Almost Oregon

Who knew that California has a Lake District.  We needed a few days to catch up on errands, etc, so we picked an RV park called Pine Acres on Blue Lake and started to catch up with ourselves.

 It was near the town of Ukiah where we found a laundromat and grocery store and Walgreens.  And although we were north of Santa Rosa it was the closest location of a Mercedes-Sprinter dealer where we had the van serviced.  As we traveled to do our errands we continued to be amazed by the vineyards - even saw one with Kendall-Jackson name on the fence.

We had fun doing a great hike around the lake and so enjoyed the spring flowers, especially the California Poppies.  We hit it right for these beautiful flowers that cover the sides of most roadways, fields and hillsides. Here they are with Lupine.

Of course, I spent time trying to find the local birds and getting a few pictures of what I could see.

          Brewer's Blackbird

          Barn Swallow

  

                                  

                                        Either Bullocks or Hooded Oriole

We moved on on May 1, and made a stop at Point Arena following a suggestion from our friends Stan and Alida.  This is one of the protected promontories along the coast.  We hoped to see some of the wildlife and enjoyed rich sightings of many seals, most with pups.

We were traveling on highway 101, the coastal California route called the Redwood Highway.  We read about the Avenue of Giants, a 31 mile side route through some of the oldest, tallest trees on earth.

We tried to capture a sense of these trees in our pictures.

                                 

                                 

There is a quote we found at the visitor center, made by John Steinbeck that captured our feelings as well.

We also saw the sign for the  Humbolt National Wildlife Refuge and stopped to see what we could learn. Audrey, the volunteer in the visitor center told us about the wonderful recovery story of the Cackling Goose that winter at Humbolt and return to the Aleutians for the summer.  They had been decimated because of the introduction of foxes by the Russians on the island chain, but over any years a small band found their way to northern CA and now over 50,000 winter there.  They left by mid-March, but I wanted to share at least the image of this resilient bird.

                                     

           Black Phoebe

                    

                             Marsh Wren

         Cinnamon Teals

We have another day at our current location north of Eureka, called Patricks Point State Park and then on to Oregon tomorrow.  But  I will wait to share photos of this place, Agate Beach, and the Sea Lions and the happy visit from the Gray Jay.

Now for the "funny" footnote.  Just in case anyone wonders, I thought I would give you all a glimpse of our "sometime" reality.  Yes, sometime we get cabin fever in the van.  Yes, sometimes it is too small for both of us at the same time. And yes, every once in a while we want to give up driving up and down mountains, around hairpin turns, and hearing Latona gasp in fear on many roads without guardrails.

But dreams take hard work, cooperation, and perseverance. We have enough of all we need!  Thank the good Lord!  Love and hugs...