refugio state beach

tuesday, october 27, 2009

last night at refugio was nice, tho there were ALOT of noisy kids.  now, i LOVE love kids, but these particular kids were the screaming, demanding, fussy, hit-their-parents-when-they-dont-get-their-own-way types.

sometime during the night, a wind storm kicked up, and it was eerie and kinda cool.  tsunamis crossed my mindio, but then i realized that tsunamis arent caused by wind, but by earthquakes, i think. 

we woke up early and since we dont have electric at the campsite, i plugged the electric burner in the bathroom, and perked away a nice pot of joe.  heehee. we  met with the camp hosts to see if there were any new spots come available so we could move from the demon children, but alas, we will stay in space “f”. its a nice spot, really, close to the bathroom, shady, and not too far from the beach. here is a picture:

with my cup of coffee, i went out to the beach this mornin about 8:30, and watched the birds.  it was nice, not hot, to sit there in the morning sun watching the birds and having coffee so close to the ocean. just sittin on the sand enjoying the beginning of the day.  then…i saw porpoises!! way out i noticed the pelicans dive bombing the water and other birds starting to dive in the water, then i saw the fins!! several porpoises jumping and swimming out there in the ocean.  it was pretty cool, yep.  then, you guessed it…my camera batteries died!!! they are charging now, and i plan to go out there again tomorrow morning with hopes to catch them again and get some shots if they are not too far out.  some shots from the camp ground and the beach this morning before the demise of the batteries:

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and, i hate to be braggish…but yes, those are PALM TREES!! heehee. refugio is a state beach/park, but it is so pretty, it reminds me of hawaii, or a resort somewhere.

so, we will stay here again tonight…3 days until doc gets here!!

oh, and… i got a text message from ian last night, i need to call him today and hopefully we can meet up and hang out! that will be cool, yep

pismo beach

sunday, october 25, 2009

tonight we are staying at pismo beach state park.

  

we spent the day relaxing and napping, trying to stay outta the sun (!!) julia spent some time sitting under the trees here reading her book while i napped.  we decided to splurge and went out to dinner at marie callendars and had chicken pot pies! it was a fun experience and the restaurant was right on the beach so we got to watch the sun set as we had dinner.

there was this lady there who came over and said that they were going to evict her from the park (!!) because she had been there 3 weeks and didnt have the $25 for this night.  she said he brother was suposed to wire her the money but since it was sunday, it didnt come in, so could she put her things in our spot while she went out of the park to sleep until her brother wires her the money.  no problem, happy to help out.  you meet some interesting people on the road.

so, now, it’s monday.  we woke up and took showers (25 cents for 2 minutes!  you’d be surprised how little time it takes to take a shower) then headed back south towards refugio state beach.  refugio was a beach we’d wanted to stay at saturday night, but they were full.  they had a spot, so we took it (!!) and then left to get some groceries and update the blog, here at the library.

i am feeling better… so i expect today and tonight will be even better yet. just gotta stay outta the sun and away from any alcohol!!

4 days until the best boyfriend ever comes to cali!!! yayayayay!

antibiotics, alcohol, and sunburn, oh my

saturday, october 24, 2009

today we spend relaxing, then we drove up the coast looking for another beach to camp at.  i think we stopped at 4 before we found one that wasnt full!! (the weather here has been sunny and in the 80’s – endless summer they call it around here).  but we did find one that was really nice, and we got a nice spot.  it was the morro strand beach.  there is a huge rock out in the ocean that they call the gibralter of the pacific. 

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our neighbors were great and julia made chicken fajitas on the grill and i had a few beers – 3 to be exact.  KIDS DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME: do not drink any alcohol while on antibiotics!! omg, i was so sick.  you’d think i drank 18 beers!! and bless bless my daughter.  she took such wonderful care of me while i was so sick (again!) she has been such a godsend during all this lyme’s disease mess.  (UPDATE:  THE SWELLING AND SORENESS IS GONE AWAY – YAY! AND I AM ONLY FEELING YUCKY AS OPPOSED TO SICK – DOUBLE YAY!)

the newest development besides learning that drinking anything while on these uber-antibiotics is: even with multiple applications of sun block spf50, that sunshine gets through!! my hands are so so sunburned! i have been sunburned before, but never on my hands, and let me tell ya, it is quite the incredibly painful experience.  i mean, what does one do?  i have to drive, i put sunblock on every hour at least. i have taken to covering my hands by wearing a long sleeved shirt and pulling the sleeves down as far as i can.  it’s amazing!! so once we get where we are going for the day, i stay out of the sun as much as possible.  it’s quite nice actually, sitting in the shade at the beach.  im not much of a sun worshiper anyway :o)

oh!  julia found a frog!! it was so cute:

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hollywood

friday, october 23, 2009

dafter a kinda creepy night in the ewpl in paramount, we drove towards hollywood, just because we are here in la, why not!? driving in la is crazy!!  7 lane highways, and people who drive like no one is from someplace else. 

we drove past the oldest operating mcdonald’s in the world!  it has been in business since 1953 band is located in downey, ca:

do you know how hard it is to find this?? ::laughs:: maybe i should say it was hard for us, seems we were driving around and around, then all of a sudden there it was, right between two apartment buildings!!

thanks to the garmin, we made it to mann’s chinese theater (formerly grauman’s chinese theater) and walked for a while on the walk of fame, saw the theater and some of the hand/foot prints of legendary stars. it was really really hot and i was still feeling not quite myself, but i had SO much fun finding the star’s names.  i think i took almost 200 pictures of them, here are a very few:

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and one especially for kenny:

here is the grauman’s chinese theater, its pretty spectactular!

outside were dozen’s of wanna-be actors dressed up and would take a picture with you for $$.  julia said she’d seen a documentary about them once and they get really upset if you take their picture without asking, so i didnt.  it was fun, tho, watching them.  also, outside the theater are sidewalk squares where the stars have put their hand and foot prints in concrete for all eternity:

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so, after hollywood, and talking with my friend, khiem, who we will see on our way back south, we headed north on the 101/1.  we stopped in malibu (hi ken & barbie!) and spent a little while there.  im not supposed to be in the sun because of the antibiotics, so i covered up as best i could and julia had a fun time in the ocean:

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a seagull swooped down and swiped up a pack of cigarettes!! he flew around and around while we chased him, until he finally dropped it, then sat there and laughed like seagulls.  it was pretty funny chasing a seagull.  it was entertainment for everyone there at the beach. :o)

friday night, we stayed at mugu state beach.  california state parks are great, they cost $25 - $35 a night, there are many at the beach, and they are really pretty clean.  since we are hanging around the central coast until friday when doc arrives (!!) we have decided to stay at as many beaches as we can during the next week.

found my great grandparents, my grandpa max, and julia found bradley nowell

thursday, october 22, 2009

today we went to san gabriel to the san gabriel cemetary – what a beautiful cemetary!! and thanks to cousin ron’s information, found great grandparents, charles lemual white & florence amelia poor white’s graves.  then, we drove towards los angeles further to westminister memorial park and found my grandpa max mckeehan white’s grave.  i smudged them with sage, and said some prayers and let them know that they will be remembered.

charles & florence amelia:

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max mckeehan white:

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at this cemetary, you must check in with the front office folks, and they escort you to the grave you’d like to visit.  when we were asking about grandpa max, julia had asked about bradley nowell, the leas singer of her fav band, sublime.  they said that the family requested they not give out any information about bradley’s grave.  but, they did give us a map with grandpa max’s information on it, and since julia had the grave site information, she was able to find it and pay her respects.

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we drove west towards long beach, and found the beach there (junipero beach lot) to be really dirty, unfortunately, and the water really smelly!! i tried to reach my friend, ian, who is from long beach to ask him where was a good place to hang out, but could not reach him ;o( .  i guess the reason the beach is so dirty is because la is so industrial, imo. nevertheless, it was  a bit disappointing there.

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there was an island or something off the coast that i couldnt identify, so if anyone out there knows what it is, i’d love to find out!

and we noticed as we were leaving that there are these HUGE beach cats that seem to live in the bushes there, and there was a guy putting out bowls of food for them.  it was pretty strange and cool all at the same time, yep.

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sick again, damnit

thursday, october 22, 2009

so, today is thursday and ive been sick again since monday.  my right breast is inflamed, red, swollen, and so so sore.  that is where the tick bit me.  i went to the emergency room in bakersfield monday and the dr agreed that it looked like lyme's disease, and did some blood work, took a chest xray (??) and gave me 21 days worth of doxycycline (sp). i wont get the test results, but erin can request them in about a week.  im possitive it's lyme's disease. when i showed the dr the paperwork from the er in oregon, when i first went to see the dr about the bulls eye rash where the tick bit me, she was puzzled about the antibiotic he'd given me.  she said that antibiotic was for a staph infection, not lyme's disease.  i knew that dr in oregon had given me the wrong antibiotic!  if he'd given me doxycycline (sp), i would prolly have not gotten sick a week or so ago, and now.  the other week when i was so sick they diagnosed me with h1n1 (swine) flu, but i really dont think it was swine flu because i didnt even have a sore throat or cough, just all over aches and pains really bad high fever, and oh so tired.

anyway, i am on the right antibiotics now, am very tired and sore, and hope i am feeling better in a few days.  we are in los angeles now and will try to find my great grandparents grave site today, then prolly go to the beach for a day or two, then find my grandpa's grave site who is burried at the same place as bradley nowell (lead singer of sublime). hopefully will get to see my old friend khiem at some point since he lives here in la somewhere, then on our way back to san francisco to see my friend ian, then next friday the best boyfriend ever comes to monterey!!!

so, that's all i got for now.  light a candle for me, and keep me in your prayers so i can feel better soon, because this really bites, yep.

lee vinning, sierra nevada mountains, & yosemite

sunday cont.

after the checkpoint, we drove past some of the sierra nevada mountains (the matterhorn!) and into lee vinning. 

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poppy had said there is a mobil gas station there that has a restaurant.  not just a snack shop, but an actual restaurant.  it’s true, and we stopped and had lunch there – carnitas tacos with black beans – yummo!

after lunch, take a left and onto yosemite!  yosemite is really very pretty, but a lot of driving through the park and mountains made for a very long day  (+/-80 miles). and, that parks pass has paid for itself, by the way.,  it costs $50 a carload to go through – whew!

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after yosemite, we drove west and decided to settle in at the ewpl in fresno/clovis.  tomorrow we head south and maybe east towards the mojave desert.

california agricultural checkpoint!

sunday, october 18, 2009

we were only in nv for the day and night, then it was on the 395 back into california.  they have agricultural checkpoints going into the state so people wont bring in alien agricultural into the state that could disrupt their #1 business. so, we are getting ready to cross back into the state and got immediately worried about the pumpkins we had.  we’d bought them in california earlier, but you never know what they are going to consider unacceptable.  it turned out to be okay, the pumpkins are still with us :o)

driving driving driving to reno

saturday, cont.

we left the rest of the gold for others to find, and headed further east to reno – the biggest little city in the world.  driving again through the mountains…

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welcome to nevada!!

this makes like 17 states so far! and something like 6000 miles.  whew.

we parked and wandered around reno for the evening, it wasnt really crowded, which was nice, and it was a beautiful evening.  we went to circus circus – did you know they have free shows? 

we watched a unicycle troupe perform, i got a minute or so on video, until my battery died :o(

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then it was nite nite in the ewpl (evil walmart parking lot).

panning for gold!!

saturday, october 17, 2009

this morning, we headed east towards grass valley.  my mom and sisters used to live there, and that is where my sister, brenny was born.  it’s a neat little old town that was big in the gold heyday. 

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then we went to the south yuba river, in bridgeport.  bridgeport boasts the largest covered bridge in the world.  its pretty impressive!

