It's the Climate

We're getting into the Pacific Northwest with our stop in Grants Pass, Oregon.  Grants Pass is a town of 35,000 located in southern Oregon along I-5.  We've been following I-5 through California and we plan to continue following it all the way to just short of the Canadian border--that is, of course, if by the time we get to northern Washington there is a work-around for the bridge that collapsed last week.  We're very glad that we weren't on the bridge when it fell, and the fact that it did fall gives us pause in considering the viability of all other bridges we're crossing--not a new topic for our blog.

The RV park here is in town, and within walking distance to the downtown area and several eating establishments.  We've enjoyed being able to 'hoof' it to several destinations rather than taking the car.  The park is really bare bones, but our site was one of the most level we've come across.  (And being more level means less whole-house vibrations when the washer's spin cycle gets going.)

For sightseeing, we had  identified 2 attractions--Redwood National Park and Crater Lake National Park.  We chose to visit the redwoods first.  The drive from Grants Pass to Crescent City, CA follows along the Smith River, and is very picturesque.  When we arrived at the park headquarters, one of the volunteers recommended a drive through the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park that follows an old stagecoach route.  We took it.  It's a one-lane graded dirt/stone trail that meanders through the giant trees.  We have no idea how stagecoaches ever got through there.

About 3/4 of the way through, we took advantage of a 1/2 mile hiking trail.  When is the next time we'll be able to walk through a forest of redwoods?

On our return trip to Grants Pass, we were intrigued to make a stop in the small town of Kerby.  An enterprising artist has set up shop there.  Everything is made of or decorated with burl wood.

The number of items, and the imagination exhibited in them, was impressive.  In fact, there were so many to look at, it was overwhelming and we're sure we didn't really see everything.  We had hoped to find something for the RV, but nothing was just right.  This bicycle is one example of the art pieces there.

We didn't make it to Crater Lake National Park.  It continued to snow last week, and the park roads remained closed.  So we found other amusements.  As if we hadn't had enough wine while in California, we spent one afternoon driving along the local Applegate Wine Trail, sampling some of Oregon's offerings.  And they're not bad.  In fact, we purchased a few bottles, naturally.  We visited Schmidt Family Vineyards, Wooldridge Creek Winery, and Serra Vineyards.  Even if we hadn't enjoyed the wines, the settings were very pleasant to just sit and enjoy the scenery.

Grants Pass holds a Memorial Day weekend event every year called Boatnik.  This year was the 54th such event.  The funds that are raised go to local children and youth programs.  The parade that launched the festivities this year went on for over an hour.  We believe that everyone in town was in the parade in some fashion.

Boatnik is held in a park along the Rogue River.  There are food vendors, carnival rides, arts and specialty items sales, and (the focus of the celebration) high-speed boat races.

The weather was perfect on the day we went--temps in the high 70's, light breeze, clear skies.  It was much nicer and warmer than had been forecast.  We overheard several locals commenting on the pleasant weather change.  We humbly and silently said "You're welcome".  On the other hand, Grants Pass' motto is "It's the Climate", so our presence really had nothing to do with it.

Being in Zone 7, it's weather is temperate, yet the season's are distinguishable.  And even though it rained off and on the whole time we were there, it was very comfortable.  They say this is the tail-end of their rainy season, and that everything will now begin to turn brown until the rains come again.  We're glad we're catching Oregon while it's green and cool.  We like this climate.

Today we move to the Portland area.

California Dreaming, Part 5: Why Redding?

This is our last stop in California.  We've spent a week in Redding, not doing much other than enjoying the scenery.  And it is a scenic area.  Our RV site was lovely overlooking the Sacramento River.

We weren't able to use our rooftop satellite dish due to the surrounding trees, so HeM successfully refreshed his tuning skills with our carry-out dish.  We were glad to have the trees, though, as the area experienced record high temperatures (several days in the 90's) while we were here.  (That seems to be a recurring theme wherever we go.  Could it be us?  Surely not.)

When people in San Francisco asked us where we were heading from there, and we answered 'Redding', they reacted with a confused, almost incredulous, "Why Redding?"  Our answer was that it was just a convenient distance to make a stop before heading into Oregon.  What we've found, though, is that the area around Redding has a lot to offer.  For outdoor enthusiasts there's hiking, boating, fishing.  There are lovely areas to take scenic drives.  There are a number of waterfalls in the surrounding forests and mountains--in fact, Burney Falls was described by Theodore Roosevelt as the "eighth wonder of the world", and was originally on our list of sights for this area.  But it's a 150-mile round trip from Redding, and would be the only reason for making the drive since the road through Lassen Volcanic National Park (the other sight on our list) won't be open until Memorial Day.  After our extended and somewhat frenzied exploring at our previous stop, we were ready to slow the pace for a bit.  We decided that we were content to just checkout a couple of local attractions, and use the rest of the week to recharge. Yes, it's a hard life we've chosen but someone has to do it.

Probably one of the biggest attractions in Redding is the Turtle Bay Exploration Park along the Sacramento River.  Its Sundial Bridge was completed in 2004.

The pylon that holds the bridge support cables and acts as a sundial is accurate only on the summer solstice.

Across the bridge is the McConnell Arboretum and Botanical Gardens and it's a popular place for pleasant walks.  The city has done a nice job with this 20-acre area combining attractive plantings with some artistic works.

After walking around the Turtle Bay Park, we headed to Shasta Dam, 5 miles north of Redding  It's the 2nd largest dam in America.  It was built between 1938 and 1945.  It's 602 feet high and its base is 543 feet thick.  We walked the 3,460 feet across and back, and enjoyed the views.

They offer free tours of the dam, but we've toured Hoover dam so were satisfied with just the external viewing.  There were several family groups there enjoying picnic lunches in the surrounding park after having taken the tour--what a nice, not to mention economical, way to spend some family time together.

We're leaving California in the morning and moving into Oregon.  The weather forecast there is showing cooler days and a low of 39 tomorrow night.  It'll be interesting to see if our arrival changes that.  If they start reporting unusually warm weather suddenly, we're going to have to accept that somehow we're to blame.

California Dreaming, Part 4: Vacaville (Where's That??)

Continuing on our northward route in California, we found Vacaville.  This small town doesn't have much to offer in the way of tourist attractions unless you're interested in shopping (as we've seen in so many places, it's home to yet another outlet mall).  What it does have going for it, and what drew us to it, is its close proximity to places like Napa Valley, San Francisco, Sacramento--and its general proximity to places like Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe.  We used Vacaville as our base for visiting all of them.  It was a very busy couple of weeks trying to take it all in.

The park where we stayed was a disappointment.  Good Sam gives it a rating of 9 on a scale of 10.  And the park reviewers on a website that we reference when searching for parks were much more forgiving of its shortfalls that we were.  Bottom line is that it's an old park that may have once been a good one, but it's in dire need of updating, upgrading, and basic clean-up.  Most of the park is filled with resident RV's and junk has begun to accumulate.  There's a newer section in the back of the park, where we were, which is a bit better since the road is paved rather than stones and the sites are gravel rather than dirt.  A few days before we left, we noticed that a species of roaches had discovered us, and were scouting our RV.  We were able to fight them off, but it left a very bad impression.  We would definitely find another park if we were to visit the area again.

Okay, on to more pleasant thoughts.  Napa Valley.  Having just come from Paso Robles, and already having as much wine as we can comfortably carry, we certainly didn't need any more wine.  But neither of us had been to Napa, so we had to go see the area and certainly partake in some tastings--and if we tasted something that we really liked, surely we could find a spot for just a few more bottles.  The wineries that we decided to visit were Markham, Grgich Hills (reference last posting regarding Mr. Grgich), and Hess Collection.  We had also penciled in Heitz and Cakebread if we were able to get in, but they are so popular, you usually need a reservation--that, indeed, turned out to be the case the day we visited, so we didn't get in.

At Markham we were impressed enough with their wines that we've now joined their wine shipment club.  (That makes three clubs now.  Whatever will we do with all that wine?  HeM may have to figure out where to put a wine cellar.  Or we'll just have to drink it.)  On the day we visited Grgich Hills, they were celebrating Mike Grgich's 90th birthday.  He is quite short.

Hess Collection is quite a bit off the beaten path in Napa Valley, and we had almost decided that we taken a wrong turn looking for it.  It has very nice grounds and an art museum.  We didn't take the time to go through the museum as the day was growing late and we were ready to return home.

We drove into Sacramento mainly to visit the capitol building. 

While we were there, we looked for prior governor's pictures.  We found Jerry Brown and Ronald Reagan

but not 'the governator'.  When we asked where Arnold's picture was we were told that he hasn't arranged to have one put up yet.  But he did leave the bear he had bought in Colorado.

We spent a couple of nights in San Francisco in order to see as many of the highlights as we could.  We started with a bus tour to get an overview.  One of the first stops, of course, was Golden Gate Bridge.  The fog had started to roll in, but we were able to catch a picture between the thicker banks.

We had time to walk on the bridge to the first tower.

The bus tour made a stop at the Sutro Baths ruins at Land's End Lookout.

These baths were opened in 1896 inside a huge glass and iron structure.  They included 7 different swimming pools--1 with fresh water, and 6 with salt water.  A fire in 1966 destroyed what was left of the structure, which had been closed and under demolition at the time.

The highest point in San Francisco is Twin Peaks.  Here's a picture of the city from the overlook.

The bus drove through Golden Gate Park.  If we had more time, we would spend a day there going through the museums, the Japanese Tea Garden, the botanical garden.  We can see why residents here enjoy the park so much.

The driver pointed out various points of interest, such as Divisadero Street.  All the high-speed car chases through San Francisco where the cars hit the rise and go airborne were filmed on this street.

The day after the bus tour, we ventured out on our own.  We, of course, rode a cable car.

We walked down Lombard, the 'crookedest street'.

We went to China Town.

And had lunch there.  The restaurant that we chose had poultry hanging in the window (all cooked, unlike what you would likely find in China).

The lunch menu was a bit different from what you may see at P.F.Chang's.

We like to order and then share, so we usually discuss what looks good.  Hmmm, the assorted pork guts porridge sounds good, and we haven't had pork stomach for a while.  Shall we?  Nope.  SheM had Vegetables With Fried Rice, and HeM had Cod With Vegetables.  Cowards!!!!

We walked to San Francisco's iconic Transamerica Pyramid.

We explored some of the piers along The Embarcadero.  Pier 1 is the Ferry Building.

Pier 39 is in Fisherman's Wharf, and is full of restaurants, wine bars, and entertainment.

As we left San Francisco, we made a stop on Treasure Island which is accessed from the Bay Bridge.  This island was created in 1936 from fill dredged from the bay for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition.  During World War II, it was acquired by the US Navy, and has served as a naval base and training facility.  Recently it's been sold back to the city of San Francisco as part of a redevelopment project.  The views from the island are really nice, and we imagine that some pricey residences will be built here.

Yosemite Valley was the inspiration for the national park idea, so it has definitely been on our 'to visit' list.  We took the Tioga Road through the park.  It had just been opened for the season the day before we got there.  There's still quite a bit of snow that hasn't melted yet.  Here's a sampling of the many pictures we took.  To get the full experience, turn your thermostat down to 55 degrees and 'scratch and sniff' here to smell the pines (you may have to use your imagination a little bit).

After leaving Yosemite, we drove to South Lake Tahoe and spent the night.  The next morning we took some pictures of the area, including proof that we stepped into the lake.  Yes, it was cold.

That wraps up our Vacaville stop.   And as of the 'click' to publish, our blog has now caught up to us.  Yea!!  We've moved to Redding, but haven't seen anything yet.  Stay tuned.