Hetch Hetchy

Norm on his way to Mono Hot springs. I did join him with my suit!

Hetch Hetchy

Pics form Coarsegold

Kings Canyon National Park,
Our campsite at Coarsgold, The sites are roomy and shaded
Fallen Sequoia at Sequoia National Park

Fri Sept 26th
It’s been awhile since I have worked on this so I hope I can catch up.
Napa was beautiful, but nothing stays the same, Norm had a massage at the school but they are no longer free to past students, and he had a bad one to boot. He did have a nice visit with the Doctor that runs the school but he was the only one there he knew, all the instructors have moved on. We found a hot springs north of Calistoga called Harbin. Norm went in and I waited in the car and caught up on my reading. The wild turkeys were all over the place and I enjoyed watching them.
We have been at Coarsegold Ca at an escapee’s park about 20 miles from the south entrance to Yosemite, since Sept18th. We are about 30 miles north of Fresno and the ride here led us by miles of fruit and nut trees and large fields of veggies. We have been going on day trips into the park and over mountain passes. The views are spectacular with high rocky clefts of granite enclosing you on both sides. One day we drove through the park to Hetch Hetchy, a valley a lot like Yosemite located about 40 miles north west of Yosemite Valley where they have built a dam that supplies the water for San Francisco. After seeing Hetch Hetchy Norm decided since we were already all the way thru Yosemite we should continue across Tioga Pass. The views were spectacular with Mono Lake at the east end of the road. Mono Lake is a dead lake because the salts and minerals have become too concentrated for most species to survive. After we crossed Tioga pass Norm again decided we should take a different way home. With so much beauty to see we wanted to see as much as we could, which meant we had to take Sorona pass across the Sierra Nevada’s. There are not too many passes across the mountains so this required a fairly long trip and unfortunately it got dark LONG before we got home. We will try to catch some of this road at a later date.
We went into Fresno planning to go to the underground gardens but found they were only open on the weekends and have gone downhill since the founder passed away some 40 years ago, from there we went to the museum of art and history to find it closed for renovations. We then went to Clovis and roamed around lots of antique stores. Today we had to stay home and work just to rest!
NOTE: For some reason my computer is not cooperating with my wishes. I can receive emails and send blogs but cannot at this time send email. SO I can’t email you to tell you I have posted a new blog. Hope to get this worked out SOON!!
Best wishes Lois


Mono Lake and Tioga Pass

This is Tunnel view at Yosemitie. We are parked
about 30 miles south of the park on Rt 41 at Coarsegold.

More pics

Brix gardens

more pics

The picture below is in Avenue of the Giants and the one below is Brix where we had Brunch. They have their own gardens in the back where they were collecting fresh fruit and vegies. We sat out under that veranda and watched the wine train go by,

Redwoods

Fri Sept 12,
We are camped along the ocean on RT 1 at a state park/campground. The ocean is beautiful here but what a road to get here!! We left Brookings around noon, and traveled south on 101, taking a tour on Avenue of the Giants (an alternate road thru the redwoods, very narrow and windy). I think Norm breathed a sigh of relief when we got back on 101, but not for long, because I decided we would take RT 1 south next to the ocean. Well you guessed it, another steep windy road, only worse than the first one. If you can drive this road you could surely get a CDL.
We are now at Napa where I am excited about going to my favorite Sunday Brunch and Norm is patiently waiting for the massage school to open Monday. He gets one free massage per month at the school. Napa has grown a lot since we were here in 2001. There are 2 new bridges and many new apartment houses.
Well we went to brunch at Brix and it was a mixed blessing. They didn’t have the buffet any longer so I couldn’t have all those lushes’ deserts. Now that was probably a good thing for my waistline, and the french toast with bananas, raspberries, strawberries, and hazelnuts was really good. Norm went riding around the hills of Sonoma looking for a hot springs he had remembered seeing last time. We didn’t find it but we enjoyed the ride, and we found a fall festival in the park at Sonoma. There was Mexican music and food and crafts. I think they were celebrating Mexican Independence, Couldn’t understand a word. Wish I could.

Crescent City light house and working harbor. The sad thing about the working harbor isthat fishing has been shut down due to lack of fish which local fisherman blame on over fishing by trawlers form Japan who are just in international waters.