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this is where we panned for gold.  it was SO cool!  when you look in the river, it is like someone sprinkled gold glitter in there.  it is shimmery everywhere you look.  so we bought an official gold panning pan and sat by the river and scooped up sand and swished it around until the gold flecks settled in the bottom.  it would take weeks every day doing this to accumulate enough gold to actually have something, but i did find some (!!) and had a lot of fun doing it. plus, it was a beautiful day, and julia and i had silly fun. 

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and, dont worry, this bear is no longer alive, but i gotta tell ya, it was scary just to look at it, truely…

a surprise for my birthday

so, my birthday is in a couple of weeks, and the very best boyfriend ever is coming to california to visit!!!!!!!!!

he used to live in monterey and will be coming out on the 30th, and staying until the 3rd.  we will stay at the centrella inn bed and breakfast for 5 whole days!!!

he is excited to show us around all that monterey has to offer, and i am very excited to see him.  i miss him mucho.

so long san francisco

friday, october 16, 2009

regarding last night at the hostel from hell…we decided to leave about 930 because the owner never showed up and it was getting late.  alan, the guy at the desk would not give us our money back and i was more than a little frustrated.  but there was no way we could stay there. so we left and drove through town, over the golden gate bridge in the middle of the night and onto rt 1.  the windy, cliff winding road that snakes the west coast of california.  we were happy to be leaving san francisco, and i was happy it was dark so i didnt have to see how treacherous the road was.  the big storm that passed through here a day or so ago littered the road with branches and debris, so it was slow going.  we arrived at HI point reyes at about midnight and they were locked up tight.  we knocked and someone woke up and let us in.  it was as a hostel should be.  clean, beautiful, charming, friendly.  we made our bed and went straight to sleep.  this morning we paid and had coffee, hung around for a little bit and were on our way to sacramento.

julia an i made a decision yesterday that the cities are not for us.  we do need to go into los angeles at some point, but i think that will be it.   san antonio and austin are different, because we know folks there, but otherwise sticking to the country and smaller towns will suit us just fine, thanks.

i called bank of america today and put a stop payment on the charge for the san francisco (independant, non-HI hostel) hostel.

i also put a call into erin bagshaw.  she is the best nurse practioner ever back home.  i want to talk to her about lyme’s disease because the more i think about me being sick last week, the more i think it could have been lyme’s disease, and not the swine flu.  julia never did get sick (yay!) and swine is sposed to be highly contageous.  i never had the cold/flue symptoms like runny nose, coughing, congestion, and i had some other symptoms like a hivey type rash.  when i saw the dr originally for the tick bite, he put me on one week of antibiotics, and ive read the course for lyme’s disease is at least 3 weeks.  hopefully erin will call me back monday and can give me some advise.

so, today we arrived in sacramento and are staying at HI sacramento. it is a 1885 victorian mansion and is very very beautiful.  we checked in at 2:00 and i took a well deserved nap. we watched a movie, did some laundry and now it’s bedtime.

tomorrow, we head further east towards grass valley.

today was a slow moving day so and i didnt take any pictures at all, hopefully we will tomorrow. g’ntie!

back on the road towards san francisco

thursday, october 15, 2009

thanks super 8 ukiah for the hospitality!

we head south on 101 towards san francisco.  im feeling a bit weak, but much better.  we passed through sonoma county, and some dreamy wine country.  stopping to take some pictures of the vinyards, i see these beautiful trees, and upon closer inspection realize they are olive trees!! ive never seen olive trees before, they were awesome:

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as were the grapes:

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and the cactus!

