Monday: I relaxed in camp today while Lou and Kenzie returned to downtown Oroville to the book and antique shops. They returned to camp to pick me up about 3:30 and we went down the hill to the Gold Country Casino for the buffet dinner. Today is 2 for one dinner so their already excellent and cheap buffet is even more of a bargain. It's too bad you couldn't join the three of us because you would have gotten a free meal.
After dinner we went a few miles South to the other casino in town, the Feather Falls Casino (no where near Feather Falls). It's about the same size casino but looks older than the Gold Country. It does have a KOA RV park but doesn't seem to allow overnight RV parking in the lot. Gold Country does but we only saw one RV staying during our whole week in the area. I asked security and they said it was OK and that we could plug into 20amp outlet on the light poles at the back of the lot. We were already comfortable where we were at the state park but next time? Free stays at casinos is always nice.
Tuesday: Today we were on a mission, to find some craft items for Lou and to do laundry. The craft stores here in Oroville and very limited and didn't have the items she needs when we checked them yesterday. We'll need to visit Chico to find a better store. I have a short attention span so I added a drive through Paradise. It just sounded good. Paradise is a pretty good sized town (23,000+) 12 miles East of Chico and 12 mile North of Oroville. It seems to be a very nice city.
We had lunch at the new Black Bear Diner there, which just opened. We all shared one of their country fried steaks. Just after lunch it started to rain, and rained heavily.
We found a nice new laundromat there, opened just the day before so all the machines worked and were very clean. Unfortunately they didn't use coins but used debit card that you loaded from a machine there. No refunds for over filling the card so the place isn't really for travelers but for locals. Our clothes came out all clean and fresh as the should and we only lost 1.70 due to not using our full $20 debit card. We made a gift of the remainder to another customer. I manned the laundromat while Lou and Kenzie visited the book stores and shops.
We then headed on the Chico to visit Costco, Michael's Crafts, and JoAnn's Crafts. We then returned to Oroville with a stop at the market just before heading back to camp.
The heavy rain continued through the night.
Wednesday: We intended to head East this morning but decided to stay another day due to the threat and forecast of more rain. It hasn't rained much but is cold and threatening.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Feather Falls Hike
Breakfast was leftovers from the past few days. Lou and I planned on a hike to Feather Falls, the sixth tallest water fall in the US. Dawn planned on a relaxing day in camp. Lou and I started our trip with a visit to a local hardware store we couldn't pass by. Never can! Good thing too. We found something we've been looking for, 36" wide stick on drywall tape. It's used to fix cracked walls and we have some. Just think of this as a component of 36 inch wide putty. We then headed on up the road East 17 miles to the trail head.
The trail, one way, to the water falls is either about 4 miles or about 5 miles depending on wheather you take the lower trail or the upper trail. We intended to take both, one at a time, total hike about 9 miles. Now the decision here is important. Which will be the easiest return. By reading the signs here at the trailhead and having read about the trail on the Internet we knew we should take the lower trail to the falls and the upper trail back because the lower trail is a strenuous trail and the upper trail is moderate. The lower trail goes down steeply for 3/4 of the route then up steeply the rest of the way. The upper trail is a gradual slope back to the top on the return. We noticed that most of the hikers hadn't read about the trail, not even the sign at the beginning of the trail. Most of the people were returning via the strenuous lower trail. It looks easier for the return when you start because you're headed down hill. Anyway above left I'm standing at the decision point, the wye in the trail. Above right is a view of this areas equivalent to half dome in Yosemite, Bald Rock Dome.
The hike travels along the side of the hill adjacent to the Feather river for part of the way to the falls. The forest here is one of the nicest we've been in. A nice variety of trees, not too dense, with nice trails. Above right is a view through the trees.
Here is the reason for the hike, Feather Falls. Feather Falls is actually not on the Feather River but is a fall of the Fall River. Fall river joins the Middle Fork of the Feather River a short distance beyond the falls. A nice looking water fall but not a clear drop, somewhat of a cascade. There is an excellent view point in front of the falls and you can hike to the top of the falls as well but we didn't, just the view point this time. The trip to the top would just add about a 1/4 mile of fairly level trail to the trip. I'm sorry my camera can't get the whole falls in one shot. I did take a vertical panorama shot of it and will try to stitch it together sometime later.
We saw more wild flowers on this hike than we've ever seen before. Not only abundant but there were so many types, many we've never seen before. I'll try to add some names to some of these as well. I'm sorry some of these pictures didn't turn out clear either but I included them because they are different and to show how many types there were.
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The trail, one way, to the water falls is either about 4 miles or about 5 miles depending on wheather you take the lower trail or the upper trail. We intended to take both, one at a time, total hike about 9 miles. Now the decision here is important. Which will be the easiest return. By reading the signs here at the trailhead and having read about the trail on the Internet we knew we should take the lower trail to the falls and the upper trail back because the lower trail is a strenuous trail and the upper trail is moderate. The lower trail goes down steeply for 3/4 of the route then up steeply the rest of the way. The upper trail is a gradual slope back to the top on the return. We noticed that most of the hikers hadn't read about the trail, not even the sign at the beginning of the trail. Most of the people were returning via the strenuous lower trail. It looks easier for the return when you start because you're headed down hill. Anyway above left I'm standing at the decision point, the wye in the trail. Above right is a view of this areas equivalent to half dome in Yosemite, Bald Rock Dome.
The hike travels along the side of the hill adjacent to the Feather river for part of the way to the falls. The forest here is one of the nicest we've been in. A nice variety of trees, not too dense, with nice trails. Above right is a view through the trees.
Here is the reason for the hike, Feather Falls. Feather Falls is actually not on the Feather River but is a fall of the Fall River. Fall river joins the Middle Fork of the Feather River a short distance beyond the falls. A nice looking water fall but not a clear drop, somewhat of a cascade. There is an excellent view point in front of the falls and you can hike to the top of the falls as well but we didn't, just the view point this time. The trip to the top would just add about a 1/4 mile of fairly level trail to the trip. I'm sorry my camera can't get the whole falls in one shot. I did take a vertical panorama shot of it and will try to stitch it together sometime later.
We saw more wild flowers on this hike than we've ever seen before. Not only abundant but there were so many types, many we've never seen before. I'll try to add some names to some of these as well. I'm sorry some of these pictures didn't turn out clear either but I included them because they are different and to show how many types there were.
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Thursday, April 17, 2008
Lake Oroville SRA, Ca
Thursday: We moved South a few miles to the Bidwell Canyon Campground at Lake Oroville State Recreation Area. It's about 8 miles East of the city of Oroville. You might realize from the campground name that the name Bidwell is rather important in this area as well as in Chico. General Bidwell was on the first wagon train to California, worked for John Sutter and later bought the Rancho de Arroyo Chico. He got the money to buy the ranch from a discovery of gold just across the lake from our camp. He was instrumental in establishing many crops that are now common in California.
There are only a half dozen or so RV's here in the campground. It has full hookups and the weather is great so we'll be here at least four days possibly moving out on Monday. They have a wonderful greeting committee. A pair of ducks came into our camp immediately and introduced themselves.
On the way here we stopped in Oroville to get gas. When we left a week ago, gas in Palo Alto was about $3.89 for regular. When I visited there a couple of days ago it was $4.03 for regular. That was a steep increase. Must be near vacation season? Anyway, the price at the 76 station we stopped at was $3.77, but, the attendant said fill up quickly, it's going up again. At the Chevron station just down the road it was $3.99. We usually expect higher prices when we are away from the big city but so far it isn't toooo bad.
We're just relaxing in camp today. Lou''s going through her Ebay acquisition of the china paints, Kenzie's knitting. I'm browsing.
Above is a view of our camp from the dry portion of the lake. Water is down a hundred feet so the tree line is well away from the water line. Our campsite is just behind the trees in the middle of the left picture. The Bidwell Marina is below our campsite, down the steep sides of the bare hills.
Friday: We toured the Bolt Tool Museum and the Chinese Temple. It's named after the founder Bud Bolt and has nothing to do with bolts and everything to do with hand tools. And excellent museum.
Lunch at the Gold Country Casino. They have an outstanding buffet.
We also took a driving tour of the Oroville Dam and visited the State Park Visitors center. Oroville Dam is the tallest earthen dam in the United States, about 754 feet tall.
Saturday: We returned to the Bolt Tool Museum in Oroville today. They had a special presentation on the Dust Bowl Days. Mr Bolt, the founder and proprietor of the museum lived in Nebraska during it and there were several other guests that lived in other areas of the Bowl. Kenzie has a special interest in the subject since she wrote a detailed report on the farm camp in Weedpatch.
We continued our day by visiting the Oroville Pioneer Museum. It's a rather small museum but provides some good information.
We found several of our museum destinations to be closed even though they were supposed to be open. Must not have had docents available.
We had lunch at the Cornucopia Restaurant. It's our kind of place. Lou and Kenzie shared a prime rib dinner and I had a huevos rancheros breakfast.
We then hit a few thrift stores and a nice candy store with some excellent taffy.
Our final endeavor was to do some grocery shopping and get a few craft items for Lou.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Bidwell Park, Chico, Ca
Lou hiking up the hill in Upper Bidwell Park. We started our hike along Chico Creek.
This bird nesting in a woodpecker hole in the tree seemed concerned with our visit.
Lots of flowers in the park.
