Re-entry ...

August 25-26, 2014

Starting Location               Oakland, CA

Final Location                     San Diego, CA … Home!

Final Trip Miles                    1695

     Goldilocks and I must be gettin’ old. It’s a good “OLD” for us, thank the Good Lord! It is just that we are definitely not into a one-day 553-mile drive from the Bay Area to San Diego! It took us two days.

    It might have been a boring ride since we know every inch of this stretch of U.S. 101 and California Highway 1…but it wasn’t. We traveled this road many times while our daughter Sue was attending UC Santa Cruz. The weather below San Jose turned gorgeous and stayed that way all the way to San Diego. We wended our way south through vineyards, coastal mountains, awesome seashores and immense produce farms. I dare say we are again elated that we’ve made California our home for the last half-century!

    We stopped over in Oxnard ... had a good visit at breakfast with Harry Norton, a true brother if not by blood ... ex-Air Force buddy, long-term Navy civil servant, usher at our wedding ...

                       Bob and Harry at Henri's Café in Oxnard ...

     Our California Journey was not over yet, y’all! We eased down Highway 1 along a glorious Southern California coast … weather was gorgeous, waves were huge from a tropical storm off Mexico. Around Malibu, the devoted surfer dudes and dudettes were out by the hundreds! At Manhattan Beach, we joined our daughter Susan for lunch at The Kettle, one of our favorite eateries of all time! Sue’s an occupational therapist (OT) in L.A. who does a lot of work with OT students and veterans suffering from PTSD. She is excited about her life … an interesting and engaging person .

 

 

     We are rollin’ HOME now! We are glad that y’all were part of our adventure! Stay well and take pleasure in little things … life is GOOD!

                   Voted Best Pee Stop in Southern California!

       Thanks to Jim and Irene Dunny for taking good care of our parakeets!!

                                   Spike and Bella say Hi!!

 

Adios, Amigos y Companeros de Viaje! Go with God, Friends and Fellow Travelers!

 

Over and Out ...

 

 

With Love, Honor and Respect,

 

Baldy & Goldilocks aka Bob & Barbara

 





 

A Change of Color ...

August 23-25, 2015

            Location       Oakland, California

            Trip Miles      1142

            Gray walls … graffiti … dingy streets… the dark clouds roll in. I’m very tired.

As we turn into the grimy driveway, Barbara murmurs “this may be our first mistake (regarding location of lodging)". A tall panhandler accosts us as we approach the block-like hotel. The unsmiling male receptionist processes our check-in with terse efficiency – like a prison guard. We enter our room, which has three locks on the door. Once inside, we don’t leave.

                                           Welcome to Oakland.

            Such were the perceptions of a tired mind after a 200-mile drive across the hot, flat Central Valley, followed by entry into rush-hour Bay Area traffic. They dramatically changed over the next two days.

            The color change started with a good night’s sleep. It proceeded with entry into the yellow-hued ButtercuP Grille and first sip of Peerless coffee. The coffee is Oakland’s own roast and the Capital P at the end of ButtercuP is intentional. Family owned and run. Working folks. Honest, sensible faces. Good breakfasts! The color change proceeded with a quiet walk along the waterfront in Jack London Square and watching the Blue & Gold ferry depart for San Francisco. A blue-shirted black lady helped us navigate the antiquated fare machine at the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station. In this high-crime city, miracles of generosity are much in evidence!

                                   Our Favorite Restaurants in Jack London Square ...

                                                        Jack London and Us!

                                    Our Transportation to San Francisco ...Sweet!

                                      Don't knock it, Y'all ... it's 50 percent OFF!

            Carol met us at the Lafayette BART station. We spent the day with her. Her husband Frank died of cancer about six weeks ago. He was 82 and his was a life exceptionally well lived. We knew Carol and Frank for close to fifty years. A former army officer and high school principal, Frank was an outstanding historian and world traveler with an upbeat, insatiable curiosity. He kept a written record of the sights and experiences that meant the most to him. Frank used to call me on each of my birthdays. We’d meet for coffee and an oatmeal cookie at Peet’s when he and Carol visited family in San Diego. His life with Carol and their kids was natural, rich and full. We had lunch at Scott’s in Jack London Square, a favorite seafood restaurant of Frank’s and Carol’s. She gave me one of Frank’s baseball caps. It’s a keeper.

