San Francisco....Been There, Done That

We are currently in the California Delta area where we are enjoying the cool mornings. Saturday morning we rode the trike to San Francisco to do the tourist thing. We wanted to go to Alcatraz but when Dad went to buy the tickets for the boat ride out there, he found that they were sold out until Friday, August 1st. Can you believe that? Why do so many people want to tour an old prison on a rock in San Francisco Bay? We then decided to take a trike riding tour of the city where we saw Chinatown, Fishermans Wharf and the famed cable cars, among other things. We rode down Lombard St, the crookedest street in the country. In keeping with their hobby of finding historic grave sites, Mom and Dad took me to Colma, CA, home of all of San Francisco's cemeteries. They say there are more people below ground than above ground in Colma. We found the graves of Marshall Wyatt Earp and Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Dimaggio. We left San Francisco by riding the trike over the Golden Gate Bridge.

This morning, one of Dad's old co-worker buddies, Claude Taybi, came by and had coffee with Mom and Dad. Dad and Claude spent alot of time talking about the good old days. After that, Mom and Dad rode to Fairfield, CA and toured the Jelly Belly Factory. I wasn't allowed to go but I did get a Jelly Belly toy. This is the only "Jelly Belly" jelly bean factory in the world. They make over 145 million jelly beans every day and it takes up to 6 days to complete each jelly bean. Jelly Bellys have only been around since 1976 but the company has been making candy corn since 1900.

From news reports, we see where we left the Yosemite area just in time. There is a large fire between Mariposa, CA and Yosemite National Park. This is real close to where we had been staying.

In a couple of days, we will be heading North to the Redwoods National Park in Klamath, CA. Stay tuned.

BUSY AT BASS LAKE

Boy have we been busy since we arrived at Bass Lake. This is a beautiful area with all of the ponderosa pines. Saturday, Mom and Dad went to the Yosemite Mountain-Sugar Pine Narrow Gauge Railroad where they were treated to a steak dinner, a ride on a logging train and then entertained at a hootenanny by a campfire. They really enjoyed the evening. Sunday, we took a 71/2 hour ride on the trike on the Sierra National Scenic Byway through the

Sierra National Forest. We made a lot of stops to view the spectacular scenery. Mom even made a picnic lunch for us. Yesterday we left the RV park at 7:00 am to tour Yosemite National Park. Our first stop was to see the giant sequoias. Man are those big trees. As you can see in the picture, I am tiny compared to the trunk of one of those trees. It would take me a month to leave my scent around the trunk of one tree. Mom bought me a stuffed park ranger toy to go with my collection of stuffed toys from our travels. After touring Yosemite and all its splendor, we rode through Tioga Pass to visit Bodie, a California Gold Rush ghost town. When the mines were depleted, the citizens walked away from the town, leaving everything behind. California created a historic park to preserve the town as it was when the citizens left. It is an authentic ghost town. We are now resting up for our the next leg of our California excursion Thursday when were are off to Isleton. While there we will be touring San Francisco, Alcatraz and riding the Golden Gate Bridge. Until then......

More From California

We enjoyed our visit to Soledad Canyon. It was the first RV park on our Western swing where they actually had green grass growing. I got to lounge on the cool green grass and enjoyed every minute of it. While we were at Soledad, Mom and Dad toured the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. They found it very interesting. They also saw Reagan's grave and toured retired Air Force One, which was used by Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush.

We are now at Bass Lake, nestled in among the Ponderosa Pines. Since we are halfway through our California excursion, we thought it would be appropriate to take my picture at the exact geographic center of California. We are enjoying this beautiful area. We will be visiting Yosemite National Park and riding the Sierra Vista National Scenic Byway. I will be posting more pictures and updates as we go along, so please stay tuned.

Fun In California

Hi Everyone. The first leg of our California excursion is coming to an end. Tomorrow morning we leave for Soledad Canyon. Our time at Wilderness Lakes has been a blast. I have been able to have a lot of quality playtime with my friend Chloe. I really enjoy her company and being able to play with her. This is third state where I have met up with Chloe and been able to play with her. I sure will miss her when we leave tomorrow.

Mom and Dad have also had fun here at Wilderness Lakes. One day they and their friends, Ron & Fran, and Matt & Connie, played "Gilligan's Island" by renting a pontoon boat for a 5 hour cruise on Diamond Valley Lake. Before they left for the cruise, they kept talking about all of the fish they were going to catch and what a great fish dinner they were going to have that evening. Well let me tell you, when they got back I did not see any fish and they did not have a fish dinner. From the picture, don't they look a lot like the "Gilligan's Island" misfits?

Mom and Dad also road the trike to San Juan Capistrano to see the mission. They also drove by Trevor's old office there. In keeping with their hobby of looking for historic grave sites, they did find the grave site of "The Duke", John Wayne. The also did something they said they would NEVER do and that is ride the trike on I-5 in Southern California.

Keep checking back for our California adventures.

Trike

CALIFORNIA

We have finally escaped the extreme heat of the Arizona and Nevada deserts. We are now at Wilderness Lakes, just outside Sun City, CA. While it is hot here during the day, the nights and early mornings are cool. It is great! I can now get outside to play. My playmate Chloe, who I played with in New Mexico and Arizona, is here with her Mommy and Daddy. We played alot yesterday afternoon after we got set up. Mom and Dad don't have alot planned except to enjoy the change in climate. Thursday they are going out on Lake Diamond, on a rented boat, with some friends. Chloe, just arrived, so I will sign off so we can play.

HAPPY 4th OF JULY

Happy Independence Day from Bullhead City, AZ. We only thought it was hot in Las Vegas. We rode up to the old gold mining town of Oatman, AZ this morning. We left at 6:30am, temperature was 90 and when when we got back at 9:30am it was 102. The town of Oatman is having their annual contest of frying eggs on the sidewalk. Mom and Dad knew that it would be really hot on the day of the contest so we tried to do it ourselves to see if it would really work. As you can see in the picture I'm frying my breakfast egg. It really is hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. We didn't get to see any wild burros in Oatman but we saw where they had been.....POOP. Tomorrow night we will watch the fireworks from our campsite. Hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday.