Saturday, June 1, 2019

Chapter 25 - May 2019

With all the traveling and house sitting Charli and I have been doing it's definitely becoming more of a challenge to keep up with these posts. For one thing, every place we go we take about 200 pictures... so trying to decide which handful to show here makes my brain hurt. But hey, that's a good problem to have.

After finishing our last house sit in southern CA we had a small gap until we had to be in CO, which only means one thing... VISIT THE KIDS! Fortunately our son Brandon and his wife Allyson were able to take a few days off and do a little sight seeing with us up in northern AZ.

*** Volcano National Monument ***

First up, Sunset Crater at Volcano National Monument in Flagstaff. This place is way cool. Who knew you could hike through lava fields in AZ? We sure didn't.




Inside the Monument you will also find several of these ancient historic pueblos, still hanging in there after 800 years! It's estimated this Wukoki Pueblo was inhabited in 1182. I read that in Wukopedia.



 
Next up we headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We had been to the South Rim a couple of times already and were told the North side was just as amazing in its own way, so we pointed the cars northward and set sail. But holy cow... who knew just driving there was going to be incredible?!

Navajo Bridge
 
Ye Olde Colorado River

*** Grand Canyon National Park ***

AZ has very diverse weather. For example we were there in May where in Phoenix it was like living on the sun, but up north we woke up to this. 29 degrees makes for a bit of a chilly night!


Us with Nala

Brandon and Allyson with Sabra

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon was stunning. Smartphone pictures can't do it justice but trust me when I say it is incredible. I highly recommend taking the time to take the extra drive to the north side.








*** Zion National Park ***

As I mentioned at the beginning, we had a few days between our California and Colorado house sits so we decided to take a few detours along the way. After our little adventures with Brandon and Allyson in AZ, we pointed the Prius northbound again and headed on up to Zion National Park... one of our favorite places in the US by the way. First of all, let me say that when your campsite alone is this beautiful you KNOW the park is going to be good.


And so it was...








Who needs a trail when you can just walk up a river?

We didn't have time to do the really crazy stuff like we did the last time we were there, such as Angel's Landing or The Narrows, but that just forced us to explore some of the other beautiful areas of this gigantic park.. which, as you can see, were stunning.

So living a house sitting lifestyle isn't always about house sitting. For us it provides the opportunity to explore the country while still living comfortably as we do it. And for those times where we have to get from point A to point B, this is how we get it done!

Chapter 24 - Springtime in California 2019 - Part 2

Continued from Chapter 23 - Springtime in California 2019 - Part 1

Oakland was a very pleasant surprise for us... mostly because we knew very little about it. Whenever anyone talks about the "Bay Area," it's almost always only about San Francisco, so it was extremely fun to get to know Oakland as well.

But before I dive into that, I'd like to introduce you to the two sweet pups we had the pleasure of taking care of - Penny and Paco.

Penny is a 10 y/o tripod who wanted nothing more than to be able to go on hikes like her 3 y/o brother Paco. But we gave her a few minutes of trail time every day so she could experience the world of smells that make dogs so very happy. She just couldn't go very far or very long and with every walk back to the car she would look at you with big, sad eyes and say, "I know, I'm coming."

Paco, on the other hand, was a little fireball and couldn't get enough of the trails, which by the way was one of the biggest surprises about Oakland... the hiking there is amazing!

First of all, Oakland is more than just an exciting city on the bay. The back side of it rises to about 1500 feet and runs along the entire length of the city. This area is unofficially known as the "Oakland Hills" and contains miles of various parks and trail systems, all of which allow dogs to run off leash. Yay!


Not only can you see stunning views of San Francisco and its landmark bridges, but you can also submerge yourself into epic wilderness with just a quick drive up to Skyline Parkway. One side note: the town I grew up in, Duluth, MN is set up the same way AND also has a road that overlooks the entire length of the city below called Skyline Parkway, so I felt right at home there.

Here's one example of a park we hiked in with Paco called Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve. It was remarkable.


That gap in the water on the horizon is the Golden Gate Bridge in the picture above. Here is the same shot enlarged below.


Meanwhile, back down by the water, you can enjoy an evening at one of the many restaurants and bars that overlook the harbor...

  

...and catch San Francisco in the sunset at the same time.


And finally, Lake Merritt. This gem sits right smack in the middle of the city and has a nice 3 mile walkway right along the water, which Charli and I ran on a regular basis.

Photo Cred - Public Policy Institute of CA
All-in-all we found Oakland to be one of our new favorite places to visit. In general, everyone's first instinct is to head straight for San Francisco and never venture east across the bridge. Well, with the exception of the mandatory drive over the Golden Gate. But after that, I highly encourage you to stick around for awhile and check out the serene quiet and incredible beauty of the hills. You'll be glad you did!

The PCH

One of the benefits of house sitting in different cities is that we have to travel to get to them. And after we left Oakland we had the extreme pleasure of driving down one of our favorite highways in the country, the Pacific Coast Highway, or "The 1" as the locals refer to it. Driving the PCH is an experience like no other. Riding along the California cliffs with whitewater surf filling the coves below is simply one of the most beautiful sites you can see.


Look carefully because this one has a waterfall!

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park

No drive along the 1 would be complete without a stopover to the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. Here at this magical beach you will find a sunset portal and purple sand.

This is Keyhole Arch where you can see a solar beam blasting through the hole, depending on what time of year you are there of course. This is also not my picture as we were not there at sunset, but my picture looks exactly like this without the cool sun-going-through-the-keyhole effect.

Somebody else's picture from the intertoobs

This, on the other hand, IS my picture and shows the amazing purple sand that makes up the beach. This is due to a large concentration of garnet minerals in the surrounding area. With every surf that washes up the purple sand mixes in with the white sand and creates sand art. It's really quite spectacular.


Morro Bay

Not only is the Pacific coast shoreline ridiculously beautiful, but the entire length of the drive between the Bay Area and Los Angeles is dotted with charming, and sometimes swanky, seaside towns. We spent the night in a cozy little city called Morro Bay, which is famous for three things:
1. its giant rock called... well, Morro Rock. Not very creative but it is accurate.


2. its sea otters. These little guys had almost vanished from the area but in the last several years have made a comeback. Now there are 60 or so otters in the bay and are a very popular tourist attraction. But even though the kayak rental places make it very clear you need to stay at least 50 feet away, we saw several people get much closer than that. I took this picture from a dock and zoomed in to enlarge it. They paddle around on their backs and hold their babies on their chests. It's too cute for words.

3. its sea lions. These guys are everywhere here and fascinating to watch. We stood on the dock one morning and watched one tear a manta ray to pieces for breakfast. A sober reminder that although they are adorable, they are NOT necessarily passive. In Morro Bay dozens of them gather on this barge thingy and make a huge ruckus when they all start barking. It's very entertaining to see.


Morro Bay is just one of many towns you can visit on the PCH. Carmel-by-the-Sea is probably the most famous. We've stopped there for lunch in the past and found it to be very charming. My recommendation for driving the PCH is to give yourself a couple of days and take it slow. Stop at everything you can and just soak up the beauty. It's truly a national treasure that shouldn't be missed.

Ojai, CA was our PCH destination and next CA house sit this spring. This quaint city sits about 30 miles inland from Santa Barbara and 25 miles from Ventura. The house we sat for was literally surrounded by the horrific Thomas Fire in 2018. However, by some miracle the neighborhood they live in was spared and no one lost their homes. That being said, we did hike through the hills around the city and found it fascinating to see how nature repairs itself. Among the burnt black trees were new green saplings and lush grasses taking full advantage of the open sky and rich soils they sprouted from. The contrast was sad and beautiful at the same time.


For this house sit we had the pleasure of taking care of two adorable Puli dogs, Barney and Zoe as well as one super sweet greyhound, Dresden. Pulis normally look like this...


...but the owners gave ours a shave because they had gotten into foxtails and had so many embedded into their hair that it was impossible to get them out. Here's what they looked like after the haircut.


For some reason I never took any good pictures of Dresden so I borrowed one from friends of ours who did this same house sit earlier in the year. Thanks Mark and Liesbet!


Ojai has become one of those "destination" towns that area Californians like to head up to for shopping and dining. Nestled in the short downtown strip are dozens of boutiques, restaurants, wine bars and antique shops. But just outside of town you can find unlimited hiking access to the surrounding hills and canyons, bursting with wildflowers and flowing with crystal clear waters. At least in springtime that is.



One bonus for us was that our very good friends from MN stopped by for a few days while visiting CA. Jim and Pat have visited us before in Connecticut and Denver and we always have a blast checking out the local sites with them.


On this visit we did things like tour the historic Santa Barbara Mission...




... go whale watching around the Channel Islands...

It literally was a 3-hour tour
Skipper the whale spotter
... and have amazing Pixie margaritas at a delicious Mexican restaurant. Pixie tangerines are famous in the Ojai Valley and are grown locally, and they're as sweet as they look!


So that was our spring. Not a bad way to spend it if you ask me. After Ojai we headed back down to Irvine for a repeat sit through mid May. Then on July 1st we pointed our trustworthy little Prius toward the east coast and headed to Boston, which is where I'm writing this from now. By the way, our sweet little girl just celebrated her 225,000th mile and the dealer said she's in perfect health and could get another 200k beyond that. Now that's getting your money's worth!

So stay tuned for the next installment of what we were up to in May and June. Happy summer everyone!