Day 10 – Jan 20 – Carlsbad, CA – Day 5

Today was a half-do-nothing-day and a half-do-something-day.

As usual we took our time over breakfast and worked on the puzzle a bit, played computer games a bit and generally did nothing for a bit.

Somewhere around noon we decided to go for a walk down to the marsh we had been told about.  We knew the middle of the day would not be the best time to see many birds but we figured we would enjoy the walk and perhaps find the two geo-caches that were hidden along the pathway.

 

 

This palm needs a frond cut.

 

 

 

We were correct in thinking we wouldn’t see many birds.  We could hear some little ones chirping in the eucalyptus and acacia trees but we couldn’t see them.  There was some waterfowl paddling in the lagoon but we were not close enough to try identify them either; not that we know the names of a lot of bird species.

Nor do we know the names of hundreds of flower species, but I always enjoy taking photos of flowers.  Flowers always remind me of my Daddy.  He loved to grow flowers and he loved to photograph flowers.  I don’t grow many  but I love flowers and I love to take their picture as well.

I don’t know what this plant is. It may be a camillia, but I am not sure.  The flower bud is the size of a small banana and the ‘fruit’ or seed is like a cone. 

This is the only one we saw open and it looks like it is on the far side of the bloom. We did have success with our geo-caching and were able to locate both of the caches along the trail.  The Batiquitos Lagoon Ecological Reserve is a protected salt marsh.  According to the trail signs there are not many of this type of ecology left in California.

We could see the Park Hyatt Hotel up on the hill as we headed back along the road to the resort driveway.  This shows how farl I needed to climb to get home because our condo is further up the hill behind the hotel..It was a nice day for a walk; sunny and just warm enough to be comfortable.  We enjoyed the walk and will make the loop again while we are here.

 

Days 8 & 9 – January 18 &19 –  Carlsbad, CA – Days 3 & 4

This is a short blog that contains nothing of interest.  We have done nothing the last two days but laze around the condo.

I have been working on the 750 piece jigsaw puzzle I brought with me.  I thought it wouldn’t be too hard. I was wrong.  It is a shaped puzzle so there is no straight border; the edge follows the outline of the dogs.  Also every piece is different and most pieces overlap two or more dogs, flowers, etc. so it has been taking a long time to get anything done.

We didn’t even leave the condo yesterday. Today we connected with two couples that live in the LA area that we met on the World Cruise in ’09 and made arrangements to have lunch with them – Charles and Evelyn this Saturday and Bill and Lynn next Saturday. It will be really good to see them all again.  I sent them a copy of the resort map so they would know where to find us,

We walked down the hill to the Residence Check-in building to buy a stamp to send a sympathy card home.  The sun was setting as we walked down so it was quite nice.

This sculpture sits on the lawn just where you turn into the Residences Check-in.  The fellow is holding a copy of The Wall Street Journal in one hand and petting his dog with the other.  It is called, “Keeping in Touch.”

We uploaded a bunch of geo-caches in the area. As a matter of fact there are a couple of them down in the marsh we plan to visit tomorrow. We will combine some sightseeing with bird-watching  and geo-caching.

So.  That’s about it folks.  I warned you there would be days like this.  And….I promise; there will be more of them during our three week stay.

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Day 7 – January 17 – Carlsbad, CA – Day 2

We slept in, lingered over our coffee after breakfast, and played/read stuff on our laptops for awhile.  I checked the visa charges (ouch!  That Cdn/US dollar exchange is a killer right now!) and paid some bills.  Then we got energetic and went for a walk around the resort to see what was what.

Home – Unit 2115 is the door on the right inside the alcove.

There is a very nice swimming pool just up the road – the water was actually warm – with a hot tub and nearby shallow pool for little ones; and a coffee shop/bar if you want a drink.  In the same area is a large gas-fed fire pit for evenings.

The resort has three sections – The Summits; where our unit is, Osprey and Meadows.  We climbed the stairs from Summits to Osprey then wandered down the main road past the Park Hyatt Aviara  Hotel and almost to the Residences Check-in before turning around a walking back up the hill and home for some lunch.

The Park Hyatt Hotel sits up on the hillside.

 

 

We met another walker on the way up and she told us about a State Park marsh down by the golf course.  A staff member told us there are over 160 species of birds that winter here so we will take a walk all the way down and check it out someday.

I also overheard one of the check-in gals telling some people about some lava caves you can walk through that are not too far from here.  I will look into that as well.  We have been to Sea World in San Diego which is only about 40 miles south of us but I would like to go to the world famous San Diego Zoo.  See, we have lots of things to do!  But not today.

Besides, I have plans for this evening.

Jan. 16 – Day 6 – Lone Pine to Carlsbad, CA

Today was strictly a destination day.  We had no sightseeing plans and, besides there isn’t much to see but desert scrub.

It was cloudy most of the day but as we progressed on our south-westerly course it got warmer.  We were now driving through the upper edge of the Mojave Desert and you can certainly see why so many people and animals perished trying to cross it.  As far as the eye can see for miles and miles is sage scrub and sand.A few miles south of Lone Pine is one of the turn-offs to Death Valley National Park and the western boundary Visitor’s Center.  We had driven down the road a mile or so and I was telling John about our proposed route to enter Death Valley, which isn’t near any of the entrance Visitor’s Centers but at the western edge of the Park coming in from the south.  He very wisely said, “Well, why don’t we go into the Visitor’s Center now and get a map and talk to the rangers about what to see and where to go when we get there later?”  Smart man.  We found a place to U-turn and went back.  We had a nice chat with a friendly park ranger who gave us tips on what to see and how long the hikes or off-road drives may take and the special places to see at dusk or sunset.  Then we turned back southward and continued on our way.

There are a couple of  close-together-communities south of Ridgecrest on Highway 395.  They are called Johannesburg and Red Mountain.  The area and hillsides around Johannesburg do look similar to Johannesburg, South Afrrica (we stopped there for three days on our World Cruise in 2009), and it was very easy to see how Red Mountain got it’s name.

We passed a couple of observatories on hillsides and a huge solar energy plant north of Adelanto where we stopped for lunch at a tiny one lady diner that didn’t even have a name.  Good burgers though.

The solar collection rows covered acres and acres of the desert.

The company is called Nextera and by the look of things they have invested a huge amount of money into this project.

Fifteen or so miles south of Adelanto Highway 395 joined the number 15 freeway.  This was not my favorite section of travel. We drove this same road when we came down to Escondido a few years ago and there is almost no other way to get down to the San Diego area without doing a lot of zig zags.  I just kept my head down and read my book.  John exited 15 and drove for a few miles down the slightly less traveled Route 215 between Ridgeway and Temecula so that helped a bit.  We went from five or six lanes down to three.

 Ya’ gotta love the LA smog. We arrived at San Marcos about five o’clock and found a grocery store where we stocked up for our three weeks at the Aviara Four Seasons Residence Club.  As you can see by the photos we will be suffering in our accomodations….

As is normal when we use one of our  time shares we laze around the condo a lot, play games, and go for walks so there will probably be some days where I will not post a blog.  If we go anywhere or do anything I will let you know.

Day 5 – Jan 15 – South Lake Tahoe, CA to Lone Pine, CA

We stopped in South Lake Tahoe last night during blowing snow and spent a bit of time in our hotel room before going out to find dinner.  In that short amount of time the truck had accumulated about 5 inches of snow.  It stopped while we were at dinner but we woke this morning to an absolutely gorgeous winter wonderland and another 6 inches of snow on the truck.

The highway pass on Route 207  out of Lake Tahoe was bare and wet all the way over the mountain and back to Highway 395.  I clicked photos of blue sky and snow covered mountains and sage brush for most of the morning.

This car was parked beside our truck when we came back from dinner – just to show the amount of snow, since we had cleaned the truck off already.

This is the truck in the morning with another layer of snow on it.  Really nice powder too.  This is a long weekend in the US so the ski resorts will be very busy.

Can you see the buildings right up on top of the mountain? 

 

 

 

A winter wonderland indeed.

 

 

We passed Topaz Lake and, just north of Bridgeport, there was steam rising from a natural hot spring.

John stopped the truck and took this nice shot of the Bridgeport Court House for me.

North of another very popular ski resort, Mammoth Lakes, we stopped at the  Mono Lake Basin Overlook and got out and stretched our legs for a bit. The water was a pretty baby blue and on such a beautiful day it was quite lovely.

Here are some more pretty mountain photos.

The road elevation at this point was 7000′.

This is Mt. Tom.  Elevation 13,652′ The court house at the little town of Lake Vining was another nice building.  We weren’t able to stop but I snapped a quick shot through the front window. Lake Vining is the eastern gateway to Yosemite National Park.  The summit of the pass through the mountains from here is 9,945′ high so the road is closed in the winter.

We stopped in Bishop for lunch at 2 o’clock then went about 50 miles further down Highway 395 to Manzanar National Historic Site.  This one-mile square section of desert was the location of a Japanese Relocation Camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbour.  By September of 1942 over 120,000 Japanese-Americans were relocated to ten remote camps inland in the US.  All three west coast states were off-limits for anyone of Japanese descent, even if born in the US and an American citizen.

