What a Mess!

Wednesday we spent the day trying to get back to normal. We had lots to put away and organize as well. Lots and lots of mail to go through! We had promised Joshua he wouldn't have to get in his car seat for a few days, so while the boys stayed home, momma went and did lots of errands. We had planned all our food just right, so we had absolutely nothing in the house! So it was off to the grocery store, Target and Costco and we were up and running again!

Well, that's it! Just like that our trip is in the history books! We have about 2000 pictures to prove we were out there, and a lifetime of wonderful memories....we hope you enjoyed coming along with us, it was nice having you!!!!!

Going Home!!!!

Tuesday morning we got up and did our last minute cleaning. We started the drive home, keeping an eye out for a big do-it-yourself car wash. We found one just off the freeway somewhere in Camarillo, so we stopped and spent a couple of hours cleaning and wiping down the outside. The entire time we spent cleaning the rig we were smelling In-and-Out Burger across the street, so after the rig was spotless, we figured we had earned a nice, juicy hamburger!

We arrived home about 2:00 p.m and spent a couple of hours unloading everything. We couldn't believe how much stuff we had and how much more we had acquired along the way! By 4:00 the rig was empty and spotless, it was time to take it home.

As happy as we were to be home, we found we were really sad to say goodbye to the rig that had been through so much with us. We grew very fond of our little home on wheels, and it was sad to say goodbye....

Happy Birthday Papa!

We spent Sunday night at a little RV park in the heart of Santa Barbara, and we got up Monday, the 9th, Joshua's papa's 41st birthday, and spent the morning at the zoo. It was a mile or so walk from our home to the zoo, we wandered around for a few hours, had a picnic lunch on the huge lawn and then we were ready to go.

We took a little trolley bus that cost us a quarter and it took us to the downtown area. We wandered around there for a few hours as well, doing a little shopping, but mostly just window shopping. It was a very leisurely day, we then walked home, had an easy dinner, and then started cleaning the rig. Our trip was coming to an end and it was time to think about going home.

Cambria

This morning we took the short drive into Cambria. We took a nice long walk along the wooden pathway. We saw lots of little squirrels, very friendly, we think the people feed them too much. We also went down onto Moonstone Beach which had about two dozen sea lions lounging on the rocks. They were very entertaining. Moonstone Beach also is a great spot to check out the tide pools. We saw lots of little hermit crabs, all different sizes and we saw some anenomies. Josh is a little too young to appreciate everything we saw today, but we'll take him back when he is older!

After we left there, we drove the few blocks to the little main street of the town, again, not much there but we did find a good spot for some lunch.

From there, it was on to Santa Barbara. We're almost home now! We found an rv spot right inside of town, it's a few miles from downtown and the zoo, we will do all that tomorrow.

We think this will be our last stop on our wonderful month-long journey. There's is not anything left that we want to see between here and Northridge.

Tuesday we will spend the day here, cleaning, packing up, doing laundry, and papa will try to actually do some work, he brought it all with him and has never had an opportunity or a desire to do anything with it!

We will leave here very, very early Wednesday morning, as we have to have the rig back by 11:00 a.m., the plan is to find a big rig car wash of some sort along the way to wash the beast, then we'll arrived home early a.m., unload everything, and take the rig back to its home.

Carmel

Saturday we got up early and drove into Carmel. We knew parking would be tough there, so we wanted to get there early, hoping that would help. We found a spot down by the beach with out any trouble.

We started to walk around hoping to find a good place to eat breakfast, it was still early and none of the stores were open yet. We passed a nice guy sweeping the outside of his store and we asked him for a place to eat. He said, I know lots of places, do you want the closest or my favorite? Of course we want your favorite! So he sent us to Katy's Place a few blocks over. We arrived just on time, because we were seated right away, by the time we left, there was a huge wait! It turned out to be a really good choice! It was small and crowded and noisy, and the food was really good, we'd recommend it to anyone, but be sure to bring your cash! That's all they take!

After breakfast we wandered all around the town, again, not much to do there either, unless you are rich and you like expensive clothes, jewelry and art work. It was a nice easy saunter however. We saw Jane Seymour in person at the local radio station. The broadcasting room has a big picture window that looks right out onto the street. The entire building is owned by Clint Eastwood, as is many buildings in that town.

We ended up at the beach for awhile, just sitting and watching all the people. It was early afternoon, and we were ready to go again.

We drove all along the coast, down the 1, and it is such a beautiful drive! The sheer cliffs, the jagged rocks, the turquoise water, it's just so beautiful....

We ended our evening at a campground in San Simeon. We had another relaxing evening without internet and tv...

Cannery Row & Solitaire!

We finally set out on our walk about 10:00, it's took us about 45 minutes to make it down to Cannery Row. We wandered around a bit, and discovered there isn't a lot to do there.

There are a few shops and restaurants, a few hotels and nothing else! Half of the block is under construction right now, looks like a big hotel is going in. The Aquarium is also there, but we didn't feel the need to go in, it was way too busy.

We sat outside the Aquarium by the water for awhile, papa went and found us some yummy thai take out, so we ate that there while we watched all the kayakers out in the water.

By then, we figured we had seen everything and it was time to go home. We had planned to take a taxi again, but because it was so early, we just walked home.

We arrived about 3:00, and we were hot and tired, so we threw out our picnic blanket on the nice lawn next to the rv and we all lied down and rested awhile until we got too cold!

We had a nice simple bbq dinner that evening, and Josh fell asleep early, we had an entire evening to ourselves, and we didn't know what to do! We had no internet, and this was the first time in our entire trip that we actually missed tv! Up until now, we had done pretty good! We were tempted to knock on a neighbor's door and see if we could borrow a dvd! We thought better of that, and instead, I taught my hubby how to play solitaire on the computer! He is now officially hooked!!!

Waiting for My Hubby....

Friday I woke up bright and early (thanks to Josh) took a jog around the fairgrounds, came back, took a shower, got ready, ate some cereal, packed our things that we needed for the day and sat and waited...papa needed to sleep extra today, the poor man, his allergies and been bothering him the entire trip, and between sneezing, blowing, and taking his medicine, it wipes him out! So he needed a little extra today...

Monterey!

Thursday morning we woke up and took about a one hour hike to the beach. We found a bench there and sat and watched the surf for awhile. It was very high and rough, very beautiful. It was very foggy and eerie! We some some tracks in the sand that seemed fresh, we weren't exactly sure what they were, but we thought maybe a bob cat or something, we didn't want to wait around and see what it actually was! We got back, ate some pancakes and took a shower, then we were on our way 50 or so miles into Monterey. Along the way we stopped in Santa Cruz and found a place to do our laundry that was a little cheaper than Candlestick Park, not much, but enough.

We arrived in Monterey about 4:00 p.m. and found the fairgrounds. They have rv hook ups during their down time. It's about 2 - 3 miles from the main part of town, so we decided that would be an easy walk. It took about 45 minutes to get there, we were in the old part of the wharf, it's a small section with a few shops and some restaurants. As we were wandering along, a couple of the restaurants had people giving free samples of their clam chowder to draw you in. The two we tasted were really good, so we chose to have dinner at the place called Old Fisherman's Grotto. It turned out to be a nice surprise! Our food was excellent, the people were nice, and the service was fast! I had Alaskan king crab, oh my goodness, it was sooooo good! And Rico had seafood pasta that was excellent! We shared a bottle of wine, the boy behaved admirably....it was perfect!

By then we were tired, had a little too much to drink, and it was chilly, so we hailed a cab and took the short drive home. Very nice!

4th of July

We got up early Wednesday morning to leave the horrible money eating place. We had decided the previous day that we would drive down to the park near the Golden Gate Bridge and take a hike.

We arrived early, about 8:00 and there were just a few runners and joggers about. We packed Joshua into his back pack and set out to the bridge. We didn't think it looked too far away, but it turned out to be quite a hike. We watched runners and joggers, we saw bike riders and surfers in the bay just under the bridge. We saw the military base that used to be there. We walked under the bridge, then we walked up to the bridge, and of course there is a gift shop up there! Everywhere are the gift shops!!! But it turned out to be necessary because the batteries to my camera were dying! Yikes! We then walked onto the bridge, we wound up walking halfway across, it's a very long bridge, it was getting late and we hadn't eaten anything yet! We decided it was time to head back, Joshua slept along the way, but he was getting tired of being in his backpack, and we were just plain tired!

We determined that our walk was about 8 miles round trip! Wow! On the way back down through the park, by this time it was close to noon, there were hundreds and hundreds of people outside enjoying the nice weather on the 4th of July, people were playing in the water, lounging in their chairs and on their blankets, bbq's were everywhere, children playing and riding their bikes! It was a wonderful sight!

We got back about 12:30, we were hungry and tired, so we ate some lunch, took a nap and then decided it was time to head on.

We only drove about 50 miles or so, about 2 miles south of Pigeon Point we found a very nice rv place where we stopped for the night. It was early enough to bbq some hamburgers, take a shower and play on the internet. It's funny how it works here at the cheap place, but not there at the expensive place! Go figure! Anyway, here we are now, it's Thursday morning, we took a nice hike down to the beach this morning, the surf was amazing, and it was foggy and very beautiful! We're moving slowly this morning, we walked so much in the last 3 days, we're kinda giving our feet a break! We will head towards Monterey and Carmel today to go visit the sea otters!

That's it for now!

San Francisco - Day 2 Pictures

So many pictures to choose from....

San Francisco, Here We Still Are!

Tuesday, day two in San Francisco, was a fantastic day! We caught an early morning shuttle, this time, 9:00 a.m. and we were back in China Town by 9:30.

We headed to a dim sum restaurant that our shuttle driver had recommended, as we got there we discovered that it was closed for renovation. As we were standing there scratching our heads wondering where to go next, this sweet little Chinese lady came up to us and said in broken English, it's closed, Rico asked if she knew of another place, so she said, follow me, she was grabbing Rico by the shirt, and in her short little quick steps, like all little Chinese ladies seem to take, she kept saying, follow me, and gesturing with her hands. She walked us about a block, then pointed down the street to another place. She was so cute! We enjoyed her so much! We thanked her, she went on her way, and we went and had some wonderful dim sum! Yum!

After our wonderful meal, we set out on foot again. We went to the cable car museum, that was a terrific place! We learned all the history of the cable cars. After about an hour in the museum, we walked more, and then we caught a cable car (our first cable car ride ever!) and took it to Lombard Street. That let us off about six blocks down from the famous "crookedest street", and of course it was all up hill! Boy is it up hill! So many hills in San Francisco! And we think we climbed them all!

Anyway, we, along with all the tourists, took pictures and climed the famous street. Cars go down it, it's only one way, but there seems to be pleny of times when no cars are on the street, so we were able to walk up that way, with the stroller, becuase the sidewalks on this section of the street are all stairs, they need to be, it is soooo steep! Anyway, that was a lot of fun to see this beautiful street!

From there we continued walking, we were in seach of what is called the painted ladies, they are a row of beautiful old, small victorian homes, we didn't know exactly where they were, so we were just walking and tyring to find them. We walked and we walked, and never did find them, we didn't want to run out of time, so we hopped on a city bus that took us down to the bay near the Golden Gate Brigde, we walked and we walked some more, and seemed we never got close to the Bridge, we decided it would take too long to keep going, so we planned that for the next day. So again we walked, this time to another bus stop, that somewhere along the way we found out took us to these painted ladies. So we hopped on that bus, got off, wandered through this wonderful park in the middle of the city, and on the other side, there they were, 7 pretty little houses all in a row....know as the "painted ladies". As we sat in the park for a bit admiring these pretty little houses, a chocolate lab named Phoebe befriended us. We had a good time with her for a few minutes.

By this time it was getting late and we needed to be back at our shuttle stop in China Town by 6:00. The time just goes way too fast! So we hopped another bus or two and another street car that took us back to China Town, and we had enough time left to do a little shopping. We found a little wok shop and we bought a wok and a few utensils, we also found a bakery that had delicious sweet bbq pork buns, so we picked up a few for our dinner.

By this time, it was 6:00, and the shuttle took us back to our home one more time. The day went so fast! We took lots of public transportation, but we walked a lot too! And those hills.....

We got back to our home about 6:30, I figured it was early enough to do some laundry, so I went to check out the facility where we were staying at Candlestick Park. Well, I discovered that it was $2.50 for a wash and a quarter got you only 5 minutes on the dryer! I couldn't believe it! By this time I was fed up with the place we were staying. It turns out Candlestick RV park is the only rv park in San Francisco, so they can charge what ever they want for anything. Not only did it cost 2 to 3 times more than any other place that we stayed thus far, the shuttle was $10 bucks a person, so we counted $10 bills instead of people getting on and off the bus! The worst part was the fact that it was a parking lot, and your neighbors were only 5 feet away from you! We decided that this place really blows, and we were happy to leave it!

San Francisco Here We Come!

Monday morning we left Napa and took the one hour drive to San Francisco. We arrived at Candlestick RV Park about 11:20 a.m. and were told that the last shuttle to downtown was leaving in 40 minutes. We didn't have much time to think or react, so we just threw some things together, and before we knew it, we were on the half hour shuttle ride to China Town.

We walked a great deal, down to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. Both were really busy and crazy with people, that was fun for people watching. We shared a few different cups of clam chowder at the different locations down the wharf as we wandered along. We also stopped for lunch along the way, and that was actually pretty lousy...

We did a little shopping for souvenirs and we also found Ghirardelli's, so we stopped in for a little chocolate.

Before we knew it, it was 7:00 p.m. and time for our shuttle to pick us up and bring us back home.

Papa's allergies were acting up all day, so when we got home he took some medicine and was asleep by 8:00 along with Joshua!

While the boys slept, I tried in vain to get onto the internet, but to no avail! I was so bummed!

Too Much of a Good Thing!

Well, it turns out there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Our third meal at the CIA was not all that great. The menu was the same, and we were just tired of it! Oh well, it was still delicious!

Now that I have time this evening, I will post some pictures from Napa. We were in San Francisco for 3 days and we couldn't get the wi-fi to work, I was so mad! Anyway....here we are now!

Napa Valley

We are just about up to date again. Saturday and today, Sunday we have been in Napa, and what can you say about that? We've been to several different wineries, having a wonderful time, Joshua has been so incredibly good. We've bought way too much wine, and now, for dinner we are going back for the third time in 2 days to our favorite place, the CIA, Culinary Institute of America! Lunch yesterday and today, and now dinner! The food is so wonderful why go anywhere else!

It's just about time for our reservation. As we were letting our wine from lunch wear off, we were here in the parking lot and discovered they had wi-fi, so here we are!

Well, it's about 7:50, our reservation is 10 minutes from now....talk later!

Tomorrow...San Francisco!

Elk!!!!!!!!

Friday morning, I woke up, peered out our little window as I do each morning to make sure this is not all a dream, and was taken aback by what I saw!

Less than 10 feet from our rig was this beautiful, huge female elk! Wow, how wonderful, I noticed a lady from the rig next to us looking beyond this one elk with her video camera, I had to know what she was looking at, so I jumped out of bed, ran to the other window, peered outside, and I could not believe my eyes!

In the field just beyond our camp, there were at least 50 elk grazing in the early morning sun! Oh my gosh, sweetie, you have to come see this!!!!! We jumped up, got our cameras and ran outside with everyone else in still in their pajamas, it was about 7:00 a.m. As I was taking !! WOW!
many thousands of pictures, I counted at least 50, female, some young males with small antlers and several babies! They were just there, like they owned the place! Talking to some of the other people there, it sounds like they are a morning occurrence

After all that excitement we got ready, and left around 10:00, and they were all still there, it was amazing to see people walking around and pulling over in their cars and semi trucks stopping to view this wonderful sight!

Our next stop....Napa!

Trees of Mystery!

Thursday as we were driving along through the trees we came across a place called the Trees of Mystery, with a great big 50 foot tall Paul Bunyan drawing us in. Rico had always wondered what that was all about, so we decided to go check it out.

It turned out to be a wonderful privately owned park that had huge, huge old redwoods. All along the path of these trees you learned about their history. We learned about how loggers chopped down many of these amazing old trees back in the 1950's! What a horrible thing to do, they are so old and so wonderful! The area was purchased back in the late 1960's in order to preserve them from any more logging, thank goodness! Some of these trees are as old as 3000 years! We can't even imagine that!

At the end of the mile or so walk, we took a gondola ride up a mountain, where we were just about at the tree line, what a wonderful view! We took many pictures (of course) and made our way back down.

It was very interesting to learn about the history of these old trees, and we highly recommend a trip to anyone!

We carried on down south, driving through the Redwood forest, it's very, very large, for many, many miles you drive through these beautiful trees, all different sizes and shades of green, obviously the ages of these trees vary by many, many, maybe even hundreds of years!

We stopped an an rv park still within the trees. The place was called Stone Lagoon. We were early enough that we were able to take a small hike. It started to rain on us at this time, and it got harder and harder and never stopped until some time in the night!

We did some laundry in the rain, had a nice yummy meal, and again went to bed! Another day, over already!

Oregon Coast & the California Redwoods

Wednesday we spent the day driving along the lower half of the Oregon coast, stopping now and then to take some pictures. The coast is just so beautiful!

We wound up in the California Redwoods for the evening, spending the night in the State Park. It's very beautiful there too, the trees so old, so big and so beautiful! We bbq'ed a pork loin in the evening, and went to bed, nice and relaxing. The days go so fast! Tomorrow we will explore the trees a bit...