October 29th, Friday and Saturday Oct. 30

Friday was a day trip to Santa Barbara, 90 miles south on sunny Highway 101.  We stopped in Santa Maria as there is a motorhome repair shop there and now have an appointment for Monday to get the exhaust leak fixed and maybe two new front shocks. Having this work done will give us the much needed confidence to get around Los Angeles.

Santa Barbara is nice, but just doesn’t compare to Santa Cruz, so I guess we have been spoilt.  One thing though, the country side/fields are so much greener, even the mountains!  There are farm field after farm field and grape vine fields by the dozens. The terrain is mostly flat until you pass through part of the San Rafael Mountains and there you find Santa Barbara built on the side of the mountains right straight down to the shoreline. We had a nice lunch opposite the Stearns Wharf, in the Breakwater Restaurant out on the patio watching all the boats coming and going.  On our return trip we took Highway 1, but it doesn’t really follow the coast so it’s not anymore interesting than Highway 101.  Except, to drive home the fact that a lot of food is grown around here!

The Park is filling up; there are motorhomes and fifty wheels pulling in by the dozens. Our neighbour told us the kids do door-to-door trick or treating on Halloween, so guess that will be a supper out!  The place is full of children!

Saturday: We had a lot of rain over night but stopped early this morning.  It has been an off road day.  I went to town to find a hair dresser, got an extreme cut and hoping the wash job tomorrow helps the cause.  We took our lawn chairs to the beach this afternoon; we walked the beach and sat out sun tanning!  Temp was only 63-4 but we were out of the wind and the sun made it very comfortable.

No idea about tomorrow, we are to leave, but we may stay, I guess it depends on how many families check out by noon, given its Halloween Sunday.

Good talking to you Heather and Hayley, sorry you couldn't see us???? Skype is becoming a real problem.....anyway

Hugs

R&B

(Remember double click the pic)

The start of Stearns Wharf, Santa Barbara, CA

Stearns Wharf and the hills of Santa Barbara

This is just a sample of the agriculture going on around here! As far as the eye can see.

Our Pismo Beach walk, but shows the country side around us.

October 28, Thursday

It has been another exciting day as we made the trip in sunshine, to San Simeon and the Hearst Castle.  It is just mind boggling to think he spent so much money on a Castle in the middle of nowhere!  The place is so opulent you feel like you’re in Roma or Spain with architecture equal to the finest European Catholic church, all though he was not a religious man.  We arrived for the noon guided tour and didn’t leave till 3:30. 

Our guide had mentioned that just north a short distance were the elephant nose seals winter resting place, so we went.  They are truly another kind of seal and sound completely different.  Oh, did I mention that I took more pictures of the seals!  We then slowly worked our way back to Pismo Beach stopping in Cambria, Cayucos and Morro Bay. 

Tomorrow will be another explore day.

Hugs

R&B

Hearst Castle, San Simeon, CA

The Neptune indoor pool, gold on the floor and walls

View from staircase down to the outdoor pool

Staircase up from the pool

View from the Enchanted Hill beside the pool.

October 27, Wednesday

It was farewell to Monterey, Sand City and Marina this morning.  This is Del Monte Foods farming country, lots of fields with wonderful green crops.  Castroville is artichokes and Gilroy is garlic! But they are growing most everything around here.  We’ve had some great white corn.

We had a third plug wire burn off today, so he’s not too happy with the motorhome just now.  It only took about 20 minutes and we were on the road again as it is always the same plug wire that burns off!  We have an exhaust leak and figure the heat from it is the cause of the melting plug wire!  I keep saying we are so lucky, we could be stranded for hours, but look, we’re on the road in no time. Anyway! We checked in Pismo Beach city regarding repairs, but it’s really not easy here, parts need to be ordered.  So we will probably get the work done once in Los Angeles area. 

Pismo Beach RV Park is located right on the ocean, so we relaxed by walking the sandy beach, the city pier, the downtown and back to the park in beautiful summer like weather.

We have booked 4 nights and the weather looks good, today was 70 degrees. 

Tomorrow is an explore day!

Hugs

R&B

Pismo Beach Pier and this guy was just waiting for us to feed him!

October 26, Tuesday Monterey Day 56

This morning we managed to resolve some Park issues by moving to another site, which enabled us to at least get the bus level.  Last night we had to raise up the rear end so much we felt the emergency brake was probably ineffective.  The refrigerator was also at such an angle that it could not function well, also the internet was sporadic.  So we had a bad night, but all is well this evening especially since our new site has great internet.

After our repositioning we left for Santa Cruz, north 40 miles.  This is a wonderful town, the beach boardwalk and municipal wharf are we think, the best we’ve seen.  There were shops, restaurants, amusement park and more seals!

Ruth it was wonderful that we caught you home today while we were watching the seals, so glad you got to hear them too!  They were so interesting to watch, snapping and snarling at each other, then robbing their heads together affectionately.  The noise they made almost drowned out our conversation.  Glad to hear you enjoyed your bridge game today, you are just an amazing lady!

We then travelled along

West Cliff Drive

to the lighthouse and Natural Bridges Beach. (More pictures)  What an incredible coast line, it’s the best we have seen this entire trip.  We started our return trip across Santa Cruz to

East Cliff Drive

that took us into Capitola, which is a really nice little town that a person could spend time exploring.  We went through Aptos and back on Highway 101 to Monterey with a stop at a fresh veg’s & fruit roadside stand for some good food to bring home.  Round trip was less than 100 miles.

We had a wonderful day, with great weather and great sight seeing and yes Ruth good conversation.  Also good to talk to you too Shirley H, sorry we interrupted the sorority meeting!  Forgot to say Shirley K, Paul, Peter & Alex it was good to see you Sunday night even if we could not hear each other!

Tomorrow we are thinking of Pismo Beach http://www.pismocoastvillage.com/ maybe even the Hearst Castle. http://www.hearstcastle.com/

Hugs

R&B

Double click on each pictures to see the details. Above are Oct 25 pictures

Above are pictures from Oct. 26th

Please remember to send us an e-mail so that we keep up with your news!

October 25, Monday

It was farewell to San Francisco this morning in sunshine and quite humid. We decided to leave via the Richmond (Double Decker) Bridge into Oakland and south on the Hwy 580 to the 101, turning out to the coast on Hwy #156 to Monterey.  All that and we were here in just 3 hours.  Had made a reservation, but the two spots assigned to us were both occupied when we arrived, the park host was not around, so we had to find the Fairground Office to get a space. Anyway we got set up finally and hit the road by 1:00.  We travelled into Monterey, visited Fisherman’s Wharf and Cannery Row then took the “17 Mile Drive” from Monterey to Carmel through Pebble Beach stopping many times for pictures.  We also stopped at Pebble Beach golf course, toured the Lodge and almost had a glass of wine, but decided time was a wasting if we wanted to see Big Sur about 30 miles down the coast.  The coastal drive was awesome; you are way up on the side of a hill/mountain edge with some incredible views.  However, the town Big Sur is not what we expected; it’s in the woods, so we were pretty disappointed! 

We drove back to Monterey as the sun was setting over the water, found a restaurant and had a nice supper getting home about 8:00.   One thing I would say at this point is we would never recommend the Monterey County Fairgrounds to anyone. We have had several issues and are not comfortable at all.  Thank goodness we are only here for two nights.  Plus the internet is very poor!

Tomorrow the weather looks good; we plan a return trip to Santa Cruz for our walk on the Beach Boardwalk in the sun.

Hugs,

R&B

October 24, Sunday

What a day this as been.  Rain, rain and more rain plus wind gusts of up to 35 miles per hour!  So we did not go anywhere today, just enjoyed the opportunity to do nothing.  There were many accidents because of water accumulating on the roadways, from the rain that started Saturday afternoon.

We are leaving San Francisco tomorrow morning; our plan is two nights in Monterey.  Hoping to visit with sun, some of the places we had to just drive by yesterday!

http://www.montereycountyfair.com/facility-tour-a-rv-parking/rv-parking

Hugs

R&B

Wanted to share this picture of a tall ship in the fog of San Francisco Bay.

It's just so ghostly, I love it!

October 23, Saturday

This morning was just overcast so we struck out for parts south.  Our first time to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge ourselves!  Was not as rough as we had first thought!  Anyway, we proceeded over the bridge and down Highway # 1 along the coast to places like San Bruno, Pacifica, Half Moon Bay, Pomponio Beach, Pigeon Point, Davenport, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Pebble Beach and Carmel (Remember Clint Eastwood was the Mayor).  While it was overcast, we were lucky that we had no rain, so were able to enjoy the coastal drive.  Once in Carmel, we drove

Ocean Avenue

past soooo many shops and soooo many people!  We took a pass on the “17 Mile Scenic route” to Pebble Beach Golf course because of weather, but, are planning to do that Monday-Tuesday. Thanks Bonnie Jean for letting us know the golf fees at Pebble Beach are $530 each for a round; we might do the $11.00 glass of wine!!  We also want to return to Santa Cruz and do the beach boardwalk.

We hadn’t left Larkspur till 11am thinking we would just drive THE bridge, but here we are about a 150 miles south down the coast!  So we decided to go back on the 101 to the #85 to the #1 and back into Larkspur which turned out to be 140 miles.  So by 5:30 we were doing Happy Hour and glad for it!  We had rain all the way back so it was a tough 2 ½ hour ride in what turned out to be a 350 mile day!

Nice talking to you Carol and Larry isn’t Skype a wonderful thing!

It has not stopped raining all evening, just what California needs is rain, so I guess we should not complain…

Hugs,

R&B

This was in the Redwood Forest, just look at the size of the tree!!!

Laurie this is for you, this guy towes the truck and boat behind his motorhome!

You will have to get B to tell you about the hook up

On route to Carmel by the Sea!

Oct. 21, Thursday and Oct. 22, Friday

Sunday - We finally had our day of rest, got up late, had a late breakfast, went for groceries and got three loads laundry done; then curled up with our books for the rainy afternoon.

Friday morning we woke up to rain drizzling down and fog, but decided to head out exploring by travelling back north on the 101 to Hwy #37 to Hwy #29 into Napa.  Had a little tour of the town and drove to Lake Berryessa and saw the Monticello Dam built in 1957 when they had really high water.  Today the overflow hole is out of water some 25’.  We drove back through the Sonoma Wine region, both wine regions are just loaded with grapevine fields and wineries, all beautiful on a sunny day. We travelled across to Santa Rosa, cross country to Tomales on Highway #1.  Very different terrain compared to the wine country.  Along the coast it was farming, cattle and tourism that keeps the population working. Travelled Highway #1 till Point Reyes Station then through Fairfax back to Larkspur.  Don’t think we saw the sun all day, Saturday and Sunday calling for rain and fog…

Pictures tonight are a comparison of the Monticello Dam in 1960-70-80's from the internet and the second picture is today.  Gives you an idea of how much water is not there anymore!

Hugs

R&B

Water levels of the 1960-70 maybe 80's ??  It shows the reason the dam was built in 1957!

The cement ring is the spillway!

Just look how low the water is today!

You can see the water line...

It was pretty mind boggling!

October 20th, Wednesday

Yet another very busy day, although, we left an hour later this morning because of the fog, we are still pretty tired this evening.  We got lucky and the fog burnt off by the time we were on the 11:30 cruise to Alcatraz Island, which is now a National Park.  We spent 2 ½ hours doing the audio tour of the cell blocks, watching the movie about the history of Alcatraz and walking the grounds getting sunshine pictures of SF.  It was all very interesting and now we can say we have been there and done that!  We had a quick lunch then caught the “city tour” to Chinatown.   We roamed around checking out the stores, B got a real deal, three tourist t-shirts for $1.88 each!  They have some amazing merchandise that you just wouldn’t see anywhere else. We then took the Cable Car down California Street back to Pier 1.  What a ride, but we should have taken it from the very top! (Maybe tomorrow) We decided to have supper at a cute little restaurant just beside the ferry terminal, Sinbad’s on Pier 2.  Was a little pricy, but the view of the harbour and Bay Bridge was fantastic with the sun shining on the water and rush hour traffic crawling across.  We caught the 6:20 ferry back to Larkspur and the full moon lit our way back to Marin’s RV.

Still making plans for Thursday.

Hugs

R&B

Oct. 19th, Tuesday

We were up and on the walking path over to the Ferry Terminal at 8:45 to catch the 9:15 ferry to the city…San Francisco!  The harbour was totally fogged in, so we saw nothing and I mean nothing. That did not discourage us as it looked like it would clear before the day was done.  Sure enough the city itself cleared off and we had sun and pretty warm temps.  We bought tickets for the hop on hop off bus and did the city tour on the upper deck of a double-decker bus.  We then climbed up the hill to the base of 

Lombard Street

then climbed to the top and back down again; it’s the crookedest street in San Fran. Now, that was a work out and we felt we worked off the calories of our fattening lunch.
But, it was a nice lunch on Fisherman’s Wharf .  We then went on the second part of our “City Sightseeing San Francisco” ticket and where off to the Golden Gate Bridge and Sausalito loop.  The approach to the bridge was in sun, but the top was in the fog, so again, we saw nothing!  Once down the Sausalito side the sun was out! Go figure!

Our ticket is good for two days, so we are hoping that the fog will be gone tomorrow and redo that loop.  They dropped us in the Wharf area again and we walked some more, then back to Pier 1 and our ferry back to Larkspur!  We enjoyed a people watching glass of wine & a beer on Pier 1 before boarding the ferry. There had been a baseball game today at the AT&T Park, Philadelphia and the Giants.  Giants won so we had a few drunken people returning to Larkspur on the Ferry!

Tomorrow we are taking the Ferry back across to continue our exploring San Francisco.

Hugs

R&B

Lombard Street view UP!

Golden Gate Bridge in the fog!

Check the white hat in the middle of the bus!

Oct. 17 and 18th, Sunday and Monday

Sunday was a quiet day; we walked the main streets of Fort Bragg with somewhat overcast skies, then returned to Caspar Beach and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Monday we were up and out of Caspar Beach by 8:15am on route to San Francisco.  We decided to return to Highway 101 by the same Highway #20 that we used on the way into Fort Bragg.  We had numerous people tell us not to travel Highway 128, so we decided to listen.  It was good that we went back into Fort Bragg as gas was only $2.99 pg, so we filled up and I followed the 31 miles back to Willits on Hwy 101.  Himself said it was a hard drive!  There are hills, valleys, u-turns, switchbacks and blind spots because the sun was in your face!  We made it though and are now settled into the Marin RV Park just 10 miles from downtown San Francisco!  www.marinrvpark.com  Thanks Carol & Larry for the recommendation.

We walked over to the Ferry terminal this afternoon and have been planning our tomorrow...so many things to do…..so many things to see …..just what to do!!??

And that is for tomorrow!

Hugs

R&B

Oct. 15, 16 Friday and Saturday

Friday we drove from Garberville along the 101 to Highway 20 out to the coast.  We are now in Caspar Beach RV Park, Point Cabrillo coastal road just outside Mendocino, CA.  Highway 20 had a lot of twists, turns and hills.  So we had to take off the car and I followed behind the motorhome.  We blew a gasket and lost the grease once more, but were able to do the repairs at the Park.  http://www.casparbeachrvpark.com/  It’s not quite a pretty as the pictures on their website.

Saturday started out overcast and we only had a bit of sun, but we drove north on Highway 1 up to Rockport, back through Westport, MacKerricher State Park seal sighting there, then back through Fort Bragg and south to Albion junction of Highway 128.  On the return trip we stopped at the Point Cabrillo Light Station and saw more seals.  They are lazy critters! This Highway #1 is a notoriously difficult road to travel, loaded with switch back turns and steep hills, we were happy to be in the car.  The Hwy #1 south to the 128 is also full of wild twists and turns, so we will not be towing the car till we get back to Highway 101.

