California - Day 21 - CA wine country

Cloverdale/Healdsburg KOA, Cloverdale

Monday, 21 March 2022

The Petaluma KOA looked in person entirely different than the impression I'd gotten from its site map posted online.  The map made me think it was entirely paved with hundreds of campsites elbow-to-elbow.  In person, it was much more attractive with loads of trees and grass.  I suppose on a busy night the sites might seem close together, but Sundays are often lighter than other nights and what I saw looked fairly comfortable.  There's a large stand of mixed trees with lots of redwoods right in the middle of the campground, so lots of the cabins and RV sites were in attractive locations.  And one area that was billed as a prime locale (and charged for accordingly) was a wire fence away from a herd of cows.  I wouldn't have thought cow odors would be a high-class milieu, but the cows are certainly picturesque.

Although we didn't get all that much rain down near Santa Cruz, there must have been a lot up here because 24-36 hours later the ground was still completely saturated, with lots of mud.

Morgan told me yesterday that California has microclimates, and the one Los Gatos sits in has milder weather than in other areas not far away.  Maybe Petaluma is in a very wet microclimate.

today's route

I stopped in town at a gas station and at the Target, neither of which I'd thought about when I planned my route, and which meant none of my mileage references were accurate.  Still, I thought I could figure it out, because this didn't look like a densely-populated area of town.

But I got lost and learned that this is indeed more densely populated than I'd thought.  I wandered around in residential areas trying desperately to keep in mind either where I'd come from or where I wanted to go.  None of that helped and I finally found a parking lot I could stop in to turn on my laptop and hotspot and reorient myself.  Actually, I had to do that twice but finally found my way out of town.

Which was out of any town for many miles.  Mostly I passed vineyards, a few horses and cows and houses, but mostly vineyards.  Almost all of today's drive was through the Sonoma and Napa counties, ending in Mendocino.  Individual winery areas in these counties are called Russian River Valley, in the south; Alexander Valley, in the northeast; Dry Creek Valley in the northwest.  I drove through pieces of all 3.  I assume those names ring a bell for you from the wine bottle labels we've all seen.  I didn't even write down the names of most of the familiar wineries I passed, but the ones I did include Silver Oak, Glen Ellen, Chateau St. Jean, and La Crema.  And many many more.

All day the road wound its narrow way up and down through the hills of these agricultural areas, through the towns of Sonoma, pop. 10,739; Boyes Hot Springs, pop. 6,215, (which I could identify only because I saw the name on the post office building); Kenwood, pop. 852.  This road was designated the Valley of the Moon Scenic Route, presumably because northern Sonoma county is sometimes called Valley of the Moon - a name that comes from the language of the indigenous people in this area.

Just north of Boyes Hot Springs I came to the turn for the Jack London State Historic Park.  I connect Jack London with the Far North and hadn't realized he once owned a ranch here.  It's that ranch that's been protected by the State of CA.  They've got an interesting website  https://jacklondonpark that includes several quotes from Jack London.  As an example: "Get up; wake up; kick in; do something; deliver the goods; come across; arise or be forever damned."  (Enough to make you feel like you've been wasting your time.)

On the way into Santa Rosa, I passed a business called The Pony Express.  Their sign said, "Horses Change Kids; Kids Change The World."  Which I guess sums up their business.  Also in Santa Rosa, I passed the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts.  I think I remember that he himself was an artist, but his lifelong focus and passion was for botany so I'm not sure why this arts center was named for him.

California has designated a petrified forest near the town of Calistoga as a state historical landmark.  They say it was created by a violent volcano eruption 3.4 million years ago and is now considered one of the world's best examples of a preserved ancient forest.  Calistoga itself, with 5,228 residents, is mostly famous these days for its vineyards.  In this area I saw fields of bluebonnets and a lot of Spanish moss in the trees.

Driving directions to tonight's campground included a lot of short hops on a series of roads, followed by a couple of longer stretches - all uphill.  When I was coming around a curve partway through the last stretch, I saw a sign saying, "Don't Despair - You're Almost There."  That was smart of the campground to put that up because by that time I was indeed wondering if I were on the right road.

