The Scenic Coastal Highway 101

Tuesday, I drove up the scenic route 101 through the Avenue of the Giants in California. These redwood trees are not the widest around, but they sure are the tallest! It was a gorgeous drive with pleasant weather and my kinda roads :)





There is an auto tour you can take with designated stops for walking through the various forests. This is the path through one of them. It’s amazing just how small these trees make you feel while standing beneath them. They smell so good and it is much cooler when walking under them.



I know my rig is small, but it really looks miniature compared to some of these trees!



Highway 101 continues on along the coast into Oregon and Washington. Here the Pacific meets the redwoods :)



I arrived in Oregon Tuesday night, then preceded up the Oregon Coast on Wednesday. It was a bit cloudy and much cooler in the 50’s. I’m back to wearing long pants and sleeves for the first! Especially in the mornings and evenings. I even had to turn on the furnace for the first time since leaving Texas! But the coast sure is beautiful and quite different from what I’m used to. A lot of rocky coastline opposed to just sand.





I also noted some dunes along the way, which were pretty unique with pines growing in and around them.





I’m taking a catch up day today, then we’ll head off to Diamond and Crater lakes!

Special Guests

Sunday, my friend Laura stopped in for a visit at the Escapees park where I was staying in Coarsegold, CA. She was on her way home to So. Cal after a vacation in the PNW. We had a wonderful visit and I got to see her new rig. She also fed me well with goodies to go. It seems all my friends love to feed me for some reason ;) We also took her dog Jed for a walk and explored the park a bit. But, we neglected to take photos. Sorry. Thanks again Laura. It was great to see you and Jed again :)

Monday, I headed for San Francisco. I wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge, even though I dread big city traffic. Of course, my route highway 101 took me right down, smack dab in the middle of center city with 3 narrow lanes of traffic. I must admit though, the city is beautiful with all it’s clean, pretty landscaping and beautiful architecture. Sorry, no photos again. I needed two hands on the steering wheel ;)

Finally, I crossed the big bridge and stopped at a viewing area for a photo op :) I’m not sure why they call it the “Golden” Gate, because it is actually orange. But it was impressive.



It was a pretty cloudy and foggy day here. But this a shot overlooking the city.



And just when I was thinking I made it past the worst of the traffic going out of the city, I came upon this. There was a brush fire along the road. So I crept along at a snail’s pace for quite some time.



This is why I love the Hill Country of Texas. We don’t have any more than two lanes. And that’s enough for me!

Tomorrow, it's off to “The Avenue of the Giants”!

Yosemite Splendor

Saturday, I headed off to Yosemite National Park. One of the kind ladies at the RV Park recommended I not ride my scooter to the Park due to congested traffic areas, so I heeded her warning. And am I glad I did. Not only was traffic bad on a weekend, but the road into the park all the way to the visitors center was torn up with construction. Gravel and scooters don’t mix well. And of course the park was busy with no places to park anyway. I was glad I had my rig with my lunch and bathroom ;)

However, that didn’t deter my appreciation of the beauty before me. Yosemite has a little bit of everything. I toured the Valley first, then headed off down the scenic Tioga Pass.

Alpine forests and Giant Sequoias



Waterfalls




Craggy cliffs and domes



The infamous El Capitan



Open Meadows



Cool mountains streams



Lake Tenaya



And even snow!



It was a thoroughly enjoyable day with awesome weather. Life is good! :)

Now let’s go see some redwoods!

The World's Largest Tree!

I made it to California on Wednesday. Thursday, I toured the King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. They are interconnected parks within the Sequoia National Forest. It was another gorgeous day for a scooter ride! I started off in Kings Canyon with this amazing view, the scent of pines and plentiful sunshine :)





These National Parks make the greatest scooter roads!



Our first stop was Grant’s Grove. The General Grant tree is the second largest tree in the world. The sequoia tree is an evergreen. My pictures don’t do these trees justice. You can barely stand back far enough with the zoom all the way out.



This fallen sequoia base will give you an idea of just how HUGE these trees really are. That's a full size adult in there!



After riding the full beautiful length of the park, I came to what is known as the Giant Forest. It is just full of sequoias and is home of the General Sherman Tree. The Largest tree in the world!



Not only are these trees HUGE, but so are their pinecones! They are larger than my foot. And for those of you who don't know me, I have big feet! lol



I parked my scooter and hiked a half mile to go see the General Sherman. This is one impressive tree. It’s base spans 109 ft around!







This tree makes those full size adults look like midgets.



Another awesome day in a nationally preserved paradise :) Next stop...Yosemite National Park.

Terrible Timing

Monday, I arrived in Pahrump, NV. I was planning on staying at the Escapee’s Park here, only to find out that the office was still closed for the holiday weekend. I could have boondocked there until morning, but it was 101 degrees, in a gravel parking lot with no trees. Dad gum. So, I went to plan B and jumped on my computer to look for a Passport America Park. Low and behold, there was one not even a mile down the road! Terrible's Lakeside Casino RV Resort.



Turns out, it was anything but terrible! It was like a refreshing oasis with a lake in the center of the park and plenty of shade trees over my site. Not to mention, it was a pull thru right next to the laundry room, which was one of my missions while I’m here. All for a mere $15.00/night. Just can’t beat that!





Not only that, they have an awesome restaurant serving steak and rib dinners for $9.95. So, I got myself a half rack of baby backs then donated my $10.00 to the penny slot machines. lol It was an hours worth of great entertainment ;)



Love this place :)



Today we are off to California. We're going to go see some really HUGE trees! ;)

The Grandest of Canyons: The North Rim

How fitting it was to visit the Grand Canyon today on the Fourth of July. America is sure a beautiful country. When I see such majestic scenery like this, I feel so grateful that I am so blessed to be here.

After entering the Kaibab National Forest, the roads traversed open meadows bordered by pines.



The visitors center was located 12 miles in from the actual entrance, so there was no point in unloading my scooter for such a short distance. So I took some photos from the rim. It was a bit hazy this morning with pleasant temperatures in the 60’s.





I did take a nice 5 mile drive out to Point Imperial to get another view. The elevation there was at 8803. The road was narrow and twisty, and made me wish I had taken my scooter ;)



The amazing view from the point





Now, we're off to Nevada for a couple of days for little R&R. I need to get my mail and do some laundry.

Happy Fourth of July!

Beautiful Bryce Canyon National Park

I stayed in Kanab, UT last night and drove the Mt. Carmel scenic byway to Bryce Canyon National Park. It was a beautiful drive with the roads lined with pines and horse farms. I entered the Dixie National Forest and passed the Red Canyon in route.






It was much cooler at 80 degrees and surprisingly very little traffic for a holiday weekend. I unloaded my scooter and toured the park stopping at the various points of interest. For the most part, I had the road all to myself. And, this is the first park I've been to so far with no roads torn up.



These photos were taken at Rainbow Point, elevation 9115





Ponderosa Point, elevation 8904



Agua Canyon, elevation 8800



Natural Bridge



Now here’s a sad photo, I was driving along enjoying the scent of pines and came upon this area. They must have a had a forest fire here recently. No wonder they ban fireworks here.



These rock formations are very different from the others we’ve seen. They remind me of sandcastles.





It was such a pleasant day, but enough of the rocks now. Let’s go look at a hole in the ground ;) We’re off to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon!