9/21/10 Here we are at Don Pedro Lake in California. We had just come down a huge grade of highway 120 through the hills. It was an unexpected treat for riding- at least for the passenger! The Lewiston grade in E. Wash. has nothing on this one! We are heading for the Napa Valley on Highway 12 - ask Mark about that experience if you are a motorcyclist!
9/22/10 Here we are at Bothe-Napa State Park. This is a gem of a find for serenity in the busy wine country. This "somewhat rustic" campground had huge sites nestled in the madrona and oak trees. We had our first night in a shaded area and then moved to a more open site for some sunshine. The squirrels, blue jays, woodpeckers and lizards shared the campsite with us. We were over washing dishes at the cleaning area one morning and came back to our pack of bagels busted into and I saw the squirrel culprit running with that huge bagel in his mouth!We camped here for 4 nights. It was so nice to stay put and be able to ride into St. Helena or Calistoga for the afternoons. The State Park was in between the 2 towns. We enjoyed the ambiance of Calistoga and had a late lunch there 2 of the days. The weather got hotter as the week progressed. It was 80's-90's for the high and in the 40's at night.
9/24/10 Kyle came over on his motorcycle to join us for our last night of camping. We had such a wonderful visit and got caught up on their San Francisco life while giving him the highlights of our USA adventure. He slept on his sleeping pads on top of the picnic table!
9/25/10 Kyle has his 1979 BMW 650 loaded with his camp gear and ready to lead the way into Napa. It was delightful riding together through the wine country on Silverado Trail. We didn't do the "wine tasting" journey on this trip- different focus this time! (Sorry Vonda and Barb!)
9/25/10 Well, maybe not wine tasting but we did do some beer tasting! Mark and Kyle enjoying a 97 degree afternoon in the backyard of the Hobaugh's. This is Stephanie's grandparents home in Napa where Kyle and Stephanie hosted an Oktoberfest party this evening. They had about 25 (mainly family) at the big event. It was quite the German festivity completed with Kyle's homemade beer that he had made from hops he had grown over the past 16 months. Stephanie made apple tarts, apple strudel, & homemade pretzels to compliment all the German sausages, potato soup, salads, pork loin, sauerkraut and all the fixins'! It was a fun extravaganza and chance for us to visit with both sides of Stephanie's family that we hadn't seen since their wedding last year. We spent the night there and we were thrilled to have a "bed and shower"! Thank you Sandy and Dave!
Herr Hans and Frau Heidi Larson AKA Kyle and Stephanie! They get the award for theme parties with their authentic Bavarian outfits. Kyle filled his Grandpa Larson's German stein with his homebrew Hefeweizen to add to the authenticity. We all laughed and visited well into the night.
9/26/10 Before we left town we went over to the other side of Napa to visit with Stephanie's Grandpa Ray Brown. Here he is with his 2 son's, Steve and Jim, and Stephanie and Kyle. We had to get back into the swing of socializing with people we know again! Other than seeing my cousin Barney we hadn't been around anyone we knew since visiting the Bulawa's in Wyoming over 6 weeks ago. We may need to slowly acclimate back into society when we get back!
9/26/10 The Pacific Ocean! We made it to the coast via Highway 12 then up Highway 1 from Bodega Bay. There was a huge fire along the roadway and up into residential area in Bodega yesterday and they were still cleaning up and reinstalling power to the area. We had an hour delay getting on the coast highway. We opted to come to the coast also because of the heat wave that was coming into the central area- temperatures of over 100 for a few days. We figured a little marine air would do us good and the view is unrivaled. Here we are at Carmet Beach. Our first "vista stop" on the coast. We feel like we are almost home! Well, about 900 miles away!
A view from the driver's perspective along Highway 1. Mark likes the road pictures so he can remember how many curves, grades, hills, and valley's he went through. It was a beautiful day and a 20 degree drop from where we had just come in through Santa Rosa.
Our "colds" are starting to get much better in the lower elevation, too!
9/26/10 We happened upon this Ocean Cove Campground in Fort Ross! What a great name! Mark wanted openness and the ocean and we got both right here. There were hardly any other tent campers and we staked our spot next to the few trees to block a little of the ocean breeze. We were facing the ocean and the smashing waves were as loud as traffic on I-5. We set up camp, made sandwiches with the tomatoes Kyle had grown, poured a glass of California wine, and sat on the ocean cliff to watch the sunset. This was one of the best 24 hours of the trip.
