Navigating "New" Normals

We left our campground in Marin and, yep, I left my heart in San Francisco! I’ve never been good at goodbyes, but today was especially hard to leave Sarah.  I am so happy we were able to see her, but I did not want to leave.

Nevertheless, we forged ahead to Yosemite.  Greg’s never been to Yosemite, and the last time I was here, I was a pre-schooler, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect.  Yosemite is so iconic. What were we about to see??

First off, we didn’t realize how far off the beaten path is Yosemite.  It was no short drive from Marin to our campground.  Our next dilemma was that there was almost no satellite signal, which denied us the security of following GPS.  Lastly, it is so so very dry in the mountains surrounding Yosemite.  We drove through miles and miles of scorched trees and land.  Very sad that this is the same scenario we’ve seen throughout our trip.

We’ve been talking about a trip to Yosemite since we were married 28 years ago. Too bad, we didn’t get here until now, because since the big fire 2 years ago, the face of Yosemite is distinctly different.  While there are areas inside the park that are untouched by fire and therefore still green, the drought has dried up all waterfalls and lakes.  We wish we could have seen it in its heyday.

When we were nearing the end of our drive for the day, almost to our campground, we saw a lady standing right next to a huge buck, laying on the side of the road.  Clearly someone had hit this regal creature, as he had blood streaming from his mouth.  It was unclear if she was the one who hit him, or if she was trying to help him, but she was so close to him that if he mustered one last bit of strength, she would be history (deer can inflict mortal injuries on unsuspecting tourists by their hoofs or antlers, especially if they are in distress).  With cars behind us, pressing us to keep going, we were not able to stop and help.  We said a prayer that God would take him quickly and put him out of his misery.  So sad.

With no GPS, we were so grateful we were able to find our campground, Yosemite Lakes, which was pretty nice (although there was no wifi nor satellite signal at all, unless we walked over to the campground lodge.) We tried to grab a bite to eat at Evergreen Lodge, at the recommendation of the RV Park office clerk.  Unfortunately, the Evergreen  didn’t serve dunch/linner.  So we were out of luck to grab anything more than snacks from the General Store.  We returned to our campground and there was a fun and festive live country music band playing at the outdoor pavilion. 

Lots of families were enjoying the music and s’mores by the campfire…made me wish we had camped with the kids when they were little, but alas we chose house boating as our regular summer activity, and that choice yielded amazing and lasting family memories, so it all worked out for the best.

We turned in early, with excited anticipation to explore Yosemite tomorrow.

After much deliberation and planning, we have a day mapped out for today that combines all the things we love most, exploring new places, trying new things, but, best of all, uninterrupted time together.  Here’s the game plan…Sarah’s never explored Angel Island, and, obviously, nor had we. So, we planned to meet at the ferry in Tiburon, have a little breakfast and then take the 10:00 am Ferry to Angel Island.  

Now here’s the clincher…Greg suggested we take a guided SEGWAY tour around Angel Island!

Now I don’t know about you, but when I think of SEGWAYs, the picture that comes to mind is one of a mall cop patrolling the Shops at Mission Viejo.   I just don’t understand how one can possibly balance on that 2-wheeled space machine, so I really have no confidence that I could ride one, even if I wanted to!!  Sarah feels the same way I do.  But we agree to “suck it up” and GO FOR IT!! After all, Greg has been nice enough to reserve/pay for a trip on these beauts, the least Sarah and I can do is to be open to the possibility of fun.

Well let me tell you….I could NOT have been MORE WRONG.  These SEGWAYS were a blast!

We had a fantastic time and wished the trip was longer!  Way to go Greg!! The Champ was 100% right!!  Check us out!

After our wonderful morning/afternoon, we found our way to the Tiburon Tavern where we could enjoy a bite to eat and the second half of the Bruin game…Go Bruins!  It’s nice to have our first win of the season under our belt!

After our day of adventure, Sarah returns with us to the RV Park in Marin…We can’t wait to show her where we’ve been living for the last month!!

As you can imagine, the end of the day came way too quickly and I am so very sad to say goodbye to our Sarah 😦  We love you Sar Bear! We’re counting the days until we see you again…(Maybe Santa will bring you a Segway for Christmas, hee hee!)

We’ve been so looking forward to this next leg of our trip!  We get to see our Sarah, who’s living and working in San Francisco.  So, while I COULD expend energy telling you the details leading up to our arrival in San Francisco, I’ll jump to the highlight…We GET TO SEE OUR DAUGHTER!! I felt like a kid who can’t wait for Christmas morning to come…hurry up clock!  Fast forward to the time she’s off work and we get to see her!!

Since our RV is parked outside the city, we have to catch the Larkspur Ferry into the city and then we decide to walk from the SF Ferry Terminal to her apartment, which according to our calculations, should only be about 30 minutes.  HOWEVER, the GPS map fails to mention that a good portion of that walk will be straight UPHILL!! Thankfully, we had the good sense to wear our tennies, so at least we had that going for us.  (I do not know how she walks/runs these streets every day…She is a better woman than I…this walk just about kills me!)

We finally made to her new apartment, which we have not seen since she moved in last month. While the apartment and her roommates were darling, the real treat was seeing our beautiful Sarah!!

She made reservations at a healthy new restaurant in her neighborhood, “Lord Stanley’s,” and we three had a delicious dinner and a wonderful time catching up, laughing, sharing stories and having a perfect night.  Sarah is an incredible young woman, and we are so proud of her!

It would be hard to say goodbye, but we can leave knowing that we have an incredible day planned together tomorrow.

Another slow morning, but it’s okay.  We have a wide-open day to do whatever we want!  I woke up bound and determined to finally take our bikes down from the rack and tour around the area.  Greg was agreeable, so we got underway and made our first stop at a gas station to put air in our tires.  Once our bikes were wiped clean, and ship-shape, we headed out to explore.

Our first stop…The Public Market in the Oxbow District of Napa.  From the outside, the Public Market had a very similar look to the complex of the same name which we loved on Granville Island in Vancouver, so we wanted to take a look inside.  We had breakfast there and browsed the various shops and found that it was, in fact, similar to our favorite Public Market, although on a much smaller scale.

From there, we drove around the town of Napa and honestly, we were disappointed.  We expected that Napa would be as quaint and charming as the other wine tasting towns we’ve visited in central California. After all, the vineyards throughout Napa Valley are so spectacular, we had heightened expectations of the town. We asked around and were told to go to Kennedy Park, which would have a bike path for us, we were promised.  Again, we were underwhelmed.  Where’s the beautiful scenery?  Where are the grapevines?

Then we looked through one of our tourism magazines and found a bike shop, in Yountville, that offered self-guided bike tour maps, so off we went.  Eureka!! We found it!  We found the charming wine tasting town we had envisioned.  Yountville was everything we hoped Napa would be!  We found a charming sidewalk cafe called Bistro Jeanty and had a delicious lunch, to fill our tanks before we headed off for a 13-mile bike ride through gorgeous vineyards.

Even though we shared the highway for most of the 13 miles with cars whizzing past us, it was well worth the ride.  This was exactly what I had in mind (minus all the traffic, but life does have its trade-offs, right?)

It’s only 8:00pm and I am ready to put my tired bones to bed…I guess that’s to be expected since we pedaled over 20 miles today!  I gotta say, I may have a hard time sleeping tonight…so excited to go to San Francisco tomorrow and see our Sarah!

I have a vague memory of a family road trip to Napa when I was a little girl.  As one of three little girls piled in the back seat of our Buick, I don’t remember much about the trip, except my Dad joking, saying he was a little sleepy and needed a “nap-a.”  (Mom, was this the same road trip as the one which brought us to the Jedediah Smith Campground?) Funny how these things stick in my memory.  Anyway, I think it’s fitting to tell that story today, as we are heading for Napa!

We’ll be in Napa for 2 relaxing days. Greg and I are looking forward to taking a little more time as we travel through California.  Having covered a lot of miles (appx. 5,700 miles so far) in a pretty short period of time, we’re getting a little tired.  That’s probably the reason why we couldn’t quite get our wheels in motion until noon today.  We took our time having breakfast, catching up on my posts, texting/chatting with our kids, making plans with Sarah for our visit with her in a few days…generally being lazy!  We will arrive in Napa in a couple of hours, get settled at our campground and then get ready for a sunset wine tasting train ride.  Sounds like fun!!

Fast forward to later that day…

The drive to Napa was very winding and very pretty.  Glad we got to see all the miles and miles of vineyards.  Clearly these vineyards are the star attraction here in Napa.

We didn’t stop at any, as we had to find our way to our campground in town, then make a 5:30 reservation on the Napa Valley Wine Train. We thought this train would meander down the tracks, stop and allow a tasting here and there and include a delicious dinner.  Well, not exactly…the 4-course meal was quite delicious, but there was no stopping, nor wine tasting. We were a bit disappointed when we realized that this train was only going to head down the tracks and then turn around and come right back again, and the views from the “Dome” on the second level of the train, weren’t all that spectacular.  I guess we should have anticipated that…with such a short time on the train.  Unfortunately, the evening wasn’t what we hoped for…but its likely a case of having too high of expectations, and also needing a little “Napa.”

Tomorrow we are on our own to discover more of Napa…time to call it a night!

We woke up this morning with one mission in mind! Where’s the best place to see the Redwoods? We settle on heading to Humboldt State Park, just south of us.  Ditching our original plan to camp in Trinidad, which is only a short distance from Klamath and too far north to see Humboldt, we decide to have lunch in Trinidad first before embarking on our scenic drive.  We found a yummy place on Yelp called Lighthouse Grille in Trinidad, where Greg had fish and chips and I had a “nut” burger (appropriate for me, dontcha’ think?) We did a bit of grocery shopping there and picked up groceries, so that Greg could whip up another of his famous RV barbecues, and headed to Humboldt.

Along the way, we saw a turn-off where we could potentially see elk!  Score! Way off in the distance we did catch a glimpse of a bull elk, sharpening his horns against a telephone pole. (Sorry, no picture!  Too far away!)  Then we jumped on a scenic segment of highway in search of our Redwoods.  With the help of a couple of nice park rangers we met at an information center, we grabbed some maps and forged ahead.  We saw beautiful scenery along the way.

Every picture we take cannot possibly depict the magnificence of  these Redwoods!   On our second day of exploring these spectacular forests, we’re feeling frustrated that we can’t seem to properly share them with you…I know!  How about a short video clip of our drive? Maybe THEN you might get a clearer picture with how overwhelming beautiful it is here!!  Let’s give it a try…

By the way, it took several attempts to get these few seconds of video…I even resorted to hanging out the window to try to get the footage…

Another wonderful day with the Redwoods comes to a close and we opt for arriving early to our campground so we can catch a breath (and do LOTS of laundry)! As seen in the picture below, we’re putting together some interesting outfits with the few clean clothes we have left, Haha!

While I do laundry, Greg cooks another delicious dinner for us!!  Salmon and veggies…perfect end to another perfect day!

While we have absolutely loved seeing all the beautiful sights around our country and Canada, there’s no place like home! Today we left our campground on the beach in Oregon (at least I think it was a beach, never actually saw it in the daylight) and found our way through the misty morning to Highway 101 and headed south to the Oregon/California border.

Don’t ask me why, but I was bound and determined to stand right on the border, so I could say I was actually in two places at the same time! Ever since Jamie Sullivan (Mandy Moore) straddled the border in “A Walk to Remember,” I’ve wanted to do the same…call me Corny!  My ever-accommodating husband pulled off the road at the exact strategic moment, so I could do just that.  Check that one off!

During this last leg of our trip, we purposely didn’t schedule too many things, so we could freely decide what we’d like to do, moment by moment. This a welcome freedom as we can drive without the fear of being late!

We both knew we wanted to experience the giant Redwoods, and with that goal in mind, we mapped a 2-day route to visit the Redwood National Forest. First stop, Jedidiah Smith Campgrounds, where my Mom tells me we camped when I was a little girl. Mom, this one’s for you!!  We parked the RV and looked around the campground, while I strained to remember.  Alas, I can’t say that any specific memory was sparked for me, but it was comforting to return there nonetheless.

Our next stop was at the “Trees of Mystery” in Klamath.  We weren’t sure what we would find there, but it was worth a looksy…when we arrived, and saw how kitschy it appeared, we almost turned back.  But I dug my heels in…I mean how often do you get to pose next to Paul Bunyan?  Nope, we’re going in…and glad we did.  There were, in fact, enormous, gorgeous Redwoods for us to experience.  These trees are so magnificent, there is just no way to capture them in pictures.  With many of them hundreds of feet high and over 14 feet in diameter, it is an awe-inspiring experience to behold their wonder.

With no cell phone coverage, nor WiFi, we decided we should try to find our way to our campground before dark.  Good thing we did! There is no way we would have found Kamp Klamath in the dark.  Tucked away at the end of a canyon, Kamp Klamath is practically hiding from weary travelers…But no!! It could not hide from Greg and Sandy, the determined adventurers!  Since, there was no restaurants within 50 miles of our remote home for the night, my sweetheart barbecued a wonderful dinner of steak and roasted vegetables!  DELICIOUS!! What a way to end the day!!

After a great day in Washington, we crossed over the border into Oregon and because Greg is always wanting to please me every chance he can, he accommodated my request to “stop by” Bend, Oregon.  I’ve always wanted to see Bend.  Several of my friends have spoken highly of this town and I wanted to visit Bend as long as we’re close…actually we weren’t that close.  It was several hours from our last destination and quite a detour from the route that made the most sense.  Nevertheless, my road warrior husband tarried on, determined to show me Bend.  The problem was that it was so many, many miles from our last stop, we ended up arriving after 10:00 pm and it was obviously too late to do anything.  Then this morning, with a long day of driving ahead of us, we didn’t have any time to engage in any fun “Bend” activities…so the most I can say is that we passed through Bend…which by the way, looks like a very charming town.

Yesterday, while zip lining, we met some sweet people from Oregon who told us we really needed to see Crater Lake while we are here. So…that is exactly what we tried to do.  We drove from Bend to Crater Lake to see the spectacular sites.  We hear that the water is an incredible color, like no other place on earth.  As you can see by the pictures below, we are going to have to take them at their word, as there was no way to tell exactly what color the water was, let alone even see the water, with the viewing point so socked-in, it looked like nothing but white clouds/fog in the distance. 

You just have to laugh.  Keeping one’s sense of humor is imperative when one is an adventurer.  You’re either going to laugh or cry…our sightseeing isn’t exactly going the way we had planned today.  It’s especially frustrating that, after we’re already way too far down the road, we missed spectacular sights by just a few miles.  Oh well, guess we’ll have to come back some day after we’ve done more planning.

After almost seeing Crater Lake, we drove on Highway 138 to travel to our campground for the night in Coos Bay.  This was a very scenic drive for miles and miles and almost made it worth it to take the long way around via Crater Lake.  We enjoyed the winding, tree-lined mountain roads, listening to our book on tape and sharing time together. 

Even the doggies seemed to enjoy riding shot gun with us. (As you know, Bella doesn’t much like it any time we are in motion…poor thing just paces up and down, wondering why is this house always moving?) At least for a moment, she takes a break from her pacing to pose for a picture.

Once we had a cell signal after we had passed through the Coast Ranges, we were able to phone home and talk to our Moms. It was great hearing their voices…we are so blessed to have such great family.  We will really look forward to seeing them when we return home in the near future.   Speaking of returning home, tomorrow we cross the border into California!  Home sweet home.  My mom told me tonight that our family took a similar road trip when I was very young, and stopped at a campground called Jedediah Smith, just south of the Oregon/California border.  We’re going to go check it out and see if we can stir up any memories from when I was about 4 years old. (After all, that was only about 25 years ago…I should remember SOMETHING! haha)  California, here we come, right back where we started from!!

This morning when we left our charming campground at Mt. Haven near Mt. Rainier, I found myself wishing we could stay a little longer…such a serene, beautiful place.  One night was not enough.  But alas, we had many places to go and see, and Mount St. Helen’s was waiting for us. Today might prove a bit more challenging, as the morning greeted us with strong winds and plenty of rain (which is actually very good news).  After a good breakfast at the base of the mountain at a cute place called “Patty’s Place,” we were off. The long, winding road up to the Johnston Observatory atop Mount Saint Helen’s was challenging for Greg to drive…very, very windy.  We noticed along the way that there were lots of tree stumps.  We couldn’t tell if they had been cut down, burned down or the victims of some other force of nature.  We would soon find out the answer to the mystery.  Once we finally made it to the Observatory, parked the RV and endeavored to make the short walk to the building, we were surprised by how hard it was to make it to our destination.  With the heavy rain and strong winds working against us, it felt like each step we took yielded no forward movement. The Champ grabbed me and forged our way to the building…had it not been for him, I might still be standing there, being tossed about by Mother Nature. (Sorry, no pictures to post…snapping pics wasn’t going to happen in the wind tunnel.)

