Places Visited: Tuesday, May 31: Cypress Bay RV Park Morro Bay, California: $31 FHU-30amp. Paved interior roads & sites. N35° 72.165' W120° 51.044' It is the day after the Memorial Day weekend, people go back to work and the streets return to normal. The noise level in our RV-Park returns to acceptable. But more importantly someone is going to be available to look at my computer. The computer shop is in Baywoods a community on the south shores of Morro Bay about 8-miles from the RV-Park. We dropped the computer off there shortly after they opened at 10 this morning. Several nice techies assured me they could fix everything.
We drove by the waterfront to make sure everything was as we left it yesterday. The tide had gone out and a light fog hung over the harbor making for an interesting picture.
Salmon boats were moored tight to the dock.
Assured that everything was as it should be we headed back to the motorhome to work on things around there. That comprised our day. Joyce cooked again and we retrieved the computer mid-afternoon.
The only other thing we did was head to the waterfront to watch the sun go down. Joyce is getting more accomplished with these sunset excursions and photographs.
Wednesday, June 1: Cypress Bay RV Park Morro Bay, California: $31 FHU-30amp. Paved interior roads & sites. N35° 72.165' W120° 51.044' We spent time discussing our plans for the next week or so. We have not seen Monterey and Carmel and that seemed like a must for us. However, we were having a hard time locating RV-Parks. They just don't have them in Carmel or Monterey proper. Some were available in cities north and east of Monterey. The more we discussed it the more we realized we just needed to drive the Saturn up US-101 to Monterey and Carmel instead of moving the motorhome up there so that is what we did today. It took a little over two hours to drive up US-101 to Salinas and over to Monterey in the Saturn where we drove straight to Carmel and the famous 17-mile drive. The 17-mile drive is actually a loop that we started at the US-101 Carmel gate. The first few miles wound around in residential neighborhoods in a pine forest as the road wended its way north traversing several golf courses that have household names with the golfing crowd.
On this leg Joyce and I began to wonder what all the fuss was about then the road jogged west and we were suddenly on a wide sandy beach.
That is when things changed. From then on the 17-mile drive was fabulous.
This area along the coast is touted by some as being "The greatest meeting of land and sea in the world".
I don't know how one would determine that but the shoreline is spectacular.
What a wonderful way to enjoy the scenery!
In matter of fact almost everything is spectacular from the golf courses to the homes to cliffs and sandy beaches.
Even the gnarled Monterrey cypress trees and other vegetation creates visual splendor.
We enjoyed the 17-mile drive so much that we turned around at Pebble Beach Golf Resort and retraced our route along the water so we could once again admire not only the natural setting but the lavish mansions. We saw one of these places being "offered" for $14-million and change.
On some of these cliff edges are some of the world's most powerful views and I suspect weather. This area has been created by the forces of nature and that is its attraction. Raw forces of weather, waves and geologic activity has created this panorama.
Seals birth their young on the beaches around here while sea birds use these guiano coated rocks as their places of solitude. Spanish Sailors named these rocks Blanca rocks or white rocks. The part of that 17-mile drive along the ocean is probably one of the most scenic drives anywhere.
We stopped and walked through the shops and botiques along Cannery Row in Monterey admiring the memorial to John Steinbeck who immortalized Cannery Row with his eponymous book.
Before leaving Monterey we stopped by the harbor to inspect the boats. I am constantly amazed at the huge marinas full of boats.
After tiring of Monterey we headed down the coast to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Talk about hoity toity this place is it.
There are few places on earth as incredibly dynamic, yet so quaint and picturesque as the city/town of Carmel-by-the-Bay situated on Carmel Bay in this world-renowned scenic environment.
It would be easy to be immersed in the incredible beauty and mesmerizing charm of Carmel's unique brand of enchantment.
Nestled in a pine forest above a spectacular almost white-sand beach, the one-square mile "village" of Carmel offers endless opportunities for one to part with money in an ecologically harmonious setting.
The place is different, the people are different. Real different, if you get my drift. The residential district has no sidewalks or street lights, and the beach is unadulterated by commercial development. Homes are known only by name and have no street addresses. Remember me saying it was "different". There are no chain restaurants. For that you will have to leave this enclave and venture into Monterrey where "commoners" can dine at Micky D's or Taco Bell. I only saw one gas station and it must have been a concession to the fact that even they have to drive automobiles. I don't know how they do it but women are walking around in "flats" ------ no joke! A city ordinance outlaws high heels! If I am not mistaken Clint Eastwood was the mayor here at one time. Feel free to correct me if that is not correct. I guess you could say Carmel has European ambience in that it is easy to stroll through winding streets, courtyards and arcades when moseying the 90 some odd art studios and galleries or one of the numerous antique shops, boutiques, intimate cafes and expensive restaurants. I don't know how but I escaped Carmel with my bank account still present and accounted for. Miracles never cease. We finished off this day by driving the Big Sur back to our motorhome in Morrow Bay. For those of you not familiar with the Big Sur the drive from Carmel on the north end to Morro Bay on the south end is around 130-miles of pure scenery, narrow twisting roads hanging on the edge of cliffs with the Pacific Ocean at the bottom. What a day! It was our last day on the coast before heading inland for a spell. Thursday, June 2: River Bend & Kings Canyon RV Park & Mobile Home Park Sanger (East Fresno), California: $25 FHU-30amp. Gravel interior roads with grass sites. N36° 43.924' W119° 28.084' 559-787-3627 (be aware that this RV-Park is NOT a resort. Far from it there are many ramshackle trailers providing permanent housing.) We left the coast and headed inland today. We are heading inland to see Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in the Sierras. We have selected a small mom & pop RV-Park east of Fresno as our base. We traveled mostly on two-lane CA-41 in a northeast direction to Fresno then took CA-180 east from Fresno to our campground. It was right at 150-miles of open country. As we headed inland from Morro Bay on CA-41 we drove past huge avocado orchards that stretched for miles and miles on both sides of the road. We were looking for plum/prune orchards along Ca-41 in that area but never saw them. For the next hundred miles we were constantly going up down and around small mountains until we finally dropped down off the pass at Kettleman City (intersection of I-5 & CA-41) to what looked to me like the dry bed of some huge ancient lake. From that intersection all the way into Fresno we were in heavy agriculture. Fruit trees of every description as well as vineyards and produce with a strong emphasis on strawberries were on every available piece of land. We arrived in our campground with the temperature around 90 degrees and humid. When we left the coast this morning it was a pleasant 65 degrees. The swollen Kings River flows rapidly behind our motorhome. The past winters rains meant heavy rainfall in the Sierras and that melting snow is providing a torrent of water. We have the air conditioner running full speed. That seems so odd since we have not used it in over a month. Yes we have been on the coast for a month and forgotten how hot it is inland. Joyce informs me that Fresno
bills itself as the "Raisin Capitol" of the world. That may well be
true because there are thousands of acres of grape vines. However, we saw thousands
more acres of vineyards around King City on US-101 yesterday. The vineyards in
King City may be specializing in grape juice, wine or fresh grapes for all I know.
