FTJ, Entry 101: From the Sublime to the Red(wood)iculous

I have to try to make this blog shorter and easier to do. But anyone who knows my editorial proclivities knows this is a true challenge!

OK. We continued up the coast of California, as I mentioned at the end of the last posting. What a drive on Route 20 west to 101 and Fort Bragg! Hairpin turns, steep climbs and descents. It was a long and stressful day for Beau, but he handled all the driving challenges with aplomb. 

It was all worth it, though. Ah, the beauty of Mendocino! A very charming coastal town -- so charming it was used as Cabot Cove in the TV show "Murder She Wrote"!

The town was having its annual Music Festival, and we sat in on the rehearsal for the opera performance. What an extraordinary -- and lucky! -- experience.We just keep happening on these amazing events as we travel -- one serendipity after another.

The awesome Mendocino Headlands.

 

It's tough to portray how incredible the views are at the headlands.

A great vista on our drive up US 1.

This building, once a hotel, is where Jack London wrote his masterpiece, Call of the Wild.
It is in Elk, population 250.

Point Arena light -- there were whales offshore.

Long shot of Mendocino.

The music festival performances take place in the tent in the background. All are welcome to listen to rehearsals for free, or to sit outside and have lunch (which we did!).

Beau and Buddy lunching.

  

The main drag, Mendocino. The day was somewhat overcast, but pleasant.

Opera rehearsal.

An oddity from the trip up the coast:

Now THAT'S a hedge.

On to the Red(wood)iculous

Next stop, Klamath, CA, and more amazing redwood forests. And yet another beautiful, winding road for Beau to drive.

The scary, the beautiful.

We passed Humboldt Bay on our way. Even a blurred photo through the windshield
doesn't diminish the beauty of the scenery.

Klamath,CA, is very small, but has a lot to offer. Beau and I did a lot in our one full day. We toured the seacoast; we went to the Trees of Mystery and rode a tram up the side of a mountain to aerially view the redwood forests; we saw a mama grey whale and her calf in the Klamath River (which I worry will be a problem for them when the river starts to go down); we saw elk; we drove through a 700-year-old redwood tree.

Varying views of the Klamath area.

From top: at the Trees of Mystery; photos of the Tour Thru Tree; me with a talking
Paul Bunyon at Trees of Mystery. (Babe the Blue Ox did not converse with me.)

Awwww. The photographer has an admirer. There were scores of carvings in the Trees of Mystery -- the park claims these are the largest milled redwood carvings in the world.

Sasquatch is, of course, a recurring character up here.

Two "Bigfoots" meet! We saw this one on our way up to Klamath.

The tram ride at the Trees of Mystery.

Hard to see, but this shows a redwood tree dating back to 1016.

  

Had to include this one -- love the way they spell "entrance" and "emus" Hey -- where was the restroom inside the log?? Missed that one!!

We were SUPER lucky to be in Klamath while the whale and her calf were in the river. And luckier still that we happened to drive by and see cars pulled off the road above the spot where the two were swimming. We were maybe 40 ft. above these magnificent creatures, in their natural habitat. Really cool.

 

Never saw elk in the wild before! And there were babies, too.

But the absolutely best thing we found in Klamath? Our new pal Sharon! She owns the Woodland Villa Cabins and Country Market, across the street from our RV park. She and I had an instant connection -- maybe we met in our former lives. (Beau laments: Oh God help me- there are actually TWO of them!!!  Seriously, they really could be sisters- twins maybe. Or clones??). 

We went to eat at her terrific little restaurant, "A Good Place to Eat" the two nights we stayed in Klamath, and spent the last night closing the place down with her and Sandy  (her right hand gal, who is also terrific).

Sharon is a beautiful person (she grew up in Los Angeles and relocated to Klamath, finding a spiritual connection with the redwoods)  -- and she's a loon like me! 

Beau and I just love her. Big hug, Sharon!! We miss you. 

We have to keep in touch, as I have with my other new "sister," Lori Cole. It is just amazing how you can meet someone and in one day have an instant affinity for one another. So rare, so precious. Makes me miss all my other precious friends back in Connecticut. Sigh. See you soon, guys!

A blurry pic of Sharon...

And one that shows how pretty she is! Love ya, hon.

Damn -- too long again! Next time, our photos of Crater Lake National Park, Oregon.

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 100: Still Wining...and a Few Oddities

Quick finish to the Napa stay:

Monday night we took the Napa wine train. It is a beautifully restored vintage train, with, as the description says, "two engines, three kitchens on board, and a collection of early 20th century rail cars that are pure Americana."

The trip was about 3 hours, and the food was delectable. Beau had lamb, I had filet. The entire trip was so relaxing.

 

This is the life!

It was cool to watch the conductor disconnect the engine at the halfway point and move it to the other end of the train for the trip back. Beau and I rode outside on the end car for quite a while after dinner.

Dessert served in the lounge car.

One of our onboard chefs working in the train kitchen.

Our official wine train portrait.

The little white dot is the moon...

Coppola, Part Two

Our last day in the Napa area we traveled up to Geyserville to see Coppola's other winery. What a difference from Rubicon. He labels it a "destination winery," and for a mere $75 -- for a poolside cabana -- you can spend the day swimming, playing bocci ball, and drinking (that's extra). Sort of like a Disney vineyard? Not our thing, but there were lots of people around the pool. We had a $50 lunch, and it took forever to get served. 

Take me back to Rubicon!

The gate to the Coppola winery.

Another beautiful Tucker!

The winery pool.

Waiting for lunch in Rustic, Coppola's winery restaurant.

We went back to Napa and checked out two other wineries I had been interested in seeing. The first was Domaine Carneros, inspired by the Louis XV style Chateau de la Marquetterie in Champagne, France.

We didn't care about the wines, really. I just wanted to see the place. Same thing for Ledson Castle, below.

A beautiful view of a vineyard.

Enough on the wineries!  

The Inevitable Oddities 

So, if you have followed this blog, you know I like documenting the weird things we find during our travels. The first is this metal truck sculpture in Calistoga, promoting bottled water.

The sculpture is about twice the size of a normal truck.

The second is Old Faithful, which is in Calistoga (you would think it would be in Geyserville!). It is advertised as one of three "Old Faithful" geysers in the world. We had to wait 20 minutes for the old guy to put on a show (the geyser geezer had to build up pressure), but the eventual spouting was mildly impressive. 

The park also houses llamas and "fainting goats" -- they supposedly faint when frightened -- and Jacob, the four-horned goat. Big whoop.

 

Old Faithful in action. And Old Beau blocking the view....

Well, I said this would be a quick blog, but of course it wasn't.  I just cannot get up to date. 

We are leaving Fort Bragg, CA, tomorrow. We've been here for two nights, which really means we spent one full day in the area. 

We spent the day traveling the gorgeous shoreline along CA Route 1 up to Mendocino (where we got to hear an opera rehearsal) and Point Arena, Elk, etc. Will document that next time!

Tanks, Panky