Off the Beaten Path...

Hi all!

Yep! We are in the lovely state of Oregon until May. We are at a beautiful state park called

And they call it this because it is near the Rogue River, not because of any pirates. However, there was gold mining going on around the 1860s or so.

But it is a beautiful river. We are in a valley, so guess what's around us? Yup! Mountains!

And wouldn't you know it, some of them are still covered with this stuff:

But we get fog in the morning and sunny days. We are expecting more rain tomorrow, and then some sun after that. Oregonians are fine with that; they say it helps grow their beautiful trees. I'm all right with that. It truly is magnificent here.

Today we went off the beaten path to an old town that is now an historic site called Golden. You drive to the site, there are no markers to tell you what things are, you kind of have to know them by the state they are in/shape of them, etc. These were the only placards that told you about the site.

The lady who brought her older daughter said it was on some paranormal show and the church is haunted. Hmm, yeah yeah. Anyway, this is what we saw in broad daylight.

 School

They used this building for a second church also

General Store

bathroom with air conditioning

Church

It was a nice little visit, took all of about 15 minutes to stop, look, and take pictures. On the way back to the campsite, we took an exit to a covered bridge and a covered wagon museum. The museum was closed, but the bridge was open.

They call it Grave Creek because a girl died of typhoid fever and there were battles fought near here. Here is the placard. I hope you can read it.

So for being "off the beaten path," we had a great visit here. Y'all come back!😉

From the Redwood Forests........

Yes, this land was made for you and me! We have moved on from Alameda to NorCal. We tried to go see this

And our campsite was only about 1 hour away; but we kept running into this:

which made the commute to get there 3x as long. So we decided to skip it this time and try another time. On our last day there, our neighbor, who's been full-timing since 2000, said that he and his wife get a hotel room in the city and stay for 3-4 days; he also said there is a train that will take you there (a few miles from our campsite) for $12 per person, kind of like the Metro in DC. Hmm, where was this information at the beginning of the week when we wanted to go?? Oh well. It will always be there, and we will return.

Now we are here for a week

where these babies rule the campsite

Yes, they are grazing in between the campers. There are fields all over where they go. It is so cool but intimidating at the same time. They are very close to you at times. Just keep on walking, baby! 

On our way here, we took a detour when we stopped overnight. We found a neat little gem called Giant Redwoods RV Park in Myers Flat, California. While there, a gentleman approached G while he was sipping his soda and asked did he know about the Avenue of the Giants? Say whaatt?? So next morning we drove this lovely scenic road and visited the redwoods of California. And it's 'Squatch country, so G was looking for his friend, too. But he didn't catch up with him until later. 

Where's my friend?

A stand of giants

pretty tall and massive, huh?

perspective

It was a beautiful drive, and it's free! The Redwood National Park is the same way. You simply drive. There are roads along the way that lead you to different places. We stopped and visited Lady Bird Grove. It was dedicated to Lady Bird Johnson. I loved how quiet it was. It was an old growth forest. It was my favorite. 

Then we took a scenic drive. This one was pretty spectacular, too. There were firs, and cedar, and ferns all sharing the spotlight with the redwoods. It even had that wonderful forest smell!

And this was a sight to see:

At first I thought it was this one, but I like it anyway. It reminds me of the corporate building 

in London

So that is all I have for you now. It is a beautiful place, Northern California. The temperature here is pretty balmy too (58-65 for the highs). We are not expecting rain for a few days, and the fog, well, I just call that transpiration from the trees. All that oxygen is amazing!! So from the redwood forests, y'all come back! 😉

SoCal Dream is a Reality

Hi all! We are in Southern California, aka Carlsbad. It is outside San Diego. We are staying at this lovely state park:

We've been here since Sunday. We leave Thursday to go up the coast to Alameda Fairgrounds (outside San Francisco) for a week.

This park is beautiful, since it is on a bluff overlooking the beach. There are over 200 sites. We are boondocking (dry camping). We are only allowed to run our generator from 10AM to 8PM, but it is quiet, not like the monsters you hear around us drowning out the surf. There is a street behind us (a main thoroughfare), but it really doesn't bother us that much, since in between bursts of cars you can hear the surf below. It's pretty pleasant weather-wise, too. This is a popular place during the weekend, and they only let trailers in beginning at 2PM daily. Don't come early! They will turn you away (not sure why? but them's the rules)! Anyway, we are enjoying ourselves here immensely. There are other Airstreams here, too, so that makes it a classy park 😁

Security

(lol, nah, just G in his California pose)

from the bluff to the beach

our view (25 steps from our campsite)

We went to Escondido, which hosts the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. We've been here before, many moons ago on my first trip to San Diego. G has been to SD before because of work (lucky duck), and SweetT gets to come visit her granddaughter Harper AT LEAST 3X a year (so jelly!) But anyway, if you come out this way, take a little extra time to come out and see it.

We rode the tram first, which is all the way at the back of the park. It is a 30-minute ride, and well worth it. Take the time to go on it, then visit all the other areas on the way back from the tram. The only animals not out were the lions (apparently they had problems with the water system, so they had them in their pen. I didn't understand this, since in their natural habitat, they go without water for days. Hmm?!

Anyway, here are some of the neat animals we saw:

Lowland Niyala (a type of antelope)

Greater Flamingo (just means they're taller)

South African Oryx

Wildebeests

Reticulated Giraffe (means "ringed")

There are lots of other animals, mostly antelope species, some ostrich (they were far away and not part of the tram tour). Here are some animals we saw on the way back to our parking spot.

African Elephants

Lemurs

Silverbacked Gorilla

Meerkats

Kangaroo

California Condor

Blue Parrot (he was shy)

More Flamingos (from Chile--they have great wine there)

And this beautiful lady (she's my favorite)

She was a ham! 

We had a great day seeing all the animals and the changes since we'd been there last. There was still some construction and new things being done. Can't wait to see it when we come back again.

Our next stop will be further north around San Francisco (outside Oakland area/Alameda). Y'all come back now! 😉