2021 Road Trip from California to Oregon

This entry is about a 23-day road trip I took with Scott King, from California to Oregon and back, starting on September 6, 2021 (Monday) and ending on September 28, 2021 (Tuesday).  We went to places like Yosemite National Park, Old Sacramento, Crater Lake, Silverton, Vancouver, Portland, Myrtle Creek (to visit my niece), Multnomah Falls, Redwood National and State Parks, Avenue of the Giants, Cannery Row, 17-Mile Drive @ Pebble Beach...and a ton of other places.  The photos can also be found at the following Google Photos site, https://photos.app.goo.gl/opeopPGfwZ8jUijw7.

DAY 1 (Monday, September 6th):    On our way to Yosemite National Park, California

Scott and I started our road trip from the Los Angeles area (Manhattan Beach) to Oregon and back.

The following photo is of us leaving Scott’s house Monday in Scott's 2017 Tesla X.

Above:  Scott's 2017 Tesla X at the start of our trip.

Next is a picture of a stop to charge the battery at a Tesla Supercharger station, some place in the Godforsaken hot valley of I don’t know where, but about 200+ miles north of Los Angeles on our way to the Yosemite National Park   The charging station had 16 chargers and was opposite the Bravo Farms, which had sheep and other petting animals.

Above:  At Tesla charging station.

The next photo is the Red Barn also next to the charging station, also a junk store, a gift shop, a BBQ restaurant, and ice cream place where people could spend their money whilst their expensive cars charged. 

Above:  Red Barn next to the charging station.

 I bought the following metal tin sign as a gift for a friend that rides motorcycles.

Above:  Metal tin sign bought for a friend.

The following is a photo of the Traver jail (that where the Tesla Supercharger station was, Traver, California), I didn’t tell them I was a Democrat either. 

Above:  Traver Jail

 
The next photo taken after arriving at Yosemite,  8 hours after leaving Los Angeles, a gorgeous sunset marred by scorched and burned trees from some previous fire.  

Above:  Sunset at Yosemite

 
Day 2 (Tuesday, 7th):    Exploring Yosemite National Park, California

Following are two different views of El Capitan, one with yours truly.

Above:  El Capitan.

 

Above:  Diane and El Capitan.

The next photo is of me and Half Dome, my favorite.  If I ever go back I’ll hike it.  They have cables on the back side to help you get up the last 200 feet. There were 3 people on it when we were at Glacier Point.

Above: Looking toward Half Dome.

The following three photos are of the devastation at Yosemite in the daylight.

 
The following is a view of The Ahwahnee, where we stayed.  Named after the native tribe that lived there and managed the land.

Above:  The Ahwahnee, where we stayed.

The next photo is of the famous Overhanging Rock at Glacier Point where lots of people have their photos taken. I would have also but there were too many signs saying not to go out there.  If it had been just one sign I might have done it.

Above:  Overhanging Rock.

 
Some additional photos, the first one from Yosemite Village and the second one from Cook's Meadow Loop.

Above:  View from Yosemite Village.

Above:  View from Cook's Meadow Loop.

 
Day 3 (Wednesday, 8th):  Sacramento, California

Wednesday, we said goodbye to Yosemite and headed north to Chico, California where a friend of Scott lives.  On the way we decided to stop in Sacramento at the Crocker Museum of Art.  The Crocker Art Museum features the world’s foremost display of California art and is renowned for its holdings of European master drawings and international ceramics.  After scrounging around for enough coins to feed the parking meter, we made it to the museum entrance only to learn the new hours didn’t include Wednesday.  Grrr.  So we went to Old Sacramento to walk around.

Old Sacramento is the riverfront historic district (on the Sacramento River), with Gold Rush-era buildings, cobblestone streets, and horse-drawn carriages. It’s home to numerous museums.  We only had enough coins for 15 minutes parking and it was 106 degrees so we covered the territory and got back in the air conditioning of the Tesla and moved on to our destination of Chico.  The following three photos were taken in Old Town Sacramento.

Above:  Downtown Old Sacramento

Above:  Downtown Old Sacramento

Above:  The Sacramento River Parkway by the Central Pacific Railroad Depot.

Day 4 (Thursday, 9th):  Chico, California

Thursday, the house in Chico, California where we stayed is off Skyway Drive on the road to Paradise, California.  It is beautiful on a bluff overlooking Butte Creek.  This is important as it consumed my interest about the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise, California.  Scott’s friend's house was spared but…. If you look closely at the following photo of the yard you can see a white car down the hill at the bottom of the bluff. That house burned to the ground.  The fire came up the bluff and burned the grass in the yard and it came down the long winding driveway (not pictured). It fizzled out before it got to Scott’s friend's house.

 
The next photo is of an Osprey nest we watched while sitting on the deck in Chico, when the weather broke from 100F+ to 72F.

Above:  Osprey nest.

Chico is an interesting town, home-to Sierra Nevada Brewing Company where we had lunch and yes, Sierra Nevada beer.

We also went to Satava Studios to see sensational blown glass (https://satava.com/).  Mostly we hung out at Scott’s friend’s house.  I read a book about the 2018 Camp Fire and some of the survivors. Wrenching.  The Camp Fire was the costliest disaster worldwide in 2018 and, it caused 85 deaths and destroyed more than 18,000 buildings, it became both the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history

Following is a photo of a deer that Scott took, also at his friend’s house in Chico.

Above:  Deer in Chico

Day 5 (Friday, 10th):  On the road again...

