102.6 miles today, 4,368.4 miles total

We left the wine country of Napa Valley mid-day and headed to the pleasant town of Pleasanton. There I visited the Zeltiq corporate headquarters. My gracious guide was Dana Martinez and I had a jovial meeting with Keith Sullivan, Senior VP of Worldwide Sales. It was a pleasure to meet such nice people in this “cool” company inspired by popsicles & ice melting. They market Coolsculpting, the one & only procedure I still perform in retirement up at Westglow Resort & Spa in Blowing Rock, “where cool people come to chill.”

We then traveled onto the San Francisco Bay area checking in at the San Francisco RV Park in Pacifica literally overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The last picture was taken from our campground! m, b & t

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” — Abraham Lincoln

“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” — Albert Schweitzer

56.6 miles today, 4,265.8 miles total

Headed up Hwy 29 to the Castle Winery, Castello di Amorosa in Calistoga. Fascinating “castle of love” tour and wine tasting. After PBJ lunch in “Thumper,” we headed across the street to Sterlng Vineyards for a self-guided tour and aerial tram ride.

“Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used; exclaim no more against it.”
~ William Shakespeare

“Wine is light, held together by water.” — Galileo

199.2 miles today, 4,209.2 miles total

We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with breakfast at the Yosemite Upper Pines campground, a 3 and 1/2 mile hike up to Vernal Falls and a drive through Yosemite while sipping cafe mochas. We traveled on through the orange groves of California onto Napa Valley pulling into the Napa Valley Expo RV Park. A truly memorable 30th anniversary day! Off to the vineyards in the morning, m, b & t

“A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year.” — Paul Sweeney

“The secret of a happy marriage is finding the right person. You know they’re right if you love to be with them all the time.” — Julia Child (even in a 24 foot RV for 2 months)

“My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.”   
— Aldous Huxley

 “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”— John Muir


 

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” — T.S. Eliot 

67 miles today,  4,010 miles total

Entering Yosemite at Inspiration Point is an awesome experience of nature. With El Capitan & Half Dome cliffs, the waterfalls, the giant Sequoia groves, the wildlife and beauty, it is breathtaking! We traveled on to hike up to Bridal Falls. After a PBJ lunch in Thumper, we hiked to  Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall in the US, and the 5th tallest waterfall in the world at 2,425 feet. We then biked with Toby to Curry Village for a picnic dinner, then onto Mirror Lake and Happy Isles. We returned to our campsite surrounded by campfires. Yosemite NP…astounding, m, b & t

“It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter.” John Muir (Father of the U.S. National Park Service, Sierra Club founder and nature writer)

“Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.” — Ansel Adams, photographer

205 miles today,  3,943 miles total

Sequoia National Park…WOW!!! Met some Venturi hiking partners, Don & Kathy. The General Sherman Tree is the most giant Giant Sequoia in the world. The largest tree by volume, it is 275 feet tall and 36.5 feet across at the base. The tree is believed to be 2,200 years old and weigh 1,385 tons. After a full day of sightseeing, we traveled on to camp just outside of Yosemite, in the town of Coarse Gold. After doing our run/walk down country roads, we had a delicious Mexican dinner and then to bed, m, b & t

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”–John Muir

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”–John Muir

“I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do.” — John Muir 

“What is the purpose of the giant sequoia tree? The purpose of the giant sequoia tree is to provide shade for the tiny titmouse.”–Edward Abbey {titmouse–small North American oscine birds (genusBaeolophus of the family Paridae) that are related to the chickadees}

354 miles today,  3,738 miles total

Travel Day through the Mojave Desert up to Tulare, California just outside Sequoia National Forest.  Mark & Toby napping together on the road. Mark taking care of business prior to departure.  m, b & t

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese