Grant Grove of Sequoias - Kings Canyon National Park

We're staying at the John Muir Lodge at the Grant Grove. Built and dedicated April 21, 2000 - the birthday of the man behind the Sierra protection movement.
It was a 7 hour trip from the coast. We had to stop for gas, food and to fix Riley's glasses, which got stepped on in the night. Took a nap in a bed...then showered.

Toured the General Grant grove of Sequoias near sunset.

Seal Beach, Dinner and a Blog

The Piedras Blancas Lighthouse is near Hearst Castle. Tours are available a couple days a week. Note the clouds way off west. The day was breezy, sunny but not warm.

Elephant seals are protected along the Piedras Blancas beach. The herd of males flip sand upon themselves which acts like sunscreen. They move with a great effort, then continue to sunbathe.


The young bucks spar in the water.




Dinner at Cambria Pines Lodge, atop the coastal hamlet, is very enjoyable and special.



Vegetables are organically grown in their garden. Everything is delicious. Bets ordered grilled vegan squash & mushrooms with Tofu, Edamame and Glass Noodles. Riley had the Shrimp Scampi while Tom thoroughly enjoyed the Caesar Salad with Chicken.


We viewed the tended flower beds that surround the small dining rooms and outdoor nooks.

Drove Moonstone Drive for our last sunset.

Packed everything up in just over an hour and made our last stop in town.

Katie, proprietor of Cambria Cappuccino (internet cafe and Ice Cream), was our gracious hostess. While Bets blogged, Tom played the resident guitar. Thanks Katie!

San Simeon State Park

Had our 2nd sunny day here along the coast. Things are warming up.

Riley's learning skills - like fire tending and charging batteries wherever an opportunity exists.

5 days without cell signal & service. We pick up missed calls when we pop into town for bread or coffee.

Hit the beach a couple times.


Just added a "floater" day to our "campsite with a view" at Sam Simeon State Park.

Very lovely Cambria.

San Simeon-Cambria

Arrived at Site 25...Just like Hearst's Castle, we have Vista del Mar, Vista del Sol and Vista del Monte. We took the last tour of the day at 4pm through Hearst's Castle. AWESOME! The tour moved too fast. Videotaped like mad and I'm sure I missed half the collection we saw.

It was sunny, 65 and the pool was so inviting, we wanted to take a dip. WOW!
Mother nature has her collection of beauty nicely assembled at Cambria beach.


Finished the day with a fire...with Venus and near-full moon visible after 4 nights of clouds/fog. Late night.

Big Sur

THE California Experience??? Put Big Sur on the list. Sequoias, The True Road (El Camino Real), The Craggy Crust of the Continent. We communed with nature from our private front-row deck along Big Sur Creek.

After napping from 10pm to midnight, we headed to Natural Hot Springs Tubs on the cliffs...Springs the Esalen Indians once used. These were open to the public from 1am to 3am and were well worth the trip. The shower had eucalyptus soap and 10' glass panels that slid aside to allow open air bathing. WOW! At this "clothing optional" location, we 3 were the only ones in swim suits. And we were OK with that.

In San Francisco - Saturday & Sunday

Our hotel is a 50s motor hotel style with all the amenities. The continental breakfast hostess told us the private party room on the lower level was used in a popular movie. Can you guess which one?



We rode BART to Powell Street. The place was buzzing with tourists, Jesus Saves speakers, and street performers.

The end of the cable car had a long line so we walked up the hill to Union Square. And kept walking to the top of Nob Hill. We viewed the city from the famous Top of the Mark. We ate lunch, shopped and wandered through Chinatown.



For dinner we ate at Alioto's on Fisherman's Wharf. The fog rolled in so the sunset wasn't spectacular, but the view is always awesome.



We took the bus back to the Powell station, and returned home on the BART, nodding to sleep on the train.

Tom left his backback on the train...OH NO! It contained his prescription sunglasses and Nikon binoculars.

The next morning we inquired at the station and Jason told us the pack was found. We took an hour-and-a-half ride past Oakland to North Concord where we signed for it and rode back to Powell St. to pick up our rental car. Same madhouse as the day before, street performers and a line waiting for the Cable Cars.

It took an hour before we were driving our new Dodge Charger. On the way to the hotel, the spray gave us headaches, so we stopped at SFO and exchanged cars. We got a Mercury Grand Marquis with lots of trunk space for all our gear.

We visited Mary Jo in Redwood City. We had a tour of her home and she showed us the clocks she has made.

O'Hare to SFO

Lightning surrounded us as we drove into O'Hare...delays in our future. Checked 3 bags of our camping gear at the curb for $25 x 3. Grrrrrr.

Ate at Prairie Tap. The garden salad made Bets sick because it was served with Ken's Foods "Italian Dressing". I checked the ingredients and found 29% was SODIUM. The 1.5 ounce packet contained half an ounce of salt! It rivals Twinkies for shelf life. (Boycott movement underway. Please see FDA warning letter http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm202830.htm).

Our flight departed 10:10pm (1 hour 45 minutes late). Uneventful except for the too warm cabin temp and 737 constant vibration over the 2,000 miles. Wait for baggage, wait for shuttle to hotel with outdoor temp about 55 degrees. Riley was comfortable and we all felt relief from being couped up. 1:30am Checkin, 2am zzzzzzzzzzzz

Hey all...enjoy your weekend and those in the Windy...sorry to hear about the deluge of rain. Hang in there.

Off We Go.....

As Harry Lawrence said as we left on vacation, "Off we go, into the wild, blue yonder, Flying High, Into the Sky..."

True nuff today.

California...here we come!

Friday - Departure

Monday...Just 5 days to departure!

After 2 days in San Francisco, we're heading to Big Sur. We have Cabin #11 at Riverside Campground. A co-worker from Arlington Park lives there. She lost her house to fire in June 2008. Going to hit the hot spots: that's right HOT SPRINGS right on the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean.

80 miles south is our first campground: San Simeon State Park. Above us will be William Randolph's Hearst "Ranch" (that's what he called it). It's a Castle! We'll take a tour of it and expect beautiful views 1900' above sea level. Cambria Beach is adjacent to our campsite and is said by many to be the most beautiful in California.

Kings Canyon/Sequoia is 200 miles east via Fresno. We'll camp at King's Canyon and tour both National Parks over 3 days. Sequoia became America's 2nd National Park in 1890 (Yellowstone was first). Home to deep canyons and some of the world's biggest trees, there's lovely hikes and vistas in our near future.

ahhhhhhh....Yosemite. Have a room at the Lodge for our first night and hope to secure campsite at Sunrise CG the next morning (first-come, first-served walk-in). In our 6 previous trips, we have always found a campsite, so we'll get in line and wait our turn. ALL NEW PHOTO OPS AND VIDEO WITH THE HI-DEF CAMERA! A walk out to the top of El Capitan is on our hike list. Hope Riley takes climbing class.

We got a campsite at D.L. Bliss State Park which is rated "10" for view by Moon Guides. That's on the California side of South Lake Tahoe.

To complete the RING OF FIRE TOUR, we're stopping in Napa Valley--not for wine, but for the spa. The Indian Springs Resort has it's own geyser. There's a campsite nearby with a swimming pool and sequoias. It is far from rustic and is located near Calistoga.

So the trip goes something like this: drive 200 miles, stay 4 days. Now we have 3 drivers so we can give the young man some experience in the mountains (don't know if we're ready to back seat drive on Highway 1).