California continued

After we left Oakhurst on Friday, May 14, we drove north through Mariposa, a cute little town, then as we drove west we came upon thousands of windmills, more than we saw in Texas.  We drove until we arrived at Travis AFB famcamp around 3:00 p.m.  We set up and decided to go eat at the Mess Hall.  They had a great salad bar and selection of food.  We had a nice hot meal with a large salad all for under $9.00 total.   The next day we decided to go for breakfast, although still cheap it was actually more than dinner.   We checked out the base, going to the passenger terminal where we can fly to Hawaii for $10.00 each.  Parking the RV is only $9.00 a week; if it wasn't for the dogs we probably would have gone!  Some day we will take advantage of this military benefit.  We filled the gas tank in the car so we would be ready to leave for San Francisco in the morning.  At the base, the Jack Rabbits were everywhere and of course Ty was on the back of the couch looking out at them and whining. 

  It only took a little over an hour to get to San Francisco the next day.  We drove through the streets including Lombard Street and stopped at Coit Tower, where you could look down at the city, Alcatraz and Fisherman's Wharf. 

We then proceeded to Fisherman's Wharf for some Chowder at Blue Mermaid, a little walking and back to the car to head towards the Golden Gate bridge.  We parked and walked some more a the Golden Gate Park; it was windy and cold but there were so many people out flying kites, running, walking, biking and sailing.  We visited Fort Point which is right under the Golden Gate Bridge where we climbed to the top of the Fort; I could not believe how cold and windy it was coming off the pacific!

  We left and headed north over the Golden Gate Bridge, stopping at Fort Baker and  Point Bonita before we headed back to Travis.

The following day we stayed around the base and Bill caught up on some emails.  Tuesday we went to nearby Fairfield and Downtown Vacaville. Vacaville was a nice, quiet little town with pretty parks. The roses were beautiful throughout the town.

The following day we drove west to the coast, driving through Wine Country. I loved all the roses that are planted and growing wild along the borders of the wineries to ward off the bugs from the grape vines. We went through miles and miles of grape vine groves on our way to Bodega Bay.  We first stopped at the Coast Guard Base in Petaluma to check out the small RV Park they had there and there were alot of turkeys on the property. 

It was not a great weather day but the view of the Bay and Pacific were awesome anyway.

We then drove south through Point Reyes Station to get to Point Reyes Lighthouse. There were many ranches in the National Seashore that were grandfathered in with cows all over the place. The wildflowers along the way were really beautiful on the rolling hillsides. As we continued driving up to the Lighthouse the weather became more and more misty and rainy. By the time we got to the top, we saw a sign that said the Lighthouse was closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the steps leading down to it closed at 4:30. We got to the parking lot at 4:25 so of course it was closed. Adding to that the fog was so thick we could not even see the lighthouse and could barely see the pacific.

It was a long drive for a disappointing view but it was still a great scenic drive to get there. We turned around and drove back to the Air Force Base to get some dinner and turn in for the night.

We spent the next day around the base, walking at the really nice park and jogging trail with a lake.  There were quite a few ducks, Canadian Geese, rabbits of course and turtles.

 The houses around the base were really nice, not a bad place to be stationed.  The weather was great....too bad we didn't go to Point Reyes on this day! 

On Saturday, we drove to Sacramento and drove past the capitol building, and a little through the city.

 We then headed to Old Sacramento and parked to walk around and see the historical buildings and train station.  There were quite a few shops and restaurants over several streets and it was somewhat crowded.  

 They were setting up for their annual festival on Sunday.  We decided to leave and drive to Davis, CA, a pretty collage town where we found Sudwerk, a brewery.  Of course Bill was in heaven with his 33 oz

handpulled cask conditioned IPA beer!  

We ordered something to eat and we left thinking we might take a scenic tour that I had mapped out but the weather had turned stormy so we headed back to the base.

 We got back to the RV and within minutes it started hailing and raining.  Thank goodness it was small hail and did not do any damage.   We have decided to stay at the base and in the area until Friday May 28th so even though I am posting this now, there will be more of California in the next week or so.......

California

In Vegas the gas price was $2.85 put we decided to wait and fill up down the road. We drove until we had about ¼ tank of gas and stopped in Indian Springs where the price of gas was $3.42!!! Well with a 55 gallon tank of gas that was going to hurt…luckily there was the Creech AFB right there in Indian Springs so we entered and found the price of gas was $2.89.
 We continued west on highway 95 and decided to enter Death Valley National Park planning to spend the night at the Furnace Creek
campground there.  We drove through the park, stopping to get some pictures, and Ty got sick so this delayed us enough that we knew we would not make it to the Visitor Center before 5:00 pm.

We continued through Death Valley and missed our turn for the campground but once we came to a road to turn around it was 19 miles back and looking at the surrounding areas we decided it was not going to be a place we wanted to stay so we continued west through the Park, passing through Stovepipe, a town in the Park that had some lodging, a gas station and store and RV camping. It reminded me of those Western Movies where the towns are deserted except for a few people sitting outside the store and staring at you as you pass.

We continued west to get out of the park where we went from 5 miles below sea level in Stovepipe to 5,436 feet above see level through the mountains. Talk about burning a lot of gas! It seemed to go on forever and ever and for miles we were the only ones on highway 190 heading west. The road was very windy up through the mountains and sometimes quite scary looking over the side of the road. I was navigating and saw that the quickest way to get to Oakhurst, CA where we are going to stay for 3 nights near Yosemite south entrance was to head north on US 395 towards Bishop and through the Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Forest. We planned on stopping along the way for an overnighter at a Truck Stop or even a rest area and drove to Bishop where we stopped at a Kmart and Vons Shopping Plaza. There were other RV’s and trucks there so we parked there. As we were entering the Plaza, Bill spotted a road sign that said “chains required 39 miles ahead”. Well, I did not even think to check to see if the passes were open this time of year and as it turns out they aren’t! Great….so we drove over 60 miles north just to have to turn around and go back south to get around the High Sierra’s and head west through the south section of the Sequoia National Forest.

So the next day, we headed south then west, then North.  We have the GPS set to take us the shortest route...well it may have been the shortest but because it took us through the mountain range by Sequoia National Forest, it took us longer....a total of eight hours including a few very short stops we made along the way.   We enjoyed it as it was very scenic going by Lake Isabella and through meadows, sequoias and redwoods and snow in the higher elevations but we were ready to be there already!!!! 

 

We arrived at High Sierra RV Park in Oakhurst around 6:45 pm.

 

We got a late start the next day to head into Yosemite as we had to stop at a pet store and the Visitor Center in Oakhurst. There was also road construction in the park and we had to stop twice, the second time we waited close to ½ hour. Several people got out of their cars and started playing in the snow and taking pictures. The main attraction was the four Canadian guys with surfboards on top of their vehicle right in front of us who got out first and had a snowball fight, played a little soccer and then built a snowman on top of their surfboard. At least they were entertaining and the time went by quickly.

It was 2:00 pm. Before we got to Bridal Veil Falls where you walk a short distance to the bottom of the fall. Between the strong water flow and wind, we got pretty wet and it was about 57 degrees outside. Needless to say, we did not stay there long.

We proceeded through the park and visited more of the waterfalls, creeks and Yosemite Visitor Center.  It was 6:00 pm by that time and we started to head out of the park planning to come back and do a hike or two the next day.  The deer where out and about and a black bear was spotted in the meadow where a lot of people had gathered to watch it.

Then a mile or so down the road there were people looking up at El Capitan so we pulled over and got out to see what was going on.  There were six mountain climbers up the side of it and according to a Tour Guide it takes 4 to 6 days to climb it so these guys had been up there at least 2 to 3 days already!   You can see the tent and then above that are two climbers.  What a site!   Talk about extreme sports!

We returned to Yosemite today to see Mirror Lake and Lower Yosemite Falls.  It was a nice walk with the dogs to Mirror Lake.  In 2009 there was a rockslide so the road was closed on the other side.  We walked back along the Tenaya Creek among the redwoods and pine trees.  It was nice to be away from the hustle and bustle and the sound of the shuttle buses.

We then did a short walk to the lowerYosemite Falls.  The flow was strong and throwing off a mist.

As we walked through the forest near the Falls, there was snow still on the ground and a lot of fallen old trees like the one Ty is standing on.

 When we left it was starting to get overcast and colder. 

 Tomorrow we leave for Travis AFB near Sacramento.