JANUARY - MARCH 2014

THE SLABS, ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO and TEXAS

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2014 Home

Travelogue#1   Travelogue#2   Travelogue#3   Travelogue#4   Travelogue#5   Travelogue#6   Travelogue#7   Travelogue#8   Travelogue#9   Travelogue#10

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TRAVELOGUE #10

March 9 - March 21, 2014 - CA and OR: up the coast- WA: Familiar Places and Home

From Joshua Tree NP we headed west toward the coast. Stopped one night at the Palmdale Fairgrounds, then spent a night at Lake Casitas County (or State) park. Very nice park on a resevoir - water levels were so low that some of the boat ramps did not even reach the water!

Our next stop was Oceano Beach Park at Pismo State Beach. After I got parked, Karen and Jim Gerardan came and picked me up and we went to dinner. It's always such fun to see folks from home when I'm on the road! The next day, I followed them to Avila Beach where there's an off-leash dog area. They have a Labra-doodle named Sophie. The dogs had a great time and we got to extend our visit a bit. Then Sunna and I headed north on route 1. Stopped at a beach where sea lions breed. This year it was warm and sunny, and a not as many sea lions as I remembered from 2011. When I was at the same beach in 2011 (actually about 10 days later by the calendar), there were many more sea lions and the weather was very cold and blustery - I even saw two males fighting. This time, they were all just basking in the sunshine! Drove route1 north along the coast and through Big Sur.

Camped at the Monterey Fairgrounds - I just had to do it! So different from the weekend of the Jazz Festival! The arena was overgrown with grass and there was even lettuce growing there! (The Salinas Valley is a big agricultural area). And no people. Normally, the arena is all dust and there are 10,000 people wandering around! Continued to follow route1 north through Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay and across the Golden Gate Bridge. We followed route1 up Mt. Tamalpais toward Stimson Beach. Stopped and hiked a bit on Mt. T - some great views of the Bay and San Francisco. Drove north through Olema and camped at Samual Taylor State Park in the redwoods.

Next stop was Fort Bragg on the coast. About this time, my camera stopped working so the remaining photos were taken with my cell phone. It was really foggy in Fort Bragg and not many people in the campground. We stayed several nights to do laundry, some work, and get caught up. March 15 - got news that Ruth DeBay had passed away in AZ - she was a dear friend from the LOWS group - so glad I visited with her in Yuma in January. Before leaving Fort B, we stopped at the Mendocino Gardens - lovely place, dogs allowed on trails - and had a good walk through the gardens and along the cliffs over the ocean. Continued north through Eureka, followed the Avenue of the Giants and camped at Elk Prairie State Park - with lots of big redwoods. Some areas were closed to vehicles, so Sunna was able to run off-leash for a bit.

Our next stop was in Florence, OR at an RV park right next to the dunes. We've stayed there before and it's so great to be able to walk right out of the RV and up into the dunes. One of my favorite places (and certainly one of Sunna's). From there we drove north to Astoria and stayed at Fort Stevens State Park. In the morning, we drove out to the beach where Virginia and I had scattered Connie Solarana's ashes a few years ago (she was a dear friend from Hawaii. We had some really great times together!) Getting close to home, now we were driving more in order to make it home. We camped one night in Poulsbo, then crossed over on the Kingston ferry and drove to Birch Bay where Kelley and Casey had just moved into a cute little cabin close to the bay. We had a great evening together - walked on the beach and went out to dinner. I parked the RV next to their house. They were both gone in the morning by the time I got up. I stopped at Caffe Adagio where Kelley works, did some shopping, and headed for the ferry and home.

Friday, March 21, got back to Lopez. What a great trip this was!

Above and Below - taken this year - sea lions basking in the sun.

Notice the really big ones - those are the males. They are 3-4 times as big as the females.

Above and Below - photos taken in 2011, about 10 days later on the calendar. It was very grey, cold, rainy and windy. It seemed to me there were more sea lions in 2011.

These two bulls went at it until the one on the right gave in and waddled off. It was mostly a shoving match.

California Coast  (above and below) driving along Big Sur.

Every vista was breathtaking!

Above and below: More Big Sur

 

This is the arena at the Monterey County Fairgrounds. And I thought it was alwasy dusty!

Lettuce volunteer!

Normally teaming with vendors and Jazz Festival fans...

Above and below: Pigeon Point Lighthouse - between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay.

 

Lovely flowers along the beach.

Driving on route1 through San Francisco - see the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge above the trees.

Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Views from Mount Tamalpais - you can see Mt. Diablo in the distance on the left.

The buildings of San Francisco.

View of the harbor in Sausalito and the Bay. Too hazy to see the Bay Bridge. I think that small island just beyond the marina is Alcatraz.

Now on the other side of Mt. Tamalpais, looking down on Stimson Beach.

RV Park in Fort Bragg.

Above and below: this tree was in the middle of the campground. No one knew what it was called but it had incredible colorful flowers.

 

Walking along the cliffs in Mendocino Gardens.

Fun!

The rhodies were in full bloom.

 

Lovely garden setting.

Very foggy as we headed north up the CA coast.

A stop in the redwoods driving the Avenue of the Giants.

 

 

The Elk Prairie State Park wasn't all redwoods, but it was all lush green growth covered in lots of moss.

This stream ran alongside our campsite.

Paul Bunyan and Babe, the blue ox. In Klamath CA "Trees of Mystery".

Ah, the Oregon Dunes. Spectacular!

Took the tennis ball chuck-it and Sunna ran and ran after the ball. We lost it once and had to find it on our way back. [Too much information category: She ate so much sand playing in the dunes, that the next day her poop was half sand!]

We walked from the vantage point above to where the tree line was, thinking we would be at the edge of the dunes looking down on the ocean. But no, see below, they still stretched on and on.

 

This is the beach on the Columbia River at Fort Stevens OR.

This is where we released Connie's ashes. Spent some time thinking about her and the many adventures we had together. Sunna got in some running because there was no one around.

 

Last photo - see? I really was here!