3/13 - 4/11/08 Snowbird Journal 07/08 - Epilog |
4/18/08, Prineville, OR - Although we arrived back home last Friday, it would not be fitting to leave this journal dangling in Death Valley. Things got kind of busy for a while, then we both got sick, leaving little time or enthusiasm for keeping our diary up to date. So here we'll recap the last few weeks of our snowbird odyssey.
We enjoyed Death Valley immensely, and not just the warm weather & many sights. We discovered that the Furnace Creek Inn allowed visitors to use their large spring heated pool for $5, so we took advantage of it the last couple of days we were there. Steph loves to swim as a form of physical therapy.
As the strong winds in the Mojave were forecast to continue for days, we eventually decided to skip rockhounding in that area & just move on to our next destination. We left on 3/15 by way of Death Valley Junction & south toward Baker. In the village of Shoshone we encountered a Native American craft sale where Steph bought a decorated horseshoe from a lady with an east coast accent. Turned out she also had a 10 pound Mexican blue lace agate that she bought online (having ordered 10 - 1 pound agates). We picked it up for $10 & can't wait to ct into it.
We pushed on to Tehachepe pass where the temperature dropped to 36° & blowing snow approached blizzard conditions. After basking at 90 ° in DV the last few days, this came as something of a shock! Things warmed up somewhat as we descended into Bakersfield, where it was in the 50s. We arrived at our destination east of Bakersfield late in the afternoon. We had warned Rich & Rosanna Summers, our friends from Holtville & Quartzsite, that we were en route, so they were happy to greet us as we 
pulled in. Spring was well along there & over the next few days warm weather returned. We enjoyed several days on their ranch out in the hills. Their property is in the general area known as Shark Tooth Hill & we found a hand full of fossil shark teeth to add to our trove of rocks & fossils collected along our route.
As the days got warmer, we started to think about our next destination: we had decided to return to Pismo Beach before pushing on north. The Summerses like the beach too, so we caravanned over on 3/24 & settled in to the North campground. It's a little more open than the Oceano campground where we had stayed in December, but there are no hookups. But with good weather to start & a good site for sun, we were in good shape for dry camping. It was 84° the afternoon of our arrival & we wasted little time heading for a delightful beach stroll. Unfortunately, the warm weather didn't last. Days became increasingly cooler & windy. We enjoyed sight seeing with the Summerses, who knew the area better than us. But eventually the weather got the best of us & they headed back to Bakersfield. Next day, 3/30, we packed up & headed up US 101.
We drove to the Santa Cruz area, enjoying the spring flowers that decorated the hills of the Salinas Valley in golds, blues & violets. Arriving early afternoon on a Sunday, we were able to find a nice campsite at normally busy
New Brighton State Beach, with a picture window view of the vast Pacific. Our site had good sun exposure, so despite the rather cloudy weather, we continued our dry camping ways as there are very few hookup sites at that park. We visited some family in the area & spent a rainy day down in Monterey at the wonderful aquarium. It was a big day for school kids & that's where we think we picked up a nasty bug. The next day we drove on up to Half Moon Bay State Park south of San Francisco where we met good friends & grilled salmon for dinner just yards from the beach. That night I awoke with a raging sore throat, the start of a very yucky cold.
The park was full for the weekend, though, so we had no choice but to move on. We pushed on up US 101 to the redwoods where we had a reservation for a couple of nights at Burlington Campground, Redwoods State Park. The description said partial shade for all the sites, but they were stretching it. We found ourselves the deep shade of 2nd growth redwoods, with no more than a few brief moments of partial sun with deteriorating weather. And still, no hookups. So despite my worsening cold we could not stay more than 2 nights. We hunkered down for a short stay & made plans to move on to Oregon's Valley of the Rogue State Park between Grants Pass & Medford.
It was nice to be back in Oregon after so many months, despite our colds. We enjoyed the advantages of the full hookups, the first of our entire odyssey. The weather improved day by day as we 
watched the forecast for the Cascades. We got out for a little rockhounding & visited the Crater Rock Museum in Central Point. It has amazing collections of agates & petrified wood, along with many mineral specimens. By Thursday the web cam on the highway up near Diamond Lake was showing dry & clear, so we made a run for it the next day. We had heard that Oregon had a good snowfall this winter & the 6 foot banks on either side as we passed by Mt Thielsen confirmed it. The high country was beautiful & our trip home uneventful. The next 2 days we enjoyed temps in the 70s, but winter soon returned to the high desert.
We had come home too soon!
