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Energy windmills along the
highway as we leave San Jose and head towards Sacramento (7/23) |
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Lunch with Elena's cousin Dean
and his wife Katina |
After driving to Napa and finding
a campsite (Spanish Flats Resort) for the night at Lake Berryessa, our
camping neighbor Oren and his son, Joshua, took us out on the lake in their
boat. A very cool and unexpected treat for us! |
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Before we left, no one told us
that Joshua would be driving the boat, but it was a big lake and he was very
good at it. |
Lake Berryessa covers an old town
that was purposefully flooded back in the 1950s |
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We sat in the front of the boat
which, when the waters got slightly choppy and Joshua revved it up a bit,
gave us a nice early spray of water, which I think amused Joshua |
You see? He's amused! |
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Lake Berryessa |
Oren makes sure all the
instruments are in check as Joshua cranks it up a notch! |
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Getting splashed... |
... and lovin' it! |
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Joshua asks to borrow my
flip-flops to get something from the lake. How could I say no?! |
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Our campsite on the lake |
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Sunset colors over Lake Berryessa |
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The not-yet-full moon |
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The next day, Elena fulfills her
dream of running off a dock and into a lake (7/24) |
For Elena's second jump, she
performs what's known in the dock-jumping world as a "hotdog" |
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Elena's third and final jump went
as follows...
Elena gets a perfect score from
the Russian judge! |
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In case you missed the hotdog
above, here's the close-up |
After the morning hotdog, we left
Lake Berryessa and drove to Napa Valley and the Sterling Winery. This
picture was taken from inside the gondola as we headed up to the winery. |
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Enjoying the wine tasting |
Huge barrels of wine |
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Good stretch! |
Good scenery |
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Good wine |
Good service |
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After Sterling, we went to the V.
Sattui Winery where you could eat different types of grapes right from the
vine. Sweet! |
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It was a full day today, with
swimming in the lake in the morning, followed by wineries in the morning and
afternoon. We finished off the day close to San Francisco at Muir
Woods National Monument, our first redwood experience. (7/24) |
In the small visitor center/gift
shop at Muir Woods, Elena makes some more friends of the finger puppet kind |
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The first of many redwood
experiences |
The rings of this tree show the
different dates of its existence. It fell in 1930 (shown all the way
to the left) and was born in 909A.D. (shown on the bottom right) |
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Elena assumes the position |
The reason for assuming the
position |
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In case you missed her, that
tree-hugger is Elena on the bottom right of this picture, giving some
perspective on the size of these trees |
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Walking the two-mile loop through
the Muir Woods |
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That's one way to do it - not so
much of a strain on the neck! |
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From the sign in front of this
tree: "This ancient Douglas fir tree was the tallest tree in Muir Woods
until, in the intense El Nino winter of 1981-82, it lost several dozen feet
off its top... |
Then, in early January of 2003, a
significant fissure was noticed on the leaning Kent Tree [name in honor of
William Kent, who fought for preservation of land throughout Marion County
and the United States]. |
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The crack grew steadily for the
next two months. Finally, on the evening of Tuesday, March 18, 2003,
at 8:28 pm, the tree crashed to the ground; the thundering sound was heard
by a park volunteer over half a mile away." |
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One of many naturally
hollowed-out still-living trees |
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As if our day wasn't full enough,
after leaving Muir Woods, we headed up the Pacific Coast on Highway 1 and
made our way to Stinson Beach |
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Our stint at Stinson Beach, one
of the only times we would get our feet wet in the Pacific Ocean |
The wind and the cool air, not to
mention the near-freezing cold waters, kept us from going any further |
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Oh yeah, and the other reason
that kept us from going any further! |
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After this very full day, it
started to get late as we considered finding an actual bed for the night.
Unfortunately, this place in Inverness wouldn't budge on their
already-discounted rate for their last room available, so we decided to hit
the road and find more economical accommodations... |
