Thursday, October 20, through Saturday, November 5, 2011: At Soledad Canyon:
We went about 20 miles out of our way to avoid road repair delays and the inevitable traffic on I-5 as it nears Los Angeles, so the 215-mile trip took a little longer than it might have. But, I'm glad we went the long way. It goes through pretty country.
We arrived at the Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails preserve and quickly located a perfect site. It had some interesting trees, stumps, and boulders, though, so it took almost an hour to precisely locate the trailer to accommodate the slideouts and satellite dish, and set up. We stayed in and relaxed Thursday night. Friday, I went to the RV repair place in Acton that is scheduled to fix our landing leg problem, to scope it out and verify the plans. It turns out that the manufacturer is refusing to treat the repair as a valid warranty claim, so we have to pay for it. I understand their position, so I'm not very surprised nor terribly disappointed. Anyway, we're on stream to have the work done next Friday. The necessary parts have already arrived.
Saturday morning, Becky dropped off the dogs at a nearby pet resort we have used previously, and we headed for downtown LA to spend the night at the Jonathan Club. The underlying purpose was to attend an 80th birthday party for my old partner, Marshall Rutter, at the Valley Hunt Club in Pasadena. It was a terrific crowd of old friends and former work associates. We had a great time.
Sunday morning we picked up Becky's father and her brother John at Bill's house, and had lunch at McCormick & Schmick's in Pasadena. It was fun. We last saw them at the Smith Sisters reunion in Temecula in August, so we had only a little to catch up on. But, it helped the conversation to have only the four of us together, instead of the 29 that were at the reunion.
We took it easy on Monday, getting ready for the Wheelers to arrive on Tuesday. We hadn't seen them since March at Palm Springs. They spent most of the interval in Michigan, their place of origin. They arrived on schedule Tuesday afternoon, having come from Death Valley where they had visited a bunch of former Xanterra associates who work there or were visiting. The good news was that Xanterra was spending a lot of money upgrading the facilities at Death Valley. The terrible news was that Alma Norman's son was murdered in Los Angeles last week in a random act of senseless violence.
Tuesday and Wednesday we did little else but catch up with the Wheelers' news. Thursday morning we all had a great breakfast at the Crazy Otto's Diner in Acton.
Friday morning, we dropped off the trailer at All Valley RV for the landing leg repair, dropped off the dogs at the local pet resort for the day, and headed for La Canada, to meet Honoria Vivell and her beau, Richard Petrie, for lunch at Taylor's Steak House. We had a good time.
We then reversed the morning's activities and picked up the dogs and the rig. The repair went well, and I'm happy to have a pair of landing legs that are no longer threatening to break down.
The rest of the weekend was quiet. The Wheelers took their motor home to the factory in Lancaster for some repairs, and spent the weekend (plus) away from our RV park. On Saturday, they returned briefly in their car with Jerry and Robbie Sypkens along. (We worked with them at the North Rim.) They had just dropped in on the Wheelers---spending Saturday night and planning to head off on Sunday morning.
Our entire next week was spent preparing to leave on Sunday for a long-planned cruise in the Far East. Packing for the big weather variations we expected was quite a challenge.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Friday, October 14, through Wednesday, October 19, 2011: Heading for Soledad Canyon:
We started the last leg of the return to southern California by spending four days at the San Benito Thousand Trails preserve in the little-known (and tiny) town of Paicines, about 15 miles south of Hollister. The preserve is well off the beaten path, and is very nice.
Though we were in the middle of nowhere, Becky had arranged for us to see a number of people. On Saturday, we drove 65 miles (to Campbell, near San Jose) to meet Barb and Michael Penna at the local Octoberfest celebration. They live in Salinas. We had last seen them in April. It was fun seeing them again. They are neat people.
The Octoberfest was quite an event---with several downtown streets blocked off to set up the usual trinket booths and a few food and beer stands. There was such a mob that it took a half-hour to get a beer. We decided to have dinner there, at a regular (though very different) restaurant inside the perimeter of the party. The restaurant was called Naschmarkt, and it was wonderful (and expensive).
On Sunday, we drove only a tad fewer miles (to Gilroy) to have lunch with Nancy Campbell, a former boss of Becky's, and her significant other, Roberto Bruckstein.
I had never met either of them before, and they were a delightful surprise. We ate at Sandy's Cafe, chosen by Nancy solely due to its glowing on-line reviews. The reviews were correct. Sandy's was a former Sambo's that had been taken over by Sandy --- who was there and with whom we had a good time discussing her business philosophy. The building was '60s moderne.
On Monday, we met Ed and Roya Singleton in nearby Tres Pinos, at the Catholic Church---not for religious reasons, just logistics. (The Singletons live in Hollister.)
We first met them nearly three years ago in South America. As usual, Becky had stayed in touch. We got in their car to hit a few of the surprisingly numerous wineries in the area. We started at Leal, then stopped at Pietra Santa ("Sacred Stone" in Italian),
and finished at Calera. The Singletons are members of the wine clubs at all three places, and are well-known at each. We tasted a number of very nice wines, enjoyed talking with some fun pourers, and bought a few bottles to drink at the appropriate time. At Calera, the owner, Josh Jensen, actually stopped by and we had a nice chat with him.
Between Pietra Santa and Calera, we toured the nearby Mission San Juan Bautista and had a nice lunch in a Mexican restaurant (Dona Esther) across the street.
The mission is located in a typical, small California mission town with a lot of charm, and, though in a state of substantial disrepair, the mission is very interesting to tour. The church on the premises remains an active parish to this day, with about 1,200 parishioners.
We were having such a good time at the San Benito preserve that we considered staying an extra day.
Monday morning, however, the park's water delivery system cratered, and we were informed that the water would not be back on until at least Thursday. We have an on-board fresh water tank, but can last for only a few days without "city" water, so we decided to leave on Tuesday, on schedule, but---to make the trip more interesting---to stop in Paso Robles on Tuesday instead of going all the way to Santa Barbara. In fact, the decision means we will bypass Santa Barbara altogether, and go directly from Paso Robles to Soledad Canyon on Thursday, getting there a day earlier than originally planned.
The 90-mile trip to Paso Robles took a long time because of road repair delays and because we took the scenic route on California Route 25. It was a nice trip, though, so we had no regrets.
We are staying at the Wine Country RV Resort, a very nice place. There are numerous wineries nearby, but we decided that we were "tasted out" for the time being.
On Wednesday, we did a lot of errands---lube & oil change (for the truck), haircut (for me), pedicure (for Becky), buying two new ties (for me), repair the damage to my bike from running into the post in Pacifica, etc. Near the end of the day, we decided to visit one winery---Justin---about a half-hour out of town.
What a delightful place and what delightful wines. We splurged and joined the wine club there (picking up six bottles immediately) and also made a reservation to stay in one of the rooms (the Tuscany Suite) in the small inn they run---for Becky's birthday next May.
That's planning ahead. All that activity tired us out, so we retired early, getting ready for the run to Soledad Canyon on Thursday.
We started the last leg of the return to southern California by spending four days at the San Benito Thousand Trails preserve in the little-known (and tiny) town of Paicines, about 15 miles south of Hollister. The preserve is well off the beaten path, and is very nice.
Though we were in the middle of nowhere, Becky had arranged for us to see a number of people. On Saturday, we drove 65 miles (to Campbell, near San Jose) to meet Barb and Michael Penna at the local Octoberfest celebration. They live in Salinas. We had last seen them in April. It was fun seeing them again. They are neat people.
The Octoberfest was quite an event---with several downtown streets blocked off to set up the usual trinket booths and a few food and beer stands. There was such a mob that it took a half-hour to get a beer. We decided to have dinner there, at a regular (though very different) restaurant inside the perimeter of the party. The restaurant was called Naschmarkt, and it was wonderful (and expensive).
On Sunday, we drove only a tad fewer miles (to Gilroy) to have lunch with Nancy Campbell, a former boss of Becky's, and her significant other, Roberto Bruckstein.