We only had time to take a quick look at the museum exhibits and see the 20 minute film about the camp before closing time at the Visitor’s Center.  We were able to drive the 3 mile auto route through the camp to see several points of interest.  There is ongoing archeaological work being done here as most of it was buried under several feet of sand over the years.

Manzanar was home to over 10,000 people, two thirds of whom were American citizens by birth. They were crowded into 504 barracks organized in 36 blocks of 14 barracks, with 200-400 people per block.  Each barracks was divided into four rooms, shared men’s and women’s toilets, a laundry and a mess hall.  Any combination of eight individuals was alloted a 20-by-25 foot room with an oil stove, a single hanging light bulb, cots, blankests and mattresses filled with straw.  There was little or no privacy inside or out. The entire camp was enclosed by barbed wire with guard towers and armed sentries.

The auditorium is now the museum and visitors center.

 

 

This is a map of the camp.

 

 

 

 

A replica of one of the barracks.

 

 

 

Over time the camp became an almost self sufficient town with a newspaper, hospital, chicken farm, orchards,  weaving factory (they made camouflage nets for the war), a mattress factory, general store, a high school, auditorium, fire department, city hall, etc.  Many of the men interred here had been landscape designers or gardeners or owned nurseries at the coast and over time about 7 or 8 gardens were created at various places  in the camp.

The Merritt Garden after excavation.

 

 

 

The two bridges are reconstructions. Everything else is original – minus the water and plants.

A painting of the garden during camp days.

 

One of the other, smaller gardens.

 

 

150 people died during the years of the camp and were buried in a cemetery outside the grounds – today only six graves contain remains.  Family members requested the removal of the others.  An obelisk was created there by a stone mason and the site is now a place of annual prilgimage for descendents of the people from the camp.

 

 

Someone created a lei of oragami cranes and hung it on the fence in remembrance and honour.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a very moving place to visit and such a sad decision on the part of the government at the time. It was President Ronald Reagan who expressed an apology to the people so it took quite a long time for them to get recognition and recompense for losing their homes, businesses and livelihoods and kept like prisoners for the duration of the war.  When they were ‘released’ each person was given $25 and bus ticket to anywhere they wanted to go – except the three west coast states, which were still off-limits..

This is the original sign and original gate posts at the camp entrance that were designed and built by the Japanese.

We checked into our hotel at Lone Pine at 6 o’clock, had dinner at a very popular restaurant in town – it was inundated with families  with young kids on their way to Mammoth Lakes for the long weekend – and came back to our room where I am diligently writing my blog; which, at long last, I have finished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 – Jan 14 – Susanville, CA to South Lake Tahoe, CA.

When we arrived in Susanville last night the entire parking lot was a sheet of thin ice. I was talking to a young fellow this morning and he said they had slushy snow during the day and suddenly a cold wind blew in and froze everything.  We took the long way around on the sidewalk under the upper exterior room access to get to the restaurant to avoid walking on the ice.

John told me later that when he had checked in he was chatting to the lady at the desk and told her we had come down via highway 139.  She was shocked, “I thought that road was closed for the winter,” she said.  So much for the local knowledge of the gas station attendant at Klamath Falls!

Everything was still icy this morning but it was above freezing so things were thawing and the road was bare.  As we drove south the sun even tried to break through the clouds.

About an hour out of Susanville we turned a corner and off in the hills was this bright red and orange rock face.  John drove up the road aways and turned around so we could get a better look.

Red Rock Road went somewhere past the rock face but there was a rutted dirt turn-off so John decides to take it to see if we could get closer to the rocks.  I tell him it is just a turn-around place but he drives around a bit before conceding defeat and going back to the road.  I say, “Really, you won’t drive up a snow covered road that has obviously been used recently by other vehicles  (this happened  in Newberry Park when we were looking for a caldera), but you will off -road in the middle of the Sierra Nevada Desert?”  I don’t understand men.

Apparently when Nevada Highways completed the freeway linking Reno to Carson City they changed the name of Route 431 to Route 580.  This we did not know so we missed our exit that would have taken us directly down to Incline Village at the north end of Lake Tahoe.  Instead we drove through Carson City and went across to Lake Tahoe, coming in about half way down the east side.

(This huge eagle scupture was attached to the edge of the freeway at Carson City)

Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the USA (Oregon’s Crater Lake is deeper) at 1645′ deep.  It is 22 miles long and 12 miles wide and never freezes over due to the amount of water moving from the depths to the surface.  A map I picked up in the Visitors Center said that 1.4 million tons of water evaporates from the surface of the lake every 24 hours, but that only lowers the level of the lake by one-tenth-of-an-inch.  More water evaporates from the lake surface each day than is released from the nearby Truckee River Dam outlet.

