99.1 miles today, 4,681.7 miles total

Perhaps the best known stretch of highway in America, California’s Highway 1 between  San Francisco and Los Angeles is 400 miles of coastal beauty. Scenic Highway 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway, hugs the coastline from northern California to its southern border. It offers magnificent views of the ocean. We spent the day traveling ~ 90 miles along the breathtaking Pacific Coast Highway from Big Sur to Moro Bay. We stopped at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to see McWay Falls & the California condors hiking amid the southernmost region of the famed coastal redwoods. We also stopped along one of the overlooks for lunch and again for a long hike among the hundreds of elephant seals on the beaches. On land Elephant Seals huddle together and sleep much of the time, eating nothing while on the beach. At sea it is a different matter entirely. They dive constantly for 20 to 30 minutes at a time searching for food with only a few minutes on the surface to catch another breath.  After a brief visit to Hearst Castle Visitor Center, we went on to Morro Dunes RV Park at Morro Bay, called the “Gibraltar of the Pacific” because of the 576-foot-high volcanic peak looming over town and bay, the westernmost of nine extinct volcanoes named “the sisters.” Morro Rock could have served as inspiration for that 1960s Simon and Garfunkel tune with the “I am a rock, I am an island” refrain. After a Tognazzini’s Dockside Restaurant fresh seafood dinner and walk around the piers, we ended up watching the James Bond movie, “Skyfall,” partially based in Shanghai, before bed.

“The aim of life is some way of living, as flexible and gentle as human nature; so that ambition may stoop to kindness, and philosophy to condor and humor. Neither prosperity nor empire nor heaven can be worth winning at the price of a virulent temper.” –George Santayana (Spanish/American philosopher/poet/humanist, 1863-1952)

53.4 miles today, 4,582.6 miles total

We started in Marina Dunes RV Park 10 miles north of Montery. We parked at San Carlos Beach & walked around town having lunch on a terrace overlooking the bay at Louie Linguini’s. We drove past Pebble Beach and through Carmel-By-The-Sea. We then continued on the scenic 17 mile drive along Hwy 1 Pacific Coast Hwy to Big Sur. Highway 1 was constructed through geologically diverse landscape in the 1930′s and opened in 1937. Parts of the Highway north of Big Sur follow the Old Coast Road, completed from Monterey to Big Sur by Monterey County in the 1880′s. Construction of the highway involved extensive excavations that utilized steam shovels and blasting.  We had an incredible dinner with magnificent vista views at Nepenthe Restaurant at Big Sur on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It is 808 feet above sea level. Then we took Thumper back to Fernwood RV Park at Big Sur, m, b, w & t

“Big Sur is the California that men dreamed of years ago, this is the Pacific that Balboa looked at from the Peak of Darien, this is the face of the earth as the Creator intended it to look.” –Henry Miller (American Author/Writer, 1891-1980)

Nepenthe is a word derived from the Greek, meaning “no sorrow.” A mythical Egyptian drug, the wife of Thonis, King of Egypt, gave it to Helen, daughter of Jove, to induce forgetfulness and surcease from sorrow. The word and thought have been used in literature through all time. Homer mentioned it in “The Odyssey,” & in “The Raven,” Edgar Allen Poe said: ” Quaff oh quaff this kind Nepenthe, and forget the lost Lenore.”

114.1 miles today, 4,529.2 miles total

We left Pacifica and headed to Palo Alto to meet a friend of Will’s, Ambrose Gano. We drove into town and had lunch at NOLA, a New Orleans restaurant and then headed over to Stanford University where Ambrose is an MBA student. He gave us a campus tour including the Philip Knight Management Center. We then began our trek down US Hwy 1 via Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk to Marina Dunes RV Park. We hiked over the dunes to touch the Pacific Ocean for the first time! After a delicious dinner using pasta from Little Italy in SF, we retired for the evening. m, b, w & t

“There comes a time in every life when the past recedes and the future opens. It is that moment when you turn to face the unknown. Some will turn back to what they already know. Some will walk straight ahead into uncertainty. I can’t tell you which one is right. But I can tell you which one is more fun.” –Philip H. Knight (Nike Founder, CEO & Chairman of the Board: Stanford MBA Class of 1962)

“About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.” –Herbert Hoover(31st President of the US; Pioneer Stanford Class of 1891)

“I like to get out in the woods and live close to nature. Every man does. It is in his blood. It is his feeble protest against civilization.’’  – -Thomas Edison at Muddy Creek Falls, 1921

President Herbert Hoover, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone at Edison’s 82nd birthday. Ft. Myers, Florida, February 11, 1929. Hoover was in the first class at Stanford University.

Edison, Ford & Firestone shared camping together about two weeks each summer from 1915 through 1924. On these camping trips, these wealthy captains of industry called themselves “vagabonds” as they roughed it together in the great outdoors away from civilization. The publicity that followed these celebrated men on their summer adventures helped to introduce to the general public the pleasure of motorized recreational touring, outdoor recreation and camping. Historians have noted that these camping trips were “the first notable linking of the automobile and outdoor recreation.” The loud sounds of the motor caravan breaking the quiet of the rural countryside would have certainly drawn the attention of anyone within hearing distance.

