Very Hard 2.7 mile hike at Almaden Quicksilver Mine Park

Everyone likes to do different things. Some enjoy bike riding, some boating, some sitting in the sun reading, some going to cities and attending concerts and theatrical performances. We enjoy hiking.

As our days count down here, we have finally gotten out to some of the local places we have known about for years, but somehow have never visited. Sunday we went to the Almaden Quicksilver County Park. As the name implies, it was the location of a cinnabar (mercury) mine.

There are three entrances to the park, with many trails. We choose a 2.7 mile loop that started and ended at a large free parking lot.  The trail was wide and sandy. It was a multi-use trail for bikes, runners, hikers, and equestrians. But we only saw a few. For a pleasantly cool Sunday afternoon it was not busy at all.

It definitely was the hardest hike we have done so far this season. The elevation change was over 500 feet. That's five hundred feet up in the first mile, somewhat flat in the mid-section, and then 500 feet down in the last mile. I'm not sure which was harder. My knees don't like steep downward walks very much.

A short flat section of the trail is visible from the trail above.

The grass is greening up nicely, and some of the trees are showing new leaves. Some did not lose their leaves, and some are yet to bud out. There were many nice views of the city below, but none of the pictures I took were very clear.

One thing I did notice was the large masses of poison oak along the trail. I had seen a warning sign on the trailhead information board. (Along with a warning about mountain lions.)

I am very sensitive to it and need no warnings to keep on the path and not touch, but as we were going down I saw an Asian couple with two small children coming toward us.  The little boy was playing with a stick along the edge of the trail. I don't know how much he was touching the plants, but I warned the mom about the poison oak.  I hope he did not get into it.

After our hike we drove around to another part of the park and visited the
Casa Grande and Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum 

There were several volunteers wearing period costumes in the house. We were escorted by a very knowledgeable guide who seemed to really enjoy sharing the history with us.

This picture is from the web and is a bit soft

Two of the rooms were decorated with furniture and items from the same period as the house.






Our guide also took us thru the mining museum exhibit. It was in the space that had been the dining room.

We learned a bit about mining cinnabar, extracting mercury from the ore, and it's uses both past and present. 






The mine was the largest mercury producer in the US. Which is why the local newspaper is called "The San Jose Mercury News".

Goodbye Pismo

I know it's only a seagull, but I love how very white they are!

Today was a much more relaxed day. Carol, Craig and I took a leasurely walk through part of Pismo Beach and out onto the pier. Dave didn't feel well and stayed back.

We enjoyed watching the surfers catch the waves:

Later in the day Carol and I went for a nice drive around town, and then to the pool for a late afternoon soak.  We shared a nice afternoon of "girl" talk.  Meeting other bloggers in person is a very special part of this whole life style.  Carol and I agree that reading each other's blogs will be even better in the future because we have met. 

Carol and Merikay at the entrance of the Pismo Coast Village RV park.

I noted when sunset was, and just before it did Craig and I walked to the beach overlook.

It was a good week, but alas we have to return to Camp Driveway tomorrow.

Craig has a dentist appointment in the afternoon and I will be getting my eyes checked early next week. 

But we will be free soon!

Johnson Ranch, San Luis Obispo

After doing dunes and beach yesterday, today we did mountain ranch trails.  Johnson Ranch provides trails in the hills above San Luis Obispo, so we had a bit more elevation change, but not too much!

Over the years we have driven thru this area many times, and we have always looked up at the soft rolling hills. Walking these trails allowed us to look down on the road and the cars. A different perspective indeed.

The first part of the trail was pretty much a track through former cattle pastures.  But assuming that cow pies don't last for years, we saw evidence that the area still hosts cattle on a regular basis.

The latter part of the trail was through mountainside country, so it was narrower and more rocky.  If we had followed this trail to its end, we later learned that it ends up in the parking lot of the San Luis Obispo Costco!

We did meet a number of other hikers on the trail as well as a couple of joggers and mountain bikers.  We were glad it was a midweek day. It must get quite hectic on weekends, and not nearly as pleasant a walk.

One of the better features of the trail was the really mature trees.  This oak was magnificently wide. 

This oak came partially uprooted quite some time ago.  Despite having lost part of its root system and laying down on the job, it was still quite alive!

Some parts of the paths were enclosed and forestlike. I imagine on a hot day these stretches would be very welcome.

Other parts were wide open to the sky. On some parts of the path we could see the developments in the valley below. 

As if to show that oaks didn't have a monopoly on laying down on the job, this sycamore had limbs on both sides of the trunk on the ground, helping support it!

Near the end of the trail, these wildflowers were growing in a gently-flowing stream.  This may be due in part for California's recent rains...

Although we could have hiked five and a half miles on this trail, we decided three miles out and three back was enough for our old bodies.  At the end the pedometer read 6.25 miles.  Merikay really needed a nice soak in the pool when we got back to the RV park!

Pismo Beach day one

On Monday, at a rest stop on US 101, we spotted one of these guys:

picture from the WEB

A yellow-billed Magpie. They are a smaller relative of the black-billed Magpie found in much of the Northwest. We have seen them before, but because I wanted to mention it in my blog post, I took the time to look him up in my Audubon Field Guide.  I was surprised to see what a small range they have, and am now pleased to have seen and identified one.  He sure was a pretty "crow".

We pulled into Pismo Beach Village RV park about 3:30 Monday.  After getting settled in we walked across the grass between the rows of RVs and met CarolK and Dave, anytime RVers and fellow bloggers.  

Travel, even if short and uneventful, can be a little tiring, so after a nice chat we returned to the Alfa for supper with a date to meet up Tuesday for dinner.

