We passed through San Francisco, crossed the Bay Bridge on our way north on 'The 101' to Bodega Bay, a coastal fishing village. Our base camp was slightly inland from the Bay and protected by large pines and redwoods making it warmer with less wind and fog.  It is about 20 degrees cooler on the coast and another 15 degrees cooler on the cliffs of the Pacific with strong winds!  After setting up our coach we had lunch at the Spud Point Crab Company in Spud Point Marina on Bodega Bay. We enjoyed their award-winning clam chowder, Dungeness crab sandwich and a Dungeness crab cocktail to start.

After lunch, we took a short ride over to the Pacific Ocean. The further up the west coast we travel, the more dramatic, rocky, and windy it gets!

Sebastopol is about a 20-minute drive from the Ocean, between Santa Rosa and Bodega Bay, and is known for its liberal politics and small-town charm. It was once primarily a plum and apple growing region; wine grapes, however, are now predominant, and nearly all lands once used for orchards are now vineyards. World-famous horticulturist Luther Burbank had gardens in this fertile region. The city hosts an annual Apple Blossom Festival and Gravenstein Apple Fair. We had lunch is Sebastopol and toured around their interesting town and market place.

After filming “Shadow of A Doubt” in Santa Rosa in 1948, Alfred Hitchcock returned to Sonoma County in 1961 to find a remote coastal location for his next project “The Birds.” He chose Bodega Bay, with surrounding bleak treeless hills, quiet fishing harbor and fog. Never had a director portrayed animals working in unison with intelligence. “The Birds” became the first horror/ fantasy film. Special effects, including mechanical birds, live and wild birds on strings, and optically altered film overlays of birds in flight made this a most frightening film. The fog did not always cooperate, so much of the film needed to be tinted gray. Nearly three years were required to complete work on the film for its release in 1963.
We stopped by the house and church, both iconic buildings they used so many years ago. The house is now a private residence.

This area has had an unusually rainy winter and spring has sprung. The apple trees are blossoming, the wisteria is flowering, grape vines are budding and the local hills are vibrant, carpeted in many beautiful shades of green.

Back to Sebastopol to meet good friends Larry and Bob from Santa Rosa for lunch at Handline Coastal California Restaurant.  This is locally well-known chef Lowell Sheldon's second venture after opening the acclaimed Peter Lowell restaurant in 2008. This is a restaurant in the Drive-In tradition. Housed in a repurposed Foster's Freeze, they offer a modern take on order-at-the-counter service. Lowell has transformed the space into an open-air, sustainable building with a large outdoor patio, tortilla-making room and massive kitchen. It was a beautiful day to eat outdoors and enjoy the local cuisine.

Half way between Bodega Bay and Santa Rosa and a little north between Freestone and Monte Rio is the lovely, quirky hamlet of Occidental.
The best place to be on Saturday, April 1st, for their FOOLS PARADE!    We had a fun time parading through this small town where FOOLS of all ages frolicked about wearing colorful clothes, silly hats, feathers, flowers, capes, frills and more... or sometimes less! Somehow, we fit right in. LOL
Dressed in red, the Hubbub Club Band made New Orleans street-band-music as the parade wound its way through the three block downtown. And just like in NOLA we found ourselves swept up in the joyous festivities.
After the parade, we had lunch at a local spot where we enjoyed meeting and talking with a local resident named David. Hi David! We told you we would include you in our blog.

Pacifica is on the California coast just 12 miles south of downtown San Francisco . Once again we had an amazing view but the RV sites were very tight, as is everything in this area is very congested . As we travel north, the coast it gets more and more rugged, with larger waves crashing on the rocks and more wind which brings out the kite gliders.
​Parked a few spots away was a really cool Tiny Travel House!

The Castro District is where our good friend Kirk has his Yankee Clipper Travel office across the street from Daddy's Barbershop. The area is all gay all the time. You definitely know you're in the area with giant gay rainbow flags, street banners, tongue-in-cheek store names and even the crosswalks scream 'gay'! The new home of the Human Rights council is in the original Harvey Milk camera shop, right next to 'Hand Job'.

We drove around SF (a real challenge at times) stopping at the Embarcadero for lunch then on to the Fishermans Wharf and Pier 69 where the seals sunbathe.  As we were driving around, we came upon the famously curved Lombard Street and couldn't resist driving down the very steep and winding road.

You never know who you might meet up with!  Annaleah Atkinson aka Wendy Roberts, a neighbor of Ron and school mate from 3rd grade through high school, saw we were in SF via Facebook. She lives in Hawaii and was in town for a conference.  We met for lunch at Sessions in the Presidio and even though Ron and her had recently seen each other in the fall at their 50th HS Reunion, it was great to see Her again and She got to meet Mike. Annaleah has quite an interesting life and we enjoyed hearing all about her interests and life in Kauai, Hawaii.

After a great lunch and conversation we toured the Presidio with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and more specifically The Palace of Fine Arts.

If it's Sunday, it must be time for another "Trailer Park Trash Brunch!" Mike's Ohio U college buddies Chris Flick and Kirk Dalrymple (who both live in SF) came over for Brunch in Pacifica.  Good food, fond memories and laughs ensued, all of which Gaylord seemed to enjoy!

While visiting SF, Chinatown for lunch is always a must.  The best places are often on a side street, up a rickety wooden staircase and unassuming. Just find yourself a seat at one of the big family tables, order what they're famous for, chat with your table mates, if they put the paper down, be surprised and enjoy.  Our clay pot lunch was yummy.
We purchased a whole Peking-style Duck to take back to the coach for dinner. As they started preparing it for us, whack! and off came its head. They asked if we wanted the head included. Uh, no. We told them to keep it.

7 miles down the road from Moss Landing we made our basecamp in Marina Dunes for a week while we explore Monterey, Pebble Beach, and Carmel with a trip back to Moss Landing for some whale watching.

Monterey is where we explored Cannery Row and Fisherman's Wharf. We had lunch at Lou Lou's on the pier and picked up a couple Dungeness Crabs at the local fish market to have for dinner along with the abundance of artichokes we procured earlier.

We took the "17-Mile Drive" in Carmel. It is one of most scenic drives in America. WOW! We made many stops along the route and enjoyed a fab lunch at "Roy's" (Roy Yamaguchi—celebrity chef, James Beard Award winner and the father of Hawaiian-fusion cuisine) in the iconic Inn At Spanish Bay right on the famed Pebble Beach Golf Course.

Blue Ocean Whale Watching out of Moss Landing Harbor is located in the heart of the Monterey Bay. It's the closest starting point to the nutrient-rich Monterey Submarine Canyon in the middle of the 'Bight'.  We saw 3 Humpback Whales and 3 Migrating Gray Whales along with an Elephant Sea Lion trying to save his catch of a small shark from the  circling sea gulls and a black foot Albatross, which has a wing span of almost 7 ft.  The following are pics from our trip, some taken by Ron and some by the documenting photographer on board our boat called "High Spirits"!  Kate, a marine biologist, was very knowledgeable and shared fascinating information about the many amazing sights.

After our amazing Whale Watching experience, we decided to celebrate and take a jaunt up the road about 25 miles to Capitola and The Shadowbrook Restaurant on St. Patty's Day at the recommendation of one of our fellow RVers.  Upon arrival you take a Cable Car ride down the hill to the restaurant along the river. It was a memorable location and meal.

Moss Landing is located 15 miles north-northeast of Monterey, at an elevation of 10 feet. It is located on the shore of Monterey Bay, at the mouth of Elkhorn Slough, and at the head of the Monterey Canyon.  Moss Landing is a quaint, historic working fishing village located in the middle of California's Monterey Bay coastline. A truly hidden treasure loaded with enjoyable activities including great seafood restaurants and whale watching!  Cioppino — a hearty seafood stew — is the star of the show at Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing. Owner Phil DiGirolamo uses fresh locally caught fish and shellfish, which ultimately gave him the edge over Bobby Flay in a hard-fought Food TV Throwdown.
​We also enjoyed an incredible meal at The Whole Enchilada. Both restaurants were within walking distance of our RV location.

While eating at Phil's, there was a great Bluegrass group playing. Here's a snippet of a gospel song they sang called "I'll Go To My Church, You Go To Yours". We felt it was particularly appropriate that day as we were having a bit of a Family Feud on Facebook regarding opposing political views.

Just down the road is Castroville "The Artichoke Center of The World"!  We visited Pazzini Farms to chow down on Fried Artichoke Hearts and a Tri Tip Barbecue Sandwich and, of course, stock up on everything artichoke!

A short drive up the beautiful coastline is The Hearst Castle in San Simeon.  On the hillside before arriving we spotted striped horses in the distance which turned out to be Zebras, descendants of the original group from Hearst's large collection of zoo animals that once roamed the property.

Hearst Castle is a National Historic Landmark and California Historical Landmark mansion located on the Central Coast of California, United States. It was designed by architect Julia Morgan, between 1919 and 1947, as a residence for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who died in 1951. In 1954 it became a California State Park. The site was opened to visitors in 1958. Since that time it has been operated as the Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument where the estate, and its considerable collection of art and antiques, is open for public tours. Despite its location far from any urban center, the site attracts millions of travelers each year.
Hearst Castle’s history begins in 1865, when George Hearst purchased 40,000 acres of ranchland. In 1919, William Randolph Hearst inherited what had grown to more than 250,000 acres, and was dreaming of ways to transform it into a retreat he called La Cuesta Encantada—Spanish for “Enchanted Hill.” By 1947, Hearst and architect Julia Morgan had created Hearst Castle: 165 rooms and 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways—all built to house Hearst’s specifications and to showcase his legendary art collection.

Beginning in July of last year, we set out to spend 18 months on the road. We're now at the half way point of our journey. We've traveled over 9,000 miles through 17 States in the Challenger. In addition to our RV mileage, we also put over 10,000 miles on the Renegade Jeep as we explored the forty one (!) stops we made along the way.

Until we reached California this past December, we traveled at a fairly fast pace, rarely staying more than a couple days to a week or so at each stop. Once we got to the West Coast, winter set in to our north and we 'hunkered down' for a month in Orange, a month in Palm Springs and several other longer stays bouncing around southern California.

It's now March, the weather is starting to improve and we're back on the road heading north. Currently we're in Santa Barbara and looking forward to continuing up the PCH highway toward San Francisco. This stretch of the central California coast is very scenic and the stops we have planned are very exciting; San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, San Simeon, Big Sur, Monterey, Carmel By The Sea, and Santa Cruz. Then on to San Francisco, Bodega Bay, Santa Rosa and points north in CA, a very big state! Leaving California we'll go through Oregon, Washington and eventually hit Vancouver, BC.

After that, we'll traverse back, visiting the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone from the North. Then we'll move across the northern states to New England then down the east coast ending up back home in early December.
​If you've been following our 'blog' you know what an incredible time we've had for the last nine months. The next nine months will be just as exciting as we continue on the second half of our Epic RV Adventure.

Sometimes it seems like it's all about the FOOD! But, although we really enjoy the diverse culinary aspects of the trip, it's also about Family, new and old friends and exploring new places.
As we look back at the last nine months, it's amazing how many wonderful experiences we've had along tour journey. Here are a few of our many special moments.

Santa Barbara is situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Santa Barbara's climate is often described as Mediterranean, and the city has been promoted as the "American Riviera".  Over the years Santa Barbara has seen its share of celebrities setting up camp. Big stars include Jennifer Aniston, Jeff Bridges, John Cleese, Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise, Ellen DeGeneres, Bo Derek, Kirk Douglas, Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Jennifer Lopez, Rob Lowe, Steve Martin, Brad Pit, Whoopi Goldberg, and Oprah Winfrey just to name a few.  While the RV park is nothing to rave about the location is just a few minutes to all SB has to offer.

About 35 miles north of Santa Barbara is a charming Danish town. Solvang was founded in 1911 by a group of Danes who traveled west to establish a Danish colony far from the midwestern winters. The city is home to a number of bakeries, restaurants, and merchants offering a taste of Denmark in California. The architecture of many of the façades and buildings reflects traditional Danish style. There is a copy of the famous Little Mermaid statue from Copenhagen, as well as one featuring the bust of famed Danish fable writer Hans Christian Andersen.
We did some shopping at a farmers market, toured the town, had some schnitzel and picked up some 'danish pastry' to bring home.

Nestled along San Marcos Pass in the Los Padres National Forest is a gem of a place called Cold Spring Tavern. An old stagecoach stop of yesteryear, it had an interesting past and is currently a popular, thriving gathering spot. We had lunch which included Wild Game Chili (Rabbit, Boar and Bison) and enjoyed a talented 'troubadour' playing outside.