We have spent the past two weeks on the spectacular Oregon Coast. Highway 101 goes right down to the Pacific in many places, and we were able to pull the Journey into a turn out and have a beach front lunch.  There seemed to always be an even more beautiful view around every corner. 

We spent the first week at Humbug Mountain State Park. This was the first time we have stayed at a State Park since we left Virginia. Most of the state parks do not have sites that are big enough for our RV and when you can find one you have to book it months in advance. We were lucky to get this one. We were only a few hundred yards from the ocean and were able to walk down to the beach and watch the birds working the surf and at times we had a resident seal that patrolled the waters just inside the shore break.  In the town of Gold Beach to our south we found over 140 seals lounging on the beach enjoying the sun.  The temperature was never out of the 60's in the day but if you could stay out of the wind it was very pleasant and we sat out in the afternoon and had Happy Hour. 

While in this area I was able to play Bandon Dunes Golf Course. It is 1 of 4 courses at the resort and a true links type course. You have to walk this course so I carried my bag but the two golfers I was paired with used pull carts which they allowed you to roll right over the greens. As you can see from the pictures below it had many holes that were right on the beach so I had to tee one up and drive it into the ocean. 

We visited the Cape Blanco Lighthouse one day and then had lunch at one of the local crab shacks. On the way back to the RV we stopped at the docks in Gold Beach and bought a filet of wild Pacific Salmon and cooked it on the grill the next evening. 

The wildflowers are in full bloom at this time of year.  The most interesting of them is the Fox Gloves (first flower picture below.) It is highly poisonous but it also is useful in developing heart medicines. 

For the second week we moved up the coast just below Cannon Beach. The next day we were joined by our good friends from Virginia Beach, Bob and Kathy Loomis. They made a special trip down to see us after they finished a birding trip in British Columbia. Of course anytime we get together with them we have a good time. We birded for two days along the coast and found many great birds including Tufted Puffin and Rhinoceros Auklet. We even found time to taste some very good cheese and ice cream at the Tillamook Creamery, and sample a few beers at the Pelican Pub and Brewery. On our final evening we took them to a great restaurant we ate at the night before they arrived, "The Pizza Garden" in Nehalem Oregon. They have so much more than great pizza. If you are ever in the area call ahead and see if they have the "Crobster" daily special. It was a crab and lobster lasagna that is fantastic.  We hated to say good-by to Bob and Kathy and are so glad we were able to see them and we already miss them. Great people!

We will move inland tomorrow up the Columbia River Valley. We usually move on Tuesdays but with the 4th of July week coming up we want to get into a campground early to beat the crowds. 

Our base for this past week was in the Northern coastal city of Fortuna California. It is in the heart of the giant redwood forests. We drove the scenic Avenue of the Giants in Humbolt Redwoods State Park,  which has the largest trees in the world. As you can see from the pictures below they tower above the road. For my buddy Hutch, this really is where they filmed some the scenes of the Ewok Forest in Star Wars.  We then drove over the King Mountains to the King Range National Conservation Area. It is the largest undeveloped section of coast line in the United States. It is over 100 miles long. Except for the five miles of road at its northern tip the only way to access the area is by hiking. That is why they call it the Lost Coast. I searched the tidal pools for starfish but found none, maybe the water was too cold. 

 Five miles to the west of Fortuna is the small town of Ferndale. It is known for its many restored businesses and homes. The Jim Carey movie "The Majestic" was filmed there because the town is so beautiful. Josie and I attended a very funny and entertaining play at their restored theater on Saturday night, "The Dixie Swim Club."