A million dollar view of the sunset right in front of our campground. We had this private sandy area where we could park our camp chairs for the sunset and sunrise! Location, location, location because there were no other amenities at the campground besides a picnic table and portapotty.
The love of my life silhouetted by the sunset.
Here I am about as happy as I can be. Salt water, crashing waves, warm weather, camping and with that special guy featured above!
9/27/10 Sunrise over our campground that you can see in the background. It was very spiritual watching the sun rays pour in through these trees over us as we watched from the waters edge.
We sat on the "private" cliff beach and watched waves crash for almost 3 hours in the morning before Mark had to drag me away at the noon "checkout" time!
Herr Hans and Frau Heidi Larson AKA Kyle and Stephanie! They get the award for theme parties with their authentic Bavarian outfits. Kyle filled his Grandpa Larson's German stein with his homebrew Hefeweizen to add to the authenticity. We all laughed and visited well into the night.
9/26/10 Before we left town we went over to the other side of Napa to visit with Stephanie's Grandpa Ray Brown. Here he is with his 2 son's, Steve and Jim, and Stephanie and Kyle. We had to get back into the swing of socializing with people we know again! Other than seeing my cousin Barney we hadn't been around anyone we knew since visiting the Bulawa's in Wyoming over 6 weeks ago. We may need to slowly acclimate back into society when we get back!
9/26/10 The Pacific Ocean! We made it to the coast via Highway 12 then up Highway 1 from Bodega Bay. There was a huge fire along the roadway and up into residential area in Bodega yesterday and they were still cleaning up and reinstalling power to the area. We had an hour delay getting on the coast highway. We opted to come to the coast also because of the heat wave that was coming into the central area- temperatures of over 100 for a few days. We figured a little marine air would do us good and the view is unrivaled. Here we are at Carmet Beach. Our first "vista stop" on the coast. We feel like we are almost home! Well, about 900 miles away!
A view from the driver's perspective along Highway 1. Mark likes the road pictures so he can remember how many curves, grades, hills, and valley's he went through. It was a beautiful day and a 20 degree drop from where we had just come in through Santa Rosa.Our "colds" are starting to get much better in the lower elevation, too!
9/26/10 We happened upon this Ocean Cove Campground in Fort Ross! What a great name! Mark wanted openness and the ocean and we got both right here. There were hardly any other tent campers and we staked our spot next to the few trees to block a little of the ocean breeze. We were facing the ocean and the smashing waves were as loud as traffic on I-5. We set up camp, made sandwiches with the tomatoes Kyle had grown, poured a glass of California wine, and sat on the ocean cliff to watch the sunset. This was one of the best 24 hours of the trip.
A million dollar view of the sunset right in front of our campground. We had this private sandy area where we could park our camp chairs for the sunset and sunrise! Location, location, location because there were no other amenities at the campground besides a picnic table and portapotty.
The love of my life silhouetted by the sunset.
Here I am about as happy as I can be. Salt water, crashing waves, warm weather, camping and with that special guy featured above!
9/27/10 Sunrise over our campground that you can see in the background. It was very spiritual watching the sun rays pour in through these trees over us as we watched from the waters edge.We sat on the "private" cliff beach and watched waves crash for almost 3 hours in the morning before Mark had to drag me away at the noon "checkout" time!
We travelled north to the town of Elk and had lunch in the local cafe before weaving the coastline north. We checked out some other campgrounds but the driver opted for a motel in Fort Bragg.
9/27/10 We walked across the street from our motel to Glass Beach at Fort Bragg to watch the sunset. It's so mesmerizing to watch that huge hydrogen mass fall into the ocean! Glass Beach is a small sandy beach that is inundated with small pieces of polished (by the sea) colored glass. They are the only remnants of what is left of an old "dump" that was cleaned up 40 years ago. The sea continues to uncover more glass and keep it polished! Mother Nature at work again.
9/27/10 We walked across the street from our motel to Glass Beach at Fort Bragg to watch the sunset. It's so mesmerizing to watch that huge hydrogen mass fall into the ocean! Glass Beach is a small sandy beach that is inundated with small pieces of polished (by the sea) colored glass. They are the only remnants of what is left of an old "dump" that was cleaned up 40 years ago. The sea continues to uncover more glass and keep it polished! Mother Nature at work again.We will continue on our Highway 1 journey in the morning with no set plans on our next stop!
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