Well, it has been a VERY INTERESTING 2 ½ weeks since our last Blog. First we spent a couple days at the southern end of Yosemite and then we left that area on June 12th to drive to the northern entrance of Yosemite where we intended to continue our time in this gorgeous park. That’s when things got VERY INTERESTING. Twenty-five miles after leaving our campground, while coming out of the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, we experienced a SERIOUS problem with the RV. The motorhome has been laid up ever since!  In the intervening couple weeks we have 1) been trying to get repairs started on the motorhome; 2) flown to Iowa for Pat’s Aunt Maxine’s funeral; and spent a few days in San Francisco. We said it had been a VERY INTERESTING 2 ½ weeks!


• We really enjoyed the days in Yosemite where we began viewing this fantastic National Park. It is a very special Spring in Yosemite because this year they experienced 200% snow-pack and, thus, the waterfalls and river rapids are EXCEPTIONAL. Many folks told us that the falls are the best that they have seen in their lifetime. Our visit to Bridal Veil Falls was awesome. There was so much water coming down that we got absolutely soaked while viewing it. Next we went to Tunnel View which is a viewpoint east of the Wawona Tunnel. The vista from here looks east into Yosemite Valley and includes an unparalleled panorama of the southwest face of El Capitan, Half Dome, and Bridal Veil Falls. We were very fortunate to drive up to Glacier Point since the road was just finally cleared of snow and opened two days before we arrived. Glacier Point is a lookout located on the south wall of Yosemite Valley at an elevation of 7,214 feet. From this perspective we had a superb view of Yosemite Valley, including Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, Vernal Fall, Nevada Fall, and Clouds Rest. It was very awe-inspiring. Next we headed to Mariposa Grove which is a sequoia grove located in the southernmost part of Yosemite National Park. It is the largest grove of Giant Sequoias in the park, with several hundred mature examples of the tree. Two of its trees are among the 25 largest Giant Sequoias in the world. We also visited the Yosemite Pioneer Village which consists of historic structures from different eras of Yosemite history. As we walked among the structures, it was fascinating to see each building that represented a different chapter in the Yosemite story. Our last evening in Yosemite we were privileged to view a movie entitled "Return to Balance" which examines the life of Yosemite legend Ron Kauk, who, through imagery and soft-spoken narration, shares insights and stories of his life of climbing in Yosemite. He strives, in his own ingenuous way, to awaken us to our connection with nature and our responsibility to preserve it. Ron was there to introduce the movie himself and then answered questions and interacted with the audience for a long time after the viewing. It was a very inspirational and moving evening. We also visited Curry Village and drove around the floor of Yosemite Valley experiencing our first close-up views of Yosemite Falls and El Capitan. We were reserving this area for several more days of exploration once we got to the northern entrance to the park. This will now have to wait a while.


• We spent several days in San Francisco where we were joined by Mary and MarieElena, friends of ours from Florida, and Sal and Alan, friends of ours from Houston. Firstly we went to a GREAT dim sum restaurant in China Town with Mary and MarieElena. It was delicious and great fun selecting plates from all the enticing dishes that kept coming by. Thanks to our friends M&M for a great time. Next we had a delicious dinner at a wonderful Mexican restaurant with Pat’s brother and sister-in-law. The next day we started a whirlwind three days of sightseeing. This included visits to the waterfront and Fisherman’s Wharf; Ghiradelli Square for some scrumptious hot chocolate; a ride on the historic San Francisco trolley, a drive down Lombard Street, best known for the one-way section on Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets, in which the roadway has eight sharp turns (or switchbacks) that have earned the street the distinction of being called the crookedest [most winding] street in the world; China Town; Little Italy and it’s North Beach Festival; Golden Gate Park with it’s gorgeous Japanese Tea Garden and the Palace of Fine Arts; the Golden Gate Bridge; Muir Woods; and Point Reyes National Seashore. We also had time for a great sushi dinner with Pat’s niece, her husband and daughter. This is just a quick synopsis of some of the many things we saw and did while in San Francisco. We REALLY enjoyed having the opportunity to experience everything with our friends and family.


• After San Francisco we flew to Iowa where we spent a few days with Pat’s family. Her great-Aunt Maxine, who turned 100 this past December, passed away. She had requested that Pat deliver the eulogy at her service so, of course, we wanted to be there.


• We are now in Lodi, California where our motorhome has been since we broke down on June 12th. As mentioned above, while leaving the southern entrance of Yosemite we encountered some serious problems. The front-left wheel came off the RV! All four bolts that hold the wheel assembly on the A-arms of the axle sheared off and we skidded 880 feet until SAFELY coming to a stop. We had to be towed twice, first 47 miles to a locked yard, and then 115 miles to the repair center here in Lodi. We have now spent the last 2 ½ weeks trying to get insurance adjusters here, estimates prepared, authorizations for repairs, confirmations that parts are being ordered, etc. The repairs are pretty extensive and the current consensus seems to be that it will be six to eight week before all the work will be completed!!! We have been staying in the RV in the parking lot of the repair center without air conditioning or hookups and we certainly cannot remain here for another couple months. So, this Sunday, July 3rd we are going to fly back home to Florida. Our current plans are to fly back out here around the middle of August and resume this trip where we left off. After all, we still have northern California, Oregon, Washington, Vancouver/British Columbia and Glacier National Park. It’s a REAL BUMMER but we have not lost sight of the really important fact and that is that NO ONE WAS HURT. We consider ourselves VERY FORTUNATE and we will just go on from here.


So, this will be the last Blog for a few weeks but tune back in and we’ll pick up where we left off.


Below is the link to the pictures for Yosemite and San Francisco.


http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Sbs27hoxZMsG



As always, drop an email at  PFerraro1@cfl.rr.com we’d love to hear from you.
So, in the mean time, take care and stay safe.


SOON,


Pat & Judy

We have spent the last 5 days in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.  It is a place where one truly feels small - in a good way - while walking among some of the worlds largest living things and viewing the wild Kings River.  The GIANT Sequoia trees are incredible masterpieces created by nature.  We first viewed the Sequoia groves in the early morning mist and it was just awe-inspiring.  We covered all of the highlights in the parks and did several wonderful hikes.
Some of the sights we enjoyed:

·       The Giant Forest,  which was so-named by John Muir, the famous conservationist, who was so impressed by the sheer beauty of this area, he often compared it's similarity to the phenomenal terrain of Yosemite.  In The Giant Forest we saw beautiful meadows, complete with several bears, recently appearing from their winter hibernation and grazing on the tender shoots of sledge.  We viewed the cinnamon-colored Sequoias, members of the redwood family, just as Muir found them, "Giants grouped in pure temple groves, or arranged in colonnades along the sides of the meadows".  Among these majestic trees stands The General Sherman, the LARGEST tree in the world.  While neither the tallest nor the widest, it is considered the largest living tree in the world because of its volume.  It weighs approximately 2.7 million pounds, has a height of 275 feet,  a circumference of 103 feet and is estimated to be 2,200 years old!  We also drove through Tunnel Log, saw Hospital Rock and picnicked at Crescent Meadow which John Muir called “a lovely, grassy, open area which is the gem of the Sierra”.

·       We spent a great day driving up to Mineral King.  We were very fortunate because the 25-mile winding road had just re-opened from the winter snows the day before.  Actually, at one point we had to wait while the snow plow finished digging up some remaining snow.   A quote in a journal we were reading before we went, read as follows when describing this remote subalpine world: "For those who find comfort in numbers: there are 698 curves on the 25-mile road from Three Rivers to Mineral King in southern Sequoia National Park.  Our family clearly was flirting with danger on 1 1/2 lane-wide Mineral King Road, part paved, part potholed and more kinked than a Slinky.  By the time we completed the drive to this 7,800-foot-high mountain oasis I was exhausted from pushing the passenger-side brake pedal.  But sometimes a place that takes some effort to reach is all the sweeter".  This absolutely explains our experience except we didn’t really count the number of curves, though we agree it was a LOT, and Judy says she only hit the passenger-side brake pedal once. It was, however, DEFINITELY worth the effort. J  As an aside, while at Mineral King we had an “interesting” showdown with the marmots.  What, you ask, could we have against the cute little furry animals?  (You’ll see a picture of one in the attached photos)  The problem is that these seemingly harmless little guys are EXTREMELY destructive.  They will chew just about anything but seem to be quite fond of automobile insulation, wiring, belts and even brake lines.  They have been known to completely disable a car in just a couple hours.  To lend credence to this reputation the Ranger showed us the underside of the hood where the heat insulation was completely shredded!  But, they’re SO CUTE…

·       Grant Grove is another fascinating area of the park where we viewed the General Grant Tree named for the leader of the Union Forces during what Judy prefers to call “the war of Northern aggression”.  The General Grant is the world’s third largest living thing.  It has a base diameter of 40.3 feet, however, due to its tapering trunk, it is not considered as large as the previously mentioned General Sherman Tree.  In Grant Grove we also viewed several other trees such as the California Tree, the Tennessee Tree, the Lincoln Tree and several other sequoias of significant size and notoriety.  We also viewed the Fallen Monarch which fell centuries ago but because of the resistant composition of a sequoia, has experienced very little decay.  Over the years the Fallen Monarch has served many uses.  It has been used as a living space by the Gamlin brothers as they built their cabin, as a hotel and saloon, as a stable for the horses of the U.S. Cavalry and as a home for the Native Americans who inhabited this area for hundreds of years.

·       We were also fortunate to be able to drive to the easternmost portion of Kings Canyon all the way to Road’s End.  Fortunate in that the road, like the road to Mineral King, had just re-opened after heavy winter snows.  Due to an unusually high snow accumulation this past winter, all of the rivers and waterfalls are running at extremely high and ferocious levels.  We enjoyed several falls, especially Grizzly Falls and Roaring Rapids, which both were phenomenally powerful.  John Muir compared the glacial canyon of  Kings Canyon as “A rival to the Yosemite”.  The Kings River is an awesome sight to behold with the white water rushing between the granite canyon walls.  At one spot the granite cliffs rise 8,000 feet from river to ridge.  At this point it is actually thousands of feet deeper than the Grand Canyon.

This, again, is just a snippet of some of the many wonderful sights that we
have seen. The sheer beauty of the trees of Sequoia and Kings Canyon is
humbling.
We especially like a quote that we read from Dennis Woods that says “Big
trees are just little trees that don’t give up” . We are glad the GIANT
sequoias have not given up!


The link for some pictures is


http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Sbs27hoxZMra

From here we’re off to Yosemite for a week.


Take care and stay safe,


Pat & Judy

Big Sur is not a town; it's a 90-mile stretch of land defined by the Santa Lucia Mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. The suitably named Highway 1 is the only road that runs through it. It is an especially rugged stretch of oceanfront comprised of a rocky world of mountains, cliffs and beaches. There are NO words to adequately describe the sheer beauty of this drive. A mid-March storm sent several sections of the highway into the water. We had to drive through a few single lane repairs but for other than a short stretch around Gorda, which is still closed for repair, we traveled the entire magnificent stretch from San Simeon to Carmel. What a fantastic experience. Big Sur has long been a retreat of artists and writers and the ancient forests and rugged shoreline have, to a great extent, been protected from over-development. To use a well-worn expression: “IT IS AWESOME”!

One of the more iconic Big Sur landmarks is the Bixby Creek Bridge. It is one of the world's highest single-span concrete arch bridges at more than 280 feet high and 714 feet long. The bridge is quite identifiable because it is frequently featured in TV shows, movies and commercials. The Bixby Creek Bridge, which was opened on November 27, 1932, is important historically because it introduced automobile travel to Big Sur, connecting the remote coastal towns to each other. It was virtually impossible to select a few photographs, from the scores that we took, that will do this area justice, but we have selected some that, hopefully, will reflect the sheer beauty and magnificence of this stretch of coastline. The photos are included in the link below.
Some more of the highlights along the way were:
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park with some lovely hikes that culminated in incredible vistas. The view high above the beach, with the 80-foot McWay Waterfall that drops into the ocean was especially incredible. This was an astounding place to sit and contemplate nature.
Not enough can be said about Carmel, Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove and Monterey. They are all stunningly beautiful and unique in their own personalities and charm. The 17-mile drive, which traverses a surf-pounded landscape, complete with cypress trees, sea lions, seals, HUGE estates and the infamous Pebble Beach Golf Links was just gorgeous. Also, all over the coastline, the vivid pink-purple ice plant groundcover is just stunningly beautiful as it cascades over and down the rocks to the shore below.
In Monterey, a visit to Cannery Row, which was made famous by John Steinbeck, was quite informative. Additionally, the campground where we are staying is near Salinas, California where Steinbeck was born and grew up.
Speaking of the campground where we are staying; it is filled with wildlife including a mother bobcat and her four cubs. We have had the thrill of watching them romp and play and gradually become more daring and frisky. Check out their pictures on the link below.
We also visited Point Lobos State Reserve for MORE incredible scenery and also enjoyed a trip to Point Pinos Lighthouse.
There was also a side trip to Asilomar Conference Grounds, touted as Monterey Peninsula's "Refuge by the Sea". Pat attended a conference here back in the ‘80s and she has always fondly recalled its 107 acres as a spot of breathtakingly gorgeous and ecologically diverse beachfront land, situated within the quaint and scenic town of Pacific Grove.
We continued to view more of the California missions with visits to Mission San Antonio de Padua, where we examined olive trees that have survived for more than 240 years and are still bearing fruit, and Mission San Carlos Boromeo del Rio Carmelo.
We also enjoyed a visit to Pinnacles National Monument, which is highlighted by the eroded leftovers of half of an extinct volcano. The rock formations provide for spectacular pinnacles which are not only breathtakingly colorful but are also a favorite of rock climbers AND the nesting habitat of the California condor and several breeds of falcons.
A visit to San Jose, the heart of the Silicon Valley, where Pat has spent considerable time in her working days, was capped by a visit to the INCREDIBLE Winchester Mystery House. It was the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester and was continuously under construction for 38 years. Deeply saddened by the deaths of her daughter Annie in 1866 and her young husband in 1881, Winchester consulted a medium on the advice of a psychic. The "Boston Medium" told Winchester that she believed there to be a curse upon the Winchester family because the guns they made had taken so many lives. The psychic told Winchester that "thousands of people have died because of it and their spirits are now seeking deep vengeance”. She also told Winchester that she had to leave her home in New Haven, CT and travel west, where she must "build a home for yourself and for the spirits who have fallen from this terrible weapon, too. You must never stop building the house. If you continue building, you will live forever. But if you stop, then you will die”. The medium continued that otherwise the spirits that killed her family members would come after her, too. After hearing this, Sara Winchester began construction on the maze-like house that is full of twists, turns, and dead ends, so that the spirits would get lost and never be able to find her. Under Winchester's day-to-day guidance, its "from-the-ground-up" construction proceeded around the clock, 24-hours a day, seven days a week, without interruption, from 1884 until her death on September 5, 1922, at which time work immediately ceased. The cost for such constant building has been estimated at about $5.5 million dollars which would be equivalent to over $80 million today. There are 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms and two ballrooms, one completed and one unfinished. The house also has 47 fireplaces, 52 skylights, 10,000 window panes, 17 chimneys (with evidence of two others), two basements and three elevators. Winchester's property sat on 162 acres. There are gold and silver chandeliers and hand inlaid parquet floors and trim. There are doors and stairways that lead nowhere and a vast array of colors and materials. The house also has many conveniences that were rare at the time of its construction, including steam and forced-air heating, modern indoor toilets and plumbing, push-button gas lights, a hot shower from indoor plumbing, There are three elevators, including one with the only horizontal hydraulic elevator piston in the United States and a Séance Room where the spirits are said to have directly inspired her as to the way the house should be built. The number thirteen and spider web motifs, which had some sort of spiritual meaning to her, reappear around the house. For example, an expensive imported chandelier that originally had 12 candle-holders was altered to accommodate 13 candles, wall clothes hooks are in multiples of 13, and a spider web-patterned stained glass window contains 13 colored stones. The sink's drain covers also have 13 holes. This place was quite a remarkable sight and lays credence to the fact that there is a thin line between genius and insanity!
We have also been enthralled with the miles and miles of agricultural land which includes the BEST lettuce, strawberries, cherries and a plethora of other fruits and vegetables.
SO, this is an overview of some of the amazing sights that we’ve experienced and below is the link to some pictures for you to enjoy.
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Sbs27hoxZMq8
From here we head back southeast across the state to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks and then into Yosemite.
Take care and stay safe,
Pat & Judy