The vineyards around Fresno must be specializing in "raisins". There
is a city just a few miles south of Fresno called Raisin City. If I have time
I am going to poke around and see if I can learn something about raisins. I particularly
like the big, sweet, juicy white raisins. Until next week just remember how good life is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike &
Joyce HendrixPlaces Visited: Tuesday, May 31: Cypress Bay RV Park Morro Bay, California: $31 FHU-30amp. Paved interior roads & sites. N35° 72.165' W120° 51.044' It is the day after the Memorial Day weekend, people go back to work and the streets return to normal. The noise level in our RV-Park returns to acceptable. But more importantly someone is going to be available to look at my computer. The computer shop is in Baywoods a community on the south shores of Morro Bay about 8-miles from the RV-Park. We dropped the computer off there shortly after they opened at 10 this morning. Several nice techies assured me they could fix everything.
We drove by the waterfront to make sure everything was as we left it yesterday. The tide had gone out and a light fog hung over the harbor making for an interesting picture.
Salmon boats were moored tight to the dock.
Assured that everything was as it should be we headed back to the motorhome to work on things around there. That comprised our day. Joyce cooked again and we retrieved the computer mid-afternoon.
The only other thing we did was head to the waterfront to watch the sun go down. Joyce is getting more accomplished with these sunset excursions and photographs.
Wednesday, June 1: Cypress Bay RV Park Morro Bay, California: $31 FHU-30amp. Paved interior roads & sites. N35° 72.165' W120° 51.044' We spent time discussing our plans for the next week or so. We have not seen Monterey and Carmel and that seemed like a must for us. However, we were having a hard time locating RV-Parks. They just don't have them in Carmel or Monterey proper. Some were available in cities north and east of Monterey. The more we discussed it the more we realized we just needed to drive the Saturn up US-101 to Monterey and Carmel instead of moving the motorhome up there so that is what we did today. It took a little over two hours to drive up US-101 to Salinas and over to Monterey in the Saturn where we drove straight to Carmel and the famous 17-mile drive. The 17-mile drive is actually a loop that we started at the US-101 Carmel gate. The first few miles wound around in residential neighborhoods in a pine forest as the road wended its way north traversing several golf courses that have household names with the golfing crowd.
On this leg Joyce and I began to wonder what all the fuss was about then the road jogged west and we were suddenly on a wide sandy beach.
That is when things changed. From then on the 17-mile drive was fabulous.
This area along the coast is touted by some as being "The greatest meeting of land and sea in the world".
I don't know how one would determine that but the shoreline is spectacular.
What a wonderful way to enjoy the scenery!
In matter of fact almost everything is spectacular from the golf courses to the homes to cliffs and sandy beaches.
Even the gnarled Monterrey cypress trees and other vegetation creates visual splendor.
We enjoyed the 17-mile drive so much that we turned around at Pebble Beach Golf Resort and retraced our route along the water so we could once again admire not only the natural setting but the lavish mansions. We saw one of these places being "offered" for $14-million and change.
On some of these cliff edges are some of the world's most powerful views and I suspect weather. This area has been created by the forces of nature and that is its attraction. Raw forces of weather, waves and geologic activity has created this panorama.
Seals birth their young on the beaches around here while sea birds use these guiano coated rocks as their places of solitude. Spanish Sailors named these rocks Blanca rocks or white rocks. The part of that 17-mile drive along the ocean is probably one of the most scenic drives anywhere.
We stopped and walked through the shops and botiques along Cannery Row in Monterey admiring the memorial to John Steinbeck who immortalized Cannery Row with his eponymous book.
Before leaving Monterey we stopped by the harbor to inspect the boats. I am constantly amazed at the huge marinas full of boats.
After tiring of Monterey we headed down the coast to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Talk about hoity toity this place is it.
There are few places on earth as incredibly dynamic, yet so quaint and picturesque as the city/town of Carmel-by-the-Bay situated on Carmel Bay in this world-renowned scenic environment.
It would be easy to be immersed in the incredible beauty and mesmerizing charm of Carmel's unique brand of enchantment.
Nestled in a pine forest above a spectacular almost white-sand beach, the one-square mile "village" of Carmel offers endless opportunities for one to part with money in an ecologically harmonious setting.
The place is different, the people are different. Real different, if you get my drift. The residential district has no sidewalks or street lights, and the beach is unadulterated by commercial development. Homes are known only by name and have no street addresses. Remember me saying it was "different". There are no chain restaurants. For that you will have to leave this enclave and venture into Monterrey where "commoners" can dine at Micky D's or Taco Bell. I only saw one gas station and it must have been a concession to the fact that even they have to drive automobiles. I don't know how they do it but women are walking around in "flats" ------ no joke! A city ordinance outlaws high heels! If I am not mistaken Clint Eastwood was the mayor here at one time. Feel free to correct me if that is not correct. I guess you could say Carmel has European ambience in that it is easy to stroll through winding streets, courtyards and arcades when moseying the 90 some odd art studios and galleries or one of the numerous antique shops, boutiques, intimate cafes and expensive restaurants. I don't know how but I escaped Carmel with my bank account still present and accounted for. Miracles never cease. We finished off this day by driving the Big Sur back to our motorhome in Morrow Bay. For those of you not familiar with the Big Sur the drive from Carmel on the north end to Morro Bay on the south end is around 130-miles of pure scenery, narrow twisting roads hanging on the edge of cliffs with the Pacific Ocean at the bottom. What a day! It was our last day on the coast before heading inland for a spell. Thursday, June 2: River Bend & Kings Canyon RV Park & Mobile Home Park Sanger (East Fresno), California: $25 FHU-30amp. Gravel interior roads with grass sites. N36° 43.924' W119° 28.084' 559-787-3627 (be aware that this RV-Park is NOT a resort. Far from it there are many ramshackle trailers providing permanent housing.) We left the coast and headed inland today. We are heading inland to see Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in the Sierras. We have selected a small mom & pop RV-Park east of Fresno as our base. We traveled mostly on two-lane CA-41 in a northeast direction to Fresno then took CA-180 east from Fresno to our campground. It was right at 150-miles of open country. As we headed inland from Morro Bay on CA-41 we drove past huge avocado orchards that stretched for miles and miles on both sides of the road. We were looking for plum/prune orchards along Ca-41 in that area but never saw them. For the next hundred miles we were constantly going up down and around small mountains until we finally dropped down off the pass at Kettleman City (intersection of I-5 & CA-41) to what looked to me like the dry bed of some huge ancient lake. From that intersection all the way into Fresno we were in heavy agriculture. Fruit trees of every description as well as vineyards and produce with a strong emphasis on strawberries were on every available piece of land. We arrived in our campground with the temperature around 90 degrees and humid. When we left the coast this morning it was a pleasant 65 degrees. The swollen Kings River flows rapidly behind our motorhome. The past winters rains meant heavy rainfall in the Sierras and that melting snow is providing a torrent of water. We have the air conditioner running full speed. That seems so odd since we have not used it in over a month. Yes we have been on the coast for a month and forgotten how hot it is inland. Joyce informs me that Fresno
bills itself as the "Raisin Capitol" of the world. That may well be
true because there are thousands of acres of grape vines. However, we saw thousands
more acres of vineyards around King City on US-101 yesterday. The vineyards in
King City may be specializing in grape juice, wine or fresh grapes for all I know.
The vineyards around Fresno must be specializing in "raisins". There
is a city just a few miles south of Fresno called Raisin City. If I have time
I am going to poke around and see if I can learn something about raisins. I particularly
like the big, sweet, juicy white raisins. Until next week just remember how good life is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike &
Joyce HendrixPlaces Visited: Tuesday, May 31: Cypress Bay RV Park Morro Bay, California: $31 FHU-30amp. Paved interior roads & sites. N35° 72.165' W120° 51.044' It is the day after the Memorial Day weekend, people go back to work and the streets return to normal. The noise level in our RV-Park returns to acceptable. But more importantly someone is going to be available to look at my computer. The computer shop is in Baywoods a community on the south shores of Morro Bay about 8-miles from the RV-Park. We dropped the computer off there shortly after they opened at 10 this morning. Several nice techies assured me they could fix everything.
We drove by the waterfront to make sure everything was as we left it yesterday. The tide had gone out and a light fog hung over the harbor making for an interesting picture.
Salmon boats were moored tight to the dock.
Assured that everything was as it should be we headed back to the motorhome to work on things around there. That comprised our day. Joyce cooked again and we retrieved the computer mid-afternoon.
The only other thing we did was head to the waterfront to watch the sun go down. Joyce is getting more accomplished with these sunset excursions and photographs.
Wednesday, June 1: Cypress Bay RV Park Morro Bay, California: $31 FHU-30amp. Paved interior roads & sites. N35° 72.165' W120° 51.044' We spent time discussing our plans for the next week or so. We have not seen Monterey and Carmel and that seemed like a must for us. However, we were having a hard time locating RV-Parks. They just don't have them in Carmel or Monterey proper. Some were available in cities north and east of Monterey. The more we discussed it the more we realized we just needed to drive the Saturn up US-101 to Monterey and Carmel instead of moving the motorhome up there so that is what we did today. It took a little over two hours to drive up US-101 to Salinas and over to Monterey in the Saturn where we drove straight to Carmel and the famous 17-mile drive. The 17-mile drive is actually a loop that we started at the US-101 Carmel gate. The first few miles wound around in residential neighborhoods in a pine forest as the road wended its way north traversing several golf courses that have household names with the golfing crowd.
On this leg Joyce and I began to wonder what all the fuss was about then the road jogged west and we were suddenly on a wide sandy beach.
That is when things changed. From then on the 17-mile drive was fabulous.
This area along the coast is touted by some as being "The greatest meeting of land and sea in the world".
I don't know how one would determine that but the shoreline is spectacular.
What a wonderful way to enjoy the scenery!
In matter of fact almost everything is spectacular from the golf courses to the homes to cliffs and sandy beaches.
Even the gnarled Monterrey cypress trees and other vegetation creates visual splendor.
We enjoyed the 17-mile drive so much that we turned around at Pebble Beach Golf Resort and retraced our route along the water so we could once again admire not only the natural setting but the lavish mansions. We saw one of these places being "offered" for $14-million and change.
On some of these cliff edges are some of the world's most powerful views and I suspect weather. This area has been created by the forces of nature and that is its attraction. Raw forces of weather, waves and geologic activity has created this panorama.
Seals birth their young on the beaches around here while sea birds use these guiano coated rocks as their places of solitude. Spanish Sailors named these rocks Blanca rocks or white rocks. The part of that 17-mile drive along the ocean is probably one of the most scenic drives anywhere.
We stopped and walked through the shops and botiques along Cannery Row in Monterey admiring the memorial to John Steinbeck who immortalized Cannery Row with his eponymous book.
Before leaving Monterey we stopped by the harbor to inspect the boats. I am constantly amazed at the huge marinas full of boats.
After tiring of Monterey we headed down the coast to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Talk about hoity toity this place is it.
There are few places on earth as incredibly dynamic, yet so quaint and picturesque as the city/town of Carmel-by-the-Bay situated on Carmel Bay in this world-renowned scenic environment.
It would be easy to be immersed in the incredible beauty and mesmerizing charm of Carmel's unique brand of enchantment.
Nestled in a pine forest above a spectacular almost white-sand beach, the one-square mile "village" of Carmel offers endless opportunities for one to part with money in an ecologically harmonious setting.
The place is different, the people are different. Real different, if you get my drift. The residential district has no sidewalks or street lights, and the beach is unadulterated by commercial development. Homes are known only by name and have no street addresses. Remember me saying it was "different". There are no chain restaurants. For that you will have to leave this enclave and venture into Monterrey where "commoners" can dine at Micky D's or Taco Bell. I only saw one gas station and it must have been a concession to the fact that even they have to drive automobiles. I don't know how they do it but women are walking around in "flats" ------ no joke! A city ordinance outlaws high heels! If I am not mistaken Clint Eastwood was the mayor here at one time. Feel free to correct me if that is not correct. I guess you could say Carmel has European ambience in that it is easy to stroll through winding streets, courtyards and arcades when moseying the 90 some odd art studios and galleries or one of the numerous antique shops, boutiques, intimate cafes and expensive restaurants. I don't know how but I escaped Carmel with my bank account still present and accounted for. Miracles never cease. We finished off this day by driving the Big Sur back to our motorhome in Morrow Bay. For those of you not familiar with the Big Sur the drive from Carmel on the north end to Morro Bay on the south end is around 130-miles of pure scenery, narrow twisting roads hanging on the edge of cliffs with the Pacific Ocean at the bottom. What a day! It was our last day on the coast before heading inland for a spell. Thursday, June 2: River Bend & Kings Canyon RV Park & Mobile Home Park Sanger (East Fresno), California: $25 FHU-30amp. Gravel interior roads with grass sites. N36° 43.924' W119° 28.084' 559-787-3627 (be aware that this RV-Park is NOT a resort. Far from it there are many ramshackle trailers providing permanent housing.) We left the coast and headed inland today. We are heading inland to see Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in the Sierras. We have selected a small mom & pop RV-Park east of Fresno as our base. We traveled mostly on two-lane CA-41 in a northeast direction to Fresno then took CA-180 east from Fresno to our campground. It was right at 150-miles of open country. As we headed inland from Morro Bay on CA-41 we drove past huge avocado orchards that stretched for miles and miles on both sides of the road. We were looking for plum/prune orchards along Ca-41 in that area but never saw them. For the next hundred miles we were constantly going up down and around small mountains until we finally dropped down off the pass at Kettleman City (intersection of I-5 & CA-41) to what looked to me like the dry bed of some huge ancient lake. From that intersection all the way into Fresno we were in heavy agriculture. Fruit trees of every description as well as vineyards and produce with a strong emphasis on strawberries were on every available piece of land. We arrived in our campground with the temperature around 90 degrees and humid. When we left the coast this morning it was a pleasant 65 degrees. The swollen Kings River flows rapidly behind our motorhome. The past winters rains meant heavy rainfall in the Sierras and that melting snow is providing a torrent of water. We have the air conditioner running full speed. That seems so odd since we have not used it in over a month. Yes we have been on the coast for a month and forgotten how hot it is inland. Joyce informs me that Fresno
bills itself as the "Raisin Capitol" of the world. That may well be
true because there are thousands of acres of grape vines. However, we saw thousands
more acres of vineyards around King City on US-101 yesterday. The vineyards in
King City may be specializing in grape juice, wine or fresh grapes for all I know.
The vineyards around Fresno must be specializing in "raisins". There
is a city just a few miles south of Fresno called Raisin City. If I have time
I am going to poke around and see if I can learn something about raisins. I particularly
like the big, sweet, juicy white raisins. Until next week just remember how good life is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike &
Joyce HendrixPlaces Visited: Tuesday, May 31: Cypress Bay RV Park Morro Bay, California: $31 FHU-30amp. Paved interior roads & sites. N35° 72.165' W120° 51.044' It is the day after the Memorial Day weekend, people go back to work and the streets return to normal. The noise level in our RV-Park returns to acceptable. But more importantly someone is going to be available to look at my computer. The computer shop is in Baywoods a community on the south shores of Morro Bay about 8-miles from the RV-Park. We dropped the computer off there shortly after they opened at 10 this morning. Several nice techies assured me they could fix everything.
We drove by the waterfront to make sure everything was as we left it yesterday. The tide had gone out and a light fog hung over the harbor making for an interesting picture.
Salmon boats were moored tight to the dock.
Assured that everything was as it should be we headed back to the motorhome to work on things around there. That comprised our day. Joyce cooked again and we retrieved the computer mid-afternoon.
The only other thing we did was head to the waterfront to watch the sun go down. Joyce is getting more accomplished with these sunset excursions and photographs.
Wednesday, June 1: Cypress Bay RV Park Morro Bay, California: $31 FHU-30amp. Paved interior roads & sites. N35° 72.165' W120° 51.044' We spent time discussing our plans for the next week or so. We have not seen Monterey and Carmel and that seemed like a must for us. However, we were having a hard time locating RV-Parks. They just don't have them in Carmel or Monterey proper. Some were available in cities north and east of Monterey. The more we discussed it the more we realized we just needed to drive the Saturn up US-101 to Monterey and Carmel instead of moving the motorhome up there so that is what we did today. It took a little over two hours to drive up US-101 to Salinas and over to Monterey in the Saturn where we drove straight to Carmel and the famous 17-mile drive. The 17-mile drive is actually a loop that we started at the US-101 Carmel gate. The first few miles wound around in residential neighborhoods in a pine forest as the road wended its way north traversing several golf courses that have household names with the golfing crowd.
On this leg Joyce and I began to wonder what all the fuss was about then the road jogged west and we were suddenly on a wide sandy beach.
That is when things changed. From then on the 17-mile drive was fabulous.
This area along the coast is touted by some as being "The greatest meeting of land and sea in the world".
I don't know how one would determine that but the shoreline is spectacular.
What a wonderful way to enjoy the scenery!
In matter of fact almost everything is spectacular from the golf courses to the homes to cliffs and sandy beaches.
Even the gnarled Monterrey cypress trees and other vegetation creates visual splendor.
We enjoyed the 17-mile drive so much that we turned around at Pebble Beach Golf Resort and retraced our route along the water so we could once again admire not only the natural setting but the lavish mansions. We saw one of these places being "offered" for $14-million and change.
On some of these cliff edges are some of the world's most powerful views and I suspect weather. This area has been created by the forces of nature and that is its attraction. Raw forces of weather, waves and geologic activity has created this panorama.
Seals birth their young on the beaches around here while sea birds use these guiano coated rocks as their places of solitude. Spanish Sailors named these rocks Blanca rocks or white rocks. The part of that 17-mile drive along the ocean is probably one of the most scenic drives anywhere.
We stopped and walked through the shops and botiques along Cannery Row in Monterey admiring the memorial to John Steinbeck who immortalized Cannery Row with his eponymous book.
Before leaving Monterey we stopped by the harbor to inspect the boats. I am constantly amazed at the huge marinas full of boats.
After tiring of Monterey we headed down the coast to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Talk about hoity toity this place is it.
There are few places on earth as incredibly dynamic, yet so quaint and picturesque as the city/town of Carmel-by-the-Bay situated on Carmel Bay in this world-renowned scenic environment.
It would be easy to be immersed in the incredible beauty and mesmerizing charm of Carmel's unique brand of enchantment.
Nestled in a pine forest above a spectacular almost white-sand beach, the one-square mile "village" of Carmel offers endless opportunities for one to part with money in an ecologically harmonious setting.
The place is different, the people are different. Real different, if you get my drift. The residential district has no sidewalks or street lights, and the beach is unadulterated by commercial development. Homes are known only by name and have no street addresses. Remember me saying it was "different". There are no chain restaurants. For that you will have to leave this enclave and venture into Monterrey where "commoners" can dine at Micky D's or Taco Bell. I only saw one gas station and it must have been a concession to the fact that even they have to drive automobiles. I don't know how they do it but women are walking around in "flats" ------ no joke! A city ordinance outlaws high heels! If I am not mistaken Clint Eastwood was the mayor here at one time. Feel free to correct me if that is not correct. I guess you could say Carmel has European ambience in that it is easy to stroll through winding streets, courtyards and arcades when moseying the 90 some odd art studios and galleries or one of the numerous antique shops, boutiques, intimate cafes and expensive restaurants. I don't know how but I escaped Carmel with my bank account still present and accounted for. Miracles never cease. We finished off this day by driving the Big Sur back to our motorhome in Morrow Bay. For those of you not familiar with the Big Sur the drive from Carmel on the north end to Morro Bay on the south end is around 130-miles of pure scenery, narrow twisting roads hanging on the edge of cliffs with the Pacific Ocean at the bottom. What a day! It was our last day on the coast before heading inland for a spell. Thursday, June 2: River Bend & Kings Canyon RV Park & Mobile Home Park Sanger (East Fresno), California: $25 FHU-30amp. Gravel interior roads with grass sites. N36° 43.924' W119° 28.084' 559-787-3627 (be aware that this RV-Park is NOT a resort. Far from it there are many ramshackle trailers providing permanent housing.) We left the coast and headed inland today. We are heading inland to see Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in the Sierras. We have selected a small mom & pop RV-Park east of Fresno as our base. We traveled mostly on two-lane CA-41 in a northeast direction to Fresno then took CA-180 east from Fresno to our campground. It was right at 150-miles of open country. As we headed inland from Morro Bay on CA-41 we drove past huge avocado orchards that stretched for miles and miles on both sides of the road. We were looking for plum/prune orchards along Ca-41 in that area but never saw them. For the next hundred miles we were constantly going up down and around small mountains until we finally dropped down off the pass at Kettleman City (intersection of I-5 & CA-41) to what looked to me like the dry bed of some huge ancient lake. From that intersection all the way into Fresno we were in heavy agriculture. Fruit trees of every description as well as vineyards and produce with a strong emphasis on strawberries were on every available piece of land. We arrived in our campground with the temperature around 90 degrees and humid. When we left the coast this morning it was a pleasant 65 degrees. The swollen Kings River flows rapidly behind our motorhome. The past winters rains meant heavy rainfall in the Sierras and that melting snow is providing a torrent of water. We have the air conditioner running full speed. That seems so odd since we have not used it in over a month. Yes we have been on the coast for a month and forgotten how hot it is inland. Joyce informs me that Fresno
bills itself as the "Raisin Capitol" of the world. That may well be
true because there are thousands of acres of grape vines. However, we saw thousands
more acres of vineyards around King City on US-101 yesterday. The vineyards in
King City may be specializing in grape juice, wine or fresh grapes for all I know.
The vineyards around Fresno must be specializing in "raisins". There
is a city just a few miles south of Fresno called Raisin City. If I have time
I am going to poke around and see if I can learn something about raisins. I particularly
like the big, sweet, juicy white raisins. Until next week just remember how good life is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike &
Joyce HendrixPlaces Visited: Tuesday, May 31: Cypress Bay RV Park Morro Bay, California: $31 FHU-30amp. Paved interior roads & sites. N35° 72.165' W120° 51.044' It is the day after the Memorial Day weekend, people go back to work and the streets return to normal. The noise level in our RV-Park returns to acceptable. But more importantly someone is going to be available to look at my computer. The computer shop is in Baywoods a community on the south shores of Morro Bay about 8-miles from the RV-Park. We dropped the computer off there shortly after they opened at 10 this morning. Several nice techies assured me they could fix everything.
We drove by the waterfront to make sure everything was as we left it yesterday. The tide had gone out and a light fog hung over the harbor making for an interesting picture.
Salmon boats were moored tight to the dock.
Assured that everything was as it should be we headed back to the motorhome to work on things around there. That comprised our day. Joyce cooked again and we retrieved the computer mid-afternoon.
The only other thing we did was head to the waterfront to watch the sun go down. Joyce is getting more accomplished with these sunset excursions and photographs.
Wednesday, June 1: Cypress Bay RV Park Morro Bay, California: $31 FHU-30amp. Paved interior roads & sites. N35° 72.165' W120° 51.044' We spent time discussing our plans for the next week or so. We have not seen Monterey and Carmel and that seemed like a must for us. However, we were having a hard time locating RV-Parks. They just don't have them in Carmel or Monterey proper. Some were available in cities north and east of Monterey. The more we discussed it the more we realized we just needed to drive the Saturn up US-101 to Monterey and Carmel instead of moving the motorhome up there so that is what we did today. It took a little over two hours to drive up US-101 to Salinas and over to Monterey in the Saturn where we drove straight to Carmel and the famous 17-mile drive. The 17-mile drive is actually a loop that we started at the US-101 Carmel gate. The first few miles wound around in residential neighborhoods in a pine forest as the road wended its way north traversing several golf courses that have household names with the golfing crowd.
On this leg Joyce and I began to wonder what all the fuss was about then the road jogged west and we were suddenly on a wide sandy beach.
That is when things changed. From then on the 17-mile drive was fabulous.
This area along the coast is touted by some as being "The greatest meeting of land and sea in the world".
I don't know how one would determine that but the shoreline is spectacular.
What a wonderful way to enjoy the scenery!
In matter of fact almost everything is spectacular from the golf courses to the homes to cliffs and sandy beaches.
Even the gnarled Monterrey cypress trees and other vegetation creates visual splendor.
We enjoyed the 17-mile drive so much that we turned around at Pebble Beach Golf Resort and retraced our route along the water so we could once again admire not only the natural setting but the lavish mansions. We saw one of these places being "offered" for $14-million and change.
On some of these cliff edges are some of the world's most powerful views and I suspect weather. This area has been created by the forces of nature and that is its attraction. Raw forces of weather, waves and geologic activity has created this panorama.
Seals birth their young on the beaches around here while sea birds use these guiano coated rocks as their places of solitude. Spanish Sailors named these rocks Blanca rocks or white rocks. The part of that 17-mile drive along the ocean is probably one of the most scenic drives anywhere.
We stopped and walked through the shops and botiques along Cannery Row in Monterey admiring the memorial to John Steinbeck who immortalized Cannery Row with his eponymous book.
Before leaving Monterey we stopped by the harbor to inspect the boats. I am constantly amazed at the huge marinas full of boats.
After tiring of Monterey we headed down the coast to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Talk about hoity toity this place is it.
There are few places on earth as incredibly dynamic, yet so quaint and picturesque as the city/town of Carmel-by-the-Bay situated on Carmel Bay in this world-renowned scenic environment.
