Fog and Beauty

We stayed in a very new small trailer in a timeshare which used to be an RV park but is now a timeshare in Point Arena, California. We were right at the ocean. On Saturday and Sunday we did our morning walks in the fog down the road that went to the lighthouse. We noticed a minty smell in the first part of the walk on the first day. It was the eucalyptus trees and the smell was very strong. It was foggy all day and night. Now we know what it means for the fog to roll in. It was very misty, damp and wet. We did see two deer the first morning. They were silhouetted in the fog on a hill. This tree attracted us every day we walked by it. What looks like birds is part of the tree.I think one of the most interesting things was the large spider webs that were covered in dew. Now I am not a lover of spiders but the webs were beautiful.

On Monday the fog lifted and we went sightseeing. First we drove the 2 miles down our walking road to the Point Arena Lighthouse. It was quite interesting because it was covered in plastic and being renovated.

These stylish trees made great pictures.

Then we drove north along the coastal highway CA1. Again it was curvy and close to the cliff edge but not as bad as Mountain View Road from last week. It was a beautiful drive and we went to Mendocino and spent some time in the shops. We drove a little further north to see the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse. Now the drive wasn’t bad but then we had to walk ½ mile out to the lighthouse and ½ mile back. I did quite well though but my ankle got quite tired. We are having fun trying to identify the animals, flowers and trees that we are seeing. We decided that this squirrel is a California Ground Squirrel.

It was cool part of the time and we enjoyed using the fireplace. We went to the town pier in Point Arena and watched some surfers. Friday we left Point Arena and drove on south down the coast, again on a curvy road. I have determined that there are no straight roads in California. But we saw some awesome cliffs and an unusual rocky coastline.

We drove about 15 miles out westward on a road that kept getting narrower and narrower to the lighthouse at Point Reyes. It was about 15 miles out and after about 10 miles the fog really did roll in across the land point. We saw many deer as well as the lighthouse which again was another ½ mile walk to and from.

I did draw the line at walking down the stairs to it. The steps were equal to a 30 story building. We were able to see it and take some good pictures. The tree shapes are interesting and we assume they grow that way because of the breeze (or wind) from the ocean. We stopped at the visitor center to get our Passport book stamped and then drove on to our hotel in Larkspur. It was a good week. I have felt good all week and also did some more sewing. We also finished some more bookmarks to send to Sri Lanka. We have been traveling since the end of March and time is sure going quickly. We are so thankful for safety and God's mercy as we travel. Till the next time. God bless.

Turn, Curve, Wind, Turn, Curve, Curve!!!!!!!

Oh, my, oh, my. What a trip. I am starting with Friday as we left Redding, California and headed to Point Arena, California. Now most of you know that the van has a GPS and we have finally named our guide. We are going to call her Ms. Jezebel. We thought about “Make a U-turn” since she is always telling us that but decided against it. We needed to drive south and west because Point Arena is on the coast and we had to go through some mountains to do that. Ms. Jezebel told us that we would be there around 4. That was of course before we stopped for lunch. She does not take into account any stops and readjusts her time when we start back up from the stop.

We ate lunch at Williams which is a small town on I-5 and we think must be known only for the restaurant there called Granzella’s. It was delicious, awesome, busy and very enjoyable. It was in an area that had many olive groves. When we left there we had about 140 miles to go and Ms. Jezebel said it would take 4 hours. We had a beautiful drive west toward the coast and then up the east side of Clear Lake. We drove right by the Worldmark timeshare on Clear Lake. We continued northwest until we intersected with US101 and turned south on it. We only had to go 10 miles (just south of Ukiah) until we turned west on CA253.

Now when you look at a map I’m sure that you know the roads are different depending upon the width and color. CA253 is a fairly thin “black” line (it could be gray). The deal was Ms. Jezebel said we had about 60 miles to go and it would take us almost 3 hours. So Bob said something was definitely incorrect and the time would readjust. Guess what! The arrival time didn’t change. It took us a little longer than an hour to go to Boonville. Then the sign said End 253. That was interesting and now I understood why Ms. Jezebel told us to go on Mountain View Road and that is exactly what we did. It took us almost 1 ½ hours to go 26 miles and our arrival time was right on what she told us.

Don’t get me wrong, it was an interesting drive but there was hardly ever more than 20 yards straight. I am thankful that it was clear, sunny and without rain. We made it safely and before dark. Now I’ll tell a little about last week.

We stayed 6 nights in a cabin outside of Redding, California. It was a modified B&B and had a kitchen which was great. We saw wild turkey, deer (right next to the van), squirrels with big bushy gray tails, jack rabbits (the ones with huge ears), quail and lots of different birds.

We didn’t get to see the bear which had been there the night before we arrived. The weather was also much warmer there. The pine trees all over the area are Valley Pine and they have huge cones.

We went to two different National Parks. At Whiskeytown we hiked a small distance on two different trails, one of them leading to some waterfalls.

We drove to Lassen Volcanic National Park and drove through from the north to the south. Many times we have only seen a mountain peak from one side. We got to see the Lassen Peak from the east and the west.

We got to see a controlled burn

and learn about the volcanic eruption that took place in 1914 and 1915. We went from about 1,000 feet to over 8,500 feet. The peak is taller but we didn’t hike to the peak.

I did a little work on some Christmas gifts; we did cross-stitch and read some. It was a comfortable week.

Sunriver, Oregon

We moved just about 20 miles from where we were in Bend. We were just a little further south at a place called Sunriver. It is a purpose built community and we really enjoyed it. We even got to ride our bikes. There are about 26 miles of bike paths. We spent time just relaxing, doing more cross stitch and sewing. I finished another Christmas present.

We worshiped at a small church in Bend and spent some time with the pastor and his wife over lunch. We had to get our winter clothes out because it turned quite cold. There was a heavy frost on one morning and then Friday morning there was snow covering the ground. It was just a dusting but was neat to see. We took a walk in the afternoon with snow flurries in the air.

On our way to California on Saturday we marveled at the increase of snow on the mountains. We took a side detour to Crater Lake National Park. It was breathtaking. The roads had snow on them and the trees had snow on the branches. Then there was the lake. Again the majesty of God’s creation was awe-inspiring. We stopped at the visitor’s center and learned how the lake was formed from the volcanic eruption. We found it interesting that the eruption caused the decrease of magma below and the mountain (Mt. Mazuma) sunk and formed the crater. Then over time the crater filled with water. It almost never freezes entirely over in the winter. The last time was in 1949. There is an average snowfall of 44 feet per year. And it was cold and windy with a temperature of 22 degrees.

Central Oregon - Bend

Where has the week gone? It seems as time has just flown by this week. I have been staring at the computer and trying to figure out what to write so I'll just write about a little of the geography. The area that we are in is called the high desert area in central Oregon. We are in the Cascade mountain range and are surrounded by the Deschutes National Forest. Instead of one major mountain we can see Mt. Bachelor, the Three Sisters and Mt. Washington, all to the west of us. It is drier because we are on the east side of the mountains. The pine trees are wonderful and the deciduous trees are beginning to turn color. The weather was quite warm at the beginning of the week and then it turned a little cooler, cloudy and rainy.

We learned that there has been volcanic activity here as little as 1200 years ago. We walked through part of a lava tube cave, carrying our own lantern.

It got to be too rocky for me to navigate without falling and with just a lantern we really couldn’t see much of the lava formation so we didn’t walk too great of a distance but we enjoyed what we did do. We walked a trail through an obsidian flow. It was just amazing to see the differences of the lava and to watch the black glass sparkle in the sunlight.

We again are seeing wildlife. This week we saw an owl, a chipmunk (he wasn’t scared at all), a bird that I have to look up, more deer and very large gray squirrels.

We also got to add another stamp to our National Passport book.

We did some looking in the stores and made a few purchases. We found a Bath and Body store, which I dearly love. We had a “spa” evening and had a great time. We did a body scrub, facial mask, cucumber pads on our eyes, foot soak and scrub and simple back massage (rub). We plan to have one each week. The only thing that we are really missing is our Thai massage.

Bob finished the cross-stitch and I completed the backing for 16 more bookmarks to send to our friends overseas. I did some sewing and cutting work for Christmas. It is October and we can hardly believe it. We have been traveling for six months now and most of the time we are quite comfortable. I still love to spend time reading and relaxing and I definitely get tired of riding on some days. But all in all we are doing well and having a great time.