November 1 to 7, 2009 ; Lake Chelan, Washington to San Francisco, California
Sunday ; Lake Chelan State Park to Pine Springs Resort near Goldendale, Washington
Today was the third time that Sully has witnessed the retraction of the trailer slides. The first time he was scared. The second time he was puzzled. Today he was curious. To keep him safe while retracting the slides, Joanne picks him up and cradles him upside down like a baby in her arms. Today when the slides began to retract Sully peeked around the corner to watch the bedroom slide come in, making the bedroom smaller, then turned to watch the dinette / living room slide come in and make the main living area smaller. When both slides were finished retracting he tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. HA HA HA … no, Sully, we don’t retract the roof. But good thought process and cat logic though !
This morning we departed Lake Chelan State Park and headed east on Hwy. 971 back to Alt. 97 where we turned south. We stopped at Wenatchee to refill with diesel and get back onto Hwy. 97. We usually take an alternate route from Wenatchee to Ellensburg to avoid the winding steep grades on Hwy. 97 through the mountains, but the weather today was so nice we stayed on Hwy. 97 and enjoyed the scenery. From Ellensburg to past Yakima Hwy. 97 is also Interstate 82. At Toppenish Hwy. 97 resumes heading south.
Joanne found a Passport America Park with a cheap rate, cable TV service, and Wi-Fi. We stopped for the night at Pine Springs Resort next door to Brooks Memorial State Park. After getting set up in our campsite we went for a short walk with Bo in the state park next door. Unfortunately the cable TV service at Pine Springs Resort did not include a CBS network feed so we were unable to watch Amazing Race. And the Wi-Fi signal didn’t reach the our campsite, so I had to sit outside at a picnic table near the campground office to use Wi-Fi. BRRRRR ! It was pretty cold late in the afternoon at this high mountain elevation.
Monday ; Goldendale, Washington to The Cove Palisades State Park, Oregon
This morning before departing Pine Springs Resort I tried again to reactivate our U.S. cell phone. I have made numerous attempts since we entered the United States a few days ago, with no success. Last night I sent a request by e-mail for assistance to Virgin Mobile, but by this morning they had not yet responded.
We departed Pine Springs Resort heading south on Hwy. 97 again. Soon we descended into the Columbia River Gorge and crossed the Columbia River into Oregon. We encountered more hills and wind than expected and I ran low on fuel. Five miles before reaching the city of Madras the truck computer’s “distance to empty” reached “zero”. ( sigh ) I had to pull over and put in my 2.5 gallons of emergency diesel.
At Madras we refilled with diesel and shopped for groceries at Safeway. While Joanne began the grocery shopping I phoned Virgin Mobile from a pay phone. An agent ( allegedly ) helped me through the reactivation process, but after we were done I tried the cell phone and it still wasn’t working. The agent suggested that maybe it would start working in four hours. HUH ? Well, in four hours we were in a campground beyond cell phone service so I won’t know until tomorrow if the reactivation was successful.
After grocery shopping we had a very late lunch in the trailer in the Safeway parking lot. HMPH … should have had lunch before running the errands, but I was a bit obsessed with the fuel situation and the cell phone. We left Madras and headed south towards The Cove Palisades State Park. We like Washington’s and Oregon’s state parks, and as long as the weather remains nice, there is no motivation to drive long, hard days. And Oregon’s state parks are more reasonably priced than Washington’s, so we are planning to stay in a few.
We got set up in a campsite in the Crooked River Campground in The Cove Palisades State Park. We went for a walk with Bo, then took both Bo and Sully into the campground’s large fenced pet rest area. We played with Bo with his Kong while Sully meandered around in the leaves and grass. Back at our campsite I built a campfire. Like Teddy before him, Sully enjoys campfires, especially when he’s wrapped in a blanket on Joanne’s lap. It became dark by 5:30 P.M.! At dusk three deer wandered by, grazing no more than about 30 feet from us. Good thing we had already put Bo back into the trailer.
Supper was a bit of a disaster. Joanne bought a ready to bake pizza at Safeway today. It was to be baked on the cardboard like tray it came on. The bottom of the crust burned badly. YUCK ! Maybe that kind of cardboard like baking tray doesn’t work in an RV propane oven ?
