CA Botanical Garden May 26

 

Lovely Friday afternoon at the
UC Berkeley Botanical Garden!

This place is amazing, showing off plants and specialty gardens from across the globe.

Check out the beautiful flowers on this Turquoise Puya

Hey Malcolm!  A few heavy equipment machines were stationed outside the Botanical Garden parking lot 😀

So then we went to Berkeley Potters Guild, piper and I took a short stroll to Fourth Street for little pizzas, brought one back to Christine, hung out at the Guild, and after a while walked back to our hotel.

CA Berkeley & Christine May 23-25

We decided to hotel it in Berkeley through Memorial Day Weekend.  That way we don't have to rent a car to drive in for get-togethers.  The campground I counted on in the Oakland Hills was closed for winter storm damage.

After settling in, Christine picked me up for a walk through hilly UC Berkeley neighborhoods to Terrace View Park, and then a nice hike on the Grizzly Peak Trail.

A Trader Joe's stop made for an easy  dinner back at our hotel.

On Wednesday we biked around Berkeley and to Christine's house.  Got her bike out for a tire tune-up.

Thursday I took a long walk around Berkeley and discovered a bikeway called Ohlone Greenway. 

Later on, for something different,we decided to Uber/Lyft back and forth to Christine's.

Christine continuing on her 800-piece mural.

Wire and Yarn.

CA -- Rig Care in Pittsburg May 22-23

An oil change was one of the few things we scheduled on this trip more than a day ahead 😊  In order to make a 10 am appointment, we also scheduled a hotel room very nearby.  Here's our Thor Gemini 23TW after an oil change, new wipers, and a free wash.  Nice to get that wind-packed sand from the Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park finally washed off!

CA East Bay May 20-21

Here's why we're here - to see Christine!

We rented a car on the way to Dumbarton Quarry Campground, settled in, and drove to Berkeley Potter's Guild for an Open Studio Weekend.

Here's Christine's Open Studio display!

Afterward we walked to the Picante Mexican restaurant for a great dinner under their tent.

On Sunday morning, piper and I had a swell bike ride on the Alameda Creek and Bayview Trails around the 'salt evaporation ponds' and also some other trails in the Coyote Hills Regional Park.  We had a connector trail right from the Dumbarton Quarry Campground.  BTW, I learned of this campground via the RV Travel online newsletter I've been getting for years.  Dumbarton is East Bay's first urban campground in over 30 years, opening in August 2021.

Then off to Christine's place for the afternoon.

Here's what 'working at home' looks like for a ceramicist. Christine was contracted for a huge fireworks mural.

Lovely day in the sun (besides the opportunity to run a load of laundry).

California Travels May 18-19

The original plan was to head north, ski at Mammoth, and cut through the Sierras via Rt 50 since many other routes were 'broken'.  Well, morning reports were of flooding, weekend thunderstorms, and warmer temps leading to more snowmelt, so instead we headed south around the Sierras.  Quick stop at Red Rock Canyon State Pk, and soon after noticed that we were hitting our most southern point on this trip in Mohave.  We landed a Harvest Host site in Hanford, CA called Rancho Notso Grande where we were given a great golf cart tour of the 4-acre berry farm, a wine tasting, and a nice spot in the home driveway.

Friday 5/19 turned out to be a big driving day also.  We thought possibly we could camp at a State Rec Area that posted camping was still open even though the rest of the park was closed.  Well, the campsites were closed too due to flooding.

So we went to plan B which was another Harvest Host site in Sunol, CA.  Elliston winery/wedding venue/historical site was lovely and they have 4 ostriches on site!

Death Valley, CA May 16

OMG, if we thought it was hot at Valley of Fire SP, it was hotter at Death Valley National Park.  I went on a few quarter mile hikes while the temps were still only in the high 90's.

This trek was a bit of a mistake, at least we have 4wd.

From Zabriskie Point.  If you look hard enough you can see Badwater Basin w the lowest point in North America at 282' below sea level.

20-mule train that pulled 10 tons of borax ore at a time.

But then all bets were off when temps were up to 111 degrees.  

We finished the drive out, going from below sea level to 4000', then back down to sea level, then back up to 4000', kinda lost track of these iterations.

We anchored ourselves in Lone Pine for 2 nights.  It again had been 8 nights at 8 different campsites, so it felt nice to get caught up on laundry and some home business.

We knew we were very close to Mt Whitney, the 48's tallest peak.  Best I could do was get a snapshot of a poster in the camp office.

Arizona/Nevada May 15

We left Utah via Interstate 15, breezed through a corner of Arizona, and then headed for Nevada's Valley of Fire State Park.  (hey, 3 states in one day again)

We were going to camp here, but it was sooooo hot that we just ate lunch in the camper, spent a bunch of time in the air-conditioned impressive Visitor's Center, and continued on.

Piper had the wheel, skirted the north side of Las Vegas, and then we ended up at our first Casino & RV Resort, just inside the Nevada/California line.

I headed straight for the pool!

Our lovely sunset that night.

National things UTAH May 10-14

 

Met camping neighbors Roger & Janet from Michigan at Duke's in Hanksville.  Then we saw them at Capitol Reef National Park the next day!  We continued to leapfrog each other the next few days.

Only did this one short hike at Capitol Reef as we'd already spent a few days there on our 2019 trip.

We entered the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in the afternoon, a place I've been curious about for years.

Stayed at the 'Hole in the Rock' BLM for free that windy night.  So named for the Mormons who tried to shortcut their way to a new settlement but had to dig and blast through a canyon rim before dropping down many feet to cross the Colorado. 

Cows can graze on federal Monument lands.  This one went by our campsite, obviously looking for its mom.

We took a 6-hour auto tour through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument with Shaun, owner of "Escape Goats" (they used to tour w pack goats).  Highly recommend!

Besides taking us to pictographs and a Native American cliff dwelling, we saw large alcoves and natural bridges, shell and leaf fossils, great views of the Straight Cliffs formation, and some of the millions of Moqui Balls (similar to Martian blueberries).

Lots of education on plants and history throughout the tour too!

That night we had the best BLM campsite we've ever had, just outside Kodachrome Basin State Park.

Friday 5/12 we not only hiked the Grand Parade Trail at Kodachrome Basin State Park ....

 ... but we made it to Bryce Canyon National Park, hopped on the shuttle, and hiked the Rim Trail from Bryce Point to Inspiration Point.

Oh, those hoodoos!  

We finished up the day with a nice seafood dinner at the restaurant near our campground.  We're kinda getting in the routine of two off-the-grid type campsites followed by one with more services.

On Saturday 5/13, we drove the rig all the way to the end of Bryce's scenic road hoping to hike the Bristlecone Loop, but oops, too much snow!

We stopped at all the vistas.  Quite different structures from what you see in the main ampitheatre.  

Headed to the cute Red Canyon just northwest of Bryce, in time for a bike ride.

$11.50 for a USFS campsite, that's the senior rate.

ZION!  Happy Mother's Day!  We got the last spot in the RV lot, then had what I'd call -- the best ride ever -- via the Pa'rus trail to the end of the Scenic Drive.  Chilly on the way up, some windy rain at the top, beautiful sunny skies the whole way back.

It's hard to capture the majesty of Zion National Park.  It just goes on and on....

What a ride!

UTAH! May 9

 

After staying at another Harvest Host site - Mountain View Winery north of Montrose CO, we arrived in Utah on May 9.  Piper's getting good at these road shots even without having to stop at the sign like this other car.

They're so cute!  We stopped at the Goblin Valley State Park and decided it was worth $20 to check out the goblins.

After a while it's like looking at clouds and seeing different shapes.  I thought this one looked like a duck.

Goodbye little goblins 😘

cousin in Montrose, CO May 8

 

We met up with my cousin Leslie in Montrose!  We haven't seen each other since we were kids and had a lot of catching up to do.  Had a lovely afternoon in Lions Park sharing family info and travel experiences.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, CO May 5-8

 

Three! overnights at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park campground.

Being early season we easily snagged a site with electric.  National park rates are reasonable to begin with, and seniors are half price.

View from our hike at the end of the South Rim Road on the Warner Trail.

Painted Wall is the tallest vertical cliff in Colorado at 2,250' and among the highest in the U.S.

Empire State Building would reach about slightly more than halfway to the top of the cliff!

This was the only place we could find cell service in the campground.  Yet we could get tv reception at our site (hey, had to try), so we caught some news and 'all in the family' episodes. 😜

We biked the East Portal road for 2+ miles before it went to a 16% grade. 

And also biked most of the South Rim Road to finish the rest of the overlook hikes we'd missed on our first day.  

Always nice when someone volunteers to take our picture when they see us struggling to do a selfie.