California .... Stockton, Golden Gate, Redding and up to Klamath Falls & Crater Lake Oregon

                                                     

ABOVE, AT THE CAMPGROUND IN STOCKTON (OUTSIDE SACRAMENTO) THERE WAS A HUGE PARTY WITH MUSIC INTO THE NIGHT... RIGHT NEXT TO OUR RV COACH!  ALSO TOOK OUT A BOAT FROM THE MARINA ALSO LOCATED AT THE CAMPGROUND, AND FOR THE FIRST TIME BOATING, A SNAKE CROSSED OUT PATHS IN THE WATER!  KINDA CRAY-CRAY CONSIDERING ALL THE YEARS BOATING AND KAYAKING IN FLORIDA AND IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE THIS OUTING.
 

STOCKTON -WEST VILLAGE MARINA RV PARK

ONE NIGHT 43RD ANNIVERSARY TRIP TO SAN FRANSISCO, DINNER VIP TREATMENT AT THE 'FOREIGN CINEMA' RESTAURANT DOWN THE STREET FROM THE AIRBNB WE STAYED AT FOR OVERNIGHT.

AFTER ALL THE TRIPS TO SAN FRAN, WE FINALLY WERE ABLE TO TAKE SOME TIME TO ACTUALLY WALK HALF WAY ACROSS THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE...

MADE IT TO THE PACIFIC COAST TODAY 5.14.2026

BELOW, DARWIN CHILL-AXIN IN THE AIRBNB...

 

BELOW IS PART OF THE HUGE GOLDEN GATE PARK WE SPENT TIME WALKING THROUGH.

BELOW, WE SEE A LARGE VARIETY OF SELF DRIVING CARS IN CALIFORNIA...

SACRAMENTO... MICKY STAR RATED  'ELLAS' FOR LUNCH...

TO OUR SURPRISE, THERE WERE A LARGE BUNCH OF SEA LIONS IN THE FRESH WATER RIVER RUNNING THROUGH DOWNTOWN SACRAMENTO!!

WE DID THE TOUR OF THE CAPITOL BUILDING IN SACRAMENTO... VERY NICE PLACE, LEARNED A LOT INCLUDING FACT THAT 'EUREKA' IS CALIFORNIA STATE MOTTO, AND IT MEANS... "I FOUND IT"  REFERRING TO GOLD DURING THE GOLD RUSH....

 

 

INTERESTING PERSPECTIVE OF THE OL' FASHIONED MOUNTED POLICE USING A MODERN SMART PHONE.

REDDING.... DID SOME HIKING IN THE WHISKEYTOWN NATIONAL RECREATION AREA TO THE BRANDY CREEK FALLS TRAIL....

AT OUR CAMPGROUND, THERE WAS A CURIOUS PEACOCK WHO CAME TO VISIT DARWIN AT THE DOOR OF OUR RV....

ABOVE IS THE 'FAMOUS' SUN DIAL BRIDGE... IN REDDING, CA... AND BELOW IS A FEW SHOTS OF DEAR THAT WERE AROUND THAT BRIDGE VICINITY.

FORTUNATE TO SEE SOME  EAGLES ON OUR HIKE TO BRANDY CREEK FALLS, AND ABOVE WAS ABLE TO GET A SHOT OF ONE SEEMINGLY GAZING AT AN AIRPLANE FLYING OVERHEAD....

MOUNT SHASTA IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, SEEN ON THE WAY TO OREGON WHERE OREGANO IS PRODUCED.... (not- psyche, MADE YOU THINK THOUGH!)
 

 

 

WAY COOL PICTURE BY ACCIDENT OF THIS EAGLE WITH SNOW PEAKS IN THE BACKGROUND, BEING PHOTO BOMBED BY A BUNCH OF DRAGON FLIES.

KLAMATH FALLS RV PARK ...AKA RJ JOURNEY, IS A BIZARRE PARK AS IT DOES HAVE A GREAT VIEW OF THE LAKE IN THE DISTANCE, HOWEVER.... 2 ISSUES.  FIRST OFF, 90% OF THE SITES HERE WERE BUILT WITH THE WRONG ORIENTATION.  BY THIS, I MEAN THAT TYPICALLY YOU PARK THE RV WITH THE 'LIVING SIDE' OF RIG (ENTRANCE DOOR OF RIG) IS FACING THE 'SITE YOU ARE THERE TO APPRECIATE' THE SITE YOU LIKELY PAID EXTRA FOR TO STAY AT THIS PARK.  SADLY, MOST ALL SITES HERE DESIGNED THE OPPOSITE, WITH YOUR LIVING SIDE FACED AWAY FROM LAKE!  SECOND- SITE WE HAD WAS RIGHT NEXT TO A HIGHWAY (CLOSEST WE'D EVER OVERNIGHTED TO A HIGHWAY) AND RIGHT NEXT TO THAT HIGHWAY WERE RAILROAD TRACKS SUPPORTING FREQUENT LONG TRAINS THAT PAST BY AT ALL HOURS OF THE DAY AND NIGHT!!

