Pacific Northwest May 26 - June 1

We left Sacramento and drove up 101, the Coastal Highway.  If you haven't been to the Pacific Northwest, put it on your bucket list.

Crescent City CA 

Crescent City CA

Coastal Highway OR

We finally had a campfire in Willits CA after hauling firewood
from Florida.  Everywhere in the SW had burn bans.

Babe was a miserable failure as navigator.

Our most beautiful campsite (outside of Jones Pond)
We stayed at Redwoods RV Park near Cresecent City
and 'camped' among the redwoods.

Bench from a single tree log.

A great roadside attraction; the Trees of Mystery
South of Crescent City.
We're not sure about Paul Bunyon and Babe,
but they made it work with the giant redwoods.

The redwoods soared 200-300 feet.
Not as majestic as the Sequoias, but more elegant.

Just us and a big tree.  :-)

Coos Bay OR.  If you look close, you can see the seals.
Very noisey!

Coos Bay OR

Coos Bay OR

Coos Bay OR

What did we do before selfies?

Babe is making sure that Steve doesn't miss a spot.

Driving the Coastal Highway through the redwoods was somewhat harrowing.  It is a 2 lane road with redwoods on either side.  The white edge stripe sometimes went around a tree.  It was barely wide enough for us and the logging truck coming the other way.  Needless to say, I was almost as nervous a Steve.

Sacramento May 11-25

Still Northward Ho

We finally took a breather for 2 weeks in Sacramento.  We spent our time with Doug's son Matt and his wife Sabrina and daughter, Kelsey.  We mostly hung out and took little side trips.  We also saw Doug's cousin, Dale, son Adam, and her husband, John, friends; Neil and Rick and Matt's friend from work, Barbee.

Friends Rick and Neil
Doug met Neil when he was at OSU med school in the early 70's

Doug's cousin Dale and husband John

Dale and Neil's son, Adam

Dinner 'at home' on the road

We stopped at the Ryde Hotel on the Delta. It was a speakeasy in the  20s and was also rumored to be a brothel.  It still functions today as a hotel and a place for weddings and receptions.

Doug-Steve-Matt

Sabrina and Matt

Around the bend from the Ryde, is the Grand Island Mansion.  A truly elegant place for a reception.  The can handle multiple receptions at the same time.

Sabrina-Steve-Matt
Making a strategic choice.

Sabrina and Matt took us to dinner to celebrate our birthdays.  Who are we to argue with the actual dates.  LOL

Sequoia National Park May 9-11

Northward Ho.  We left Palm Springs and headed north to Sequoia National Park.  We avoided LA, San Francisco and the coast highway until north of Sacramento.  Drove up the valley to Sequoia and stayed at an RV park close to I-99.  The drive to the entrance of the park was 30 miles.  After that, it was 17 miles to the top of the mountain to see the Giant Sequoias.  It was all up hill with hairpin curves and we drove both ways in 2nd gear.  Ugh.  But, the views were great and once we arrived, we never felt so small.

The road to the top

The General Sherman.

Largest tree by volume in the world.

Not the tallest. 

30' in diameter and 100' circumference

 and about 3,000 years old +/-

The top has died, but it still continues to

grow in diameter.

The photos don't do it justice.

Morro Rock.  Steve chose not to make the climb
because his knee was bothering him.

Top of the Rock

Looking forward to the road below.
Also, still working on the hair.  LOL

Palm Springs May 3-8

It was a dry heat.  Not like Fort Lauderdale, which is a wet heat.  But, an oven is still an oven.  LOL
We were in Palm Springs in time for the Gay Rodeo. Yes, there is such a thing and it is a national organization with a large rodeo in Fort Lauderale in the spring.  Doug2 is really a rodeo junkie, so we bypassed Flagstaff in favor of Cowboys.  Doug1's brother, Karl, knows a couple in his Honolulu congregation that has a son in the rodeo; Keenan Allen,  He won a few of the competitions.  It's nice to know somebody that knows somebody.

What would a gay event be without a few
drag queens in a parade?  :-)

You can't have a rodeo without a hoe down at the
end of the day.  It was in a parking lot in the
old downtown section of Palm Springs.
They seem to know a lot os line dances that I didn't.  :-(

Our good friends and neighbors, Lou & Mick,
form Columbus, moved to Palm Springs 7? years ago. 

Lou-Steve-Mick

Lou-Steve-Doug 

In addition to being an artiest,Lou is head docent at the
Palm Springs Museum of Art and gave us a personal tour.
It was amazing, not only the collection, but the architecture.

We were also able to see to other good friends from Columbus, Rich and Robert.  And, some great guys, Marty and Bill, whom we met when they camped at Jones Pond.  Sorry guys, I didn't get any photos.  Next Time.