Once in awhile-now and again-this is us

oh what a beautiful day, everything’s coming up roses, everything’s going our way.

we have had some of the best scenic campsites like this one on the Siuslaw river in Florence. this is one of the many reasons we love our coach so much. can you get a hotel room like this for $22?

we went into old town to take a better picture of the bridge we could see from our campsite. the town is very cute and charming.

they had lampposts like our neighborhood.

Martha, oh Martha

to take a better picture of the bridge we had to walk out on the boat ramp.

Siuslaw bridge

then we headed north again. we stopped to take a picture of heceta head lighthouse, just because it’s so beautiful. we fondly remember our stay here in 2010. remember our feet in the window?

2010

we stopped at ona beach. a shopkeeper said it was supposed to have agates.

agates?

but it did have a heart in the sky.

it looks like rain in the clouds but we haven’t had any yet. the weather has been good. but, it is getting colder as we go north.                             north to Alaska.

2010

this time we stopped at the lighthouse we didn’t even get out of the coach to see it was so rainy, cold and windy in 2010. i’ll put that in another blog so stay tuned.

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we stayed the night in brookings. where a river flows into the pacific ocean. very nice. we watched the boats go in and out.

jerry made us a delicious caprese salad. yes tracy and tony, dad is eating basil now.

the next day we walked on the beach. there were some great rocks. hearts were everywhere, you just have to look for them.

this one is for you ted

we wanted to take our picture sitting on this log. but someone had lit it on fire and it was still smoldering.

we drove north to Florence yesterday. the drive is beautiful. they just don’t give you enough places to stop and take pictures like california does. here is one stop we made.

and this is our campground in florence

heading north again today. stay tuned

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we stopped for the night at elk country campground right  outside the redwood national park.  the Roosevelt elk like to hang out here in the afternoon. you can see them from the road so a lot of people stop to take pictures. we saw them our last trip too, but didn’t stay.

after checking in, we picked our spot across the street from the elk, and we discovered the horses.

we could see them from the coach

we met the owner of the horses and found out she gives horse rides in the park. so we made our reservations for the next day. I couldn’t wait to  get on a horse again.

I got on stomp-a-long

and jerry got on kidd

and followed sis into the redwoods

past a meadow

this is so much fun

and then it was over

but there’s still more to come, so stay tuned

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yesterday was spent on the road. the longest day yet. we’ve been gone 12 days and haven’t left California. when jerry was working that would be the whole vacation and we would be home already. aren’t we lucky that’s only a fraction of the trip now. we still have 78 days left.

we left samoa and went to downtown eureka, another cute little town.  jake went to humbolt college here. the good ol days, huh jake?

a zoltar, from the movie big, how fun is that

jerry found out he should be wearing amethysts

we drove on to the arcata marsh and wildlife sanctuary. it’s an innovative wastewater treatment facility exclusive to arcata. they’ve created 307 acres of wetlands to treat wastewater. in doing so the birds discovered it and it is a major sanctuary for migratory birds. it’s a beautiful place with trails all around the different marsh’s. we didn’t see any wildlife but we heard the birds.

I found out what bug I almost stepped on.

you see this one from the interpretive center. the rest of them are very pretty

this flower looked like a snowflake

water is becoming a very precious commodity. we all have to do our best to conserve it and treat it as such. they are having a worse drought than us up here. several schools I’ve seen are not watering their lawns.

I loved this quote I saw at the the bookstore in eureka

stay tuned for a horse ride through redwood national park

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this one is actually for eva. while driving around samoa, we saw this old firehouse. it looked  interesting. we thought it was deserted, but probably not. a sign on the window had a date of june 17. I guess it’s a volunteer unit?

we also saw these neat trains in a different area. they were in bad shape but still looked neat.

I better watch where I step

kara, I gave eva the blog address but don’t know if she’s looking at it. would you tell her to check it out. thanks. hope all is well at home.