The towns of Fortuna and Ferndale both are located in the Eel River delta.   It is a very fertile valley because of the cool but sunny climate. Almost every day the " marine layer" a bank of mist and fog will descend in the late evening and then burn off and retreat back out into the Pacific Ocean around 10 in the morning. You can see the marine layer in a few of my pictures of the ocean below. Because of the marine layer they give two weather forecasts, one for the coast and one for inland where it will be 20 to 30 degrees warmer. This climate along with the river delta soil makes for good farming and there are many dairy and cattle farms along with orchards and berry farms on the surrounding hillsides. The local Loleta cheese factory makes over 30 different types of cheese and Jo ate lunch there just sampling most of them. I was able to fill my growler with one of the local brews from the Eel River Brewing company, which was conveniently within walking distance of the RV Park. We also had a very good Tri-Trip sandwich (a Western cut of beef similar to a flank steak in the east) at the Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka. 

I was able to join the Northern Redwoods Audubon Society field trip on Saturday and picked up many year birds. It was funny to see how excited this group got when they found a Chipping Sparrow, a very common bird back east but rare here. I am sure they felt the same way when I was excited to see a White Headed Woodpecker a common bird for them. The trip was led by Rob Fowler a very good local bird guide. If you are ever birding in this area you should look him up at www.fowleropebirding.com

 Tomorrow we leave California and drive north into Oregon. 

In 2007 Josie and I met our friends from Virginia Beach, Mike and Martha Weirich here in Napa and we toured 4 or 5 wineries before heading down to Monterrey. So we thought we would come back to the Napa area and see what else it had to offer. I have an ole Navy buddy Tom Ney, who after he got out of the Navy went to the Culinary Institute of America and became a fantastic chef. You might remember I went to France last summer to follow the the Tour de France with Tom. He has visited the California wine region many times for both business and pleasure. So who better to ask what wineries to visit and where to eat than a chef? He did not fail us! He suggested we go over to the Sonoma Valley for a more laid back wine tasting experience. Specifically he suggested we try a few wines from the Carneros region and suggested a few vintners to visit. We had no idea what the Carneros region was but made our first stop the Buena Vista Winery that he suggested. Unfortunately it was closed for a private function. The manager suggested we go back down the hill and back to the east just a few miles and visit Truchard Winery in the Carneros region of Napa Valley. They are usually by appointment only tasting winery but they were open this day. So we tasted their wine and bought  a bottle of their Roussanne vintage, more on that later. We did learn that the Carneros region is the most southern areas of Sonoma and Napa Valleys. The area that is closer to the San Francisco delta and thus this area gets a cooler breeze off colder water and this makes for a different type of taste in the grapes.

 Most if not all of the wineries in the Napa and Sonoma area now charge for tasting and many require reservations. They say it is because of the huge influx of people visiting and tasting wines and then not buying any. They were giving away too much wine. So it now cost anywhere from 10 to 30 dollars to taste wines. So we decided to visit only one more vintner. Jo loves port wines and in the city of Petaluma we visited the Sonoma Valley Port Works. Since Josie had researched this winery on the net she had a list of what she wanted to taste. The owner was so impressed he waived the tasting fee and even let her taste a chocolate infused port that was not normally on the tasting menu.  Jo purchased a few wines and even a bottle of almost wine vinegar that is both sweet and tangy. 

Since we were now so close to the Pacific Ocean we drove over to Bodiga Bay and followed the coast line up to the Russian River. A beautiful drive both along the coast but also through the redwoods on our way back to Glen Ellen in the Sonoma Valley for dinner. Tom had suggested we visit the Sonoma valley restaurant "The Girl and the Fig" or its sister restaurant "The Fig Cafe and Wine Bar". We chose the latter because they would allow you to bring your own bottle of wine and they would open and serve it with no corkage fee. So we took in our bottle of Truchard Roussanne and had a fantastic dining experience. The seating was very much like a New York restaurant in that you were very close to the table next to you. We could not have had a more interesting and honestly delightful couple seated next to us, Jim and Bill. They were very proud of living in Sonoma Valley and called Napa Valley "Wine Disney". I believe they are the first married gay couple we have ever met. 

Tom also suggested that we visit Mustard's, a Napa Valley restaurant owned by a very good chef, Cindy Pawlcyn. You can Google her. We decide instead to visit another of her restaurants Cindy's Back Street Kitchen since they had one of Jo,s favorite soft shell crabs on the menu. Once again we had a great meal. We then visited the Cakebread Winery that our friend Pat Joseph had suggested to us for another tasting experience. As you can see in the picture below the restroom was a very popular place after tasting wine. Glad I was not stopped and given a breathalyzer on the way back to the RV. 

If you have never been to this area it is unbelievable how much land is devoted to growing grapes. Jo was able drive the cart as I played Chardonnay Golf Club. The whole course runs through vineyards and as you can see on some holes you have to carry the vines with your tee shot. 

There are not too many campgrounds in Napa but we were lucky to get into Skyline Wilderness Park just on the east border of the city of Napa. The park lived up to its name as we saw a lot of deer and Wild Turkeys. There were signs all over to beware of Mountain Lions.  I did hike the trails a few mornings and was rewarded with a grand view of Napa and the valley beyond. 

We were delighted to have the newly engaged couple Laura Duval and Chance Hines visit us for dinner one evening here in Napa. I met Laura when she was the intern at the bird banding station at First Landing State Park, in Virginia Beach. She and Chance are bird gypsies who move from place to place doing bird related research for various organizations.  They are presently here in California and we could not pass up the opportunity to visit with them. Josie served a great dinner and we had a good time. 

On our last day in Napa we drove to Fairfield CA and revisited the Jelly Belly Candy Factory. We had visited it in 2007 but went this time to try their wine and chocolate tasting experience. Five wines paired with five types of chocolate. What's not to like? 

As you can see we had a very busy week. Our next stop will be in the California Redwood country. 

We only moved 64 miles west into California from Nevada as the crow files, but had to drive twice that far to get around and up and over the Sierras. Samantha, that's the name of our motorhome GPS, took us west out of Reno on I80 instead of up and over old highway 50 to Lake Tahoe. It was less of a grade and a better road for the RV.   We climbed for 30 miles from 4300 feet in Reno to over 7000 at the summit of Donner Pass and then descended for 40 miles to less then 500 feet before going back up again to 3500 feet here in Pollock Pines. The Journey pulled the upgrade well and we used the exhaust break for most of the decent. For those of you who are not familiar with an exhaust break, it shuts off the exhaust coming out of the engine and feeds it back into the manifold thus making the engine run backward. This in turn acts as a break and saves wear and tear on the wheel brakes.  I think I have that right but if not you just need to know it works very well at slowing down our 30,000 pounds of RV and towed Jeep.  

We stayed at the Ghost Mountain RV Park. It was at one time the set for the TV series "The Virginian". The set is still standing and they have converted the saloon into the camp clubhouse and serve breakfast and dinner there daily. On weekends they open the bar and have dances and karaoke. There are many of the buckboards and wagons from the television show scattered throughout the campground. While sitting outside reading we were visited by a camp robber (Stellers Jay) who was eyeing Jo's trail mix. So we dropped a few nuts and dried raisins on the table and let him and two of his friends feast. 

This is the area of California where gold was discovered in 1849 at Sutter's Mill. We visited the Gold Discovery State Park and then went into Placerville which used to be called Hangtown because of their propensity to hang people rather than jail them. They had lots of nice small shops and one of then had this painting of a Spotted owl on its window. We then had a great lunch at Z-Pies the sister restaurant of the one we visited in Reno. We drove into the surrounding hills and stopped at three of the over 75 wineries that are within a forty mile radius. Josie picked up a bottle of  "Chocolate Splash" a port wine infused with chocolate, from Narrow Gate Winery, and two other wines from Miraflores Winery. We then went to Jack Russell Brewery where I had a nice flight of their brews. I was not able to fill my own growler because of California law, so went home empty handed. 

On Saturday night I took Jo to Placerville Speedway for her first dirt track sprint car races and she was a trooper. She said she enjoyed them even with the noise and dust. I was able to get in a round of golf at Apple Mountain Resort and it had to be the hilliest golf course I have ever played. We also drove up the western side of the Sierras to an area called Crystal Basin and did some sight seeing and birding.  

Tomorrow we go farther west for a week in Napa Valley.