Hearst Castle

Monday, June 24, 2012
Out to get gas before our visit to Hearst Castle. We drove down to Cambria and ended up paying $4.69 for diesel, the highest we have had to pay yet. The least expensive so far was in Sparks, NV where we found a Safeway grocery store that had a gas station. I have a Safeway shoppers card and apparently had never redeemed the points I had been accumulating as we have never been to a Safeway gas station. We got a $.60 a gallon discount bringing the price per gallon down to $3.03. Not bad! We are averaging around 18 miles a gallon going through the mountains. Luckily, across from the gas station was a little French bakery where I picked up a spinach, feta, and tomato pastry for lunch later.

We made it to the Hearst Castle by 9:30am and saw a movie about Hearst and the building of the Castle. We took the Grand Tour of the large rooms on the first floor and then the Upper Suites Tour. The tour guides made it easy to imagine what it must have been like to be a guest at the Castle. The Hearst family gave the Castle to the State of California and it is now a State Park. The Castle and grounds are very well maintained. The gardens are beautiful. Mel figures it was a good tax write off for the family and has saved them the high cost of maintaining it. When asked after the tour about the cost of maintaining the property, the tour guide mentioned the Park system in prior years was proud of making it known that the Castle was their best moneymaker. She said she hasn't heard them making such a claim in recent years...even with the $25 per ticket fee for each one of the three tours offered. 

It was impressive to learn that the architect was a woman, Julia Morgan. I was going to describe the highlights of the tour and then while checking some of the facts online, I discovered an article by a Jane Sullivan that does a much better job than I could do: "Hearst Castle: an extraordinary artificial paradise." I would only fault her for the title...I think the Castle actually was a real paradise. Check the article out here. Lots of great photos as well. Though we didn't get a chance to see any of the wild zebras along the highway on the way out (decendants of Hearst's zoo), we did spot a few

of the local wildlife.

After our tour, we said goodbye to the California coast and headed inland. We spent the night at a small campground in Techachapi, CA near a small airport.

Along the Coast

Sunday, June 23, 2012

We had a beautiful day to drive down CA Route 1 which runs down the rocky coast of California. Our first stop, recommended by Christy, was berry picking in Swanton. We thought we would be picking strawberries, but found out it was olallieberry season (2/3 blackberry and 1/3 European red raspberry). We picked about a gallon of these big, juicy black berries and have been enjoying them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Another stop recommended by Christy was Moss Landing where we spotted a few otters swimming in the little bay as well as some seals roosting on a dock. We were fortunate to stop in at the Sea Harvest fish market and restaurant where we bought part of that night's dinner, red snapper. The rest of our dinner came from one of the farmer's markets we passed by. Oh, the fresh fruits here are soooo good! The vine riped strawberries were the best I've ever tasted. Can't even describe how delicious. We bought fresh artichokes...saw them growing by the road side and 10 avocados for $1! Oh my, you can eat well in California.

At another stop we witnessed the molting of very large elephant seals.

Then there were the views as we drove along. We landed for the next two nights at San Simeon State Park, a large but quiet park near Hearst Castle and within walking distance of the ocean. Ready to see the Castle in the morning. Here are a few views of the coastline.

Golden Gate Park

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Up, out, and on the road headed South. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge once again and stopped at Golden Gate Park for a visit to the DeYoung Museum and the special exhibit "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier". Mel wasn't too impressed with the haute couture fashions, but did enjoy the architecture of the museum. His favorite feature was the Andrew Goldsworthy cracked stones, "Drawn Stone, 2005", at the entrance. As though created by an earthquake, there were visible cracks (veins) running along the stone entryway passing through large stone slabs.

Just across from the DeYoung is the California Academy of Sciences Museum. We made a quick pass through to see what this museum had to offer--the planetarium, aquarium, rainforest, swamp and earthquake center. We enjoyed the penguin area the most. A great place for kids to explore.

Earlier in the day when checking the map, I noticed we would be passing through Half Moon Bay on our way South, home of SDA member Christy Conklin and her family. I'd been in touch with Christy before our trip and she suggested we get in touch when in the area. On our spur of the moment visit, we had a chance to meet her husband and two children and catch up on her recent work. She has been accepted into the MFA program at California College of the Arts in the fall--congrats Christy!

