This was our second visit to Cotati, CA; the first time was back in 2004, when we visited with our kids in tow. We had flown into LAX and rented a car, we visited with my sister-in-law, who was living in Burbank at the time. We then drove up Rt 5, spent 2 nights with Lisa in Cotati, 2 and nights in San Francisco before returning on Rt 101 down the coast, to the LA area to fly home.
My cousin, Lisa, and her husband, Ofer, generously invited us to stay on their driveway. I did feel a bit bad b/c the timing wasn’t the best for her, she works for a tax accountant and tax season is upon the whole USA. I sat in front of my calendar and tried to come up with a different time to be there, but with our need to keep pushing north, it was not possible to make it happen later.
With Lisa’s help with routing, we made our way past San Francisco traffic completely, and I was so grateful, as we’ve all heard the horror stories about it. We pulled down her street about 3:30 and Ofer met us outside, watching as we fully filled his driveway with our home on wheels.
there are a whole bunch of these Calla-lilies growing in her front yard
love this one – still wet from the rain
Callie made a new friend! She even ate cookies out of his hand!
Ofer cooked the most amazing tri-tip and also this chicken in his home-made smoker! Delish!
we had to move s’more making indoors due to the rain
Ofer enjoying his first s’more ever!
We spent our time in Cotati visiting with Lisa and Ofer, seeing some of the local sites and relaxing. We had wanted to go back to San Francisco for a day, but the relaxing evening the night before, I had a serious argument with a Gentleman named Jack, and sadly, he snuck up on me and I lost the battle, which wasn’t fully apparent until the next day. We also learned that morning that it was supposed to rain a good portion of the day, and to completely top off the decision not to go was the discovery that President Obama had also decided to visit the city that day. Guess he didn’t check with me – oh well – there isn’t room in San Fran for both of us – I generously decided his visit could go on as planned. I’m special that way!
cool light fixtures in one of the tap rooms we stopped at
snack time!
sorry Lisa – got you with food in your mouth!
beautiful grounds
one of the many wineries we passed
lunch time!
town square of Healdsburg – adorable town!
tasted some great wines here – Lisa knows the owners
trying to decide
great views of Lake Sonoma
Bill and I want to pass along a HUGE THANK YOU to Lisa and Ofer for opening your home and driveway to us! Love you!
stopped along the way
Our next stop was further north up Rt 101, to a town called Klamath. We were on the hunt for some BIG trees – the Redwoods! To help us with that, Lisa had suggested we drive up Avenue of the Giants, which I remembered my friend Tracy had done months ago and loved! What majesty!
Avenue of the Giants
Bill was backing into our spot at Kamp Klamath at about 4pm. As we were setting up, our neighbors said hello, and we invited them later for a campfire. Marci and Bill are a great couple, and invited us for dinner the next night! What a wonderful evening!
Marci and Bill
During dinner, they told us about the walk down to the beach they took, and how they saw seals playing in the surf. We could not just ignore that information! After we hosted breakfast for them, before the pulled out the following morning, we took off to see the seals for ourselves! I have one word – WOW!
wish my son was here – he could make me a walking stick out of one of these!
first look at the seals!
its not a good pic at all, but this is an Osprey
We stopped at home for some lunch and then headed to Fern Canyon, which was recommended by our camp host, Tim. Our already amazing day wasn’t over yet!
this is the bumpiest road we have ever taken the truck on – knocking the road out to the Desert Bar in AZ off its pedestal
we’re going in!
on foot now
trying to keep my feet dry
this should look familiar – does anyone know why?
Bill trying to keep his feet dry
view from above
Bill took this one
this guy was just sitting all by himself
this is where a landslide happened a few years ago
elk!
As we sat and watched they moved closer to us
they weren’t getting close enough – Bill took this shot through the binoculars
That night there was some thunderstorms, which we hadn’t experienced in a very long time, so it was very cool to sit and listen to that. We watched some TV before going to bed exhausted and exhilarated.
The following day it rained – all day. We got some chores done, made some reservations for the days ahead. I’ve started communicating with a woman, through RVillage, who is crossing into Canada through Sumas the same day we are. We are meeting at a CG in Bellingham, WA. This is getting very real now, isn’t it?!
We woke on our last full day in Klamath to sunny sky’s! After clouds, rain and even a thunderstorm! for the previous 36 hours, we were happy to see it! After a leisurely morning, we hopped in the truck and headed to a tourist trap. Yes – on purpose! We heard about Trees of Mystery from brochures at CG office and they said it was actually kind of cool, the main attraction being the Sky Ride, which is a gondola ride through the trees up to a vista point, and then back down. That alone sounded worth the $15 per person admission. They also boasted other “attractions”, such as Towering Inferno, an “End of Trail” Museum, the Cathedral Trees, etc. The place has been open for over 65 years – we figured there had to be something good there.
people come from all over to get married here
taken in the gondola on the way back down
this one is called the Towering Inferno
My Irish Grandmother used to tell us we could leave a bite of food on our plates for the Little People – she didn’t mean these little people though, she meant leprechauns -he he
saw these (imitation) Bigfoot crocs in the gift shop
read the pic below to learn about this – I had never heard about this before – very interesting
am I the only one hearing this for the first time?
To finish out our day, we drove the Coastal Drive to see what there was to see. There are 2 sides, south and north of the Klamath River. We started with the north side.
Finished up on the south side.
where will this take us?
Bill looking out through his binoculars
Which is your fav? I’m finding it hard to choose.
We will be moving on from here tomorrow – hoping to see more awesomeness! Crater Lake and OR Coast – get ready!
p.s. the pic that may have looked familiar above? Its from a scene in Jurassic Park 2
