Year Three - Day 127

Sam's View

Today we went to the Great Salt Lake! It is 5 times saltier then the ocean so it is easier to float! It was awesome!!

Summer's View


Jim's View

We hung out at a kite festival in an island State Park located in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. It was a lot of fun. Another chance to eat. The kites were cool. They have come a long way from my days as a kid where we just went for height in the back yard. The park is beautiful and we all had a good time.

While we were over here, we stopped at one of the beach access areas. Sam and I wading out, quite far, and floated in the Great Salt Lake. Sam tells me the lake is fives times more salty than the oceans. It was an interesting experience. Cool. The down side was there were a "lot" of bugs out. They did not bite or pester you, but there were millions of them.

Year Three - Day 126

Sam's View

Today we went to check out the Bonneville Salt Flats! After that we traveled to Salt Lake City, UT!

 

Summer's View

Jim's View

We did a quick ten miles to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Wild terrain. Flat, crusted, and today a lot of water sitting on top. We touched it, tasted it, walked on the dry and wet parts, and then we left.

Heading on down the road to Salt Lake City. We had a few "hills" to climb and the rig is still having a hard time keeping her water cool on the climbs. Something is not right, and getting worse. Crap!

After having crawled over the hills we made it to the campground, All set up. Both dishes have open sky, so DirectTV and Hughesnet up. AT&T 4G LTE up for phones and MiFi. Campground wifi, ok, but not needed.

 

 

Year Three - Day 125

Sam's View

Today we traveled to West Wendover, NV!

Summer's View

We drove to Wendover, NV today, and stopped for the night. Although we planned to drive out to see the Bonneville Salt Flats today, we decided to wait until the morning.  R&R at the KOA!

Jim's View

Back on the road to Salt Lake City! We are stopping for the night in Wendover, NV. We were planning an early start this morning, but that did not happen, with the idea to get to Wendover early and hit the Bonneville Salt Flats real quick. We lost an hour to Mountain Standard Time, the mountains made for some slow uphill crawls, and because of our late start, no flats today. We will try in the morning, before covering the last 120 miles to Salt Lake City.

No DirectTV from roof (one strategically placed tree), HughesNet up ok, ATT MiFi ok, phones ok, campground cable great (almost 50 channels), campground wifi strong and fast

Year Three - Day 124

Sam's View

Today we went gold mining! We didn’t get any though. L but we did get a piece of an old tractor! We didn’t keep it though.

Summer's View

We took a drive through the country today to go metal detecting and look for gold.  The area we drove through was really remote, but the gravel roads led us through some mountains and through an old mining town.  We also saw some abandoned mines near the end of our drive!

Jim's View

We went in search of gold in the Winnemucca area. We drove away from civilization and to the gold fields. We didn't find any water ways for panning, but we did do some metal detecting is search of nuggets. We came up empty, so Summer still has to keep her day job.

Our search for gold brought us to a National Forest area (minus the trees). We decided to follow the loop (dirt road) out and around back to the main road. Over two hours later we found the main road. The loop took us up and over two mountains. It was worth it! There were lots of switchbacks, amazing views, and Sam even saw a few new birds.

We finally made it back. No gold in our vials and lots of hard miles under our belts.

 

Year Three - Day 123

Sam's View

Today we traveled to Winnemucca, NV!

Summer's View

We drove to Winnemucca, NV today to stay for two nights.  Totally different landscape - desert and flat!  A little rainstorm tonight really blew in fast and shook the awnings a bit!

Jim's View

Travel Day ... once we got on I-80, it is a straight shot to Salt Lake City. We stopped in Winnemuca, NV tonight and tomorrow. There was lots of smoke from the Yosemite fire from Sacramento all the way to just 50 miles or so from Winnemucca. Pretty heavy up above Tahoe area. We made it though, the coach did more climbing over and around mountains. She is not liking the climbing and I am having to really watch the water temp. I still think something is wrong.

We caught an early evening rain storm. There is nothing like the smell of rain in the desert! Flashbacks to Yuma!