I had never met either of them before, and they were a delightful surprise. We ate at Sandy's Cafe, chosen by Nancy solely due to its glowing on-line reviews. The reviews were correct. Sandy's was a former Sambo's that had been taken over by Sandy --- who was there and with whom we had a good time discussing her business philosophy. The building was '60s moderne.
On Monday, we met Ed and Roya Singleton in nearby Tres Pinos, at the Catholic Church---not for religious reasons, just logistics. (The Singletons live in Hollister.)
We first met them nearly three years ago in South America. As usual, Becky had stayed in touch. We got in their car to hit a few of the surprisingly numerous wineries in the area. We started at Leal, then stopped at Pietra Santa ("Sacred Stone" in Italian),
and finished at Calera. The Singletons are members of the wine clubs at all three places, and are well-known at each. We tasted a number of very nice wines, enjoyed talking with some fun pourers, and bought a few bottles to drink at the appropriate time. At Calera, the owner, Josh Jensen, actually stopped by and we had a nice chat with him.
Between Pietra Santa and Calera, we toured the nearby Mission San Juan Bautista and had a nice lunch in a Mexican restaurant (Dona Esther) across the street.
The mission is located in a typical, small California mission town with a lot of charm, and, though in a state of substantial disrepair, the mission is very interesting to tour. The church on the premises remains an active parish to this day, with about 1,200 parishioners.
We were having such a good time at the San Benito preserve that we considered staying an extra day.
Monday morning, however, the park's water delivery system cratered, and we were informed that the water would not be back on until at least Thursday. We have an on-board fresh water tank, but can last for only a few days without "city" water, so we decided to leave on Tuesday, on schedule, but---to make the trip more interesting---to stop in Paso Robles on Tuesday instead of going all the way to Santa Barbara. In fact, the decision means we will bypass Santa Barbara altogether, and go directly from Paso Robles to Soledad Canyon on Thursday, getting there a day earlier than originally planned.
The 90-mile trip to Paso Robles took a long time because of road repair delays and because we took the scenic route on California Route 25. It was a nice trip, though, so we had no regrets.
We are staying at the Wine Country RV Resort, a very nice place. There are numerous wineries nearby, but we decided that we were "tasted out" for the time being.
On Wednesday, we did a lot of errands---lube & oil change (for the truck), haircut (for me), pedicure (for Becky), buying two new ties (for me), repair the damage to my bike from running into the post in Pacifica, etc. Near the end of the day, we decided to visit one winery---Justin---about a half-hour out of town.
What a delightful place and what delightful wines. We splurged and joined the wine club there (picking up six bottles immediately) and also made a reservation to stay in one of the rooms (the Tuscany Suite) in the small inn they run---for Becky's birthday next May.
That's planning ahead. All that activity tired us out, so we retired early, getting ready for the run to Soledad Canyon on Thursday.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Monday, October 10, through Thursday, October 13, 2011: In San Francisco (actually, Pacifica):
The trip to Pacifica (just south of San Francisco) was only 90 miles, but it rained all the way and we had several miles of construction backups, so it was not an easy drive. Fortunately for me, Becky wanted to drive the whole way, so I didn't have to hassle with the traffic and rain.
We are at the San Francisco RV Park, where we stayed six months ago. We had arranged to have the best site in the park (it's nice and wide and overlooks the coastline), so we are thrilled.
We also have satellite reception, in spite of the drizzle and fog. Only two problems: In backing into the site, we failed to notice the post behind the rig (it's now bent at a 45 degree angle) and the next-door neighbor thinks it's OK to park her car nd a friend's car on part of our site.
They are both supposed to leave Tuesday, so we don't plan to make a fuss. There is overflow parking for our truck within a few feet, so we will cope.
Monday night, we celebrated by having dinner at Ocean Fish, the Japanese restaurant we visited three times the last time we were here. As expected, it was yummy.
The next-door neighbor decided not to leave Tuesday, so we had a bit of a confrontation about the parking rules. She rather snottily agreed to move the cars, but didn't do it until three hours later. It always amazes me that some people believe that rules (and common courtesy) simply don't apply to them.
