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Northern California Trip May 12-19, 2007 Debbie & Melvin Saturday
May 12, 2007 This trip ranks among the top three for scenery and beauty of
sights we saw. How do you rank Hawaii, Colorado, Utah, Yellowstone,
Yosemite, Caribbean Islands, Redwood Forrest, Kings Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion
Canyon, Moab arches, Escalante National Park, Zion National Park Narrows or
the Seattle Trip with Mt Rainer. Nothing east of the Mississippi compares
to the beauty of the western states. To sum it all by states, I would rank
California as first, Colorado second, Utah as third and Washington as forth.
We haven't been to the state of Oregon yet and we may want to change the ranking
once we go and return. No matter where we go, Alabama is still number one
and home to us. We had a good flight 4 hours from Atlanta to lax on a Delta 747 - we
did have an hour delay in Atlanta so Delta could combine the 10:30 and 11:40
flights. We arrived in LAX an hour late but it didn't matter. Car rental
was a snap - we got a Chrysler Avenger 2008 with only 2200 miles on it is sort
of a mid size car and has a small v-6 for an engine -= we liked it California
Cherries, driving north on highway 99 from Los Angeles to Bakersfield. We drove in 5 lane one way solid traffic for one hour to Port
Humanme, near Oxnard, CA to the Navy Lodge - nice place to stay and very safe.
We ate Mexican for dinner and went to the NEX Navy Exchange to go shopping
- Debbie bought a new computer bag that has wheels and is easy to carry about. Sunday May 13, 2007 Sunday, we dressed, drove for 1 hour to Grace Community Church on
Roscoe Blvd and attended the 8:30 service with John MacArthur- as usual, always
a great teaching sermon. At 10:00, we drive north on I-5 and spent
the day driving 350 miles to Sacramento, Ca where we end up at a La Quinta
motel. Debbie and I make several trips a year and we have earned points
enough to get 4 free nights while on this trip. The other three nights we
are staying at Navy Lodges.
We found a Wal-Mart while Debbie picked up some hairspray and a few
other things then went out to eat at a Mexican Restaurant again - I think we're
hooked. Monday May 14, 2007 Monday morning we took out time leaving the motel and headed up
Interstate 5 to Lassen National Park In May 22, 1915, an explosive eruption at Lassen Peak, the
southernmost active volcano in the Cascade Range, devastated nearby areas and
rained volcanic ash as far away as 200 miles to the east. This explosion was the
most powerful in a 1914-17 series of eruptions that were the most recent to
occur in the Cascades prior to the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Lassen Peak
is the largest of a group of more than 30 volcanic domes erupted over the past
300,000 years in Lassen Volcanic National Park. After visiting and hiking Lassen park, we visited the Subway lava
Tubes about 5 miles north of Lassen NP-- really amazing to After leaving the
Lava Tube park, we drove to Redding to get another free night motel at La
Quinta. Great extra large King Suite with wireless internet - that worked
really good and fast. After unpacking, we ate dinner and headed to the center of town
where the Sundial Bridge is located at Turtle Bay City Park. The bridge is
amazing and obviously designed uniquely as a tourist attraction and it has
succeeded nicely. The Sacramento River is about as wide as the Coosa River
- ( 100 yards wide or more ) and was really flowing swiftly down the stream - 10
- 15 mph I would guess. After doing a walking tour and taking photo's we saw a cloud of dust
in the distance so we got into our rental car and investigated. It was
about 30 girls on horses getting ready for their annual Redding Rodeo -
these girls were made up the introduction show and they were practicing.
The Rodeo is scheduled for Wed, Thur & Fri and we are leaving on Tuesday-
I'm sure we missed a good show - we stayed about an hour enjoying the
activities and all the beautiful horses.