We are on the road again.  Next Tesla charging station where we will recharge is in the city of Mount Shasta, California.  I’m excited, I’ve always wanted to see Mt. Shasta, it is an ice-topped volcano that last erupted in 1250 AD, and the city is named after the volcano.  But we never had a good view of Mt. Shasta, so I didn't get a photo like I was hoping for.

Driving through northern California and and southern Oregon on Friday, we saw too many fire destruction scenes like the next photo.  This particular photo was taken in California, about 25 miles before we got to the Oregon border.  One place we saw, only the sign for a whole motel was left.  So sad.

Above:  Typical fire destruction.

But in the next photo you can see that nature does come back.  All along the roads these flowers were growing thickly.  This photo was taken about 3 miles before we got to the Oregon border.

Above:  Nature coming back.

 
Day 6 (Saturday, 11th):    Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

A sidenote, today in the United States, memorial events and observances will be held to remember the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.  Most of you will remember exactly where you were on that morning twenty years ago.  For those of you that might be interested, the Art Students League of New York is honoring our community’s shared memories of 9/11 by displaying the work of artists in the virtual group exhibition: Remembering 9/11.   Here's a link to the virtual exhibit:  https://theartstudentsleague.org/exhibition/remembering-9-11/.

I am one of the featured artists and one of my photographs is in the exhibit, a link to my photo is as follows:  https://theartstudentsleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Waller-Diane.jpg   This photo was taken from my street corner shortly after the second plane hit the South Tower.  I've attach a copy here.

Above:  Photo by Diane on 9-11-2001.

When the first crash happened I was at home talking on the telephone with a real estate client (this was back when I was in real estate).  When all of a sudden she yelled "OMG a plane hit the Twin Towers, I’m not coming in, cancel our appointment.”  After hanging up the phone I ran down my block with my film camera and grabbed a half roll of photos of the towers burning. As you will recall they were thinking that the first crash might have just been some sort of horrible accident, but by the time I got to where I could see the towers both crashes had happened (North and South Towers) and they knew then that it was a terrorist attack.

Back go the road trip, the next two photos were taken Saturday on our morning hike in Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.  That of course is Scott in the second following photo.  Crater Lake is about 70 miles north of the Oregon-California border.  Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and the seventh deepest lake in the world.

Above:  Scenery at Crater Lake on our hike.

Above:  Scott on our hike at Crater Lake.

The next photo shows some tracks on the sidewalk at the Mazama Village Campground & Cabins.  I suspect Sasquatch tracks but I’m not sure.  😀

Above:  Tracks in the sidewalk.

 
The following photo is again of Scott, waiting for the Tesla to charge at the Mazama Village Campground & Cabins Tesla Destination Charger.  Yes, we had some range anxiety.  

Above:  Scott at Tesla recharging station.

I found the monochrome setting on my Panasonic Lumix ZS70 camera and my inner Ansel Adams was relentless, so some of the photos on this camera will be in black & white.

I purchased the ZS70 in late 2019 after my ZS50 had a failure (wouldn't auto focus).

This is a beautiful place and I have some more photos of the Crater Lake area I'd like to share.

Day 7 (Sunday, 12th):    Crater Lake, Two islands

Crater Lake features two small islands, Phantom Ship Island and Wizard Island.  The following 4 photos are from Saturday's tour around the lake.

The smaller island, Phantom Ship, is a jagged island located near the southern shore and is named so because it calls to mind the image of a ghostly ship with tall masts and drooping sails.  The following photo is NOT a photo of Phantom Ship Island that I took, but only a photo of part of the interpretive sign at the lake showing the Phantom Ship Island and the interesting topography of the lake bottom.  The sign also read “Phantom Ship is actually a resistant remnant of an ancient volcanic cone..”

Above:  Interpretive sign at the lake showing the Phantom Ship Island.

 The next photo is an actual photo of Phantom Ship Island I took.  I wish I had a better photo of this island to share.

Above:  Phantom Ship Island.

The larger of the two islands, Wizard Island, is located near the western shore of the lake, named for its wizard hat shape, and it is also an ancient cinder cone volcano.  The following are two photos I took of Wizard Island.

Above:  Wizard Island.

Above:  Wizard Island.

 
Day 7 (Sunday, 12th):    Crater Lake, Black and white photos

I mentioned earlier that  "I found the monochrome setting on my Panasonic ZS70 camera and my inner Ansel Adams was relentless," so attached are 3 of those black & white photos.

 
Day 7 (Sunday, 12th):    Crater Lake, Trees

A few more photos from Saturday at Crater Lake,  photos of some trees in the park. Most trees are conifers (more than a dozen species), although a few hardwood species can be found.  Trees are amazing forms of life.

I was told that Crater Lake was one of the snowiest inhabited places in North America and they get 44 feet of annual snowfall and the wind blows so hard the trees are permanently leaning.  The following photo is of me being one with the trees.  I needed some of those anti-gravity shoes invented by Michael Jackson.

The next photo is of some nice looking trees at a picnic table where we stopped for lunch.

Above:  We stopped for lunch here.

 
The following photo is of trees that I just liked the looks of.

Above:  Nice looking trees.

 
The next photo is of the lake in the background with some nice trees in the foreground.

Above:   Crater Lake trees.

 
Day 8 (Monday, 13th):    Silverton & Lincoln City, Oregon

After we left Crater Lake, we headed for Silverton, Oregon, via Bend and Salem.  Our first stop in Silverton was the laundromat (see next photo). 