This was a strange campground - mostly because KOAs tend to be more sophisticated than - say - national park campgrounds.  But this one was as rural as I've seen and built entirely on multiple hills.  As it happened, I'd asked for one of the best campsites (for my needs), though I hadn't realized it at the time.  We were in a location where I had choices for which way to walk the dogs, and it was fairly level.  The office was closed when I got there - in fact, I didn't talk to a staff person the whole time we were there - so it's a good thing I didn't any help.  Their wifi system wasn't useful for me and my hotspot decided this location was too rural to get service, but I was only staying one night so we were okay.

California - Day 20 - to Los Gatos, through SFO, and on north

San Francisco North/Petaluma KOA, Petaluma

Sunday, 20 March 2022

the part of today's route on the map of northern CA

the part of today's route on the map of southern CA

a closer view of the Bay area route

I couldn't do what I usually do with 2 maps, which is to put them together to take it all as one photo, because the maps of northern and southern CA were back to back.  But you can probably figure out where I went.

When I left the campground among the redwoods I went south to Santa Cruz, figuring it was too close to pass it up.  What I'd really wanted to do was take a ride on the carousel at their waterfront amusement park.  They have a Looff carousel from 1911 that's still operating.  They charge $6 for a ride, which is more than I've had to pay for other historic carousels but still in a range I'd be willing to fork over.  The problem was that it operates only in the afternoons and I'd've had to come in yesterday to ride it, which I was too tired to do.

The carousel, along with a wooden roller coaster, built in 1924, were together declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.  Both are apparently still going strong.  Here's information about the carousel from the National Roller Coaster Museum   https://rollercoastermuseum.org/santa-cruz-beach-boardwalk-looff-carousel and the Wikipedia page about both attractions.   https://en.wikipedia.org/Santa-Cruz-Looff-Carousel-Roller-Coaster

You wouldn't think I could get lost in the very light early Sunday morning traffic in a smallish city (about 55,000) like Santa Cruz, but I did.  And I had to wander around for a while before I got found, but I did.

Back on CA-17, on the way north I saw a sign with flashing yellow lights, saying "Winding Road Next 8 Miles - Drive Carefully."  I don't remember seeing a similar sign when I was coming south, which would at least have given me some warning of what I was about to have to deal with.  Well, it's done now.

Part way along the road I came to Patchen Pass, elev. 1808'.  Another sign I didn't see going south.  You might not think that pass is a very high one, but it is in comparison to the elevation of Santa Cruz - 23'.

I'd intended to stop at the Safeway in Los Gatos, only to discover its parking lot was very small because it relies on a parking garage, which I can't fit in.  Other people apparently didn't want to fool with the garage because the small lot was completely full - at 8:30 on a Sunday morning.  So I went from there down the road to the city park where I was supposed to meet Morgan.

I got there almost 2 hours early for the 10:30 meet time, but I'd expected that.  I was afraid the parking area might get crowded there too and didn't want to try to hunt for a space for the RV somewhere else.  And it turned out I was right.  It was a beautiful morning, especially after yesterday's rain, and it looked like half of the population of Los Gatos (33,529) was showing up.  The parking lot was completely full by 10:00.  It turned out that there was a large celebration going on in one area of the park - the Hindu Festival of Color.  Lots of people had come wearing bright colors, and there was music and dancing and a general good time, as far as I could see.  But it accounted for the full parking lot.  

This park, though, is connected by a walkway to the county park next door, and that's where my friends ended up parking.

I haven't seen Morgan and Michael since their wedding a lot of years ago, and it was really nice to see them again.  And especially to meet their daughter Layla, who is 2-going-on-3.  She's a beautiful girl and everyone (grandmother Paula agrees) is glad the terrible 2s are coming to an end.  Though the guys both told me how much they were enjoying seeing her develop into her own person, even as young as she is.

They say they're really happy to have moved here to California, where the weather's much better than in New York City where they'd been living.  They have good, challenging jobs and in general seem to be doing very well.  Always nice to see.

At 12:30 we all got moving - them to errands and me on up the road.  I saw a California license plate on a Corvette that read "XELER8."  Wonder how often he got stopped by the CA Highway Patrol.

US-101 runs right through the middle of San Francisco, where it's called Van Ness Ave.  I drove past a beautiful building for the San Francisco Unified School District, but I can't find an uncopyrighted photo online - or much of any kind of photo.  But I also passed City Hall, which is absolutely stunning.  The most magnificent city hall in the US.  Take a look at this internet photo.