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so we turn east to drop by oakland on our way and find oaksterdam, specifically the oaksterdam university.  they are continuously working on legalizing marijuana and teaching about it’s benefits:

then into san francisco to find the backpacker’s hostel, which we did find, and i went in and paid for ($50) (!!) before i realized how disgustingly filthy this place is.  julia and i went to the diner down the street for supper, and watched the spectacle that was barrack obama in town, with cops everywhere, road closures and people standing on every corner waiting for him to arrive.  it was fun, and ironic since it happens three or 4 times a week back home.

i dont think we can stay here tonight.  it is really really bad.  there is a package of rotton ham on the kitchen counter, the fridge stinks SO bad.  the beds are very scary, the kids staying here are all coughing, at least one broken window.  i tried to talk the guy into giving us a refund, but he called the boss who said no.  the boss comes in at 830 (which is in about 15 minutes) and i intend to go and talk with him and convince him to refund my credit card, then we are leaving and even though i am exhausted, we will find something else.

wish us luck.

and then…a week at least with the swine flu

thursday, october 8th 2009

woke up feeling pretty yucky thursday morning.  we drove south through the avenue of the giants and though it was beautiful, i had no strength to take pictures.  as the day wore on, i felt worse and worse.  finally stopping in ukiah, ca., we got a room at the super 8.  the days continued on, i am feeling worse and worse.  i go to the hospital on saturday and they confirm it is the h1n1/swine flu.  they gave me a liter of fluids and sent me home.  this swine flu is so bad, ya’ll. body wracked with pain, throwing up and diarrhea, fever that has fluctuated between 101.7 and 104.6, chills.  i am writing this now on tuesday the 13, and i am still not 100%.  my fever has gone, but the pain is still somewhat.  and the weakness is incredable. i really thank from the bottom of my heart, the financial help of my family back home so we were able to stay in a hotel this week.

i am hoping we can check out tomorrow (wed 14th), and be on our way, but only time will tell.  i am so weak at the moment, i am trying to eat small bits so i can gain some strength back.

arcata california for members only

wednesday october 7, 2009 cont.

we drove to arcata and found a place to park right at the “plaza”  arcata is an intense hippie town, and i guess we were expecting something a little different that we found there.  many folks were very rude, and most were clicqueish.  it was very strange.  i wasnt feeling myself, so we asked some kids in a schoolbus where was a good place to car camp.  they directed us to the parking area over by the park on the other side of town.  we went there, and slept.  cant wait to leave in the morning.

coffee & internet all day at the beachcomber

wednesday, october 7, 2009

woke up this morning to a phone call from my brother!!! yay!  i was happy to hear from him, since i had not for quite a while.  all is good.  from all the moving around and opening and closing the car doors, we woke the hippie dude in the car next to us.  “no problem, i have to get up anyway”  asked us if we had anything to trade – you know, rocks.  i said no, then turned to julia to ask what he meant by rocks :shrugs:: turns out he and his friends are way big into rock hounding.  going out into the mountains, and desert to look for crystals, opals, quartz, etc.  he was a really cool guy and we spent like an hour talking and he showed us some rocks he had found, and a treasure map drawn on an old paper sack of a place north of reno where you can find fire opals.  it’s exciting to think that one could walk around and find cool gemstone rocks, just lying around.  but this would require climbing mountains, and my mountain climbing days are long behind me :o)  but…. if we get the chance, and it does not involve a very big mountain, we just might give it a try!

then back to trinidad.  last night we had seen a little cafe, with free wifi, and came back this morning to get coffee, scones (!!), and wifi.  it is currently one o’clock, we’ve been here since about 9, where we witnessed annual walk to school day at the elementary school across the street (OMG so cute).  feeling a bit guilty about sucking all the wifi, i asked the girls here if we could help out by doing dishes or something, and they laughed and said “its no problem, people sit here all day”.  just please check out the quote over the bar!

