Cle Elum, WA to Yellowstone National Park, WY - Week 17

From Cle Elum we continued east on 90 toward Spokane.  Family had recommended stopping at Potholes State Park near Moses Lake, so we planned on a leisurely lunch there.  Instead we got lost, wandering around the perimeter of Moses Lake and trying to find a public entry area.  Finally we found a spot where we could see the lake.  It turned out to be a popular launching spot for high speed watercraft.  We watched boats and jet skis race around the lake, making a lot of noise.  Lunch completed, we got back onto the freeway only to go a couple miles then see signs for the State Park!  We are starting a "visit later" list, and Potholes State Park will be item number one.

Central Washington surprised me with its high desert terrain.  All the pine trees gave way to shrubbery, but as we reached Spokane the landscape was dotted with evergreens once again.  We stayed 20 miles north of Spokane at an RV Park on a golf course.  It was Father's Day weekend and Brian wanted to watch the US Open and maybe play a little golf.  Lukas also did some golfing, and I enjoyed the frogs croaking in the pond and the hot tub.  While Brian was watching the thrilling conclusion of the US Open (go Rory!), Lukas and I drove into Spokane to visit the children's museum known as Mobius Kids.  It reminded me a lot of Habitot in Berkeley.  We also got a look at the Spokane Falls, which were much advertised but rather underwhelming.  I spent some time exploring the tiny town of Deer Park and researching travel grills.  What better Father's Day present than a grill?  All in all, it was a very relaxing weekend.  By the end we were ready to charge toward the East.

On Monday we made our way back through Spokane and continued East.  We quickly drove through the panhandle of Idaho, enjoying the views around Coeur d'Alene lake.  Within a couple hours we were in Montana.  As it was getting late, we pulled into a campground in the Lolo National Forest.  It was a very strange campground located just behind a rest stop off the freeway.  There was no water, electricity, dump station, or wireless signal.  I couldn't get a fire started because I had no kindling and the pinecones only created smoke.  Most of the campground was closed, and when we pulled in at 5 pm we were only the second party in the park.  The forest was beautiful, but I couldn't shake the feeling of desertion that comes from an untended campground, nor could I ignore the sound of trucks braking down the steep freeway descent near our home.  We left early the next morning.

As we headed toward Yellowstone, the Teton mountains appeared on the horizon.  After a very scenic drive we picked up a huckleberry shake and made camp at Lewis and Clark Caverns Campground.  I was really hyped up about these caverns, and the glimpse that we caught of the giant cave mouth on our drive in only whet my appetite more.  By 4 pm I was able to break away from family and started hiking toward the cave.  The hike turned out to be much more than I bargained for!  It was 2 miles uphill on a trail of loose rocks in an area with a half dozen venomous snakes.  Don't get me wrong, it was a beautiful hike.  I was sweating and my heart racing, but the views of the valley were killer and it was great to be out alone in nature.  As I found out at the visitor center near the cave, these caverns can be visited by tour only and the tour is two hours long.  The next tour was at 6 pm so I reluctantly declined and instead enjoyed the easy hike downhill back to camp.

Teton mountains

View from hike to Lewis and Clark Caverns

On Wednesday morning we rose with the sun to make a dash for Yellowstone.  We didn't have reservations and it was getting into the high season at the end of June.  Some of the campgrounds are first come first serve, so our plan was to get there by check out at 11 am.  We could have spent days in some of the places on the way to Yellowstone: Hebgen Lake was particularly entrancing.  But on to the goal!  Our "Visit Later" list is getting longer and longer...

We entered Yellowstone through the West entrance and were welcomed into Wyoming by a cloud of mosquitos. Immediately inside the gate all cars stopped and the going became very slow.  Signs said "Bison on Road" but we saw no animals as we crawled along for 45 minutes.  Then, there they were!  Five or six bison walking down the road!  Brian hopped out to get pictures as I drove slowly past.  They were huge and majestic and their hair was coming off in clumps for the warm summer weather.  One of the big beasts had left a steaming pile on the other side of the road.  Being a zookeeper, I was analyzing the poo just when a car came in the other direction, running over the poop and spraying it all over the RV!  I was laughing my head off as Brian rushed back in, asking for wipes to clean the poop off of him!!!  Luckily my window was rolled up, because a glob of the freshie had smacked right at my head.  All day I laughed about the bison pooping on our truck, and I'm still laughing now.

Traffic eased up after that and we eventually found a small open site at a campground near the North entrance.  After a quick lunch we were off in the MiniTrek to see the park!   First to Mammoth Hot Springs where the travertine terraces were spectacular.  The colors were gorgeous, from clear aquamarine blue to burnt orange.  There were deep bubbling pools, and shallow, terraced waterfalls, and even a steep waterfall with steam rising from it.  I was completed overwhelmed by the experience.  Just as I'm brushing away tears of awe, I overhear another visitor saying "I don't know, this is just kind of boring.  But then I love tromping around old Civil War battlefields..."  Well, then, to each his own.

Back to our driving tour, we were making a clockwise loop around the Northern section of the park.  It was a clear, sunny day and the the landscape seemed to sparkle.  It had also brought out the crowds, many of whom were animal spotting.  Suddenly traffic ground to a halt and cars were abandoned in the road.  A bear sighting!  This was a black bear with a cream snout.  Finally the park ranger came to shoo people along.  We drove a bit farther, then more traffic.  Another black bear!  This one cinnamon colored.  Later we saw a lone wolf.  Along the way herds of elk and bison were common.  Around 6 pm the roads had cleared and the weather was cooling to a comfortable temperature.  We were passing a meadow near the river and saw our final sighting.  A grizzly bear, digging in the soft grass and munching on her findings.  We were able to watch the bear for quite a while - until Lukas's whining got too loud.

Lukas was not a huge Yellowstone fan.  According to him, if you've seen one pool of boiling water, you seen 'em all.  Our tour of the park did involve a lot of driving.  But was Lukas did like was the snow.  We were in shorts slathered in sun screen but driving through forests with snow several feet deep.  At our second campsite there were large piles of snow that Lukas liked climbing and poking with a stick.  That kept him busy for a good hour.

Our second day at Yellowstone we toured the south loop.  Old Faithful was too crowded so we skipped it.  Other highlights from the park I have not yet mentioned: the mud pots belching and plopping their sulfurous gas.  Two sightings of Trumpeter Swans, tending their nests.  A bison crossing the road in front of us, to be followed by her nervous tan calf.  A male elk with a huge set of antlers.  A herd of elk lounging in the small grassy square of the busy Mammoth hotel.  A geyser inside Yellowstone Lake, the cone starting underwater and top just clearing the lake water with hot water hissing inside the rim.  Yellowstone was an incredible experience which I will treasure for a long time to come.


RV PARK RATINGS


Deer Park Golf Course and RV Park, Deer Park, WA: A
  Beautiful area, nice golf course, pool and hot tub, large grassy sites, cute town.


Quartz Flat Campground, Superior, MT:  D
  Located behind a rest stop directly off the freeway, no services, mostly closed, seemed kind of creepy and deserted, beautiful forest with daisies in bloom.

Lewis and Clark Caverns Campground, Whitehall, MT: A+
  Campground in a beautiful meadow, playground, several hikes to caverns, visitor center.  Great bird watching and star observation.


Indian Creek Campground, Yellowstone National Park: C
  Crowded, tight spots.  Very difficult to get our rig set up.  Neighbors took their time cleaning out toes with wet wipes.

Fishing Bridge RV Park, Yellowstone National Park: C+
  RVs only because in bear area.  Better setup for the rig, but still tight.  Crowded.  Snow and mosquitos.  Stories of bears wandering campground and bison hanging out in bathroom.

Olympia to Cle Elum - Week 16

It took about two and a half hours to get from Olympia to Ballard, a neighborhood north of Seattle where my uncle lives.  We were having a small family reunion, with my parents already in town from the East coast and cousins to be stopping by throughout the weekend.  My dad hadn't seen Lukas since Thanksgiving, an era before sentences started coming out of my son's mouth.  We made our second attempt at parking our RV in front of someone's house, and this time we had better results.  Uncle Jerry is a marine surveyor and is accustomed to tow dollies and large rigs and extra vehicles.  He helped us get situated near the house, stow the tow dolly in the yard, and hooked up a hose so we could have enough water for our roadside hotel.  Lukas was so happy with all the attention from grandma, the big yard to play in, and the toys that aunt Cheryl had stashed around the house.  Brian and I were happy to see family, and to have help with Lukas for a few days!

We had a great weekend of drinking coffee, walking to the coffee shop, and visiting the park and beach near the coffee shop.  Okay, we did more than drink coffee.  But this is definitely a coffee kind of town, and we took advantage of that perk!  Similar to Portland, Seattle has a backyard chicken coop fad going on and Cheryl brought us to see our second beautifully designed chicken coop with a living roof.

On Saturday we took a ferry to Kingston, then drove down to a secret beach owned by the Nature Conservancy.  It was a quarter mile hike through the forest to an empty bayside beach, located just behind a wetland area.  The sun was shining and there were animals aplenty.  Cousin Sean spent his time searching for snakes and hunting for crabs under rocks.  My mom went swimming with Lukas.  The rest of us waded and walked and sunned.  At the end of our visit we noticed a bald eagle sitting at the top of a pine tree above us!  We decided it was my Grandma Lee, come to enjoy our family outing.

Dancing with grandma

Bros and Brian

On the ferry

Dad surveying the wetlands

On Sunday most of the cousins came over for a barbecue in the garden.  Between them, Jerry and Cheryl have four boys and one girl, all now in their twenties.  It was so fun to catch up with the crew and see who they have grown up to be.  When the last of the food had been scraped off our plates, the rain began.  We were in Seattle, after all.

After all the cousins had left and Lukas was in bed, Cheryl, mom and I went to the night time service at St Mark's Episcopal Church.  I'm not religious, but I do enjoy the occasional service, be it Episcopalian, Catholic, Jewish or Pagan.  This service really stands out for many reasons.  First, the church did not have any depictions of Jesus on the Cross.  Second, most of the parishioners at this service were young, in their twenties or thirties, and there with friends.  Third, people were invited to sit wherever they wanted in the church, including on the elevated altar platform.  People were leaning against pillars or lying on the ground and had brought pillows to make themselves more comfortable.  Fourth, there was no audience participation during the service.  All of the call and response was conducted by the male choir.  There was also no communion served.  When the choir had completed the service, people got up and began leaving.  Fifth, there was an organ concert following the service.  We didn't stay, but the organ music we heard upon leaving was enough to shake one out of the reverie induced by the service.  I really enjoyed listening to the choir and found it more meditative than most church visits.  I wouldn't go every week, but if I lived in town I might try to make it a monthly habit.

My folks had to catch the airplane back home on Monday.  Brian and I stayed until lunch, then headed out to an RV park in nearby Bothell.  We got organized then went into town to visit Peggy, who recently relocated to Seattle and is working at the Woodland Park Zoo.  Her place is great and the move seems to really suit her.  While I'm sad she's no longer in the Bay Area... um, I guess I'm not there right now either!

On Tuesday morning I went to visit my gorilla and gorilla keeper friends at the Woodland Park Zoo.  The keepers and I swapped gorilla stories and I met their newest resident, a silverback named Leo.  One of the San Francisco Zoo's gorillas is a Seattle transplant, and I was happy to report how well she is doing with the group in SF.

The rest of the day was spent organizing.  During our California trip we kept pushing off maintenance, saying we would get in done while we were back home in San Francisco.  We didn't get it done in San Francisco, so we have just been carrying around a list of to do items.  It was time to get down to business.

On Wednesday we woke early for a visit from the UHaul repairman who finally fixed the broken light on the tow dolly.  Next we did a thorough clean of the black water tank, trying to correct our early mistakes of using toilet paper unfit for a septic system.  Then we brought the RV into the shop to have several things installed: satellite radio, IPod connectivity, a navigation system and a CB receiver.

Rather than waiting around the shop, we played tourist and visited the Space Needle.  What a great place to have lunch on a sunny day!  The revolving landscape was gorgeous, our meal was tasty, and Lukas was surprisingly well behaved.  We also checked out an outdoor garden exhibit that was part of the Children's Museum.  Lukas raked, shoveled, and sprayed water while running through giant pieces of fruit.  The rest of the museum looked fun too, but it was time to pick up the RV from the shop.

Although it was late, we were ready to start the journey East.  That night we drove over the Snoqualmie Pass and pulled into an RV park in Cle Elum by 10 pm.  We meant to get out of town the next morning, but we still had more internal home organizing to do.  That took up the majority of the day, then Brian took the RV to get a CB antenna installed at the repair shop adjacent to the park (same owners).

While our house was at the shop, Lukas and I took a trip to downtown Cle Elum.  The town is refreshingly free of chain restaurants and has a wild west feel to it.  The Bull Durham mural photo kind of sums up the town for me.  We went to a free telephone museum which smelled dusty and had lots of old switchboards on display.  The town also boasts a carpenter museum, but we skipped that one.  We stopped by Glendon's sausage factory, where one can bring their game meat and have it turned into sausages.  The Pioneer coffee roasting company brewed up some tasty fare, and I found some obscure strawberry beer from England in the fridge at the sausage store.  An interesting town, not sure I'd live there, but fun to visit.


RV PARK REVIEWS


Edwards Family Road Hotel, Ballard, WA: A
  Nothing like family to help you get all set up, take care of your child, then offer you lunch.

Lake Pleasant RV, Bothell, WA: A
  Close to Seattle without feeling like an urban RV park.  Quiet, friendly staff, playground, lake.


Whispering Pines RV Park, Cle Elum, WA: B
  Beautiful location, next to river and pond, walking distance to town, friendly staff, well maintained, loud freeway noise, windy.

Humboldt to Portland - Week 15

On the drive through northern Humboldt we spotted a large herd of elk grazing fairly close to the road.  Our farewell to California was a lunch spent at Agate Beach in Patrick's Point State Park in Trinidad.  It was a quarter mile hike straight down to reach the beach.  Lukas ran the whole way, ate a bit of sandwich, spent an hour jumping around in the water, then walked all the way back up! I found a few agates and enjoyed the quiet beach.  Lukas slept deeply as we passed into Oregon.

That night we stayed at Cape Blanco State Park.  Our site was nestled in a forest of sitka spruce, and a short walk over the springy forest floor brought us to a viewpoint of the ocean far below and the lighthouse on the point ahead.  It was a truly magical place.

The state park was close to Bandon and we took a day trip to town in the MiniTrek.  There was a light rain most of the time we were in Oregon, but we just went about our business in the style of most Oregonians.  We had an Oregon style lunch of clam chowder and marionberry pie at a greasy spoon diner in Historic Bandon.  In the afternoon Brian played some golf and I took Lukas to the West Coast Game Park Safari.

The Safari Park is half petting zoo and heavy on shows that allow animal interaction.  To be honest, my first half hour in the park was spent making sure that all the dangerous animals were properly enclosed.  The free roaming animals were a mixed herd of goats, sheep, deer, llama and peacocks.  Lukas has no fear and was hugging some of the more tolerant goats and trying to chase the peacocks (I stopped him, of course), as well as sliding down any nearby poles that vaguely resembled a fire pole.  In the enclosures were felines a plenty, bears, a bison, camel, a lemur, a few monkeys, and a couple chimps.  For the most part the animals looked healthy and well cared for.  The chimps, however, were in a tiny enclosure and were engaged in lots of stereotypic behaviors, as well as frequent displays at the public.  During the interactive period we were able to play with a couple four month old tiger cubs, pet a possum, ferret and skunk, then bottle feed a seven week old leopard cub.  The presenters were well informed and watched people closely during their interactions, making sure that the cubs weren't overly stressed.  Overall I would give the Safari Park a favorable review, though I wish those chimps could move to a new home immediately.

Every roadside zoo is required to have a white tiger.

The bears were really active.  After bath time this bear had a nice back scratching session on a post.

Our next stop was Dunes City.  Behind a quiet RV park with really friendly staff is miles of sand dunes, spotted here and there with oases of pines and blooming scotch broom.  Off on the horizon is the ocean.  We spent a long time sliding down dunes, running up dunes, rolling down dunes, and generally having fun.  Later I went running out on the dunes and it was really eerie how easy it was to get disoriented, even with the oases and the ocean visible.  Out the front of the RV park was Woahink Lake, and a private deck for RV park guests.  The water was clear and cold, and I imagine it would be a lovely place to swim when the weather gets warmer.

