TO LA AND BACK - DAY THREE

We left Ukiah early wanting to get into San Francisco and get the fun started.

California sunrise

Heading into the tunnel before the Golden Gate Bridge

Approaching Golden Gate Bridge

There are so many things to do and see in San Francisco we couldn't decide.  We ended up at our default destination Golden Gate Park.  There's a lot to do and see there.  The exhibits currently on display at the De Young didn't appeal to us, so we decided to just take a walk and look for a geocache or two.  We headed to the little island in Stow Lake.  It's a great place for a walk and there are lots of birds to see.

We headed for the top where there was a geocache.  It took us quite a while, maybe twenty minutes, to find it.  There were a lot of people around making it even more difficult.

Once that was finished we went down the stairs next to the waterfall, which we'd never done before.

A conversation with a squirrel.

We had bought a picnic lunch earlier, so we found a nice picnic table, sat in the sun and enjoyed the smell of eucalyptus and the sight of colorful flowers.

We headed south on Hwy 101 again. 

We stopped in Gilroy and bought some garlic, of course.

We wanted to spend the night in San Luis Obispo after having dinner at the Cajun restaurant we enjoyed last time we'd been through here,  but all of the hotels were filled up for a Parents Weekend at the local University, so we continued on to Santa Maria where we found a nice cheap room.  It was getting late and we were very tired.

TO LA AND BACK - DAY TWO

We spent the night in Crescent City, got up early and headed south on Hwy 101.  We stopped at the first pull out to get close to the ocean!  Lucy was cold and unimpressed.  We loved it.

 Next stop was Trees of Mystery.  It seems we always visit here before they open.  But we stopped for the obligatory pictures with Paul and Babe.

Trees of Mystery on Hwy 101 in northern California

Paul and Babe the Blue Ox

At Trees of Mystery

Next stop was Prairie Creek State Park, home of the Roosevelt Elk herd.

The herd asleep in the morning.

The big guy of the herd.

We took an 8 mile dirt road (easy does it - we have a van full of furniture) out to the coast so we could walk to Fern Canyon.  

Dirt road to Gold Coast

The dirt road seemed to go on and on...

But we made it, after crossing several creeks (with the van) we parked, left Lucy in the van because dogs are not welcome on the trails (??).  Darrell and I had a great time in Fern Canyon.  It is spectacular.

You could see it from the end, but the farther up the creek you went, the better it seemed.  The catch being that you had to cross and recross the creek using just the fallen limbs and logs and rocks that had been laid across the moving creek.

We had a couple of close calls, but we managed to not get our feet wet.

When we got back to the van, we tried going out to the coast to find a geocache.  Lucy was allowed on that trail.  Someone warned us to beware of the three big bucks hanging around very close.  We got unbelievably too near them.  Unfortnuately we couldn't find a way around the streams and ponds to get near the beach, so we headed back without finding a geocache.

 We got off Hwy 101, to drive on the Avenue of the Giants.  We stopped a few times to get close to the big trees.  We found a geocache, which was difficult under such big giants.

 We drove on further than we would have liked so we could make it to within striking distance of SF for the next day.  We spent the night in Ukiah.

Lucy waits patiently as we check-in to a motel.

Good night.

TO LA AND BACK - DAY ONE

The husband had to deliver some furniture to the LA area, so we decided to do it ourselves and have a mini vacation on the way down.

He would be staying on in Anaheim afterwards to teach a class, which meant I had to drive home alone.  So, I invited my Mom to fly down and ride back with me.  

Heading out on our Adventure - Lucy is interested.

Stopped in Grants Pass to pick up some AR Speakers he bought on Ebay.

From Grants Pass, Oregon we took Hwy 199 to the coast.

We were really enjoying the Fall Colors.

Spectacular Fall Colors on Hwy 199 

We stopped at a strange place called "It's A Burl", there was lots of strange art and lots of burls for sale.

More weird art at "It's a Burl".
We also logged in a geocache here.