California seems like an entirely different place to me when it is all lush and green. Likewise, the Olema Campground left me with a better impression this trip and I wonder if that is just the spring wildflowers talking.
This is a privately run campground, and as such, it does pack in the sites so it can maximize income. 
They’ve done a clever thing though in some of the loops, where they put a pull in right next to a back in, so your front doors are facing away from each other. That helps to make the space seem more private. And as it turned out, the loop next to us was closed for maintenance, so it really wasn’t too bad at all. Plus, I reserved the site on Tuesday after having officially been notified that the last of my Wright’s Beach reservations was cancelled. So for a last minute booking, you can’t get much better.
Richard was thinking of going on a big ride, but Saturday brought intense winds. Instead, we drove to Pt. Reyes Station for a bit of lunch before heading out to Point Reyes National Seashore. Our first stop was the Bear Valley Visitor Center, which was packed for Easter weekend. I was lucky to get a parking space, and that was only because I circled for a while until someone left. We decided to do a part of the Bear Valley Trail up to Divide Meadow, and then double back. That’s an easy, beautiful hike that also offers protection from the wind.
After that, we decided to drive out to the point, although the lighthouse is currently closed for restoration. That road has seen better days. The whole thing is full of potholes and bumps, and in some areas, parts are falling off and short stretches are one lane only. There was a pretty good size flood too, and believe me, we wouldn’t have crossed it without seeing others safely cross in front of us.
We took a little side excursion down to Drake’s Beach where I had to yell at a family of tourists for literally poking a sea lion with a stick! The grandma was taking video on her iPad of a poor tired soul, trying to rest out of the way on the beach. Then grandpa reached over and grabbed a stick to poke him! I could not believe it. The sea lion roared at him and she laughed, like “Ha ha ha, do it again so I can get the shot.” He started toward the sea lion again and I went running up waving my hands (I don’t think they spoke English). “SIR!! Please don’t POKE THE SEA LION WITH A STICK!” The adult daughter looked embarrassed, saying “Oh sorry, sorry,” as though this was some obscure, surprising rule. They scurried off, but I was still mad and told the ranger on them. Didn’t do any good because they’d already left, but I guess it felt good to see the rangers standing guard so no one else would do it. People. Seriously.
After that, we drove a precariously narrow road to Chimney Rock. That’s a nail biter if you encounter cars coming the other way, which we did. The parking lot was also full, so all we could do was turn around and go back. From there, we headed out to the last point on the lighthouse road you can drive before you encounter a gate. The wind was serious by then, but we scrambled out to a lookout and tried to not become kites. Richard was 100% glad he had not chosen to try riding out there.
For dinner, we drove back to Pt. Reyes Station for some awesome pizza at Cafe Reyes. That’s some yummy pizza! They make their dough fresh daily and use fresh mozzarella, all baked in a wood oven. Give me that and an IPA on tap, and that’s a damn good day.
Easter Sunday I baked a lemon blueberry cake in the Omnia (success!), and we drove home via Nicasio and Stafford Lake. The former was full to the brim with lovely water, while the latter was all a-fluff with spring goslings. I don’t know much about goose social structure, but it sure looked to me like there were two geese caretakers in charge of the entire gaggle of goslings, while the rest of the adults hung out together and mingled. I wonder if they take turns, or if jobs are permanently assigned.
Then home again, home again. It sure lifts my soul to see California this green. It also reminds me that things come back. Even after a long drought. That’s a good reminder for the woes of the world and a lesson I needed just now. One more metaphorical lesson was learned this weekend. I bought new plastic (not real wax) candles to replace the melted Romance Package 1.0. I decided to hang them from the front wall on a shelf, and ever so slightly underestimated the distance needed to fit the tallest candle under the California State Parks map. I stared at it and puzzled for a long while over breakfast. 
If I tried to reposition the sticky shelf mount, it would be ruined, but I do have another. Or I could trim a tiny bit of laminate off the bottom of the map, but it’s unlikely I could do that without having it be jagged, and that would bug me. Or I could try to make that candle stand out from the wall just a bit so it will go in front of the map…. Then it occurred to me that if I simply turned the candle around so the lower contoured side was against the wall, the problem would be removed. So that’s the lesson: when faced with problems that are tricky or complicated to solve, see if just turning something around will do it. Perspective is everything.
Total miles: 64.4, 2 hours 17 min taking Sir Francis Drake (don’t do this), 15.3 mpg. Site 208. You can’t reserve specific sites through the website. I requested a couple from previous notes (125, 126, 127, 145, 146, 147) but knew it was late in the game. Bathrooms are nice and the place seems to be getting a facelift. Wifi doesn’t work unless you’re right by the office. Bad cell service for us both, but ATT was boostable to pretty good LTE. Electric, water, dump on site. Walking distance to Olema restaurants.