I hope you’re checking it out to Rodney. where are you now?  I bet you’re having a good time too. where is that picture you were going to send of everyone? say hi to them all for us.

don’t know where out next stop will be, so stay tuned

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we stopped at the 21rst and last mission built. this one in Sonoma. it’s in a square with shops all around it. a much different setting. people were going to the shops, not of the mission.

san Francisco solano

all the mission have the same roof. made with twigs.

the church isn’t used anymore

and there’s your history lesson for today.

last night we got to eureka, almost to the California –  Oregon border. we went over to samoa island where the somoa cookhouse is located. on our 2010 trip we ate there and enjoyed the family style dinners they serve. it’s one of the cookhouse’s they used to feed all the loggers, 3 meals a day, 7 days a week.

one small room, they have at lest five others

the cook was getting ready to cook for a party of 30 off a tour bus

soup, salad, bread, fried chicken, pork steak, red potatoes, peas, and desert. we didn’t eat it all chris

one of the pictures on the wall

they let us spend the night in the parking lot. that paid for our meal.

where to next?

stay tuned to find out

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we had another nice campground in gurneville Tuesday. kara’s daughter lives there, and we were taking some things kara had sent to her.

we got it here kara

we were right on the Russian river

eva, kara’s daughter picked us up at the campground and gave us a tour of her town. it’s a nice place with everything you could want within reach. her husband, craig, met us at a winery they belong to and we sampled some wines. having a great time. the bartender was a hoot.

we drove onto another winery to see craig’s crop of bio dynamically  grown indigo plants. as I understand it, the indigo color is all done with chemicals now. he’s trying to bring back doing it naturally. and using organic cotton to dye. it sounds like it’s the future.

we had dinner

and then drove back to their beautiful home up in the redwoods. it’s a custom designed and built home done by them. and with some of their own redwood trees. and I think they had a little help now and then. actually you could say a rebuilt home. unfortunately one of their fire sprinklers went off a couple of years ago and poured water for hours and flooded everything. they had to gut it and start over. i’m sorry I didn’t get very many pictures kara. we were having so much fun and then it was dark.  flash pictures didn’t look good so this is the best I got.

you can feel the love as soon as you step in. it glows.

craig and his dad built the stone fireplace

you can see the window seat on the left. the view picture didn’t turn out

the huge kitchen, and this is not all of it.

eva is showing jerry her deck

a gorgeous view, believe me

it was dark and late after seeing all the house, and the pictures of the house were even darker.  it’s a beautiful home in a beautiful setting. eva drove us back to the camp and we said our good byes.

eva retired from the fire department after 26 year of service. an engineer, one who gets to drive the truck. then fight the fire. now she teaches  fire safety to the new recruits. she’s writing a book of her life as a fire fighter. and she teaches sign language. the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

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we’ve stopped at the little towns from san Rafael to guernville. they all have a certain amount of charm but somehow all look alike.

cute houses

neat bridges

fun stores

unique items

i was a little disappointed in the Charles(sparky) shulz museum in santa rosa. it was nicely done but had way to many comic strips. a diehard fan, which we are not, would love it i guess. here’s a few pictures.

Charlie brown greets you

an early cartoon

remember this book tony?

you knew we we’re going to

didn’t you

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it was still windy but not as cold. since it was such a beautiful day, a lot of other people had the same idea as us. let’s walk on the bridge.  we started on the north end of the bridge. when you get on the bridge it’s so invigorating and beautiful. breathtaking. joyful. some areas are less windy than others. so it’s not like you are fighting the wind at all times.

coit tower

the palace of fine arts

the shortest point in the cables

the bridge has an art deco look to it

it’s so amaizing to me that this enormus feat was even thought possible. then to build it, down to every last rivet being in the right place. mind boggling. brilliant. it’s a work of art. i loved it. did you know it is a national park? on the south side they have park rangers and a gift shop. I bought my postcard and stamped it. jerry bought his walking stick medallion like we do at all the parks.

we made it to the south side

and then we walked back. i don’t know how long it took, but i enjoyed every minute. except when the battery died on the camera. i couldn’t take a picture of us at the finish line.

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it was way too cold and windy on the beach to ride horses. not only did i not want to go out. i didn’t want the horses to have to go out in it.

do you want to go? me either i’m taking a nap

so we decided to find something indoors. we drove to the exploratorium at the presidio. we found a good parking place by the palace of fine arts. this is a beautiful sculpture of a building built for the panama pacific international exposition in 1915 originally housing great art. we walked around it getting to the exploratorium taking pictures all the while. it’s been refurbished completely since then.

after walking all around the palace, it turns out the exploratorium has moved to the pier. oh well, luckily the weather had changed dramatically and it was a beautiful day.

we could see the golden gate bridge from where we were parked. it wasn’t shrouded in fog as usual. we decided to walk across it.

stay tuned for pictures of that

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