Monterey, San Francisco & Sacramento

The Monterey Bay and the canopy of the kelp forest.

We drove the rest of the way across the San Joaquin Valley, amazed by the productivity of it. There were miles and miles of orchards, and fields of produce. We passed trucks laden with the stuff.  We sent a prayer of gratitude for the food that the land provides for us.

At the top of the Diablo Range, we saw the clouds that marked the coast.  Like in Oregon, when it is hot in the valley, the coast is often foggy.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium — what can we say?  The place is awe-inspiring. The displays are things of beauty, and they have set the lighting so that even cell phone cameras can preserve the magnificent views.

This is was the the kelp forest exhibit that was three stories tall. They had so many fish, some as big as that tiger shark, along with schools of hundreds of sardines that swarmed around the kelp and the other fish.

The displays of coral where beautiful.

And we saw Nemo and his family amongst the anemones.

There were too many pictures to put here.  They have wonderful displays to inspire and educate the public about sea life and the impacts of humans on it.  

I even have some videos that capture even more of the beautiful sea life they are educating the public about. This first one is of the kelp forest environment, and the second one is the column of sardines. We highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.  Check their website for details.

After about three hours in the aquarium, we walked along Cannery Row, had lunch at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant, and saw the statue of John Steinbeck.

Continuing along Hwy 1, north toward San Francisco, we saw even more produce, strawberries, Brussels sprouts and artichokes. We found the Miramar Beach Restaurant on Half Moon Bay.  Lori’s former student, Rachel, her husband Dale and their two adorable children, Becket, 6, and Bryn, 3, met us for dinner there.  We had a great visit. Rachel is teaching part time college biology and substituting at her children’s elementary school along with helping out with science education there. Lori is very proud of her accomplishments, and is grateful for the continued relationship.

We spent the night in the parking lot at the restaurant going to sleep to the sound of the waves on the beach not 100 yards away.

The next morning we continued up Hwy 1 and made our way to Bernal Heights Park to park Rocinante, the RV on a relatively level street above George’s cousin Debra’s house.  We had a lovely visit with Deb, her husband John and their two almost teenagers Ella and Vieve. Vieve, short for Genevieve, used to be known as Marta, but she decided that she wanted to go by her middle name instead. So Vieve, she is!

We walked down the hill to the Farmers Market, loaded up on produce and then hauled it back up the hill to the house. Nice workout after sitting in the RV for a couple of days. We prepared food, and talked in their cozy kitchen and had a lovely home-cooked meal.

The next morning, we traveled to Sacramento to visit Lori's Uncle Del and Aunt Patti.  Their son Jon came over for dinner, so we were able to catch up.  Another good visit had by all!

Stopping at the local Les Schwab Tire Center to check the tire pressure, we discovered that one of the inside tires on the double axel had gone flat, so we had to replace that.  We love Les Schwab.  They had it replaced, and rotated the tires for the best balance, and we were back on the road heading north west toward the redwoods. 

Tonight we are camped out next to the Trinity River off CA Hwy 299 in the Trinity Mountain range. Off to the Redwoods National Park tomorrow.