Category: 2017 Travels

Well that was a nice place! I’m thinking this campground is now my official Favorite Place (yes, caps, because that’s how strongly I feel about it). I can’t be sure if my enthusiasm is purely due to the idyllic setting, or whether I really needed a break from the internet (there was no cell service for either of us down at the beach). Either way, it’s a keeper.

California has gone from extreme drought to extreme rain this past month, but we got a gorgeous break and perfect weather this weekend. I reserved this site six months ago, exactly when the reservation window opened up. I can absolutely see why these go so fast and I will be shooting for more visits in the future. We didn’t get rolling until late afternoon on Friday and drove a good part of the way in the dark. We had to be careful to avoid flooded sections of the route and went all the way up to Sebastopol before heading West to the coast. We had been advised that there was “a little river” running through our site, due to recent rains, but that it was still usable. We actually really liked the little river and called it “Water Feature #1”. The full on spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean was “Water Feature #3”.

The site was so glorious, we didn’t even close the curtains on the ocean side and woke to the sights and sounds of crashing waves maybe 100′ away from us. Saturday was occupied with bicycling for Richard and a bit of peaceful mischief making for me. Let’s just say it was an inspiring way to spend a day on the beach with like minded folks. I got to hang out with good friends for lunch and then took a romantic walk on the beach again when Richard returned from his ride. The solar at our site was awesome and the battery fully recharged to 100% by the afternoon.

Saturday night, I cooked a Blue Apron meal and got to test out a new non-stick version of our magma skillet. Thumbs way up there. The rest of the set is stainless steel and we like that for durability, but having one nice non stick piece for frying and high heat cooking made clean up tons easier. We watched a couple episodes of “Lost” after dinner and Richard commented that our site was just like being shipwrecked on an island. I pointed out that we might enjoy being shipwrecked as long as we had a refrigerator, hot water heater, 2″ wool mattress topper, and espresso machine. We agreed there was still something to be said for civilization, as we munched on our snickerdoodles and I sipped cold Chardonnay.

As we were drifting off to sleep, we both heard what sounded like a blood curdling scream coming from right next to us. When you are hearing impaired and have taken your hearing aides out for the night, you have to ask, “Was that a blood curdling scream I just heard?” because you really can’t be sure. But Richard heard it too. Right away though, we heard the same noise coming from very far off, and from the sky. Then again, from much farther. So I’m figuring it must have been an owl and not something terrifying and supernatural, but it took some convincing, there in the dark, before I decided that for sure and was able to fall asleep. I’m thinking Barn Owl because I listened to recordings and that was the closest to what I thought I heard. Exciting!

Sunday we again woke to paradise through the windows. We gave a couple tours, brushed off a lot of sand, and headed to Bodega Dunes so we could dump tanks (there is no dump at Wright’s Beach). There we stopped for lunch and Richard’s noon time espresso. Then home again. We’ll see what happens next weekend. CA is pretty well saturated and there’s more rain on the way. Looks like a spillway at Lake Oroville is dangerously close to giving way and the campground at Clear Lake, where I had a site reserved for the long weekend, has been closed.

Yay California?

Total miles: 88.2, 15.8 mpg, 2 hours 36 min. Site: 9. Sites 5-9 are spectacular. 1-4 ok, 10 a bit small and uneven but maybe doable. No cell service in the campground, but Verizon in some places on the beach and good Verizon as soon as you go up to Highway 1.

Catching up on last weekend’s outing, which was our second stay at Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Again, we arrived after dark, and again, the LED mod to assist unhitching had us very excited. It was hard to tell in the dark, but this was the exact same site we reserved last time and I still feel that, though it is a nice site, it seems a waste to have so much unused outside site space.

It was cold, but clear, so we took advantage of the break in the rain. Richard went on a bike ride Saturday and I went kayaking all by myself. The challenge was to find a launch location where I felt comfortable and where there were lots of people. I’m still in the somewhat nervous stage, so popular areas around Marshall were eliminated simply because there was no cell service. I drove all the way up the east side of Tomales Bay, turned around, drove all the way back down, and then drove all the way up to Hearts Desire Beach on the other side of the bay. This was a perfect location. There was a nice sandy beach and a fairly protected cove for an easy launch. There were lots of people around in case I got into trouble, and there was strong cell service even on the water. Perfect.

I was able to carry 100% of my stuff, including “Squirt” the kayak, and do all the set up right on the beach. I did not time myself, but I will say it didn’t feel like an onerous amount of set up time. The Mysterioso base layer proved to be super warm and very comfortable. I got a deck bag to hold absolutely everything needed, including the hand pump, so it could get stowed while paddling. I think the only thing I would do differently next time is: wear the splash pants I bought (my butt got wet), and look into getting the larger storage bag that can be used like a backpack. It was fairly painful and awkward to carry the kayak in its bag back and forth to and from the car. As predicted, I noted that I was glad not to have gotten the 6 lb. heavier model. The paddle itself was exquisitely relaxing, exactly what I needed.

It was cold at night, but we were toasty warm running the propane heater. There was condensation on the windows in the morning, but I put a microfiber towel in Dory specifically for the purpose of morning condensation. Omnia pizza is becoming a go to favorite when it’s too cold to grill and we discovered that using tomato paste from a tube tastes just fine and does not result in a ton of wasted pizza sauce. Lunch on Sunday was a lovely stop at the Nicasio Reservoir. It was glorious to see it so full of water!

Not much else to report. We just keep swimming and maximize the opportunities for peace in nature. And that is a VERY good thing. Thank you, Dory!

Total miles: 59, 2 hours 17 min, 16.1 mpg. Site 38 – no solar anywhere in the park. We both got good LTE cell service this time. No dump here, so we went to Olema again before going home.

