Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is big...really big. Ok, it's not a Great Lake-sized lake,
but for the west, it's fairly huge. And blue. And pretty. Headed home
from the Bay Area, we took a different route east from Sacramento and
headed into the Sierra Nevada mountains. A really scenic drive, although
if you get car sick easily, the twists and turns could make you a bit queasy.
Once you come upon the southeast side of the lake, it's overly commercialized
though, with year-round tourism spots vying for your dollar. When you come
to the Nevada state line, it is casinos that tug at your wallet. It was nice to
get to the northeast section of the lake, where it was less commercialized and
more natural, with very tranquil and beautiful views. I'd like to go back to
this area again. The area near the state line...not so much.

Napa & Sonoma

We live in an area with twenty or so small wineries. They make some
pretty decent wine. However, the Napa and Sonoma areas are the big
guns of viticulture on this side of the country. If you were seriously
into wine, you could easily spend a week here, touring the wineries,
tasting the wine and overall soaking up the rural atmosphere. Most
of the wine was way beyond our price range, but we did enjoy driving
the area and looking at the vines, fields and really pretty scenery.

Sausalito

We really hadn't planned on visiting Sausalito. It's a small,

touristy kind of place near the Golden Gate Bridge, across the

bay from San Francisco. However, I wanted to get some good

photos of the bridge and since the fog was socking in the

bridge (as usual this time of year), we had time to kill while we

waited for the fog to lift. We visited Sausalito over ten years

ago and it really hasn't changed a lot. Lots of little shops, some

interesting and some not. However, there's lots of pretty

scenery and photo opportunities. Lynn even found a really nice

yarn shop. Go figure! We found some good coffee, a fun book

shop and generally has a good afternoon of hanging out.

Marin

Even though it's right across the Golden Gate Bridge from a

major city, much of Marin County has a almost rural feeling to

it. If I lived in San Francisco, I would want to come here

frequently just to decompress from all the busy-ness of the city.


I really enjoy coming to Muir Beach when we're here. It reminds

me a bit of Taylor's Mistake, near Christchurch New Zealand. It's

compact, peaceful and there aren't huge crowds. Lynn enjoys

watching the waves and I think it reminds her a bit of the beaches

in New England, where she grew up. While we were walking on

the beach, we were lucky enough to see a small pod of porpoises!


The National Park Service and the Golden Gate National

Parks Conservancy are restoring the wetlands near

the beach, returning the area to a more natural state.


Once you drive north from the beach, the drive is pretty

steep and you'll come to the Muir Beach Overlook. Walking

down a small trail will allow you to see for miles up and

down the coast.


During World War II, this entire area was lined with small

bunker-type facilities called Base-End Stations. From these

stations, soldiers would view ships and triangulate the speed,

distance and direction to coordinate with nearby Artillery Units.

All of the hardware has now been removed, but it would have

been a cold and blustery assignment to work at one of these

stations.

While we were driving north to Stinson Beach, we saw these

interesting looking sail boats headed south along the shore.

In all, there were seven of them and they reminded me a bit of

Chinese Junks or Polynesian Catamarans. I would find out

later, they were indeed Catamarans, and of New Zealand

Māori origin! They had left New Zealand in April on a

trans-Pacific voyage to tell of the plight of the world's oceans

and of Pacific peoples. It's really amazing that one part of

"our" world is connecting with another part, so far from each

other, and totally by chance!


You can read more about the voyage and the voyagers by

clicking THIS link...


Stinson Beach is a more traditional bathing beach located

just up the coast from Muir Beach. It was a weekday, so

it wasn't very crowded. However, not a lot of people were

getting into the water since it was a chilly 56 degrees

Fahrenheit. The water never gets that warm in these parts.

It takes a pretty brave soul to swim in these waters on a

regular basis.

Just up from Stinson Beach is a really pretty drive up

Mount Tamalpais, or Mount Tam for short. It's the

highest point in Marin County at 2,574 feet and most

of it is protected parkland. There are lots of pretty

views and beautiful woods on the drive to the top.

Once you get to the top, the view is pretty remarkable. It was

a fairly hazy day, but you could still see San Francisco and the

East Bay pretty clearly, as well as most of the Marin Headlands.

Well worth the drive up the twisting road.

In other visits we've seen Muir Woods National Monument where

there are huge Redwoods and Point Reyes National Seashore.

Both of which are also located in Marin County. However, we

just didn't have time to go there on this visit. Maybe next time.

Mount Shasta

When I was young, we would load up the car and go on vacations.
Usually no place very glamorous. Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky,
Tennessee. Places that were all fairly nearby to our home in Northwest
Indiana. To save money, we would take snacks with us. This included
canned pop to have in the motel room at night. Rarely was it one of
the big brands, but usually one of the "store" brands such as Canfield's
or Shasta. I used to look at the Shasta can and imagine that it was in
some far-away glamorous place. It must be pretty important since
they would put it on a pop can! Well, until today, I had never seen
Mount Shasta. It existed only in my young mind. Now that I have seen
it, it didn't disappoint. It's large, snow capped, formidable and truly
worthy of my childhood imagination....

The State of Jefferson

After spending the night in Southern Oregon, we started the long
trek to the Bay Area to see Lynn's sister, Lenlee. On the way, there
is an interesting little quirk of both history and geography. The
State of Jefferson. What? You've never heard of the State of
Jefferson? Most people haven't. It does exist however in the
states of mind of many citizens of Northern California and Southern
Oregon.

It almost became reality in December, 1941. Many citizens of the
area were fed up with a lack of roads and support from the state
capitals in Salem and Sacramento. The people of the area needed
help getting their wealth of timber and minerals out of the area and
felt they weren't being supported. After several weeks of planning
and proceeding, Independence ceremonies for the 49th State (before
Alaska and Hawaii joined the union) were to commence the week of
December 8th, 1941. A governor was elected and the town of Yreka
was to be the capital. As we now know, the world, and this part of
the country as well, changed on December 7th, 1941 with the
bombing of Pearl Harbor. Folks tended to focus on the war effort,
roads into the area improved and the State of Jefferson never
became reality.

We found out about the State of Jefferson and Yreka only several
weeks before by watching the great television show, "How the States
Got Their Shapes". I saw that we would be going through Yreka on
this trip, so it became a must-stop spot for our trip.


Wini owns and runs the Tasty Q Ice Cream and Lunch Counter,
located in the Yreka Chamber of Commerce building. She's a
really nice lady, but she'll definitely let you know how she feels
about the local, state and national governments if you give her
an ear. She's a good representative of the rebellious spirit that
still exists in the area that would have been the State of Jefferson.


Even though it's in beautiful country, Yreka is a slightly depressed
area. Folks are a bit down on their luck. However, everyone we
met were very friendly and somewhat optimistic about the future.
They want what most Americans want. To be happy and healthy
and have a nice life.


Although this has nothing to do with the rest of this post, I really
enjoyed this sign. it's really old-timey and quaint. It just made
me feel good.

Colorado-Oakland-Reno

It seems that we can never stop traveling. This morning, we flew
out of Grand Junction's friendly little airport and after a stop in
Salt Lake City, found ourselves in Oakland, California. We had
to fly to Oakland so that we could pick up the Truckasaurus.
Truckasaurus is Lynn's sister Lenlee's Toyota 4Runner that we'll
be borrowing for the next 6 weeks. It also means a very long
drive for the next few days, as we slowly make our way east to
Indiana to visit my Mom.


This drive is an adventure for both of us as we have never driven
the stretch between San Francisco and Colorado. After leaving
Mill Valley, we made the obligatory stop at In-N-Out Burger and
feasted. I mean, who can't stop at In-N-Out Burger if given the
chance? Crossing the Sierras wasn't a problem since it's July, but
I wouldn't want to drive this route in the winter since it gets literally
feet of snow at a time! We stopped at Donner Pass which is famous
in history for the struggles (and not-so-tasty food choices) of the
participants on their way west.


The Sierras are beautiful though and although we couldn't spend
much time here on this trip we vowed to return someday. Lots of
really pretty mountains, lakes and vistas...with clean running rivers.
Similar to the mountains of Colorado...but different.


Once we crossed the Sierras we found ourselves in Nevada.
Neither of us had been to Nevada before so it was something
different. We stopped at a CVS drugstore in Reno (it was huge!)
and they actually had 20 slot machines in the store! Probably
not uncommon for Nevada, but certainly different than what we
are used to. We drove a bit longer than we wanted to but we had
reservations at the Red Lion Hotel and Casino in Elko, Nevada
and we pulled in about 9:00. It was a really nice hotel. When
we checked in, they gave us a coupon book for free stuff and
after we ate dinner, played $5 worth of free slots and ended up
losing $10 more. They wouldn't make a lot of money off us,
but when in Rome...or I guess in this case, Elko...

A Day At The Beach

Albeit a bit windy, the weather was perfect today as we spent
the afternoon at Imperial Beach near Lynn's Mom's house.
The water was way too cold, but the sun was super warm
and it was relaxing, just sitting on blankets on the sand.

In San Diego

Long Flight.
Babies in front.
Babies behind.
Woman passing out in aisle.
No Sleep.
Flight No Fun.

Pretty much sums up our flight from Auckland to LAX, which
continues to be my least favorite airport in the Western
Hemisphere. Plus being yelled at by a rental "officer" for
loading our bags in the "Red Zone"! Ugh!
Anyway, the drive to San Diego was pleasant enough after
getting out of the LA traffic and spending the day with
Lynn's family was ok as well. Nice to see folks we haven't
seen in awhile. One more day in San Diego tomorrow before
we head to Colorado on Thursday.