Both dishes on top see the sky, DirectTV and HughesNet, no ATT Mifi, campground wifi ok, cell phone service ok

 

Year Three - Day 122

Sam's View

Today me and daddy went to the Maritime Museum. They didn’t have a lot of stuff there after that I dug a little at the beach. It was fun! Then we did Lombard St, the most crookedest street in the world. The speed limit is 5 MPH! it was really cool! Then we went to mcdonalds and after that we saw a guy hiding behind some bushes and he shakes the bushes when someone walks by. :D we got some video!

 

Summer's View

Sam and Jim went back to Fisherman's Wharf today to check out the Maritime Museum. I had a work day to pay bills and catch up on laundry.

Jim's View

Sam and I headed back into the city today. The first thing we did was head on over to and then down the crookedest street in America, Lombard Street. They say there is a line of cars waiting their turn, well, a little secret, we went up the hill (very steep) and as a result we were the only ones on that side of the intersection. The line of cars was on the perpendicular side road where it was more level. We got there and just went, not even cutting the line! Awesome. Cross that off the bucket list.

From there we let the GPS guide us back down to Fisherman's Wharf. Sam wanted to go to the Maritime Museum. If you know Sam, you know he loves the beach. And guess what, right next to the museum is a beach. A hour plus later we finally made it to the museum! Something about having to dig some holes.

The Maritime Museum is a National Park and is comprised of several old boats. We walked around on the boats / ships, learned a little about shipping, and well it kind of made us hungry. It made Sam hungry anyways, and he informed me he had not been to McD's for probably a month. Not sure about that stat, but McD's it was.

We hung around down at the pier a while, did some shopping, bought some candy, did some more stuff, and then decided to head on back.

On the way home we headed up to the Marin Headlands and had a spectacular view of San Francisco with the Golden Gate Bridge in the foreground. Time to head home, and there goes Sam to the playground again!

Year Three - Day 121

Sam's View

Today we did a tour of the countryside. The self-guided tour is called Wine, Wood, Water. It was ok. The best part was a chocolate chip cookie I got at a farm store.

Summer View

We took a nice driving tour today, recommended by the "Tour Guy" (inside joke).  Stopped at a local farm for some apple pie (which is delicious, by the way), drove through lots of vineyards, and stopped for a beer while Sam checked out some sea lions on the beach across the way.

Along the way, we drove by The Tides Wharf Restaurant, where they shot the movie "The Birds" but we decided to eat at a place just down the road.  Good dinner, then a drive home for some R&R!

Jim's View

A "WWW" driving tour today. Oh WWW, Wine Wood Water! We drove through wine orchards, hiked a redwood forest, and then went over to the shore. A beer here, some awesome seafood dinner there, and by the time we got home, we were all ready for a early evening nap. Well, not all of us, Sam caught his second wind and headed out to the playground.

Year Three - Day 120

Sam's View

Today we got up at 6:00 in the morning to get on an 8:45 tour! We didn’t get on the bus until 9:00 though and we didn’t leave until about 9:20! It was about a 50 minute drive to San Fran. We saw the cable cars, some hills where some chase scenes were filmed. One of the movies is the Steve Mcqueen chase scene! We also saw Lombard St, the crookedest street in the world! After that we went to Fisherman’s Wharf. Pier 39 is there. It always has 50-200 sea lions and seals on it!!!!!  :)  :)  :) We got a lot of pictures there! After that we rode one of the cable cars!!! We also saw the park where the series Full House’s theme was made and I saw the apartment where they filmed it! It was epicly awesome!!!!!

Summer's View

The KOA campground offered a tour of San Francisco, so we took that today.  The "Tour Guy" was a San Fran native, so he knew his stuff! It was cool to see where he grew up, and hear his childhood stories of growing up in the big city with a gaggle of brothers and bicycle adventures! His father was a cop during the whole Haight Ashbury craziness, and he and his brothers were banned from the park that summer! LOL  We drove down Haight Ashbury, and the hippie culture is still alive and kicking, for five city blocks, at least!

Again, I have to say San Fran is a beautiful, if expensive, city!