HEY … that’s funny … HA HA HA ! I just stepped outside for a late night cigarette. There were four deer grazing in our campsite. When I shone a flashlight in their eyes, they allowed me to approach, standing there like “deer frozen in headlights”.
Tuesday ; The Cove Palisades State Park to LaPine State Park
Early this morning when I stepped outside with Bo to take him for his morning walk there were … DEER ! EVERYWHERE ! MANY OF THEM ! ! ! As far as the eye could see. And deer scent on the ground everywhere. And deer pellets / droppings. MMMMM ... what a yummy frozen dog treat. Bad dog, Bo ! Poor Bo … canine sensory overload. He didn’t know whether to wind his watch, take a shit, or steal third base. Fortunately his decision was to take a shit, which was great because that’s why we were out there in the first place. HA HA HA ! Good dog, Bo. I guess the deer figure out pretty quickly ( well, at least the smarter ones must ) that to survive hunting season they’d best hang around a state park where hunting is not allowed.
We didn’t travel very far today. Partially by design, partially by circumstance. We left The Cove Palisades State Park and continued southbound on Hwy. 97. At Redmond we stopped to do some shopping at Wal-Mart, then refilled an empty propane tank. The nights have been very cold, and the furnace has used a lot of propane. At Bend we stopped at PetsMart and made an engraved identity tag for Sully’s collar. Then … ( sigh ) … I continued my attempts to get our cell phone reactivated. First I had to find a pay phone to phone Virgin Mobile. That proved to be an impossible task. Pay phones don’t seem to exist anymore ? ! ? We drove to, and walked around, two shopping malls looking for a pay phone. Finally, in exasperation, I asked to use an office phone at a Visitor’s Information Centre. With more time and difficulty than it should have taken I finally got the cell phone reactivated. By then it was time for lunch.
After lunch we drove out of Bend and continued south on Hwy. 97 to LaPine State Park. We had been here two years ago and quite liked it. We got set up in a campsite, then went for a walk with Bo around the campground and to the Deschutes River. We sat for awhile on the riverbank enjoying the mild sunny afternoon. We discussed our plans for the next couple of days, and decided that if the weather remains sunny and nice we would probably take a day off driving tomorrow and stay here. The daytime temperatures have been in the mid-50’s and the night time temperatures have been in the mid-20’s.
Wednesday ; LaPine State Park
Today was a lovely, sunny, mild day. We spent a slightly lazy day relaxing at LaPine State Park. This morning Joanne went for a long walk / hike with Bo. I wasn’t felling well so I stayed at the trailer with Sully. I’m having a ( hopefully ) mild flare-up of colitis or perhaps it was just a case of mild food poisoning ? I felt better by late afternoon.
We spent half the morning and half the afternoon on a maintenance chore that, of course, we thought would only take an hour or less. Our little electric space heater has been functioning poorly, so we decided to disassemble it and clean out the insides. It turned into a bit of a nightmare of disassembly and reassembly. I guess products like that are manufactured to be disposable once they begin to function poorly. Of course, the manufacturer could install some kind of a filter on the air intake to prevent the insides from becoming clogged with dirt, but NOOOOOO !
We spent the latter part of the afternoon resting and reading around a campfire. I cooked supper over the coals of the campfire, wrapping some seasoned fish fillets in foil and baking them on the coals. AHHHHH … sometimes it feels good to return to the old fashioned, outdoor way of doing things.
Thursday ; LaPine State Park to Corning, California
This morning we departed LaPine State Park and continued south on Hwy. 97 to the end of it. Hwy. 97 starts near Kamloops, at the northern end of the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, and ends at Weed, California, at Interstate 5. We stopped for lunch at a roadside rest area in Oregon just before crossing into California. The roadside rest area had Wi-Fi for a fee ( $2 for 20 minutes ! ) so I was able to send an e-mail to our friend Julie to advise her of our arrival tomorrow. We are heading to visit her at the state park near San Francisco where she is WorkCamping for the winter as the campground host.
