Marymere Falls Hike

Today we decided to do a short hike to Marymere Falls. The hike starts at the Storm King Ranger Station on Barnes Point, where the Lake Crescent Lodge is located. This is also the area where we get our mail and a lot of the rangers live in park provided housing. The hike is about 3/4 mile one way, and it follows Barnes Creek back to the falls. Here's a picture of one of the wooden bridges over the creek.

And here's our intrepid party braving the bridge. You'll notice that Lois is carrying a hiking pole. Linda and I bought those for our hiking trips and it really make a difference when walking on the gravel paths. Plus, if a bear attacks you, you can hit him with your pole just before you become his dinner.

Here's a view of the falls. It doesn't have a lot of water, but it is very pretty and makes a beautiful sound as the water falls. At the very end of the hike there's a pretty steep path to get to this view, and it's all on wooden platforms.

After we hiked back to the trail head, we moseyed over to our favorite spot, the Lake Crescent Lodge. Linda had packed a very good lunch that we ate outside sitting in the nice shade with a beautiful view of the lake. We spend a lot of time at the lodge because they have wifi internet access and our cell phones work here. It's about a 5 mile drive from the Fairholme campground, but it seems longer because of all of the curves in the road around the lake.

If you would like to see more of our pictures of the hike please click on the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jchuber1/MarymereFallsHike#

Hurricane Ridge

One of the major highlights of the Olympic National Park is Hurricane Ridge. The road leaves Port Angeles at sea level, and about 17 miles later you're at 5,000 in the heart of the Olympic Mountains. What's amazing is that it's a good road without bad curves. Here's the view back down to the Strait of San Juan de Fuca and Port Angeles.

When you turn around and look towards the South and West, you can see the beautiful peaks and glaciers of the Olympic range.

It's called Hurricane Ridge because of the extreme weather at the top. At any time of year you can experience 75-85 mile per hour winds. In the winter, the snowfall averages 30 feet. Needless to say the summer season is short. We visited the ridge in the middle of July and there was still some snow on the ground. Of course Lois and Linda had to play. Some women never grow up-and that's a good thing.

There's a visitor center, gift shop and snack bar. Linda packed us a delicious lunch and we ate outside on the deck of the visitor center. At the same time a ranger was giving a talk on the area, so we even had entertainment during the lunch.

It's a beautiful setting and we learned a lot about how the mountains were formed, the animals that lived in the areas, and the weather conditions. If you would like to check out the current conditions at the ridge, they have a webcam with a nice view of the mountains. Just click on the link http://www.nps.gov/olym/photosmultimedia/hurricane-ridge-webcam.htm
As I sit here writing this, there is cloud cover at the campground, but the webcam shows blue sky up on the ridge.

The ridge is open year round and there's a lot of trails for hiking there, plus in the winter they have cross country skiing and snowshoeing. If you would like to see all of the pictures of our day on Hurricane Ridge, please click on this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jchuber1/HurricaneRidge

Lois Comes For A Visit

Linda's Mom, Lois, came up for a visit for two weeks in July. She had never been to the Olympic National Park, and we planned to show her all of the highlights of the area. We're really looking forward to exploring the towns and attractions in the area. We'll probably wear her out with all of the jaunting around.

We've discovered our campground deer. She's a doe with a fawn that was born this season. The rangers have told us that the birthing season was late this year because of cold and the rain. We've seen her almost everyday as we walk the campground. There are so many trees that there's not enough light to get a decent picture, so this is the best I could do.

We've had a lot of questions about how we spend our evenings. We rejoined Netflix to get some DVDs sent to us, and we were able to get a local library card. The library here has an excellent selection of videos, plus we can request books & videos from the other branches. We have our XM satellite radio which we listen to for news and of course Dodger baseball games.

Linda has been doing some hobbies such as beading and needlepoint. She also has been doing puzzles. This is one of the toughest ones she has attempted. It seems simple because it's only 9 pieces.


But all of the animals have to match. She started on it back in SD last year, then put it away. We discovered it again when we were reorganizing the cabinets in the coach, so she started on it again. Hours later she succeeded!

What's funny is that she tried another one and finished it in about 10 minutes. She's also become a Sudoku addict, working on the puzzles daily from the local newspaper.

With Lois here we start working our plan. Our first place to visit is Hurricane Ridge, one of the highlights of the Park.

Our First Visitors

We had our first friends visit us here at Lake Crescent! Our good friends Paul & Kathy Ross drove up from Albany, OR, for a weekend. The last time we had seen our good friends was at the wedding of their oldest son, Matt, in Austin, TX, last fall. Here's a picture from the wedding with the entire Ross family.

We've known the Ross' since we moved to Oregon back in the early 80's. Paul came up to replace John at the distributor John was working at before he went back to work at Gallo. Paul & Kathy's boys were about the same age range as Matt, so we spent a lot of time together as families. When we left Oregon to go back to California, we kept in touch with the Ross' and when we get together it's like we were still neighbors.

We met at the Lake Crescent Lodge for lunch. The lodge dates from 1916 with cabins, motel type rooms, and the Roosevelt fireplace cottages. It has an award winning restaurant with a view from the table out over Lake Crescent. The food is outstanding, if a little expensive, and the ambiance is thrilling. And the weekend was very sunny and clear, so the views were outstanding.

After lunch we went back to the campground where we spent the afternoon catching up on what's been happening in our life's since last fall. Paul helped John walk the campground and greet all of the new guests. They both seem to enjoy getting out around the campground and enjoying the views and the lake.

Linda prepared her famous Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas which we all enjoyed, then we played Mexican Train into the evening. The next day we met back at the Lodge for their breakfast buffet, then back to the campground for more conversations. Finally, Paul & Kathy had to leave for the long drive back to Albany, about a 4 hour drive.

We really enjoyed the visit and it brighten our days at the campground. We promised to visit again when we leave after Labor Day and head into Oregon.

We Settle into a Routine

We're beginning to understand our new jobs, and how to do them. We've actually started to get into a routine, like our bad old days when had to "work".

Our day starts out with letting our dog, Pearl, outside and then feeding her breakfast. Then we move on to our breakfast, which we usually share with Pearl. Oh to live a dog's life. We listen to our XM radio to catch up on the news on the Fox News Channel.

Then Linda goes out into the campground to pull the tickets of those campers who are not staying for the next night. These have to be organized, and compared to the audit sheets we do everyday. Then we take a walk around the campground to check for any fires left going, or a messy site. We like to keep all of the sites clean for new customers. Linda usually sweeps out the restrooms. We don't have to clean the restrooms, but she likes to make sure everything is tidy. And then we take off to do something during the middle of the day on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

After we get back to the campground, we feed Pearl, and then check the boards for new check ins. We record these on the audit sheet and then walk the campground and check if the campers are in a tent or an RV. We also greet all of the new arrivals, answer any questions on the Park or the area, and hand out the Park newspaper. We remind them of the campground rules which include no gathering of wood, no food left out at night, and quiet hours from 10:00pm to 6:00am. We also check to make sure everyone has paid for the night.

Our routine changes a little on Tuesday because we have to meet with the ranger to collect the money envelopes and get them ready for deposit.

On Fridays and Saturdays our campground get very busy, especially if the weather is good. Most of the campers are locals from the Port Angeles or Squim. They are mostly tent campers. Usually the campground is full by 4:00pm, and we have to tell people where they might find a site at other campgrounds. We also do the money collection with the ranger on Saturdays. It always surprises us how many of the campers move on Saturday after staying Friday night. Usually it about half of the sites become available on Saturday morning.

That's our normal week. We do a lot of walking up and down the hills of the campground, which we enjoy and it's helping us get into better shape. There's nothing difficult about it, but we work with some great people from the National Park, and we've met some very interesting people who for a short time were our guests.

Fairholm Campground, Olympic Nat'l Park

We're starting to settle in here at our volunteer position at Olympic National Park. We're starting to get the routine down, understanding our duties, and making our site more liveable. We had a few problems getting the coach level. Our MoHo has air leveling, which we love. And we've never had a problem getting level-until now. There's a definite slope towards the back of the motorhome. After a day out of level, John decided to try to find a more level position in the space. Did we mention that we barely fit in this space? So, with Linda outside giving directions, and John doing the old forward & back, John almost sunk the front wheels into the mud! You know, a 40' motorhome doesn't bend in the middle like a trailer. We finally got out by putting some boards under the front wheels and carefully avoiding the trees. Whew! John though he was going to have to call a tow truck to get us out, but we were finally out and back on the pavement in front of our site. Now the only problem was to back into our site again without getting stuck. With Linda's good directions, and much patience, we made it back in. Then we got more boards and put them under the back wheels-WOHO, we're level. John doesn't plan to move the MoHo until we leave-and that's going to be tough enough just to get out of the site.