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the whole place is generous of spirit.  they have a tab system, where you keep a tab card in the tab holder, but do not owe them $10.  seems fair to me :o)

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trinidad is a small seaside town (census about 311), with way cool alt and artsy shops & the beachcomber cafe, where we are updating at the moment.  the people are way groovy and gracious and welcoming.  live here? ya, i could do that too.

some really nice flowers outside the beachcomber and the town hall:

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one more thing you just can’t make up, dude (hahahahah):

so, after my videos load (taking forever), and i post these updates, who knows where we will head next.  arcata?  prolly, then at some point heading east towards grass valley.

loving this life…

sleeping at the beach!

tuesday, october 6, 2009

after leaving home (the hostel – ::sigh:: – i could totally live there, but they are closing down in january because of much needed funds ($1.5 mil) to do much needed retro-fitting, etc. – sad truly, but they have their eyes on some state money, i hope they get it, because i want to come back and stay there again sometime), we continued south on 101, towards humbolt county, stopping, of course, to drive through a redwood tree, and see some emus!

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and partridges!!! omg they were so cute! and fast!!

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and…often, driving through tsunami zones!  what!!?  but, apparently, when there is a large earthquake, it can cause a tsunami – and has – so run for high ground if you experience a strong earthquake that lasts for longer than 15 seconds. good to know.

 

 

 

 

 

we stopped by one of the lagoons in humbolt. they are little inland freshwater pools of the prettiest water…

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then to trinidad… another place i could live… (sorry honey).  the beach there is so sweet.  and the sun was beginning to set on our second day in california…

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someone told us that you could sleep on the beach a few miles south at clam beach county park, so we headed south.  $12 a night, walked on the beach, slept in the parking lot with dozens of hippies, who all wanted to share their bud in the morning.  you cant make this shit up, ya’ll.  thanks, my honeybun, for these great shots:

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northern california – yeah!

monday, october 5, 2009

after waking up and leaving the evil walmart parking lot (tho we are certainly grateful that its free camping there), we drove to 3211 dewoody lane (grandparent’s address) to see if the christmas tree was there (thanks brenny, for the memory) – and it was!

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then, we drove south on the 199 – the redwood highway – into northern california.

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driving through the redwoods national forests is and incredible experience.  the trees…so humbling, so grand, so inspiring.  then to get out and touch them, their feet planted eons ago, still standing, living life in the mists and the soil that is so fertile here.  i highly recommend this place to everyone to see at least once in their lifetime.  it really puts things into perspective, yep.

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so we drove south on the 199, through the six rivers national forest, and the jed smith redwood state park.  shot lots of pictures and video.  you tube is taking it time to load, so i will post two here and if i get a chance to upload the rest, i will post a link to the others, should you decide to check them all out.  the ride was amazing!

 

 

 

after we got to the 101, we drove north to pelican state beach and julia got her feet wet in the PACIFIC OCEAN – YEAH!! sure, it was coldy cold!!

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and, we drove by pelican bay state prison – where charles manson spent some time, back when:

then south on the one oh one to crescent city:

 

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the sea ions there have their own dock, and were oh so cute, yep!

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the park ranger at the redwoods national park office there in crescent city directed us to the redwood hostel, just south of town.  we had been asking about camping, and the national parks camping is up to $35 a night, and since we have been car camping with food in the car, it was recommended that we not camp in the woods, because the bears are gathering their winter stores, and might become a nuisance (!!).  so we headed south to the hostel, which ended up being the very best thing, ever.

this included our first california sunset, as seen from our dorm rood window.  it was a very short walk across the 101 to the beach, but i was just to tired to do it, so i took some shots from the window:

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the hostel was so nice.  just like coming home.  it is an historical pioneer homestead that was built in the 1800’s and was named one of the top 5 hostels in north america.  it was such a great experience, we intend to stay in hostels as often as we can here, in california.  we met a guy named jarred, who is walking – not hitching – from seattle, to san diego (i think). he is 3 years into college, studying business & finance, and is looking for what to do with his life.  i drove him to crescent city to buy some wool socks and we talked and talked the whole way.  he is a pretty cool guy with a lot to see and i hope and wish that he finds what he is looking for on the road.  he is our next generation, and our hope for the future.

some shots from inside the hostel.  as you can see it has shared common room, kitchen (including pots, pans, dishes, etc.) and is right across the highway from the beach:

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and so, our first night in california was homey and oh so nice.  northern california is creeping into my heart…