I couldn't figure out the discount days.  Made me laugh, then we forgot our horse blankets (see  below) 😀, that’s a good thing.

Homer Davenport of Silverton was an internationally renowned cartoonist.  To generate interest and community they started Davenport Days with a parade, yes, a parade of couches,  It is a big deal with lots of activities and prizes.  The following photo is part of a mural about the astronaut Donald Pettit (veteran of three spaceflight) from Silverton and his family on their davenport in the parade.  How fun is that?

Above:  Mural about astronaut Donald Pettit.

 
Then we went to the Willamette Winery just south of Salem.

Above:  Willamette Winery.

...for the fantastic views

Above:  View of winery.

 
...and a wine tasting. 

Above:  Wine tasting.

Day 9 (Tuesday, 14th): Heading for the coast

We stayed at the Oregon Gardens in Silverton, a gorgeous setting that includes the Frank Lloyd Wright Gordon House.  The Gordon House is Frank Lloyd Wright's only design built in Oregon.  See photo below.  We didn’t get to go inside, it didn't open until after we left to head to the Oregon Coast (Pacific City).

Above:  Frank Lloyd Wright "Gordon House."

 

Here I am at Haystack Rock in Pacific City. Scott wasn’t handy to take the photo below so it’s a selfie without a selfie-stick. 

Above:  At Haystack Rock in Pacific City.

 
We also went in search of the Ghost Forest in the Neskowin Natural Preserve.  It eluded us.  We spent the night in Lincoln City and drove around Devils Lake.  Very pretty.

Day 10 (Wednesday, 15th):    Vancouver, Washington (Fort Vancouver National Historic Site)

On Wednesday we drove to Vancouver, Washington, just across the border from Portland, Oregon, and toured the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.  Fort Vancouver was a 19th-century fur trading post that was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, and named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort is located on the northern bank of the Columbia River.

The bridge from Portland to Vancouver (see below), they can’t replace the bridge because the Vancouver town council won’t allow a light rail and the Feds won’t build the bridge without one.  Why not you ask??? They don’t want an influx of folks from Portland to have easy access.  Namely the many, many homeless.  They are everywhere in Portland.  I didn’t take photos of the encampments, Ansel Adams wouldn’t like that. 

Above:  Bridge from Portland to Vancouver.

 
The next two photos are from the fort's historic site.  Only the officers got to live inside the fort, the rest lived outside. Nice fence eh?  

Above:  Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

Above:  Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

 

My niece Jennifer later told me the next photo (also at the Fort Vancouver National Site) is of a spruce tree, a biggie.  I love them. 

Above:  Spruce tree at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

 
Day 11 (Thursday, 16th):    Heading East from Portland, sightseeing (Multnomah Falls/Maryhill Museum of Art/Stonehenge on the Columbia River)

Below are a few photos from Thursday as we drove east out of Portland towards Multnomah Falls located on Multnomah Creek in the Columbia River Gorge.  Multnomah Falls is the most visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest.

The following photo was taken at Crown Point State Scenic Corridor (Vista House),  which has gorgeous views of the beautiful Columbia River.  The Vista House was built in 1917 and was constructed to provide travelers a place to rest and refresh themselves as they made their way down the Columbia River Gorge.

Above:  Vista House.

 
The next photo was also taken at Crown Point, that's me with my Panasonic Lumix ZS70 camera taking a photo of the Columbia River.

Above:  Photographing the Columbia River.

 

The following photo is me at Bridal Veil Falls, one of the most impressive Columbia Gorge waterfalls, close to other falls like Multnomah Falls, Latourell Falls and Wahkeena Falls.

Above:  At Bridal Falls.

 
The next two photos are of Lower Multnomah Falls.  The second one taken by my friend Mary.  And if you zoom in and look closely you will see me on the bridge (taking a photo I believe).

Above:  Look closely, that's me on the bridge.

 
After we left Multnomah Falls Thursday we continued driving east about 20 miles and stopped for a smoked salmon lunch at a native fisherman’s shop (Brigham Fish Market) in Cascade Locks, Oregon.  The elk on the wall in the following photo was watching to be sure I was cleaning my plate. 

Above:  At Brigham Fish Market.

 
The next photo was taken farther east at the Maryhill Museum of Art.  That’s Sam Hill with me, as in "What in Sam Hill?"  He built a mansion 100 miles from Portland to develop the property. No one including his wife wanted to live there so he turned it into a museum. The town of Maryhill has maybe 12 residents today.  But there is a winery.  We went to a tasting in Vancouver.  So far I like California wines better.

Above:  At Maryhill Musum of Art.

 
The following two photos were taken at Stonehenge on the Columbia River, which is a replica of England's Stonehenge, and is also located in Maryhill, Washington.  The Maryhill Stonehenge was the first monument in the United States to honor the dead of World War I.  My friend Mary took the first photo of me taking a photo. 

Above:  At Stonehenge on the Columbia.

Above:  At Stonehenge on the Columbia.

Late note:  A 9-22-21 news article stated "The majestically strange Stonehenge Memorial that stands on a bluff above the Columbia River Gorge, an iconic local replica of England’s ancient original, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places."

The next photo is of Mt. Hood, at 11,239 feet it is the highest point and mountain peak in the state of Oregon, and about 50 miles east-southeast of Portland.

Above:  Mt. Hood

 
And this photo is of the Columbia River, this photo taken about 30 miles east of Portland on our drive.

Above:  Columbia River.

