Strawberry Music Festival

This 4-day music festival is held twice a year in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas and is a mecca for Californian music lovers, music jammers and hangers on like us. Everyone camps out in the forest – some in tents, some in vans and others in grandiose motor homes. The music is mainly country and bluegrass, and the line-up of musicians outstanding. As we were warned - the weather was VARIABLE – Day 1 blistering hot; Day 2 SNOW; Day 3 freezing rain; Day 4 blistering hot – some were even swimming in the lake!

The weather cleared for the festival’s star attraction - Alison Kraus with Union Station - and it was magic. All the acts were good, however, and we won’t forget the Zydeco band (think Creole accordion, washboard, banjo and fiddle) playing while we danced in the falling snow. It was the best way to stay warm – but it sure created condensation in the plastic pants!!

It got cold!

And even colder!!!

But then the sun came out

San Francisco

Our RV park was handily placed near the rapid transit rail system into the city and we were surrounded by a collection of long term residents in shabby RVs that will never move again. At least these people had a roof – many in SF do not and it has been sad to see so many homeless sleeping on the streets in every major city we have been to. However, this location was perfect for us – quiet and cheap!

San Francisco is well known for its hills and over the four days we were there we hiked or bike over nearly every one of them!! We took the ferry to Sausalito then cycled back across the Golden Gate bridge. It was a great experience, but a little hair-raising due to the lycra clad bike-bullies treating the narrow path full of tourists as a race track. New Plymouth coastal walkway is tame by comparison! The bridge is extraordinary and the views of the harbour and city fantastic.

It was the third Sunday of May, the day of the annual ‘bay to breakers’ run - when San Franciscans dress up to run from Embarcadero to the Pacific Ocean, then party and picnic in Golden Gate park. There were all manner of costumes, including one gentleman strolling down the main path dressed only in his birthday suit.

Of course we did the tourist thing by sampling the wares on Fisherman’s Wharf, wandered around Chinatown and tried out the trams. During one of our forays the road ahead was blocked by police and security, cars were diverted and trams halted. A posse of black limousines and vans, flanked by motorcycle outriders drove past and pulled up at a nearby hotel. Barak Obama was in town - but in which vehicle we will never know!

San Francisco was great fun, but our next adventure was calling – a 4-day music festival on the edge of Yosemite National Park. We had been warned about variable spring weather so kitted ourselves out with stylish $4 plastic pants and jackets ... a good move as it turns out!

Intrepid cyclists - no lycra here!

Golden Gate Bridge

San Franciscans in party mode

Of course - the windiest street

Trolleyed again!

China town



Barak Obama is in there somewhere!



Monterey Bay

Monterey is Steinbeck country – the books he wrote here were about the sardine factories on Cannery Row. Cannery Row still exists but now tourists are the sardines. However, it is still a laid-back little fishing port with a thriving fishing industry. The cold sea currents well up from a deep sea canyon, supposedly much bigger than Grand Canyon, and this brings the nutrients that support a wide variety of sea life. The coastal rocks are covered in kelp and home to hundreds of Californian sea lions and seals as well as pelicans, cormorants etc.

We slightly over-extended ourselves and cycled 20 miles right around the Monterey peninsular to the upmarket village of Carmel. It was a memorable day, with stunning scenery – but lots of hills and a head wind. Consequently lunch in Carmel was delayed till 4.30 pm and we opted for a bus back to Monterey.

Santa Cruz, further around the bay towards San Francisco is another pretty seaside town with long white beaches and a giant amusement park along the boardwalk.

After leaving the bay area, our overnight stop was at a Harvest Host berry farm – here we tried something new – ollalieberries. They are a cross between a blackberry, a raspberry and a loganberry. They also make up into delicious fruit pies which we felt obliged to sample (real hardship).  The cafe/sales area is like a big, cosy comfortable lounge with games out on tables and the walls covered with interesting photographs, articles, artefacts etc. All slightly run down but interesting. The farm is currently 80% owned by one man, but is slowly turning into a co-operative as workers are paid partially in shares after a certain number of hours employment.

From here it was up the coast to San Francisco – Daly City actually – where we found the cheapest RV spot in the city!



Cannery Row




California sea lions sunning themselves




Cutesy Carmel!




Santa Cruz boardwalk



Tioga Pass to Yosemite National Park

Everyone in the States seems to know about the Tioga Road. It is one of the few routes through the Sierra Nevadas , is closed by snow for 2/3 of the year and is stunningly beautiful. We were lucky that this is a low snow year and the pass opened a few days before we crossed. Imagine – pine forests, frozen lakes, deer, cascading mountain streams full of snow melt. The top of the pass is at 9,945 ft. (Mt Taranaki is 8,260 ft). Even then, the peaks around us were at 14,000 feet.

The Tioga Road leads to the Yosemite Valley. It is difficult to do justice to this marvel of nature. Towering granite cliffs, giant sequoias, thundering waterfalls and green valley floors.  Despite the million of visitors that this valley has to cope with in a year, it is still possible to find remote paths to wander. There are several campgrounds in the valley which are reserved months in advance, however there is a ‘sell off’ of unclaimed sites at 3.00 pm each day. This way we managed to score three nights among the pine trees.  Again, we hiked and biked . After a 3 mile climb to a waterfall and 2 mile descent, we discovered that the camera had been left at the top! So poor Dave had to do the climb all over again. Fortunately the camera was still sitting on the rock where it had been left!

We were sorry to leave Yosemite, but we will be back again in a week or so after we have attended a music  festival on the outskirts of the park at the end of May.

In the meantime .. we are bound for Monterey (Steinbeck country) and San Fransisco.

Ma and Pa Kettle

Tenaya Lake, Tioga Pass

Li'l old us

Sometimes we had to share the trail

Time for reflection!

Can't see the wood for the trees

This is where the camera was left!

Got very, very wet here!

Two half domes!!

Las Vegas and Death Valley

If the punters in Las Vegas were relying on us to sustain the industry, they were sorely disappointed. We checked ourselves into a very luxurious RV park which we got for half price – check out the photo! We drove up the ‘strip’ in our van – not normally recommended – found a car park and then spent the rest of the evening walking for miles ogling the sights and treating ourselves to a meal. Not one cent was spent on the pokies – even though we were out until 3.00 am! We did intend to go back the next night - but at our age one late night is enough to do us in. We might be ‘hiking fit’ but we sure aren’t  ‘party fit’!  

We also visited Hoover Dam (in the heat of the day – so more ice cream required!). Security has certainly been upped since I was there in 2003 –now they search all vehicles and no-one is allowed to carry anything more than a small backpack with them.

On our way to Death Valley we had an interesting overnight stop at the China Ranch Date Farm. This is a family owned ranch, part of Harvest Hosts. We treated ourselves to their delicious date shakes - true! - and date loaf and wandered at will around the date palms in the middle of the desert. 

From really hot we went to really, really, really hot. The name of the town in the middle of Death Valley, Furnace Creek, should give a clue! This is an oasis in a stunning, arid wasteland where it is amazing that anything survives.  Four mountain ranges lie between Death Valley and the Pacific Coast, so there is no moisture left in them thar winds! From -200 ft below sea level in the valley we maxed out the petrol consumption and climbed (virtually in a straight line!) to over 5000 ft – then went down 5,000 feet and climbed another 5000 ft until we reached the eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas.  Next stop – snow!!

Our luxury RV resort in Las Vegas

On the town!!

Hoover Dam

China Ranch date farm

Hot date!

Arty midnight at the Oasis shot

Death Valley overview

The Magic of Bryce and Zion

Grand Canyon was certainly grand – and on a scale almost too huge to comprehend. Our stop at Bryce Canyon on the other hand was like entering a fairytale land of pink, orange and white spires called hoodoos which we could wander down amongst, touch and photograph to our hearts’ delight. We spend two days hiking this magic wonderland carved out by wind and water.  Needless to say, our fitness level is steadily improving – as long as we can stay off the ice cream!

You may think “see one canyon and you’ve seen them all” – but not so. Zion, close by, was enclosed by towering red cliffs with the river responsible, flowing gently by in the bottom of the valley. These innocent looking streams however become raging torrents in flash floods and hurl huge rocks down the valleys. Once again we spent two days hiking through the area and excelled ourselves by climbing to the highest point – called Observation Point. The exertion was worth it as we were rewarded by magnificent views after our 2100 ft hike UPHILL!

We made friends with our neighbours in the campground and hopefully will catch up with them again when we make it to Seattle.  Entertainment was provided by another neighbour who first of all started playing his religious music loudly at around 3.00 am, then spent the morning  in a whiskey –fuelled religious rant at his partner. There were numerous complaints to the park hosts, but we missed the most exciting part while we were out hiking. Apparently they were busy “sowing the seed” on the picnic table when he passed out. She panicked and called for someone to administer CPR. He spluttered back into life without help then turned nasty. The law was called, car and tent searched for firearms and he was carted off to jail where he spent the rest of his weekend!