San Francisco City Hall

Looks more like a state capitol than a city hall, doesn't it?

Downtown SF is a mix of old and new buildings, and some of the old ones have unusual decorations.  For instance, I'd never have been able to take a good look at the one below if it hadn't been for that red light.  I didn't see anything that told me what this building is and don't even know where on Van Ness Ave. it sits.  But that carving's pretty unusual (though I'm guessing the bears represent California).

see detail enlarged below

At one point, US-101 turned a corner and became Lombard St.  When I saw what Google was telling me to do, I quickly looked it up to be sure the route wasn't including that section of Lombard - the famous one that's claimed to be the world's most winding street.  It has 8 hairpin turns in a 1-block section on a 27° incline.  I've driven it before, and it requires the same level of faith in gravity as downhill skiing does.  There are houses with gardens all along the edge of this block and I sure was glad to learn I wouldn't be taking my RV down it, just to stay on US-101.

Not only is San Francisco on a peninsula, surrounded by water on 3 sides, but the entire settled area here is equally set apart by water, so to avoid a long bridge I'd've had to drive hours and hours around the entire area.  Of the 4 bridges in the Bay area, the Golden Gate was the most direct route and the shortest and the cheapest: northbound there's no toll.  (They want you to leave town, not come into it.)  So I took the Golden Gate and am only sorry I couldn't get my own photo of it.

I think this is the photo most commonly used for
the Golden Gate Bridge.

At 1.7 miles, it's one of the longest bridges I've driven on, and the only reason I tried it was because Google showed me it has 3 lanes in each direction with a divider in between, plus a wide pedestrian walkway - at least there's one on the northbound side.  So I knew I could drive in the middle lane without worrying about faster traffic, and I'd be able to avoid the terrifying feeling I get on some long bridges that the slightest mistake on my part, or a strong wind, could send me over the edge.

For years this bridge was the longest and tallest suspension bridge in the world.  Even now it has the 2nd longest main span of suspension bridges in the Western Hemisphere, after only the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York.  

Sadly, the Golden Gate can claim top of the heap in another category: it's the most used suicide spot in the world.  They estimate 1,500 people have jumped to their deaths from this bridge.  Authorities planned for nets to be installed to catch would-be jumpers, but that project has been held up for various technical reasons.  Current completion date is next year.

Today I definitely didn't want to be part of that statistic and, in fact, the drive turned out to be relatively pain- and terror-free for me.

On the other side, I still had about an hour of driving to get to tonight's campground, through country that was fairly rural, which surprised me considering how close it was to a major city.  The map shows several towns written in prominent letters, but they're spread apart and even they aren't particularly large per the 2020 census: San Rafael (58,704), Novato (53,225), and Petaluma itself (59,776).  Petaluma is known for its historic and attractive downtown, but I was too tired to do anything but go straight to the campground.

California - Day 19 - in the campground in the redwoods

Cotillion Gardens RV Park, Felton

Saturday, 19 March 2022

I have to agree this is a beautiful area.  My campsite was in a small stand of redwoods, a little isolated from the other campsites.  I couldn't decide whether to show you how wide the little stand was or how high the trees were, so I'm showing you both.

I couldn't get far enough back to show the tops of the trees.

As predicted, it did rain today, though I guess we didn't get as much down here as in places farther north.  Still, I found us out walking in the rain a couple of times today - which was actually a good thing because that meant we'd run into fewer people out walking their dogs.

This campground was absolutely packed with dogs, a surprising number of them being full-blooded pit bulls.  Surprising because so often campgrounds won't accept even pit mixes.

There were also a lot of little kids - this was a weekend after all, and I guess it's a place where families come for vacation.  Without thinking, I'd chosen a campsite right next to the basketball court and very near the playground, so poor Gracie had to suffer palpitations at the noises.  She's better than she used to be but still is terrified of the sound of a bouncing ball.

Part way through the day I realized I was having mild flashbacks to my years in Juneau.  As I was there, here I was in a dense forest of large old trees with ferns all over and rain coming down.  I suddenly found myself thinking, I've already done this and I decided to leave, so what am I doing here now?  But it was a pretty place and only for a weekend.

Still, this was a weird campground that I wouldn't want to come back to, but only because of the staff.  Once when the dogs and I were walking around, one of the staff came up to us and said we'd need to leave where we were because it was "somebody's campsite."  But I knew it wasn't.  Nobody was there, and nobody was likely to come in right now because there were other vacancies and that particular spot wasn't very desirable.  He was just being officious, while I was just trying to dodge the other dogs that were being taken for walks.  That's the first time in all this traveling that somebody's told me that.

When I was checking in yesterday, I was in line behind a man who turned out to be the 2nd of 3 groups of campers from Québec.  Then it was my turn and we were part way through the process when #3 turned up behind me.  The clerk asked me to wait while she checked him in because he was part of that other group.  That made no sense to me at all - I mean, they were all paying separately and had separate sites - so I asked her how much more we had to do to finish me up.  Her answer was to ask another staff member to check in Mr. #3, which she hadn't done for me while I stood and waited for #2.  And #3 stood so close to me it was hard to avoid bumping.  It turned out his check-in took as long as mine, and I can't even imagine why this woman thought I should stand and wait for him.

Then when I was about to pay, she told me they charged a large extra fee if I paid with a credit card, which was the first time I'd heard that from them.  Even though I'd made my reservation over the phone, and even though they could have posted a sign saying so, she waited until I was ready to finish to let me know.  So I had to walk all the way back to the RV (passing the group of Canadians who were all standing around yukking it up, not in any kind of hurry), get some cash and walk all the way back.  I'd had a lot of driving today and was really tired, but the extra fee she was springing on me was substantial enough that I made the trek anyway.

She showed me on the campground map where the access points were to the next door state park, but I found out when I went to take the dogs there that dogs aren't allowed on the park's trails, something she didn't bother to tell me.  This campground also had no dog park or even a dog walk, so I had a hard time figuring out where to walk mine.  Especially with hyper-vigilante staff roaming around to tell me where I couldn't walk.

Their wifi system was too spotty for me to be able to rely on and my hot spot had trouble getting a clear signal because we were down in a deep valley in a thick stand of trees.

I just thought this was definitely not a user-friendly campground, though I saw many others who were having a great time.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  And the trees were indeed beautiful.

California - Day 18 - SFO and redwoods

Cotillion Gardens RV Park, Felton

Friday, 18 March 2022

today's route

a closer view of the route through the Bay area

The first hour or so of driving today took me through agricultural areas, which you may not have realized existed so close to such a large metropolitan area as the San Francisco Bay area.  I passed farms for cherries and strawberries and garlic.  I saw a large flock of sheep feeding in a very overgrown grassy field and wondered if the sheep owner rented out his crew to trim people's lawns.

I heard 2 Asian language radio stations, which told me that there must be an enormous population of speakers of Asian languages (sorry but I didn't recognize which languages were spoken) if they could support 2 stations.

I skirted the edge of San Jose, which with 1.01 million residents is now the largest city in northern CA.  San Francisco, by comparison, has a mere 874,000.  I understand that San Jose is the hub of Silicon Valley, which was nice to know because I'd already figured that Silicon Valley wasn't an actual valley I'd find on a map.

I passed something called the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and I had to look that up.  I'm not sure I still understand it, but I can report that it was originally named the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and that this accelerator can speed up electrons.  At that point, it all looked so technical I got lost.  But I know the name has changed for various odd reasons, and the mission has changed for ditto, and you might want to take a look at the Wikipedia page for more information.   https://en.wikipedia.org/SLAC-National-Accelerator-Lab

I passed Menlo Park, famous for being the site of Thomas Edison's research; there's a museum there now.

Despite these signs of human habitation, I was still passing a lot of rural scenery, with green hills and trees and watch-for-deer signs.

Then I was coming into the city, trying hard to follow Google's directions when I was simultaneously dealing with traffic and a lack of street signs and seeing that the names on the ones I could find weren't always what Google said they'd be.  In other words, I got lost.  I turned on John Daly Blvd. because I was desperate to get off CA-1 so I could look at my computer, and stopped at a Target for regrouping.

I walked the dogs briefly and tackled the streets again.  Only once more to run up against the sign problem, so this time I pulled onto a side road serving some houses and once again pulled out my laptop and my hotspot.  I know those of you with smart phones (i.e. everybody) won't understand why I'm willing to put up with such a clunky system, but the main reason can be expressed in the size of my phone bill - or the relative lack of size compared to what other folks tell me about theirs.  Anyway, I'm willing to put up with some inconvenience for what I see as a small price.

