60’s paradise

The Albatross

Tuesday 27 February 2024

Today was a lazy day, we’re spending a couple of days just bumming around the coast before resuming days of driving. So, after some nice smoked salmon scrambled eggs, we pottered along the rugged coast going for short strolls. Don’t be fooled by the sunny pictures, it was very frosty and the wind was howling. We wish we’d put the warm hats in the car.

We went to our first American Pharmacy today, as we’ve been past lots and couldn’t work out why they were the size of supermarkets. The reason is they basically are. You can go booze shopping in there, pick up some laundry detergent, storage containers, snacks, stationary and your drugs.

Finally, back home for a rather late BBQ lunch, which we chose to do inside as it was still cold and windy outside. I also have a humungous well-equipped kitchen straight from the 60’s. In fact, the entire place is an immaculately maintained 60’s home including the furniture. There have been minor updates of technology such as appliance, but the core of the house is straight out of a 60’s dream home catalogue. It truly is wonderful.

Tuna is currently baking in the sunlight streaming in the bay window like a happy cat. She has a glass of Californian Chardonnay and is looking very pleased with herself.

She’ll be coming around the mountains

Tuna

Monday 26 February 2024

Today was a transit day to get from the lovely Sacramento to the coast, just a couple miles north of Fort Bragg. We only had two lots of mountains to go up and down and many, many, many miles of windy road through the redwood forests.

On the way there was a lake, a rather large lake and we thought it would be a good spot for lunch. Our naïve Australian expectation had us looking for a nice little park with picnic tables. There weren’t any. Every single bit of land that was lakeside had some sort of dwelling on it, and many of the dwellings were more shack like.

Eventually we found a spot where we could actually pull off the road where there was a concrete picnic table in the gravel, no grass here! The view of the lake through the chicken wire fence was ok and the cars and trucks going by on the road didn’t help the ambiance.

So, after scoffing down some lunch, we set forth again to drive on some more windy road. About 1km down the road there was a nice big grassy park with picnic tables and about another km on from that, another park, both of which would have made nice sports for lunch. I made The Albatross stop at the second one, just because. He threatened, out of spite, not to get out to the car. He did get out and then complained how cold it was. Ha ha ha, suck it up honey.

Then we drove on some more windy roads and got to Fort Bragg with over 1.5 hours until we could check-in. After stocking up on a few supplies and wandering slowly around the Safeway and getting in the way of the same woman about 12 times, including at the check out, we still had about an hour to wait until we could check in. Check in time over here is 4pm, but check out is 10am. Why does it take 6 hours to clean a house/apartment? We drove past our house, but it was clearly still being cleaned. So, we parked down the road and looked at the ocean for a little while.

Eventually, at our third drive by, the house was ready at 3.45pm. Very nice place and the sunset is awesome.

Ye Olde Chug Chug

The Albatross

Sunday 25 February 2024

Scanning the local area on Google Maps last evening I noticed 3 massive Asian grocery stores not far from us, so after our normal leisurely morning (Tuna likes a coffee in bed), we sprang into action just after 9am. We hit pay dirt, with great stuff we couldn’t find in regular supermarkets. Unfortunately, we only have so much cold storage space whilst travelling, so had to pass on a great amount of stuff and just settle for a bunny rabbit and a few veg. We dropped those back home and went off on today’s adventure.

The destination was old Sacramento, a region down on the waterfront. It still has planked pavements and very original shop fronts. Yep, it’s a bit kitsch, but rather charming. The main point of being down there was to visit the train museum which did not disappoint in any way. It basically tells the story of the Central Pacific Railway, which formed the Western part of the first Transcontinental railway. Any train nerds will have a ball.

We joined a tour as it started just after we arrived and had an old bloke called Jack as a guide. He was awesome, but seemed to drift off at time and forget his spiel, never mind he was great and gave a few details that weren’t on the boards.

There was stacks in there, with trains and carriages from throughout the different ages of the railway, and folks everywhere to tell you about stuff. We spent quite a few hours, and by the time we left, feet and knees were getting a tad sore.

Lunch was at a fake British pub, which looks remarkably like a modern American one. Didn’t care as there was a nice quiet beer garden out the back to enjoy the stunning winters day and a nice young chap that bought us lovely beers and burgers.

Stepping out after lunch the crowds had grown dramatically, and there were lots of people in slightly fancy cars and Harleys choosing to do laps of the area and share their delightful music with everyone. I don’t think they were hugged much as children. Not our scene, so after a bit of a walk around, we went home for G&Ts and to cook some bunny.

River deep, mountain high

Tuna

Saturday 24 February 2024

We saw a bobcat yesterday afternoon. Sitting outside with a glass of wine, doing very little after a great day in Yosemite, there was this creature, which I first through was a rabbit. Yeah, no, not a rabbit. After a couple of minutes, it wandered away. Didn’t see any other critters or varmints that afternoon or evening.

Today we headed to Sacramento, we took a longer route with some really windy roads up and down hills and were rewarded with gorgeous country side, as opposed to driving down a more direct route and multilane freeways.

We stopped in a town to fill up on petrol as we were getting a bit low. The gas station seemed to attract all the locals and it felt like we were out in the country side a bit, a little bit redneck. The number of big (really big) SUVs that were driving around was amazing.

One interesting town we went through was Angels Camp. As we approached the town the road got very narrow and it felt like we were driving through “old town”, gold rush town. The shops and housing were narrow, small and very close together. Then past an intersection, it felt like “new town”, wider roads, shopping malls and space.

Our first destination (well, only if you don’t count our accommodation or supermarket) was the Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park. The Miwok Native America tribe (apologies if I have expressed this incorrectly) was settled here and used the granite rocks essentially as mortars. The region is plentiful of oak trees so the Miwok used the grinding rocks to pound the acorn into meal. They had a lovely and very informative museum on the area and the Miwok. Unfortunately, the story told is a version of the same around the world. White/Non-indigenous people come in to plunder the region of resources (gold in this case) and in some form decimate or enslave the local indigenous people. However, it was a lovely place to stop to have lunch and to have wander around in the sunshine.

The supermarket was the next stop where I realise that gin was cheap. What would cost AUD80 at home is USD24 here, so I bought a bottle. Might see what the whisky prices are next time. In to our apartment in Sacramento, for the next couple of nights.

Travelling in reverse

The Albatross

Friday 23 February 2024

After a super quiet night in our fantastic cabin out in whoop whoop, we went back into Yosemite today, I had driving duties so Tuna could sample the vistas. Basically, we did a reverse loop of the big triangular drive we did yesterday, however with a detour up a gorge with stunning views over waterfalls.

We managed to dodge the village and the mayhem in there, so it really was just looking at pretty scenery. The congestion in the village is rather artificial as all they have to do is open a few more of the carparks (which are closed for no obvious reason).

One thing that amazes me is that the instant people are on holidays, many lose all rational thought and will happily stand in the middle of the road in a busy carpark, or just walk down a road oblivious to the cars behind them. Horsetail Falls are still a joke, however there are only two weeks a year when they light up in the sunset. Last night’s sunset was basically non-existent and there is a trickle of water coming over them. Tomorrow and Sunday are going to be so busy to see this wonder of nature that you need to book park entry. Fortunately, we’ll be on our way.

Stunning vistas

Tuna

Thursday 22 February 2024

We drove. Actually, I drove, so I had all the fun on the windy roads. Today we headed from Fresno to Yosemite National Park. Another gorgeous sunny day and no cloud on the hills today. We entered the Park on the good ole Highway 41. This road wound up the side of the hills with spectacular views over the valley and mountains.

Our first stop was Tunnel View. Despite what the name suggests, it wasn’t a view of a tunnel. We did drive through a long tunnel that was drilled through the mountain, but the view at the other end was nothing short of amazing, brilliant, fantastic and breath taking. OMG!!!!

So, we then headed down into the valley to see the other bits. There were lots of cars and people and nowhere to park to have lunch. We drove through Curry Village, which was full but the accommodation there seemed to consist of small huts that looked like they were frames clad I nothing but canvas, there seemed to be hundreds of them. Nope, not for me. Finally found a road side stop (not a parking area) to eat a quick lunch. View was awesome.

The main attraction is Horsetail Falls, which apparently at sunset lights up and looks like it is on fire. We saw Bridesveil Falls and Upper Yosemite Falls, which were magnificent and flowing with lots of water.

From our glimpse of Horsetail Falls, it was barely flowing with water and seems a bit anticlimactic. However, there were soooooo many people already in place with their cameras and tripods ready to take the next National Geographic photo. It was around 2pm, so they were in for a long wait. We drove past them and then stopped to catch the very far away look at the Falls.

Time to now head to home for the next two nights. The drive out of the NP was along the Merced River was a windy but easy and gorgeous drive.

We’ve got a nice cabin on a few acres out of town for two nights, so far it is very quiet.