Yosemite Or Bust

Our first night in the Jucy, we stayed at a campground called the 49ers.

They were so friendly!  When we checked in, they pointed us toward the brat dinner.  No set cost, just a donation.  One gal said “We’ve saved many a marriage with our Friday night cookout.” Later, a cowboy named Cricket entertained folks around the campfire with songs and stories. Everyone loved his original songs.  If you are looking for a highly recommended campground, click here:  http://www.49errvpark.com/

 

The next morning, we walked next door to Columbia State Park. They have a gold mining town replica, and many costumed interpreters. We decide to ride the stage-coach, and got robbed!!!  The pulled chicken BBQ and sarsaparillas were wonderful at the country restaurant, and we bought 5 hard candy sticks for a dollar at their grocery store. The blacksmith and tack shops are a must see, as well as the candle shop where the kids dipped candles for Father’s Day.

Jamestown was our last stop before heading to Yosemite. We missed the last train ride of the day, but saw the famous #3 steam engine ride the roundhouse and be put away for the evening.  This train has been in countless movies and TV shows over the years, and is still being used in films.  The guys really likes looking around at all of the equipment.

If you’ve visited these parts, or have questions about this area of California, please leave us a comment.  We’d love to hear from you, or see a new like on our page.  Thanks!

Good Bye San Francisco, Hello Jucy

Before leaving the San Francisco area, we took some iconic photos of Lombard Street in bloom (ahhhhh) and the Golden Gate Bridge from Sterling Park. They were just beautiful!  I still can’t get over the grade of the streets. I think my ankles now have muscles.

Uncle Rob was a jem and drive us to the Juicy rental. Given all the other colorful murals we’ve seen on the outside of the rental RV’s, we’re pretty lucky.   We got the full tour of our nearly new van, and she even threw in some partial fuel tanks upon request. We stopped at a bakery outlet about two blocks away, and away we drive toward Yosemite.

San Francisco with Uncle Rob

Uncle Rob wanted to get out of the house and show us around town. He drive us passed city hall, Twitter and alike, then we went to the Ferry Market. At the market, we purchased wonderful foods for our camping trip, like aged cheeses and smoked salmon!  We had a wonderful lunch at their favorite restaurant, Crapevine. The last photos are on top of Twin Towers, where we could see both the Bay Bridge and the Goden Gate Bridge. It was so windy.  Look at the tree in the background!

Touchdown San Francisco

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The iconic things that go had in hand with sanfrancisco are only part of this enormas city. The food should be much higher up on the list.

The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday

We have been planning a great adventure to California with the kids for six months. While there are many things to do and see in San Francisco, we are the most excited about visiting with our family, Uncles Rob and Jim.  

 

The weeks leading up to our departure have been eventful, to say the least. Illness and the passing of loved ones have caused us to pause and reflect as our prayer list grew and grew.  In our own home, we’ve had the stress of an ill dog who has needed not one, but two surgeries this month.  While the timing was awful, our Lacey dog had surgery yesterday and we picked her up from the hospital on the way to my mom and dad’s home. She will recover there while we are away, so we spent time going over the home care with mom and getting the dog all tucked in, as Kim would say. I don’t know what we would do without our four, wonderful parents!

 

As I was typing this post, my husband called his father to see how he’s feeling.  Mike learned that his witty and wonderful Uncle Jim, who has been chronically ill for some time, had passed away. Unbelievable. What a difference one day can make. We’ll think of Jim tomorrow, as we fly west to catch the sunrise, and be thankful that we can be near Uncle Rob during this difficult time. Jim was a joy to talk to; he will be deeply missed. 

Tripadvisor Hotel Bookings

 

Hello, again.  My life has wandered through many holidays and mountains of snow since my last post.  Today I’m planning our summer camping adventure to California.  For those of you who mix up the hotels and camping experiences, I’ve just read an article that I’d like to share.

If you’d like to know how to find a clean hotel that doesn’t break the bank, read this article from About.com: http://gocalifornia.about.com/od/calodging/a/we_choose_hotel.htm.
These travel writers taught me how to use the website www.tripadvosor.com.

Here is my take-away:

1. Google your hotel and find the tripadvisor.com source for the hotel.
2. The first line will show:
3. The number of circles filled in – you want 3 1/2 or more.
4. The number of reviews – you want more than 30 reviews for the   above circles to be reliable.
5. The average price indicated by the number of $ signs.
6. Look for the ratings on this preview: 23 out of 108 (hotels in this city).  The lower the number, the better.
7. If all of the above information make you feel pretty good about this hotel, click on the link and look at both the cleanliness and value ratings.

I’m feeling much more confident about booking a hotel for a couple of days in San Francisco before we rent a camper and head out to Yosemite National Park for a week!

Enjoy, Tammy