This second time I wasn't able to figure out where I'd been going wrong, but it didn't matter because I'd blundered close enough that I knew this 3rd time would be the charm.  And it was.

I got to Gail's at 10:30 almost exactly, which was when I'd estimated I'd be there - showing my estimates now build in fairly accurately a chance I'll get lost.  I met Gail while she was out walking around the neighborhood with friends, and she was kind enough to go with me for another walk for the dogs' benefit.

She lives in an area called Ingleside Terraces, which consists of homes she said had mostly been built before and after WWI.  One of the unusual features of the neighborhood was a sundial not far from her house.

It's not every neighborhood that has its own sundial.
And it obviously works.

Gail said the area used to be a racetrack, but the roads there now are so winding and convoluted I'd think setting a residential speed limit would be redundant.

She took us (me and the dogs) to her back yard, which was so gorgeous the dogs didn't know what to do.  I still can't believe I didn't take a photo of it and told Gail she should send a photo to Better Homes and Gardens to illustrate gardening on a hillside.  It's a blooming sight, a hill rising steeply from behind their house, full of beautiful flowers.  Really, the dogs weren't used to climbing steps, which they'd have to do, and weren't used to so many flowers, not just the bushes and things in a campground.  I thought they looked uncomfortable so decided to take them back to the RV and give them and Lily lunch.

Gail told me she and her husband David had been lucky enough to buy their house at a time when schoolteachers (which they both were) could still afford to buy in San Francisco.  They raised both their daughters there and seem to be very comfortable.  Gail fixed us lunch and I got to meet their younger daughter Elizabeth, which was nice.  You might think age 72 is a little old to be meeting a cousin for the first time, but I'm glad to have had the chance to meet at all.  It's not like San Francisco is on my way to much of anywhere I've been in a while.

Gail had warned me that Elizabeth had just this week tested positive for the virus.  She's been careful to wear a mask in the house, not only because it's the right thing to do but also because David's health has been a little precarious.  I was plenty comfortable with wearing a mask inside myself - in fact, we all did - and I guess Elizabeth's symptoms had been mild.  But with these evolving strains of the virus getting more and more communicable, I worried a bit.  Though not enough to cancel the visit.

I got to look at photos both of the girls and their families and also of our New England relatives.  Gail had some I hadn't seen and I was sorry my momma couldn't have seen them.  And that she hadn't been able to meet Elizabeth and her sister Elaine.

We had a nice, too-brief visit and I got back on the road, acutely aware that I was driving in Friday afternoon traffic heading out of a major metropolitan area.

This time I managed to make it out of town without problems and eventually headed south from Los Gatos on CA-17.  What I didn't know was that this highway, though picturesque and not a driving problem for an ordinary passenger vehicle, wasn't really suited for an RV.  It was downhill, winding, very narrow lanes, with lots of traffic and I had the sun in my eyes.  There was also a lot of construction so I had trouble figuring out just where my lane was, to the irritation of other drivers.  That was an 18-mile drive I wouldn't want to do again.  Except I had to do it again to get back north.  So I hoped it'd be easier going in a different direction.

Tonight's campground was where Google said it'd be, but that didn't make it easy to find because of - yet again- a dearth of helpful signs to tell me if I was really going the right way.  From the town of Felton, I was again heading downhill on a narrow winding road, this time with large trees growing right at the edge of the road.  And when I turned off the main road, I found myself on an even steeper and even narrower downhill road, going down and down into what turned out to be a large grove of redwoods.

In fact, this campground is immediately next to the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.  That meant nothing to me but is apparently well known in this state as being a wonderful area of huge old redwood trees.  And this campground was benefitting from that atmosphere.

California - Day 17 - in the Salinas campground

Salinas/Monterey KOA, Salinas

Thursday, 17 March 2022

I'd spent the last 3 days on the road, so it was nice to have a day to just sit in one spot.  Except for needing to walk the dogs.

This campground was built on a serious hill, so any walking we did involved climbing.  Gracie is normally reluctant to walk up inclines but she didn't seem to have much problem with it here.

They had 2 areas for dogs.  One was an off-leash dog park that was in a grove of redwoods.  Very shady and cool, which would have been much nicer in summer weather, though Dexter and I found some sun there.  It was a big area and the dogs found plenty of things to sniff.  

