California

I guess our most chill stay yet was in Anaheim. We stayed at the Worldmark Resort right across from Disney, for six days. We aren't interested in Disney parks and Dale worked the whole time, so we didn't have many excursions.

We departed Napa on a Friday morning and took three days to get to Anaheim. On the first day we drove from Napa to Monterey. On the second day we made it to Santa Barbara, then arrived at Anaheim on Sunday.

Our last day in Napa we headed back to San Fransico for a guided sunset tour of the Point Bonita Lighthouse, which is located at the entrance to the San Francisco Bay.

We visited Castello di Amorosa, a winery located near Calistoga, California. It is the project of a fourth-generation vintner, Dario Sattui, who also owns and operates the V. Sattui Winery named after his great-grandfather, Vittorio Sattui, who originally established a winery in San Francisco in 1885 after emigrating from Italy to California. Key details and building techniques are architecturally faithful to the 12th and 13th century time period. Adrian found this and wanted to visit. It was a lot of fun.

We spent twelve days at Wyndham's Vino Bella Resort in Napa. It was a beautiful place with a vineyard on the property and open to guests. I spent a lot of time walking through it. Our son and daughter-in-law were also able to come stay with us for six days. It was a wonderful time.

While in Napa we visited Alcatraz Island and other touristy spots.

On Sunday, July 23 we left the campground headed to Napa. We stopped by a couple of lighthouses and enjoyed some beautiful coastal scenery.

Half way between McKinleyville and Napa we stayed the night at a California state park on the coast. State parks are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get! Haha Fortunately, this one was chocolate covered peanuts with caramel.

After leaving McKinleyville, Dale and I headed south to Napa, our next destination. However, we saw as much as we could on the way, including a drive down Avenue of the Giants and a hike through Founders Grove. It is a fairly short hike but full of many beautiful, large Redwoods.

One Thursday evening after work we went to Fern Canyon which is a canyon in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in Humboldt County. It is named for the ferns growing on the 50-foot high walls, through which runs Home Creek. Fern Canyon is recognized as a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve.

This trail was one of two that we hiked one Saturday in Northern California. We followed a winding, dirt road to this trail and enjoyed every minute of it. It is a new trail that features a raised boardwalk to protect the forest floor.

Boy Scout Tree Trail is a 5.8 mile-long, serene escape into beguiling, prehistoric woods. The trail is also tucked away from the main road, providing captivating peace in a hushed forest. The actual boy scout tree is impressive.

The Trillium Falls Trail loops through a remnant strip of old-growth redwoods located in Redwoods National Park just about 35 minutes from where we are staying. It was a great after-work hike. These are just a few of the many photos I took.

These photos are taken during some of smaller afternoon adventures while staying in McKinleyville, California.

It’s a nine hour drive from Bend, Oregon to McKinleyville, California if you go directly west to Florence, then hit the 101 headed south. But we had two days, so we took our time. We camped halfway at Sunset Bay State Park.