46.7 miles today, 4,415.1 miles total

What a day of celebration! Our son, Will, has come from China to RV travel with us for 2 weeks down the California coast & beyond!!! We picked him up at the San Francisco International Airport this morning and spent the day discovering San Francisco after parking Thumper at Pier 43 at Fisherman’s Wharf. We walked for miles exploring, eating fish, shrimp, clams, & Ghirardelli chocolate. We walked by Lombard Street (famous for having a steep, one-block section that consists of eight tight hairpin turns), Knob Hill, Chinatown, Little Italy, & the street cars. We toured Hyde Street Pier, part of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, where various historical ships are anchored to the pier. Among the ships on display is the Balclutha, an 1886 square rigged sailing ship.  We returned to Pacifica to our San Francisco RV home, got a Mexican dinner and settled in for the night. Today, we had a blast, m, b, w  & t

“When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.” –The Talmud

“A boy is a magical creature – you can lock him out of your workshop, but you can’t lock him out of your heart.” –Allan Beck

“On the green they watched their sons
Playing till too dark to see,
As their fathers watched them once,
As my father once watched me.”– Edmund Blunden

God took the beauty of the Bay of Naples, the Valley of the Nile, the Swiss Alps, the Hudson River Valley, rolled them into one and made San Francisco Bay. (Fiorello La Guardia)

You wouldn’t think such a place as San Francisco could exist.  The wonderful sunlight here, the hills, the great bridges, the Pacific at your shoes.  Beautiful Chinatown.  Every race in the world.  The sardine fleets sailing out.  The little cable-cars whizzing down The City hills….And all the people are open and friendly.  (Dylan Thomas)

102.6 miles today, 4,368.4 miles total

We left the wine country of Napa Valley mid-day and headed to the pleasant town of Pleasanton. There I visited the Zeltiq corporate headquarters. My gracious guide was Dana Martinez and I had a jovial meeting with Keith Sullivan, Senior VP of Worldwide Sales. It was a pleasure to meet such nice people in this “cool” company inspired by popsicles & ice melting. They market Coolsculpting, the one & only procedure I still perform in retirement up at Westglow Resort & Spa in Blowing Rock, “where cool people come to chill.”

We then traveled onto the San Francisco Bay area checking in at the San Francisco RV Park in Pacifica literally overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The last picture was taken from our campground! m, b & t

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” — Abraham Lincoln

“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” — Albert Schweitzer

56.6 miles today, 4,265.8 miles total

Headed up Hwy 29 to the Castle Winery, Castello di Amorosa in Calistoga. Fascinating “castle of love” tour and wine tasting. After PBJ lunch in “Thumper,” we headed across the street to Sterlng Vineyards for a self-guided tour and aerial tram ride.

“Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used; exclaim no more against it.”
~ William Shakespeare

“Wine is light, held together by water.” — Galileo

199.2 miles today, 4,209.2 miles total

We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with breakfast at the Yosemite Upper Pines campground, a 3 and 1/2 mile hike up to Vernal Falls and a drive through Yosemite while sipping cafe mochas. We traveled on through the orange groves of California onto Napa Valley pulling into the Napa Valley Expo RV Park. A truly memorable 30th anniversary day! Off to the vineyards in the morning, m, b & t

“A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year.” — Paul Sweeney

“The secret of a happy marriage is finding the right person. You know they’re right if you love to be with them all the time.” — Julia Child (even in a 24 foot RV for 2 months)

“My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.”   
— Aldous Huxley

 “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”— John Muir


 

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” — T.S. Eliot 

67 miles today,  4,010 miles total

Entering Yosemite at Inspiration Point is an awesome experience of nature. With El Capitan & Half Dome cliffs, the waterfalls, the giant Sequoia groves, the wildlife and beauty, it is breathtaking! We traveled on to hike up to Bridal Falls. After a PBJ lunch in Thumper, we hiked to  Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall in the US, and the 5th tallest waterfall in the world at 2,425 feet. We then biked with Toby to Curry Village for a picnic dinner, then onto Mirror Lake and Happy Isles. We returned to our campsite surrounded by campfires. Yosemite NP…astounding, m, b & t

“It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter.” John Muir (Father of the U.S. National Park Service, Sierra Club founder and nature writer)

“Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.” — Ansel Adams, photographer

205 miles today,  3,943 miles total

Sequoia National Park…WOW!!! Met some Venturi hiking partners, Don & Kathy. The General Sherman Tree is the most giant Giant Sequoia in the world. The largest tree by volume, it is 275 feet tall and 36.5 feet across at the base. The tree is believed to be 2,200 years old and weigh 1,385 tons. After a full day of sightseeing, we traveled on to camp just outside of Yosemite, in the town of Coarse Gold. After doing our run/walk down country roads, we had a delicious Mexican dinner and then to bed, m, b & t

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”–John Muir

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”–John Muir

“I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do.” — John Muir 

“What is the purpose of the giant sequoia tree? The purpose of the giant sequoia tree is to provide shade for the tiny titmouse.”–Edward Abbey {titmouse–small North American oscine birds (genusBaeolophus of the family Paridae) that are related to the chickadees}

354 miles today,  3,738 miles total

Travel Day through the Mojave Desert up to Tulare, California just outside Sequoia National Forest.  Mark & Toby napping together on the road. Mark taking care of business prior to departure.  m, b & t

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese