North California Coast

 OOPS!

I got the location of the park, where we're staying this week, a little wrong. 

We left Port Orford Thursday and headed south. I wanted to end our summer trip with a stop in the Redwoods. Looking at a much larger map, it looked to me like Azalea Glen RV Park was almost on the edge of Redwood National Park land. In the online blurb it was described as "forested oasis offering RV sites with fire pits, picnic tables & flowers".

Actually it is somewhat southwest of the Redwoods. We are right across from Patrick Point State Park.  which has many great forest hikes. They don't have just Redwoods. It looks like Douglas Firs dominate here.

The best place to walk among the giant redwoods, Prarie Creek State Park, is about 20 miles north. We drove through them.  Oh well, we have the Jeep, and several drives back and forth are not a problem.

One of the reasons I made a week-reservation in advance, was so that we would know where we would be after Port Orford, so we could have our ballots sent to us. This did work out, they were in the park office when we arrived, and Friday we took them to the Trinidad Post Office.

When we got up in the morning there was quite a bit of fog in the air.

We waited until almost noon when it seemed like it was starting to clear.

But in Trinidad on the Pacific shore, the fog was still quite heavy. 

 

 

 

 

 

Our hike today was the Trinidad Head Trail, which was said to have spectacular views.

The hike itself was up and around the Head along a tunnel-like, hedge-lined path.

Breaks in the foliage, that normally provide ocean views, were totally socked in.

But even with the fog, it is a great trail and we felt we got a nice bit of exercise.

As we came back down, the fog seemed to clear just enough to let us get a tantalizing glimpse of the bay below.

We noticed this dove in the fog. He didn't seem to mind that there was no view!

We will be redwood-bound on Saturday.

On The Way To the Grand Canyon North Rim

This week we were on our way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon when we were pleasantly surprised by a glorious display of aspens in peak fall color!

Way back in February, when I was making plans and reservations for our summer travels, I decided that this was the year we would try to see the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. In past years, a visit there just never worked out. Whenever we were near, it was either too early or too late in the season. 

This area was burned in a wildfire in 2006, Aspens are the first to regrow.

I checked out Recreation.gov and was delighted to see we could get a spot for our 35' motor home at the North Rim Campground in fall. Some of the national park campgrounds have smaller size limits. 

Although the drive from Monument Valley to the Rim was only about 250 miles, we decided to stop for a night at Jacobs Lake, a Forest Service campground 44 miles from the rim.  This was because we could not get another night at Gouldings, and because we needed to stop for groceries in Page AZ on the way.

I had been anxiously checking the weather forcast every day during the weeks before our reservations. Two weeks ago, it was in the 80s and sunny at the Rim. One week ago, it was in the low 70s but still sunny and not too cold overnight. By the time our October 2 arrival date showed up in the five day forecast, the temperatures had dropped to the 60s and rain was predicted. 

But the weather can always change, and we had reservations. As we drove to Jacobs Lake we had just a sprinkle here and there. It did rain quite a bit overnight, but we were lucky to have only misty rain on the 44 mile drive to the rim Tuesday morning. 

We were planning on seeing the Grand Canyon. I never thought about the possibility of seeing miles of aspens that literally glowed. I'm not sure if the overcast sky contributed to their brilliance, but the wet air seemed to make the greens brighter and the black charred trees darker.

Once we had passed the fire-damaged area, more mature aspen mixed in with the older conifers. It appeared that some had already started to drop their golden leaves.

Just one more picture!  They were just so amazing and a wonderful surprise on a gloomy day.

We were at the campground (and settled in) before noon. It had started to rain, so we opted for an indoor activity and headed for the Visitors Center and Lodge.

I knew the Grand Canyon was there, but as my daughter said about skiing in fog, "the view was like the inside of a marshmallow".

We will be here for four days, so I am optimistic that we will have better weather another day.

A few of the people sitting around in the lodge were not so lucky. They were on a tour and were only there for one day.

We were back in the Alfa by mid-afternoon, and were happy to be warm and dry when it began to thunder and pour heavily for a while. I'm always glad we are not in a tent at times like that!

Hopefully, we will have some canyon pictures to share in the next post.

Fog over Frenchman Bay, and Sunset from Cadillac Mountain

It was our intent to take a boat tour of the harbor on Tuesday afternoon. (Not on either of the boats shown below.) 

But, when we got to the harbor we saw fog over the water. 

We stayed down at the harbor area for an hour or so, waiting to see if the fog would burn off.

During that time we took a nice walk along a path that bordered the shoreline. The primary planting along it were old fashioned, wild roses. Craig enjoyed watching the bees rolling around in the blossoms collecting pollen. 

The fog did not clear, so we decided to go up to the Cadillac Mountain overlook, which is the highest point in the park and has fantastic views. After waiting our turn to park, we walked around feasting our eyes on the distant views.

The views were amazing! Since the clouds and the creeping fog promised a possibility of a great sunset, we decided to go back to the rig for a while and return for the sunset hour.

As the sun began to tinge the sky with hints of color, the fog banks over the harbor crept around and partially covered the islands.

Every sunset is different. Every moment there are subtle changes in light. Craig and I went in opposite directions on the summit with our cameras in hand. Other bloggers will understand how difficult it is to judge your own pictures and choose which one to post. I try not to overload my posts. So here are just a few of the images that we captured Tuesday night:

Beautiful!  

Day 2 Blue Ridge Parkway

On Thursday we once again went up to the Blue Ridge Parkway on Hwy 151, but this time we headed south.  

Once again we stopped at just about every overlook and were not disappointed by the views.

Although the day started quite sunny, storm clouds began building up as the day went on. When Craig was admiring the view from this vantage point, I heard the sound of water from the rock wall across the road.

I couldn't really see any water until I got much closer.

There were many tiny streams of water seeping out of the wall. This, and many similar walls were blasted out when the parkway was built.  Fascinating. 

We did take one short hike from an overlook down to a waterfall. 

We planned on eating lunch there, but as we got settled on a friendly rock, it began to rain. 

By the time we got back up to the Jeep it was pouring, so we ate there and drove on. The rain stopped, but the road and views became quite foggy.  However, we enjoyed the ride, even if we couldn't see all that we came to see. The fog was enough to make the place mystical, but not dangerous.

We have a few more days to go up there again, and probably will.

I'm Glad I live in a HOUSE Today

Like many of you we spent a very pleasant Christmas with our family.

While we were in San Diego we also had the pleasure of meeting ,
 Kevin and Evelyn for lunch.  It was fun to see them "in person."  Although I feel a connection with most of the bloggers I follow, an in person meeting makes it that much more real! I hope there will be many more meetings in the future.

Today, New Year's Day, was very foggy. These pictures were taken at about noon.  It never did clear. It wasn't cold, and it didn't rain.  Actually it was a bit magical which was why I decided to go out and snap a few pictures.  

After working on a house project for a few hours, Craig watched the Rose Bowl on my laptop.  Yes he is awake.

(The poor squashed penguin is the pillow pet I gave him for his birthday.)

It's been a good year.  We are healthy and working toward a dream together.

Maybe tomorrow the sun will shine, but for today I'm glad I live in a house!