Old Town Sacramento

Connie...

We arrived in Sacramento on April 15 and pulled into the CalExpo RV campground. It located next to the state fairgrounds and is very nice. Our friends Carole & Henri are retired also and have their rig parked there. They also work part-time there and enjoy traveling in their Hitchhiker. We spent the week with them and it was great being in the same park. Sacramento is a beautiful city with lots to see. Right next to the campground are wonderful walking trails that go along the river or will take you all the way to Old Town Sacramento. Carole & I enjoyed the morning walks.

We took a tour to Old Town Sacramento. There's so much to see there. It feels like you've stepped back in time although you are in the big city. Of course we found lots of fun & silly things to do; carriage rides and trying on funny masks.

Carole & Henri showed us a great time. Henri is such a jokester and kept us laughing most of the time.

Day Trip to Sequoia National Forest

Connie...

From our campground in Tulare, we took a day trip up to the Sequoia National Forest. The drive up was full of wonderful sights. After entering the park, we stopped to enjoy our picnic lunch. It was a beautiful sunny day with just a slight crisp spring breeze. The picture above is Tunnel Rock which previously in the younger days of the park, the road went under the rock.

After lunch we made our way up the mountain to an elevation of 7000 feet. The higher we climbed the more spectacular the view as the snow from the previous day became deeper and deeper. The roads were slick in places and there were a lot of twists and turns. At times I was a bit uneasy, but then the beauty would overtake fear. At the top it was so incredible. Never have we seen trees this large. So majestic!!

All the while we drove into the park this is what we saw, time after time. From green to snow in such a short time. We did stop at one point near the top to install the snow chains that we rented, but after a bit of a struggle decided to chance the drive without them. We did just fine. What an amazing day!!

Sequoia National Park

Stan...
We traveled from Tulare to Visalia, then turned east traveling thru Three Rivers and entered the Entrance Gate to Sequoia National Park.  Park Ranger informed us that we had to have tire chains in our vehicle, so we had to return to Three Rivers and rent a set of chains for the day (it's a big business at several locations in Three Rivers) and then return to the Park.  We bought our Senior Lifetime Access Pass at the Entrance Gate and then proceeded into the park.

Barstow 1880's - 1950's

Stan...
We arrived in Barstow early Saturday afternoon and found that we were camped near a ghost town named Calico which was a silver mining boomtown during the 1880's, but the boom busted and Calico was a ghost town by the early 1900's.  Calico is located at the base of the mountain were the mining was done and was an enjoyable afternoon excursion.  Walter Knott (founder of Knott's Berry Farm near Disneyland) bought the mining location in the early 1950's and set about restoring what was left of Calico.  The restoration is now operated by the San Bernadino Historical Society.

We then came down from the 1880's to find ourselves in the 1950's at Peggy Sue's Nifty 50's Diner where we decided to have dinner.

We left Barstow on Sunday morning and traveled along the Mojave Desert, then up thru the mountains at Tehachapi (beautiful area) coming down into the valley and on thru Bakersfield up to Tulare.  We encountered extremely high winds and blowing sandstorms from shortly before Bakersfield all the way to Tulare (the proclaimed agriculture center of California).  By nightfall the winds began to die down and we then had rain move in for the night and it lasted most of the way thru Monday.

We are going to do daytrips out of Tulare on Tuesday & Wednesday up into the Sequoia National Park and will hopefully post pictures at that time.

We are now in California

Connie...
It's hard to believe that we were at the John Wayne RV Ranch for two weeks.   The rally was such fun; we connected with old friends and made some new ones also.  The weather was great all week. Very warm during the day and very,very cool in the evening, although the winds played havoc with our campfire attempts. 
Today we arrived in Blythe, CA and will stay here until Saturday, then head toward Barstow, CA.  Our traveling buddies took another route and we will meet up with them in Seattle around May 3.  Then we will be together the rest of the trip to Alaska and beyond.
We are going to visit Connie's sister in Salem, OR for a week.  Will arrive Salem around the 25th of April. Looking forward to rekindling relationships with family.
Will keep everyone posted on events and points of interest as we go along.