The weather in the morning in Oregon was fine ; sunny and mild. But as soon as we crossed into California it began to get ugly ; strong winds and heavy rain. As we climbed up and over Mount Shasta it got really ugly ! When we got to the end of Hwy. 97 we refilled with diesel ( in the cold rain ) in Weed, then got onto Interstate 5 heading south. The traffic on I-5 was surprisingly heavy. At Redding we considered stopping for the night, but continued on. The rain began to diminish after Redding. By the time we reached Corning the rain had stopped.
At Corning we found our way to a Safeway and did some grocery shopping. By the time we were finished at Safeway it was dark. Near the Safeway we found a mall with a Dollar Tree and … wait for it … WOO-HOO … a panaderia. HA HA HA ! While Joanne went into the Dollar Tree I went into the panaderia and bought some pan dulce. The Mexican woman behind the counter did not speak English. Hey, no problem. I didn’t drive 9000 km. around Mexico without learning how to buy pan dulce in Spanish ! HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA ! “Una empanada con leche, por favor, y una con manzana … uno mas galleta, por favor … gracias … Buenas Noches, Señora.”
We got back onto the Interstate and off again at the next exit to head to Flying J where we planned to boondock for the night. It was late and we were tired, so we had supper at Country Market, the buffet restaurant inside the Flying J.
Friday ; Corning to Samuel P Taylor State Park, California
This morning we pulled out of the RV overnight parking area at the Flying J and over to their RV service islands. In one location I refilled with diesel, refilled the fresh water tank, and dumped the waste holding tanks. Had I needed a propane tank refilled, I could have done it right there at the RV service island as well. I really appreciate Flying J’s provision of services and conveniences for RV’ers. We were finished and ready to depart right at 9:00 A.M., so we pulled right back into a spot in the RV parking area to take advantage of Flying J’s promotional offer of free Wi-Fi from 9:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M.. I sent and retrieved e-mail, and we were on our way.
We continued south on I-5 until almost reaching Sacramento when we turned onto I-505 to bypass Sacramento on the west side. After I-505 we took I-80 south past Napa then turned west on Hwy. 37 following the north shore of San Pablo Bay on the north side of San Francisco. At Novato we got onto Hwy. 101 south to San Rafael, then followed Sir Francis Drake Blvd. through 16 miles of expensive suburbia in the forested hills until we reached Samuel P Taylor State Park where our friend Julie is a campground host for the upcoming winter season.
Samuel P Taylor State Park is a lovely redwood rainforest. Which would be great except that … it’s a rainforest ! Julie will be lucky if she sees the sun before she leaves next spring. She had arranged for us to have a complimentary campsite for a short period of time while we visit her. Which is great because this park has a rate of $35 per night for unserviced sites ! ! ! And to add insult to injury, the showers in the comfort station require a dollar per ten minutes. Welcome to California !
We got set up in our complimentary site, actually a vacant campground host site. This campground has provision for three campground hosts, but only two of the positions are currently filled, because part of the campground is closed due to California’s budgetary constraints. We walked down to Julie’s site adjacent to the campground office. I started a campfire and we tried to visit for a couple of hours, but we weren’t able to visit much. Julie was very busy, having been assigned to check in the incoming campers tonight after the campground office closed. And it being Friday evening, there was a steady stream of incoming campers. We made arrangements to go into San Francisco tomorrow morning for some sightseeing, then returned to our trailer for a late, light supper.
It was great to see Julie again. We first met Julie five years ago, on our first WorkCamping job, at YMCA Of The Ozarks in Missouri where she was also WorkCamping. And today was the first time we met her new dog Triscuit, a very cute Powder Puff Chinese Crested.
Saturday ; San Francisco
Today was, surprisingly, sunny and mild. We spent the day sightseeing in San Francisco with our friend Julie and her friend Judy. This morning we left Samuel P Taylor State Park with Julie and drove 16 miles back on Sir Francis Drake Blvd. to Hwy. 101 then turned south towards the city. We passed through the expensive houseboat laden seaside community of Sausalito on San Francisco Bay, then over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. As we were driving across the Golden Gate Bridge a helicopter flew across San Francisco Bay and under the bridge ! We drove to Judy’s apartment and picked her up, then drove around for awhile viewing the beautiful, ornate architecture of the old homes, and marvelling at the steep hills we were driving up and down. Judy guided us to the last section of Lombard Street known as “the crookedest street in the world”. The last long block of the street was an extremely steep hill … a 40 degree slope ! The roadway was a series of very tight radius switchback curves. I decided after descending it … NOT meant for duallies ! One of the curves was actually too tight a radius for me to make it around, and I had to back up a bit to make it through.
Eventually we made our way to Fisherman’s Wharf on the San Francisco Bay waterfront. It wasn’t easy to find a parking spot that a dually fit in ! We cheated a bit … Judy brought along her handicapped parking permit. We spent the rest of the morning wandering around Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 43½ . I took photos of Alcatraz, a mile offshore. We had lunch at Boudin Bakery, home of the world famous San Francisco Sourdough Bread. The unique climate of the San Francisco Bay waterfront produces a uniquely flavoured sourdough bread that can’t be duplicated anywhere else. Of course, I had San Francisco Bay clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. MMMMM ! ! ! After lunch we took a bakery tour. Very interesting !
Judy is in poor health, awaiting a liver transplant, so after lunch she went to lie down in our truck. Julie, Joanne, and I walked over to Pier 39 for more wandering and sightseeing. We enjoyed seeing the colony of hundreds of sea lions that congregate at Pier 39. We returned to the truck and set off to spend the rest of the afternoon sightseeing by truck. We drove up a hill alongside a cable car. We drove through the Haight-Ashbury community and along the park of the same name that was famous in the 1960’s as “the place” for the hippies of the era. We drove through the large, lovely Golden Gate Park, then returned Julie and Judy to Judy’s apartment. They were going to drive back to Samuel P Taylor State Park in Judy’s car.
We drove back through and out of the city, and over the Golden Gate Bridge again. After crossing the bridge we stopped at the park on the north side of the bridge to take some photos, then we returned to the state park. Joanne and I began to prepare a barbecued chicken dinner, and when Julie and Judy returned to the park, they joined us for supper. After supper Judy went back to Julie’s trailer to rest, and we spent the rest of evening visiting and chatting with Julie.
DSK
Sunday ; Lake Chelan State Park to Pine Springs Resort near Goldendale, Washington
Today was the third time that Sully has witnessed the retraction of the trailer slides. The first time he was scared. The second time he was puzzled. Today he was curious. To keep him safe while retracting the slides, Joanne picks him up and cradles him upside down like a baby in her arms. Today when the slides began to retract Sully peeked around the corner to watch the bedroom slide come in, making the bedroom smaller, then turned to watch the dinette / living room slide come in and make the main living area smaller. When both slides were finished retracting he tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. HA HA HA … no, Sully, we don’t retract the roof. But good thought process and cat logic though !
This morning we departed Lake Chelan State Park and headed east on Hwy. 971 back to Alt. 97 where we turned south. We stopped at Wenatchee to refill with diesel and get back onto Hwy. 97. We usually take an alternate route from Wenatchee to Ellensburg to avoid the winding steep grades on Hwy. 97 through the mountains, but the weather today was so nice we stayed on Hwy. 97 and enjoyed the scenery. From Ellensburg to past Yakima Hwy. 97 is also Interstate 82. At Toppenish Hwy. 97 resumes heading south.
Joanne found a Passport America Park with a cheap rate, cable TV service, and Wi-Fi. We stopped for the night at Pine Springs Resort next door to Brooks Memorial State Park. After getting set up in our campsite we went for a short walk with Bo in the state park next door. Unfortunately the cable TV service at Pine Springs Resort did not include a CBS network feed so we were unable to watch Amazing Race. And the Wi-Fi signal didn’t reach the our campsite, so I had to sit outside at a picnic table near the campground office to use Wi-Fi. BRRRRR ! It was pretty cold late in the afternoon at this high mountain elevation.
Monday ; Goldendale, Washington to The Cove Palisades State Park, Oregon
This morning before departing Pine Springs Resort I tried again to reactivate our U.S. cell phone. I have made numerous attempts since we entered the United States a few days ago, with no success. Last night I sent a request by e-mail for assistance to Virgin Mobile, but by this morning they had not yet responded.
We departed Pine Springs Resort heading south on Hwy. 97 again. Soon we descended into the Columbia River Gorge and crossed the Columbia River into Oregon. We encountered more hills and wind than expected and I ran low on fuel. Five miles before reaching the city of Madras the truck computer’s “distance to empty” reached “zero”. ( sigh ) I had to pull over and put in my 2.5 gallons of emergency diesel.
At Madras we refilled with diesel and shopped for groceries at Safeway. While Joanne began the grocery shopping I phoned Virgin Mobile from a pay phone. An agent ( allegedly ) helped me through the reactivation process, but after we were done I tried the cell phone and it still wasn’t working. The agent suggested that maybe it would start working in four hours. HUH ? Well, in four hours we were in a campground beyond cell phone service so I won’t know until tomorrow if the reactivation was successful.
After grocery shopping we had a very late lunch in the trailer in the Safeway parking lot. HMPH … should have had lunch before running the errands, but I was a bit obsessed with the fuel situation and the cell phone. We left Madras and headed south towards The Cove Palisades State Park. We like Washington’s and Oregon’s state parks, and as long as the weather remains nice, there is no motivation to drive long, hard days. And Oregon’s state parks are more reasonably priced than Washington’s, so we are planning to stay in a few.
We got set up in a campsite in the Crooked River Campground in The Cove Palisades State Park. We went for a walk with Bo, then took both Bo and Sully into the campground’s large fenced pet rest area. We played with Bo with his Kong while Sully meandered around in the leaves and grass. Back at our campsite I built a campfire. Like Teddy before him, Sully enjoys campfires, especially when he’s wrapped in a blanket on Joanne’s lap. It became dark by 5:30 P.M.! At dusk three deer wandered by, grazing no more than about 30 feet from us. Good thing we had already put Bo back into the trailer.
Supper was a bit of a disaster. Joanne bought a ready to bake pizza at Safeway today. It was to be baked on the cardboard like tray it came on. The bottom of the crust burned badly. YUCK ! Maybe that kind of cardboard like baking tray doesn’t work in an RV propane oven ?
HEY … that’s funny … HA HA HA ! I just stepped outside for a late night cigarette. There were four deer grazing in our campsite. When I shone a flashlight in their eyes, they allowed me to approach, standing there like “deer frozen in headlights”.
Tuesday ; The Cove Palisades State Park to LaPine State Park
Early this morning when I stepped outside with Bo to take him for his morning walk there were … DEER ! EVERYWHERE ! MANY OF THEM ! ! ! As far as the eye could see. And deer scent on the ground everywhere. And deer pellets / droppings. MMMMM ... what a yummy frozen dog treat. Bad dog, Bo ! Poor Bo … canine sensory overload. He didn’t know whether to wind his watch, take a shit, or steal third base. Fortunately his decision was to take a shit, which was great because that’s why we were out there in the first place. HA HA HA ! Good dog, Bo. I guess the deer figure out pretty quickly ( well, at least the smarter ones must ) that to survive hunting season they’d best hang around a state park where hunting is not allowed.
We didn’t travel very far today. Partially by design, partially by circumstance. We left The Cove Palisades State Park and continued southbound on Hwy. 97. At Redmond we stopped to do some shopping at Wal-Mart, then refilled an empty propane tank. The nights have been very cold, and the furnace has used a lot of propane. At Bend we stopped at PetsMart and made an engraved identity tag for Sully’s collar. Then … ( sigh ) … I continued my attempts to get our cell phone reactivated. First I had to find a pay phone to phone Virgin Mobile. That proved to be an impossible task. Pay phones don’t seem to exist anymore ? ! ? We drove to, and walked around, two shopping malls looking for a pay phone. Finally, in exasperation, I asked to use an office phone at a Visitor’s Information Centre. With more time and difficulty than it should have taken I finally got the cell phone reactivated. By then it was time for lunch.
