Seeing with My Eyes Wide Open...

Thursday, August 13, 2015

West Coast Wandering

Saying goodbye to Amy (family) is always bittersweet, not knowing our next time together. Fortunately we still had adventures ahead, to look forward to, since our time in LA was midway in our trip. Sam was still with us for another day of travel to the San Francisco and Oakland area.

We hoped for an early morning LA departure but ended up instead, with an early afternoon exit. Original plans were to attend the Oakland Athletics game that evening before Sam took an early morning flight out for return back to Buffalo. Unfortunately while parked in the campground we developed a flat tire on the truck. With the camper on, close camping quarters, and a rusty wheel hub, it took a great deal of effort to jack up the truck, remove and change the wheel. Fortunately we had a full size spare to replace it with but the nail-pierced tire needed repair before we set out for the next leg of our trip. We knew it would be tight but with a 7+-hour trip ahead of us we set out to try to at least make the majority of the 7PM game. Our hopes were dashed when after 2 hours in traffic we were barely out of LA County. Another one-hour traffic delay along RT 5 in central CA, due to construction, brought to reality that we were not going to make it to the #20 stadium visit for Mark and Sam. We had reservations for a hotel near the SF airport that included free parking and free airport shuttle (4:30 AM pick up). So we kept driving in hopes of at least a nice dinner upon arrival. Who knew that most things in the airport area were closed up so early and the only available place to eat was IHOP! Hungry and tired we enjoyed a late night breakfast and Sam was pretty pumped to discover the menu item called the “split decision” which included all of his favorites! We said farewell to Sam as he left for his predawn departure to the airport.

One of many truckloads of CA tomatoes, here and spilling
out all along the side of the road RT 5

The largest herd of cows I've ever seen!
This density went on for about a mile!

Close family time! Making the best of it!

Sun setting as we headed into San Francisco!

It didn’t take long for Mark and I to return to our “empty nest” lifestyle and made our way to one of the most beautiful campgrounds of our trip thus far! The Anthony Chabot Regional Park is situated in Castro Valley, overlooking Lake Chabot, is spectacular for it’s beauty, scent, solitude and view. This is where I wish you could add a “scratch-n-sniff” to a blog. As we approached the campground I was surrounded by the scent of Eucalyptus, which instantly transported me back to childhood memories of the florist shop! I was in my “happy place!” This small city near Oakland allowed us to take time to get some groceries, haircuts, and enjoy a couple of delightful motorcycle rides, campfires and post LA rest. This was also our first time to test out camping off the grid. We used propane to keep refrigerator running and battery to power lights/etc. It was a good test to find out that 2 days is the maximum for us to be able to go off road!

$25 per night campsite with a Million dollar view!

It was hard to leave this place!

We parked at the metro station and took the train into SF choosing to spend most of the day at the famous Fisherman’s Wharf area. We started with coffee at Pier 1 and made our way along the waterfront to end at Pier 47 and then to Ghirardelli Square. In between we stopped at an interactive science museum, The Alcatraz National Park, Pier 39 for lunch and a 90 minute Bay Sailboat Cruise up to the golden gate bridge and around the island of Alcatraz, & finished our day up at the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park.

Pier One

Get your world famous hot fudge sundae here!

Golden Gate Bridge midst the fog.

Putting up the sails...hang on!

Love Boat!

Island of Alcatraz!

Along the way we enjoyed some yummy clam chowder, sourdough bread, and of course ended our time with the world famous Ghirardelli hot fudge sundae. Finally, being the tech savvy travelers that we are, we loaded the Uber App, to be picked up by our driver, “Lee,” and transported back to the metro station and took the metro back to Oakland. We enjoyed a short motorcycle ride back to the park stopping at Lake Chabot to see if we could view our campsite from the lake below.

Pretty...

Prettier...

Stunning!

Leaving the SF/Oakland area we headed north planning to make our way to view and ride through the giant redwoods. Taking route 101 up through northern CA allowed us to drive through the beautiful Napa Valley area and gather further glimpses of the local agriculture, the ocean and beautiful mountainous landscapes. Our destination was a campground along the “Avenue of the Giants” that runs in and out of the Redwood State Park. We set up camp, got on our bike and rode through some giant redwood roadways and enjoyed a nice patio dinner at a local café along the way. Upon return to the campgrounds, we spent the rest of the evening doing several loads of much needed laundry. Some things just can’t be avoided, even on vacation!

Sky peaking through the tall redwoods!

This tree is this big!

I think this one is bigger!

Majestic!

Looking up through the center of the Chandelier tree
when we walked through! I see a bit of daylight?!

Our camper was too tall so we walked!

One of many such trees in the Redwoods!

The next morning we continued to head north along Rt. 101 with plans to go along the CA and OR coasts stopping for the night in Newport, OR. After several hours of beautiful but slow-going winding ocean and mountain views,

One last chance to dip our toes in the Pacific!

Oregon Coast!

Coastal Beauty!

we opted to head inland after we crossed into OR, making our way up the smoother Rt. 5 so we could be a shorter distance from Portland the following day. We looked ahead in central OR for a campground near the interstate and opted to stop for the night. Once we neared the OR border we were aware of upcoming wildfires burning in several spots and came up to a newly started fire in a small town not far from the coast and as we moved inland, we could see and smell very obvious signs of smoke hanging over the cities and towns. There were reports of some fires ahead that had been burning for over 8 days and were still not contained. Fortunately for us we were headed in the opposite direction but were so saddened by the reality of the devastation.

Helicopter transporting water to wildfire!

Traffic stop for emergency Equipment.

Fire fighters on the scene.

One lesson we have learned from our time in San Francisco is that in order to not be disappointed, it is important to plan ahead. So after having been unable to take the boat tour to the island of Alcatraz (booked for the next month) and missing out on a Segway tour through SF, we decided to schedule a tour in Portland and located a Groupon special for a 2-hour tour that upcoming weekend. If you have never gone on a Segway…I highly recommend them! After a brief training, it’s pretty easy to maneuver and zip in and out of people and traffic. I found them to be like riding a bike that is always going “down hill,” not requiring any real effort but you always get to enjoy the breeze.

Great fun!

Famous continuous flow spring fed fountain.

One of the many Segway stops in Portland.

A famous LEED certified GREEN building!

We also called ahead and made plans to then head to Chehalis, WA the following day and take our Alaskan Camper to the factory where it was made and get some needed routine maintenance. We also wanted to get a peek at the factory where it was made, meet the small crew of craftsmen, and get a glimpse of the operation that produces only 30-50 of these a year for the past almost 60 years. It was great fun to talk to those who know our camper inside and out. While work was done Mark and I enjoyed a stroll through the small towns of Chehalis and Centralia, visit a few of it’s many antique shops, eat at one of it’s quaint cafes, and of course, stop at a local quilt shop!

Our Rig in for a little TLC!

Washington State Park Campsite!

Washington and Oregon love their drive-up coffee!
This takes the prize for creativity!

This is our last outbound stop on our trip west, as from here we turn eastward, back toward home. I know there are many more sights to see but I can’t help be a bit melancholy as thoughts of heading home means no more endless adventures!

Next stops: Mt. Rainier, Idaho pass through, Montana stop over, Yellowstone NP, Mt. Rushmore, & Crazy Horse.

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Family Time in Phoenix & Los Angeles

Our first clue that my brother Dave and his wife Paula live a bit “out of the way” was when he told us to call as we got close because the GPS usually can’t accurately locate his address. So that is what we did. As dusk approached, we followed his instructions and he gave us specific directions to where he would meet us and we would follow him the rest of the way. The GPS informed us with the following: “warning, this route will take you on an unpaved road!” As we approached our meeting point, we could see him on his 4-wheel ATV and we followed him into the darkness along a dusty road pathway, passing occasional homes and open desert farmland. At our arrival, we parked our cross-country rig, plugged in and got the twilight tour of their beautiful dessert oasis home/compound. I have to add that Dave, Paula & Justin gave us, on our first day, a desert orientation complete with common desert animal identification such as rattlesnakes, turkey vultures, pack rats, road runners, coyotes, scorpions, tarantulas, black widow spiders, huge frogs, & a few other somewhat harmless cohabitant friends. Dave even included samples they have collected thus far during their time in AZ and Paula calmly suggested we not go barefoot! So as desert newbies, we carefully headed to our camper, with flashlight in hand, to sleep our first night!

Only the next day did we get the full view of their almost 360 degrees of beautiful mountain views and open land, that surrounds their place.

Once we settled in, we decided that this was a great time to stay put for a few days of getting caught up with family, sleep and enjoy their beautiful home and pool. This was also our meeting point to have Sam fly in from Buffalo to join us for a week of vacation with him, to see Dave, Paula, and Justin, as well as head with us to LA to spend time with Amy and catch a few ball parks to check off the lifetime list of father/son stadium visits. We picked him at the Phoenix airport and he took a rental car overnight to visit friends in Sedona, AZ. As we drove in to the airport we were surprised at how big the Phoenix area is and realized that we were not really going to have time to explore all that it has to offer. One thing we decided is that this will be one of several trips to be had. For one reason, we need to return to several states and national parks that went unexplored. One place for sure is the state of Utah! It has the most national parks to see, and we have not seen any, so we plan to come back post-retirement to explore them along with many others.

Here are some pictures of our AZ time:

Dinner out at a great Mexican Restaurant!

Dave making pizza on his gas fired pizza oven!

Enjoying the pool & patio with Justin's dog Holly!

No caption needed!

After 3 nights of relaxation, great food, and time to catch up with family in Phoenix, we said our good-byes and headed west toward LA to see Amy. It is a pretty straight shot along route 10. Our three, not so small bodies, arranged in the truck cab for almost 7 hours was not as painful as I had anticipated. Sam took advantage of the opportunity to try out his Dad’s Harley, along with a “GoPro” attached to his helmet and drove for about 25 miles before a sudden and rare rain shower ended his ride. Honestly, I didn’t really enjoy riding behind and watching him on the bike at all but he was able to check that experience off of his trip “wish list.”

Sam riding the Harley toward LA.

Changing weather patterns...dust bowls,
rain clouds and/or lightening fires?

AZ to LA landscape.

Beauty in the desert!

Sun shower among the rain clouds!

As I have experienced over and over again, throughout this trip, I really enjoyed the changing landscape and various points of interest along the trip, which made it go fairly quickly. Our GPS successfully directed us to our 5-night stay at a KOA campground in Pomona, CA, which included 2 nights of free concerts & fireworks (from a distance), which were taking place at the LA County fairgrounds, across the street. We actually spent little time at the campground. We made our way to and from the city of LA by way of the Metrolink, Uber, or Amy! Los Angeles, although hot was never crazy hot! Evenings cool down nicely and the dry heat was very bearable but signs of draught are visible all around the area.

Welcome to California....Dept. of Agriculture border check.

KOA in LA... catching up on the free WiFi!

To summarize our time in LA, I will bullet all the different activities we participated in. Amy did a fantastic job of planning our activities/agenda to maximize our time together and our varied experiences while visiting. I have to give a shout out to Amy for her great driving and navigation skills in and around the city. She says that driving in LA is like “dial-up internet service” it is slow at times due to clogged bandwidth and at other times it’s smooth sailing! I never once saw her get impatient or frustrated, just rolling with it all. LA (stands for Laidback Attitude) must be rubbing off on her.

Our very calm & capable chauffeur!

Ready for some FUN!

So here is our high-speed list of activities:

· Walk through the garment district and “Sample Sales” in the famous LA fashion district followed by pizza lunch

The textile district that borders on the garment district!

Fabric as far as the eye can see!

Sample sale at designer showrooms!

Happy socks: upcoming 2016 product line!

Fashion Designer warehouse for showrooms!

· Griffin Park Observatory, including planetarium show, observatory & view of LA/Hollywood area.

Griffith Observatory

Nice view of Hollywood Hills!

· Walk around Echo Park area then some thrift store shopping for 80s gear to wear as audience participants at our upcoming Price Is Right show.

· LA Dodgers vs. Anaheim Angels baseball game (freeway series) at Dodgers Stadium

· Sam’s birthday included visit to Thousand Oaks Maserati dealership (#1 volume dealership in country), followed by a beautiful winding drive through Santa Monica Mountains to the beach in Malibu

Beautiful water temperatures!

Our climb down to the beach!

Oh, the view!

Looking for "Malibu Barbie"...anyone know where she lives?

· 24^th Birthday dinner (at Sam’s request) at an Italian Restaurant

Happy 24th Birthday Sam.

· Price is Right studio audience 6-hour, hurry up and wait experience! Watch for us on September 22^nd. It’s decade week and the 80s live on. When panning the audience, look to the left middle section for a guy with a name tag Mark on the Cosby sweater!