The Sierra Circle Tour

Road Trip!

Betsy had a close encounter with the California Golden Bear outside of Gov. Jerry Brown's office at the State Capitol in Sacramento.

As we have done several times now in our post-retirement travels around the country we took a trip within a trip; leaving the travel trailer behind in Bishop to venture out into parts of western California where towing the trailer would have been impractical.

We called this nearly two-week extravaganza the Sierra Circle Tour.

From Bishop we went south into the Mojave Desert area northwest of Los Angeles to visit the U.S. Naval Museum of Armament & Technology at China Lake and the Cesar Chavez National Monument near Tehachapi. From there we blew through Bakersfield, avoided I-5 and tooled up U.S. 101 to the city of Hollister where we stayed during our visit to Pinnacles National Park. Then it was on to Big Sur for two days of foggy ocean views on beautiful California Highway 1. From there we took “The One” north and blew right through the heart of San Francisco, crossing the Golden Gate (click here for a 1:20 M video but be forewarned; there is singing...and whistling) and San Rafael Bridges to reach the East Bay city of Richmond – more specifically, the beautiful Point Richmond neighborhood - where we stayed in the AirBnB of a college friend and made two forays into San Francisco; one for a baseball game, the other to visit yet another college friend. After five chilly nights in the bay area we spent a much warmer night in Sacramento and then two nights in the tiny hamlet of Mineral, in the southern Cascade Mountains near Lassen Volcanic National Park. From there we completed the "circle" by returning to Bishop via Reno Nevada on U.S. 395.

There is much too much to say about these adventures so, for the sake of my time and yours, I'll let the photos tell the story. 

One of the newest additions to the National Park Service this site is going to need a lot of work and careful attention to fully and fairly interpret the complex and controversial story of Cesar Chavez and the farm workers union. It's a beautiful place and Chavez and his wife are buried on the grounds.

Pinnacles National Park surprised us. The rocks were formed by volcanic activity, moved by earthquakes and exposed by erosion to rise sharply out of the otherwise rounded slopes of the coastal mountain range. To put it mildly we were expecting something a little cooler when we arrived at the tiny visitor center in triple digit heat. Even stranger was the gaggle of kids crammed into the tiny park swimming pool. The restrooms were not working and the port-a-potties were overflowing. It looked more like a county park than a national park. But that was the east entrance. We went back the next day to the much more serene and sedate west entrance and took a beautiful hike with great views of the signature rock formations that included a cool(er) section through caves created by piles of rock slabs that have fallen from the cliffs over the eons.

 

The agricultural abundance of California was on full display during our trip. Miles and miles and miles of (to us) exotic fruits and vegetables; almonds, avocados, olives and (pictured here) artichokes (french fried and dipped in garlic - yet another type of California produce - dijon mustard sauce).

Gorda is, quite literally, just a wide spot in California Highway 1, about 100 miles or so south of Carmel; nothing more than a collection of eclectic cabins, a restaurant, a convenience store and some gas pumps.

While Gorda is always "out of the way" it was especially so for our visit because the highway has been closed for nearly two years due to a massive rock slide. Thus we were, quite literally, at the end of the road and it was a source of amusement and entertainment to see the reactions of people who had managed to drive more than 100 miles passing numerous signs warning that the road was closed only to arrive at Gorda and be shocked to discover that the road was, in fact, closed.

A room with a view...and not much else. Barely room for a bed and you had to walk outside to a separate building for the bathroom. But our deck was a great place to watch the cars and trucks turn around; or, theoretically, to look for gray whales passing by.

On a foggy, chilly, damp morning I hiked a few miles up into the hills where it was sunny and hot looking down on the foggy ocean below.

In addition to this photo and the four below, you can also see and hear the Pacific Ocean on any these three videos: Link 1 Link 2 Link 3

Betsy's Trinity University sorority sister Donna Stoneham and partner Julie gave us the "special guest treatment" at their AirBnB in Point Richmond; providing great meals, good beer, erudite conversation and (quite literally) very cool views of San Francisco Bay.

Yes, it is June and it is cold.

The view from Donna and Julie's porch as the sun sets behind the San Rafael Bridge.

 

Say Hey! Where is the Barry Bonds statue, the one with the giant head?

A Thursday afternoon "getaway" game got away from the Giants when their closer blew a lead in the ninth. Thanks to Donna for loaning Betsy her Giants shirt.

The Giants AT&T Park is, no question, one of the best in the majors.

 

Where is the the point here?

World Cup fans.

Counting our drive through on U.S. 1 we went in to San Francisco three separate times during our five-day stay in the Bay Area. The last trip and our only overnighter was to visit an old friend from my freshman year at Marymount College, Stan Fasci.

 

Thank God for rent control. This the million dollar view from Stan's apartment in a city where a family of four with a household income of $117,000 is considered to be "low income".

 

Tex and Rachel gave us a gift certificate to use at Starbelly in the Castro. Nice place. Thanks kids!

  

Stan took us downtown to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Awesome building. Pictured here is the men's room at SFMoMA

Orkin a little overdue?

 

Forest fires north of San Francisco put a layer of ash on Betsy's car parked in Richmond; but enhanced the sunset in San Francisco.

Going from AT&T Park in trendy San Francisco to the Coliseum in gritty Oakland where the A's play is like going from day to night. But it is just one of California's many sharp contrasts.

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon Cleveland pounded out a near-record 11 doubles to crush the A's on Root Beer Float Day.

California has a beautiful state capitol and both the Assembly and Senate were in session while we were there.

Betsy wanted to go to Fresno to see the Astros AAA team, the Grizzlies. Unfortunately, the Grizzlies were on an extended road trip. Fortunately, one of those road games was against the Sacramento River Cats! The Cats won on a walk off, two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th. Of the three games we saw, this minor league game was the best.

Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. But Dinger, the mascot of the Giants-affiliated River Cats, was a good sport about posing for a photo with an Astros fan.

En route to Lassen Volcanic National Park we made a detour to eat a picnic lunch here at Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area for the sole purpose of checking this NPS site off of our list. Betsy has now been to 224 NPS sites and I have been to 272. There are 417 NPS sites, 18 of them are national recreation areas and we have now each been to eight of the 18 NRA sites.

The volcano known as Lassen Peak, the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Mountains, erupted in May of 1914 and again, more violently, in May of 1915. B.F. Loomis, an amateur photographer who lived nearby, captured the events with stunning documentary photos that helped to spur the creation of the national park in 1916. This is a photo of the crater at the top of the peak.

 

There was a lot of smoke in the air from the northern California fires but Mt. Shasta was able to poke its head into the blue sky above the haze, about 100 miles north of Lassen Peak.

I hope this is not a violation of NPS rules.

The smoke is not coming out of Betsy's car...it's coming from this.

It's been 103 years now since the volcano erupted and the surrounding area seems to have recovered quite nicely.

There are 59 NPS sites designated as national parks and Lassen was Betsy's 43rd. I've been to 49 of them.

Relaxing at the Lassen Lodge in Mineral.

We saw a lot of beautiful scenery on the Sierra Circle Tour but it is hard to beat our very own U.S. 395; El Camino Sierra.

Our stay here in beautiful, bountiful California is nearly over. We leave Tuesday and will take about a week to cross the Great Basin to Buena Vista, Colorado. There is so much to see and do in California it's impossible do cover it all in one trip. Thus, there is no question about it; we'll be back!