Posted by Karen on 24-Dec-2009
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I had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas weekend at Bodega Bay with Tersha and Vic. They invited me the spend it with them at the beach in their trailer and I’ve decided that is a great way to camp! Christmas Eve, we arrived at the Bodega Bay RV Park and set up house for the weekend. Next door to the RV park is the Bell Memorial, which commemorates the generosity Nicholas Green’s family for donating his organs in Italy during an untimely tragedy. In 1994, while vacationing in Italy, Nicholas was shot and killed by highway robbers. His family donated his organs to seven Italian recipients and it helped spur the virtually non-existent organ donation program in Italy and is known as the Nicholas Effect. The memorial contains bells from all over Italy and one large bell which was blessed by the Pope. Donna, a coworker from EDS, and her husband Gary, arrived at the RV park and parked next door, so more friends to visit with. Christmas morning, we walked a couple miles through Sonoma Coast State Park to the beach and enjoyed the solitude of a beach shared only with birds (and one state ranger). After a nice day spent relaxing and talking and getting to know the other RVers, we drove to one of the many lookout spots and enjoyed the sunset over the ocean. On Boxing Day, we took a ride over to the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve for Tersha’s big tree fix. After a few stops at beaches, we turned inland and followed the Russian River to the tall trees near Guerneville. Walking through old growth forest is always relaxing and peaceful, even if you’re being slightly rained upon. After a nice dinner at the Sandpiper Restaurant, it sure was nice to have a dry and warm trailer to retire to! Can you tell how much I liked camping in a trailer? After packing up Sunday morning, we had a leisurely breakfast at the Tides Wharf Restaurant and then headed back home.
Posted by Karen on 24-Apr-2009
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A while back, I’d heard about the Castles & Kites Celebration in Bodega Bay, so I booked a campsite on the beach at Doran Regional Park for this weekend. I invited Tersha and Vic and they came up with Brianna and their new tent trailer, which was really great because it was so windy I don’t think my tent would have stood upright. Friday night was spent cozily out of the wind inside the trailer playing cards and hanging out. Early Saturday morning I took a walk along the beach and enjoyed photographing some sand textures. On the harbor side I met some guys digging for clams and they showed me how to spot where the clams were buried–look for a little hole and them stomp and watch for the water to spurt out; very neat. We then all headed back down the beach to watch people fly kites and build sandcastles. We set up our chairs near the roped off area used by the pros and watched them launch some huge kites. Another gentleman we met had plenty of kites and explained the difference between sport kites and beer kites to us. Sport kites require constant handling, while beer kites just need to be launched and then you have a beer while it flies.. LOL! We took a little drive over to the other side of the bay, but it was really too windy to enjoy much time outside, so back to the calm of the trailer for dinner and some relaxation. Sunday was an enjoyable drive home along Highway 1.
GPS Stats: • Odometer: 3.80 miles • Total Time: 6:04 • Moving Time: 1:41 • Moving Average: 2.2 mph • Overall Average: 0.6 mph
Posted by Karen on 20-Jul-2008
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I leave Alexandra, Louisiana head east towards Natchez, Mississippi so that I can start touring the Natchez Trace Parkway. The benefit of the humidity in the south, that makes your clothes stick to you, is that everything is green–what a vast difference from brown California. The drive through Louisiana is through rural countryside and after a slight wrong northerly turn, I get back on the proper expressway going east. I came upon the Frogmore Plantation, but as it’s Sunday and they are closed for tours, so I just took some photos from the roadside. It’s supposed to be a real-working cotton plantation from the 1700s and that would have been neat to see in action. The next break I took was at the Ferriday Bayou Memorial Park because there was a geocache hidden there and that’s always a good excuse to stop and stretch the legs. At the Louisiana/Mississippi border, I stopped and checked out the Vidalia Landing Riverwalk to get my first look at the Mighty Mississippi River. Vidalia, Louisiana has done a nice job in creating this river park, I was really surprised there weren’t more people there, I was almost alone on this Sunday afternoon. I could see the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge, which would carry me across the border into Vidalia’s sister city Natchez; they call this border area “MissLou”. Across the bridge I go and I’m now officially in Natchez, Mississippi. My first sight of the Natchez Visitor Center is actually the back side of it, and is a circular driveway with these magnificent columns. After checking them out, I move inside and explore the displays. I learned that the “vine eating the south” is called Kudzu and can grow a foot overnight and if you sit still long enough, it’ll get you too! I then walked around Bluff Park, looking at the many history markers and viewing the river. I received a Tiger’s Eye gemstone from a lovely southern gentleman, named Armand, that I met in Bluff Park; he said that the Tiger’s Eye brings good luck to travelers–what a wonderful way to start my travels.
Posted by Karen on 03-Sep-2007
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Today’s adventure plans left our morning free, so we slept late and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, played with the house cat, Rambo, and then posed for some pictures in the picturesque front area of the Bayview Inn B&B. For the afternoon, we headed over to the Kona to take a submarine tour. At the Kailua pier, we found the Atlantis Adventure office, got our boarding passes and then Maria and I took a boat out to see a bit and then we transferred to the submarine. Down we went, to a depth of about 100 feet, and without the sunlight, everything becomes blue that deep. This was my first time ever being in a sub and it is really a neat experience. We saw two shipwrecks, the Predator and the Naked Lady; both of which are becoming reefs for the fish. We saw numerous big and small fish, a huge eel that poked out of a pipe at us and I saw the tail end of a shark as it hid under something. The guide was surprised that we saw a shark, but he confirmed it was one. Later, we headed over to the Royal Kona Resort for our luau and show. The resort is beautiful and the mai-tai’s were flowing, so that by sunset when they started the show, we were all feeling good. To start the feast, they unburied the whole pig that had been roasting underground. The hunky male dancers and beautiful female dancers entertained us all night with a variety of Hawaiian dance styles. The highlight of the evening was a spectacular fire dance and then the finale of having audience members dance on stage. A fun evening.