We are here till Monday morning when we will travel to San Francisco!

Hugs

R&B

Pacific Coast View

Pelican's on a large rock outside Westport, CA

Can you see five seals?

October 14th, Thursday

Avenue of the Giants

Departed Eureka in sun and enjoyed the drive direct to Garberville, about 65 miles, got set up in Benbow Valley RV & Golf and started our back tracking drive on the “Avenue of the Giants”.  Wonderful 2 hour drive with a ½ hour hike to see a tree 370’ tall, but fallen. You would have thought it would have brought the entire forest down with it, but it didn’t!

Temp today was a sunshiny 83, so we returned to the park and went for a swim in the heated outdoor pool, did a soak in the outdoor hot tub and just enjoyed the wonderful weather.  Returned home, showered, had supper and sat outside for the evening.

It’s a travel south day tomorrow, that’s all “the passenger” knows at this time.

Hugs

R&B

Benbow Valley RV & Golf Resort, Garberville, CA

October 13th, Wednesday

We had a terrible, sleepless night!  There was no wind, so the fog horn was all we heard all night long, every 5 seconds, all night long!  So we knew we would have to move on.  We are now settled into yet another Shoreline RV Park in Eureka, CA. (However it is not shoreline at all) We had thought about dry camping on route, but, we were not impressed with the Clam Beach County Park so moved on quickly.

This afternoon we travelled out the peninsula to the Samoa Dunes, then to Woodley Island walked along the embarcadero to the Table Bluff Lighthouse.  Then to Eureka’s old downtown, walked the boardwalk and some of the shopping district, stopped for a milk shake and just enjoyed the 75 degree sunshine weather.   

Tomorrow is a travel day, destination Benbow Valley RV & Golf Course in Garberville which is at the end of the "Avenue of the Giants" on old route 101 out of Eureka through the Humboldt County in Northern California.

Hugs

R&B

Woodley Island beside the Table Bluff Lighthouse, it's some 20' tall

October 12, Tuesday – 42 days on the road!

Stout Grove Redwood Forest, Crescent City, CA

You can click or double click pictures to increase the size! just incase you didn't already know!

Stout Grove Redwood Forest, Crescent City, CA

Our location http://www.crescentcity.org/shoreline/SlineRV.html

Sun drenched day with a temp of 68 – you can guess that we are very happy!

We went to the Stout Grove Redwood Forest.  It’s about an 8 mile drive through the forest with lots of big old Redwood Trees, some over 3000 years old!   They grow 311’ tall with a root base of only 10-13’ down, but roots spread 60-80’ straight out!  We walked the loop trail, only a ½ mile as my poor feet have not recovered from yesterday’s long walk.

We returned to Crescent City and found a McDonald’s!  Who would believe that I would hunt down a McDonald’s!  We are hooked on their Chicken snack wraps and the Iced Latté vanilla flavoured coffee. We then decided it was so nice, went over to visit the seals again then returned to Shoreline RV, B-7 waterfront resort, put our chairs up on the berm and enjoyed the afternoon weather.  We fed the squirrels, but soon we were over run with a dozen hungry critters.  We watched the pelicans diving for fish and watched the tide go out.  It was very relaxing and just the road break we needed.

We’re going to stay one more night as the weather forecast is great!

Hugs

R&B

Baby Seal in Crescent City Harbour, he was looking for us to feed him!

those are our chairs on top of the berm, and this is the view from the motorhome front window!

October 11, Monday

We awoke to sunshine and had sunshine all day.  Was a great trip south along 101into California, with several stops for ocean rock pictures. 
We are settled into the Shoreline RV Campground in Crescent City, California!!!  We made it and we are in California till at least February 15ish!  We had a wonderful afternoon walk about the city, out to the lighthouse and back around into the harbour with the seals/sea lions resting on the docks.  They are such majestic animals, so different from the over populated east coast seals!

Anyway, our location tonight and maybe two more nights is on the waterfront of Crescent City Harbour, CA we watched the sunset this evening and have enjoyed the ¼ moon over the harbour.  T’is a lovely place!

Tomorrow is an explore day, but just to let you know, we have poor internet at our waterfront resort!  Will send pictures in a day or two!

Great to talk to you Ruth on Thanksgiving Day and to you Kerry before the phone died!  Sorry about that!

Good to talk to you Shirley H, enjoy Elliot Lake.

Carol P and Shirley K tried Skype but no answer!

Love to All,

Hugs

R&B

October 10, 2010 10/10/10 Thanksgiving Sunday

Surfwood Rv and Campground 75381 Us Highway 101 Reedsport, OR 97467 this is our location for one more night.

Rain and it rained all night long and through till noon!  We thought if we want to see the Sea Lion Caves, some 30 miles back Highway 101 then we better get going.  It was well worth the drive as we saw Sea Lions and Seals.  You arrive, purchased your ticket, walk a pathway to an elevator in the side of the mountain that takes you down about 125’ and lets you out just feet from a man made opening into a natural cave. The seals and sea lions only use it during December and January but when we walked along and travelled up a staircase to an opening, we were looking out at maybe a 100 seals and sea lions all trying to get up a steep cliff to a rock shelf just outside the reach of the giant waves bashing the shore line at high tide. We were very impressed and it was hard to leave.

We slowly worked our way back in sunshine to Florence, ducking in and out of little roadways that took us to the beaches.  Oregon Dunes National Recreations Area runs from Florence to North Bend and into Coos Bay.  We travelled onto Winchester Bay, North Bend, Coos Bay, and Charleston and to the Sunset Bay State Park.  Beautiful coastal road, with many photo opportunities along our way!  We didn’t get home till 6:30, got a roast on the BBQ and had a great late supper.

Tested my abilities tonight by trying to post a video of the seals and sea lions, but failed and can only assume the file is too large… Sorry they are great videos!

Tomorrow it’s maybe Crescent City, California which is 160 miles south?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hugs

R&B

Man made opening to a natural cave used by seals during the winter

Black dots in the white water are seals trying or playing at getting up on the rock shelf - the rest of the herd are the brown dots on shore.

Sunset Bay south of Charleston, OR

Oct. 9th, Saturday

Surfwood Rv and Campground 75381 Us Highway 101 Reedsport, OR 97467 this is our location for the next two nights.

We left Garibaldi in rain and arrived at 2:30 in Reedsport a 153 miles later in rain, lots of wind but temp of 65!  Have high hopes for a better tomorrow.  The Surfwood RV in very sheltered so we were able to sit outside this afternoon. Our plan is to move a little faster south.  However before doing that we want to back track 30 miles to the Sea Lion Caves, Heceta Beach, Florence and Dunes City.

It is still nice this evening so I'm off to sit and enjoy the outdoors.

Hugs

R&B

It was a wet and windy ride today!

Oct. 8th, Friday

Carla and Mike with their Oyster Shooters!!!!

Tillamook Cheese Factory

the Devil's Punch Bowl

I'd like to share a Google Maps link with you. Link: <http://maps.google.com/maps/mm?ftr=earth.promo&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=45.56851,-123.911533&spn=0.052756,0.1684&z=13>

To Carla & Mike we hope your trip home was safe, Cheers to you, till we meet again.  Thank you for the bottle of wine.

Thanks Shirley H for the input on the map attachment.

We started today by heading to Cape Lookout and Cape Kiwanda with overcast sky and light drizzle.  However, the day did clear up around noon, with sun and 63 degrees for the rest of the day.  We travel 100 miles south along Highway 101 cutting off to side roads whenever possible.  Now we have visited Pacific City, Lincoln City, and Nye Beach for lunch, Newport, South Beach, and Seal Rock down to Beachside.  There was a ton of traffic on the road Friday afternoon so we checked at one RV Park and it had no vacancies.  We will have to do our homework this evening before heading out tomorrow but, right now Florence is the tentative location.

Hugs

R&B