California Forests and San Francisco

From Mike:

Travelling down highway 101 to San Francisco was a series of delights.  

Redwood Forest

The Redwood National and State Parks is actually a cooperation between the National Park Service and the California State Parks, which combined many different State Park areas along with some new areas into making the National Park. Rather than one area, it is a disjointed array of preserved lands, interspersed with some that is still privately owned. All owners seem to have a great deal of respect for these magnificent trees.


This "shortcut" took us to 101 from 199 (Howland Hill Road) in Jedediah Smith State Park.

 Just after leaving Humboldt, we stumbled across a sign on Route 101 which said to view Elk turn down the next road.  We turned right and wow.

The privately owned areas also had their unique charm.  The Grandfather Tree and Chandelier Tree are examples.  The Grandfather Tree has a gift shop beside it.  The Chandelier Tree (which costs $5.00) has been a cultural icon since 1927.  Yes, I made it through, after scraping the side view mirror just a bit!!

After the Redwood Forests we made our way through the wine country of Mendocino Valley
which could be a vacation in itself. We couldn't resist stopping at one of the many winery's for a wine tasting. Saracina Winery is owned by the person who used to own Fetzer's—he sold off the winery and the Fetzer name and is now doing boutique wine. This was one of the few winery's that had a wine cave.

Francis Ford Coppola Winery was amazing. Its main attraction, other than the wine, is that he has made the winery into a museum of his movies, including many of the items from the movies he has made as well as displays of his numerous Oscars, Golden Globes, and other awards. It was cool.

An original Tucker!

San Francisco

We arrived at San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge and immediately landed in a flurry of traffic. It took us forever just to go around the block to park at our hotel. We found out that Oracle Openworld was taking place across the street and everybody was arriving that weekend. Much of downtown was decorated with banners celebrating the event.

The Bay Bridge near Ferry Building

We decided immediately we were not going to drive. We bought a three day Muni pass for the cable cars, street cars, and other public transportation and had a great time travelling around the city mainly on the “F” train which travels down Market Street to the Ferry Building and Fisherman's Wharf.

One thing we found out—cable cars are fun, but the line at Fisherman's Wharf to get on one is not. We would get on the Powell & Hyde car on Market Street at the Powell terminus, take the car up and over Nob Hill coming down at Fisherman's Wharf, and then take the “F” train back, eliminating the line. This worked really well, and we almost liked the "F" trains, many from Milan with wooden insides, as much as the cable  cars.

The "F" train

     Karen and I had Saturday night supper (we just had appetizers) on top of the Marriott at the “View” looking over the Bay Bridge and the lights of SF. We didn't take a picture, but it was so different than our previous views of Crater Lake. Both were beautiful for different reasons. We came back to our room totally exhausted and did not take advantage of one of the only times in the next few days we would actually have the Internet.

I tried to give away the last day of our pass to a couple in the hotel but they didn't want it. I think they thought we were someone trying to sell a stolen pass or something. It was very humiliating, but who is going to accept something free from a stranger? Of course they would think it was some type of scam. We ended up giving it to a bell man who said he would have no problem finding someone to use it.

Would you accept a unexpired Muni Pass from this man?

Yosemite

Yosemite is only a little more than a three hour drive from San Francisco. We were SO glad we were leaving SF rather than coming into it. The traffic was backed up for miles as we crossed the Bay Bridge.

It was different traveling through California from this point on. We went by thousands and thousands of almond trees interspersed with grapevines and other fruit trees. We wanted to stop at a fruit stand, but did not. Coming in from the north on 120, we were again met with forest fire damage, which we started to get used to.

 Many of the redwoods and Sequoia trees are “fire depedent” which means they depend on fire to survive. This took a bit of getting used to. After years of “Smokey” telling me fires are bad, I started to find out that these trees need a fire at least every 20 years.






Yosemite Valley

Half Dome from the drive down to the valley

The Awahnee Lodge dining room

El Capitan from Yosemite Valley

Yosemite Valley was  not what we expected. Yes, it was absolutely gorgeous. Yes, seeing El Capitan and Half Dome was really cool....but the PEOPLE were wall to wall. Being 3 hours from a major city means that millions visit the park every year. It wasn't fun. You had to park your car and take the shuttle everywhere, which was good for the environment, but an annoyance. Plus, Yosemite Falls were dry.


We did do a short trip to Bridal Veil falls, which were nice. We were happy to leave the valley and travel south to our lodge.

Bridal Veil Falls

Wawona Lodge

We stayed at “Wawona” Lodge, which was away from the valley. This “Vermont style” hotel made us feel at home as everything felt like we were staying in New England.

The only pain was the fact that we had to bring everything that smelled into the hotel. We were told bears would tear off the car door like they were peeling a banana for something as small as a chapstick. After three weeks of traveling, this was more of a chore than you would think. Everything had to come inside.

It didn't help that I pulled an unzipped suitcase out of the car only to have everything land in the dirt. I was in the dog house big time as it was Karen's suitcase that she had organized perfectly and her clothes that
ended up covered in dirt and leaves. Let us say she was not pleased!

Glacier Point sunrise
What really, really made up for our day in the valley was that Karen suggested we get up at 5:00 am and go watch the sunrise on Glacier Point. This was 60 miles of backtracking, but was so worth it. Only three other people were there, and watching the sun hit Half Dome and the other mountains was inspiring beyond words. 29 degrees, crystal clear blue skies. Amazing.

Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks

Kings Canyon National Park

We left Yosemite and traveled 3 hours south to  Kings Canyon just north of Sequoia National Park. We decided to go the distance and travel all the way to Cedar Village in Kings Canyon. This canyon, which actually is deeper than the Grand Canyon, was much longer than we had thought...and much scarier.

The road hugged the cliff, much like at Glacier, and when we got to the bottom, there was a semi-prescribed burn taking place since July. It had started with lightning, but now was being managed to make sure it didn't cross the river.  There is no way out so we had to drive all the way back.


We did stop at Grant's Tree, which was fun, and got to take some pictures.

Sequoia National Park

The Giant Forest Village in Sequoia National Park has been torn down. As one ranger put it,  "We realized we had built buildings in the one place Sequoia's can reproduce." Instead they built Wuksachi Lodge about 10 years ago.  In phase one there are three lodges that you can stay in. Dining is in the main lodge.  Everything was absolutely beautiful and very peaceful.  

Near the lodge

Wuksachi Lodge

There was road construction going on so we rushed out of Sequoia without really doing it justice. We just drove by the Giant Trees, and did not take advantage of many of the sites in the park . This was sad, but inevitable on this trip, which I have always said will show us the things we want to do the NEXT time when we have more time.

Palm Springs
We travelled south for over 7 hours until we reached Indio and Palm Springs. Wow, what a difference. From trees to desert. We spent a relaxing time visiting Karen's friend, Beverly, and her husband, John.

A lone Joshua tree on the way to Palm Springs

Next:  Joshua Tree National Park!

--Mike