San Luis Obispo, CA

October 16-23

Next it was a week in San Luis Obispo -- a favorite place of ours for very good reasons.  It's a fun town with lots to do in a beautiful setting. And it’s where our son Paul and his girlfriend Kat live.

We went out to eat -- probably too many times -- at a small fraction of SLO's great restaurants. We were treated to a lovely dinner at the home of Kat’s delightful and gracious parents. We took the dogs (many times) to an off leash dog park at El Charro Regional Park, which was close to where we camped. We went to downtown San Luis Obispo's huge Farmers Market. Paul and I took a shopping trip to an outlet mall in nearby Pismo Beach.  We all drove north to see elephant seals near San Simeon. We were entertained by Paul and Kat's four (yes four) of the best-behaved house cats I have ever seen.

We love you, Paul and Kat! 

 A few of the elephant seals at the Piedras Blancas rookery in San Simeon, CA. The northern elephant seal is the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.  Adult males weight up to 5000 pounds and are 14-16 feet long. The seals spend 8-10 months in the open ocean, then come to the land-based rookery to give birth, breed, molt and rest. 

Our tow car and rig at the Camp San Luis Obispo RV Park, which has just 12 sites.  The base was established in 1928 as the original home of the California Army National Guard.  It's now a national guard training center and home to two paramilitary youth programs.

Kat and Paul.  Jim said, "Gee, Paul looks like he's 35," sounding surprised.  Well, he almost is. He's our baby; our kiddos are all grown up.

Monterey, California

October 14 and 15

We spent two more days in Monterey, which is famous for beautiful scenery, tourist attractions (and former industrial areas) of Cannery Row and Fisherman’s Wharf, the Monterey Jazz Festival, and nearby Pebble Beach.  

We spent one day just wandering around. We stopped at the city’s visitor’s center. We drove though Cannery Row where the locations of former sardine canneries are now shops, restaurants and the Monterey Aquarium. We had lunch at Alvarado Street Brewery located on the street of the same name. We walked the dogs along the bay. 

At the beach we saw two people putting flowers on a marker.  We spotted a women wearing a T-shirt that said "It's a John Denver thing. You wouldn't understand."  She told us that every year at this time, a group cleans the section of beach near where John Denver crashed his plane and died in October 1997. 

I'd always heard that Denver's plane crashed because it ran out of fuel. That's true, but the actual story is more complicated. Denver was flying an amateur-built experimental aircraft. The fuel tank switch was in an awkward position behind the pilot's left shoulder instead of the usual spot between the pilots legs.  Denver knew that, but per the National Transportation Safety Board report, the odd position forced Denver "to turn in his seat to locate the handle. This action ... likely caused him to inadvertently apply the right rudder, resulting in loss of aircraft control."   I also read that the mechanic where Denver took off (at the Monterey Airport which was very close our RV park) asked Denver if he wanted to refuel the plane, as the two tanks were at one quarter and one half full. Denver said no because he was going on a short flight.  

Anyway, so sad.

The second day we debated going to the aquarium, but decided to explore the 17 Mile Drive, a curvy road with magnificent views that goes through Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove.    

The lovely  Golden State Theatre across from the brew pub where we had lunch on Alvarado Street.  It was built in 1926, then neglected and later the restored.  Some of the upcoming acts include Paul McCartney and Rosanne Cash.

John Denver's plane crashed just to the right of the rocks in the rear of this photo of Monterey Bay.  

Local artists set up their easels along the Monterey coast line.  That white thing to the right of the easel is a an attached garbage bag flapping in the wind.  It was a breezy but beautiful day.

While on the scenic 17 Mile Drive we stopped at the Pebble Beach Golf course and took this photo from the clubhouse. It seemed like there were golf courses at every turn of the drive, but I read that there are actually four on 17 Mile Drive.

Called the "Lone Cypress," a drawing of the tree to the right is the trademark for Pebble Beach Golf Resort.  It may be as old as 250 years, was once scarred by fire, and has been held in place by cables of 65 years.

Petaluma, CA , then on to Monterey

October 12 and 13

We stopped at a KOA in Petaluma for one night. The campground was a kid's park on steroids with a trampoline, swimming pool, rock climbing wall, playground, and a guy driving a tractor pulling a crack-the-whip-like line of kiddie cars full of toddlers. It was crazy. Plus I think we paid our all time high dollar for an RV park: $86 for one night before taxes. But we had a hard time finding a campground anywhere near San Francisco and had to take what we could get. On the plus side, the Lagunitas Brewery was nearby and we made a quick trip.

Also crazy was our drive from Petaluma to our next stop of Monterey. It started with trips to two different places to get air for our tires -- hoses were both broken, so we made the trip on softer tires. We planned the drive to stay as far away as possible from city traffic, but still had two cars nearly sideswipe us. And we made one wrong turn but quickly corrected. Fortunately, Jim is a good driver and we arrived in Monterey unscathed.

More on Monterey in the next post.

While in Monterey we stayed at the Monterey Pines Campground, a Navy campground literally in the middle of this golf course. We had to sign a statement that essentially said that if we got hit by a golf ball to try to determine the name of the golfer. 

California:  Land of amazing succulents. These were all in our campground.  We also saw a lot of ice plants, which we have in our yard.  Only ours look miniature in comparison. 

Our RV park and site were nothing special, but we were in Monterey. So who cares.  Fellow campers were friendly and seemed glad to be here as well.

Willits, California

October 10 and 11

Next stop:  Willits, a small northern California town barely off US 101 and 30 miles from the coast. We stayed at the Golden Rule RV Park south of town, which is owned by a nondenominatinal Christian church.  The campground was small, wooded, pretty, and very much out in the boonies. We liked it.

There were two newspaper boxes near the office so we bought our first hard copy newspapers in a while. The weekly, called the “The Willits News," had a front page article about a local museum exhibit called “Out of the Ashes,” commemorating the one year anniversary of wildfires that heavily damaged Mendocino and five other northern California counties in October 2017. That museum was in Willits so we made a visit.

This tiny road took us down a hill from US 101 to the Golden Rule Campground, where we stayed for two nights.  

We drove by this sign on our way to the campground. Ridgewood Ranch is where legendary race horse Seabiscuit trained, recuperated from a ruptured ligament he suffered in a race, and lived out his retirement.   When Seabiscuit retired in 1940, he was horse racing's all time leading money winner. The RV park where we stayed was once part of Ridgewood Ranch.

Our campsite site at the Golden Rule RV park. 

In the center of town is the "Willits Arch." Parts of the arch once stood in Reno, Neva, which donated it to Willits and got a new one. The town is named for a settler who arrived in 1857.

After the terrible fire last year, a Ukiah, CA, artist held a mosiac workshop for fire survivors.  Many of the "Out of the Ashes" items we saw were amazing creations made out of broken glass, melted metal, and other charred or melted objects from homes. The exhibit was at the Mendocino County Museum in Willits.

Jim looking at a display about nearby Buddhist retreat that was damaged in the October 2017 fire.

Another "Out of the Ashes" mosaic.

This statue of Seabiscuit, his owner Charles Howard, and a physician stands at the Frank Howard Hospital in Willits.  Frank's father, Charles Howard, was a benefactor of the hospital.  It was named after his 15-year-old son who died in a truck accident in 1926 at the family's nearby Ridgewood Ranch.  Howard was an auto magnet and owner of thoroughbred horses, included Seabiscuit.

Fortuna and Ferndale, California

October 8 and 9

We spent two nights at Riverwalk RV Park in Fortuna, California.  It was a short walk across a road to the Eel River, which empties into the Pacific Ocean just nine miles to the west.  

Most of our local exploring, however, was done in the nearby smaller town of Ferndale. The the entire town is registered as a California historical landmark with dozens of well preserved Victorian-style homes and business. It's also the site of what we read is the only cattle cemetery in the US. We had to see that.

The Eel River,  as seen from a two mile walking path just across a road from our Fortuna, CA, campground.  The Eel River is 196 miles long; along with its tributaries is the third largest watershed entirely in California. I read that the city was named when early settlers saw the nearby forests and the river and felt "fortunate" to live there.  

Above are just a few of the intricately painted and gingerbread-detailed homes and business in tiny (population 1300) Ferndale, California. Some of the buildings are known as "butterfat palaces" because they were built with wealth from the local dairy industry.

Jim at Ferndale's Champion Cow Cemetery.  It's at the local fairgrounds and the entire "cemetery" consists of three grave markers for Jersey cows.  Sunny King Berna was a world butterfat champion; Silken Lady Ruby of Ferndale was a Lifetime Butterfat Champion; and Challengers Joyce VG was a national Jersey milk champion.  All were owned by Ferndale dairy farmers.

And then we stumbled across the Historic Ferndale Cemetery, which climbs a hill near downtown. 

The Cemetery also has a wonderful view of the the city of Ferndale.  Ferndale is 260 miles from San Francisco but 40 structures were damaged by that 1906 quake and almost all of the cities chimneys fell to the ground.