Odds and Ends

Welcome to two new sets of blog followers, Kathy and Robert and brand new bloggers, Nancy and Joe.  Click on their names to read their blogs.

Dave and I are sitting at DeMartini in Grass Valley, CA, in our "office" (the conference room).  Inside the building we can use their speedy wifi but we can't get it in the RV parking spot. 

They have put a call into  Fleetwood to authorize further repairs to our motorhome's bedroom slide.  In addition, the windshield wipers are getting a new motor installed. 

I don't have any new pictures, so I've included a few more pictures that I took in Old Sacramento on Sunday and a couple more Yosemite pictures.  You might have noticed that I like to take pictures of signs!

I don't know what the building in the background is, but it was impressive and had a path down to a dock along the Sacramento River.  Delta King is a 1927 riverboat that traveled between Sacramento and San Francisco.  It is now permanently docked at Old Sacramento and is a restaurant and hotel.

Below is a picture of the rockslide on Highway 140 leading to Yosemite.  It happened in mid-summer, 2006 and they haven't figured out a way to fix it yet.  They are thinking about tunneling through it.  In the meantime  there's a temporary detour across the Merced River.

We visited the famous Ahwahnee Hotel at Yosemite.  We wanted to have lunch there, but we decided not to when we saw that even a sandwich cost over $20.  We were amused to see that the Ahwahnee's outdoor swimming pool was heated and available for their guests to use, even though there was snow on the ground. 

And finally, I have a quote to share with you:

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered."

--G. K. Chesterton
    English author & mystery novelist (1874 - 1936)

Crossing the Siskiyou Mountains

Dave and I left Seven Feathers just before 9 am this morning.  The roads were dry and no snow or rain was falling. 

As we neared Mt. Ashland, the winter scenery was awe-inspiring, especially since the roads were still clear.

We drove over the mountain summit with no problems.

After a few more miles, we said goodbye to Oregon and entered California.

The Hornbrook Inspection Station greets travelers who enter the state from Oregon.

The inspection is for produce so that unwanted bugs don't enter the California environment. 

The inspection line was short today, with most cars being waived through.  We, however, were inspected more closely when an attendant came inside to look at our produce.  We passed the test and got a certificate stating that our fruit was "clean".

Shortly after leaving our lunch rest stop at the Weed Airport, it started snowing. 

Dave drove well  and about an hour later we drove out of the snow.  Our passage through the mountains went well! 

We got sticker shock when we stopped for gas in Corning, though.  Gas prices have gone up a dime since we were at this station on December 17.

We stopped for the night at Rolling Hills Casino in Corning and after going for a walk to check out the golf course, we stopped by the casino to use up our free $10 each.  I ended up winning $20, which paid for our 2 for 1 buffet meals. 

For anyone who is wondering, Dave's hose insulation worked well last night.  Our RV park neighbors, though, woke up to a frozen water pipe.  Tonight it's 42 degrees and raining.  Tomorrow, we head for the Mariposa Fairgrounds RV Park. 

Beating the Weather

Dave and I left Corning, CA at 8:30 this morning.  We tried to time it so that we would be traveling through the Siskiyou Mountains around noon or after.  I'm happy to report that we had dry roads the entire trip north to Canyonville, OR.  

Near Weed, CA, we saw a patch of blue sky--always a good sight!

A little further along, still in California, we came upon an area where the fields were frosty, but the road was clear.

Mount Shasta from the motorhome side window

A hay stack advertising the State of Jefferson, where the folks want to secede from California

Welcome back to Oregon!   More blue sky And interesting clouds

Snow along the side of the road near Mt. Ashland

One of my favorite rest areas along I-5 in Oregon--Valley of the Rogue State Park

Home, sweet home for tonight--Seven Feathers RV Park in Canyonville, Oregon

The view of the mountains and trees is one of the things we like about this park.

And the facilities are first-class

Tomorrow, God willing, we will arrive home, a few days ahead of schedule.  Because of the good weather along I-5, we did not have to drive home along the coast, which saved a few days.

Natural Bridges National Monument by way of Valley of the Gods

This monument is part of Valley of the Gods, and since I don't know it's official name, I am calling it "The Hand of God".

Before I talk about today's journeys, let me say thank you to Jerry and Suzy and Mike and Gerri for your nice comments about yesterday's post about Mesa Verde National Park!  I appreciate comments, and am especially happy when people react positively to what I post. 

If you are thinking about going to Mesa Verde National Park, don't worry that you might not be able to hike and climb in and out of the cliff dwellings.  This park has much to see from the overlook areas.  You will have to get out of the car to see the views from the overlooks, but you don't have to do the ranger-led tours.  The only cliff dwellings we couldn't see from the overlooks were Balcony House and Long House.  Long House doesn't open until Memorial Day, so I don't know if it's visible without going on the tour.  The archeological museum alone is worth the trip to Mesa Verde.  Other sights to see are the pit dwellings and pueblo remains.  These homes of the Ancestral Puebloans, formerly called by the now politically incorrect name Anasazi, are an inspiring sight to see!

Even though we had a long day yesterday, we were game to go on another day trip today to see Natural Bridges National Monument.  We decided to visit Valley of the Gods on the way there.

 Valley of the Gods is a smaller version of the famous Monument Valley.  This photo shows the gravel road that we took to see Valley of the Gods.  The road was deceptively good at the beginning.  Many miles later, we finally came to the end of the this road, which deteriorated as it went through washes.  Valley of the Gods is located about 12 miles southwest of the town of Bluff and ends up connecting with the road to Natural Bridges.

After driving many miles on gravel roads and seeing no other cars on the road, we finally came to this sign of civilization.

But this B&B was in sad shape and was closed, with no sign of life around.  We kept driving and soon came to the paved road which lead us to Natural Bridges National Monument, but not before we climbed a 10% narrow, unpaved grade.  Finally after many more miles, we came to an oasis called a ranger station.  An 85-year old volunteer host assured us that it was only 10 more miles to the national monument.  When we arrived at the monument (whew!) we watched a short video at the visitor's center and then went on the 9-mile drive to see the three natural bridges visible from the overlooks.  We weren't in the mood to go on any long hikes.

A welcome sign which indicated that we had arrived at today's destination.

Sipapu Natural Bridge

Kachina Bridge

Owachomo Natural Bridge

The natural bridges were interesting to see, and I know they are unique, but to be honest, we were underwhelmed at the sight of them.  The canyons might have been more interesting to us if we had not already visited the Grand Canyon.  So we finished the drive, drove back to Bluff via Blanding, and called it a day.

Arriving back in Bluff, Utah, after a tiring day.

Montezuma Castle National Monument, Arizona

Today's excursion was to Montezuma Castle off I-17 near Camp Verde. Just to be clear, it's not a castle and has nothing to do with Montezuma. But somehow the name has stuck. It's a fascinating place, and I'm glad we got to see it since we may or may not make it to Mesa Verde National Park, which has many more cliff dwellings and ones you can actually see up close if you are able walk up and down the ladders.

Southern Sinagua farmers began building this five-story, 20-room dwelling early in the 1100s.  It stands in a cliff recess 100 feet above the valley.  Early settlers marveled at the structure and assumed that it was Aztec in origin, hence the name Montezuma Castle.

This is part of Castle A, once an imposing six-story apartment-like building with about 45 rooms.  It is now badly deteriorated.  This dwelling was built against the base of the cliff. 

An audio diorama display told us about life in the "castle".

And a picture showed more about how the people lived in the rooms.

The community got their water from nearby Beaver Creek.  The creek was a reliable source of water, and there was fertile land on the nearby terrace.  By the 1400s, the Southern Sinagua had abandoned their cliff dwellings and we'll probably never know the reason why.

Western soapberry

The trees and vegetation at the Monument were interesting and added to the peaceful, contemplative visit.

                         The Arizona Sycamore tree.  I really liked this tree!

After touring the National Monument, we took a drive to Cottonwood and Jerome and decided to go to Prescott Valley to find the place where Dave is going to get the alignment on the motorhome done.  We took 89A south.  That was a mistake, but at least we were in the car, not the motorhome.  The route was narrow, winding, and took us to over 7000 feet.  We called it the "Road to Hana".  In fact, the real road to Hana, in Maui, Hawaii, is at sea level.  I'll admit that it has more potholes than 89A, but that's the only positive thing I can say about 89A.  We won't be driving that road again, even though it did have spectacular views of the red rock, multi-colored cliffs near Sedona.