California - April 12 - May 16, 2011

From Leggett, CA we moved a bit south to Naco West Resort at Cloverdale, CA 

Cloverdale is right in the midst of wine country.  We had big plans of trying several of these but the one pictured above is the only one we visited.  I must say she were very generous and it was a good thing Kay wasn't driving.

California Poppies

Lake Sonoma

A very mature vineyard. These grape vines are over 75 years old.

Marty and crew on Lake Sonoma.  Marty built a platform for the dogs to ride on, because Zoe has to be out as far as posable to the front of the kayak.

A dead tree stump that has holes from an acorn woodpeckers.  The woodpecker drills the holes and places acorns in them.  They wait for them to get wormy and then they come back for lunch.

An acorn woodpecker that visited our bird feeder.

One of the many Indian casinos we visited while in Northern California.

Canyon Creek Resort at Winters, California was our next stop. 
 The campground was located just below the Berryessa dam on Putah Creek. 

We had one of the prettiest campsites ever.

The goselings hatched while we were at Winters. 

Kay and Zoe on Berryessa Reservoir.  Kay actually dumped her kayak for the first time ever.  She and Zoe both got soaked.

Max and Marty enjoying the day on Berryessa.

Zoe just has to be as far front as she can.  "Ahoy Mate"

We saw lots of wild iris throughout Northern California.

Kay outside the Jelly Belly factory.  We brought home lots of Belly Flops (Belly Jelly irregulars).

The last stop in California is at Pondersosa Resort at Lotus, CA We've had an awesome time in Northern California.   I'm sure we'll be back another year.

The campground at Lotus is right on the American River.  We DID NOT kayak this river.  It was running high and fast.  We did see some rafters on it though.  That sure looked fun.

Sutter's Mill was just a 1/2 mile or so from our campground.  We spent an afternoon there and learned a lot about the history of Northern California.

Our campsite at Lotus.

Marty trying his hand at gold panning on the American River.  Not even a flake was found.

California - March 3 - April 11, 2011

Our next stop was Duncans Mills Camping Club at Duncans Mills, CA. 
It's located between Jenner and Santa Rosa, CA.  We actually visited this campground twice and had a wonderful time here.  The campground sits right on the Russian River.  We were able to launch from the campground and kayak to the Pacific at Jenner.  Enjoy the pictures from this stop.

The wonderful thing about kayaking is how close you get to nature.

One of the many pictures we took kayaking the Russian River. 
We were on the river several times during our stay.

Mama and baby seal enjoying the Russian River as well.

Marty just pulling up to Jenner, CA  The building in the forground is the take-out point.

Sonoma Coast State Beach by Jenner, CA

More of Sonoma Coast State Beach, near Jenner CA

This shot is from Goat Island.

Seals across the bay from Jenner

Marty Feasting on a GOOD piza at Occidental CA, after a hard day on the Russian River.

Bob Nobel on the left, Kay is in the middle and young woman fron Texas we met at the campground. Was nice to kayak with friends.

Another view of the Russian River.

This picture is from Rhodendrem State park along hiway 1.

From Duncans Mills the first visit we headed forRedwoods River Resort at Legget, CA deep in the Redwoods. 

A view of our campsite.  Too many trees to get Dish TV and no internet or phone signal either. 
We felt pretty cute off from the world although it was beautiful here.

We alway meet wonderful people while traveling.  Here is the Potyok family from Northern California.  He is in the Coast Guard and will be transferring to Florida this summer.  Hopefully we'll run into them again when we visit that state.

To give you an idea just how big these Redwood trees are we took this picture of the
 truck on our drive through Avenue of the Giants.  You can just barely pick out the truck on the road.

In Northern California we found a small town of Ferndale. You can find lots of Victorian Archtecture.  These pictures are just a small samle.  While in this small town we also visited a cheese factory and sampled lots of yummy cheeses.

A beautiful Catholic church from the same town.

While staying a Legget we drove over to the coast and near Fort Bragg we kayaked the Big River.  Several years ago we had kayaked here but didn't get as much time on the river as we would have liked.  Our fond memories brought us back.

A beautiful blue heron on Big River.

Kay was able to get really close to this seal.

An unusual look at the Big River.  The seagull thought he'd take a ride on Marty's kayak.

California - March 1-28 2011

Another stop at Soledad Canyon RV Resort at Acton, CA.
We wanted to visit the Harrisons again on our way to Northern California.   So glad we found a Thousand Trails campground that we have access to under our RPI membership. It's 30 miles from the kids but a much cheaper place to stay than the campgound where we used to stay.

There were lots of scrub blue jays at the campground.

A great picture of Father and Daughter.

Kaden taking a break from home work.  Seemed like the whole time we were there he was under a deadline.

Michelle, Sam, Kiah and Bridger in front of Crazy Otto's in Acton, CA.  They serve some great omeletes.

Max and Zoe loved a hike in this regional park not far from our campground.


The next stop was Pacific Dunes RV Resort at Oceana, CA which is right next door to Pismo Beach.  Loved it here and will certainly put this on our list of places to come back to.  The dogs especially liked the dunes.

Kay and Zoe on the sand dunes.  These were right outside our campground and the dogs were allowed to run free.  Boy did they love that.

Max in the foreground and the Pacific in the background.

We kayaked in Morro Bay with the seals.

More Morro Bay pix

Marty enjoying every minute.

We picked up a tourist paper when we had lunch in Morro Bay and  learned of a concert at a local church.  There were two different bands playing that evening one local and the other pictured above from Oklahoma.  Both were awesome.

We moved inland to Lighthouse RV Resort at Isleton, CA
 It is not far from Stockton, CA where Kay's Uncle Tony lived as well as her cousin Rick and family.  We had hoped to meet up with Kay's Mom and brothers there but a spring snow storm kept them from getting all the way.  They got past Truckee, CA when all the roads were shut down and they turned around and headed back to Nebraska.  We sure missed not having them there.

This is the Lighthouse campground in the Delta where we stayed.  It was pretty wet and soggy during our stay but had a good visit anyway.

Kay enjoying a dinner out with Stevie and Rick Wallage.

Marty and Uncle Tony.

Rick and Stevie's daughter Coco and her husband Shawn.

This is a shot of the river across the road from our campground.