After lunch we drove out of Bend and continued south on Hwy. 97 to LaPine State Park. We had been here two years ago and quite liked it. We got set up in a campsite, then went for a walk with Bo around the campground and to the Deschutes River. We sat for awhile on the riverbank enjoying the mild sunny afternoon. We discussed our plans for the next couple of days, and decided that if the weather remains sunny and nice we would probably take a day off driving tomorrow and stay here. The daytime temperatures have been in the mid-50’s and the night time temperatures have been in the mid-20’s.
Wednesday ; LaPine State Park
Today was a lovely, sunny, mild day. We spent a slightly lazy day relaxing at LaPine State Park. This morning Joanne went for a long walk / hike with Bo. I wasn’t felling well so I stayed at the trailer with Sully. I’m having a ( hopefully ) mild flare-up of colitis or perhaps it was just a case of mild food poisoning ? I felt better by late afternoon.
We spent half the morning and half the afternoon on a maintenance chore that, of course, we thought would only take an hour or less. Our little electric space heater has been functioning poorly, so we decided to disassemble it and clean out the insides. It turned into a bit of a nightmare of disassembly and reassembly. I guess products like that are manufactured to be disposable once they begin to function poorly. Of course, the manufacturer could install some kind of a filter on the air intake to prevent the insides from becoming clogged with dirt, but NOOOOOO !
We spent the latter part of the afternoon resting and reading around a campfire. I cooked supper over the coals of the campfire, wrapping some seasoned fish fillets in foil and baking them on the coals. AHHHHH … sometimes it feels good to return to the old fashioned, outdoor way of doing things.
Thursday ; LaPine State Park to Corning, California
This morning we departed LaPine State Park and continued south on Hwy. 97 to the end of it. Hwy. 97 starts near Kamloops, at the northern end of the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, and ends at Weed, California, at Interstate 5. We stopped for lunch at a roadside rest area in Oregon just before crossing into California. The roadside rest area had Wi-Fi for a fee ( $2 for 20 minutes ! ) so I was able to send an e-mail to our friend Julie to advise her of our arrival tomorrow. We are heading to visit her at the state park near San Francisco where she is WorkCamping for the winter as the campground host.
The weather in the morning in Oregon was fine ; sunny and mild. But as soon as we crossed into California it began to get ugly ; strong winds and heavy rain. As we climbed up and over Mount Shasta it got really ugly ! When we got to the end of Hwy. 97 we refilled with diesel ( in the cold rain ) in Weed, then got onto Interstate 5 heading south. The traffic on I-5 was surprisingly heavy. At Redding we considered stopping for the night, but continued on. The rain began to diminish after Redding. By the time we reached Corning the rain had stopped.
At Corning we found our way to a Safeway and did some grocery shopping. By the time we were finished at Safeway it was dark. Near the Safeway we found a mall with a Dollar Tree and … wait for it … WOO-HOO … a panaderia. HA HA HA ! While Joanne went into the Dollar Tree I went into the panaderia and bought some pan dulce. The Mexican woman behind the counter did not speak English. Hey, no problem. I didn’t drive 9000 km. around Mexico without learning how to buy pan dulce in Spanish ! HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA ! “Una empanada con leche, por favor, y una con manzana … uno mas galleta, por favor … gracias … Buenas Noches, Señora.”
We got back onto the Interstate and off again at the next exit to head to Flying J where we planned to boondock for the night. It was late and we were tired, so we had supper at Country Market, the buffet restaurant inside the Flying J.
Friday ; Corning to Samuel P Taylor State Park, California
This morning we pulled out of the RV overnight parking area at the Flying J and over to their RV service islands. In one location I refilled with diesel, refilled the fresh water tank, and dumped the waste holding tanks. Had I needed a propane tank refilled, I could have done it right there at the RV service island as well. I really appreciate Flying J’s provision of services and conveniences for RV’ers. We were finished and ready to depart right at 9:00 A.M., so we pulled right back into a spot in the RV parking area to take advantage of Flying J’s promotional offer of free Wi-Fi from 9:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M.. I sent and retrieved e-mail, and we were on our way.
We continued south on I-5 until almost reaching Sacramento when we turned onto I-505 to bypass Sacramento on the west side. After I-505 we took I-80 south past Napa then turned west on Hwy. 37 following the north shore of San Pablo Bay on the north side of San Francisco. At Novato we got onto Hwy. 101 south to San Rafael, then followed Sir Francis Drake Blvd. through 16 miles of expensive suburbia in the forested hills until we reached Samuel P Taylor State Park where our friend Julie is a campground host for the upcoming winter season.
Samuel P Taylor State Park is a lovely redwood rainforest. Which would be great except that … it’s a rainforest ! Julie will be lucky if she sees the sun before she leaves next spring. She had arranged for us to have a complimentary campsite for a short period of time while we visit her. Which is great because this park has a rate of $35 per night for unserviced sites ! ! ! And to add insult to injury, the showers in the comfort station require a dollar per ten minutes. Welcome to California !
We got set up in our complimentary site, actually a vacant campground host site. This campground has provision for three campground hosts, but only two of the positions are currently filled, because part of the campground is closed due to California’s budgetary constraints. We walked down to Julie’s site adjacent to the campground office. I started a campfire and we tried to visit for a couple of hours, but we weren’t able to visit much. Julie was very busy, having been assigned to check in the incoming campers tonight after the campground office closed. And it being Friday evening, there was a steady stream of incoming campers. We made arrangements to go into San Francisco tomorrow morning for some sightseeing, then returned to our trailer for a late, light supper.
It was great to see Julie again. We first met Julie five years ago, on our first WorkCamping job, at YMCA Of The Ozarks in Missouri where she was also WorkCamping. And today was the first time we met her new dog Triscuit, a very cute Powder Puff Chinese Crested.
Saturday ; San Francisco
Today was, surprisingly, sunny and mild. We spent the day sightseeing in San Francisco with our friend Julie and her friend Judy. This morning we left Samuel P Taylor State Park with Julie and drove 16 miles back on Sir Francis Drake Blvd. to Hwy. 101 then turned south towards the city. We passed through the expensive houseboat laden seaside community of Sausalito on San Francisco Bay, then over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. As we were driving across the Golden Gate Bridge a helicopter flew across San Francisco Bay and under the bridge ! We drove to Judy’s apartment and picked her up, then drove around for awhile viewing the beautiful, ornate architecture of the old homes, and marvelling at the steep hills we were driving up and down. Judy guided us to the last section of Lombard Street known as “the crookedest street in the world”. The last long block of the street was an extremely steep hill … a 40 degree slope ! The roadway was a series of very tight radius switchback curves. I decided after descending it … NOT meant for duallies ! One of the curves was actually too tight a radius for me to make it around, and I had to back up a bit to make it through.
Eventually we made our way to Fisherman’s Wharf on the San Francisco Bay waterfront. It wasn’t easy to find a parking spot that a dually fit in ! We cheated a bit … Judy brought along her handicapped parking permit. We spent the rest of the morning wandering around Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 43½ . I took photos of Alcatraz, a mile offshore. We had lunch at Boudin Bakery, home of the world famous San Francisco Sourdough Bread. The unique climate of the San Francisco Bay waterfront produces a uniquely flavoured sourdough bread that can’t be duplicated anywhere else. Of course, I had San Francisco Bay clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. MMMMM ! ! ! After lunch we took a bakery tour. Very interesting !
Judy is in poor health, awaiting a liver transplant, so after lunch she went to lie down in our truck. Julie, Joanne, and I walked over to Pier 39 for more wandering and sightseeing. We enjoyed seeing the colony of hundreds of sea lions that congregate at Pier 39. We returned to the truck and set off to spend the rest of the afternoon sightseeing by truck. We drove up a hill alongside a cable car. We drove through the Haight-Ashbury community and along the park of the same name that was famous in the 1960’s as “the place” for the hippies of the era. We drove through the large, lovely Golden Gate Park, then returned Julie and Judy to Judy’s apartment. They were going to drive back to Samuel P Taylor State Park in Judy’s car.
We drove back through and out of the city, and over the Golden Gate Bridge again. After crossing the bridge we stopped at the park on the north side of the bridge to take some photos, then we returned to the state park. Joanne and I began to prepare a barbecued chicken dinner, and when Julie and Judy returned to the park, they joined us for supper. After supper Judy went back to Julie’s trailer to rest, and we spent the rest of evening visiting and chatting with Julie.
DSK
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