named after notorious bandit Tiburcio Vásquez, America's most infamous Hispanic bandit who used the rocky region to elude capture from California law enforcement in 1873 and 1874.

The PCT runs through the Rocks.

Poison Oak and its cousin the Poodle dog brush are a couple of elements to be dealt with on this section of the Pacific Crest Trail. This part of the trail is definitely a winter endeavor for those intrepid thru hikers. The sun became pretty uncomfortable just the short time we were out there.

Some interesting pictographs

 

 

Yosemite

Our previous visit to Yosemite was in the fall and  not even a drop of water from the waterfalls. This was not the case this time. The snowpack is high and water sheds at almost normal made for quite a show.

Yosemite National Park is set within California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. It’s famed for its giant, ancient sequoias, and for Tunnel View, the iconic vista of towering Bridalveil Fall and the granite cliffs of El Capitan and Half Dome.

The road to Glacier Point is closed until May because of all of the snow they have received this year. We were able to drive easily through the Park due to early season but the handy shuttle was making its rounds.  

 

Waterfalls of all sizes could be seen in every direction.

We stayed in a quiet campground 5 miles from the entrance to the campground instead of in the park. We thought it would have been nice to stay in the park with easier access to the hiking trails but found where we were was just right. The campground in the village area was pretty crowded with families. Is it still spring break? 

Vernal falls in the distance.

Our slow going 4 mile hike got steep at times but downhill was good.



There are also many bike and walking trails throughout the Park.

Vernal Falls before we climbed up to it. The mist was pretty strong making the trail slick.

After our hike, I had to get some forms signed online and used the internet at the village while we had lunch. A couple of fellows from Australia joined us at our table. They had lots of stories about their travels.

Yosemite falls

 

Modesto, CA and Labcorps

I don't start working in Oceanside, CA for 2 more weeks and we decided to spend some time in Yosemite. I didn't take the job in WA because they switched shifts on me and passed on Monterey, as much as I wanted to stay, there was no place to stay with less than an hour drive. The company usually provides the housing if I don't find a good RV park. I couldn't even find a bad one and CCTC wasn't up for finding an apartment on this contract. As we were leaving Monterey, the nurse manager from Oceanside called and made an offer for the job there if I would like. We liked. 

There is a time factor when accepting a contract and knew I would have to get a drug screen and TB test before going into the National Park. Stacey found a Labcorp in Modesto on our way (kind of) to Yosemite and faxed over the order so we could stop in. We arrived at noon but Labcorp does drug screens at 1pm and would have to wait until 3 for the blood draw for TB.  We headed over to the library to print some forms and got groceries to fill the time. Then off to Yosemite, finally.

These had to be the windiest 8 miles of road we have ever driven and were pretty relieved when we got to our campsite. Backseat driving can be exhausting.

The drive was only 190 miles but we were pretty well done from finding our way around Modesto and decided to have a down day the next day. Mike started the day with a great breakfast.

We watched the ducks fly up and down the Tuolumne River next to our camp site and read our books. 

 Creek side dining with a fire and wine at the chef's table with the chef.