Here's a picture of our site. It's pretty big, but then again we're pretty big.

Everyone who walks by just stares at it. Most of the campers here are tenters, or have small trailers, campers, or Class C type of motorhomes. So they all wonder how we got in here, and how we're going to get out.

You'll notice a new addition to the setup, we've purchased a screen room, so that we can have dinner without the bugs. Of course it isn't setup perfect because of the slope, but we think it's going to be pretty nice-if the weather ever warms up.

As we mentioned, we're on Lake Crescent. It's 8 miles long and we're on the western shore. There's a small store, boats & kayaks to rent, and a boat ramp. There's a small dock next to the boat ramp where John has done some fishing. We use the beach and dock for our cell phones and to get on the Internet. It's only about 300 yards from our campsite, but we get fair cell phone reception there. We get no cellphone reception at our site. But don't hesitate to call us and leave a message. We love hearing from everyone, and we promise we'll call you back!

It's hard to see in these pictures, but the lake is kind of turquoise in color. It's very clear like Lake Tahoe. It's 685 feet deep in the middle. There's a special species of trout called the Beardsly Trout. So the lake is catch & release, which pleases us both. He's only had a couple of strikes so far, but he hopes to catch at least one before we leave.

Now we have a new issue-mice. In all of our travels with the MoHo, we haven't had any bug problems. But we now have a major problem. So far, we've captures 3 mice. But we know there's still more coming in because the MoHo is warm, and it's been abnormally cold outside. So we're going to town to try all kinds of different measures to solve the problem. We'll let you know how successful we are.

Where Are John, Linda, & Pearl?

Well, the Huber's have moved back to the 40s. Everyone knows that John likes Big Band music like Glenn Miller, but he didn't have to choose a spot to volunteer for the summer that technology wise takes us back to that era.

We're in beautiful Olympic National Park, camphosting at Fairholm campground on Lake Crescent. It's a great spot, but in a grove a tall fir trees. The nearest town is Port Angeles, WA, which is about 45 minutes away. The only issues we have is that we're so far from town and civilization that we have no cell phone, no Internet, and because of the trees, no television. Talk about getting back to basics! So we're watching DVDs, listening to the XM radio, and reading. And the weather has been cold. Who says we're having global warming. John's working on fixing the problems, but right now we have to walk down to the lake to use our cell phones. So if you call us leave a message and we'll get back to you. We actually have a mail address here:

John & Linda Huber
Olympic National Park
341-2 Barnes Point Rd.
Port Angeles, WA 98363

So if you want to see John & Linda stay married after the summer, you'll have to come visit us up here. The closest airport is Seattle, and we'll even come pick you up. Or you can drive up I-5 and take Hwy 101 at Olympia North.

Breaking News-5-28-08

After the ballgames in Chicago, where the Dodgers lost all three games, Mom has changed her allegiance. She now will root for the Cubs-Except when they play the Dodgers. Just because we're in Las Vegas, Matt talked her into a bet.

Congratulations Matt on beating your mother! The bet was that we would put it on the Blog for everyone to read and comment.

Needless to say, we stayed away from the casinos.

Utah & Zion National Park

On Thursday we moved the MoHo up to St. George Resort, a Western Horizon location. We plan to stay here a week and see the National Parks in the area. The resort is an older park, with tight roads and small sites for our size motorhome. But we got a nice spot with no one next to us so it was very nice. There was some nice grass areas that Pearl enjoyed after the sand & rock in Las Vegas. When we got there the weather was in the 80s, but soon moved into the low 90s. One of the nice features of the park was 50 amp service which allowed us to run both of our air conditioners. That kept the coach nice and cool during the day, which allowed us to leave Pearl with comfort.

Our first park was Zion National Park, which was only a short drive from our RV park. We didn't realize how popular Zion is. Last year it received 2.7 million visitors. During the summer they don't allow cars in the canyon, they use a shuttle similar to what they do in Yosemite valley. The shuttle works great in that it drops you off at the major spots, then later you can pick up another shuttle and move on to another stop. The shuttle runs every 5-8 minutes, so its real convenient.

One of the plans we have for this summer is to get more exercise, so we've planned to go hiking every other day when possible. So we jumped on the shuttle and stopped at the first interesting hike, the Weeping Rock.

It's only about a 1/2 mile, but it would give us a good start. It's called weeping rock because the water comes right out of the rocks and forms a stream that runs into the Virgin river. Because of the moisture, plants grow right out the rocks and form hanging gardens. After the hike up to the rocks, we followed a path up the stream, hoping from rock to rock.

We jumped back on the shuttle and stopped at the grotto for a picnic we had packed in our backpack. We discovered that it's better to pack a lunch than buy one at the parks. But we also discovered that it's better to go to a picnic area in the car so we don't have to haul the backpack everywhere on the hikes. It's really refreshing to sit at a picnic table under the cottonwood trees and enjoy good food.

Next we rode the shuttle to the end of the canyon to hike the Riverside trail. This is where the Virgin river enters the canyon at the Temple of Sinawava. It's an easy walk along the river as the canyon gets narrower. Here's a picture of us at the little falls near the beginning of the trail.

Further up the canyon we found a bend in the river which had a lot of round rocks near the bank. Many people had stacked the rocks into mini sculptures, which we found very interesting.

Of course, we couldn't leave without contributing our own stack. Here's Linda making our mark in Zion. Of course, they probably fell over in a couple of days, but it was fun.

The total length of the hike was about 21/2 miles round trip, but it was pretty level along the river, and nice and cool.

Our last stop was at Zion Lodge stop, where we crossed the river and hiked up to the Emerald Pool. It's named after the green color of the pool. And it has one of the few waterfalls in the park. It was a pretty setting, but the falls were nothing like a waterfall in Yosemite. It more like a leak. The hike was about 2 miles, up and down hill, and we were getting worn out. When we got back to the lodge, John found an ice cream stand and we refreshed ourselves.

Then it was back to the visitor center and our car. We really enjoyed the day, but we were pretty tired. It shows we're not in really good shape, but at least we're working on it. To see all of our pictures, please click on this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/jchuber1/ZionNationalPark02

Las Vegas & Hoover Dam

After we left L.A., we spent a couple of nights in Las Vegas. Over the years John has visited Las Vegas many times with his job, so he knew his way around town pretty well. It was never one of his favorite towns. We stayed at a Thousand Trails campground that was east of downtown.

One of the reasons we stopped here was for John to visit Hoover Dam. This was one stop that he had wanted to make for many years but never had the time when the visitor center was open.

It's about a half hour drive from our campground out to the dam site. Of course, this being a government site, they charged $7 to park and $15 each for the tour. There was an expanded tour of the powerhouse, but we didn't think it was worth the $35 per person cost.

Hoover Dam, also know as Boulder Dam, was started in 1931 and completed in 1935, 2 years ahead of schedule. It was built to primarily control the flooding on the Colorado River and provide water for farmers and cities. The electricity generated powers parts of many cities in AZ, NV, & CA. The total capacity of Hoover is 2,074 megawatts.

One of the interesting facts that we found out on the tour is that the workers worked 7 days a week, with only 2 days off a year, July 4 and Christmas Day. Once the concrete started pouring, it worked 24 hours a day with no days off. They cooled the concrete with refrigerated water running through tubes to help the concrete cure. If they didn't use the cooler, it would take 125 years for the concrete to cure.

The design of the dam was very innovative. We asked about earthquakes and the guide mentioned that they registered over 20 quakes a day. But the design of the dam makes it very resistant to earthquake. The dam floats in the canyon, and is not attached to any of the walls. The pressure of the water of Lake Mead against the curve of the dam forces it against the walls. Considering that the dam is in AZ & NV, it remarkable that Southern CA gets the most electricity.

It really is one of the top engineering marvels of the world, especially considering it was built back in the 30s. We did find out that the lake is down 60' from the top of the dam due to 7 years of drought. This year looks a little better and should bring the water level up a little bit. It's hard to believe that the last time the lake was completely full and they had to release some water through the tunnels was in 1999. Originally it only took 6 years to fill Lake Mead. It goes to show weather patterns can run in cycles.

There are two powerhouses, one on the Nevada side and one on the Arizona side. The hold identical generators. There's also two small generators which generate enough electricity to run all of the dam operations, lights and tour needs.

One of the uses of the dam after it was completed was a bridge over the Colorado river for US Hwy 93. After 9/11, the road was closed. But it reopened about 2 years later, there was heavy security and any trucks or RVs are inspected. Because of the constraints, the government decided to build a new bridge. Here's a picture of their progress.

It's going to be a beautiful suspension bridge, but of course it will cost more that the entire construction of Hoover Dam. Oh, one of the other things the guides mentioned is that the dam is completely paid for by the selling of the electricity, so it cost the taxpayers nothing. Not your normal federal project.

If you want to see all of our pictures, click on this link to our Picasso album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jchuber1/HooverDam

We also took the night tour of the strip. It continues to change with new hotels and now new condo towers. The lights are brighter than ever, but the crowds are down. There's a lot more specials and the shows aren't as crowded. We still don't think that any shows are worth $100 a seat. But we've always been in the minority. It's still a very unique city, even when it's been hard hit by the housing crisis and the bad economy.

Cousin's Sunday Brunch

Before we left SoCal, we were blessed to able to meet with Linda's cousins, Ken & Donna, and Steve & Charlotte. And we were twice blessed to have Nicky and her new daughter, Abby, join us. Here's the proud Grandpa. He looks pretty proud.

Nicky & Abby were quickly the center of attention. In fact, John forgot to take a picture of the group! Sorry, Steve, Charlotte, & Donna.

Here's Linda doing her favorite thing, holding a baby. I have to keep reminding her that they grow up.

We really did talk about other things at the brunch. It was great seeing Steve & Charlotte again after our short visit when they stopped by where we were staying in AZ. They are devoted Angel fans and always go over to Phoenix to catch some spring training games and to visit their family. We're so glad that everything is going so well for this great couple.

To see all of the photos, click on this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/jchuber1/CousinSSundayBrunch

Ken & Donna are doing great adapting to this Grandparent thing. We have always enjoyed spending time with our cousins, and hope they have time to visit us either during the summer or when we get back to AZ for next winter.

More Additions to the Family-Violet Perez

Our timing was perfect to welcome another addition to the family, Valerie & Rick's new daughter, Violet Rossa Perez, Iris's new sister.

She's very beautiful! We're sure that the men will be lining up at the front door very soon. Rick's going to have his hands full with two cute girls at home.

Iris hasn't quite figured out what's going on, but she willing to give Violet a chance. But Violet doesn't know how to play quite yet.

We all had a fun time introducing ourselves to Violet. In fact, Aunt Linda even got to babysit. She was in heaven. Aunt Linda brought some violets for the garden to go with the Iris' she planted last year. Hopefully they'll be a reminder of these special times.

We Meet Chase Fredrick Wedell

One of the first things we wanted to do when we arrived in SoCal was to visit the newest member of the family, our nephew Chase. We also wanted to visited with Katie & Michael, the proud parents. So on Thursday we(Lois, Linda, & John) made the drive to Murrieta with much anticipation. And we weren't disappointed. Chase is a very special addition. Here's a picture of everyone oohing & aahing over the little guy:

Here's Aunt Linda introducing herself to Chase. He seems very impressed.

And here's Great Grandma getting in a little quality time. Chase is loving all of the attention.

Here's Chase's special room. It has a pirates theme. Hopefully he won't get lost finding the treasure on the map! The whole room looks like it was done for one of those shows you see on the Home & Garden network

We had a great time visiting with Chase. Oh, it was nice to visit with Katie & Michael too.

If you would like to see all of the pictures of our visit with Chase and his parents, please click on this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/jchuber1/ChaseWedell

Our Old Hometown of Turlock

We left San Juan Bautista at the early (for us) hour of 9:00am. It's a fairly easy drive through Hollister, over Pacheco Pass, through Los Banos, and on to Turlock. We made our way to our good friends Kathy & Bob Whiteheads ranch, and parked next to Bob's Famous Red Barn.