Glad we made it to the Observatory.  There was a very interesting presentation by a Park Ranger describing the eruption of Mount St. Helen’s back in 1980 (which I only vaguely remember….guess I was too young haha  )  Then watching the movie about this massive volcano made me wonder when she’s going to blow again.  The Observatory was encased in 360 degrees of windows, so, in theory, the view of Mount St. Helen’s should have been spectacular.  However, there was zero visibility.  So, that was disappointing. Every time I watched one of these National Park movies (including Yellowstone, Mt. Rainier), I found myself wondering if today would be the next historical day that the eruption would take place.  Obviously, since I am sitting here comfortably in front of my computer, today was not the day.

By the way, the answer to the tree stump mystery: those stumps are remnants of the 1980 eruption.  All these many years later, they are tangible evidence of the explosion of gases that occurred after the avalanche.

After Mount St. Helen’s, we needed to make tracks!  Greg made us a reservation for a zip line tour about 2 hours away at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington along the Columbia River Gorge. With the road ahead pretty difficult to navigate through the wind and rain, we had to drive slower than normal, and wondered if we would make it there in time.

Thankfully, we made it with only a couple minutes to spare. So glad we made it!  It was a great time!

We were the clearly the oldest ones in our group…but we didn’t feel like it!  We felt like a couple of teenagers!

Today was lots of fun and full of several challenges.  So glad we experienced them together. Farewell Washington!  Hello Oregon!

Today we got a later start.  I was 2 days behind in my blog postings, and our loved ones began to wonder if we had driven off a cliff, or something equally catastrophic.  So, we made an executive decision to camp me somewhere in close proximity to the strongest WiFi we could find, so I could catch up on the blog posts. (Who knows if the very post I am writing now will successfully upload…) I keep reminding myself that all of these kinds of things are what makes this an adventure.  It’s all about the unknown…which is most certainly stretching me as a person.  I had a good laugh with Greg today about this very thing…the title of our blog, “Greg and Sandy’s Epic Adventure,” should really have a subtitle, because we have a recurring theme so far in our journey.  Ready to hear the subtitle?  Wait for it….Subtitle is “Trust Your Husband & Listen to Your Wife.”  We are both stretching in these and countless other ways…this has all been very good for us, even though, at times, it has not been comfortable.  But I ask you… Were the Explorers comfortable? Were the Settlers comfortable?   Were our forefathers comfortable?  Ok, I admit I went a bit far…but on a more realistic note…even though it seems that nothing comes “easy,” I guess I needed to be uncomfortable in order to grow and stretch to meet this next chapter of my life.  The fact that we are into our 3rd week and still excited about our tomorrows to come, I think, is a very good sign. Quite a blessing! Thank you God!  By the way, if it doesn’t rain tomorrow, I will be zip-lining through the forests.  Let’s see if I’m still excited about this stretching thing….

So, on to our activities today.  We dedicated this whole day to exploring as much of Washington’s Mt. Rainier as we could.  It is such a massive, impressive, awe-inspiring place, there is just no way to see even a fraction of it in just one day.  However, the Champ and I are hoping to use this trip to get a taste of all the sights, with the plan to some day return to the places we love the best for an extended stay and really invest ourselves in all that they have to offer….hopefully by the time we return again, I will be in better shape to be able to hike/kayak and fish in this beautiful country.

As for Mt. Rainier…it is as beautiful as we have heard it is.  So green, so majestic, so powerful.  We especially loved how uncrowded it was.  There were far less tourists here than in the other national parks we have visited so far. Also, it is special to us to visit region where our daughter-in-law Val’s family lives.  I can see why they love it so much here.  It is so beautiful.

I could go on and on with my superlatives…but I will instead let a few pictures of the day tell the story far better than I possibly could….