Sacramento to Morro Bay, CA 1/25 - 2/4/2018

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THE BASICS

On our last day in the Sacramento area, we had lunch with our former minister and then toured the town of Folsom. Our next day we drove to Yosemite. On Saturday, we spent a lovely sunny, warm day strolling in Yosemite Village (sorry, no heroic climbs). We spent two nights in a KOA in Los Banos, and did laundry and grocery shopping, etc. Gilroy was not far to the west, but en route we stopped at the San Luis Reservoir Visitor Center and learned a lot about the California Aqueduct System, which is massive. That afternoon we visited the San Juan Baptista Mission, one of 29 on El Camino Real, the route of the missionaries from Mexico.

A drive to Santa Cruz, on the coast, reminded us that traffic around cities can be a real pain, but we did have a couple of good beach hours. Thursday, we drove south to Pinnacles National Park, the newest of the 59 National Parks. John took a hike toward the Pinnacles while I slept (the alarming flu news has me attentive to any possible symptom, and this was a false alarm). On Friday, we hiked through caves and Saturday we just hiked from point A to point B, but tiring enough. We left Pinnacles this morning and arrived at Morro Bay around noon. We are here for five nights; it's a major favorite of ours.

THE FLUFF

Actually,"the fluff" is a good segue to our lunch with Mary. She has a new hairdo, with big soft fluffy curls framing her face, and she looks wonderful. She has developed some local ministerial involvements and seems very happy. She suggested that we tour the Museum in Folsom, and it was indeed fascinating, with features about Indian life there, pioneer incursions, entrepreneurs - one of whom convinced the powers-that-be that a prison should be built in Folsom to relieve overcrowding at San Quentin (and to provide prison laborers to carry out his building plans...) And information about the Folsom dams, part of the California water control system.

The drive to Yosemite took us through hills and valleys, with endless zigzags, through the early gold discovery area and more modern vineyards. We stayed at an RV park which was fully developed as a resort, fifty miles west of Yosemite Village, and of course left the RV there when we visited the park. There were plenty of people in the park, though it was not nearly as overcrowded as it was on our last visit there. Most people had shorts and backpacks, and many children were along for the hikes. We walked to the wonderful old hotel, and I was amused to see duffel bags and knapsacks rather than fancy luggage in the lobby. I was very sad, though, that the hotel name has been changed from Ahwahnee (obviously Indian origin) to The Majestic Yosemite Hotel. Bah, humbug, the homogenization of special places. I feel pride when I visit Yosemite because of my cousin Galen Clark who saved the Mariposa Grove years ago. (First cousin, five times removed, I have calculated.) The Mariposa Grove is currently closed for repairs. It truly is breathtaking to look up at El Capitan and Yosemite Falls, which have a good stream now.

Headed back southwestward, we especially enjoyed the driving through the agricultural valleys, where some of the fields seemed to extend all the way to the mountains. And the rows are so exactly regular, completely straight. Rarely but charmingly there is a smaller field with about 20 stripes of different vegetables, varying heights and shades of green. We have seen so many grapevines that today John said he doesn't think the price of cheap wine will ever need to rise. I wish they had signs telling what was growing where; my other California relative is Uncle John who, working for the USDA in Fresno, developed the red flame grape and improved raisin grapes, and I'd like to know when I should salute his gifts.

I am fascinated by the road signs that say "$1000 fine for littering." Can they actually collect that much?

En route to Gilroy, we stopped at the San Luis Joint-Use Complex Visitors Center. It is a great example of federal and state joint development and operation of water resources. We arrived at the Garlic City USA RV Park in Gilroy and after a rest, drove to the San Juan Baptista State Historic Park where we visited an adobe house that was built for a Mexican general and then became the home of the Breen family, who were survivors of the Donner Party fiasco. John thought he detected a garlic odor around Gilroy, but really it's not the right season. His research informed him that they also grow mushrooms there, and that garlic can only be planted in a field once every four or five years.

Someone must have set our GPS to avoid heavy traffic routes because we have driven on many narrow bumpy roads with curves and right angle turns aplenty and nary another driver to be seen. At one point, out in the middle of nowhere, we spotted a car by the side of the road and awhile later, a young woman walking along. I am very leary of picking up strangers, but this girl did not look dangerous. And we found that she would have had to walk a lot of miles to get to a gas station, because we drove her to one. Really, the middle of nowhere and no other cars.

Between Gilroy and Santa Cruz, the next day, we drove through Watsonville, the source of many of the berries in our supermarkets back home. The rest of the drive was not very pleasant, on major highways with major tie-ups. We did, however, get to a beach and sat in the sun with an ideal temperature and a whisper of a breeze. We met a guy on the beach who had his dog Ruby with him - your dog Ruby is about five times larger than this one, Deborah. The guy got Ruby on a Tuesday, ha ha. We drove back past Santa Cruz Boardwalk, but didn't stop.

The next day, we went far from a city, to Pinnacles National Park. It became a National Monument in 1908, and only became the newest National Park in 2013. The pinnacles are odd narrow mountain spikes which formed during volcanic activity 200 miles to the southeast and were moved because of activity of the San Andreas Fault and the tectonic plates. The RV campground was very pleasant, over 80 spaces spread out nicely. Only electric hookups and no cell service, so we had a rare experience of feeling quite out of touch. John did a good hike that afternoon and came back worn out.

Next day, we drove to the Bear Cave Area and did the Bear Cave hike. Yes, there were caves. Flashlights required. That is a really hilly rocky area. We saw people climbing the rocks in designated areas; apparently that is quite popular. We also visited a ranch area near the campground which had been occupied for well over a century. The Park is devoted to bringing back the condor population. We saw some birds that we thought could possibly be condors, but they didn't have nine foot wingspans and we were abashed to realize that they were turkey vultures. I think we did actually see condors riding the winds, but they were so high we couldn't be sure.

We liked Pinnacles so much that we signed up for a third night. Saturday was a bit of a different story; the place was mobbed on this warm sunny day. Parking is limited and by noon people were being turned away, or forced to park nearer the entrance and take the shuttle to the hiking areas. John and I set off on a short hike from the campground, but it was so pleasant that we continued and were able to take the shuttle back to the campground. Pinnacles struck us as a good place for family camping and hiking.

We left early for Morro Bay. A rather uneventful ride, though it is 29 miles from the Pinnacles Park entrance to the north or to the south before you reach a small town. Cattle, grapes, other crops, hills, turns, and finally onto Highway 101, which seemed so boring and was very bumpy, probably thanks to the large trucks bringing our food to us. We arrived a bit early for our reservation at the Morro Dunes park, right on the beach, so we took a long walk on the beach. Wow, it was great. There were dozens of surfers, maybe 100 or more. A few fishermen. Tons of families. Sand castles, frisbie, balls, a little naked boy running in and out of the waves. And looming over all is the huge Morro Rock, enormously huge, just out from the shore.

My arthritic right hand is interfering with my ability to handwrite in my journal, so we are relying on our memories and we aren't 100% sure about some minor details. But the important things made it. (and plenty of not-so-important things as well, I'm sure)

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