The reason Bob's barn is so famous is because he has a geocache on his ranch, and on geocaching.com it's known as Red Barn Bob. Many people have found it, some with Bob's assistance.

While we're here we're going to add our first travel bug to the cache, one honoring Best Friends Animal Society. The metal tag has a tracking number that unique to this bug. We hope it gets moving to other caches soon.

Our reason for coming to Turlock at this time is to visit Doctors. Our joy in coming back to Turlock is to visit all of our friends who we miss dearly.

Thursday, April 24, was our first busy day at the Doctors. Linda & John both had appointments for their annual physicals, John had an appointment with a dermatologists, and Linda had a follow up appointment with her hand Doctor. All of the appointments went well, except the the dermatologist wants to remove a cyst off of John's shoulder. John knew he couldn't get through the week without something. On the following Tuesday, John went under the knife, and 4 stitches later he was fine. He didn't even faint or scream! The biopsy came back fine so there's no problem.

On the following Tuesday, before the surgery, John met with his cancer doctor and everything was back to normal. The doctor was very pleased, but not as pleased as Linda & John. The blood counts were great, and there's no sign of any bleeding in John's stomach. We don't have to go back for another 6 months.

Most of the time we spent in Turlock was with our friends. Kathy is a terrific cook and we were lucky to eat dinner with them 4 times. We also went out to dinner a number times with different friends, visiting others at their houses, and playing Mexican Train a couple of times which Bob won(I think he cheats, but I can't figure out how).

One of the highlights of the week was a 60th birthday bash for our good friend and car nut, Gary Sanders. Rosemarie put on a great party, first for his family, then for all of his friends. We were honored to be invited and meet some of Gary's childhood friends. It was a great night that went into the next day. Congratulations to Gary on reaching this milestone. His family bought him a hydraulic car lift, so we know where Gary is going to be spending the summer, under one of his cars.

John got to visit with his old friends from work. When we first arrived in town, John had lunch with George & Kristine, plus all of the old field personnel who were in town for a training. John had a great time catching up with the field, and throwing barbs back & forth. The following week John had lunch with just Kris & George, which allowed him to get updates on their families and friends.

All to soon our appointments were completed, and we needed to travel down to SoCal for other appointments. We'll miss our friends, but we won't miss the Doctors(especially John). Hopefully we can meet up somewhere outside of Turlock with some of our friends on a special trip.

Central Coast Wine Tour-Day 8 Fond Goodbyes

We knew when we started the tour that this day would come. It was a wonderful week, because of the great fellowship with our friends from the Monaco Northwest group. And as they prepared to leave this morning, we were already missing them. They were heading back to the Northwest to their homes while we were heading to our old hometown of Turlock to visit friends and see our Doctors. After many hugs and tears they were off and Linda & I were alone. It was very sad.

Rather than head over to Turlock right away, we choose to stay an additional day at the campground. We caught up on the wash, cleaned the motorhome, and did some shopping. Not very exciting after the week we had. But normal days for any couple.

Tomorrow, we'll take the short drive over to Turlock.

Central Coast Wine Tour-Day 7 Monterey Drive

On Saturday we car pooled to the Monterey area. We decided to do a driving tour because the weather had turned windy and cold. We had 2-way radios with us so that we could talk to each other between the cars as we toured.

We enjoyed the scenery on the drive down to the ocean. We pasted a lot of artichoke plants, as this area produces about 70% of the artichokes consumed in the US. Finally there was the ocean, more gray than blue and very choppy. We were glad we weren't out fishing this day. We drove through the downtown area just as it was starting to wake up. Not many people were out because of the weather, but there was a group of SCUBA divers getting ready to go for a dive off of the pier. Hopefully the water wasn't to cloudy in the bay. There were many beautiful inns on the ocean for the well heeled vacationers to stay at.

We finally came to the famous 17 mile drive. This is a must do when you're in the area. It costs $9.00 per car and is well worth it. It takes you along the coast, through the forest area, pass the famous golf courses, and of course past the multi-million dollar homes. This is the view as we entered past the toll booth.

We decided to go towards Pebble Beach golf links both to view the course and resort, and also to pick up some refreshments. What used to be called the Del Monte Lodge is now the Pebble Beach Resort. But it's still the historic lodge with the views of the golf course. The current fees for Pebble Beach is $495 and there is very limited availability of tee times. So much for the recession. Here's the view of the 18th green from the lodge:

I still remember when Arnold Palmer was coming home on the last day of the Crosby and he put his drive into the ocean and climbed down onto the rocks to salvage his score.

The lodge and course was pretty accessible to visit. Here we are in the dining room overlooking the 18th hole.

We continued on the 17 mile drive admiring the houses and the views. Here's a picture of the famous lone cypress that has withstood all of the storms and surf.


We left the 17 mile drive at the Carmel exit and headed in the little village of Carmel. It is a shopper's paradise. There are over 90 art galleries, hundreds of shops, and many restaurants. There's also a lot of Bed & Breakfast inns, including the Cypress Inn owned by Doris Day. Because of her influence, most of the inns allow pets to stay in the rooms. In fact while we were walking around the town there were numerous dogs walking their owners. And of course Carmel is famous for it's former mayor, Clint Eastwood.

The first order of business was lunch. We found an interesting Italian restaurant, Cantinetta Luca. Some of us had pasta dishes, and some had paini type sandwiches. The service and bread were very good. We all would recommend this restaurant when you're in the area. The rest of the afternoon was taken up with the women shopping and the men people watching. It was very enjoyable because the weather had cleared up a little bit. We took a different route back to the campground that brought us past the Laguna Seca Raceway and through Salinas.

When we got back to the motorhomes we had one last Happy Hour, this time in Ron & Dona's coach due to the weather. We all agreed that the snacks with the drinks were more than enough for dinner. Phyllis made a special dip that everyone enjoyed. We all a little subdued as we realized our tour was over and we were back on the road tomorrow.

Central Coast Wine Tour-Day 6-Move to Monterey

We started the day with a great breakfast prepared by Dona & Shari. It was their famous omelet in a bag. Ron set up a outdoor burner with a big pot of boiling water. Dona & Shari put out all of the fixins for a great omelet, then everyone put the ingredients they liked into a ziploc bag. Into the water the bags went, 10 minutes later we had great omelets. The ladies also fixed bacon, sausage, and pancakes. What a great way to start a travel day. Thanks ladies.

It's only a 2 hour drive up to San Juan Bautista and our next RV park, Betabel Resort. It was a great location right off Hwy 101, and a short drive to the Monterey area. On the drive up we were amazed at many fields where they were growing all kind of lettuce & vegetables. Oh, and a few vineyards.

After we checked in and got everything setup, we drove to the town of San Juan Bautista to visit the mission.

We took the tour of the old mission. It was established in 1797. It was pretty basic, but they're trying to restore it. It's named after John the Baptist, and the main church is very historic. They are continuing to restore as funds are available. Mass is still conducted every Sunday.

We also walked around the historic town and the restored plaza which is a California State Park. It included a barn with interesting historic carriages including a horse drawn Hearst.

We went back to the motorhomes for Happy Hour, but we were to tired to cook. So we asked at the resort for a good Mexican Restaurant and they recommended Jardines de San Juan.

It was started in 1977 by Manual & Alice Santana. Manual was a gardener, artist, and a great cook. Many of his original recipes are still used today. It was to cold to sit outside but they had a very nice garden room with views of the patio. We all ordered different entrees, but they were brought at the same time hot and delicious. It was a great way to end the day.

Tomorrow we're off to Monterey and the 17 mile drive.

Central Coast Wine Tour-Day 5-Paso Wineries

On Thursday we toured some more wineries, this time in the Paso Robles area. Our first winery was the Eberle Winery. John had setup a tour of the facilities because they have caves to age their wines that are unique.

After some initial tasting, which is always a great way to start the day, our tour guide took us down the stairs into the caves. The caves were drilled into the hillside and then reinforced with concrete. There are many corridors which lead to other corridors, with barrels lining each side of the wall.

The caves are very narrow so that all of the movement of the barrels is by hand. Since the caves are located under the fermentation area, they are all filled using gravity which has less impact on the wine.