This weekend was our second at New Brighton and the first using my new kayak!! Before departure however, Richard installed a nifty set of LED lights at the front of Dory in order to make nighttime hitching/unhitching go more smoothly. I take credit for the idea, but he was the executor. The strip of LEDs has an adhesive backing that got mounted right to the front of the bike rack, thus aiming the light exactly where we need it. He put a remote control dimmer switch in the wiring so we can turn it on from inside the car right when we get to our site. And he connected the whole thing to the main battery so it will benefit from the solar panels already in place. Sweet. It really did work well and we had more than enough light when we pulled in (somewhat intentionally) after dark on Friday. We laughed pretty giddily when we turned those on for the first time.

On Saturday, we had to move sites because I only last-minute-reserved Friday night and couldn’t get the same site we were booked for Saturday and Sunday. The wonderful camp host at New Brighton was very helpful and went and got our tags in her little golf cart, bringing them right to our site. Saved us a trip to the kiosk and back, so we appreciated it. The premium sites at New Brighton are super impressive and 87 had good solar. Happy campers there.

Our tentative goal Saturday was to get me in my kayak in the water. It worked splendidly, assembled on the living room floor, but I was ready to take it to the next logical step. First we tried driving out to Kirby Park on the eastern end of Elkhorn Slough. We got out. We saw what looked like a “boat launch” area. We stood there for a while, watching what looked like a rapid current moving past the dock. I pictured trying to get into the boat from the dock. Assuming I didn’t just flip over right there, I imagined myself being swept away with nothing but a farewell wave to Sweetie as my only option for executable responses. We got back in the car and decided to go to Moss Landing where I knew there was not only a boat launch, but knowledgable people in addition.

I definitely lucked out there. As it was around 3pm, and all sane kayakers were already done and packing up, we stumbled upon a huge group in the parking lot from the Bay Area Sea Kayakers organization. They had every imaginable form of rack, including hydraulic lifts, for their cars. Their kayaks appeared to be expensive, but honestly, I don’t really know that. I’m just inferring based on all the rest of their gear. I did not notice any inflatables in the gathering. I tentatively approached some of them and struck up a conversation, briefly explaining my status and goal of some day getting in the water. They were super nice and very helpful, and in the kindest possible way, said something along the lines of, “You’re not going out like that though, right?” “Hahaha! Of course not, that would be crazy!” was the response I was thinking of giving, but I really wanted to know what they meant. I got a long dissertation on how I really needed to take some lessons and get some different clothing, all said very supportively, but with the unmistakable expression of people imagining how they would be shaking their heads about me when they saw my picture on the news. So, rather than leap into the wet unknown, I walked about a hundred feet to the rental place where I was told they could sign me up for lessons. There was a store there too.

The woman at Monterey Bay Kayaks was happy to help, but had this mildly apologetic tone as she was explaining that it would need to be a private lesson, would probably be about two hours, and that it would cost $100. It was then that I realized she hadn’t seen the sign on my forehead, stating: “Newbie with a new kayak and recently lifted spending freeze.” I agreed enthusiastically to the Sunday private lesson and proceeded to purchase paddling specific clothing. Dinner that night was at a place called Haute Enchilada in Moss Landing, and that was fantastic!

Sunday’s lesson, I suspected, was going to include throwing me out of the boat and into the water. I tried thinking much less about that than about how to keep my hearing aides safe so that this maiden voyage didn’t end up costing us an extra $6k. That would surely lead to a reinstatement of the spending freeze. As for the lesson itself, it really could not have gone any better. Listen, when you spend the day having to splash at curious otters so they stop trying to get up on your boat, that’s a pretty damn good day right there. The weather was great (Sorry non-California. I know. Sorry.), the instructor was awesome and super loud so I could hear her, and the kayak handled far better than I even hoped. She showed me everything, and yes, totally dumped me upside down at the end. It wasn’t pretty, but I did haul myself back into the kayak from in the water. Twice! I turned, I stopped, I launched, and landed. All good! Many thanks to Katy, my instructor! She was extremely patient and tons of fun. I give her and this place two thumbs, way up. Oh yeah, Richard went on a bike ride while I was in the water and also had fun. I guess. I was busy.

The otter situation at Elkhorn is just nuts. They are everywhere. Infested with otters, they are. We were harassed repeatedly by two of them, who had obviously decided we looked like fun people. Or they wanted our boats. Or they were intentionally trying to get us in trouble for being way less than 50 feet from them. It’s a truly awesome kind of struggle when an otter is trying to climb on your boat, but you’re thinking you really need to splash him/her away. Crazy fun.

The last thing to touch on in this very long post is the obvious question of why my kayak is not blue. I know. But the thing is, my research informed me the Advanced Elements inflatables were high quality and very similar to hard sided kayaks in terms of feel. They are also the only kind I’ve seen that provide a “cockpit” style, where you can even attach a spray skirt if you want. I liked the cozy toes feeling from the sit inside rentals I tried. And the one that makes the most sense for my size and intended use only comes in red or green. I could get a larger one that does come in blue, but it would be: 1) overkill, 2) too long for me, and 3) 6 pounds heavier. You can imagine how long I agonized over that. But in the end, I was able to scare up a tiny bit of remaining sanity. I got the green one and decided to name him “Squirt.” That’s a trivia question for “Finding Nemo” fans. If you know who he is without clicking the link, then you are a true fan.

Together, Squirt and I are going to rip it, roll it, and punch it!! Duuude.

Total miles: 83.9, 17.7 mpg, 2 hours 47 min. Site 81 has pretty good solar but is not a premium site and doesn’t have any privacy. Site 87 is a premium site and had good solar most of the day. No hookups, LTE for ATT, sporadic for Verizon.