The most easily accessible location on the California coast where you can view the Elephant Seals is near San Simeon, CA, about 5 miles north of the entrance to the Hearst Castle. Right on Highway 1 you can pull into the parking lot and observe them laying on the beach and maybe sparring in the surf. The rookery you see here ranges over 6 miles of California coastline in the area of Piedras Blancas. This was a 30 mile drive north from our base in Morro Bay, CA.
After 5 months, we’re back in our house on wheels.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, our friends Ralph and Carlie generously allowed us to park our motorhome on their property. This gave us the opportunity to not only visit with them but to get ourselves settled back into our home and to do some shopping to resupply.
The photo above is from Lake Casitas Recreation Area. This was our first stop after leaving Ralph and Carlie. This lake is located in the coastal hills between Ventura and Ojai, CA. Although the lake has benefited somewhat from this past winter’s rains, it still remains at only 43% of capacity. Nevertheless, we had a few days of nice weather and tranquility.
Next stop: Morro Bay, CA
My driver’s license was due to expire on my birthday this year. Since I am licensed in Nevada and for this renewal they were telling me I had to renew in person, I had to get to Nevada before my birthday.
Fortunately, my friend Steve, who has a house in Tahoe, was planning to make a trip up there around early to mid-February. And, our friend Tim was interesting in skiing and this winter has seen epic snowfall, therefore, the stars aligned so that we could make the trip so I could get my licensed renewed and ski for a couple of days in near ideal snow conditions.
The rain and snowfall in California this winter has been substantial following years of drought. The drought has not been completely resolved but there has been significant progress. The mountains in Tahoe have recorded more than 440 inches of snow for this winter. Needless to say this is most welcome since the skiing conditions during the drought years were sub-optimal.
When I first arrived in Southern California, I parked for a week in Anaheim at Canyon RV Park. This gave us some time to figure out what we would do with the RV in the near term future. This park is located just off the 90 Freeway. It is in a park like setting with large shady sites.
Since it was clear that we would be here for a while helping to look after Valerie’s Mom we decided to store the motorhome. We were able to find an available spot in a storage facility close to her Mom’s house in Torrance.
(Click here for more photographs.)
Quartzsite is a unique place. It is located in the Arizona desert at the intersection of US 95 and Interstate 10. There is a history of mining in the area around Quartzsite which led to an annual rock and gem show here during the winter. This grew in popularity to the point where more and more people came for the show, particularly in RVs.