Day 12 (Saturday, 18th):  Visiting my niece in Myrtle Creek, Oregon

After our visit with Multnomah Falls, Maryhill Museum of Art, the Stonehenge on the Columbia River last Thursday, Friday we drove to the home of my niece (Jennifer) in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, about 190+ miles south of Portland, and spent a few days.  She is a funeral director there. That industry has changed a great deal, so she repurposed a coffin trolley into a coffee table for her chapel.  I thought it was great,   See photo below below.

Above:  Jennifer's coffee table.

 
Saturday, the day after we arrived, we drove to Bandon on the coast.  Bandon is known for its beaches and rock formations, the photo below is of my niece Jennifer and me on the beach in Bandon.

Above:  Jennifer and Diane.

 
After leaving Bandon we went to Coos Bay to go to the fish store.  As a sidenote Coos Bay is where Steve Prefontaine (American long-distance runner who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics.) was born, he was the first athlete Nike ever sponsored.  We bought 2 dozen oysters in Coos Bay and some tuna.  We grilled the oysters back at Jennifer’s place, the oysters were enormous, It only took 3 to make a meal.  See the following photo.

Above:  Oysters

 
 Day 13 (Sunday, 19th):  Heading back to California

Sunday it rained and we drove South heading back to California.  The following photo was taken at the Tesla charging station in Canyonville, OR.  Note the clouds and fog, this is not a black and white photo, just the way it looked.

Above:  A rainy day for a drive.

 
After breakfast at the Tesla charging station we took the back way to the coast along the Rogue River.

The following photo is of the Rogue River.

Above:  Rogue River.

 

The next two photos were taken back at the coast at Myers Creek Beach Viewpoint at Gold Beach, OR, touted as one of the most picturesque beaches in the world.  This was about 7 miles south of where we left the Rogue River.

Above:  Myers Creek Beach.

Above:  Myers Creek Beach.

 
This following photo was taken a little farther south at the Whaleshead Viewpoint, about another 13 miles south on the Oregon Coast Highway.  This viewpoint is conveniently located right off the Oregon Coast Highway and you can simply pull into the parking lot and gaze out on the ocean.

Above:  Whaleshead Viewpoint.

After Whaleshead we drove another 3 miles and stopped at Lone Ranch Beach, about 10 miles north of the Oregon-California border.  It is part of the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor.   The sights are almost too much for words, a beautiful beach, breathtaking views.  Below are two photos I took at Lone Ranch Beach. 

Above:  Lone Ranch Beach.

Above:  Lone Ranch Beach.

 
I highly recommend the Oregon coast line drive to anyone, especially you photographers.  Or I should say the BEAUTIFUL Oregon Coast.

On a side note I now have my computer, I inadvertently left it in New York and a neighbor FedEx-ed it to me at Scott's house in California, but she sent it via ground so I was way gone on the road trip before it arrived.  Scott's friend then sent it  to me in Portland. We were so busy with Jennifer that I didn't open the FedEx box until today.  

Speaking of the Rogue River Valley, I have since found out there is a song titled Rogue River Valley.  It’s a song written and sung by Hoagy Carmichael and part of the soundtrack from the 1946 movie Canyon Passage.   This movie had a lot of big names, including Dana Andrews, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, Ward Bond, Hoagy Carmichael, Lloyd Bridges, Andy Devine and about a million other people. Much of this movie was filmed in the Crater Lake area, where Scott and I just spent a few days.  It's a lovely song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leiFpVrzh8o).

About Scott's 2017 Tesla X (a sidenote)

I’m still having problems moving photos from my Panasonic Lumix ZS70 camera to my computer so I thought I’d answer a question someone asked in an email.

The question was “How was Scott's 2017 Tesla X as a road trip car.”  The answer is "Very Nice," the car is very comfy with lots of room. Scott’s Tesla was initially configured as a 6-seater and will seat 6 easily but we had the back two seats folded down to give us room for luggage, the “kitchen” and the “bar.”   The "refrigerator" sits between the 2 middle seats, making it accessible from the front seats. 

Scott says "the car weighs 6700 pounds, so it is pretty stable.  0-60 in 5.5 seconds enables easy passing on hills. But most of all, the autopilot takes a lot of pressure off the driver.  It keeps the car in the lane, and doesn't allow you to rear-end the guy in front of you.  It also tells you exactly where to go.   The one really nice benefit of electric cars comes on windy roads, particularly when going downhill.  If you are approaching a curve a little too fast, as soon as you take your foot off the accelerator, the car immediately starts regenerative braking, and slows you down before you move your foot to the brake."
 
The only shortfall I noticed is the need to plan the trip more.  For instance, when we were in Crater Lake, leaving for Bend to the north, it wanted us to go back (south) to Klamath Falls to recharge before going on to Bend.  Another example was when we made the drive from Portland to the Maryhill Museum of Art and Stonehenge on the Columbia River, there were no charging stations in that area, so on our way back we had a very nervous trip and we coasted into the city of The Dalles with only 3 miles of charge left.  Now you know about range anxiety.

Also when we were driving from Myrtle Creek, Oregon (where my niece lives) to Bandon on the coast (about 80+ miles), we didn't have a full charge on the Tesla, but it was nominally within the range we had on the battery.  Scott asked our hosts if it was hilly, and they said "no."  We took off and soon discovered that it was hilly.   Scott had to nurse the Tesla a little, mostly driving a little slower than normal, and we made it with 8 miles of range left.

The range on Scott’s Tesla X with a full charge is 216 miles.  We used the built in TESLA charger locator and an app on Scott’s phone.  The literature says charging the Model X with a Supercharger produces about 120 miles with a 15-minute charge. It gets an 80% charge in an hour.  I didn’t record any times on our trip but that sounds about right.

It hasn’t been as easy as pulling into a gas station and filling your tank with gas.  If we find a place to stay, Scott plugs it in overnight for a slow charge.  Sometimes we get a fast charge in a shopping center and go food shopping.

Scott says that "after driving electric for a while, you get a sense for things such as how terrain affects range.  If you don't have an aptitude for that kind of thing, it would make trips in an electric vehicle more difficult. But you who drive would love the Tesla.”

Anyway, for no special reason attached is a photo of Scott’s 2017 Tesla X, I took this photo when we pulled off the road to view the Pacific Ocean at Gold Beach Oregon last Sunday.

Above:  Scott's 2017 Tesla X

Day 15 (Monday, 20th):    California, Chandelier Drive-Through Tree/Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

The following photo was taken Monday morning, about 40+ miles south of the Oregon-California border, or about 13 miles south of Crescent City, on US-101 (now called Redwood Highway).  We spent the night in Crescent City, CA.  and got a full charge for Scott's Tesla X. 

 

The next photo was taken about 30 minutes later at a place called Klamath River Overlook, a scenic picnic pullout overlooking the ocean, on a side road off US-101 called the Patrick J Murphy Memorial Road.  It may be one of the most scenic drives in the Redwood National and State Parks.

Above:  Klamath River Overlook.

 

We are now at the Royal Tree Villas in Leggett, California.  It is so rural there is one restaurant that closes before 7.  So we are eating chips, nuts and string cheese.  And the owner just brought us Ramen noodle soup we can make with the coffee pot.  It is hysterical.

The next photo was taken in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park just off the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, about 16 miles south of the above Klamath River Overlook.  If you look closely you will see me.

Above:  Prairie Creek Redwood State Park.

There was a chamber of commerce charger right by the info place for the redwoods national forest where we met with the local person who advised us where to go to see the best redwoods.  They were stunning.  We also stopped at Elk Prairie, but no Elk were present so we continued on.

The next photo was taken about 5+ mils farther into the park and is a sign at the Big Tree Wayside, a popular tourist stop in the park.

Above:  Sign at the Big Tree Wayside

 
The next 2 photos were taken in the same area.  "Big Tree” in the second photo is estimated to be more than 1,500 years old. Many other equally impressive trees will be found on all the nearby trails. The walk to the Big Tree is less than 200 yards from the parking area.

Above:  Big Tree is estimated to be over 1,500 years old.

The next photo was taken about 90 miles further south, on US-101 going into the Avenue of the Giants in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  OMG This drive was magnificent!   We stopped a lot.  Interestingly the trees were very dense and the black & white photos I took with my Panasonic Lumix ZS70 camera aren't as interesting as the shore line black & white photos.

Above:  Driving to the Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

 
At the end of the day and many winding roads we decided to stop in Leggett, California which was the intersection to take us to the California Coast.  Only one place to stay, Royal Tree Villas, just off US-101.  We were greeted by 2 German Shepard dogs and a man in bermuda shorts and flip flops.  I might add that it was between a machinery repair place and and I don't know what.  Anyway, the room was clean but there was no ice machine, no Keurig (only instant coffee) etc.  And the only place to eat for 20 miles closed early.

This next photo is me holding Scott's dinner that the man in Bermuda shorts and flip flops gave us out of the kindness of his heart.  I opted to skip dinner that night.  The man also gave us ice out of his own refrigerator.  I jokingly told Scott, I thought maybe they filmed the movie "Deliverance” here.

Above:  At Royal Tree Villas.

 
On this road trip we’ve seen quite a few motorcycles, lots of cool roads at Crater Lake for motorcycles.  And Yosemite has great winding roads that would be a thrill to ride, I’d love to ride a bike in these places.  When I was younger I used to daydream about a motorcycle trip through Europe, but it never happened.  Maybe in my next life.

Anyway, I made the attached two photos of motorcycles riding through the Chandelier Drive-Through Tree in Leggett, California Tuesday morning.  That tree is 2,400 years old and the tunnel was carved in 1934.  In today’s world, cutting a hole in an ancient redwood tree is not an acceptable idea, but in 1934 it was considered  a grand idea. The Chandelier Tree is one of Northern California’s three remaining drive-through redwood trees.

Above:  Chandelier Drive-Through Tree.

Above:  Chandelier Drive-Through Tree.

 
Seeing these motorcycles and great riding roads was a Throwback Thursday moment for me as I have been on a motorcycle or two in my life.  For no special reason attached is a photo of me in Florida in 1967 on a 1965 Yamaha 250cc Big Bear Scrambler.  This was taken a few years after I graduated from the University of Florida and shortly after I left Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company and headed for a new job in Indiana with the Allison Engine Company.  That certainly seems like a long time ago.

Above:  Diane in 1967.

 
Tuesday morning, we drove through the Chandelier Drive-Through Tree.  The following photo is the Tesla X squeezing through the tree.  The literature says the tree tunnel is 6 feet wide, and the Tesla X literature says the car is 6.5 feet wide, so I'm not sure how we squeezed through.

Above:  Scott's 2017 Tesla X.

The next photo shows the guide-pamphlet we had for our tour of the redwoods, the Avenue of Giants, an outstanding display of giant trees.

Above:  Avenue of Giants guide-pamphlet.

 Days 16 (Tuesday, 21st):    Russian Gulch State Park 

Tuesday morning we headed toward the coast again, over a hill and through more woods and a very, very windy road. 

We visited Russian Gulch State Park to see the Devil's Punchbowl, very cool. see the next 3 photos.  The Devil’s Punch Bowl (also called blow hole) is the most famous feature of Russian Gulch State Park.  I liked that the 2nd photo caught the rainbow on the blow hole.

Above:  Devil's Punchbowl.

Above:  Devil's Punchbowl, note the rainbow.

Above:  Devil's Punchbowl.

 
We stopped at Fort Bragg to charge the Tesla and have breakfast,  In the middle of breakfast the power in the whole area went out.  So we didn't get a full charge which caused us great concern for the rest of the day.

Fort Bragg state park is where I took the windmill shot below.  It was built in Russia and moved there for the. people who lived here, Russians, native Americans and other folks.  It is similar to the ones in Holland.

Above:  Windmill at Fort Bragg..

We couldn't get a charge for the Tesla along the way but we ended up in the Bodega Bay Inn where we used the 110V wall charger and got 39 miles of charge which was enough to get us to Petaluma for a full charge.  All along we've been eating things I usually wouldn't eat, like sandwiches.  I didn't get fat and/or die so I guess it's ok.

South of there was a more beautiful coast line but not as dramatic as Oregon.  Then the fog came in and there was nothing to see.

Days 17 (Wednesday, 22nd):    Golden Gate Bridge 

I was disappointed that the Golden Gate Bridge was fogged in.   See the next 2 photos.

Above:  Foggy day on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Above:  Foggy day on the Golden Gate Bridge.

 
Half Moon Bay was on our list of stops to make, but there was no place to stay, so we toured around for 10 minutes as that was all it took to see everything except the dump.  And traveled on to Santa Cruz, where we are meeting up with a friend. 

Day 19 (Thursday, 23rd):     Santa Cruz, California

We stopped in Santa Cruz Thursday to meet up with Connie Zack, a friend from New York City who just moved to Santa Cruz. 

We walked through downtown Santa Cruz, stopping for lunch.  A guy with long white hair saw the starfish pin on my jacket and sang to me a song with an accent (Irish?) about a girl across the cove on the coast who did something with a starfish on toast.  I didn’t give him my pin.  I found out later the song was by Scottish singer Donovan titled Starfish-on-the-Toast. The song was released in 1967.

After lunch we went to the famous surfing beach, Steamer Lane, known by locals simply as The Lane.  This West Cliff surf break is perhaps the most iconic in the county.  Wow, I’d never seen so many surfers.  About 4 pm a lot of kids came on bikes in wet suits with surfboards, climbed down the rocks and caught the waves. Fascinating.  Their mothers had to know where they were.  By the way there were girls in the waves as well as the boys and grown up (?) men.  Below is a photo I took.

Above:  Surfers at Steamer Lane.

 
Then we visited the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum built in 1986 to document the history of surfing. The museum is housed inside the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse on Lighthouse Point.  We learned about how three teenage Hawaiian princes brought surfing to California in 1885, and we saw photos of surfing in the 30’s.  Really interesting.  The following photo is of Connie and me at the  front of the museum.  You can see my starfish pin in this photo.

Above:  Diane & Connie at Santa Cruz Surfing Museum.

 
We also went west of the museum along the coast (along West Cliff Drive), about a 1/3 mile, and saw some more beautiful scenery, including the gorgeous rock formation shown below.  I did 13,711 steps Thursday. 

Above:  Rock formation along West Cliff Drive.

Day 19 (Friday, 24th):    Monterey, California (Cannery Row)

After our visit with Connie Zack in Santa Cruz, Scott and I drove to Monterey.  On Friday we did some sightseeing along the historic Cannery Row.  We saw the Cannery Row Monument, in 2014 Monterey paid tribute to John Steinbeck and his Cannery Row novel with this monument overlooking the ocean.   If I read this novel, it was long ago.  In the monument John Steinbeck sits on top overlooking some characters from the novel.  The monument is 15 feet high and its base resembles one of the rock formations in Monterey Bay,  The photo below is one I took of the monument.

Above:  Cannery Row Monument.

 
The monument is located about a 4-minute walk to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which we also went to.  The aquarium opened in 1984 and features over 200 marine life exhibits, so there's a lot to see and do.  I don’t know how many different types of animals there are in the aquarium but below are some photos I took of some jellyfish, African penguins and otters.  New to me were the African penguins, cute but not as cute I think as the penguins I saw on my 2020 Patagonia-Antarctica cruise.  The otters are oh so cute.  Overall, awesome exhibits at this aquarium.

Above:  Jellyfish.

Above:  Penguins.

Above:  Otters

 
Day 20 (Saturday, 25th):  Monterey (17-Mile Drive)

After sight seeing Friday along the historic Cannery Row Monterey (including about 4 hours at the Monterey Bay Aquarium), we took a drive along the famous 17-Mile Drive, perhaps the most scenic drive on the Monterey Peninsula,

At one time we were following a 1939 Chevy, the photo below was taken at The Links at Spanish Bay Pebble Beach.   Ultimately I took a photo of them using their camera with the view of the ocean in the background and them leaning on the car.  They said it was for their Christmas card.  I think they just got together and this was the first road trip for them as a couple. They were both around 70 years young.

Above:  1939 Chevy.

 
The next photo is a view of the beautiful coastline along the 17 mile drive, about where the Monterey Peninsula Country Club is.

Above:  Coastline along the 17 Mile Drive.

 
Shown below are the famous Monterey Cypress trees.  Awesome but not like the redwoods.  I saw more of them today. Be still my heart, I want one. 

Above:  Monterey Cypress Trees.

Above:  Monterey Cypress Trees.

Above:  Monterey Cypress Trees.

 
The following photo is of the Lone Cypress in Pebble Beach, it’s possibly as old as 250 years and the claims are it’s the most photographed tree in the world.  It is also the logo for Pebble Beach and the pro-am golf tournament.

Above:  The Lone Cypress in Pebble Beach (tree on the right).

 
We stopped at The Lodge at Pebble Beach and Scott took the following photo of me.  Sunday we go to watch a foursome finish in a tournament. 

Above:  Diane at The Lodge at Pebble Beach.

 
The next photo is one we took on the Big Sur Highway.  It was taken at Hurricane Point, about 20 miles south of Monterey.  It is a very windy spot, hence the name Hurricane Point. You can see the Bixby Creek Bridge in this photo.  That's the bridge that Jim Bronson rode his Harley Davidson Sportster across in the opening of the Then Came Bronson TV series in 1969, and the bridge is also featured in the opening credits of the HBO series Big Little Lies.

Above:  View along the Big Sur Highway.

 
Farther down the road we finally found a place to stay, a Motel 6 in San Simeon with no Tesla charger.  We hadn’t planned very well.  We needed more charge to make it to Santa Barbara so Scott sweet talked the restaurant manager into letting him plug into the outlet in the back.  It is plugged in between the ice maker and the coke machine.  In the following photo you can see the electrical cord going under the door. 

Above:  Scott's 2017 Tesla X getting a charge.

 On one of the Vista Points there were lots of surfers in the water.  And one or two sitting in their cars.  I noticed a guy in the car next to ours. He was dressed in his wetsuit ready to go but I heard him say he’d been there until dawn.  So being the shy person I am, I asked him what he was waiting for.  When he took off the hood of his wetsuit I was gobsmacked.  He was the perfect surfer boy, gorgeous.  He said he was waiting for the tide.  I asked why.  It seems that the waves break in shallower water so they are better at low tide most of the time.  I knew about the shallow part from the museum. 

We continued to talk. He’d been surfing since he was 2 years old as his dad took him out with those water wings around the kids arms.  He told us he was a surfing instructor and he could teach me too. His record was a 76 year old man who got on his feet in a wave once.  I declined his offer. 

He showed me an app on his phone that told him all the swells from Alaska to Samoa.  There weren’t any in Samoa because it was summer there.  He said you can follow it down the coast and know when to go (I want to say “surf’s up”). It was fascinating to learn more of the technical things as well as watch the wipeouts.  He and a pal were going to leave the 17-Mile Drive and go to Big Sur to see if the waves were better there.  Unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of him.

Day 21 (Sunday, 26th):    San Simeon Elephant Seals/Nitt Witt Ridge/Morro Rock

As you may recall from my prior email, our Sunday plans were to start out watching a finish at the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach.  Scott was very excited to go to Pebble Beach and see the 18th hole final.  The 18th green is touted as the most famous finishing hole in golf.   I would have been excited also if Tiger Woods had been there.  I didn't realize Woods won the 2000 Open at Pebble Beach by 15 points ahead of everyone else, 12 under par.  Sports Illustrated called Tiger's performance in the 2000 U.S. Open, "the greatest performance in golf history."

Leaving Pebble Beach we headed for Santa Barbara, but stopped first to see the elephant seals of San Simeon.  The two photos below were taken from two different vantage points and show tons and tons and tons of elephant seals.  I didn’t count them of course but supposedly about 17,000 elephant seals call this beach their home.  There is about 6 miles of beach known as the Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery.

Above:  Elephant Seals.

Above:  Elephant Seals.

 
A volunteer on the path to the ocean told us about the Hearst Winery in San Simeon, so we stopped for a bottle of rosé wine and a shrimp roll.  Scott thought it was going to be like a sushi roll.  It was more like a lobster roll.  Tasty too.  The following two photos are from the winery.

Above:  Hearst Ranch Winery.

Above:  Hearst Ranch Winery.

After the winery we continued south about another 9 miles to Cambria to see Nitt Witt Ridge, a house built out of mostly trash.  Nitt Witt Ridge is a California Registered Historical Landmark on a quarter acre.  Reclusive artist Arthur Beal bought the hillside lot in 1928 and spent most of the next 50 years carving out the terraces with only a pick and shovel and creating his own “castle on a hill.” 

I read "Beal answered to the name Captain Nitt Witt after being called a nitwit by someone in Cambria. (Hence the name Nitt Witt Ridge.)"

Other common building materials include beer cans, abalone shells, concrete, washer drums, car rims, tile, car parts, and old stoves.  Declared interesting but unsafe.  See the following photo

Above:  Front of Nitt Witt Ridge.

 
At Nitt Witt Ridge we met a group of motorcyclists. I don’t know anything about their club but they were very friendly.  One club member allowed me to “ride” his 1977 Harley Davidson Electra Glide, but he said I would have to wear a helmet since that is the law in California.  😀    See the two photos below.

I kind of felt like Robert Blake in that 70’s movie called Electra Glide in Blue, about a motorcycle cop in Arizona. That movie had a shocking ending! 

 After Nitt Witt Ridge we drove to Morro Bay, about 20 miles south of Cambria, but still about 100+ miles from our final destination of Santa Barbara for the day.  The next photo is of Morro Rock, a distinctive landmark at the entrance to Morro Bay harbor. It is part of a chain of nine volcanic peaks that extend from San Luis Obispo to Morro Bay known as the Nine Sisters.  It was formed about 23 million years ago from the plug of a long-extinct volcano.

Above:  Morro Rock.

 
Day 22 (Monday, 27th):     Santa Barbara/Ojai, our last stop before returning to Scott's home

The following photo was taken in Santa Barbara at the end of State Street at the entrance to Stearns Wharf, California’s oldest working wood wharf built in 1872.  The photo is of a very enterprising guy.   If you zoom in and squint you can read his sign that says "$5 Photo" over the bench sand sculpture.

Above:  Making a sand sculpture.

 
The next photo was taken on Stearns Wharf overlooking Mission Creek that flows into the Santa Barbara Channel Ecological Preserve & Buffer.  You can see palm trees lining the shoreline.

Above:  Taken from Stearns Wharf.

 
The following photo was also taken on Stearns Wharf looking towards the concession stands.  The wharf was built so cargo ships could unload.  This wharf put Santa Barbara on the map.

Above:  Taken from Stearns Wharf.

 
The next photo is of multi-media artist and author Beth Amine's mural of the sperm whale Moby Dick at Stearns Wharf on the side of the Moby Dick restaurant.  The original painting was done 1991, this is the second version after a 1998 fire took out the 1991 whale.  You won’t be able to see it in this photo of course but there is a reflection of a boat in the whale’s eye.  During the 2020 Patagonia-Antarctica cruise Scott and I went on, we saw a lot of large, great street art in cities like Valparaiso, and I’ve always wanted to paint something large.

Above:  Moby Dick mural.

 
From Santa Barbara Scott and I took a side trip for me to see the artsy-fartsy, woo-woo town of Ojai (pronounced like "Oh Hi," and means “moon” or “satellite”), about 35 miles east of Santa Barbara.

Mr. Libbey (Edward Drummond Libbey) of Libbey Glass donated a lot of money to build Libbey Park, a nice little park in central Ojai, a water fountain is shown in the following photo.

Above:  Fountain in Libby Park.

The next photo shows one of the stores close to the park that has plants on the roof. I loved that.

Above:  Store with plants on roof.

 
After our visit to Ojai we went to a friend's house and had such a good meal and fun time we spent the night.  Tuesday morning (Sept. 28th) we headed back to Scott’s house in Manhattan Beach to re-collect ourselves. 

Day 23 (Tuesday, 28th):    Returned to Scott's Home

When we got back to Scott's home we found it had been broken into, the police came and dusted for fingerprints. 

 

(Oct. 2nd & 3rd):  Visiting friends in Rancho Mirage, CA
 

After our road trip we rested a few days at Scott’s home in Manhattan Beach, and on Saturday (Oct. 2nd) Scott and I drove to Rancho Mirage, California to visit friends Dayle and Larry. Our first stop after the pass over the San Jacinto mountains was at the Palm Springs Visitor Center (see 2 photos below).  At one time it was the Tramway Gas Station, a landmark former Enco service station, so named because of its location at the foot of Tramway Road.  As shown in the second photo the building is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 

Above:  Palm Springs Visitor Center.

Above:  At Palm Springs Visitor Center.

Once we reached Rancho Mirage, our friends Dayle and Larry treated us to wine and eats at the Rancho Mirage Community Center BallRoom.  Dayle and Larry travel a lot, their most recent being a 3-week cruise of the Greek Islands on the Seabourn Ovation that ended in early September of this year.

Above:  Diane, Larry & Dayle.

 
 The attached photo is a screen shot of the Rancho Mirage Community Center BallRoom, taken from https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=myFrURE2qLz.

Above:  Ballroom at Rancho Mirage Community Center.

 

On Sunday (Oct, 3rd) we visited the "Forever Marilyn" statue in downtown Palm Springs, the statue has now returned to its rightful place at the Palm Springs Art Museum.  It was originally created in 2011 by artist Seward Johnson.  The statue was first in Palm Springs from 2012 to 2014 at a different location. After that it was in Chicago, New Jersey and perhaps some other places, but is now back in Palm Springs.  Marilyn Monroe has a rich history with Palm Springs, beginning in 1949 when she was discovered at Charlie Farrell’s Racquet Club by William Morris talent agent, Johnny Hyde.  That’s me in the next two photos with "Forever Marilyn."  In the first photo I'm posing like Marilyn.  In the second photo of "Forever Marilyn," I couldn’t resist doing this pose.  There was a line of folks to take photos with this statue.  The folks in line laughed when I did my second pose. 

Above:  Striking a pose like Marilyn.

Above:  Diane going for a laugh with another Marilyn pose.

The next and last photo was taken on our trip back to Scott’s home as we started heading into the San Gorgonio Pass and those thousands of wind turbines.  These wind turbines have been in the Palm Springs area along I-10 for 40+ years or so.  When I hiked the Camino de Santiago in 2014 I saw many wind turbines in Spain along the crest of Alto del Perdon (translated as the Hill of Forgiveness), but not nearly as many as the one’s along I-10 in California.

Above:  Wind Turbines on I-10.

 

The End.  And it seems appropriate to end this tour with a photo of New York City.

Above:  Postcard of New York City.