Bryce Canyon hoodoos

Tunnel vision - well a vision anyway!

More hoodoos

Hoo dat?

Bryce at sunrise

Cycling in Zion

YOU WANT ME TO CLIMB WHERE?????

Now that wasn't so bad ....

And what a view!!!!

Indian Country, Mesas and Buttes

Monument Valley, Natural Bridges and Capitol Reef National Park

Northern Arizona and southern Utah are the reason that cruise control was invented; long straight roads through a fantastic moonscape of changing rock formations - just so totally different from anything in New Zealand.  Corners are an event and it is easy to just keep driving the long distances. However, we do try to do a hike every couple of days and one of the most enjoyable days was when we spent the day hiking the canyons at Natural Bridges monument. Free camping is easy out here so we just haul into a campground every few days for showers, laundry and internet. We have met a number of interesting fellow travellers along the way - including two young men bicycling from San Diego to New York. And we thought we were intrepid!

Life has settled into something of a routine in our travels. Our small RV has become a warm and cosy haven in the cold desert nights and freezing winds that we have occasionally come across and a shelter in the blazing midday sun. We have learned to cope with the ridiculously small kitchen – and delight in the ridiculously large engine (as long as we don’t think too closely about petrol prices!) We have been eating very healthily – both given up coffee and Dave has given up tea as well after his ‘funny turn’ before we left. Actually, giving up coffee is no great sacrifice over here as there is no such thing as a kiwi flat white and proper barista coffee is a rarity! We have tried some local specialities though, notably Mexican in San Diego, and Navajo fry bread in Kayenta. If you want to know what Navajo fry bread is, imagine the Hungarian fried bread at Womad, but instead of feta and pesto, add chilli beans. We have become very aware of the sugar content of food over here – even bread tastes sweeter than it should, however there is a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables available at reasonable prices.  Fruita, a town near where we are at present, is in the Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.  It was originally settled by Mormon pioneers and still has the original orchards; apples pears apricots and black berries - an oasis in the desert.  On our bicycle tour around we stopped for fresh fruit blackberry pie and bought a cowboy cookbook which contains gems such as:

If you want fresh, clean oats, you have to pay a fair price; if getting a low price is all that matters, you must be content with oats that have already passed through the horse!

and

If you find the coyotes join in whenever you sing – try the harmonica!

Our next stops are Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. After that it is Las Vegas – and as the cowboys say:

          A fool and his money are some party!

Rock formations in Monument Valley - one of dozens

Lunch at Hite - where we crossed the Colorado River

Ancient Indian cave dwelling at Navajo National Monument

Dave's new clipper haircut - now he looks like Pete!

One of our free camps near Natural Bridges

One of the three natural bridges - formed by a meandering river cutting through its bend

 

Grand Canyon - and an unexpected delight

Grand Canyon and Lowell Observatory

Flagstaff is the nearest town to Grand Canyon.  It is also the home of the Lowell Observatory, famous for the discovery of the planet Pluto and for discovering that the universe is continuously expanding. We stopped off for a brief visit but were completely absorbed by the straightforward presentation of its history and the enthusiasm and depth of knowledge of the mainly volunteer staff. We viewed the sun's solar flares through their special solar telescope and went back again in the evening to visit the amazing planetarium and to view Saturn through a small reflector telescope. As we wrote in the visitor book – ‘we had intended to visit Grand Canyon today, but Marie’s fascinating presentation kept us here and we will be back tonight – Grand Canyon will have to wait’. ....

What can you say about Grand Canyon! It is immense – one mile deep, eighteen miles across and nearly 270 miles long. It has been carved out by the Colorado River over 6 million years and exposed rocks over 2 billion years old. We viewed the canyon at sunrise and at sunset; walked 7 miles along the rim and took the shuttle to each end of the main tourist area; we viewed it in high sun, by starry night and in the grip of a bitter cold, wet wind. It is truly awe-inspiring.  Words and photographs cannot do it justice.  Nevertheless we have hundreds of photographs ready for your compulsory viewing on or return!!

Intrepid photographer!

A glimpse of the Colorado river far below

And again

Sunrise

Sunset

Stunning scenery

Don't worry - we have quite a few more!!