A Day of Driving

There isn't a whole lot to say about yesterday's activities. We drove a long distance over some terrible roads and some better roads, and moved from the dry foothills of California into some lush farmlands and wine country. There are lots of nut trees growing in the area south of us. As we drove along, we started noticing trees with clusters of what appeared to be red blossoms. We mused about whether they might be cherries (seemed a bit too dry and hot in the region). Peaches? Plums? Crabapples? When we started seeing signs advertising pistachios, I asked my friend Siri to show me some images of pistachio trees, and she came up with this one:

It's a little grainy, being an internet image, but there you have it. And I'll bet you though pistachios lived their whole lives being green.

There were a few interesting barns along the way. Somehow I lost my pictures-out-the-window mojo yesterday...or maybe I only dreamed I ever had it. Sorry for these crappy pictures, but they're the only ones I have.

Eventually, we passed into mile after mile of vineyards. It almost felt like home.

What my pictures lack in blur, they make up for with their reflections off the windows. 

We're staying in a very nice RV park for three nights this time around. It's beautifully landscaped with wide level spaces. Although the wind was howling, we took a walk around the grounds to get the lay of the land. Along the way we saw agapanthus (not sure why I chose that weird angle)...

pretty red daylilies,

and some pretty yellow ones.

Also, some of my favorites, not seen in years...African daisies.

These were planted at the freeway overpasses near where I lived with my family in Oceanside, California, when I was growing up. I'm not sure I've seen them since we left the area.

The kitties are seasoned travelers now. While their cubbies were important in the beginning, they've determined that they are much to sophisticated for kid stuff like that, and so now they've commandeered one of the comfy chairs.

Go ahead and take a bath break, Smitty. I'll stand woofie post.

We stopped off at a Petco a while back and got some new kitty toys...the old ones were a bit stale. Also, new scratching posts and some double-sided sticky tape. Prior to the new scratching posts, they were using the couch, and this was unacceptable. They are not happy about the double-sided sticky tape, but the couch will take less of a beating.

Today we'll visit Pinnacles National Park. Neither of us have ever been. It's a small park about half an hour away. Just now I checked the website and discovered two alerts. The first was that the "Bear Gulch Cave" was closed until mid-July to protect a maternity colony of Townsend's big-eared bats. That's kind of cool, but now I really want to see the bats. You can see a picture at the link I gave you there.

The other alert had to do with the parking situation. They warn that the parking lots are full between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., which can be a serious problem with our pig of a truck. We're going to get going early and try to get there before the madding crowds arrive. You might remember that we were prevented from doing any hiking or even seeing the visitor's center at Zion National Park a few years ago because of the parking situation. Obviously, we need to plan our visits to the national parks better. For now, Memorial Day Weekend it is.

Tomorrow we'll make a day trip into Monterey (about an hour away), where there is a quilt shop. I've called ahead to make sure they're open, and they are! Can't wait to pick up a regional print from the area. It's a very scenic portion of the California coast, and we've visited many times before (but never the quilt shop). This time we'll take in a few lighthouses.

So, off we go exploring. Hopefully, I'll have some better pictures for you in my next post.