The sun had come out so the lake flashing through all the pines trees looked pretty nice. We drove northward along the east side of the lake, past the best sandy beach – Sand Harbor State Park – and the site of the Ponderosa Ranch of Bonanza fame – it is only open a couple of times a year for tours and a security gaurd protected access.  The old film buildings were up high on the hillside among the pines and I could only make out a more modern building among the trees.  With the help of a nice lady at the Visitor’s Center we found the correct road to take us up to the Mt. Rose Overlook.  (Which, surprise, surprise was 2 miles up Highwayt 431!  Helps to have the same road numbers at each end people!)

Site of the Bonanza TV show Ponderosa Ranch.

 

 

 

After taking some photos we drove back down the way we came up and made our way to Tunnel Creek Station Cafe for lunch where two sandwiches and two root beers cost $28 US.  While we were eating our late lunch the weather changed dramatically and we exited the cafe into blowing snow.  We had planned to stay the night at South Lake Tahoe just down the road but had been considering driving a little further since it was still quite early in the day.  However the snow made the decision for us and we found a hotel and at 4:30 we checked for the night.

The Mt Rose Overlook is located at 7595′ above sealevel.  There was quite a bit of snow plowed up at the loookout.                                Cave Rock Tunnels on the way to South Lake Tahoe City.

 

Hopefully the weather will be a bit better tomorrow.  Of course we are in the high mountains so until we head westward we can expect winter conditions.  We knew that when we planned our route, but being used to winter driving we figured we would come and see this area since we had time to meander.

Day 3 – January 13 – Madras, OR to Susanville, CA

We were quite excited to see some sunshine this morning.  However it didn’t last and before long we were driving under cloudy skies and rain.

Our first stop of the day was at Crooked River Bridge and Gorge.  The first bridge across this chasm wasn’t  built until 1911 even though the area was explored in 1825.  It is a 300′ sheer drop on both sides.  There are three bridges across the chasm; one railroad bridge, the original bridge and a new bridge that opened in 2001 to accomodate the greater amount of traffic.

 

 When they were constructing the first bridge the workers had to climb down 300′ hanging ladders on one side and up the other side.

 

 

 

You can just see tiny workers on the top gantry as the bridge is approaching the center.

 

 

We planned to see several ice caves and craters in Newberry National Volcanic Monument south of Bend but everything was closed for the season.  We took several exits off the highway to check out the different things and even drove several miles up a snow-covered narrow road in the woods before giving up and heading down Highway 97.  Our plan was to branch off onto Highway 31 at La Pine but we had taken so much time going in and out of Newberry that John decided to stay on the more direct Highway 97 as far as Klamath Falls to make up some time.

We stopped for lunch at Chemalt;where there is LOTS of snow.  This is normal for the area.  As a matter of fact they have sled dog races there this weekend.

At Klamath Falls we stopped to fill the gas tank and asked the young fellow if he knew the conditions along Highway 139 to Susanville, CA.  We were uncertain whether to stick to 97 or branch off onto the shorter but more untraveled 139.  He said he hadn’t been on the road for a month or so but at this time of year we would encounter rain rather than snow, the elevation would drop, there would be very few big trucks and we would reach Susanville in about 3 hours.

The fellow was WRONG on all counts!  Three times we reached elevations of over 5000′,  we drove through blowing snow on and off almost the entire way, and semi-trucks were almost the only vehicles we saw.  He was closest on the arrival time – we arrived in Susanville in just over 3 1/2 hours.

The snow had dusted all the pines making them look like a fairy-land.Our last couple of hours driving to Susanville were in the dark. We drove around the huge Goose Lake, a very popular holiday and fishing spot.  I suspect the views would have been gorgeous in daylight.  The descent into Susanville would also have been great in daytime. There appeared to be some pretty sheer drops off the road side; first on one side then on the other.  The twists and turns near the bottom had mileage speeds of 25 and 30 mph.  I think we will have to come back another time and drive that road during the day.

Even though we didn’t get to see any of the things I had planned to see and we drove through a lot of snow, it never accumlated significantly, the roads were well plowed or bare and the sun did peak through the clouds every hour or so.  All in all, I think it was a pretty good day.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2 – Jan 12 – Omak, Wa to Madras, OR

We did quite well and were on the road by 9:30 this morning.  It was definitely a weather day. We had cloud, rain, fog and snow – repeated several times.  But all in all the road was pretty good.  The worst section was going over Toppenish Ridge through Satus Pass.

Unfortunately several of the things I had marked down to go see were closed, but that wasn’t really surprising since it is the middle of winter.

Just outside of Monce, south of Omak we came across this cluster of huge radio/satellite dishes on the top of a ridge.  They were located at the end of the largest orchard I have ever seen.  The hillside above the river for  over  a mile was covered with apple trees.  We drove through orchards for quite a long time between Omak and Yakima.   The Yakima valley is also wine country so we passed lots of vineyards.

Not too far down the road from there was the Chief Joseph Dam.  We had stopped here on a previous trip and the view point was closed anyway – and there was a very biting wind blowing –  so I just snapped a couple of shots as we went by.

I love this shot.  It looks like a mono-chrome.

 

 

We hadn’t driven too far down the road and John spotted a small group of deer beside the road.  I was able to get my camera up quick enough to catch part of this one running up the hill.  A quarter mile further along there were two more deer watching us go by.

And then everything around us became very white….

We stopped at Dry Falls and braved the cold wind long enough to get some photos. The falls were the largest falls on earth in the last ice age.

We traveled along the coast of Lenore Lake.  We had actually come this way in hopes of  seeing the Lava Caves in this area but no luck.  They were closed for the season.  There are lava tube caves you can walk through for about a mile.  That would have been pretty cool – in both senses of the word.  John pulled off the road and took a couple of photos of the gigantic icicles clinging to the cliff above these houses.

As we approached the junction of the I90 near Ellensburg we passed through an area that was obviously a favorite lunch spot for hawks.  I think we saw about 20 hawks in 15 miles.  I wasn’t able to get a good photo of one but I caught this heron standing in a field.

We have a game at home called The Farming Game.  It was created by a farmer in Washington and today we drove through the places on the game. – The Yakima Valley, Toppenish Ridge, Wapato Ridge, Umtanum Ridge, and Rattlesnake Ridge.  We found it quite amusing to recognize places from a board game.

We spent some time going in and out of fog banks, entered a section of rain and, as we climbed up Toppenish Ridge we were in snow.  We followed a semi all the way to the summit where he kindly pulled over to let the lineup of traffic go by for the descent.  All the trucks were pulled over and the drivers were putting chains on the tires.  It wasn’t the fastest section of driving we did today; but, hey, we are Canadians.  A little bit of snow on a mountain pass won’t stop us from heading toward warmer temperatures and sunshine!

Our only other stop today was at Stonehenge, located at Maryhill on the Washington/Oregon border.  This exact replica of the famous standing stones in Englad was created as a WWI war memorial for the 13 men of Maryhill who perished.  Nearby was another memorial to the casualties of WWII from the surrounding towns  with rememberances also of Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan soldiers lost

We pulled into Madras about 6:30, found a hotel, checked in, went for dinner and are now settled in our room for the night..

 

JANUARY 11, 2016 – DAY 1 – Home to Omak, WA

Here we are again; on the road once more.  We are heading down to southern California where we will spend three weeks in a time share at Carlsbad, just north of San Diego.  Because we don’t drive the Interstate (unless completely unavoidable), and we don’t drive 10-12 hours a day it will take us five days to get there.  We prefer to take our time along the route and see some sights.

We left home this morning a little later than planned but…who cares?  Not us.  It was almost 11:30 by the time we got on the road.  We drove south on BC Highway 97 which is a very familiar road to us so I had to remind myself to take some photos to put in this blog.

We did try find a couple of geo-caches but the wind was blowing and cold, there was quite a bit of traffic near the sites we stopped and we had no luck.  It was about 3:30 and we were not across the border yet so we quit stopping and concentrated on driving.  Well, John concentrated on driving.  I read my book and did my word puzzles.

We entered the city of Omak at 4:30. We had planned to make our first stop at Ephrata, which is about 100 miles further down the road, but John felt like stopping so we pulled into the Best Western and checked in for the night.

Therefore, nothing very exciting happened on Day 1.  Except we are heading south!  Away from the winter.  Our entire trip will be about 6-7 weeks because after we leave Carlsbad on Feb. 6 we are driving across California (with stops at Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley), across Arizona (stopping at Petrified Forest National Park) and into New Mexico to look around (I am working on John to drive to SE New Mexico so I can tour the Carlsbad Caverns – no commitment as yet).  We have never been to NM, nor have we been in Colorado.  We will be heading north through that state and into South and North Dakota to cross back into Canada in Saskatchewan where we will head west toward home; stopping a few times along the way to visit various family members.

That’s the plan folks.  Always subject to change of course, but we have managed to stay on course for Day 1.