The following day we were headed to Portland.  We started up the coastal route and stopped in at the Sea Lion Cave near Florence.  It was a neat experience, riding down an elevator into a deep cave where the migratory pigeon guillemots were nesting.  At this time of year most of the sea lions were out on the rocky cliff instead of the cave.  It being breeding season, the males were spending most of their time fighting and guarding their harems.  The Steller sea lions are much different than the California variety that I am used to.  The Stellers are very large and look particularly sluglike.  They also moo instead of bark.  I found myself a little grossed out by the Stellers, perhaps because they are so reminiscent of Jabba the Hut.

We went north up the coast a bit more then stopped for lunch in Newport. Next to the Oregon Coast Aquarium are several tourist-trap looking buildings, and inside one of those was a cafe that served lunch.  My expectations were low, but I was oh so wrong.  I had some lightly fried local oysters, fresh of course, with a coleslaw that was more sweet than tart, and the best I have ever had.  Lukas had some clam fritters - basically pancakes with clams inside!  And Brian had a salmon scramble.  The best part of the meal was actually the biscuit, piping hot, with home made marionberry jam on the side.  Yums.  Highly recommend Fishtails Cafe.

The goal was to reach Portland by nightfall, so we meandered up the beautiful coastline for another hour then turned inland.  We hit Portland during rush hour, and traffic was terrible.  Finally we found our destination, a cute neighborhood in northeast where we planned to park in front of a friend's house for the night.  The RV seems so much larger when its in a city.  After much maneuvering we finally managed to get the RV parked near their house.  It was at an angle and the street traffic seemed a bit much whizzing by our heads.  I guess that's why people stay in RV parks instead of on the street!  Our friends were extremely accommodating and made us some super good pizza paired with salad greens picked fresh from their garden.  Shelley and Mitch are architects, so when they decided to build a coop for chickens, they made a modern masterpiece that was featured in Dwell magazine!

On Thursday morning we went to Oregon Zoo, where I had a meeting with a primate keeper.  Renee gave me a wonderful behind the scenes tour of the primate facilities, including their new orangutan and gibbon enclosure.  Every area I saw was well maintained and the animals looked healthy and happy.  The zoo was really crowded with end of the year field trips, so after the tour we decided to get a move on.  It was great to visit with friends, but we felt a little crazy in the city after spending so much time out on the coast.

Time to move on, up to Olympia.  We picked a state park that was within easy driving distance of Seattle and also had a fun name, Millersylvania.  We got in late and left early, but it was in the woods and quiet, just what we needed before our next adventure to visit family in Seattle.

RV PARK REVIEWS


Cape Blanco State Park, Port Orford, OR:  A
  In the woods, next to the ocean, quiet, huge spots, nice bathrooms and showers, meadows, trails, lighthouse, cheap, point reduction due to broken dump station.  Really an amazing place to stay.

Woahink RV Resort, Dunes City, OR: A
  Quiet, clean, laundry, next to incredible sand dunes, across the street from Woahink Lake, great wifi, friendly staff.  Pretty awesome.  Cheap, too.


Chez Shelley and Mitch, Northeast Portland, OR: B
  Great company, friendly neighbors, nearby park, our rig a bit tight for the location.


Millersylvania State Park, Olympia, WA: B-
  Developed by the WPA, wide spots in a clearing, walking trails, nice woods, small lake, feels like summer camp back in the day.

Week 14: San Francisco to Humboldt

Our final weekend in San Francisco happened to coincide with Carnaval, a two day long festival with a parade that goes right by our house.  Taking a break from packing on a beautiful Sunday, I went down to see the excitement.  The parade was fantastic with a rich diversity of cultures and amazing artistic talent shown in the floats and the costumes.  There were so many families out, either involved in the parade or enthusiastically watching it go by.  I found myself crying at the beauty of it all, knowing that this was is probably the last time we will live in the heart of San Francisco's Mission district.

After spending most of the day packing, a friend came over and we took Lukas out for a walk.  The streets had turned ugly.  People were joining in knots on corners, drunk and yelling at cops.  We saw several people being arrested.  A fight broke out across the street and people started running toward, and away from, the action.  The park was busy and fun with people BBQing post-parade, but even the festivities there felt like they could quickly get out of hand.  My regrets about leaving the City washed away, and I felt ready to leave as soon as possible and not look back for a while.

The last thing keeping us in town was a wedding on Memorial Day evening.  Heather and Cyrus had a beautiful wedding, complete with masks and a Mardi Gras theme.  The music was swing, 80s and goth, a perfect blend of the couple's shared interests.  Heather looked radiant in her garnet colored gown and Cyrus was a very happy groom.  The party was in full swing when we left in order to finish preparing for our move the next day.

Everyone that has ever moved knows the drama of it all, so I don't need to recount the details.  Suffice it to say that we finally got all our belongings packed up and put into storage, after going to first one storage site then leading the moving van to a different one.  Huge thanks to the movers at One Big Man for putting up with the rain and our inability to determine how-much-stuff-we-have and what-size-storage-unit-that-stuff-will-fit-into.

After a full day of moving in the rain, we were finally back into the RV!  We had been warned against the Candlestick Park RV park in Bayview, but after our last terrible experience at the Pacifica RV park we decided to try it out.  The place was great.  Quiet and clean, plenty of empty spots, nice store and laundry area.  The rain cleared and it was so wonderful to play ball with Lukas outside our new home.

The next step in our adventure was to rent a tow dolly from a nearby UHaul shop.  In order to tow the Mini with all four wheels on the ground we need a baseplate.  That baseplate needs to be made.  We have placed an order but it takes a few weeks to receive the item.  That leaves us either driving separately, shipping the car to the baseplate destination (an option which did not pan out after research), or using a tow dolly to bring the Mini Cooper with us until the baseplate is made.  We had the dolly reserved, but nothing is easy, so once we arrived at UHaul they of course didn't have the appropriate parts.  Luckily UHaul employees don't really care what you do as long as you're not bothering them, so while Brian visited several car shops to find the right ball hitch for the dolly, I put out the slide, fired up the oven and made some pizza bagels.  There are definite advantages to traveling in an RV.

We had been so preoccupied with moving that we put no thought into our travels plans.  By afternoon we were ready to go and headed over the Bay Bridge, pretty nervous with the extra twelve feet of car and dolly tethered to the back of our already huge RV.  It took us an hour and a half to get to Winters, but it felt much longer.  Thankfully the tow car stayed attached to the RV, we didn't go off the road or hit anyone with the trailer, and were getting used to carrying the extra weight while driving.  Winters is a cute little town and we strolled main street, ate some fudge, and found Putah Creek (which I was semi-obsessed with for no reason other than it has an awesome name).  It was getting late so we headed to a nearby state park for the evening.

Lake Solano Park is home to a large population of peacocks, who were introduced a few decades ago in hopes that they would kill the rattlesnakes.  It was pretty amusing to see the peacocks calling in all their spring finery, and of course reminded me of life at the zoo.  This park also had a small chicken coop filled with silkies, a rare breed of fancy chicken from Asia.  You could buy scratch to feed the chickens, and Lukas had a great time doing just that.  The lake is stocked with trout, which were jumping in the early evening.  It felt like we had found heaven.

After further research, we decided to bail on the Highway 5 route and instead cut over to 101.  I was pleased as punch to realize that in order to do that we would pass right by Lake Berryessa.  This is another area I had a bit of a fascination for, without much reason.  The roads were small but empty and the views of the lake sublime.  We will have to return some other time for further exploration of the region.  We made it to 101 and the driving got easier.  Just past Ukiah we found a little RV park on a lake and pulled on in.

Blue Lake is divided into the Upper and Lower lake, and we stayed at the edge of the Upper one.  Pine Acres Resort is a tiny little place overrun by roving bands of ducks.  It wasn't until the next morning that I learned the store sells bags of scratch to feed the ducks, which is why the ducks are so "friendly", persistent, and aggressive to their own kind.  There was one white duck who was the head gangsta.  When we finally broke down and bought some food I tried to keep him away and give extra to the loner mallard female instead.  Lukas acted the part of the zoo keeper's son and held his hand out flat, letting the ducks peck away at the food and making his mama proud.

The other interesting snippet about Pine Acres is that it was hosting a "Re-Bounders" meeting.  It did seem suspicious when we pulled in and most of the RVs were Bounders.  Later one of the ladies explained that they meet here once a year, and the Retired Bounders group meets monthly in areas across the state.  Why should I be so surprised?  There are groups for every kind of interest, why not the model of your RV?  But surprised I was, and also pleased that this group of retirees was quiet and had an early bedtime.

Brian was having a bit of an obsession with finding a handheld CB radio, so we went back to Ukiah to purchase one.  While there, I insisted we have lunch at the Ukiah Brewing Company.  Slow food style with an emphasis on veggie.  The beer was good, but the food seemed a bit bland.  Then up the 101 to Humboldt!  We hit up another brewing company for dinner, this time the Eel River Brewing Company.  The Organic Porter is excellent, currently ranked as my favorite beer.  The food was okay.  If I learned anything from today, it is that brewing companies are good at making beer and the food is secondary.  In any case it was a lively evening and Lukas was strangely good at the table.

The next day we decided to utilize our tow car and go back to all the roadside attractions along 101 that we had passed in the RV the previous day.  We hit up the One Log House, Curious Hill, Leggett's Drive Through Tree, and Avenue of the Giants.  Super fun!

Our morning excitement was followed by a visit to nearby Ferndale, where we had burger and chocolate recs from a friend.  The No Brand Burger Stand is a hole in the wall serving Eel River grass fed beef, which we could see grazing in the field behind the burger shack.  As a recovering vegetarian I'm still pretty picky about my meat, but this was some tasty beef.  And at least I knew where it came from!  We ended the day by the Eel River, Lukas throwing rocks and Brian listening to truckers on the CB.  Life is good on the road.  I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!

RV PARK REVIEWS

Casa de 24th Street, San Francisco: C

  Managed to pull the RV into the tow-away spots we had reserved for the moving van.  Loaded up and got outta town ASAP.

Candlestick Park RV: B

  Quiet, clean, laundry and store.  Much better than the other option near SF.

Lake Solano State Park, Winters: B+

  Peacocks, lake with swimming area, chicken coop, large pull through sites, quiet except for the peacocks and chickens.

Pine Acres Resort, Blue Lake: C+

  Small, throwback to the 70s, duck gangs, on a lake.

Riverwalk RV Park, Fortuna: C+

  Big RV park, not actually on the river as advertised but within walking distance of river, clean hot tub and pool, playground, freeway noise, someone doing donuts in their car at 2 am, semi-industrial area, walking distance to Eel River Brewing Company. 

Weeks 12 and 13: San Francisco

We came back to SF in time for me to co-host my dear friend Jenesse's baby shower.  It was a lively party with onesie decorating and pinata smashing, followed by a tissue paper storm instigated by Lukas.  The mom-to-be was in good form and peppered the party with her trademark cackle, a true delight for the ears.

After the weekend, Brian and I got on with our list for getting back to the open road.  First, trade in our Prius for a Mini Cooper.  The Prius has a heavy battery which makes it unfavorable for towing behind the RV.  The Mini Cooper Clubman has the small size we desired, plus the aesthetics and pep to make it a fun purchase.

The rest of the 12th week was pretty boring and involved a lot of planning and organizing.  We had a bit of a set back when it became clear that the tow package we need for the Mini Cooper is not available for at least ten days, cutting into our date to vacate SF.  It seems we may have to get the car shipped up to Seattle, and while we visit with family for a few days also have the tow bar installed.  Nothing is allowed to delay our June 1 date to get back on the road!

After a week of packing, we were more than happy to take a break and head to Santa Cruz for a wedding.  Megan and Dan picked a beautiful spot in the mountains for the ceremony, a park complete with horses, a turtle filled lake, and a walking trail.  The dinner was at a nearby restaurant in the redwoods with tasty food and great company.  Back at the Hilton, the party continued at the hotel bar.  We wish the happy couple all the best during their honeymoon in Thailand!

While in Santa Cruz we also spent a morning with Beth and Seth (the first wedding we attended this year), who recently returned from their honeymoon in Nicaragua.  I insisted that they meet us at Zachary's for breakfast, one of my favorite haunts during college.  The tofu scramble remains one of the best I've had, and the oatmeal date toast tops it off well.  But the best part was the company, and I'm sad we will not see these friends for quite some time.

Windy Four Mile beach in Santa Cruz

Lukas and Seth are buddies

The rest of the 13th week was a blur of doctors appointments, finding a property management company, choosing movers and a storage space, and packing, all while trying to keep Lukas semi-entertained.  We are ready to kick ass on these errands and move on to better things.