There are 16,000 sq. ft. of caves under the winery. The winery and tasting room were built with recycled redwood to create a beautiful setting in the midst of the vineyards. Here we are relaxing after the tour and enjoying the ambiance of the tasting room.

Eberle is known for great red wines. They make a very good Zinfandel, a full bodied Cabernet, and a unique Rhone blend called Cotes-du-Robles. We enjoyed all of the wine we tasted. And many bottles of wine were purchased.

After leaving Eberle, John took outlying country roads. Our first stop was for an olive/olive oil tasting facility. There were many different and unique products to taste including salad dressings, olive dips, and many different types of olive oil.

Our next winery was Adelaida Cellars. This was just a tasting event and we enjoyed the different wines. John was a little disappointed in the quality of the white wines, but the setting on top of the mountain was great and the tasting room is done is the Craftsman Style which John loves.

Down the road was a little piece of France in California. The Tablas Creek Winery is owned by the famous Perrins family who own the famous Chateau du Beaucastel estate in France. They brought their own grape cuttings over to plant in their vineyards which added new varieties to the area. In fact, they started a nursery and are selling their cuttings.

Most of their signature wines are blends in the french style. Their hallmark red wine is Espirit du Beaucastel, a richly dense wine based on the Mourvedre grape. They also produce some unique varietal wines. John bought a bottle of Tannat wine which was rich and ripe with plum overtones. It was a truly different wine tasting experience.

Our last winery was the Justin Vineyards & Winery. Justin is more than just a winery, it's also an inn and restaurant. John knew that Linda would like this winery because of the gardens and the winery dogs.

We tasted some fantastic wines including their signature red wine blend, Isosceles. It's named after the triangle and produced from three different grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. This wine is consistently rated in the Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wine List.

However, the hit of the tasting for our friends was the port like wine, Obtuse. It's made in the traditional style, but made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. We were lucky to be able to buy it as it was almost sold out.

Here's a view of the vineyards surrounding the winery and inn.

For more pictures of the day click on this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jchuber1/CentralCoastWineTourDay5Wineries

After we left Justin, we stopped a the grocery store and bought some steaks which we proceeded to BBQ back at the motorhomes. It was another great Happy Hour, with great conversations and fellowship.

Tomorrow we move North again to the Monterey area.

Central Coast Wine Tour-Day 4-Freelance

This is a day we set aside for everyone to do whatever they wanted to do. That's we called it a freelance day.

Joe & Phyllis have relatives in the area that they planned to visit, and Joe hoped to rest to get over his cold. Allen & Shari, and Ron & Dona decided to visit Hearst San Simeon Castle. Linda thought that was a good idea, but dense John didn't pickup on it as he thought it would be fun to explore the coast looking for wildlife. John paid for that mistake all day.

If you have never visited Hearst Castle, it's a must see. It is just amazing. It's huge, ornate, loaded with antiques, and everything money can buy. In fact, when William Hearst died, the family couldn't afford to keep it so they gave it to the state. There's four different tours ranging from the general overview, to expanded tours that visit seldom scene areas, to a garden tour. If you're going to visit during the summer, make sure you get your tickets early so you won't be disappointed. But if you're within 200 miles of San Simeon, go to the castle.

Linda & John visited the beach city of Cambria. It's an artist colony with lots of good restaurants, shops, and galleries. We had a great lunch at a little deli, bought a new candle for the motorhome, and a new flag to display on our camp site.

After we left Cambria, we proceeded North along Hwy. 1. John had heard of an area North of the castle that supported a large colony of sea lions. The views up the coast were outstanding, like this one of the lighthouse.

At last we found the sea lions. They were stretched out along about 2 miles of coves among the rocks and on the sand. There were some docents in the area to answer questions. The sea lions stop in this area to rest up before they continue up to the Alaskan waters for the summer. The strange fact is that they don't eat during this time. Some of the sea lions were year old pups on their first trip North. In the fall they return to this area and further South to have their new pups. Click here to find out more about the sea lions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Sea_Lion
To see more pictures of the coast, click here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jchuber1/CentralCoastWineTourDay4

After everyone got back to the motorhomes John & Linda treated everyone to grilled hamburgers. Everyone brought some delicious sides and we feasted again. We all decided to go on a diet when this tour is over!