Gettysburg

Gettysburg is full of statues and monuments. But this one of Lincoln, at the Welcome Center, seems to have delevoped an attitude. All I did was ask him how he liked the play.

Roving Again

Thelma here.

Well Louise and I hid under the bed, but they found us anyway. It took them a long time to capture us and they were really mad. I think Loren would have pulled out my wisker if Sharon hadn't stopped him.

Anyway, they forced us into the House on Wheels and off we went.

Tonight we are in Barkcamp State Park near the Ohio / West Virginia border. What a horible name. Only a dog could like this park's name. If they had called it Kitty Lake State Park, I'll bet it would be the number one park in the country.

Tomorrow we head to Gettysburg. I'm really looking forward to all the battle fields. And Ike's Farm.

I forgot to mention that Loren stopped at Cruising America to have Kevin fix the tank level guages. Turned out to be a bad power wire. Had John caulk the roof line and fix a popped rivet. Loren said they did good work as usual. Louise and I slept through the whole thing.

More latter......

California Hwy 1

We started the trip up Hwy 1 from Morrow Bay. This is Morrow Rock that forms the bay.

If you go out to the coast from Paso Robles, you pass through the most vibrant chunk of rollout green hills I have ever seen. It is like my minds image of Ireland.

At the very top left of the picture is Morro Rock.

Much of the coastal drive is rock cliffs. But scattered along the drive are coves with sand or gravel beach. And surf. 

The wild flowers were in blooom all along the coast.

A views along the coast (like here at Big Sur) are spectacular. As is the road. Much of it is easily driven, but some section are full of twists and turn. This is bridge over a ravine (at Big Sur) that runs to the ocean. The waves were calm on this day. No storms on the horizon.

Yosemite National Park

Just a few additional pics from Yosemite. Including our visit with the Bobcat.

Wild Critter

While biking in Yosemite, this Bobcat crossed the bridge with us and then walked, casually, in front of us on his way to hunt for lunch. Sharon road by him and didn't notice, till I called to her for the third time. We also saw a small herd of deer.

The Bobcat totally ignored us and went about his business. We even called some other people over to watch. As we were talking to these guys from Australia,  the Bobcats stalked away. Looking for something tastee. I showed the picture to Thelma, but she was not impressed. Probably be cause the Bobcat didn't have a tail. And we all know how gorgeous Thelma  thinks her tail is . 

Yosemite National Park

It hard to complain about rain when this part of the country is in the third year of a drought. But... our trip to Yosemite was cold and wet, with a little tease of sunshine.

That is El Capitan on the left, Bridalveil Falls on the right, and the Merced River. The clouds don't look threatening, but later they decended to the top of the peaks and looked like snow. Since this is a "tire chain" location, and the reports were for 1 to 3 inches of snow as low as 3500 feet, we decided to come back later. We had at least three passes to cross that were above 3500 feet to get back to the coach. Driving in snow at home is something I know how to do. Driving in snow, on hair pin curves, up and down 7% grades, is a whole different thing.

We did make it back without any percipitation. But it did rain at the campground and snow in the mountains.

This is Horse Tail Falls (I think).

This is definitely the Upper and Lower Yosemite Fall. The clouds have dropped in making the sky misty and wet.

We're going back again when it dries out. We can't do the back country trails. But we will get the bikes out and roll around the valley floor taking more pictures. And next time I'll bring the Canon. 

Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institute

These are Seahorses not seaweeds. This was a really well done aquarium. The display were all well signed and brightly lit. But the zillion kids, each yelling at the top of their lungs, made wish for an adults only event.

Cactus

I'm infatuated with cacti. They come in such a wide variety of sizes and shapes. It is the part of the desert I like the most.
Of couse the first time a cactus takes a liking to me.... I might change my mind.

Cat Alley or Alley Cat

I don't know which was the street name, but somebody graced this street with these  (and many other) murals of cats.

This one was titled "Herding Cats"

Fine Dinning at Mile High Cafe, Idyllwild, CA

White rice, topped with Bulgogi (spicy marinated thin sliced beef), carrots, mushrooms, onions, fried egg, shreaded Nori (sea weed), chopped fresh spinach, and home made hot sauce added at the table by the resturant owner. Cooked and served in a really hot (sizzling) cast iron crock (so hot you could still burn yourself after you were done eating).. I skipped the side order of Kimchee.

Sharon said it was much better than when she had the same dish while in South Korea.

It was so good, I ordered more as a take out for dinner tomorrow.

This picture was taken about halfway up the mountain from Palm Desert on the "Pines to Palms Hiway". That ribbon weaving back and forth across the picture is the road we are climbing. At the top, about 6300 feet you find Idylwild. A small "summer" resort, where people from LA come to escape the heat. It was in the mid 80s at the coach (we left the air conditioner on for the girls) and mid 60's on the mountain.

Desert Hiking

Sharon and Loren left us alone again and went hiking in the desert. Yes, that little person under the cliff is Sharon. They went to Painted Canyon. Although I don't see any paint. Just colored rocks. And steep cliff walls. Louise was commenting on how water can carve rock in the desert. I think wind plays an equal part in carving these canyons in the desert.

They walked up this canyon, but the soft gravely sand was too hard on Sharon's ankles. So they didn't get to the hard part.

They were looking for the San Andreas Fault. But they couldn't find it. Maybe that's a Google thing.

Joshua Tree National Park

The park has three things:
1) Joshua Trees,
2) Large piles of car sized rocks,
3) Incredible view of high desert nothingness.

This picture is from a mile high above Palm Spring to the right, Indio in the center, and the Salton Sea to the far left. Our campground is on the far left near the Sea. The campground is 168 feet below sea level. Only 100 feet higher than Death Valley. The San Andreas Fault is at the base of the hill below us.

Salvation Mountain in Slab City

In 1984 Leonard Knight came to Slab City and started building Salvation Mountain.
Over the next 28 years he created this Folk Art Monument with a simple message that "God is Love".

He built it with hay bails, tree limbs, adobe mud, and junk. Then he painted his message in all the bright colors of the rainbow.

I'll let the following pictures tell his story.
(I hope your viewing this on a computer screen not on a small phone screen)

Leonard died last year. Chances are his creation will not live forever either. The brutal desert will reclaim the space it lent to Leonard for his message.

I hope you enjoyed my trip to Salvation Mountain. I did!