Sept 9th
We left Crater Lake on Sunday, but not until after we took a side trip to see the Pinnacles. They are a collection of tall spires in a canyon that used to spout volcanic gases. They were worth the trip, and then off we went down the Rogue Valley (RT 62) toward Medford. The trip was great, we stopped twice to see the Rogue canyon and a natural bridge where the water flows through a lava cave and back out. You could walk across, on top of the river at that point. The walls of the canyon are all lava. We only made it as far as Medford, about 77 miles, and our campground for Sun night was good old Walmart. We went to Harry and David’s large store, I had hoped for a tour of their packing house but they only give them on weekdays.
10th
We had another shorter travel day, but it was big on surprises! We only drove about 120 miles down RT 199 through the redwoods to Brookings OR. The road goes through Jacksonville OR, an old fashioned western town that has been used for some western movies.
Our first surprise was when we stopped for a moment to get our bearings and when we left we went over a bit of the curb and these things REALLY ROCK!! We had at least eight cupboard doors fly open and dump their contents on the floor, including the dishes, the printer, and the scales, (I told Norm not to buy those!). We stopped for about an hour to clean up glass; fortunately nothing serious broke, like tile. We only lost 3 plates 2 bowls a coffee cup, and the scales, Yip Epée. Our next surprise came after we started up the 20 mile road to Oregon Cave National Monument. We came upon a sign that read “road not recommended for trailers and motorhomes” Unfortunately there was no place to pull off the road so we had to keep going. After about 10 miles on a narrow windy road we found a spot to stop and unhook. The cave was worth the trip, we toured it with a ranger guide. There were 500 steps inside and it took an hour and a half to walk. It was discovered in 1874 by a 24 year old hunter whose dog chased a bear into it, He followed after the dog and when his last match was gone he had to find his way back out by finding his way to a stream and following it out. It’s a neat cave.
We arrived at Brookings around 8pm. We are staying at an Elks Club campground right in town. The ocean here is outstanding, but the fog comes in quickly and blocks the views quite often. We have been touring the redwoods and driving up and down the coast.

NOTE TO ALL OUR TR FRIENDS;
There is a motorcycle policeman hanging out on Johnston road just picking pople off. The speed limit on all of Johnston road is 30 MPH. Rhe fine is 139.00 plus 3 points. Just be forewarned.

Cheers Lois

Sept. 2 08,
Today we moved from our national campground to an escapees campground in Sutherland Oregon. We did real well with our dry camping for 8 nights, I even did a load of wash before we left and the tank held up fine. You may think we had to skip showers BUT we didn’t!! I can’t wait to see if we can beat that with 10 days.
Sutherland is inland and about 110 miles from where we were. We just stopped here for 1 night before we head to Crater Lake National Park. Our last two days at Florence we had a nice visit with some friends we met in Arizona in the winter of 1999-2000. We have been in touch with them ever since, stopping at Yuma to see them when we get west. They live in Eugene OR. and have a lot in Florence where they keep their fifth wheel. It was so nice to see some people we know and play some hand and foot.
Our drive up the Umpqua Scenic Byway (RT 138) we passed lush forests, rocky rivers and waterfalls. It climbs from a little above sea level to 7000 feet at Crater Lake. We arrived at Crater Lake National Park around 2 PM and set up camp at Mazama Village. The road in (West Rim) was paved and good but very close to the edge with no guard rails. I held on tight!! We immediately went to take a better look at the lake, WOW! I must have 400 pictures by now!! We have never seen such blue clear water. It is breathtaking. We are spending 3 nights here; the campgrounds are not even half full. Sept is a great time to visit and we have had clear warm days, the nights are always cool at this altitude. Thursday we went back out of the park to view all the waterfalls we passed in the motorhome. You need to pull off the road and hike to them, they were only about 30 miles from the north entrance, and on the way we stopped at all the viewpoints at the lake. One of the rangers told us about a natural hot springs close to Toketee Falls so of course we had to look that one up. It was really out of the way, we would have never found it without stopping at the ranger station. It is just off the Umpqua Trail. The Bridge to cross the river is washed out but some enterprising hikers made a new one by nailing some planks on a fallen tree. I decided I would just read my book and wait for Norm. Before too long an older couple came along and scooted across on their butts I considered that option but still read my book. We had a lovely day hiking to the waterfalls. I did fall (tripped on a root) hiking to the top of one. I have 2 cuts on my hand, and a bunged up knee, BUT I SAVED THE CAMERA! My boo boos aren’t serious. Norm hiked the 1.1 miles to the lake but I waited at the top, it took over an hour and the trip back up is very strenuous! While down there he talked with two workers at the boat dock and they had several nice trout they were taking home for supper. They told him it was a perk of the job; they took home fish every day. You can fish in the lake without a license but that trail is the only way down so they don’t have many takers. You have to be able to hike this to take the boat trip around the lake, and I guess I waited too long for the ride as I don’t think I could get back up the hill!!
Today we drove the east rim, we had done it before but the sun wasn’t right for picture snapping! We took in the Sinnott Memorial overlook and caught a ranger talk there, then back to camp for a picnic and fire. I gave Mickey a shorter doo and a bath and worked a while on Casey but she is much harder to do so it will take several more sessions.