Death Valley 2019-April 15-22, 2019

Journey End,

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 01:10:00 -0700

Walnut Creek, United States

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 01:10:00 -0700

Soquel, United States

Sun, 21 Apr 2019 01:10:00 -0700

Today we left our sardine can of a campground of chaos and headed north to New Brighton Beach State Campground which is close to Santa Cruz. After an initial few disagreements with the GPS, we were on our way. It was a beautiful day with a drive to match. Such beautiful country! I was hoping against hope that we would score one of the coveted spots looking out to the ocean. Sadly, that was not to be. Since we saw a sign saying "campground full," we were feeling lucky to get anything at all! The site was at least walking distance ot the beach, with a lot of grass...almost too much because Lilly and Daisy keep eating it! Also, they told us to be sure to keep everything locked up because apparently there is a problem with homeless people coming into the camp at night and helping themselves to your stuff while you sleep! After we got set up, Marilyn and I took the dogs for a walk on the beach. It was a treat being out along a beautiful seascape. Although dogs couldn't run free, they could be on leashes. As we were walking back I noticed a high school aged girl doing backbends, etc. Then I saw a sand sculpture she had done and stoped to take a picture. I asked her to do one of her walk-overs and caught the picture of a lifetime! After that it was "wine o'clock" so we headed back to the campsite for wine and appetizers. After that we had a delicious dinner of steak, vegetables and baked potatoes...of course with a chocolate chip cookie chaser. Tomorrow we head home...only to turn around and go to Olema for the Northern California Airstream Rally 3 days later!

Driving to New Brighton Beach

Driving to New Brighton Beach-Interesting billboard

Driving to New Brighton Beach-interesting road sign next to an even more interesting billboard

Driving to New Brighton Beach

New Brighton Beach

Beautiful sand sculpture with its acrobatic sculptress!

Marilyn harnessing 3 dogs!

And it was!

Morro Bay, United States

Sat, 20 Apr 2019 01:10:00 -0700

Today definitely had some highlights and some not so highlights. We started by sleeping in until 8:15...yay! Then had a hot, cooked in the trailer, breakfast of eggs, bacon and hash browns. After that we decided to head to the beach in search of some dog-friendly beaches so the dogs could stretch their legs...not an easy thing to do in California. We first went to Cambria...really cute town with a dog friendly beach but unfortunately today was the day for their dog parade in town and it was packed. Off we went to Morro State Beach...a much better alternative. It would have been perfect if it was a bit warmer and wasn’t foggy but hey, any day at the beach is a good day! We went into town for lunch at Doran’s restaurant with a view of the water. When we came out from lunch, Daisy had decided to hop in the front seat (not perfect Lilly though) and I could barely see my seat from all the sand! It was a lovely drive back and once we got here I spent about 1/2 hour cleaning the car. Thank goodness for the portable vacuum in the Airstream! Tomorrow we head for Santa Cruz for the night before heading home on Monday. We’re hoping we can get a seaside site after everyone leaves from the weekend. Fingers crossed there! Tonight, though, it’s homemade meatloaf with carrots and potatoes!

My view from the Airstream

Driving to Morro Bay

Driving to Morro Bay-such lovely vistas

Driving to Morro Bay-Hills still green!

Driving to Morro Bay

Driving to Morro Bay-Made it to the ocean!

Morro Bay State Beach

Morro Bay State Beach-All of the dogs at some point tried to go up the stairs and meet the owners of this luxury home!

Morro Bay State Beach-Frolicking Dogs!

Morro Bay State Beach-Sand slide.

Morro Bay State Beach

Morro Bay State Beach-Mom’s car?

Morro Bay State Beach-Wineries everywhere!

Dog couch...can’t we all just get along?

Lake Nacimiento, United States

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 01:10:00 -0700

Although today was a travel day, we took it easy getting started. Our drive wasn't going to be long (or so we thought) so while Steve and Bob went into town for breakfast, Marilyn and I did our thing getting dressed and getting the campers ready for travel. At about 10:00, we set off for Lake Nacimiento near Paso Robles. One of the roads that we took was Highway 178 and it really was beautiful. Hills still green, a whitewater river going along side it...all very scenic. We did have a few glitches however...one was that Steve had Apple Play going for the GPS instead of the truck's GPS and when I plugged in my iPad to charge it, the navigation went away and we couldn't figure out how to get it back. Little stress there. Then there was the campground itself. We didn't have a reservation so we were going to have to make do with whatever we could find...and there wasn't much. People are packed in like sardines but we do have a lovely canyon right behind us and we have full hook-ups. That meant that I could take a hot shower and dry my hair!!! Pure heaven! We thought we'd see what was available in other campgrounds within the park but there was nothing we could fit into and navigating the winding turns was a challenge. But not as big of a challenge as actually getting into our spot! Steve is a wizard when it comes to backing the trailer, but this was a challenge even for him! It took many tries and near misses of picnic tables and trees before he got it into it's space. It turned out to be a much longer day than expected. We met one of our campground neighbors though who turned out to be a policeman from Compton and Watts. Unfortunately, they refused to let him launch his boat so he's leaving tomorrow for the Delta. Just when I was feeling safe! We ended the day with a delicious dinner of chicken, rice and green beans and called it a day. We're staying 2 nights so no trailer driving tomorrow! It ended up taking closer to 5 hours than 3 1/2 so it will be nice to not have to find a new place tomorrow.

Driving to Lake Nacimiento.

Driving to Lake Nacimiento.-Oil Rigs

Driving to Lake Nacimiento.

Lake Nacimiento

Lake Isabella, United States

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 01:10:00 -0700

Well, today didn’t start out very well…at all. Last night Steve went to retract the awning before going to bed (just in case the wind kicked up) and it wouldn’t retract. He thought we had run out of battery power. This morning he got up and hooked the trailer to the car to give the battery a boost but it still wouldn’t go in. Technically you aren’t supposed to run your generator until after 10:00 a.m. Too bad…we were desperate. Still no luck. Meanwhile Steve’s on the phone with the Airstream people and I’m getting everything ready to hit the road…keeping a good thought. He finally got it up…mostly…and we set off. The drive turned out to be a nice one as soon as we got through the mountains with 9% grades! A few white knuckle moments but we made it. We also had a couple of missed turns along the way but again, we made it. We are camped tonight at Lake Isabella…not far from Bakersfield. It took a few trips through the campground (with some hairpin turns) but luckily it wasn’t crowded and we both found comfortable spots. One negative…when we got to the campground and opened up the trailer, we found that a screw came out of the steps going into the trailer so we can’t use them for the rest of the trip. Hopefully we are finished with trailer malfunctions. Tomorrow we head north to the San Luis Obispo/Paso Robles area.

Leaving Death Valley

Leaving Death Valley-Not quite the scare that the fighter jet gave us.

Leaving Death Valley-Interesting clouds.

Leaving Death Valley

Bob and Marilyn Leaving Death Valley

Leaving Death Valley

Lake Isabella

Our campground's fine feathered friend.

Our set-up for the night.

Furnace Creek, United States

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 01:10:00 -0700

Today was our exploration day in Death Valley. Our first stop was to Dante’s View. It was spectacular overlooking Badwater Basin which I the lowest point in the Continental US…262’ below sea level. You can see how Badwater Basin got it’s name because most of the water…what there is of it…looks like a salt flat. Apparently there is water below the surface that at one time was believed to join up with other lakes in the area. From there we went to Artist’s Road. Again, another name that just makes sense. You drive on a one-way road through a canyon and see such beautiful formations…all different colors. There is an overlook called “Artist’s Pallette” but unfortunately we didn’t get to stop there. I could definitely see how an artist would be in heaven if they had the opportunity to paint any part of that area. After that we headed back to our campground to just enjoy the day and stay in the shade for the afternoon. That’s the thing…the temperatures are crazy! Today when we set out for our exploring it was 86 degrees. When we got to Dante’s View it was 62 degrees! My body doesn’t know what the heck is going on! Luckily it was cool at Dante’s View so that we could leave the dogs in the car while we got out to see the overlook. Tonight for dinner we had lasagna and enjoyed a lovely full moon rise over the mountains. Mother Nature at her best! Tomorrow we leave the crazy heat and head to Lake Isabella near Bakersfield and then mosey up the coast on 101…away from a valley called Death!

Badwater Basin

Dante's View

Dante's View-Badwater Basin

Some life in Death Valley

Artist's Road

Death Valley

Death Valley Monument

Death Valley

Inn at Death Valley

Death Valley

Vintage Cars in Death Valley

Sunset with a full moon

Happy Campers!

Badwater Basin Panorama

Furnace Creek, United States

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 01:10:00 -0700

Today didn't really start out the way I would have liked for a vacation...the dogs woke me up at around 6:00 a.m. wanting to go out. By the way they were acting, you would think that their bladders were about to burst. Well, out I trudged and finally when we were about 3/4 of the way around the campground, they decided to do their business. I was not pleased, needless to say. It was a bit of a no-nonsense kind of a day where we go up, had breakfast and were on our way to Death Valley. The drive was quite spectacular with mountain vistas all around. It was such a contrast seeing the snow-covered mountains and then the closer we got to Death Valley, the more brown and barren the mountains became. Driving through it, it makes you wonder how people crossed such desolate lands and survived. Apparently many of them didn't, thus the name. As we were driving through the beautiful landscape, all of a sudden we were scared out of our wits by a low flying, very loud air force fighter jet! I knew what it was but didn't know where it was coming from. Steve on the other hand, thought our trailer had come apart! Whatever, we were definitely awake after that! This was also another day of extremely varying temperatures...only a 20 degree swing today. It was also quite a strain on the truck pulling the trailer on some very steep roads. We made it though and are now nestled in our camp site. It was lucky that we got here when we did because I'm not sure we would have gotten a spot if we had come much later. It's definitely bare bones, but it's only for a couple of nights and basically is the only game in town! The weather proved to be quite a challenge. First it was hot and sunny so we set up chairs in what shade we could find and put out all of the awnings. Then the wind kicked up so the awnings came in. Then dark clouds came with sprinkles and the temperature dropped so we all went in the trailer. Then the sun came out again so we went outside for cocktails. Then the wind kicked up again so we decided to have dinner in the trailer. Like I said...a real challenge. Tomorrow is an exploring day. Can't wait!

Traveling to Death Valley

Traveling to Death Valley Where the jet scared the you-know-what out of us!

Traveling to Death Valley

Traveling to Death Valley-Daisy being dramatic

Traveling to Death Valley

Traveling to Death Valle...Wrights leading the way!

Traveling to Death Valley-Charlene II following close behind.

Traveling to Death Valley

Traveling to Death Valley-Old Harmony Borax Plant

Traveling to Death Valley

Furnace Creek Campground-Keeping an eye on the skies

Furnace Creek Campground

Furnace Creek Campground-Steve and the giirls

Furnace Creek Campground

Bishop

Mon, 15 Apr 2019 01:10:00 -0700

Today was both a happy and a sad day. Happy in the fact that we were leaving on our first Airstream trip of 2019 with Marilyn and Bob Wright and sad for the fact that Kelly, our Swiss exchange student would be leaving us. It was so nice having her with us for a whole week. But back to our trip. It was "wheels up" at 8:55 and we headed to Bishop, CA on the first leg of our journey. Our route would take us over the Sierras, past Lake Tahoe and over to the Eastern side of the Sierras. In all, we had one stop for a potty break, one for gas...experienced a 30 degree temperature change (36-76)...had sun, rain and snow! In all, we made it in about 7 hours. Speaking of gas, we stopped at what I consider the most unfriendly gas station/food mart ever. First of all there were signs on the doors both outside and inside saying that the restrooms were for paying customers only...then another sign on the bathroom door saying that you had to get the manager to open the locked restroom door for you. Outside there was a lovely grassy area where I headed to with the dogs only to find another sign saying "Sorry, no dogs allowed." They didn't have a place to go even if they were paying customers! I had to walk down the street to finally find them a spot. Oh, and the gas was $5/gallon! We finally got to Bishop and are staying at a very lovely RV camp...lots of grass and trees. Behind us is a golf course and to the other side is a cow pasture. We went into town to celebrate Bob's birthday. The bowling alley was recommended as a go-to restaurant so that's where we went and the food really was delicious. After all, the sign did say it was where the locals go to eat so it has to be good! Tomorrow we head to Death Valley. I hope it doesn't live up to it's name!

Starting to snow.

Serious snow!

High winds.

Mono Lake.

Tom's place.

Bridgeport, CA

Camp Site in Bishop.

Camp site in Bishop.

Downtown Bishop on our way to the bowling alley!

Snowy Sierras.

More awesome clouds in Bishop.

Awesome clouds in Bishop.

Moonlight in Bishop.