Got back to the room and my BP was 144/80 -just two days into our
vacation and my BP is already down to a manageable level - When we landed in
LAX, it was 168/97. What is the outcome - should I move to California or
stay on a cruise ship the rest of my life ??? Not a bad sounding idea but I sure
would miss home.... On Tuesday we departed the La Quinta and headed north on I-5 to Lake
Shasta where we saw some really great views of the lake and Mt Shasta in the
background. After seeing the Lava Tube
park, we had about 5 or 6 hours of nothing to do - so we quickly decided to take
a chance and drive to Crater Lake and just see if we could get a small glimpse
of what everyone says is nearly impossible to see because of the fog and clouds.
Boy, was we surprised, it was a perfectly clear day and even though the rim
drive was closed, we were able to visit the lodge parking lot and drive about
1000 feet on the rim drive to take all the photo's we wanted to. It was a
perfect clear day with no wind blowing on the water - which made for a perfect
reflection of the rim. Seeing Crater Lake was far more spectacular than
the Golden Gate Bridge, more massive than Yosemite's half dome, far more
impressive than Niagara Falls, and to Debbie and I far more impressive than the
Grand Canyon - The snow made the difference - if it were summer without the snow
- the ground would be a dull gray gravel and not appealing to the eye.
With the snow - it was breath taking at every angle.
Wednesday
May 16, 2007 On Wednesday, we departed
to base of Mt Shasta and drove north on I-5 just past Yreka, Ca where we turned
west on Scenic Highway 96. This creek as it appeared to us at the moment
was named the Klamath River. This river or creek started at the foothills of
Crater Lake by just being a small stream a foot deep and 6 ft wide when we first
saw it. As we traveled down highway 96, this stream gathered steam from
surrounding watershed and became one of the most beautiful fast flowing river we
had ever seen. Besides the scenery being spectacular the drive was the
thing that amazed me. We drove for 135 miles all down hill - not once did
we climb a mountain. I could not believe that the elevation of this river
would be on a continuous downhill run from way east of I-5 to the Pacific Ocean. If
you can imagine the rugged foothills and mountains of West Virginia running
nearly vertical all over the place and a crystal clear river weaving in and out
of them for 135 miles all downhill. I'll be the car got 50 miles per
gallon on that leg of the trip.
Weitchpic, California was
the small crossroads where we turned north on to Bald Hill Road ( Hwy 169 )
heading to the Redwood National Park located east of Orick, Ca. We drove
20 miles on a narrow paved road only to get to the entrance of the park and find
that it was a freshly graded dirt and rock road that extended about 25 miles
into the park. We drove up and up and up above the clouds on this winding
road about 15 to 20 mph. Then finally we got to the cleared area that was simply
beautiful - you could see for miles and the road was on the crest of
the mountain. The fields were bursting with a flower called
"Lavender" that contrasted with the blue sky and the green grass -
simply beautiful. After taking a few photo's we drove down the mountain to
Orick and the Pacific coast only to find the temperature had dropped from
the high 70's to the low 50's. We ran the heater for the remainder of the
40 mile trip to our motel at Eureka, Ca .
Once we secured our room,
we showered and headed out to eat. After a nice meal, we drove across the bridge
to Samoa Island. We expected there to be lots of motels and places to shop
and eat - but rather we say an island that was used for the processing of
redwood trees into lumber. The bark was collected and used for something.
And the sawdust was also collected and used for something. The yards
were covered with the smell of Redwood trees from this processing plant.
The beach was just across the road from the plant. A short 50 yard walk to
the water on gray lava sand to a gentle slopping beach. The wind was
20 to 25 mph and we wore jackets and bundled up - we did see a few die hard
suffers riding the waves but no one who was normal in the water. After
walking the beach for 15 minutes we headed back to town, took a few photo's of
the local housing, then we were off to the motel and an evening of
rest. We downloaded all our photo's and picked out the best ones to reduce
then headed to bed about 10pm. Another really good day. THURSDAY
May 17, 2007 We had only driven a few miles when some of the most photographic
sights of the Pacific coastline came into view. From Eureka to just north
of San Francisco, the shoreline is mostly a cliff style beach with rocks or
small mountains jetting out of the water from the shoreline to about 500 yards
out into the ocean. It makes for a dangerous swimming area. The
water is crystal clear. At a depth of 6 to 8 foot deep you can clearly see
the bottom -and the water is a bluish green that lures the eyes to a continuous
stare in amazement. My words can't do the sight justice - I went to Hokes
Bluff High School and most of the adjectives I learned were 2, 3 or 4
letter long and I didn't know what a Thesaurus was until I got in college
( I've lost my book).
We drove the cliff hanging winding roads for about 150 miles
stopping every few miles at a pull out to take another photo and enjoy the view-
I highly recommend it to everyone who loves these type of views. There isn't much to eat along the way nor is there many places
to buy gas at $3.69 a gallon for regular so fill up before you start and carry a
snack for lunch.
We managed to turn toward the interstate from Bodega Bay toward
Santa Rosa along Hwy 12 and again we were driving through giant redwood forests
for miles and miles - simply amazing to see. Once on the interstate, we were just 30 minutes from the Golden Gate
Bridge. It was very mountainous just before the bridge and it came upon us
quickly - It was extremely long and a painted a yellowish color. The
walking lanes on both sides were crowded with hundreds possibly thousands of
sightseers just walking across the bridge to say that they did it. Many
school kids and many tourists were crossing. Once in San Francisco, we
didn't go down town but stayed on Highway 1 heading south. We were
surprised - the traffic really moved fast and the lanes were narrow - running 60
and 70 mph and close enough to hold hands with the car next door - Debbie didn't
like driving that fast that close. All went well until we started to get
on hwy 17 heading toward Monterey and we stayed in a exit ramp for 45 minutes
before we started to move - but once we got started it was back to 70 &
80 mph all the way. We arrive at our Navy Lodge about 7:30 - a few hours later than we
anticipated ( 45 min delay and 50 stops along the way contributed to this delay
). After dinner, we downloaded the photo's, relaxed and went to bed around
10pm.
Friday May 18, 2007 On Friday, we departed the Navy Lodge and decided not to do the
$9/person drive around "17 mile Drive" in Monterey and we decided not
to take time to visit Carmel Beach and just enjoy the scenery along highway 1.
We couldn't find a fast food restaurant for a cup of coffee anywhere in
town and ended up at a pastry shop. Apparently the city passed an
ordinance not to allow fast food or chain restaurants in the city limits.
After driving highway
1 to Cambria we headed east on highway 46 to a community called Lost Hills, Ca
where we say about two or three thousand oil wells drilling away - each had a
container beside it with varying amounts of crude oil in them. Someone
struck it rich on that parcel of land. We continued to drive until
we came to a city called Victorville, Ca where we spent the night.
Saturday May 19, 2007 On Saturday, we drove to the Angeles National Forrest. But
again like a few months before when I visited the Angeles NF, the highway was
closed to Glendale. So we turned around, and drove back to the LAX on the
massive interstate system. On the way, we took I-10 only to end up in a
traffic jam and at the next exit, we turned around and took I-605 south to avoid
the delays. We made it to the car rental return about 2 hours before the
scheduled departure at 2:30. We had a great flight from LAX to Atlanta and
I even got to sleep an hour or so. We arrived in Atlanta about 9:45
eastern time only to find out that the scheduled 10:45 flight to Birmingham was
delayed for 30 minutes. We grabbed a Chinese dinner and boarded the 737 to
Birmingham. The pilot only took 40 minutes for the 150 mile flight -
I think he was speeding if there is such a thing. We picked up our
luggage, found our car in the parking deck and arrived home at 12:30 just
after midnight. By 1:30 we were both in the bed and ready to crash.
What a trip and we loved every minute of it ( except for me driving on the
high cliffs ). This trip ranks among the top three sightseeing trips in our history
of vacationing. But, how do you rank Hawaii, Colorado, Utah, California,
Yellowstone, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Grand Canyon, Moab Utah, Escalante Nat
Forrest, Redwood Forrest, a cruise to the Caribbean Islands, Niagara Falls, and
all the other places east of the Mississippi ???? It's not
easy.......
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