It would be easy to be immersed in the incredible beauty and mesmerizing charm of Carmel's unique brand of enchantment.
Nestled in a pine forest above a spectacular almost white-sand beach, the one-square mile "village" of Carmel offers endless opportunities for one to part with money in an ecologically harmonious setting.
The place is different, the people are different. Real different, if you get my drift. The residential district has no sidewalks or street lights, and the beach is unadulterated by commercial development. Homes are known only by name and have no street addresses. Remember me saying it was "different". There are no chain restaurants. For that you will have to leave this enclave and venture into Monterrey where "commoners" can dine at Micky D's or Taco Bell. I only saw one gas station and it must have been a concession to the fact that even they have to drive automobiles. I don't know how they do it but women are walking around in "flats" ------ no joke! A city ordinance outlaws high heels! If I am not mistaken Clint Eastwood was the mayor here at one time. Feel free to correct me if that is not correct. I guess you could say Carmel has European ambience in that it is easy to stroll through winding streets, courtyards and arcades when moseying the 90 some odd art studios and galleries or one of the numerous antique shops, boutiques, intimate cafes and expensive restaurants. I don't know how but I escaped Carmel with my bank account still present and accounted for. Miracles never cease. We finished off this day by driving the Big Sur back to our motorhome in Morrow Bay. For those of you not familiar with the Big Sur the drive from Carmel on the north end to Morro Bay on the south end is around 130-miles of pure scenery, narrow twisting roads hanging on the edge of cliffs with the Pacific Ocean at the bottom. What a day! It was our last day on the coast before heading inland for a spell. Thursday, June 2: River Bend & Kings Canyon RV Park & Mobile Home Park Sanger (East Fresno), California: $25 FHU-30amp. Gravel interior roads with grass sites. N36° 43.924' W119° 28.084' 559-787-3627 (be aware that this RV-Park is NOT a resort. Far from it there are many ramshackle trailers providing permanent housing.) We left the coast and headed inland today. We are heading inland to see Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in the Sierras. We have selected a small mom & pop RV-Park east of Fresno as our base. We traveled mostly on two-lane CA-41 in a northeast direction to Fresno then took CA-180 east from Fresno to our campground. It was right at 150-miles of open country. As we headed inland from Morro Bay on CA-41 we drove past huge avocado orchards that stretched for miles and miles on both sides of the road. We were looking for plum/prune orchards along Ca-41 in that area but never saw them. For the next hundred miles we were constantly going up down and around small mountains until we finally dropped down off the pass at Kettleman City (intersection of I-5 & CA-41) to what looked to me like the dry bed of some huge ancient lake. From that intersection all the way into Fresno we were in heavy agriculture. Fruit trees of every description as well as vineyards and produce with a strong emphasis on strawberries were on every available piece of land. We arrived in our campground with the temperature around 90 degrees and humid. When we left the coast this morning it was a pleasant 65 degrees. The swollen Kings River flows rapidly behind our motorhome. The past winters rains meant heavy rainfall in the Sierras and that melting snow is providing a torrent of water. We have the air conditioner running full speed. That seems so odd since we have not used it in over a month. Yes we have been on the coast for a month and forgotten how hot it is inland. Joyce informs me that Fresno
bills itself as the "Raisin Capitol" of the world. That may well be
true because there are thousands of acres of grape vines. However, we saw thousands
more acres of vineyards around King City on US-101 yesterday. The vineyards in
King City may be specializing in grape juice, wine or fresh grapes for all I know.
The vineyards around Fresno must be specializing in "raisins". There
is a city just a few miles south of Fresno called Raisin City. If I have time
I am going to poke around and see if I can learn something about raisins. I particularly
like the big, sweet, juicy white raisins. Until next week just remember how good life is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike &
Joyce HendrixPlaces Visited: Tuesday, May 31: Cypress Bay RV Park Morro Bay, California: $31 FHU-30amp. Paved interior roads & sites. N35° 72.165' W120° 51.044' It is the day after the Memorial Day weekend, people go back to work and the streets return to normal. The noise level in our RV-Park returns to acceptable. But more importantly someone is going to be available to look at my computer. The computer shop is in Baywoods a community on the south shores of Morro Bay about 8-miles from the RV-Park. We dropped the computer off there shortly after they opened at 10 this morning. Several nice techies assured me they could fix everything.
We drove by the waterfront to make sure everything was as we left it yesterday. The tide had gone out and a light fog hung over the harbor making for an interesting picture.
Salmon boats were moored tight to the dock.
Assured that everything was as it should be we headed back to the motorhome to work on things around there. That comprised our day. Joyce cooked again and we retrieved the computer mid-afternoon.
The only other thing we did was head to the waterfront to watch the sun go down. Joyce is getting more accomplished with these sunset excursions and photographs.
Wednesday, June 1: Cypress Bay RV Park Morro Bay, California: $31 FHU-30amp. Paved interior roads & sites. N35° 72.165' W120° 51.044' We spent time discussing our plans for the next week or so. We have not seen Monterey and Carmel and that seemed like a must for us. However, we were having a hard time locating RV-Parks. They just don't have them in Carmel or Monterey proper. Some were available in cities north and east of Monterey. The more we discussed it the more we realized we just needed to drive the Saturn up US-101 to Monterey and Carmel instead of moving the motorhome up there so that is what we did today. It took a little over two hours to drive up US-101 to Salinas and over to Monterey in the Saturn where we drove straight to Carmel and the famous 17-mile drive. The 17-mile drive is actually a loop that we started at the US-101 Carmel gate. The first few miles wound around in residential neighborhoods in a pine forest as the road wended its way north traversing several golf courses that have household names with the golfing crowd.
On this leg Joyce and I began to wonder what all the fuss was about then the road jogged west and we were suddenly on a wide sandy beach.
That is when things changed. From then on the 17-mile drive was fabulous.
This area along the coast is touted by some as being "The greatest meeting of land and sea in the world".
I don't know how one would determine that but the shoreline is spectacular.
What a wonderful way to enjoy the scenery!
In matter of fact almost everything is spectacular from the golf courses to the homes to cliffs and sandy beaches.
Even the gnarled Monterrey cypress trees and other vegetation creates visual splendor.
We enjoyed the 17-mile drive so much that we turned around at Pebble Beach Golf Resort and retraced our route along the water so we could once again admire not only the natural setting but the lavish mansions. We saw one of these places being "offered" for $14-million and change.
On some of these cliff edges are some of the world's most powerful views and I suspect weather. This area has been created by the forces of nature and that is its attraction. Raw forces of weather, waves and geologic activity has created this panorama.
Seals birth their young on the beaches around here while sea birds use these guiano coated rocks as their places of solitude. Spanish Sailors named these rocks Blanca rocks or white rocks. The part of that 17-mile drive along the ocean is probably one of the most scenic drives anywhere.
We stopped and walked through the shops and botiques along Cannery Row in Monterey admiring the memorial to John Steinbeck who immortalized Cannery Row with his eponymous book.
Before leaving Monterey we stopped by the harbor to inspect the boats. I am constantly amazed at the huge marinas full of boats.
After tiring of Monterey we headed down the coast to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Talk about hoity toity this place is it.
There are few places on earth as incredibly dynamic, yet so quaint and picturesque as the city/town of Carmel-by-the-Bay situated on Carmel Bay in this world-renowned scenic environment.
It would be easy to be immersed in the incredible beauty and mesmerizing charm of Carmel's unique brand of enchantment.
Nestled in a pine forest above a spectacular almost white-sand beach, the one-square mile "village" of Carmel offers endless opportunities for one to part with money in an ecologically harmonious setting.
The place is different, the people are different. Real different, if you get my drift. The residential district has no sidewalks or street lights, and the beach is unadulterated by commercial development. Homes are known only by name and have no street addresses. Remember me saying it was "different". There are no chain restaurants. For that you will have to leave this enclave and venture into Monterrey where "commoners" can dine at Micky D's or Taco Bell. I only saw one gas station and it must have been a concession to the fact that even they have to drive automobiles. I don't know how they do it but women are walking around in "flats" ------ no joke! A city ordinance outlaws high heels! If I am not mistaken Clint Eastwood was the mayor here at one time. Feel free to correct me if that is not correct. I guess you could say Carmel has European ambience in that it is easy to stroll through winding streets, courtyards and arcades when moseying the 90 some odd art studios and galleries or one of the numerous antique shops, boutiques, intimate cafes and expensive restaurants. I don't know how but I escaped Carmel with my bank account still present and accounted for. Miracles never cease. We finished off this day by driving the Big Sur back to our motorhome in Morrow Bay. For those of you not familiar with the Big Sur the drive from Carmel on the north end to Morro Bay on the south end is around 130-miles of pure scenery, narrow twisting roads hanging on the edge of cliffs with the Pacific Ocean at the bottom. What a day! It was our last day on the coast before heading inland for a spell. Thursday, June 2: River Bend & Kings Canyon RV Park & Mobile Home Park Sanger (East Fresno), California: $25 FHU-30amp. Gravel interior roads with grass sites. N36° 43.924' W119° 28.084' 559-787-3627 (be aware that this RV-Park is NOT a resort. Far from it there are many ramshackle trailers providing permanent housing.) We left the coast and headed inland today. We are heading inland to see Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in the Sierras. We have selected a small mom & pop RV-Park east of Fresno as our base. We traveled mostly on two-lane CA-41 in a northeast direction to Fresno then took CA-180 east from Fresno to our campground. It was right at 150-miles of open country. As we headed inland from Morro Bay on CA-41 we drove past huge avocado orchards that stretched for miles and miles on both sides of the road. We were looking for plum/prune orchards along Ca-41 in that area but never saw them. For the next hundred miles we were constantly going up down and around small mountains until we finally dropped down off the pass at Kettleman City (intersection of I-5 & CA-41) to what looked to me like the dry bed of some huge ancient lake. From that intersection all the way into Fresno we were in heavy agriculture. Fruit trees of every description as well as vineyards and produce with a strong emphasis on strawberries were on every available piece of land. We arrived in our campground with the temperature around 90 degrees and humid. When we left the coast this morning it was a pleasant 65 degrees. The swollen Kings River flows rapidly behind our motorhome. The past winters rains meant heavy rainfall in the Sierras and that melting snow is providing a torrent of water. We have the air conditioner running full speed. That seems so odd since we have not used it in over a month. Yes we have been on the coast for a month and forgotten how hot it is inland. Joyce informs me that Fresno
bills itself as the "Raisin Capitol" of the world. That may well be
true because there are thousands of acres of grape vines. However, we saw thousands
more acres of vineyards around King City on US-101 yesterday. The vineyards in
King City may be specializing in grape juice, wine or fresh grapes for all I know.
The vineyards around Fresno must be specializing in "raisins". There
is a city just a few miles south of Fresno called Raisin City. If I have time
I am going to poke around and see if I can learn something about raisins. I particularly
like the big, sweet, juicy white raisins. Until next week just remember how good life is. Mike & Joyce Hendrix
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