Tuesday night we took BART to The Embarcadero to have dinner at a restaurant called Prospect with Bann and Chris Covington,
old friends of Becky's from UC Santa Barbara days---and beyond. (They spent a lot of time together when Becky was in Germany for three years after graduation.) We last saw them in Atlanta in 2004. They now live in Berkeley. Very nice people. Their son, Scott, an Army captain and graduate of West Point, is a Blackhawk helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, due home for good in a few days. Many thanks to Scott for his service. (By the way, I had a green goddess salad and a delicious piece of salmon for dinner, finished off with an apple tart a la mode. Yum.)
Between the BART station and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco was a bunch of demonstrators protesting whatever the group of losers was protesting (presumably the same as those on Wall Street and elsewhere these days) that makes no cohesive sense. It really looked like similar demonstrations over the years: Unkempt people sleeping on the sidewalk and yelling nonsense. No wonder they don't have gainful employment.
Wednesday was haircut day for Becky, while I relaxed. Thursday, Becky had lunch in San Mateo with Lynne Johnston, an old banking cohort, while I wandered the streets with the dogs. Itwasour last day in the area, so we geared up for the trip south.
The trip to Pacifica (just south of San Francisco) was only 90 miles, but it rained all the way and we had several miles of construction backups, so it was not an easy drive. Fortunately for me, Becky wanted to drive the whole way, so I didn't have to hassle with the traffic and rain.
We are at the San Francisco RV Park, where we stayed six months ago. We had arranged to have the best site in the park (it's nice and wide and overlooks the coastline), so we are thrilled.
We also have satellite reception, in spite of the drizzle and fog. Only two problems: In backing into the site, we failed to notice the post behind the rig (it's now bent at a 45 degree angle) and the next-door neighbor thinks it's OK to park her car nd a friend's car on part of our site.
They are both supposed to leave Tuesday, so we don't plan to make a fuss. There is overflow parking for our truck within a few feet, so we will cope.
Monday night, we celebrated by having dinner at Ocean Fish, the Japanese restaurant we visited three times the last time we were here. As expected, it was yummy.
The next-door neighbor decided not to leave Tuesday, so we had a bit of a confrontation about the parking rules. She rather snottily agreed to move the cars, but didn't do it until three hours later. It always amazes me that some people believe that rules (and common courtesy) simply don't apply to them.
Tuesday night we took BART to The Embarcadero to have dinner at a restaurant called Prospect with Bann and Chris Covington,
old friends of Becky's from UC Santa Barbara days---and beyond. (They spent a lot of time together when Becky was in Germany for three years after graduation.) We last saw them in Atlanta in 2004. They now live in Berkeley. Very nice people. Their son, Scott, an Army captain and graduate of West Point, is a Blackhawk helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, due home for good in a few days. Many thanks to Scott for his service. (By the way, I had a green goddess salad and a delicious piece of salmon for dinner, finished off with an apple tart a la mode. Yum.)
Between the BART station and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco was a bunch of demonstrators protesting whatever the group of losers was protesting (presumably the same as those on Wall Street and elsewhere these days) that makes no cohesive sense. It really looked like similar demonstrations over the years: Unkempt people sleeping on the sidewalk and yelling nonsense. No wonder they don't have gainful employment.
Wednesday was haircut day for Becky, while I relaxed. Thursday, Becky had lunch in San Mateo with Lynne Johnston, an old banking cohort, while I wandered the streets with the dogs. Itwasour last day in the area, so we geared up for the trip south.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Sunday, October 2, through Sunday, October 9, 2011: Heading to San Francisco:
It was drizzling slightly Sunday morning, so we decided to take advantage of the moisture and wash our trailer before we hit the road. It was the first time we had done that in weeks, and the rig sorely needed it. Then we headed for the first stop on our way to San Francisco---Crescent City, California.
Fortunately, the drizzling stopped for most of the 175 miles down the Oregon coast, so the trip was uneventful and filled with scenery. The Oregon coast is very beautiful, with big rocks, trees, and wide beaches. And bicycles. We must have seen dozens of them, heading down the Oregon Coast Bicycle Trail---which is just a narrow lane on U.S. Highway 101. It was a bit scary to pass them.
We arrived at the Crescent City KOA RV park at 2:30, just as the rain resumed in earnest, and settled into a nice site. There is a clear view of the southern sky, so we would have had excellent TV reception, if it had ever stopped raining. We settled in for another non-TV night.
Monday, the rain stopped long enough for our dish to at least find the satellite signal. So we will have TV reception until----maybe---the rain returns and blurs the dish cover again.
In the afternoon, we visited the nearby redwood forest. There are four contiguous parks, one national (Redwood National Park) and three state (Prairie Creek, Del Norte, and Jedediah Smith), preserving the coastal redwoods.
In all, the parks, mostly the national park, run for 50 miles south along the coast, starting in Crescent City. The trees are amazing. They are smaller in diameter than the giant sequoias of Sequoia National Park, but they are up to 70 feet taller---some more than 370 feet in height, tallest of all trees in the world. They average 500 to 700 years old, and some live up to more than 2,000 years. We took a 5-mile drive through the thickest part of the forest, and it was awesome.
The trip to Garberville on Tuesday was 165 miles on winding, hilly Highway 101, much of it through more of the redwood forest. We are staying at the Richardson Grove RV Park, an older, small but OK park. It rained all night, and the place is very wet, though still manageable. We decided to stay just one night in Garberville, to try to get ahead of the predicted continuing rain, so we packed up and left Wednesday morning. The 106-mile leg to Cloverdale was relatively dry, so easy. We are staying at the Russian River Thousand Trails Preserve, on the Russian River right on the border between Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
We are definitely in wine country. There are 190 wineries in northern Sonoma County, alone. It’s a nice RV park and we were able to find a satellite-friendly site. If only the rain would stay away, we would be fine. But, of course it didn’t stay away. It rained all Wednesday night and Thursday morning. We survived, with, of course, very wet (but always happy) dogs.
The rain went away for good Thursday afternoon. Hurray! We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and the nearness of wine on Thursday, visiting the Ferrari-Carano and Geyser Peak wineries, sampling and buying their wares. We had gone to the Ferrari-Carano Winery many years ago, and remembered that it was a magnificent location. It still is.
Thursday, we headed to nearby Healdsburg for a little wine tasting and to walk around a nice town center we had first visited many years ago. The place was much as we remembered. Our first stop was at the Murphy-Goode tasting room. We discovered that brand a few months ago, and have enjoyed some of its Merlots many times since. We walked out with a few bottles.
Our next stop was next door for lunch. We ate at “The Wurst” where I had a delicious Italian sausage sandwich (loaded with caramelized onions and sweet peppers). We then walked a half block to the Windsor Vineyards tasting room. We have been having their wines delivered to our homes on and off for more than 20 years, largely owing to the persuasive talents of their telephone saleswoman Melanie Diamond. When we got to the tasting room, I called Melanie, who then asked the local manager to treat us well. She assigned us a very knowledgeable young man named Simon, who poured and poured and poured. Once again, we walked out with a few bottles.
Saturday was spent housekeeping and making minor repairs around the house. We also stopped at the local market and rented two DVDs: “Bridesmaids“ (advertised as a hilarious comedy) was disappointingly unfunny and even somewhat depressing, and “Barney’s Version” (a Canadian production starring Paul Giamatti) which was very good. Fortunately, we watched “Bridesmaids” first.
Sunday was a decadent day of relaxation for our last day before getting to San Francisco. We rented two movies from the local Red Box: “The Dilemma” was surprisingly good and “Bending All The Rules” was surprisingly bad. We also tapped into some of the Viognier we bought at the Windsor Vineyards tasting room on Friday. Yum!
It was drizzling slightly Sunday morning, so we decided to take advantage of the moisture and wash our trailer before we hit the road. It was the first time we had done that in weeks, and the rig sorely needed it. Then we headed for the first stop on our way to San Francisco---Crescent City, California.
Fortunately, the drizzling stopped for most of the 175 miles down the Oregon coast, so the trip was uneventful and filled with scenery. The Oregon coast is very beautiful, with big rocks, trees, and wide beaches. And bicycles. We must have seen dozens of them, heading down the Oregon Coast Bicycle Trail---which is just a narrow lane on U.S. Highway 101. It was a bit scary to pass them.
We arrived at the Crescent City KOA RV park at 2:30, just as the rain resumed in earnest, and settled into a nice site. There is a clear view of the southern sky, so we would have had excellent TV reception, if it had ever stopped raining. We settled in for another non-TV night.
Monday, the rain stopped long enough for our dish to at least find the satellite signal. So we will have TV reception until----maybe---the rain returns and blurs the dish cover again.
In the afternoon, we visited the nearby redwood forest. There are four contiguous parks, one national (Redwood National Park) and three state (Prairie Creek, Del Norte, and Jedediah Smith), preserving the coastal redwoods.
In all, the parks, mostly the national park, run for 50 miles south along the coast, starting in Crescent City. The trees are amazing. They are smaller in diameter than the giant sequoias of Sequoia National Park, but they are up to 70 feet taller---some more than 370 feet in height, tallest of all trees in the world. They average 500 to 700 years old, and some live up to more than 2,000 years. We took a 5-mile drive through the thickest part of the forest, and it was awesome.
The trip to Garberville on Tuesday was 165 miles on winding, hilly Highway 101, much of it through more of the redwood forest. We are staying at the Richardson Grove RV Park, an older, small but OK park. It rained all night, and the place is very wet, though still manageable. We decided to stay just one night in Garberville, to try to get ahead of the predicted continuing rain, so we packed up and left Wednesday morning. The 106-mile leg to Cloverdale was relatively dry, so easy. We are staying at the Russian River Thousand Trails Preserve, on the Russian River right on the border between Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
We are definitely in wine country. There are 190 wineries in northern Sonoma County, alone. It’s a nice RV park and we were able to find a satellite-friendly site. If only the rain would stay away, we would be fine. But, of course it didn’t stay away. It rained all Wednesday night and Thursday morning. We survived, with, of course, very wet (but always happy) dogs.
The rain went away for good Thursday afternoon. Hurray! We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and the nearness of wine on Thursday, visiting the Ferrari-Carano and Geyser Peak wineries, sampling and buying their wares. We had gone to the Ferrari-Carano Winery many years ago, and remembered that it was a magnificent location. It still is.
Thursday, we headed to nearby Healdsburg for a little wine tasting and to walk around a nice town center we had first visited many years ago. The place was much as we remembered. Our first stop was at the Murphy-Goode tasting room. We discovered that brand a few months ago, and have enjoyed some of its Merlots many times since. We walked out with a few bottles.
Our next stop was next door for lunch. We ate at “The Wurst” where I had a delicious Italian sausage sandwich (loaded with caramelized onions and sweet peppers). We then walked a half block to the Windsor Vineyards tasting room. We have been having their wines delivered to our homes on and off for more than 20 years, largely owing to the persuasive talents of their telephone saleswoman Melanie Diamond. When we got to the tasting room, I called Melanie, who then asked the local manager to treat us well. She assigned us a very knowledgeable young man named Simon, who poured and poured and poured. Once again, we walked out with a few bottles.
Saturday was spent housekeeping and making minor repairs around the house. We also stopped at the local market and rented two DVDs: “Bridesmaids“ (advertised as a hilarious comedy) was disappointingly unfunny and even somewhat depressing, and “Barney’s Version” (a Canadian production starring Paul Giamatti) which was very good. Fortunately, we watched “Bridesmaids” first.
Sunday was a decadent day of relaxation for our last day before getting to San Francisco. We rented two movies from the local Red Box: “The Dilemma” was surprisingly good and “Bending All The Rules” was surprisingly bad. We also tapped into some of the Viognier we bought at the Windsor Vineyards tasting room on Friday. Yum!
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