Jim's View

Summer signed us up for a tour of the city today through the KOA. I was a little skeptical, and after having been in the city the day before and seeing all the double decker and open top tour buses, was kind of thinking along those lines. But, and I mean a big But, this was the best tour we have ever taken. It was a small car rental type shuttle vehicle and so only about 15 of us in total on the tour. Our tour guide and driver, John, was a native having grown up in San Fran in a family of 8 boys. John never stopped talking from the moment he met us. We learned so much. We left the KOA about 9:30 AM and did not arrive back until almost 8 PM. And not once were we bored, not even Sam! San Francisco is a awesome city and after our tour, I can honestly say, I am both impressed and maybe a little humbled by my previous impressions of the city. Now that does not mean their politics are not messed up! Some of the remodeling of the older buildings here can take over 4 years dealing with permitting and local regulations. Bottom line, it was a great tour and a great day!

 

Year Three - Day 119

Sam's View

Today we went to do a boat tour around San Fran! The tour was one hour long and it was an audio tour. We saw Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and a lot of famous peoples summer homes! It was awesome!

Summer's View

Today we visited San Francisco - my first visit!  It is a beautiful city!  We went to Fisherman's Wharf, pier 43 to get on a boat tour of the bay.  I wanted to tour Alcatraz while we were in the area, but the tickets are sold out over a week in advance, so that is not going to happen.  We settled for the boat tour which goes around the island, so I got to see it, at least.

We also had lunch at the wharf, and checked out a WWII Liberty Ship, which Sam really liked.  It had taken part in the D-Day Invasion in WWII, so it was cool to be on a ship that had been where my dad was at during the war.

Of course, we got to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, so that was awesome!  Foggy, but still cool!

Jim's View

A busy day. We drove into San Fran. The cool thing is to get from the KOA to the city we have to go over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a fast 50+ minute drive at 70-80 mph on a winding road (unlike Seattle where everyone stuck right to the 55 mph speed limit). The GPS brought us right to Fishermen's Wharf. We did a boat tour out to the bridge, around Alcatrez, then back to port. A nice hour long cruise. The America's Cup is going to be held here soon, so there were some boats out practicing.

We had a very tasty Italian seafood lunch, Sam had his usual chicken fingers. After lunch we headed down and did a tour on the Liberty Ship, Jeremiah O'Brian. Very cool and an interesting lesson into WWII from the perspective of cargo ships. The Jeremiah took part in D-Day, and has been restored to a fully functioning under her own steam powered ship today. We got a little glimpse into the life of Dad as he worked in the boiler room.

We headed on back to the RV after a busy day on the pier. Fought a lot of traffic on the way home, but we eventually made it.

Year Three - Day 118

Sam's View

Today we traveled to Petaluma, CA. It is close to San Francisco!

Summer's View

We drove to Petaluma, CA today which is about 35 miles from San Fran - staying at a KOA for a few days.  Turns out this is one of the largest KOA campgrounds in the country - over 300 sites!  Plenty of kid action for Sam!  They have a pool, hot tub, great playground, jumping pillow, and even a petting zoo!  One baby goat born just yesterday! Awww.....

Jim's View

Driving day. The ride was great. It is fun having to drive the coach. Drives like a dream. The road was challenging at time, but view wise, spectacular all the time.

We made it,  Petaluma, CA, about 35 miles outside San Fran. We decided after having spent so much time in the country that we needed a little city action! We are at a giant KOA, so Sam will always have someone to play and hang out with.

DirectTV from roof sat, ATT Mifi LTE, campground wifi strong, all phones work, we had to tear down and back coach up about 5 ft to allow HughesNet internet roof sat to connect. We are all up electronically!

Year Three - Day 117

Sam's View

Today we went to some thrift stores. We only got 1 beanie baby though   :(

Summer's View

Sam and I went treasure hunting to some thrift stores in the area.  A little break from all this nature - LOL!

Jim's View

Organize day which was a total wasted day and Microsoft removed programs off our work computer and made a small problem bigger. As of the end of the day I still got it working right again!

Packing up today as we want an early start. Over 300 miles on curvy hilly coastal road on our way to San Francisco.

