The Home Stretch

We've had a pretty busy week or so since I last put something out there. After our little stay in Pinnacles National Park, which holds the record as our shortest stay at a National Park with less than 24 hours (we hiked every inch of it in one day and there was nothing left to see, so it was time to move on...really an amazing place), we decided that we should head to the coast for some beach time and some city time.

The first stop was in Santa Cruz. This has long been one of my favorite surfing destinations on the west coast. I have made a handful of pilgrimages here over the years and it has consistently had the best and cleanest waves that I have ever seen anywhere. Unfortunately, my luck had run out on good waves. The surf was big and it was rough. But since we came all this way, I of course had to give it a shot. I paddled out into the big and rough surf and after about 5 minutes, realized that I am not as young and tough as I used to be. After a quick beating in a washing machine, I decided that I would have better luck surviving into older age if I hung out with Brenda on the beach and worked on my tan. Tan perfected...check.

After a day on the beach in Santa Cruz, some city time was in order. Off to San Francisco we go for a couple of days of exploration and one of Brenda's world famous walking tours. We made pretty good work of the city and walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, checked out some of the parks and hip neighborhoods, roamed through Chinatown, and even had dinner with our good friends Phil and Susan who were some of our sailing friends from Seattle that have since moved to the Bay Area. San Francisco is really a beautiful city with lots of charm and great architecture. We had a great time there (but I HATED the traffic).

Next up, wine country. You may know that I am not a drinker. I never have been, so wine country really has no appeal to me. But Brenda on the other hand drinks like a fish (that was a joke...she drinks like 2 fish...she loves some good wine), so wine country was a must see. We spent a day in the Sonoma Valley and then a day in the Napa Valley checking out the sites and exploring the little towns. I have to say that the region is incredibly beautiful, surprisingly green and lush, has some pretty interesting little towns, and some great restaurants. Not too shabby of an area to spend a couple of days.

We then moved back over to the coast and stopped for a day in Fort Bragg for some more time on the beach and to explore yet another little town. For the first time in a couple of months, we got our bikes out and decided that pedaling would be the best way see the sites. Fort Bragg has a great trail that runs north of the town for about 10 miles and follows the rugged coastline past bunches of hidden beaches, rocky cliffs, tide pools, and view points. It could be the most beautiful biking trail that we have ever seen. It was a little rough in spots but the scenery more than made up for the bumpy ride. After the 10 miles out, we of course had to bike the 10 miles back, and then we still had to go and explore the town. It turns out that we are in pretty good hiking shape but not too great of shape for just about anything else. After roughly 25 miles in the saddle on a bumpy trail, we were pretty beat so we stopped by a surprisingly good little restaurant on the water and had a great meal before heading back to our home on wheels and begging for someone to ice our rear ends. Since we were fresh out of ice, no icing took place. Bummer. And that means our sore butts had to sit in the car while we drove to the next place (ugh!), which is where we are now.

We have just arrived at the Redwoods National Park and have taken a couple of short hikes to hug some of the trees. There are some pretty big trees here, but I have to say that they aren't quite as spectacular as the trees we saw in the Sequoia National Park. Those things were beyond enormous, which I guess is why the largest tree in the world resides there. Don't get me wrong, these trees are big and spectacular and beautiful, it's just that our perspective on a huge tree has been spoiled. Once you have seen the biggest of anything, all the rest are just, well, smaller. It does smell a whole lot better here though. In Sequoia, the smog from the Bay Area rolled up the hills and unfortunately made the place smell like the city. Here, it's clean and crisp fresh air that smells incredible. If only someone would come up with a way to put that smell onto something that looks like a tree that I could hang from my car's rear view mirror...now that's a great idea.

Tomorrow we cross the California border and head back into Oregon. At this point, we have a tentative plan to work our way up the coastline as we make our way back to Seattle to hop back on the boat and sail north for the summer. We have a little problem though. For the first time in a long time, we have a schedule. In 2 weeks we have commitments in Seattle. After those commitments, we have a scheduled date to have our boat dropped back in the water. When I look at our map of Oregon, I see tons and tons of places that we haven't explored yet. There is no way that we can see all of this stuff and still make it back to Seattle in 2 weeks. It's stressing me out. Brenda assures me that even though we may not see everything, it is still humanly possible to drive from southern Oregon to Seattle in 2 weeks. I don't believe her.

So that is where we are at. We are on the home stretch. We are almost back to Seattle and our floating home and the high seas (we are pretty excited to be back on the boat). We are frantically trying to decide which things are must sees and which things we can live without seeing while we are still in Oregon. Since we like to see everything, this is kind of a big deal for us. We are going to do our best to see everything that is humanly possible but unfortunately, some things are going to be missed. Sorry Oregon, it won't be for a lack of trying.