California

After dancing in the streets of Las Vegas LOL and visiting the casinos in which we didn’t win nor lose any money, it was time to visit one of the most populated, diverse and rich states: California!! Land of celebrities, huge trees ( Redwood trees), good wine, headquarters of hi tech companies such as Google, wonderful beaches and a lot of traffic. Funny enough, 20 years ago we as a family visited this state flying out of Scotland and landing into San Francisco. We rode a bicycle across the Golden Gate, took a ride also on the San Francisco cable car, drove the famous Lombard Street, visited the Secoya Park, San Diego…… but incidentally ALL pictures and videos were lost, not even a single picture was saved from that wonderful holiday; so it appears to me that fate would give us the opportunity to come back again and here we are!!

This was a looooong drive from Vegas to San Diego. We wanted to do a couple of things in SD: visit the university in which our son Jimmy studied for 6 months as part of an exchange program between the universities in San Diego and Edinbugh, and also we wanted to visit Cesar Millan, the well known Dog Whisperer (first to meet him and second to ask him about a situation of behaviour of our lovely Mila, the Cocker Spaniel). Well, this man was nowhere to be found!! He never answered my calls either, so ….. Mila, no Cesar for the time being haha.

After a short phone call with our son, he said we should go to the Pacific Beach” to enjoy a good meal, and that’s what we did!! The water was cold!! I had not visited the Pacific Ocean in years!!!

Once San Diego was done, it was time to drive off and head towards one of the most famous National Parks… Yosemite!! It was too long of a drive so we stopped for one night in Bakersfield and the following day we departed towards the area only to find out the the main entrance ( HWY 120) was closed due to snow!! There was a detour of 4 hours which wasn’t really convenient so we decided to spend a couple of days on an RV park by June Lake, a beautiful area indeed.

Traffic entering Los Angeles is just crazy

Who can’t recognize this historical sign

It was a complete surprise to stop for fuel and find a young couple driving a converted van from The Netherlands!!! Our daughter lives in Rotterdam.

The driving towards June Lake was spectacular. California geography is truly sensacional.

Visitors at the campground

We met a great family at the campground ( Steve, Heather and their children). Not only did they recommend a good hike for us but also, because they love fishing, they wanted to share some of the fish with us, and because we love fish, a good deal of trout went straight to the fridge and we have had fish for the past 5 days and we can’t get enough of it!! Soooo delicious…. Daddy cooking everyday as usual LOL.

The walk was Parker Lake Trial. Funny, but it looks like there is something in common among the lovers of hikes… they say: oh!! it’s a short walk…. short and easy…. but once you’re there you realize that the walk is loooong and haaaard!!

This is the fish I’m talking about… Thanks Steve!!

We left June Lake and we were supposed to arrive in San Francisco in the evening, but!! Surprise!! Little did we know that the road across the Eastern Sierra in California was going to give us a terrifying experience crossing the now for us infamous Sonora Pass…. a tremendous 9,200 ft altitude with 26% steep in certain areas. Very very demanding road. Scotty was NOT happy at all.

Scotty said… Daddy!! Never ever again ask me to drive on this road… I hate it!! LOL

It was so steep that for the first time ever I had to engage 1st gear climbing up!! Going down hill was a nightmare with overheated brakes. We had to visit the shop to get them checked out and adjusted. All of this made us stay overnight at an unplanned stop, Stockton city. The following day we went straight to Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco.

Typical San Francisco weather… foggy and cool.

This is Lombard Street, a world famous curvy street which is actually part of the HWY 101. It was built in 1,922 and it’s visited by thousand every month.

Time to get ready for our departure from San Francisco towards northern California on our way to Oregon. But again another surprise: the tire that has been giving us a hard time from the beginning has again woken up with just 30 PSI of pressure, so it was time to call the tire road assistance company and replace the stem valve. Fingers crossed no more issues with that tire!!!

Five people came to the rescue…. what a task!!

The following morning we were all set for our departure. Coming from the south ( Half Moon Bay) towards the Golden Gate, means that you need to literally drive across San Francisco and more specifically 19th Avenue…. for a beast of 40 ft long, 12’10” height it is a ” piece of cake”

For years crossing the Golden Gate either by foot, or bicycle or by car has been considered part of someone’s Bucket List! It’s an engineering marvel in itself

The road in northern California is a concert of nice roads, bridges and tunnels surrounded by the huge Redwood trees…. Redwood Highway is a Must!!

Tree number 19

Tree number 19 was planted at the campground in San Diego. Brandon was a great guy to share the moment with!

Next destination will be Oregon!! where we will enjoy driving right beside the Pacific Ocean and through miles and miles of forest. See you then!!

I almost forgot…. it’s been two times already that I stop, walk around the RV or the Ford and I find things that belong to somebody else!!! First time I found a wallet with a driving license and 2 banking cards in it!! At our arrival in Page AR, we went straight to the police station and handed it to them. I guess that man was very happy when he received the phone call from the officer.

The second time was right after we finished the hike at Parker Lake CA. As I approach the Ford at the car park where we left it, I see a small rectangular box…. it was an Iphone!! So, we did the appropiate action… wait until the owner would call ! He then called and it was his wife’s phone who fell accidentally as they were getting into the car after the hike. They came to the campground with a smile from ear to ear…. so happy to serve!! She then said I was an angel…. aowww 🙂