Year Three - Day 116

Sam's View

Today we went to the Trees of Mystery! Paul Bunyan and Babe were there to! You ride a gondola up the side of a hill and you get a really good view at the top! Daddy hiked down the trail, me and Mommy took the gondola it took us 7 minutes to get down in the gondola and on the way down we saw lots of walking sticks inside 1 of the gondola’s! :) . It took Daddy 37 minutes to get down.  :) after that we had some ice cream.

 

Summer's View

The Trees of Mystery had a cool ride in a gondola to the top of the mountain, but the hike to get to it and back was more interesting!  More beautiful and "mysterious" redwoods - these are truly amazing!

Jim's View

"Trees of Mystery" is a private area to view the redwoods. As I said earlier, it is amazing how many different ways these trees can deform and grow. Also, an interesting fact, these trees were found all over the planet at one time, that is until the ice age came and wiped them out. Once again, mother nature, destroying things. We took the gondola up and I was the only one brave enough to hike down the "advanced and challenging" trail. Basically it was steep. The best part about it was because of all the warning signs, I did not see one person the whole way down. Well, that is not entirely true, a teenager flew by, running down the trail. I presume he was trying to beat his parents on the gondola down.

Year Three - Day 115

Sam's View

Today we went to Redwoods National park! We saw some really big trees. We saw a tree called Big Tree! It was 302 ft tall, 21 ft in diameter, 68 feet in circumference, and it is about 1500 years old! After that we went hiking and saw a lot more cool things but we didn’t see any Bigfoots. L

 

Summer's View

Went to the Redwoods National Forest today and hiked among the giants!  Also, we drove to Lady Bird Johnson Grove and hiked through there.  Makes me realize that we humans are just a blip on the radar of time.

Jim's View

Our first day to see the redwoods. Amazing trees! The cool thing about them, besides their sheer size, is how they seem to grow in all kinds of clusters and odd ways. As we hiked around through them on various small hikes, I found myself commenting on how straight they grow. Straight as arrow. It is wild. Makes you feel like all you are missing is a dinosaur to be hanging out. Oh, and of course we stopped at a beach!  :)

 

Year Three - Day 114

Sam's View

Today we traveled to Crescent City, CA! It is really close to Redwoods National Park!!!

Summer's View

We moved to the Redwoods RV Park in Crescent City, CA. The park is filled with "little" redwoods only about 100 years old, or so, but there are stumps in here from the giants that were logged in the late 1800s - amazing!  Some of these stumps are as big as the rv!

Jim's View

We moved today. We are now in California! We are in the redwood forest area, in Crescent City. It was a beautiful drive down the Oregon coast. I have to say I really like Oregon. Anyways we are here now. Time to go look at some trees.

(too many big trees! no roof or tripod DirectTV, no antenna action, campground cable which is all snowy, no HughesNet internet, campground wifi strong, ATT MiFi  4G)

Year Three - Day 113

Sam's View

Today we went to the Hughes House. It was built in 1860 by James Hughes. After that we went to the Cape Blanco Lighthouse, where James Hughes worked. It was also the first lighthouse in the area it was built in 1870. It was cool. When we got back we went in the hot tub and pool again.   :)

Summer's View

I really enjoyed the Hughes' House tour, and getting a glimpse of life in the early 1900's.  Their house was quite a luxurious place in its day, with running water, and even hot and cold water!

The lighthouse tour was interesting, as we were able to climb up and stand right next to the lens while it rotated.  Yes, it is still a working lighthouse!

Lunch in Port Orford was at a little place called The Crazy Norwegian, and it was good, although service was slow.  Very busy little spot!

Jim's View

Visited an early settler's house in Oregon. Work, work, and work. Sam got some more education in early American settlers. He was amazed at the early washing machine. Just up the road we visited a lighthouse. Some more on hands classroom. Oregon is cool how the fog rolls in and out. And today was no exception.

From the lighthouse we rolled on down the road to Port Orford. The port of Port Orford is one of only six in the country where they sling the boats in and out of the water from and to dry dock. It was cool to see and still I am wondering why! Oh well, to each there own. Some recreational fishermen were in and cleaning some fish. They were more than happy to give us a lesson on the various fish they had caught. And yes, Summer is here, and here is the pic to prove it!