Autumn Getaway pt 2: Soggy Camping & Skunk Train

Van Damme State Park. Out of season + crummy weather meant we had run of the place:
Far from ideal conditions.

Staying dry in the van:
Lots of rain = green everywhere:
Riding the Skunk Train from Fort Bragg to Northspur and back:






next up: Glass Beach...

Autumn Getaway pt 1: S.F., Santa Rosa & Hendy Woods

Since Celeste is being home-schooled this year, we took the opportunity of a relatively-free schedule and did a little autumn camping road trip. Some random pics...

The Five, just north of The Grapevine:
Early Splitty:
Roasting ghost Peeps® at Don and Stacy's:
California Academy of Sciences:
Bob Mould closing his set with Celebrated Summer at the (free) Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park:

Hendy Woods State Park camping cabin.
Useful and well worth the $15 premium as it was pouring rain when we arrived after sunset. Just like sleeping in a garden shed.

Redwoods line CA Hwy 128:
and through the windshield:
Santa Rosa and a mustached conductor Snoopy sculpture:
She's wearing the shirt I bought her six years ago at the Schulz gift shop in Santa Rosa. It finally fits.

Charles M. Schulz Museum:
I guess this is the men's room:
Banana slugs at the entrance to Russian Gulch State Park:
Photographing the slugs:
Fat tires indeed:
Rain on the van:
more to come...

Summer Vacation - Camping Near Ventura

Okay, so it's been a while since I last posted vaca pix and accompanying tiresome stories - amazing that this was almost three months ago. I just realized that I didn't finish up the series so here's part five of six. After we left Santa Cruz and Big Basin S.P., we took the 101 back south. No Hwy 1 this time, although the view is better if you're southbound as you get the outer lane. Since I don't have a strong urge to write at the moment (haven't had much of one all week - as evidenced by the infrequent and exceptionally lame postings of late), I'm going to let the pix tell most of the story...

While camping, we took in some sights, including the visitor's center for the Channel Islands National Park (the actual park is about 22 miles off shore):
Caught sand crabs on the beach:
Hiking and exploring near the dunes:

swing them arms!

Some nice forest fire haze-enhanced sunsets:
And sleeping in the bedroom-on-wheels (EuroVan):
All's well. The next day we headed to the L.A. area to enjoy an architectural masterpiece. More on that later. Hopefully I'll feel more inspired.

Summer Vacation - Big Basin State Park

After we left Don and Stacey's in San Jose, we headed off to the mountains just north and slightly west of Santa Cruz. Our destination? Big Basin State Park.
Established in 1902, Big Basin is California's oldest state park and home to the largest continual strand of ancient coast redwoods south of San Francisco. Some of these behemoths are more than 2,000 years old. The section below was from a tree that was 1,392 years old when cut down - and 948 years old when Columbus landed in the Americas.
Many have also lived through hundreds of forest fires, leaving hollowed-out trunks on these still-living trees. A great place for a grrrl like ours to hide.
We arrived in the late afternoon and only could score one night's reservation, so unfortunately we didn't get to explore all that much. However, we did take in the short Redwood Trail...
...which winds around some of the oldest and tallest trees in the park.
Even the root stocks were impressive.
That downed tree comprised one side of the forest "auditorium":
After our hike we went back to camp and roasted the obligatory marshmallows.
How peaceful and surreal it was to sleep under these giants of the forest.