July 14

The Siuslaw Bridge in Florence. Another ornate work.

Old Town Florence. We found a Kitchen Gadget shop that had the rings we have been looking for to use to make crumpets. Yes, we've found a new passion . . . homemade crumpets.

Ah, a place for men to rest while the ladies shop. But he's the one who made the find and purchased it.

We couldn't pass up this stop. Carnivorous plants.

There were little towns and small communities of houses all along the 101 highway today. We had to stop to see the carving shops. The scent of redwood was strong at this stop since that is the wood used for the carvings here. This was shortly before Tillamook.

Couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit one of the largest cheese producers in the U.S., especially when free samples were involved.

On the quest for a campground we came upon this farm growing blue and purple hydrangeas.

Since this day was Saturday the state park campgrounds were full, but we finally found a vacancy at a private campground. Shorewood RV Park in Rockaway Beach. This is the view from the edge of the campground overlooking the beach. There is a path to the beach and several visitors were out there. One family had constructed a great sandcastle.

Here is the view looking back at the campground. This area is for the guests to enjoy, and where we sat on the large boulders to look at the ocean. The fog was rolling in again and it didn't seem like great weather for walking along the shore. Besides, it has been a long day for us and we just relaxed here for a while. We had made many stops along the coast to enjoy the views, hike the trails, and have lunch. Adding the little towns all along the route to reduce the speed we did not cover the miles we had planned for today. But that doesn't matter, the important thing is to enjoy as much of the scenery as we can.

July 13

We camped at Sounds of the Sea Campground in Trinidad last night. The sound come from the seals, but they were not on this beach at this time of the year. The fog was heavy during the night and we awoke to a drizzly fog. Our rug was damp and so were the shoes we left outside to slip into when we got out of the van.

We saw several signs with "Elk Crossing" warnings. Well, I guess they were appropriate since we came upon this meadow of elk soon after leaving the campground.

Look who we spotted as we entered Kalamath! Paul Bunion and his ox Blue. There is a trail into the Trees of Mystery forest. What might be there to behold will remain a mystery to us since we did not venture to explore.

finally we reached the Oregon State line. And we thought it took a long time to drive across Texas. We didn't even start at the southern most point of California.

We had fog for most of the morning, quite heavy at times, but there were places where we could get a glimpse of the ocean views. This was taken at a rest stop.

A lookout on the 101 after the fog had moved out to sea. The water along here is dotted with large outcroppings of rock.

Arch Rock at Samuel Boardman State Park.

Same vantage point looking toward the south.

Rogue River - Patterson Memorial Bridge known for its ornate design.

The real Greasy Spoon Cafe.

We camped this night at William M. Tugman State Part just south of Winchester Bay and north of Coos Bay. We enjoyed a nice stroll around the campground to see the variety of camping modes were being used. The campground has yurts to rent. There were many campers in tents and small RVs, and a few motor homes. We did see one unique trailer and had a nice visit with the occupants. The fog came in again, but we were more inland so it was not damp here.

July 12

As we proceeded we found ourselves in wine county. The Sanoma Valley. Vineyards everywhere.

Something other than grapes in Asti.

We stopped at the quaint town of Hopland.

Entering the Redwood forests area.

Trip North July 11

Leaving Limekiln State Park.

This moth had set up camp at the bottom of the window of the park entrance office. It is the largest moth we have ever seen. It was still here when we left giving us an opportunity to get this photo.

An incredible produce market at Moss Landing. We purchased some items after having lunch here. The donut shaped fruit in the bottom photo is a variety of peach....donut peach.

Dan found this state park while planning the trip, so we had to be sure to make a stop here, in Felton.

We traveled on the 101 route which took us through San Francisco along the western portion. We did not go through the main part of the city. This route will take us across the Golden Gate Bridge.

We were looking forward to seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, but the fog was low and heavy. This is all we could see as we reached the bridge.

The fog was less dense as we crossed and this was our final view. Once we reached the north end the sky was clear.

Looking back at San Francisco. We reached this point at commuter time and the traffic was slow. It took us a while to reach our next destination, the KOA in Petaluma. The temperature approaching SF was in the 90's, but, of course, was cool through SF. As we got further from SF the temperature rose higher and higher. Our van actually registered the outside temp. at 101 at one point. We were concerned that we would meet with hot weather in Petaluma, but it was in the low 80's when we arrived. It cooled considerably in the evening. We had to use the sleeping bag as a cover to keep warm.

Heading North July 10, 2012

Morro Bay

Welcome to Morro Bay. Just behind me is Morro Rock.

Just north of San Simeon this beach is a home to the elephant seals. They migrate between here and Alaska, but not all at the same time, so there are always seals here.

The young adult males are practicing the bellowing call.

Looking southward from the beach.

Our first campground for this trip is at Limekiln State Park. The beach is very close to our site.

We hiked the trail along the stream in the park and saw many little waterfalls.

This is the main and larger fall. It is beautiful, but this photo did not turn out well.

One of the many little falls along the creek.

The kins were built in 1887 to extract lime from the surrounding limestone deposits. The lime was shipped out for use in concrete. After only 3 years the depsits were depleted and the kiln abandoned.

The "camper van" with the new chuck boxes that Dan built to function as a kitchen. They worked quite well.

The camp cook at work on dinner for our first night. It was simple, but tasty.