The other area was called a dog walk and was a short trail through an area of trees and grass and wildflowers that was the buffer between the campground and a busy gas station on the access road beside US-101.  That was actually a much nicer area than this sounds, especially when the day warmed up enough for the shade to be comfortable.  Lots of pretty flowers for me and apparently lots of smells for the dogs.  It was a pleasant way to make the climb from the lowest area of the campground to the highest, and even Gracie enjoyed it.

Otherwise, the campground was entirely paved over, which is hard as a place to walk the dogs because there isn't much place for their bathroom activities.  Still, Gracie prefers pavement - I think it's easier on her feet - and there were areas of grass near the entrance, so we did okay.

I spent the rest of the day planning my driving routes for the next few days.  I'd made plans to visit my cousin and her family in San Francisco tomorrow, and then to visit Paula and Bruce's son Morgan and his family in a park in Los Gatos, where they lived.  We'd originally intended to get together on Saturday, but the forecast was for a lot of rain, so we moved it to Sunday, and I rearranged my campground reservations.  In fact, I now had reservations for a week ahead, still trying to see as much of the state as I could in the time I had left, but acutely aware that I was still in the part of the AAA map for Southern California.  That meant I had less than half a month to cover more than half the state.  Ah well.  We all do what we can.

California - Day 16 - Salinas, Monterey, Pacific Grove

Salinas/Monterey KOA, Salinas

Wednesday, 16 March 2022

I had an ambitious schedule planned today - errands and chores plus some sightseeing.  At least the weather was better than yesterday's.

today's route

My first stop was at the Bit O' Blarney Grooming, where I dumped off the dogs for a seriously overdue bath and brushing.

I passed a place with a sign saying "Wood Stock Firewood," and wondered if the business belonged to an ex-hippie.

Then Lily and I went into Salinas to a vet's office to get her claws clipped - also seriously overdue.  I drove in from Prunedale on US-101, which has been designated the John Steinbeck Highway.  Salinas, pop. 163,542, is home to the National Steinbeck Center.  Unsurprisingly, this is where Steinbeck grew up, and some of his most famous books were set in this area.

From there I stopped at a laundromat for a while, needing to wash the dogs' bed covers, hoping they'd smell better along with the dogs.

I passed the Salinas High School, established in 1882, and I'm sorry I couldn't find an uncopyrighted photo online, because it's really beautiful - a sort of Spanish mission style.

I'd intended to leave the dogs at the groomers while I ran down to Monterey, but they called and asked me to pick them up because both dogs were vomiting and having loose stools.  I was sorry for the dogs, sorry for the groomers and sorry for me for having to put them back into the RV.  Though I guess they'd gotten it all out of their system, so to speak, because we didn't have any more trouble.

We drove the 15 or so miles south to Monterey, pop. 29,500 and elev. 25'.  Very picturesque town and I'm guessing pretty wealthy too.  Now the canneries and way of life that Steinbeck wrote about are just tourist attractions.

I passed the US Army Presidio at Monterey, which is a military base though most of its personnel live in nearby Fort Ord, which I'd also passed.  In fact, I can't figure out from online information just what this presidio is or does.  But it's sure there, and in a beautiful location.

Also housed there is the Defense Language Institute, where my former husband was taught Russian as part of his time in the Air Force during the Cold War.  He said he was one of the crew that intercepted and translated Russian military communications while flying over the Pacific Ocean.  Given the current world situation (invasion of Ukraine, e.g.), I'm guessing other USAF personnel are still performing that function.

The streets in Monterey were narrow and crowded with cars and tourists and I couldn't find anywhere at all to park.  The dogs and I really wanted to stretch our legs, so I kept on going down the road.

The town of Pacific Grove has 15,090 folks (2020) and looks like it's a very wealthy community.  It wasn't so much the houses, which weren't particularly fancy, as it was the municipal golf course right in town and the setting right on Monterey Bay. 

The map above is a little washed out, but maybe you can see that Pacific Grove is sitting at the tip of a peninsula that juts into the bay.  Right there is where NOAA has its Southwest Fisheries Science Center.  I passed it on 2 sides as I followed Ocean View Blvd. around the coastline.  And a moderately spectacular coast it is.

I tried to take photos of the waves crashing and I hope you can see that in these photos.

I'd intended to stop at Point Pinos Lighthouse, intending to park and take a walk from there.  But they're undergoing restoration and the whole facility was closed.

I was barely able to see it (this is an internet photo) because of all the trees in the way, but this lighthouse was built in 1855 and is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the West Coast.

Instead, we parked in an area that may have belonged to the golf course, but I didn't see any forbidding signs and hadn't been able to find anywhere else.  We walked along the street by the golf course down a block to the shore.

You can see what the ocean breeze does to the growth of these trees.

Despite the sound of people hitting golf balls upsetting Gracie, we all had a nice walk along this area.

Driving back through Pacific Grove and Monterey, I passed the entrance to the famed 17-Mile Drive.  It runs, I think, from these 2 towns (I couldn't figure out where one stopped and the other started) down to the small unincorporated town of Pebble Beach.  Along the way it passes 5 golf courses and other scenic areas, and they actually charge people to drive there.  It's a toll road for which I'd have to pay $11.25, so I voted no.  But if you're curious, here's their website.   https://www.pebblebeach.com/17-mile-drive

I took a different route back north, wanting to see more of the ocean and, since I'd go through Castroville, maybe some artichokes.  And I did.

North of Monterey was Sand City and, true to its name, the Pacific Ocean/Monterey Bay was right there next to the road.  It was really pretty.  But as I drove north I had my view completely blocked by enormous sand dunes which aren't nearly as picturesque.

And sure enough, at Castroville, "Artichoke Center of the World," I saw fields of plants that looked just like artichokes.  I'm used to seeing only one or two at a time in someone's garden, so entire fields of them was almost disorienting.  Castroville has about 7,500 folks and a festival celebrating artichokes each year in June.  I'd like to go sometime - it sounds like fun.

When we got back to the campground, I put all the dog beds out on the picnic table to air out a bit, even though it was well into the afternoon by then.  The dogs didn't much like lying on the floor (who would?) but I didn't want to put the clean covers back on the beds without at least making a stab at some fresh air.

California - Day 15 - to Salinas via Merced

Salinas/Monterey KOA, Salinas

Tuesday, 15 March 2022

When I was walking the dogs around the campground area this morning, I noticed what I'd missed yesterday - that we were nestled between several extremely large chunks of rock - mountain size.  I guess they're just so big that I didn't even see them, the way we don't see walls in a building; they're just there.  But they were so big I couldn't get any kind of angle for a photo, and once we'd driven out of the campground, the rocks didn't look the same.

A family of foreigners rented an RV and camped not far from our site.  I say "foreigners" because they spoke a language that didn't sound like either French or Spanish - more like a Scandinavian language.  It looked like 3 generations of family, and I thought how clever it was of them to think of renting an RV to tour the US.

today's route

As I was leaving the area of the campground and Yosemite Lodge, I saw park service signs saying to expect heavy smoke due to the "managed fire" they were conducting.  They weren't kidding - in places the smoke was so heavy I couldn't see even a quarter mile down the road.  And I passed areas where the fire was actually burning near the road.  I didn't see any people anywhere and hoped the fire crew knew what they were doing.

Here's some typical Yosemite scenery, with views unhampered by the boatloads of tourists I saw yesterday:

I don't know which falls these were, but even without
a name they're pretty.

You can see how hazy it is from the fire.  Otherwise,
this is a common sight here in Yosemite.

This might have been one of the mountains looming
above the campground, which I think is around
the left side of it.

When I came to a crossroads, I saw a sign saying vehicles over 45' were prohibited on CA-140 (the road I was taking this morning) beginning 10 miles west of the park exit.  (I guess giving large vehicles a chance to take the alternate route.)  And I soon found out why.

The next 10 miles were a constant series of double s-curves, steep hills including one 8% grade, outcroppings of rocks and huge trees growing right at the roadside, making me dodge into the oncoming lane to avoid being sideswiped by a rock or tree, plus beautiful Yosemite scenery including the Merced River with little rapids and still pools, other waterfalls and beautiful huge trees.  Because it was a 2-way road, there was oncoming traffic now and then.  And it started to rain, limiting visibility and making me worry about slippery road surfaces.  It was a long 10 miles.

Then I came to the town of El Portal, pop. 635 and elev. 2,100' (meaning I'd lost a whole lot of elevation in a short drive).  There I saw a sign saying there's a $270 fine for any vehicle over 45' beyond the South Fork of the Merced River.  And the road continued to be as exciting as it had been so far.

From there, the road went up and down quite a bit - the town of Midpines ("Pride of the Sierra"), pop. 431, sits at 2,405' and the nearby Midpines Summit came in at 2,962'.  And that was followed by Mariposa, at 1,953'.  So up and down.

I thought I saw some Stellar's Jays, which I've always thought were beautiful, and dramatic.

Wikipedia says they're the only crested jays west of the Rockies.  They really are as deeply blue as that photo shows.

The scenery changed on its way downhill and I found myself in cattle country - with some sheep thrown in.

And I passed acres of white flowering trees near a sign saying "Sunsweet."  I always connect that name with prunes and raisins, but I thought plum trees had pink blossoms so am not sure what these white flowers were for.  I also saw signs advertising local almonds, pistachios and honey (from all the bee boxes I saw near the orchards).

It took 2½ hours to get to Merced, and by then the rain had turned into a steady downpour.  Great timing, since that's when the dogs and I needed to get out for a walk.  Oh well.

I didn't see a highway sign announcing Merced, but I can tell you that it had 86,333 residents in the 2020 census.  Nice, mid-sized town.  I stopped in the city's public parking lot where I saw Slater's Furniture across the street had a sign saying, "Celebrating 100 Years."  That impressed me, because much more commonly I've been seeing "liquidation" signs, plus people aren't patronizing local furniture stores these days.  Covid had a severe impact on local businesses, but this one seems to be flourishing, and I hoped it was a reflection of the town.

Across another street I saw 2 murals which weren't at all in a style I'd've connected with a town this size in farming country.

Kind of offbeat for a farming town, don't you think?

As I was leaving town on CA-59, I saw a sign saying, "Turn On Lights - Dangerous Highway 59."  Not a sign to inspire confidence, though it turned out to be no worse than any other I've been driving.

And I saw another sign: "Pray For Rain."  It worked.  It was still raining off and on for much of the day.

That odometer turning to 100,000 miles had an unexpected consequence: I'm now having a hard time following Google's directions because the odometer no longer displays tenths of a mile.  The tenths place is needed to record whole numbers.  It took me most of the drive up to the General Grant tree before I figured out what the problem was with following directions.  

Then I had to figure out how to solve it - using the trip odometer instead, which turns out to be even less accurate than my odometer is.  And then I had to establish a new habit of looking at the trip odometer instead of the regular one which, after four years of driving almost daily, was a big habit to change.  

So now, several days later, I'm still having a really hard time with it.  You might not think this matters much, but it can be a real problem because I'm switching highways so often as I drive along.  Today, for instance, I drove on CA-59 for 14.7 miles out of Merced.  Then I switched to CA-152 for 55.7 miles, followed by CA-156 for 18.3 miles, and then joined US-101 for 8.3 miles.  

Trying to calculate all those distances and turns using the odometer just didn't work because I kept mentally using the last 3 digits as if one were the tenths digit.  Which put my expectations for turns way off.  I'll get it figured out, but driving downhill on country roads in the rain and drizzle isn't the best time to establish a new habit.

I continued to pass huge orchards and more of those stop-dumping-dam-water-in-the-ocean signs.  At an intersection in Los Banos, I noticed dozens of bee boxes on a flatbed truck next to me.  And I couldn't help but see dozens of bees flying around the bee boxes.  Do you think they're able to rejoin their colonies?  And if not, what do you suppose happens to them?  Los Banos, by the way, had a population of 44,263 in 2020, a considerable increase over its population of 25,869 in the 2000 census.

I passed a sign for California Dairies - Nunes Brothers.  I looked it up and yes, it's the family company that former congressman Devin Nunes used to work for.  The guy who sued because he didn't like the sarcasm aimed at him from the Devin Nunes' Cow Twitter account.

I had trouble sleeping last night for some reason, so today I'm so sleepy I'm afraid to drive even at my normal speed.  It's been tough navigating some of these roads while I'm having to slap my face to stay awake.

I continued to pass agriculture fields and a strong smell of garlic came into the cabin.

Finally I came to Prunedale, elevation 92'.  Substantially lower than this morning's 4,000' in Yosemite.  Prunedale is where tonight's campground is actually located, though it claims an address in much better known Salinas a few miles further south.