January 22, 2009 MacKerricher State Park

Arrived at MacKerricher State Park on the Pacific 7 miles south of Mendicino on the 22nd after starting our drive from Eurika at 5pm.  We are getting a rather late start these days and realize that this will have to be changed because driving at night is anything but fun.  We drove along Highway 101 until it merged with the coastal Highway 1 which twists and turns as much as any road we've been on and made it to MacKerricher around 9:30 pm. Glad to arrive as it looks like a cool place - even in the dark.  We woke up to a nice surprise in the am because it is a very amazing place, situated on the Pacific with a great walking and biking path.  We walked with the dogs for a little over an hour and never really managed the whole trail. The surf is wild and would be a surfers dream.  We did spot seals, sea lions and all kinds of shore birds. Apparently the grey whale has been spotted in large pods just this week but we haven't noticed any yet. There is an interesting plant that covers the shore line above the dunes and it looks like a succulent and has some remaining flowers but don't know what it is although I feel like its a member of the Portulaca family. Later found out it is a non native Ice Plant that the Park Service would like to get rid of - good luck to them - it's everywhere.

     Spent the afternoon in Mendicino looking at nice galleries and even found a good place for salad and soup. Apparently they had a large exhuberant crowd for the inauguration.  The Highlights Gallery was a treat as local artists display their talents.  It was one of the nicest I have ever seen.  

     Nothing else special to report but we are still excited about the inauguration.  Finally got the paper where we could read the details.  What an amazing day.

      Hope all is well with you.   

      Barb, Mike and Pooches

January 20th, 2009 Obama becomes President

Our first view of the Pacific was in Crescent City, Calif, Jan.18th just as the sun was setting. So excited to be here. Love the smell of the salt water and the wild Pacific as it crashes against the 

rocks.  Lighthouse is off in the distance.

We just saw the inauguration from the comfort of our RV. We are so excited about this momentous day in our history. Barack Obama is such a breath of fresh air - so intelligent and capable. Let's hope that we can all pull together to make this country a better place because if we have any chance it is now.

Right now we are in Trinidad, Calif. at the Sounds of the Sea RV Park.  Not much of a place; RV 's lined up on patches of grass and no trees. The best feature was the electrical hook ups and cable so we could watch the inauguration and take a shower, not at the same time of course. We are within walking distance of Patrick Point which is on the water and touted as a good place for hiking with scenic vistas and big rocks including Wedding Rock.

Yesterday we were at Jedediah Smith State Park just 10 miles north of Crescent City. This is a lovely park with tall Redwoods everywhere. There are great campsites on the Smith River with stone steps leading to the river. The river is so clear that you can see large flat appearing stones on the sandy bottom. We did not have one of those sites as we came in at 8 or 9 pm and it was too dark to see much of anything. If you know what inukshuk is then you will know what I am talking about when I tell you that we saw many stones carefully balanced on each other. Since this isn't the arctic they obviously had a different meaning if they had meaning at all - but regardless they were nice to look at and capture on camera.

Sam almost bit the dust yesterday when his leash got tangled with the owner of a large mastiff/lab. As the lab jumped up Sam was literary hanging in the air by his neck and luckily the other owner let go of his leash as I was trying to untangle Sam. I guess we will keep our distance from now on. Sam just doesn't get that he isn't a big dog. Otherwise, both dogs are doing well and we are beginning to establish a routine as we move along.

The sunset yesterday along the coast showed more pastel colors and large sea stacks rising out of the Pacific. Hope to have captured some good pics.

We are not moving very quickly and today we are headed south to Mendicino. If you have been there and have suggestions please feel free to send them.

Bye for now.

Barb, Mike, Sam and Luna

January 16, 2009 The Beginning Of Our Adventure

January 16, 2009 

Made it to Woodland, Wa.spending the night at the Columbia Riverfront Park. There was a heavy fog surrounding us but you could hear the sound of the fog horns from the big ships traveling the river from the Pacific to Portland just a few feet away. When the fog finally did lift we realized how bleak and grey it was and were impressed by the size of the tree trunks that washed up on shore from the last heavy rainstorm.

We got a late start and being a Friday the traffic was heavy but managed to get to Olympia for dinner and visit the Capitol Campus. Walked the dogs along Capitol Lake - a very nice walk and visited Christine Gregoire. A ctually, we stood outside her mansion and talked to the security guard.

We are all adjusting to the tight but well organized quarters. The dogs were on the cold side last night, but we were toasty. Tonight we will get them a warm blanket. The temp. when we arrived here was in the 20's.

Mike got tips from Shirley the experienced RVer on how to keep the poop from sticking to the sides of the grey water tank. The things you never knew..

Finally relaxing and getting into the RV mindset. Not sure what that is but anyway, hope you are well.  Will blog again soon.

Barb, Mike, Sam and Luna

Sanibel Island and Warm Sunny Weather At Last!!

I've just created my first blog and very excited about how easy this will be.

We arrived in Bradenton, Fla. spending the night at Horseman's Cove RV Park. Some nice RV neighbors gave us several fresh grapefruits from one tree and loquats from another. In the morning we drove an hour and 1/2 to meet up with our friends Nancy and Pete on Sanibel Island. We spent the afternoon walking along a beautiful stretch of beach with shells of all shapes and sizes, shorebirds everywhere and dolphins just offshore. The gulls were harvesting clams and fighting to see who could run away with the prize before a rival would snatch it away. The brown pelicans were not graceful and would splash down hard in the water and a beautiful white egret was about 3 feet from us - unaware of our presence. A beautiful bird - very delicate, wispy white feathery plumes, very graceful. I definitely need a bird field guide on this trip. Sanibel is known for its beautiful beach shells and lives up to it's reputation. The weather was perfect - blue skies and

sunny.

Tomorrow we are heading to a wildlife sanctuary and will spend the day with Nancy and Pete.

This is a picture of the sunset on St. George's Island taken two days ago. We were hiking on a trail looking to get to the beach but instead found ourselves in the middle of a beautiful pine forest. It was the best sunset we have seen so far.