Schlepping around San Francisco

We took the passenger ferry from Vallejo into San Francisco and spent the afternoon being typical tourists. We elected to take a "hop on, hop off" bus tour so we could spend time wherever we fancied. My favorite of the day was walking around Alamo Square and looking at the beautiful Victorian row houses, including the famous "Painted Ladies". Drew's favorite was China Town and it's colorful streets and stores. We had to really hoof it the two miles back to the ferry terminal from Fisherman's Wharf in order to catch the 5:00 run, only to learn that the ferry also picks up right AT Fisherman's Wharf. My skill as a tour guide is waning. . .

Coast to Coast

We've been in California the whole month of May, but just now made it to the actual coast. And what a magnificent place it is. Point Reyes National Seashore's 16,000+ acres are across the bay just north of San Francisco. It is one of the newer National Parks, designated as such in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy. The beaches have high cliffs, typical of the Pacific Coast. The Point Reyes lighthouse is a local landmark and was operational until 1975. Having walked on the sandy beaches here in California, we can now say we've been coast to coast, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Stickermania

Probably only you scrapbooking aficionados have heard of Mrs. Grossman's. As one of those aficionados myself, when I learned about the factory tour in nearby Petaluma, I just HAD to go. Andrea Grossman (a graphic artist) began with one red heart sticker design that was requested by a paper company to adorn Valentine's Day shopping bags. There was an "oops" at the printer; the stickers came out in rolls rather than sheets, and an industry of rolls of stickers was born. The factory and corporate headquarters produces more than 15,000 miles of stickers per year, with printing presses that can roll out a half million per hour! Around the walls of the craft room are displays (by year) of new stickers that were created.

Employees can bring their dogs to work, in fact, Mrs. Grossman brings her dog, Angus, who also serves as the spokesman, er. . . spokesdog?. . . in the company video. What happens to less-than-perfect stickers? They become part of the donation programs to children's hospitals--more than 20 million stickers to date. As part of the tour, we got free stickers, a romp with Angus, a card-making kit, and discounted products in the company store. Drew had to drag me out else I'd still be there!

Sonoma Valley Wineries

We chose Platypus Tours for our Sonoma experience because they specialize in smaller, "hidden gem" wineries that we might have missed had we only ventured out on our own or gone with a larger tour. We were picked up right at our RV site. No driving for us after visiting five wineries for tastings! Our diverse tour included Buena Vista Winery, which is California's oldest premium winery, and Loxton Winery, which was established in only 1996. Loxton sells only out of it's winery location (no distribution) and is owned and run by a very hospitable Aussie, Chris Loxton, who autographed the bottles of wine we purchased! B. R. Cohn Winery belongs to Bruce Cohn, who manages The Doobie Brothers, and where an annual charity event is held each year with the Doobie Brothers performing. Chateau St. Jean and Ledson wineries were the most elaborate we visited. Chateau St. Jean is a popular spot for weddings and other functions because of it's beautiful gardens. It was also where we had our own lovely outdoor lunch. The Ledson property is referred to as "the castle" and was actually planned to be the family residence. But because of the intense public interest as it was being built, and the success of their Merlot harvest they had sold to other wineries, they decided to turn the home into a winery and tasting room. We thoroughly enjoyed our more intimate visits with the "little guys."

Belly Laughs

Jelly Belly that is. If a person can't find something he/she likes from 50 flavors of Jelly Belly or 150 different candies, it's hopeless. The Jelly Belly factory tour showed us all the steps of the candy-making process and rewarded us with our very own package of Jelly Belly jelly beans. From a modest 8 flavors in 1976 to today's 50 (and growing), Jelly Belly is the world's Number One gourmet jelly bean. And it's amazing what an artist can do with a pile of 10,000 or so Jelly Bellys and some glue! Jelly Belly was Ronald Reagan's favorite candy (he preferred licorice). We loved our Jelly Belly visit, but no, we didn't repaint our motor home, although we talked about it.

Wine Train

As first-timers in Napa Valley, we couldn't resist a trip on the Wine Train. It seemed the thing to do, and we weren't disappointed. The festivities started at the depot at 11:00 am with a wine tasting, after which we boarded the train. As the beautiful, rolling Napa Valley and vineyards chugged by, we leisurely enjoyed a full-course gourmet lunch in the ornate dining car. After our lunch settled, we were invited into the dessert and wine-tasting car for more culinary delights. Then the train made a short stop to let some of us off to board a shuttle to the Domaine Chandon winery where we sampled some of the French sparkling wines for which they are so well known. Fortunately for us, our RV park is very close to the train depot. We needed a nap after all the good food and wine!

Reflections of Yosemite

I think almost every National Park has a Mirror Lake. Yosemite is no exception. By some standards, it's rather small, however. But the hike up the trail to see the lake which followed a swiftly flowing river was quite beautiful. We also had views of many of the park's numerous waterfalls from our trail. Our stroll through Yosemite Village included a visit to the Ansel Adams gallery which has a wonderful display of his remarkable photography. We saw some "crazies" rock climbing El Capitan-- 3500 vertical feet of granite! From the ground they looked like ants and were hard to spot without binoculars. With this trip to Yosemite, we have now been to the most visited National Park (Yosemite) and the least visited National Park (Big Bend).

Spring Thaw in Yosemite

When snow melts on 9,000-11,000 foot high mountain peaks, the water's gonna run downhill--and fast! At Yosemite National Park's Bridalveil Falls the drop is 620 feet (approximately the height of a 62-story skyscraper). Yosemite Falls has a drop of 2425 feet! The sound of this cascading water is truly thunderous. In order to get close to the base of Bridalveil, we donned rain gear to stay at least somewhat dry. When the water finally lands, it goes everywhere!

BIG Trees

We're camped just outside the gates of Sequoia National Park and ventured in to see the giant Sequoias. Drew is pictured in front of "General Sherman", thought to be among the oldest (2200 years) and largest (1385 tons) trees on Earth. The sequoias grow naturally only on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada at 5,000-7,000 feet of elevation. It truly is like a religious experience to walk among these gentle giants. Awesome.