*Warning* This post contains disturbing images. For anyone familiar with Wright’s Beach, located on the dazzling Sonoma Coast, it may be unsettling to view the campground in its current state. If, however, you are NOT someone who logs in to Reserve California regularly at 8:00 am precisely in order to do online click battle with the 39 million other people trying to reserve these ten sites, you may be unaffected. Additionally, if you are NOT someone who danced the sweet victory jig of reservation success, way back in mid October, only to have it mercilessly ripped from your camping calendar, not once, but THREE TIMES, you may be fine. Me, I’m hanging in there, thanks for asking.
Richard says I am a reservation “premium-donna” and should learn to be happy with non premium sites. He has a point. But, to my credit, I was able to rally and head out this weekend, setting aside my tragic losses. I was able to rise above the unrequited site 6 longing, and enjoy the full solar in Bodega Dunes site 60. In fact, truth be told, it was a lovely weekend, full of sun and spring flowers.
We even took a look at the desolation of our would be destination. I was imagining some kind of gaping wound in the campground roads, or that half the hillside above the sites had slid down onto the coast below. Nothing short of complete devastation could possibly justify the closure of such a popular campground, now expected to be shuttered through the summer months. Instead, what we found was a section of road, about two feet wide, covering a culvert, that looks to be in danger of falling down. Also, we saw a downed tree. That’s it.
There was a ranger at the staging area above the campground who was turning people away and explaining how it takes a long time for a CA state park to get a permit from the state of CA to fix a campground road. Environmental reports have to be done, engineers have to come out, etc, etc. So yeah, go check out Bodega Dunes and yes, you can walk down to the beach.
I took the opportunity to stroll through the empty campground and jot down site numbers that are not premium, but would still be right next to the beach so that I can be more reasonable about reservation angst in the future. I’m always gonna try for the oceanside sites, though. It was a shame to see them all sitting there vacant, but on the other hand, it made for a spectacular picnic location.
Otherwise, it was a weekend of sun and warm air and spring, for reals. We got in some sunsets and Spud Point crab cakes. I drove the “Boho” loop Richard likes to bike, past Wild Flour Bakery (where you gotta stop and eat a double chocolate banana walnut scone, while enjoying their gardens), through the cute little town of Occidental, and over to the Russian River. Then a cruise down the picturesque Sonoma Coast until we landed back at the Bodega Dunes day use area for the beautiful end of day show.
Spring Break!!! Plus, this year’s break coincided with our daughter’s break, AND it was her 21st birthday as well as my something-somethingth. So all of that festivity added up to a group trip to this former thespian’s nirvana: Ashland. We secured our primo, oversized campsite at the lake and reserved tickets for a total of five shows, all plenty in advance. All we had to do was clear out a space for the daughter in the car (not so easy!) and drop her at a nice hotel downtown for a week.
We came armed and prepared this time for site RV 21. Last time, we had to park comically far from the middle of the huge site if we wanted to take advantage of the full hookups. This time we brought an extra long sewer hose extension and even purchased a 50′ electric cable, just in case. That one was not needed, but the sewer hose could even have been longer. At least we looked more normal in the site, and that was my ultimate aim.
Sunday’s weather was perfect and we knew it wouldn’t hold, so I plopped myself into the lake as soon as we got there. Richard was super nice and took care of the set up while I enjoyed a perfect paddle in non rainy weather. He also took care of bringing a nice dinner back to Dory from 
Monday I was a slow moving camping sloth and did nothing besides play with our new classic awning and stare at the lake. Sadly, Richard did not have the week off and he needed to work during the day. Service was so good at the lake, he’s pretty sure his work mates didn’t even know he was somewhere besides his home office.
Wednesday there was a break in the rain, so we drove out to Jacksonville and Richard took off on a bike ride up to Applegate Dam. I’d never explored the Applegate valley before, and it was a perfect picture of peaceful, rural countryside, lazily stretched along the pathway of the Applegate River. If you take Sterling Creek Road, you get a good climb through untravelled, woodsy backroads. You will even hit a tiny little cluster of historic structures marking the ghost town of Buncom. I sagged him until we got about up to the lake, and then we just drove around to check it out. We’re pretty sure it was Mount Ashland we were seeing, all snow covered in the distance. There are campgrounds around the lake, but they were all closed until May.
Friday I got to re-connect with Ashland friends, and that is always a highlight. Richard and I spent the afternoon getting in a little walk through the upper trails of Lithia Park, and we topped off the day with a glorious dinner at 
It has since gotten a new facade, but the homemade feel remains. It’s as though you know a world class chef personally, and she has invited you to dine on whatever strikes her fancy and is in season at the time. Her husband will pour you a bottle of the best, from his extensive collection. For us, he recommended a light French white, which he noted, “You could get four or five of these without doing much damage.” The menu changes frequently and there is a prix fix, as well as à la carte menu. Out of this world. And our daughter got to partake this time, extra bonus special!
