Northern CA, redwoods and driving through the tree!

July 8

After Marin County we continued up the coast and on the way did one of the things I've always wanted to do:

 Drove through a 2400 year old redwood tree.

Drew's grandparents also did this and we have a photo of it.  I think they drove thru the tree in Yosemite that fell down in the 60's.  There are a couple of these drivethru trees left.

At a Rest Stop off the highway before entering Oregon we loved walking through these giant redwoods:

 It felt like walking through the forest primeval where we expected a dinosaur to peek around a tree.  Giant ferns, stumps of redwoods.  This one wider than mine arms outstretched.  The largest were all cut down.  Maybe because they can fall down ater about 2500 years or so.

On to more vistas.  One other recommended by Sara was the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park in Klamath National Forest just after Crescent City, farthest north in CA just before Oregon. The Route 199 drive is breathtaking.  We were losing breathing ability with all of this spectacular scenery.  I got out of the car and walked into the middle of giant, I mean giant redwoods, it was mystical, all by myself walking among these super trees.

Up the CA coast Pacific Coast Highway

July 5
The great twisty CA 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, our route up to Carmel for the night on our way to relatives in Mill Valley Bria and Dan and Drew's sister, Sara.
Esalen's big sign in Big Sur is still there offering courses after 50 years.  The last time I drove up this road 15 years ago there were two tractor trailers crashed inside the hairpin turns.  Pretty dramatic.

In the far distance of this photo there were about 6 whales spouting off the shore and a large, like millions of birds, feeding in a frenzy.

Our jaw dropped for THE most incredible views.  I know it's remarkable when Drew sits in the front seat ready to do work with a laptop on his lap and leaves the computer closed exclaiming, "Wow" as we go around each turn or over a steep hill where a whole valley opened wide below us. No camera can capture the enormity of this country.

There was a stop with elephant seals lying on the beach.  The only movement was when their flipper would throw sand on top of themselves.  They weigh about 600 pounds or so.  I'll try a video but some viewers are saying the videos are not coming through for some reason.

We stayed at the Colonial Terrace, off the main street, a wonderful place, nice rooms even with a gas fireplace in each.  Here's the beach where we walked down with 3 dolphins swimming parallel with us up and back.

When we arrived in the mighty Marin County, Mill Valley we were close to Muir Woods, Stinson Beach.

 Drew and Wyatt

and Tamalpais Mountain views:

LA June 29- July 5

  We walked in and set up the bed for the guestroom where we stayed in Sarah and Yeang's nice apartment in Brentwood.  They'd already had a warm welcome from their cousins, Susannah and Rachel, LA residents. who gave them advice and recommendations for many places to shop, parks to visit, etc.  We were sorry not to see our nephew and family, Kevin, in San Diego but activities and schedules didn't allow it this time.  We drove across country with a few minor items movers can't move, diving tanks, glass tubes for audio equipment, etc.  We've gone 3500 miles.
  
   I couldn't be happier to see anyone!  Isabelle was a pleasure as well, one of those babies who gets picked up crying, immediately stops and smiles at me.  Fun.

  We scurried around to help out, but mostly got to be tourists -- visited the fabulous Getty Museum,

walked the wide beach and felt the Pacific at Santa Monica,

 ate a picnic with my niece who introduced us to the park,

Yeang, friend - Jeff,  niece - Susannah, Sarah and Isabelle

Visited with my niece Rachel and her backyard chickens.  

We ate out at a Sushi restaurant for lunch and saw this pretty funny quality toilet cleaning checklist in the restroom; only in a Sushi restaurant.

went out to eat at Literati, ate a wonderful Malaysian dinner cooked by Yeang.  Drew test drove a Tesla (looking to replace a 2001 Saab with 270,000 miles - hard to replace a car like that.)  A Tesla uses no gasoline, it's a plug in and can go 250 miles on one charge.  It goes 0 to 60 in 4 seconds, not that you'd want to.  The alternative might be a Chevy volt that is an electric/gas hybrid.
     Sarah and I both cried when we left knowing we now live so far apart.  I miss you, Sar.

Lake Havasu, Arizona, home of London Bridge, June 27-29

We spent 2 nights with Jim, Drew's best friend from elementary school, and Judy Bodine who moved here in retirement 4 years ago.   They have a beautiful Arizona home, pool, hot tub and gardens. Sunday they took us out in their motor boat for a ride and swim on warm Lake Havasu. The heat was 114 degrees.  Sweat was so dry that it evaporated immediately and only salt was on our skin.

 Jim and I on the motor boat.

Boats crowded near London Bridge

Lighthouses around the land

Dramatic landscape around Lake Havasu, AZ


 Lunch at Pirate's Cove Resort

A slide pontoon boat.

A citizen bought and transported London Bridge to Lake Havasu as a tourist attraction.

We are off to LA to see daughter Sarah and Yeang tomorrow and 6 month old Isabelle.

Lake Mead above the Hoover Dam i.e. Colorado River, at the Utah Arizona border

After experiencing swimming in 106 degree heat at the North Shore Inn we headed to Lake Mead recreation area and Hoover Dam.  It is off season, but a few boats are still getting on to the lake that is amazingly low.  The light and dark divide on the rock is the former water level.  Drew said this picture should be on the TV news every night.  The Hoover Dam tour with its 1930s film of the construction of the dam has NO mention by tour guides or the film itself of the decreased water level.

This is an old marina at the bottom of the valley with floating docks.  It's completely landlocked now.

 This is where the boat launch is.  They have paved the road to the water fairly recently.

This sign maybe needs to be in a few places in New York not here.  Thought city dwellers might get a kick out of a "congested area" in Nevada. Lake Mead, part of the Colorado River, is the border for Arizona and Nevada.

We kept driving south to the Hoover Dam.

A "bit" of electrical wiring coming out of here.  

Also a "big" security presence:  this sign and a metal detector to walk through.

  

This is the 5 year old bridge over the Colorado River to bypass the road over the dam.  the dam road used to be the only road connecting the Arizona and Nevada sides.

The intake pipe.

The water level used to be at the top of the grid on this tower.  No mention of this intake tower's height in any of the talks or the critical lower water level.  There is one tower on each side of the Lake. 

Huge turbines inside creating the electricity.