More California Wanderings (Central Coast, Wineries, Earthquake, Dinosaurs, and the Beautiful Redwoods

Petaluma, Myers Flat, and Klamath California) 50's, sunny days most of the time)

"The Clearest Way Into the Universe

Is Through a Forest Wilderness"

John Muir

John, me, Evan, and Debbie at Coppola's

We are now in northern Washington, but I wanted to take a moment to catch up with some of our travels. Our friends, Evan and Debbie, noticed on Facebook we were traveling near them and reached out to us. They offered to show us some of their favorite places near San Francisco. We enthusiastically said YES!!! They are Presidents of our Newmar Fulltiming Club and used to live in this area.

Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge

We joined them at the Petaluma Elks Lodge. This involved driving the motorhome over the Golden Gate Bridge. Evan gave us great directions on how to navigate through this busy city.  The Elks Lodge has a great campground with full hookups in a nice neighborhood surrounded by wineries and a great birding area.  Wow!  We had a great time together and the weather was glorious. Here are a few pictures of the places we explored together.






We toured three wineries (Kendall Jackson, Francis Coppola, and one which specialized in port). The wine tastings are more expensive in this area, however, if you buy wine it's oftentimes waived. Our lunch at Coppola's was delicious.

Wine tasting at Francis Coppola winery

Kendall Jackson Winery

Francis Coppola

We spent another wonderful day visiting the coastline and seeing some beautiful views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Evan and Debbie told us so much about this area. When Evan was younger he drove tour buses to many of these highlights. It was a wonderful day and it was so great to spend time with them. We would not have been able to see as much if we had traveled here by ourselves.

The coastline here is very rugged and the waves crash and swirl around the rock outcroppings. What a spectacular area and as you can see the weather really cooperated with our visit.

We stopped at Point Reyes National Park to take a short hike to where you can definitely see the San Andres Fault line from the 1906 earthquake.  A section of fence moved 16 feet demonstrating the immense power of the earthquake. It is such a peaceful place now with a very violent history.

Thank you Evan and Debbie for taking the time to show us this beautiful area. We hope to meet you back here again.

We then headed to see the California Redwood State and National Parks. To really see this area well it required staying in two different campgrounds. Our first stay was near the Avenue of the Giants. The forest here is dense and tall and the trees are California Redwoods. Although not as large as the ones in Sequoia they are much taller (on average 350 feet). It was a fairy land of ferns and walking down the trails offered a quiet respite.

We stayed for three nights at the Giant Redwoods RV Park. It did not have the best reviews but the location was good. We took a chance and stayed here. It's under new management now and we found the campground to be much better than expected.

Beautiful gardens and dining area at Loletta

The weather was very rainy so we took a couple of day trips to pretty Victorian towns called Eureka and Ferndale. We enjoyed both of these towns and stopped at a famous cheese factory called Loletta (it has a grilled cheese bar) and picked up pastries from Humboldt Sweets. If you are ever in the area be sure to stop - so delicious. We loved driving by the beautifully restored Victorian homes too. They must be such a labor of love and money.

From here we went to Klamath and explored another park of the Redwood State and National Park. Here the Redwoods had a much denser undergrowth. It is nearer the coast and has a different climate with a different result.

One day we drove out to the Gold Bluff Beach. It's a jeep worthy trip and a deeply rutted road but well worth the effort. What was really special was hiking out to the Fern Canyon. This was the site of one of Jurassic Park movies. You walk down the river bed into a fairyland of ferns and small waterfalls. We loved this hike and is one of our all time favorites. Our pictures do not captures it's real charm.

Our next post will bring us along the Oregon Coast. Be sure to check back soon.

Wandering the California Coast- beaches, sea life, and a castle

Point Mugu, Pismo Beach, Morro Bay, and San Simeon California (on average 65 degrees, blue skies, occasional fog)

Pismo Beac

Smell the sea,

and feel the sky

Let your soul and spirit fly

Van Morrison

California is so beautiful. It's even more beautiful than I imagined.  We have been full timing for eight years now but have only seen a small part of it. This time we are driving up the coast and loving every minute of it.

Our first stop was a Navy military campground in Point Mugu. Our site looked right over the beach and as we walked out to dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean we saw this little guy. We gave him lots of space but he sure was a great greeter. 

Sea Lion Pup

Surf Scoter

The next day we walked the beach and just relaxed. John found his 400th bird for his Life List. It was a really cool Surf Scoter. Later on we saw huge Harbor Seals across a bay. They were very loud. 

The campground had some issues with electricity and the sewer line and wyfi was broken. But, it really didn't matter because the beach was so lovely and private.

Harbor Seals

After a short stay here we headed to Pismo Beach and stayed at an Elks Lodge. It's a very friendly place and very social with evening meal service and happy hours. It's only a short walk to the beach and you can even drive your car on the beach if you dare. It was spring break and being a tourist town it was very busy. We ate out a couple of time and I ordered clams. It's the specialty around Pismo and so delicous 

John got up early each morning in search of a few new birds. He found this beauty across from us at the State Park. It's not new for him to see but isn't he spectacular.

White-tailed Kite

Our neighbor at the Elks Lodge recommended a drive out to Morro Bay to get away from the crowds a little. There is a small State Park there for camping and hiking and your first views of Morro Rock. 

Later on as we arrived in town it was surprising to see you could drive out to the rock. We hiked around most of it and were amused by some floating otters out sunning themselves. We watched surfers trying their luck with the waves. It was a really enjoyable day. 

You can barely see the castle in the distance

We really enjoyed getting to know our neighbors Jim and Debbie and decided to go the next day to Hearst Castle. They suggested taking two tours - Grand Tour and Upstairs Tour.  You park way below the castle and can only see it far away in the distance. A bus take you up a long, winding road for the remaining  five miles. The castle sits a top of 220,000 acres. Our guide met us there and for the next 90 minutes told us about what it was like to be invited to this magical place by William Hurst. It was one big party.

William Hurst began the building of the castle in 1919 and he frequently revised it ...sometimes dramatically. The architect he selected was a women by the name of Julia Morgan. What a splendid place they built. It is now managed by California State Parks.

Indoor swimming pool

Hurst owned the land as far as you could see in all direction

Decorations were elaborate

Many items came from European castles and homes

His "office" where he worked each day directing 29 newspapers

You can wander around the grounds for as long as you like afterwards. We really thought the upstairs tour was the most interesting. Both of our guides were excellent. They sure need to know an enormous amount of information.

Afterwards we drove another 20 minutes to the "end" of Hwy 1. It comes to an abrupt end due to a rock slide a couple of years ago and reconstruction of the road continues.  A huge fog bank came in as we drive along the coast. Our friends were disappointed we didn't see the coast line but the fog had it's own kind of magic. We also saw some huge elephant seals which had taken over a beach area.

Linda and Jim

We really enjoyed meeting Linda and Jim and appreciated all their advice on what to see in the area. We hope our paths meet up again soon. 

Elephant Seals

Our visit to Pismo Beach was lots of fun. We highly recommend the Elks Lodge if you are a member. It's a great location and there are  lots of beautiful places to see. Next stop ...wine country and a get together with Debbie and Evan from our Newmar Fulltiming Klub. Happy Easter to all!