Horseshoe Lake from near the top of the hill. The City of Chico in the distance. Lou hiking down the trail from the top. Calling this a trail embellishes the truth. It's more of a worn spot on the side of the hill. We started down at the top of those rocks above Lou to the left. The trail involved sliding down over lots of rocks.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Chico, Ca
Thursday: The morning was spent on the final trip preparation. We are slow at getting on the road. We finally hit the road at 1:30. Traffic was bad most of the way until we got on Highway 99 North of Sacramento. We stopped in Gridley at the Black Bear Diner for dinner. We took a little walk and left Gridley about 7:30. It was dark when we arrived at the Almond Tree RV Park in Chico. It seems to be the closest and possibly the only RV park in Chico. It's very nice!.
Kenzie wanted to go to a history conference here at Chico State University. It's Friday evening and Saturday. Since we didn't have a specific itinerary other than "North", this fit into our itinerary perfectly, though it was a bit further than I would have preferred for a single days drive.
Friday: Well, the problem of not making reservations raised it's ugly head today. There is no space available in the Almond Tree RV Park this weekend so we had to move by noon. They provided a list of other RV parks nearby and we moved to a shady park about a block away, the Mountain View Mobile Acres. Unfortunately it has trees and is shady in other ways as well. It is fine while we're here for a couple of days though and is still close to where we want to be. It’s actually quite nice.
Lou and Kenzie are off at the University to see if she can find her History conference. I'm hanging around home doing what I do best, nothing. The weather is much warmer than I expected, in the 80's. I was worried we still might freeze at night. Forget that! It's HOT.
Lou had a problem with the car when she left the meeting at Chico State tonight. The headlights and tail lights were all out on the toad. All the parking lights worked when that was selected but no lights in the headlight mode.
Saturday: I dropped Lou and Kenzie off at the University early for breakfast at their conference. I returned to camp. I tried to find the problem with the cars headlights but couldn’t resolve it other than to determine the headlight relay is not being driven. The highbeam relay clicks nicely but the headlight relay doesn’t. Could be the headlight switch, the ignition switch, the headlight circuit breaker?, or wiring. Without a diagram, I’m through.
The package sent via the postal system a couple of weeks ago finally arrived at the house. Unfortunately, it’s insured and requires my signature for delivery. Cute. Wish it had arrived in a reasonable time period.
Sunday: We moved back to the Almond Tree RV Park again. The rally that was filling it departed and we moved back. It’s a lot nicer for the same price.
About 1:30 I hit the road home in the toad. I’ll pick up the wayward package and get the headlights fixed, then return Monday. Lou and Kenzie will be relaxing here while I am gone. There is no bus service on Sunday so they remained around the RV. They did go to a Basque restaurant about a half mile away for dinner.
Monday: I was up early at home and delivered the toad to our mechanic. I then went to the post office and picked up the package. it was fragile, about 200 vials of china paint. All arrived in good shape. I tinkered around the house fixing sticky doors, plucking weeds, and fixing sprinklers. The car wasn't finished today. I'm ready to leave when it is.
Lou and Dawn got a day pass for the bus in Chico and explored town.
Tuesday: A trip to the hardware store for parts. A stop at Whole Foods Market for breakfast. Part of a breakfast burrito and some home fries More tinkering at home. i fixed the fence gate latches. Due to fence board shrinkage the latches sometimes open in the wind. I had screwed the gates closed when we leave but now fixed the latches. More weed plucking. About 2:10 the garage called, the car is ready. I threw my stuff in the car and departed arriving back in Chico about 6:15pm.
Lou and Kenzie went over to Bidwell Park to take a hike.
About 7pm we went over to the Sierra Nevada Brewery Tap House for dinner. I had a pizza made with their grain and Lou and Kenzie had meat loaf. All was very good. Kenzie and I enjoyed some of their ale.
Wednesday: Lou and I are off to Bidwell Park again for a hike. It's a very big park, something like 11 miles long.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Driver’s License Renewal
Today was "DMV" day, time to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to renew my license. I was required to go to the office to renew it this time after two renewals by mail. I understood that they wanted a new picture and for me to take a test. I scheduled an appointment for today at 10:50. I studied the drivers handbook, worthless piece of junk that it is, so I would get my usual 100%.
A couple of City trucks pulled up out front just before we left. They were using a guided boring rig to pull in new service lines for the new house across the street. I would have loved to stay and watch but I had that darned appointment.
I was going to the Santa Clara office so Dawn came along and shopped nearby while I went to DMV. I arrived at the DMV at 10am. I wasn't sure where the office was and didn't want to miss the appointment because we want to get on the road and a drivers license might be useful. There were two lines, one for appointments and one for those without appointments. The clerk in the non appointment line motioned me over and I said I had an appointment and he gave me a ticket with a number. I was a bit concerned because he was the non appointment clerk and hadn't even concerned himself with any proof that I had an appointment, like my name or a confirmation number. I asked about it and he said it was like Kaiser, you arrive, you get a number and your called. Cute. So much for an appointment system. I looked around for about 5-10 minutes and was called to a window. After a couple of minutes and the payment of the fee, I was sent to another window. They took my picture and gave me a new interim license. No test? Now I know all the information and never get to use it! I was in and out in less than 15 minutes, and left 35 minutes before my appointment time. I don't think their appointment system is worth much. Looks like I could have arrived Monday of Tuesday, said I had an appointment and been through the system in a similar manner? But, why should I be concerned, they were quick and efficient even if the appointment system isn't. I was out before I was even supposed to be there.
We had lunch at the Hometown Buffet nearby, one of my favorite places. Their chicken is my favorite. Then we returned home.
The City crews were gone, mission accomplished. Darn!
It was time to do laundry. Clean the sheets and pillow cases and fill up the closets with clothes for the trip. Looks like we'll leave tomorrow headed up North to Chico, Ca.
A couple of City trucks pulled up out front just before we left. They were using a guided boring rig to pull in new service lines for the new house across the street. I would have loved to stay and watch but I had that darned appointment.
I was going to the Santa Clara office so Dawn came along and shopped nearby while I went to DMV. I arrived at the DMV at 10am. I wasn't sure where the office was and didn't want to miss the appointment because we want to get on the road and a drivers license might be useful. There were two lines, one for appointments and one for those without appointments. The clerk in the non appointment line motioned me over and I said I had an appointment and he gave me a ticket with a number. I was a bit concerned because he was the non appointment clerk and hadn't even concerned himself with any proof that I had an appointment, like my name or a confirmation number. I asked about it and he said it was like Kaiser, you arrive, you get a number and your called. Cute. So much for an appointment system. I looked around for about 5-10 minutes and was called to a window. After a couple of minutes and the payment of the fee, I was sent to another window. They took my picture and gave me a new interim license. No test? Now I know all the information and never get to use it! I was in and out in less than 15 minutes, and left 35 minutes before my appointment time. I don't think their appointment system is worth much. Looks like I could have arrived Monday of Tuesday, said I had an appointment and been through the system in a similar manner? But, why should I be concerned, they were quick and efficient even if the appointment system isn't. I was out before I was even supposed to be there.
We had lunch at the Hometown Buffet nearby, one of my favorite places. Their chicken is my favorite. Then we returned home.
The City crews were gone, mission accomplished. Darn!
It was time to do laundry. Clean the sheets and pillow cases and fill up the closets with clothes for the trip. Looks like we'll leave tomorrow headed up North to Chico, Ca.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Spring Trip Prep
Sunday: We all did a little gardening today. Dawn and Lou are setting up a new herb garden. I tinkered with th drip watering system adding and modifying a few emitters.
Monday: The tax return was finalized, ready to mail. That's a relief. I started preping the RV. I drained and refilled th water tank and started some storage reorganization. I also started washing th vehicles. Lou's car was first since she'll be going to San Jose for her doll class Tuesday. The weather hasn't been too warm and washing the vehicles isn't going to be as much fun as hoped.
For breakfast or an early dinner, about 2pm, we walked over to the Olive Garden restaurant about 3/4 of a mile away. Brother Ernie had given us a gift card which we used to enjoy their soup, salad and bread stick meal. All very good, thanks Ernie!
Tuesday: It's blustery and looks like we may get some rain today.
I have an appointment for my drivers exam tomorrow. We're also waiting for a package to arrive in the mail. We can leave anytime after I "pass" my drivers exam but may just hang around nearby in a state park until the package arrives. There are three or four good campgrounds (Pescadero, Big Basin, Half Moon Bay, ...) within an hours drive of home.
Monday: The tax return was finalized, ready to mail. That's a relief. I started preping the RV. I drained and refilled th water tank and started some storage reorganization. I also started washing th vehicles. Lou's car was first since she'll be going to San Jose for her doll class Tuesday. The weather hasn't been too warm and washing the vehicles isn't going to be as much fun as hoped.
For breakfast or an early dinner, about 2pm, we walked over to the Olive Garden restaurant about 3/4 of a mile away. Brother Ernie had given us a gift card which we used to enjoy their soup, salad and bread stick meal. All very good, thanks Ernie!
Tuesday: It's blustery and looks like we may get some rain today.
I have an appointment for my drivers exam tomorrow. We're also waiting for a package to arrive in the mail. We can leave anytime after I "pass" my drivers exam but may just hang around nearby in a state park until the package arrives. There are three or four good campgrounds (Pescadero, Big Basin, Half Moon Bay, ...) within an hours drive of home.
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