 

HAD A PRIVATE TOUR OF THE BADGER RUN WILDLIFE CENTER.  WE SAW FACE TO FACE- A ONE EYED GROUND SQUIRREL , MANY RAPTORS, POSSUM,  TURTLES...

QUITE UNUSUAL- THEY HAD A SET OF DIFFERENT WINGS BELONGING TO VARIOUS RAPTORS AS WELL AS SETS OF THEIR FEET COMPLETE WITH CLAWS TO EXAMINE!

 

 

BELOW, WE VENTURED SOUTH OF KLAMATH FALLS BACK INTO CALIFORNIA TO EXPLORE THE LAVA BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT.  OF COURSE, ABOVE GROUND WE VIEWED THE FIELDS OF LAVA, BUT THE BIG DRAW HERE ARE THE MANY UNLIT UNDERGROUND LAVA TUBE REMNANT CAVES YOU CAN HIKE THROUGH ALONE! THE RANGERS THERE AT THE INFO OFFICE LEND OUT FREE FLASHLIGHTS AND A MAP, AND YOU ARE GOOD TO GO ON YOUR OWN!!!  WE DID NOT MEET NOR SEE ANYONE FOR THE FIRST 2 CAVES WE LOOKED AT.  ITS ABSOLUTE PITCH BLACK IF YOU SHUT OFF YOUR FLASHLIGHT WHILE IN THE CAVE.  GREAT DAY HERE.  ON THE RIDE TO GET HERE, HAD TO PASS THROUGH THE TULE LAKE PRESERVE AREA WHERE WE WITNESSED BY FAR THE HIGHEST CONCENTRATION OF BOTH BIRDS (DUCKS MAINLY) AND FLYING INSECTS (MIDGES MAINLY) THAT WE'D EVER SEEN ON OUR LIVES!

CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK OREGON, BELOW.  THIS HAD BEEN ON OUR LIST OF PLACES TO SEE BACK IN 2007 WHEN WE PASSED THROUGH OREGON ON THE WAY TO ALASKA, BUT DID NOT HAVE THE TIME THEN.  WE HAS PLANNED TO MAKE MULTIPLE VISITS TO THIS PARK WHILE IN THE AREA FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK- BUT MOTHER NATURE HAD OTHER PLANS.  LUCKILY WE HAD BEEN PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE WEATHER FORECASTS TO PLAN THE BEST DAY(S) TO GO HERE FOR BEST VISIBILITY AND AS  IT TURN OUT, ONLY THE VERY FIRST DAY TO KLAMATH FALLS WAS A KEEPER.  THE REST OF THE WEEK - YUCK.  IN FACT, WHEN WE WENT TO NEXT RV PARK- COLLIER MEMORIAL STATE PARK, WE EXPERIENCED WEATHER ALERT DAYS, TO THE TUNE OF THE ELECTRICITY BEING KNOCKED OUT FOR MOST OF OUR STAY THERE...OH YES, AND THREE TREES FELL DURING A STORM...LIKE 50-100 FOOT FROM OUR RV. 

 

See ya Texas! Off to New Mexico, Arizona & California.... HERE WE COME!

 NEW MEXICO...LAS CRUCES

This is a revisit to the area... ate at the La Posta again at the best seats in the house...outside. Seeing the super sized windmills again in great numbers.... 

 

ARIZONA.... TUCSAN & PHOENIX

 

Spent 5 days in Tucson and 5 in Phoenix. Both cities have beautiful artistic highway walls! If we had to choose, definitely would choose Tuscon as a better place to live.  Had to drop another 2K+ on ac fix on the CRV (Lucky thought as its still under warranty and will get most of that back.)

 

 

CALIFORNIA... PALM SPRINGS

 

Darwin made a friend at a Palm Springs boutique.

 

 

 We did some hiking through the impressive Cathedral Palms area... on one side there were these enormous size palms and a creek- while on the other side were steep rocky cliffs to look up to!

Just look at the next two pix to get a feel for how big those Cathedral Palms are...

Can you find the tiny ILEA below?