The ducks in my new header picture are a pair that seem to consider our site at the Pismo Coast Village home.  They are quite tame, and quite fat!

On Tuesday, Craig and I went for a walk at the Oso Flaco NVRA.
That is a National Vehicle Recerational Area, or a place to play with your dune buggies.  Fortunately it was a weekday and there were none about.

The walk started with this serene road through the trees.

Then onto a boardwalk across an inland waterway.  There were a few ducks and pelicans about but not many people. Love midweek!

We walked a mile or so into the dunes where the ATVs come to play.  Then we realized that the fenced area was too big to walk around, so we walked back.

Sand shark!

We retraced our steps back to the boardwalk and chose the path to the beach. 

The Pacific looked as good as ever...

In total we walked about five miles and felt quite good.

We came back to the RV park, I went for a swim, and later we went out for a fish fry with Carol and Dave. The food was really good and the company was great.

A wonderful day!

I'm adding the ducks' picture here, for when I change the header in the future. They sorta remind me of us! Just hanging out in an RV park mid-week.

A short vacation

We are finally on the road to Pismo Beach for that short vacation I have been mumbling about.

Departure was smooth, hook up of toad went well, and we should arrive by 3:30.  We are stopping at a Trader Joe's in San Luis Obisbo for supplies on the way. 

The skies are still a bit overcast, but the grass on the side of the road and on the hillsides has become very green. There should be lots of wildflowers blooming on our way home. The vast agricultural fields all look very happy to have gotten some natural irrigation and are either freshly plowed or a lush carpet of new plants growing. 

It is Spring in California.

Model Train Show

We woke to a rainy Sunday morning. Yesterday Craig had read there was going to be a model train show at the Santa Clara Convention Center, so after breakfast we decided to go take a look.  Craig had trains as a kid, and I am always interested in seeing the devoted handiwork of crafty people.

Picture say it better than words.

This engine was blowing smoke as it chugged along.  Its caretaker complained that it used too much smoke-liquid...  

A busy switching yard

This little loop was the smallest train at the show. The houses look like Monopoly pieces. The train rails were about 1/8" apart, and the train actually went around the track.  A model train layout within a model train layout!

Notice the detail on the side of this old covered bridge and the moss growing on the roof 

We think that most of the scenes represented real places and buildings

This one didn't: a cow being abducted by aliens!

Some of the setups were very complex. This is a small part of one that included Hobos cooking around a burning fire (one LED) and a police car checking out an accident scene.

Model RVs on a model train.  They look like gasser Class A's.

We weren't there for very long, but it was a nice outing for a rainy day.  

The new 49er stadium is being built just across from the convention center.  Craig couldn't resist taking a few shots of it.  

The 49ers will play their 2014 home games in Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.

The 49ers and Santa Clara want it to be the most energy-efficient sports complex in the world.

The area of these solar panels may be comparable to the area of the football field behind it!

Rain

While the rest of the country seems to have had a really rough winter, California has been enduring drought conditions. Actually we have had very little rain for several years, and it has finally become worrisome for water supplies, since much of California's water is collected and stored in reservoirs in winter and distributed in summer.

The lack of rain and warm temperatures were really nice for us here at Camp Driveway. But all of that has changed in the last few weeks. We had a pretty good storm ten days ago, and another system rolled in this past week. We have had five or six inches of rain in the last few days, and expect it to continue for several more.

One night of a gentle pitter-patter of rain on the RV roof can be soothing. Two nights of driving, pounding noise, with an occasional loud thump from a dropped pine cone or small branch gets to be a bit disconcerting. By the fourth night, the rain sound no longer keeps us awake, but I am a bit concerned about some of the trees that are quite near the coach.

The ground is getting saturated!

The tree closest to the Alfa (blue arrow) is a madrone. When we had some tree work done before bringing the Alfa home, the main trunk was cut off and only this branch which leans away from the Alfa remains. I'm not worried about it.

But up hill is a large fir tree (red arrow). A sister tree fell next to it a few years ago. If this one goes, it could hit us. We may die in Camp Driveway! But, probably not.

We did have some sunshine this afternoon, but it is starting to rain again. I went and bought some ear plugs this afternoon. I'm going to try them tonight. Maybe they will come in handy in the future if we are at a noisy Walmart.

I keep checking the seven day forecast for Pismo Beach. It is raining there today too, but sunshine is predicted for most of next week. I'm ready! The rain might be good for California, but I am ready for some dry beach days.

Some news about our son Gil. He finished his first year as an English teacher at a public boys' junior high in Bangkok this week. He is living on a very tight budget, and he really needed to find work for the three month "summer" break because he wouldn't get paid during that time, and was unable to get far enough ahead to cover his expenses. Coming back to the US was not an option.

He had applied for a couple of other teaching positions, and this week has signed on for a one year contract teaching in Yangoon Myanmar (Burma).

I don't know much about the job, except that it is through a private Australian company that does English programs for adults and for businesses. It sounds like a very good opportunity for him. Teaching junior high was a challenge. In his last video the boys in one of his classes gave him a nice "thank you teacher" send-off. But personally, having taught both in public schools and in business situations, I would take the adults every time.

As a mother, I am a bit uneasy about the country. Myanmar is not politically stable and has very strong ties with China. It is indeed a third-world country with questionable conditions.

from the web

But then I think back on what his apartments have looked like, and perhaps this is an improvement! (Just a mother's view of her son's housekeeping.)

This picture is not of his room. 



He also tells us the internet is very bad there, so we will probably not hear from him as often as we would like.

But all of that said, he is not a fresh faced kid. He is almost forty-four and quite knowledgeable about the world. He will be fine, and add another adventure to his life.

Hitting the road as fulltime RVers pales in comparison.