                                         Carol, Frank and Us Over the Years ...

Pier 41 in San Francisco is a gaudy carnival! A frontal assault of red, green, orange pinwheels … bubbles from a bubble machine … much noise … excited people! I had a flashback memory of the O.C. Buck Shows that used to come to my home town each summer when I was a kid! Ninety percent of the people we saw in San Francisco were from other countries. The English we heard was spoken by English folks and Australians rather than Americans. We arrived by catamaran ferry from Jack London Square … a great way to arrive!

We took the Grand Circle Tour on the top of an open-top hop-on-hop-off bus. Goldilocks and I have been to San Francisco (SFO) on many occasions. We were married in Chinatown here 48 years ago! However, we wanted to reacquaint ourselves with this great, crazy city! From Brendan, our over-eager but informative tour guide, we learned a few local facts …

·         SFO has 66 Starbucks coffee shops … locals are not overly enthusiastic about this situation. Brendan somewhat sarcastically referred to the Starbucks logo as “our most famous mermaid”!

·         The favorite activities of locals are tree-hugging and going to restaurants.

·         There are more dogs than kids in SFO. The dogs are pampered outrageously! Our guide is a DJ who did a gig at a Doggie Birthday Party!

·         There is a Nancy Pelosi Street in honor of local politics which is quite different from the politics of other areas of our nation.

·         The Golden Gate Bridge was completed Under Budget and Ahead of Schedule!

Y’all sit back and join us on the tour  of SFO …

                                    Tour Guide Brendan -- Hyper but Informative!

                                                        Peace and Love, Y'all!

Transamerica Tower -- Tallest in SFO!

Market Street -- Brass Fountain Survived the 1906 Earthquake! 

Haight - Ashbury --- Local Color! Lots of it!!

                             A Bit More Haight - Ashbury Color!

                            Beware! This Stuff is Expensive!

Fisherman's Wharf Street Scenes!

                                 Garden Off Fisherman's Wharf!

Union Square -- Extreme High-End Shopping!

                        ... As We Just Said about SHOPPING !

Golden Gate Bridge Selfie ... WHAT A WIND!

Golden Gate Bridge Tower!

      We ate a seafood lunch at busy Alioto's on Fisherman's Wharf...Fair...Expensive...Done for "Old Time's Sake"!

      Enjoyed relaxing afternoon ferry ride to Jack London Square. we notice that Oakland has more color now ...

                                Goodbye, San Francisco!



      I have to watch it with Goldilocks ... Our "creative collaborative spirit" is starting to fray!! Time to head home! Better catch some Z's! Long drive ahead!

 

Affectionately,

Captain Baldy 

 

 

           

Land of the Lemurians ...

August 17-20, 2014

            Initial Location        Sparks, NV

            Current Location    McCloud, CA

            Trip Miles                  811

            Clear                          75 degrees F

            Good Mornin’, Y’all!

            From the 7-Eleven near the Nugget Hotel in Sparks, Edna (our GPS navigation system) told me that we had 207 miles to drive before arriving in McCloud, CA, our destination for the next week. Driving north on the 395, we found that Western Nevada had the usual signs of modern civilization …housing developments, shopping centers, freeways and the like.

            Once we reached the California line, things changed abruptly. Except for a few scattered cattle ranches, there are few signs of human habitation up hereabouts. Susanville is the only settlement of note … we stopped at a family-owned Mexican restaurant for a very decent, well-seasoned lunch. Slowly, high desert gave way to conifer-covered high country. Mount Shasta, mysterious and dominating, came into view as we headed northwest on U.S. Highway 89. We rolled into tiny McCloud about 4 p.m.

                     Mount Shasta comes into view from US 89! 

        For the next four days we have been participants in Darryl Lipscomb's intensive Challenge Level 1 (C1) square dance week here in McCloud. It is held annually at Dance Country Hall, a grand old dance venue built in 1906 and recently refurbished. Darryl is a burly Texan with a long, gray ponytail and multiple tattoos. Word has it that he was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He is one of the top square dance teachers in the world and one of the most brilliant mathematicians we've ever met! In spite of his somewhat intimidating appearance, he is a wonderfully gracious and approachable human being. At this writing, we have just finished four days and evenings of high-level square dancing! We are THRASHED, mentally and physically!

                                   Square Dance Collage!!

We San Diego Dancers have been to McCloud Before!

                                      Puzzles Between Tips!

Peggy Bednar's Newborn Baby Blanket Made Between Dance Tips!

Pie Night after the Dancing!

         Our “home” up here in McCloud has been a cozy-artsy rental house at 520 California Street. It’s an Eastern-style yellow house built in the early 1900’s. It has been updated and eclectically furnished by its owners, a decorator-contractor couple who live over on the Mendocino County coast. It’s COMFORTABLE – a great place to chill and plan activities with housemates and fellow dancers Bonnie and Dave Stotler who are more family than friends! Dave celebrated his 77^th birthday on August 17^th!

                                  Us Old Folks at "Home"!

The Man on his 77th Birthday!

Amid Shasta Daisies!

 

        Now, y’all must realize that this locale is DEFINITELY a SEPARATE Universe! The huge region is dominated by The Mountain! At 14,187 feet in elevation, Mount Shasta is both majestic and highly mystical. It stand alone, rising 10,000 above the surrounding pine woods country and is the subject of very extensive lore and legend! Have you heard about the Lemurians? According to much local legend, the Lemurians were a race of highly advanced beings that lived several million years ago! The Lemurians, along with their beautiful land of Lemuria, were wiped out through a series of disastrous wars and volcanic explosions! That IS … all except a group of survivors, who dwell in the City of Telos, located four miles beneath Mount Shasta! This goes along with the vision that our planet is indeed hollow and that an inner sun occupies Earth’s center, giving celestial light to the City of Telos. You can come up here and immerse yourselves in this lore through CD’s, books, workshops, retreats and the like. The place is a New Age Mecca!

                             Mount Shasta in the Morning...

                                       A Magical Place!

                                      The Old Sawmill!

                                     Deer in our Neighborhood!

                                  Wildflowers Everywhere!

                      Fowler Creek Lower Falls -- A Cool Sanctuary!

             The Northwest geocaching community has honored the Lemurians through a prodigious chain of caches named the LPPT series (Lemurian Playground Power Trail)! We started at Ground Zero and scored seven well-placed and maintained caches spaced every 800 feet or thereabouts. Now… this exact trend goes on for miles, along logging roads and trails! There are nearly SEVEN HUNDRED caches thus placed in the LPPT series! This is a true Wonder of the World! The zeal of some of our geocaching brethren astonishes us …or … is it madness?

 

                   We scored the First of the LPPT Geocaches!

            Nothing much happens in McCloud after five p.m. (except for our square dance events and the weekly bingo game over at the American Legion Hall). So, for our shopping and evening dining experiences we’ve had to travel to the City of Mount Shasta about 12 miles over yonder to the west. Population thereabouts is 3,394 per the last census. We recommend Lily’s for superb rosemary-seasoned grilled trout served with natural graciousness!

            Mount Shasta is home for remnants of the hippie culture that once dominated the now-gentrified Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco. Hang out at the Seven Suns Coffee Shop. The hippies will show up. The coffee is good there. So are the oatmeal raisin cookies!

            Shasta RV ----------- Now, this is a HOME of WHEELS!

 

                                Something to Remember!!

         At this writing, we are winding things up here in the Shasta area. We are getting ready for our transition to the next California universe … the San Francisco Bay Area!

        Y’all take care and stick with us!

        Affectionately,

        Captain Baldy

 

 

           

Tufa and Other Items of Consequence ...

Rollin’ up the 395 from Mammoth Lakes to Reno and Reno Life …
August 15-16,2014

    Y’all know what tufa is? Well, tufa is limestone and towers of it stick upward from the surface of Mono Lake, which is about 25 miles up the road from Mammoth. The curious thing is that tufa has to be formed underwater ! So … how did all this tufa get so exposed? Starting back in 1941, the Los Angeles District of Water and Power started to draw water from Mono Lake. The lake level dropped several feet and the tufa towers were thus exposed. They have held up well over the years and now there is a cool state visitor’s center at the site. We visited the place and gazed in awe over the silent lake, which has a far higher salt concentration than the oceans. A wonderfully peaceful place to visit! We even scored a geocache in the nearby teensy village of Lee Vining.

 

Mono Lake, California  -- Elevation 6,000 Feet

 

 

Tufa Towers in Mono Lake

 

 

Mono Lake Vista with Volcanic Island

 

 

        Our drive north of Mammoth exposed us to some spectacular scenery. We drove over 8,000-foot Deadman Summit with the massive bulk of Mammoth Mountain on our left. The air was crystalline and the pines were tall and green. Dropping rapidly to Mono Lake, we then climbed another 8,000-foot summit before descending sharply into the lovely valley where the pretty town of Bridgeport is located. I would NOT like to make this drive in winter! It’s REMOTE up here … a long way from California’s population centers! We ate a sturdy lunch with the locals at the Sportsman’s Grill …

 

                                Bridgeport Main Street Scene

        Oh, by the way …remember that cautionary note I gave y’all on gas prices in Mammoth Lakes? Prices are worse up here above Bridgeport -- $5.19 a gallon! Up the road in Nevada, prices suddenly drop to $3.87 a gallon! Now, that is ODD, ain’t it?

 

Yes, I KNOW this is forbidden territory for "A California Journey"

 

      In the late afternoon, we roll up the 395 to our new "home " --- Room 2438 in John Ascuagas' Nugget Casino and Resort Hotel! A SANCTUARY where I can watch long-distance Union Pacific trains pass in serene silence below our room on the 24th floor!

 

 We have passed into a parallel universe, vastly different than the one we just left behind...

 

 

Lobby "Selfie" at the Nugget in Sparks, NV

 

The Nugget Resort and Casino, Sparks NV

 

            We found that the parallel universe of Reno has many layers. At first glance, the Nugget appeared as another imposing chamber in the incredibly vast Realm of the Eternal Slot Machine … a place where cigarette smoking is much in evidence as is beer consumption at 6 a.m. Forget the eager hard-bodies of Mammoth … this is the place of the sad or indifferent sodden figure at a slot machine. Barbara watched a video to learn about playing slots … the message was “don’t play them”! The odds are not with y’all!"

            There is more to the local story. Life here is interesting! Passionate folks with pedigreed show dogs swamped the hotel in order to compete in a 1,000-entry dog show hereabouts! Indeed, the only sound we could hear in our sanctuary on the24^th floor was the yip-yip of some small dog show contestant in the room next to us! The Blind Veterans Association was at the Nugget for a major convention. The hotel staff was genuinely helpful!

                                               Eager Dog Show Contestants

                                                       More Show Contestants!

           Reno is, in fact, a lovely university town with a leafy green walkway along the Truckee River. We hunted geocaches there with both success and failure. Eastern style brick house with well-tended grass lawns line the streets near the river. We enjoyed a cappuccino at the mellow Hub Coffee Grinder, full of young students and business types...

 

Mural on Overpass dedicated to Reconciliation with Past

 

A Haven of Civilization in Reno!

                                                       An Afternoon Delight!

Gilley’s is fun! It’s a rousing country/western bar at the Nugget, with great BBQ dinners! We ate good food there and listened to Buck Ford’s live band in a sea of cowboy hats. The Gilley Girls in skimpy black outfits were not only attractive, but hard-working, friendly and helpful! They looked like college students making some extra money. Barb went down to Gilley’s to hear the band while I did my blog writing and watching big Union Pacific trains in the Sparks yard being made ready for passage over the High Sierra.

 

                                              Barbara is training to be a Gilley Girl!
!

One Last Loving Look at the Sparks Rail Yard -- A Big Intermodal Train Heads Eastbound!

 

       Tomorrow, we enter yet another universe as we head up to McCloud, near Mount Shasta!

Affectionately,

Captain Baldy

P.S. Goldilocks has sternly warned me against using so many pictures of HER in this blog! Oh, Well ... I really like the one below which I took at Java Joint, before leaving Mammoth!

 

Y'all will have to deal with it! Stick with us, beloveds!