 

 

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Just outside of Palm Springs downtown is the incredible PALM SPRINGS TRAM.  It is one of the LARGEST trams that has its cars ROTATE 360 degrees, as it ascends and descends!  Also, its the largest elevation changing tram.... What a view!!!

An unique encounter at the bottom:  many young people with huge 'backpacks', which in actuality are their sizable cushion pads they use TO BREAK THEIR FALLS when they fall off the rocks they're climbing!  WTAF??? These pads take up  MUCH SPACE on the trams.

 

 

So, we did the walking around at the top, and as expected... pictures never do these sorts  of places any justice.  After a few hours exploring the top peak area, we decided to head back to catch a tram back to bottom because we did not want to leave Darwin alone too long back at the RV.  What timing we had (we thought) when we were told to hurray on to the tram as it was just about to depart.... This is great because it is usually about an hour between departures, so as we boarded the tram, I turned to Ilea and requested a "high five" for out seemingly perfect timing!  And then.... 50 feet in to the return trip, waah waah waaaaah, -------------the tram comes to an abrupt STOP with us hanging in limbo-land. Of course, some people are now freaking the f*&k out!  We were stuck there for an hour while the technicians were on the phone with SWITZERLAND individuals who manufactured the tram!  Well, they could not figure it out after an hour, so they slowly brought the tram backwards UP to the place we began an hour ago.  They gave us TOKENS to indicate that we were to be the FIRST to reboard when the tram is ready to go.  During the few MORE hours that we waited, we had some lunch... and Ilea joined a lovely group of Asian women (all from Houston) for some WINE TIME.  This group has been together for many years and had the correct positive and chill attitude needed for this PITA delay.

So, they finally signal it is time for us to get back on- and oddly, there were twice as many people on this return tram than there were on our way up, so its kind of packed.  Everyone is SO EXCITED that we now get to escape our situation!  And off we start to go.... until we hit that 50 foot spot, and just as before.... waa waaa waaaah.   It stops and leaves us hanging AGAIN!  This time, we have got some MORE seriously phobic individuals really bugging out over the predicament AGAIN of hanging in mid air over the jagged cliffs beneath.  This time, a mere ten minute wait and they again brought us back UP to the top starting point and.... again we get off and wait some more.  Really getting concerned about Darwin's bladder.... Finally they did get us back on yet again, and this time they were able to get us to the bottom successfully - total delay time was 4.5 hours!  Tram was on the news that night, as it was now CLOSED DOWN TILL FURTHER NOTICE for repairs.  That there is a trip to remember!

 

 

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Back at the RV, we have some nice cut flowers and some remaining lemons from the KOA in Tucson AZ.
 

 

The views from the Palm Springs area campground (Cathedral Pines) were awesome with the clouds rolling over the edge of the top of the mountains in the distance.... 

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CALIFORNIA... PASADENA

 

 

I was fortunate to be able to land some free tickets to the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena.  They used to make ... as the name implies, Jet Rocket engines- however, over recent years, they are actually involved exclusively with "Out of Earth orbit REMOTE VEHICLES" ..... Ones such as the rovers on the moon and on Mars!

 

 

In the Pasadena area is the California Institute of Technology (CIT ...aka.... Cal Tech). This is the actual scene/location for the hit TV show "The Big Bang!" Gave Darwin a little ball fetch exercise here.

 

 

 

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Also in Pasadena is the Physical location for the intellectual home base of the "Planetary Society" run by Bill Nye.... who lives nearby. (Who I met in person a few years ago!) 

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Near Pasadena is Altidema, the location of those catastrophic fires over a year ago which destroyed 1000's of homes- and in addition, the "Bunny Museum" there that we planned to visit.  As you can see below, nothing left of the museum building, and the outside decor had been wrecked.  Online it says "temporarily closed."   Ya think? 

 

 

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We stayed at nearby Bonelli Bluffs RV Resort.  There was a small airport in the valley next door that provided entertainment with numerous planes taking off...

 

 

CALIFORNIA... BAKERSFIELD

 

 

Had Mother's Day breakfast at a Guy Ferrari visited spot, the 24th Street Cafe.  They had a few odd pictures in the men's restroom......

 

 

 

Visited the nearby CALM (California Living Museum.)  Really closeup views of this Condor and a Coyote.  Temps hit 100 a few days here, soooo we did all our outside things prior to 10am.

 

 

 

Final day in Bakersfield we did a hike over at the Wind Wolves Preserve.  On out way there, we viewed some mind boggling huge crops of Pistachio and also some Cutie citrus and almonds....