Joyce, Phillip and I left Fort Worth Friday night, November 2 for a driving vacation. We had a loosely-defined goal of making it to Yosemite and Sequoia National parks in California, and if possible up into Oregon and Washington states. It was a getaway trip, but with the dual goals of seeing some of the US we had not previously seen. I’ve been to L.A. and San Francisco on business many times, but had not been in central or northern California. Joyce and Phillip went to Glacier National Park last year and drove through parts of Washington and Oregon on that trip, but neither had ever been in California.
For me it was also a chance to carve some more notches in my virtual atlas, I guess. My travels have taken me into all states in the US (Alaska and Hawaii included) except for the two in the Northwest – Oregon and Washington, and the upper New England states above Massachusetts. Now, I’ve been to Oregon.
We drove through the first night and did a little sightseeing on Saturday around Colorado Springs and Denver before heading west on I-70. Our first overnight stop was at Grand Junction, Colorado. On Sunday we drove across the middle parts of Utah and Nevada, stopping Sunday night at Fallon, Nevada, home of the Top Gun fighter pilot school.
Monday we drove around the southern part of Lake Tahoe before going to Yosemite. We got to Yosemite mid-afternoon and were at least able to see the major landmarks before dark. The lodge was full, but we had a nice dinner there before driving into Fresno for the night.
Tuesday we drove through Sequoia National Park, home of General Sherman, the world’s largest tree. General Sherman is not the oldest of the Sequoias, but it is 2300 years old. We headed for San Francisco for the night. While in the San Joaquin valley we were surprised at the heavy laden citrus trees – oranges, lemons and limes – thinking it was past time for harvest. But, I guess not as the trees were full of ripe-looking fruit.
The next morning our plan was to drive across the Golden Gate bridge and up the Pacific Coast Highway for some sightseeing. We made the drive, but the sightseeing was somewhat foiled by fog. When we crossed the bridge, you couldn’t see it or the San Francisco Bay due to fog. It was no better on the coast. After a while we headed inland where we drove through the vineyards of California’s wine country. I never realized how mountainous California is. Mountains are every where it seems except for the few valleys where grapes, vegetables and citrus fruits are grown. There is tons of open land in California, too. Most of the people appear to live in the drop-off zone west of the big fault line.
We ventured back to the coast for a while and wound up in Eureka for the night. Thursday we technically started for home across southern Oregon and down into Nevada. We spent the night at Winnemucca, Nevada, where we joined I-80. Friday we drove through Salt Lake City and on to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The next run was all the way home.
Besides the scenery we wanted to see wildlife. Both were a little disappointing at first. Utah and Nevada are not pretty, especially as dry as this season has been. Most of California was very pretty. The wildlife viewing picked up in California. We saw quite a few elk, some deer, and a couple of foxes. Joyce spotted a sea lion playing of the California coasts. According to some of the placards along the California coast there was a good chance of spotting some whales, but we didn’t.
Gas prices varied and not necessarily from state-to-state. The lowest price we paid was $2.91 for 85 octane in Utah. The highest price was $3.99 near the north entrance to Yosemite. Typical prices ranged from $3.15 to $3.49. Many places in the west offered 85 or 86 octane and our Ford Explorer seemed to do okay on it.
Before beginning our trip we looked forward to driving through one of the Giant Sequoias. When we got to California we didn’t find any. A little research on the Internet was enlightening. The tree that is shown in all the pictures, the most famous drive-through tree, was in Yosemite and it fell over during an ice storm in 1969. There are currently three trees that can be driven through, all on private land. The owners charge a fee. They’re in northern California and off the beaten path. Funny how truth differs from perception, isn’t it.
During the drive home we encountered a couple of interesting sites. The first was strobe lights positioned about fence post height in fields along both sides of the road. We have no idea what those strobe lights marked, but there were many of the between the New Mexico border and Dumas. We turned south at Dumas on 395 traveling down to I-40. Off in the distance we saw a long row of flashing red lights. They seemed to be moving away from us, but the actual circumstances were that we saw them from a long, long way off and it seemed we’d never catch up with them. When we finally did we discovered they were on top of huge windmills. What was funny about them was they all blinked off and on at the same time. We learned when we finally arrived near the windmill field that they weren’t in a line, but scattered across the countryside. What made the sight so interesting from afar off was the way the lights all blinked off and back on at the same time.
You know those famous Cadillacs that are buried nose down in the sand near Amarillo? They’re not lighted at night, but Phillip observed that since it was a Saturday night and relatively early in the evening (around 9:00 p.m.) we would be able to see them because most likely folks would be out there with flashlights spray painting them. Sure enough, he was right.
We ate dinner at a Cracker Barrel in Amarillo where I piced up a Robin Cook medical mystery novel on CD to keep me occupied during the 5 hour drive home while the other two slept. Great book – but I haven’t finished it yet. It only took four of the six CDs to get us home.