Interspersed with the shows were dinners and hang out time with our long long time friends and neighbors, who had also arranged to make an outing of it. The trip really could not have been nicer. Ok, I guess it would have been nicer with a little less rain. We noticed that there were fires in the mountains every day, and discovered that these were all controlled burns, an effort of the Forestry Service to stave off some of the disastrous damage done the past few years due to uncontrolled fires. Smart. Hope it works. On our way home, we saw an abundance of evidence of the massive destructive power of the Northern California wildfires from last summer.
Oh, it is good to go out! We sulked at home all last weekend, but at least we took care of Dory’s annual checkup with Dr. Randy, of 
Randy brought Dory back to us on Wednesday, all mani-pedi’ed and in tip top shape. Here’s some advice: if you ever meet Randy in person, do NOT ask him to tell you about how he broke his thumb. Thought I was going to pass out just listening to it.
Saturday it cleared up a little and Richard did go out for a short ride. Meanwhile, I put up our new toy: a Classic Awning. This was the first awning produced by Safari Condo, which was later replaced with the Pahaque front arc awning. That’s the one I’ve been modifying to make into a screen room, but our site had some inconveniently located boulders which would have interfered with that one. We had sent away for this one because Safari Condo started manufacturing them again, and we had some customer referral credits in our account.
Eventually, after indoor/outdoor his/hers nappy time, we went on a short walk over to the reservoir. California is gorgeously green right now and it’s a reassuring sight to see the water levels nice and full. Wildflowers and Western Bluebirds were out in full force. It’s been a long, cold, lonely winter. And it feels like years since it’s been clear. But, well, here comes the sun!
You know what? This is our fourth visit to Bothe Napa SP, and I have been making a tragic error. We’ve spent time hiking, biking, generally lazing around, and that’s all been fun. But it turns out that actually going wine tasting in Napa Valley kicks up the enjoyment by a significant margin. I realize everyone else knew that, but it was a revelation for me that I thought was worth sharing.
This was yet another rainy weekend for California, so the bikes stayed home. On the plus side, the days are getting longer, and this is the beginning of Daylight Savings Time, so campground arrivals are getting brighter. We chilled and binge watched “The Tudors,” to the sound of rain falling on the roof. I still love the sound, even if the season has brought a bit too much water to some communities. Saturday, the lack of pre-planned Dory lunch drove us outdoors and down the road to 
Afterwards, we went on a mission to expand my familiarity with wines I see on the shelves in Trader Joe’s. We were attempting to find “
The last thing I’ll report on is condensation. This is a normal part of winter camping, but clearing it does represent a good chunk of time in the morning when temps get below 50 at night. I have a squeegee and reusable cloths hanging in the bathroom that I use to scooch the water down all the windows and into the tracks of the window frame. From there, it all nicely channels to the outside and onto the ground at Dory’s corners. That’s usually enough, unless it’s really high humidity (like when it’s raining). Then I might need to do some additional wall wiping at the front or back. The cloths I’m using are 
Even though we count ourselves lucky to be able to go out year round, winter is still able to get in some solid licks. This trip to Half Moon Bay was a last minute consolation reservation after my sweet, sweet, lakeside site at Clear Lake got cancelled due to flooding. You know that rush you get when you are able to grab a really hard to get site? I’ve lost three of those this winter and it’s bummin’ me out, man! Still. A Half Moon Bay ocean front site is nothing to sneeze at, and we made the best of our time there.
I had planned to take Friday fully off so we could extend our Clear Lake joy. That didn’t work out, but the site I got was available Friday – Sunday nights, so I was able to do a switch and take Monday off instead. You can’t argue with three day weekends, so all’s well.
This remains a dependable location to enjoy a weekend. Yes, I was bummed when the other places closed (especially Wright’s Beach. ouch.). When I saw the call come in from an 800 number and figured it was from a flooded CA state park, I went, “NOOOOOO!” out loud. But I also recall thinking, “I wish we had some really fun place we could always count on, even if it’s raining all weekend.” Maybe this is our place.
I work in special education, right? So a huge part of what I teach is around “flexible thinking.” There’s a whole 
“But I reserved site 75,” was what playing on continuous loop in my brain. “I specifically wanted that site.” “Here, look, it’s got an asterisk next to it in my notes and that was why I reserved it.” I said nothing out loud and let Richard talk to the people. And once he had established they were not going to move, I just kept driving down the loop, looking for an acceptable alternative. “It’s not 75 though,” is what I was thinking. “Sure, this one looks fine,” was what I said.
The rest of the weekend was about Richard getting in a recovery ride following some unpleasant dental work, while I wrote a report and played with the awning. I moved another step forward in my ultimate plan of creating a screen room. That part was sewing a skirt to block the bug entry from under Dory. It’s not finished, but what I did seemed like what I intended. What remains is to add material around the bottom flaps of the awning to create a seal, and move loops around to better attach to my suction cup hooks. 
I still feel compelled to give this my best shot, mostly since I’ve committed this far to it. I have a feeling that one of two things will eventually happen once it’s totally finished: either I will decide that after all that, it’s too much bother to put up, or I will love it until a gentle breeze comes along and tears the thing to shreds.