We got some good travel tips for our journey South - the best was the park they recommended for the night, the Costanoa Campground near Pescadero. We had hoped to spend the night at a California State Park, but every one we checked along the nearby coast was full. Lots of campers in California. We got one of the last sites at Costanoa.

Heading North to Sebastopol

Thursday & Friday, June 21-22, 2012
After saying goodbye to Dennis, we headed out for Sebastopol to visit a dear Surface Design Association friend, Joy Stocksdale, and husband Doug, stopping through the Napa Valley wine country on the way.

Years ago we visited the Barringer Vineyard with Dennis. This time we signed up for a tour and tasting at Robert Mondavi in Oakville, CA. Guess we aren't wine savy--the $50 a bottle we tasted didn't seem that much differenct than the $10 a bottle of Mondavi we buy at Costco.

2010 PNX Pinot Noir "The wine shows aromas and flavors of dark plum and black cherry with a hint of exotic spices, and subdued oak allows for full fruit expression. Only 900 cases produced."  We enjoyed the tour and tasting, but decided to wait to purchase our next bottle down the road.

Arrived at Joy and Doug's around 5 pm and spent the evening catching up. Joy treated us to some of her homemade lentil soup, salad and corn bread for dinner. We had her homemade cookies and truffles later with tea.

Saturday
We took a drive through the country side, also a wine producing area and had lunch at a sweet little spot in Graton, CA where we also took a walk.  Mel did notice a large population of VW vans in this part of California--made him smile.
The afternoon was spent checking out Joy's new work in her studio and Mel checked out some of Doug's vintage RVs and trailers which he collects and restores. His latest is an RV that has a roof that pops up (not pictured). A few from Doug's collection...
After another great meal, we enjoyed movie night--The Crying Game. Thought provoking to say the least.
Thanks Joy and Doug, oh, and Dinky for a grand visit.

(They admit, Dinky is a stinker...check out that little stinker below...)

Close Encounters with Dinky

California!

Monday-Wednesday, June 18-20 2012
It has been a long time since I've had both the time and an Internet connection in order to post. We are still alive and haven't plunged off a cliff along CA Rte 1.

Pulled out of Nevada, drove through Truckee, CA--skipped Lake Tahoe as we had visited that area a few years ago. We did stop in the old town historic area of Sacramento. Managed to find an ice cream shop and a fully stocked knitting shop. I needed different sized needles for a project. I thought knitting a sweater would be the perfect handwork while riding along when Mel is driving. Hmmm...the scenery has been so beautiful, it has been hard to find time for knitting. I don't want to miss any of the sights. Maybe across the desert. Anyway, I made it out of the shop, Rumplestiltskin, with my needles and some interesting Habu paper yarn for a vest. Nice shop.

Mel, nieces Eryanne, Erika and brother Dennis

We arrived at Mel's brother Dennis' house and had a chance to visit with both his daughters, Erika and Eryanne, and Erika's boyfriend Erik. Eryanne had just graduated from UC Davis the day before with a degree in Landscape Architecture and Erika graduated a few weeks before with an MFA from USC School of Cinematic Arts with a concentration in movie and TV production.

It was great having the opportunity to catch the girls both in Davis. Erika is living in the LA area now and Eyranne will be looking for a job most likely in the Davis area. We headed downtown Davis after Dennis got home from work for a Mexican dinner.

Tuesday


Sculpture on UC Davis Campus

As Dennis needed to go into work, we decided to give the Davis Bike Loop a try. Luckily it was a beautiful, cool day for our 15 mile trip which took us through the middle of the UC Davis campus, along the community garden plots, and through miles of green park lands throughout the city.

Eric and Erika

Erika and Erik had headed back to the LA area, so we took Eryanne out for lunch in downtown Davis. Laundry and email filled the afternoon for me while Mel worked on Eryanne's secondhand bike that needed a little TLC. Eryanne's boyfriend, Steve, stopped in and joined us for dinner at a fairly new Italian Restaurant - great food.

Wednesday


Eryanne & Steve...did I mention Baxter?

Along with Dennis, Eryanne, and boyfriend Steve, we headed out to the San Francisco airport. Eryanne was headed to England where she will meet up with a friend and backpack to Ireland and Scotland for three weeks. Steve  was headed first to Germany where he will meet up with a college class group and travel on to Egypt. Should be an exciting summer for both of them. Happy travels!

Dennis took us across the Golden Gate Bridge on the way back to Davis and we stopped for lunch at Kappas Marina. Nice lunch and interesting back yard. The small bay was filled with house boats. A couple of our favorites....
We wrapped up the day with visiting and computer time...Dennis had just received a new Dell laptop from work and was busy installing and installing.

And here's Baxter!

Sparks/Reno, Nevada

Sunday, June 17, 2012
We arrived in Reno on Father's Day afternoon to visit with Connie and Jim Poulton. Connie sent an email to her brothers and sister detailing our visit. Hope you don't mind, Connie, you did such a good job of documenting our visit, I'm copying your email below and adding a few notes in red and photos. The last time we saw Connie and Jim was when they lived in Italy and stopped by to visit us in Germany...think the year was 1986.

Yesterday afternoon, Father's Day, Candy (Brodbeck) and Mel Edgerley came through Reno and stopped for a visit!  Candy and I are about a month apart in age, and we attended K-8 (1950-1959) at Chestnut Park School (Savanna, IL), all four years (1959-1963) at Savanna Community High School, and graduated from Northern Illinois University on the same day in 1967. After catching up on old times and hearing a little organ music (Connie's husband, Jim, is an excellent organist), we did somesightseeing: Visit to Melissa & Max's (Glenn) new home on Orange Plains in Spanish Springs, NV (Connie's daughter and son-in-law who will be moving in to their beautiful new home in the next week.) Drive to The Biggest Little City in The World (Reno, NV) Edge of the University of Nevada, Reno campus, attending to the College of Education (Connie attended) and the College of Agriculture (where Melissa works, assistant to the Dean) Walking tour through 3 casinos Circus Circus (midway games and giant elephant statue with balls below) Silver Legacy (mining machine) El Dorado (Neptune Fountain) Viewing of the Golden Rooster at John Ascuaga's Nugget, Sparks, NV Dinner in the Rotisserie Buffet at John Ascuaga's Nugget, Sparks, NV   (No, we didn't win the $403,576.71, but we did manage to lose $25 before we walked out the door.)  A very fine time was had by all! We hope to see each other again at the 50th Savanna High School Reunion. Thank you Connie and Jim for the grand tour of Sparks and Reno as well as that great buffet dinner at the Nugget. I'm sure I gained more than a few pounds even though I did limit myself to only three desserts.  We had a quiet night camping out in the Casino parking lot and headed out for California in the morning.

Utah

Friday, & Saturday, June 15 - 16, 2012

We drove most of the day to get to Salt Lake City where we had an appointment at the Freightliner Dealer for our 10,000 mile checkup and oil change. We passed through Park City, Utah where we could see the Olympic ski jump in the distance. It looked much bigger and more impressive than seen on television. In Salt Lake City we passed a Five Guys Restaurant...now a national chain which started with its first place in a little store front just 2+ miles from our home in VA. We saved visiting the city until Saturday.

I should mention the RV park where we spent Friday night. This was quite a park with 181 spots, most for those very big rigs. I thought Ann Liddle would enjoy seeing just how they pack them in, rows and rows with little space between. Most of those spending the night had those huge RV's and towed cars.  We were the smallest RV in the park.

We hit the Saturday Salt Lake City Farmers' Market at Pioneer Park. Not quite as lively as the Madison, WI Farmers' Market and there wasn't the variety of fresh produce. Maybe it was the difference in growing seasons. Lots of bread, some cheeses, honey, and lots of craft and fast food vendors. One of the more interesting musicians was a fellow who built a trailer for his stripped down piano which he hauled behind his bicycle to the park. He was entertaining as well as clever.

 

Next stop was Temple Square. We made it there just in time for the noon organ concert in the Tabernacle. We learned that the Tabernacle was designed by a bridge builder who was familiar with the accustics under bridges -- so the building ended up with great accustics. You can be actually hear a pin that was dropped in the front of the building all the way at the back. Following the concert we took a tour of the Square led by two young missionaries, one from Russia and one from Latvia. Interesting place.

Big Horn Mountains, WY, Thermopolis, and Flaming Gorge, UT

Wednesday and Thursday, June 13-14, 2012

Into the mountains over Powder River Pass at 9665 feet in the Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming. So many of the roads through the mountains have gates that close off the roads when the passes are snowed in. We were wondering what those who live in the pass do when they get snowed in..guess they wait for spring.

Reminder: When you are up above the snow line and decide to take a hike to the top of the peak, change from sandals to hiking shoes and wind breakers. Brrr!  The road follows along the path of the Tensleep Creek.

We spent the afternoon in Thermopolis. The suspension bridge over the nearby river was a challenge in the wind. After taking a walk around the area, we tried the very relaxing natural hot spring mineral bath.

Our campground for the night was along the edge of Boyen Reservoir in Boysen State Park. We experienced our first wind storm -- no rain, just heavy wind that kept us awake for several hours. The family camped next to us were tent camping. We were amazed their tents were still standing in the morning. Brave souls.

Our destination on Thursday was Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. We took the scenic road down the Western side of the gorge. The mountains were beautiful--red cliffs, layer upon layer of hilltops with snow capped mountains in the distance.



Pending showers.

We did discover the "rules" concerning those snow/rock slide gates that are positioned before and after some of the passes. If you live between the gates, you can come out of the blocked road area, but you can't re-enter until the gates go up. If you do go into an area where the road has been closed, you can get up to a $10,000 fine and possible jail time (according to a local).

Dry camped at the Red Canyon Campsite near the information center. Karen was right. The views from the cliffs were spectacular. The only other camper was the host family. Many of the campgrounds have volunteer hosts who monitor the campgrounds in exchange for a free site. Some stay the entire season or for a few weeks.

Sunny skies.



Devils Tower and Buffalo, WY

Tuesday, June 12, 2012
We have a great routine going at campgrounds where we have wifi.  After my shower, I get the computer up and running while Mel fixes breakfast. He fixed stone cut oatmeal and cinnamon toast this morning. Then while he does the dishes, makes up the bed, and gets the RV ready to roll, I finish up the blog post. Hmmm. Wonder how long this is going to last:)

Next stop, Devils Tower National Monument. We caught a Ranger's talk about the rock climbers and then took a 1.3 mile hike around the base of the Tower. We learned the oldest person to climb the Tower was 80 years old, so we still have some time to start training before we give it a try. We stopped by the pararie dog town on the way out . The little guys are so accustomed to the tourists stopping to take pictures, they allow you to get really close. 

With the Rockies in the distance, we drove on to Buffalo, WY to settle in at the Indian Campground for the night. The campground owner suggested we might want to check out the Occidental Hotel in town. The Hotel was first established in a tent in 1897 and the building was constructed in 1880. The building as it stands today was constructed between 1901 and 1910. Famous guests included Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill Cody, Teddy Roosevelt, and Butch Cassidy and his gang. The building was nearly falling down when is was saved by a couple from Texas who have been restoring it for the past 14 years. It originally had 60 guest rooms. I had a chance to talk with the owner who said they now have 16 guest suites completed by combining three or four of the original rooms and adding bathrooms. When they purchased the building it had no electricity or plumbing.  We decided to have buffalo burgers in the saloon before heading out to the girls' rodeo.

Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore

Monday, June 11, 2012

Crazy Horse Monument in the Black Hills of South Dakota was our next destination. The size of this monument is overwhelming. It was made clear that this is not a federal or state project, but funded by the admission fees and donations. Though it is still in the early stages of completion, it is still worth a visit.

The story of the sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, and the amount of work he completed during his lifetime, was amazing. He started the work at Crazy Horse at the invitation of Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear in 1948 when he was 40 years old. Since his death in 1982, his wife and seven of their ten children continue to direct the work. We didn't see any blasting during our visit, but friends, Karen and Tom, were lucky enough to see some during their visit a few years ago.


Our next stop was Mount Rushmore. We really didn't expect to see any changes since our childhood visits in the late 1950's, but it sure didn't seem like the same place. New to us was the impressive Grand View Terrace, Amphitheater, Presidential Trail along the Avenue of Flags, Borglum View Terrace, and the Sculptor's Studio. Oh, and the Lincoln Borgluim Visitor Center with its many exhibits. We caught a Ranger hike around the Presidential Trail and a second talk about the creation of the monument. Those Park Rangers sure are doing a great job.

Back on the road heading to Wyoming. Spent the night in Deadwood at the Fish 'n Fry Campground. We drove through Deadwood to check it out, but didn't find anything interesting enough to get out of the van.