The Ray Adventures: Monterey Bay, Ca., Petaluma, Ca. & Trinidad, Ca. April 1

Lone Cypress 17 Mile Drive

Oakland Raiders Stadium

View from bridge of USS Hornet

USS Hornet

View from Bodega Head

Luci enjoying the bay

Me scaring of "birds" Bodega

School house from "Birds"

Alfred Hitcock mannequin, Bodeg

Turkey strutting his stuff, Petaluma Coast Guard Base

Stump beside our site in Trinidad

We are closing in on Salem, just one more stop before we leave the coast to head up I-5, if all goes as planned we will be there by Friday, April 15th. The drive North on 101 has been just beautiful, lots of purple, yellow and white wildflowers, the ice plants are blooming in many different vibrant colors not to mention the yellow and orange California poppies. For once our timing has been perfect, seeing the desert in bloom too. I have never seen so many different colors of green, the patch work fields and the trees having their own special hue. We have caught glimpses of the Pacific on and off, from here until Bandon we should follow the ocean.

Friday, April 1st, We left Rockport a month ago today, I can't believe how time has gone by so fast. We left San Luis Obispo about 9:30 after fueling up, always an adventure. We are headed for Monterey Pines RV park, a Navy park right on a golf course in Monterey, The Navy sure has some nice real estate. We'll be here 6 days, hoping to get our mirror. We stopped in Salinas to see a mirror that "could" work, it was black instead of chrome and deeply discounted from $1,700 to a mere $1,000. We passed on that opportunity. It seems that the mirror is backordered/out of stock/ discontinued, take your pick, we've heard it all, even though the coach the is only 2 plus years old. Arggggh!!!!!!!! We pulled into Monterey Pines about 2, traveling 165 miles including the side trip to Economy RV. What a beautiful park, the weather is sunny and breezy but a touch cool. (the marine influence) For some reason we couldn't get the coach level, we used all our blocks but it's still not enough. Oh well, it makes it easier to get out of bed you sort of fall out.

Saturday, April 2nd, We spent a quiet morning before heading down to Cannery Row to see the world famous Monterey Aquarium. However it cost almost $35. each for seniors, since we have been there before we decided to skip it. We walked the waterfront looking for otters (saw none) then walked through a few tourist shops before our 2 hour parking spot time limit was up. Maybe next time???

Sunday, April 3rd, It's my big brother "Punch's" birthday, happy bd bro. We drove 75 miles north on 101 to Santa Clara to Levi's Stadium, the new home of the San Francisco 49er's in our quest to visit all 31 NFL stadiums. Last February Super Bowl 50 was held here. The stadium opened last September, seating 69,003 (3 more than Candlestick) with 100 suites. Quite high tech and very green, they have 49 solar panels on the roof that generates enough electricity for the complex even on game day. Also on the roof is an area for up to 22 fans, surrounded by beautiful gardens that help insulate the building and like other areas of the stadium you can rent the area for birthday parties, weddings or whatever. What a fun place to watch the game. Time was running short for the steel workers to finish the roof area so the organization promised the guys (and girls) they could sign a girder, never to be painted over. One of the workers wrote "Go Raiders! The cool thing, from your seat anywhere in the stadium (even the cheap seats) you can order food or drink on your phone that will be delivered to your seat. The day we were there the field was piled with dirt, the motor cross was the week end previous and Sunday the 9th there will be a Monster Jam. It is a nice stadium, not as nice as Dallas but certainly more high tech and green. After the 90 minute tour we had lunch at David's, a Bar and Grill on a golf course across the street from Levi's Stadium. Pretty tasty. We raced back to the coach, poor Luci was cooped up most of the day.

Monday, April 4, Happy birthday Barbara, our favorite daughter-in-law. We took Luci to Estero Park for a nice walk and picked up 3 geo caches along the way. It's a nice city park with a lake with paddle boat rentals, playground for kids and a dog park. We didn't take her to the dog park, we were told bums hang out in the area. After taking her back to the coach we drove down to Old Fisherman's Wharf, checking out the shops, getting "tastes" of clam chowder and enjoying the scenery. We saw and heard many sea lions and a few sea otters swimming among the boats moored in the harbor. It was close to 4 so we decided to enjoy Happy Hour on the Big Fish Bar and Grill Wharf with a view of the water before heading back to the coach.

Wednesday, April 6th, Happy Birthday Brayden and Jessalynne, our 11 year old twin grandchildren. We stopped at the Visitor Center to get info on the historical area of Monterey. We first went to the Lower Presidio, I was confused, it was almost at the top of the hill, how could it be lower? The museum is closed Tuesday and Wednesdays so we just walked around. The statue of Father Juniper Sierra, who landed in Monterey in 1770 overlooks the bay, his head has been missing due to vandalism but just recently the head was found by a young girl on the beach. We climbed to the Sloat Memorial when we stumbled upon the Naval International Language Institute in the Upper Presidio (Aha). We drove through the base seeing many middle eastern middle age men and women, who are instructors, to the Exchange. Gary has been wanting to buy a Navy crew neck sweatshirt, he found one that fit. We drove through the base heading downtown (getting lost) to have lunch at the Alvarado, a Mexican restaurant. Yum. After lunch we visited the Royal Presido Chapel, established in 1776, very beautiful with gorgeous landscaping. Saw the biggest succulent I've ever seen.

Thursday, April 7th, Today we took the 17 mile drive, jumping off in Carmel to maybe 7 1/2 mile drive. We drove along the rugged coast, saw the Lone Pine, the icon of Pebble Beach Golf Course, peeked through the shrubbery at mansions. We stopped at the World Famous Pebble Beach Golf Course complex to use their facilities. We walked through the shopping area of the hotel, Gary wouldn't buy me anything. He says I'm hard to buy for but I spotted a nice ring for $75,000 but he said NO. What a tightwad. We just drove through Carmel, there weren't any parking spots and I'm sure most of the things were over our budget.

Friday, April 8th, Basically took the day off from sightseeing worked on housekeeping and laundry. It was time to clean the frig - and surprise we figured how to take the drawers out since the slide is in we were able to open the door wider. Before, to pull the drawers out, we had to remove the refrigerator door. Life is good! For dinner we went to Round Table Pizza, our fav.

Saturday, April 9th, We left about 9 for the 165 mile drive to Petaluma. The absolute worst day of traveling ever! (Including going into Jersey City). The roads were rough, traffic was thick, all the crazies were out, short distances between on ramps and exits that really knotted up traffic, one of our cabinet doors came open, drivers were honking at us yelling the cabinet door is open, Gary stopped, put the hazard lights on and got out to close it when a good Samaritan closed it for us and to top it off it was raining and oh ya' still without our side view mirror. Miss Sally took us through the narrow historic main street of Petaluma to Petaluma Lake Campground at the Coast Guard Training Center outside of town about 8 miles. A beautiful base and campground, level sites with lots of geese and wild turkeys walking around. Between the beautiful scenery and adult beverage we were soothed after the "white knuckle" drive. The best part-one of the schools is food services where they prepare 3 meals a day for a reasonable price. Tonight was Chicken Piemortse, sauteed chicken with mushrooms and garlic, linguini, butternut squash, asparagus, broccoli breadsticks, salad bar and dessert all for $7.70. Pretty good, especially for cafeteria style.

Sunday, April 10th, We seldom go out to breakfast but for $3.00 we decided to try it. Corned beef hash, pancakes, hash browns, bacon & sausage, omelettes to order and fruits and sweetbreads. To say the least, we got a hearty start to the day before heading back to Oakland and Alameda. The traffic wasn't too bad and the weather was pretty nice, what a difference a day makes. We went to Oakland County Stadium, home of the Oakland Raiders and Oakland Athletics, the last dual baseball/football stadium in the league(s). Since it is baseball season most of the signs are for the Athletics. Sort of a bust, we couldn't get close or even go to a pro shop. Gary snapped a few pic's and we were on our way. Oh well, at least we can put our Raider sticker on the slide of the coach now. Oracle Arena, home of the Golden State Warriors is in the same complex. Just a few miles away in Alameda is the USS Hornet and Museum, the same vintage WWII aircraft carrier as the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi that Gary volunteered at last winter. He said it is much better preserved than the Lex but the surrounding area is "sketchy" unlike Corpus that is a tourist area. We had "linner" at McNears Saloon in Petaluma. Petaluma, population 57,000 one of California's best-preserved historic areas, 19th century Victorian homes, theaters and iron -front commercial buildings have been carefully restored. Another word for it "funky". Only 30 miles from San Francisco and in Sonoma County's wine country it is a tourist destination.

Monday, April 11th, A beautiful day, overcast but mild with no wind. We headed 18 miles from the Coast Guard base west to Bodega Bay, a small tourist and fishing town. I thought "The Birds" had been filmed here but in actuality it was filmed mostly in Bodega, a much smaller town 5 miles over the hill. The town of Bodega Bay is protected from the Pacific Ocean by a (Bodega) bay and Bodega Head, a rocky cliff that overlooks the ocean, bay and town. We couldn't take any hikes at the top of the head because dogs aren't allowed but we enjoyed the view looking for whales but no luck. Quite a bit of the area is MWP (Marine Wildlife Protected). On our way back to town we stopped at a small bay to let Luci run. She rolled, chased and waded to her hearts content. For lunch we enjoyed chowder at a quaint little, deli, bait shop. Yum. "The Birds", a 1963 Alfred Hitchcock horror film (which by the way has made me a little fearful of birds ever since) really scared the pants off me. The memorable scene where Tippi Hedren runs up the hill to the school house gives me the "willies". The church and schoolhouse are still there, the school is now a private residence. The 150 year old Catholic Church has been well preserved. After snapping some pictures we stopped at the Country Store, Deli and Bait Shop to buy postcards. Out front is an Alfred Hitchcock mannequin and inside there's memorabilia on display and cute "Birds" theme t-shirts. When we got back into Petaluma I went to the Quilted Dream, a lovely quilt shop that boasts over 3,500 bolts of fabric. I spent a lot of time but no money, Gary seemed disappointed. If only I'd known. Dang! Poor Luci, when we got back to the coach we gave her a bath outside the with cold water. She smelled rather "fishy". Dinner was homemade chili in the coach, wow, I got enough jalapena in it, made ya' sweat. Yum.

Tuesday, April 12, We left very early (for us)8:30 for the 265 mile drive to Trinidad, a coastal cliff side fishing village in the middle of the Redwood Forests. We'll only be here two nights, we'll have a thumbnail tour of the area. Our drive was much nicer than the Monterey/Petaluma leg, the scenery was beautiful, so green you'd think you were in Ireland. We stopped in Eureka for fuel and arrived at Emerald Forest RV Park, literally among the Redwood forest. Very rustic. I picked up a rotisserie chicken at the local market for an easy dinner.

That's it for now, enjoy the pic's.

TTFN

Gary and Pam

Sorry about the pictures getting "wonky" but it's late and I didn't want to fix it.