Bothe-Napa Valley State Park

June 23-26, 2018

The most traffic backup was going through San Francisco on Hwy 1/101. I knew there would be delays but I didn't think it would take as long as it did. The alternative would have been going east on Hwy 17 and then up I-580 through Oakland and many other Bay Area cities, so no regrets. We had a lovely drive along the coastal Hwy 1 route. The big regret it the outrageously hot temperatures in Napa! Once we got to Napa we stopped at Genova's to get some things for a nice dinner. I even got some Zinfandel wine in a can to have with it. It was highly rated, we'll see. 

By the time we got to Bothe it was 106! Oh brother! It really didn't take long to set up but we were both exhausted from the heat. I even felt quite weak and dizzy. John read his Kindle and sat in the shade with Tony. I had to lie down in the trailer with the ice pack I brought and cold compress. If it is like this tomorrow, we agreed we will leave early in the morning. I am happy to report that we got cold in the night and the rest of our stay only had temps up to the mid 80's. 

The next morning we went to the cemetery and put flowers on a few of the graves, including Mom's. She liked to do this and I took her there often. It was a little bit hard but knowing it would have made her happy helped a lot. After that we thought to try Rutherford Grill without a reservation. That left us the choice of the outside patio and appetizer menu only. It was shady so we chose to stay and had guacamole, artichoke-spinach dip, and grilled artichokes with a margarita to cool us off. Now that the sadder moments are past us I figured we might try to see Chuck if he is at Caymus today. If he is not there I will text him and try to see him tomorrow with some photos he might want. The surprise was, he was there, and met with us also giving us free wine tasting! I was thrilled that he had such an interest and indeed wanted the few photos I brought to him. If he only knew how many more I have! I will be sure to bring them to the Glos Family Reunion planned in early October. He will have a chance to decide about many photos, some he may want. Anyway, it was a nice visit and he gave us 2 6-pack bags of wine to take home with us! Such a generous and nice man. Our day was complete with our ravioli dinner, a bottle of Zinfandel from the gifted wine, and multiple card games. 

Today I contacted the St. Helena Historical Society to offer them the rest of the photos Chuck did not want, along with some baby shoes. To my surprise, they wanted everything and were quite thrilled to receive the items. I assured them I do have more and in time they will get it. This time John and I had reservations for Rutherford Grill so we had a nice table inside and I could order the beloved ribs for our lunch. John shared them with me because he wanted the guacamole again. With the ribs, coleslaw, and fries, we still could not eat it all but it made a nice snack this evening. We decided that tomorrow we will head home. We are tired and we both want to watch the next World Cup game the following day, which is Brasil vs. Serbia.  

Now home, safe and sound. Trailer is stored and all went well. No health issues. Thanking God for that! 

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

June 19-23, 2018

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, site 7. What a lovely campground just a few miles from Santa Cruz, open seasonally April 1-Nov 1. The only negative is poison oak, and LOTS of it, around about half the campsites. Our campsite is spacious (ours would hold at least 5 tents!) and cleared of poison oak, but one must not wander off the trail or roads because it is everywhere. We are keeping Tony on a short leash. I see a lot of kids having a wonderful time playing in it --- I wonder how that will turn out for them? Anyway, as I said the campsites are nice, most are spacious with a large, sturdy table and a cupboard attached. Each site has the typical fire ring with grill. Most sites are shaded by a lovely canopy of trees, which is just beautiful, a few have full sun. If you are counting on solar power you would want to pick and choose one of the few sites that have sun when booking online. We are very happy with the filtered sunlight and cool weather. There are nice, hot, coin operated showers in two of the restrooms. Water faucets and trash containers are conveniently located to the campsites. I thought of Sierra and Matt because there are 14 hiking trails listed to explore from .3 to 3.3 miles in length, they enjoy hiking! One of the hikes is 45 minutes to the Redwood Grove. It is also a 5 minute drive. Guess which one we did? There are a lot of Rhododendron but not in bloom this time of year. There are 113 camps here with a variety of types. We drove around and noted our favorites. Notably but not comprehensive: 7, 35, 39, 42, 47, 96 - and double camps for the family would be 52 & 54 or 61 & 63.  

One day we drove the few miles to Felton and through the little town to get to the Redwood Grove. There is a one mile loop to walk with numbers and a little guide to read as you go. There is a small Visitors Center, gift shop I didn't go into, and some other facilities in the area. It was a nice outing.  You will find the Roaring Camp Railroad near Felton as well.  You can take this steam train on a narrated ride through the Redwood forest to Bear Mountain for some great views, then back. The other option is the Beach Train to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. You can catch this train in Felton, Roaring Camp, or at the Boardwalk, one way or round trip can be purchased. They advertise Ziplining but I didn't read much about it.

This would be a great family camp, but of course no beach for fishing close by. Now we are on our way to Bothe-Napa Valley. I should have thought this through better, departing on a Saturday and the emotional toll of returning to Napa. 

Morro Strand State Beach Campground

June 14-19, 2018

14-19: Morro Strand State Beach Campground, sites 75 & 76. This is our traditional trip to the coast with the family on Father's Day weekend. Jeff always has Miranda and he loves to fish, so this is the choice. Deb likes to hear the waves at night to sleep as well. The campsites are small and "not special" but the location is premium. We often get the ocean side but this time even trying 5 months in advance, we could only get the city side. It still works out fine. This time we had us, Julianne,  Deb, Sam, Spencer, Steven, and Saira. Julie had work on Monday so she went home with Steven and Saira on Sunday afternoon after watching the World Cup game and having shrimp tacos. During our time there is it also Sam's birthday. We celebrated at Schooner's in Cayucos - one of our favorites. We typically eat there at least once when on the coast. We also like House of JuJu and Giovanni's, we ate at both. We got fresh oysters Saturday night, Steven and Jeff grilled them on the fire and we had assorted sauces for our toppings. We are never that hungry after eating the big meal at Schooner's for lunch that day. The weather was great most of the time but the wind really kicked up Monday and actually drove us indoors for part of the time. It certainly was no weather to play Uno and even Yahtzee was hard to control. Sharon and her friend Sandy are bringing granddaughter's Rylee and Emery to see Hearst's Castle so they had a long drive but did stop to see us for a little bit before heading to their hotel.  Thankfully the wind died down by evening and was just starting to pick up when we departed on Tuesday morning. Deb wanted to stay and be sure we were hooked up and on our way before they left. After leaving Morro Strand we back tracked to Morro Bay State Campground to empty our waste tanks and replenished our water tans. Now we are on our way to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

Another Change...

We'll get this figured out yet! Kaiser called and John's panel appt is going to be on July 2, so we changed things again!

Here is our updated schedule:

Itinerary: 

14-19 June     Morro Strand, #75      

19-23 June     Cowell Redwood, #07

23-28 June     Bothe-Napa, #03

28-June          Home

01-July            Head to SF

02-July            CT and appt, then head home.

Hopefully, this will be the last change. 

Summer Reservations

We changed our summer camping plans. After the Father's Day event in June at Morro Strand we are going to head north with a couple stays on the way to Napa and then over to the coast. 

Itinerary: 

14-19 June     Morro Strand, #75      

19-23 June     Cowell Redwood, #07

23-28 June     Bothe-Napa, #03

28-02July       Russian Gulch, #14

02-July           Bothe-Napa, #3

03-July           Home

Awaiting news for the panel appointment for John's approval for the TAVR. Meanwhile, looking forward to escaping the heat of the valley a little bit.