Category Archives: Places we Visit-Year 1

(locations align with the map showing our route)

32-Shasta Lake, CA, Places we Visit-Year 1

Shasta Lake Cave – a very interesting tour!

While at Shasta Lake we discovered they have a cave that is high up in the cliffs above the lake.  The tour starts across the lake with a boat ride, then a bus that goes up the cliffs about 800 feet to get to the entrance to the cave.

We were the only people on the tour (it’s still early in the season) but there were 75 2nd-graders there for a special kids tour.  We rode across the lake with them and on the bus with about a third of them.  Boy, that many 2nd-graders sure can get noisy!!  But they were all so cute!

We had a different tour guide than the kids as they had a special tour for schools.

The cave tour was very interesting – the “rooms” were at different levels and sometimes we had to walk a ways to get from one room to another.  We learned that the cave was discovered back in 1887 by a native American who was tracking a mountain lion that had been bothering livestock.  He climbed up practically sheer cliff walls following the lion and saw the cave opening.  Since he had no equipment for entering a dark cave, he went about his business and told some neighbors about the cave.  A year later he and a friend went into the cave and started exploring.

It wasn’t until the 1950s that much of the cave was really explored.  Two brothers, seeking to find additional rooms, blasted rock pretty randomly hoping to break into other rooms.  Sometimes they had clues such as air flow or water, sometimes they just decided to blast this wall or that wall.  They destroyed some of the formations doing this.  Since it’s privately owned, they installed steps and the early cave guides actually broke off stalactites by tapping on them with hammers to show the people on the tour.  They also allowed people to wander around on their own with just flashlights!  One ten-year old boy discovered the largest and most impressive room by accident because he was crawling around in the dark.  Yipes!

As we had climbed quite a few stairs while on the tour getting from one room to another, we had to go back down.  The part of the tour climbing back to where the busses waited for us was outside along the cliff wall where they had cut and made steps.  Beautiful views!  treacherous staircase though, narrow steep steps so I was careful going down and then would stop periodically to look around.

Here are some pictures Jeff took of the cave:

32-Shasta Lake, CA, Places we Visit-Year 1

Beautiful Shasta Lake – man made and only about 60 years old

We’re staying just a couple of miles from Shasta Lake this week, so we spent some time at the lake.  It’s quite inaccessible except in a few places because the hills surrounding it are very VERY steep.

Shasta Lake was only formed about 60 years ago when they built a huge dam to create the lake and provide drinking water for the area.  A few small towns are now underwater because of the dam!

Here are some pictures of the lake, the surrounding hills and the dam:

32-Shasta Lake, CA, Places we Visit-Year 1

Heading north – we’re now near Mt. Shasta in Shasta Lake

Yesterday we travelled north to Shasta Lake where we’ll stay for a week.  We’re at the Fawndale Lodge and RV Resort, a small place but very pleasant.  It should get to the 70s and possibly low 80s during the week, and it rained last night.  I’m glad it rained, we got a huge amount of pollen and dust on everything while in Gold Run and this cleaned it up real good!

There isn’t a fenced area for dogs, but there’s a large lawn area surrounded by trees and when Jeff and Laddy saw another resident with a Lab off-leash there Jeff decided to take a chance and let Laddy off-leash.  He was very good, playing with the Lab, chasing a ball, and never once going away from the area.  We’re glad to see that so we’ll let him off-leash every day here and do some training with a whistle to better ensure that he won’t stray and will come back when called (with the promise of a treat of course!)

While here we plan to visit Mt. Shasta and Shasta Lake and also see what else might be in this area.

30-Gold Country! Ca, Places we Visit-Year 1

Panning for gold in Gold Run, CA

Since we’re in gold country, Jeff wanted to try his hand at panning for gold.  We visited a gold mine in Grass Valley which is nearby, and Jeff bought a pan made specifically for gold panning.

There’s a small creek near the RV park where we’re staying so we made our way down the fairly steep bank and Jeff spent a few hours trying to collect some gold.  Well, no luck which wasn’t too surprising, but we had a good time trying.  Here are some pictures:

 

31-Yosemite Natl Park, CA, Places we Visit-Year 1

A really nice RV park here in Coarsegold!

After the tight space in our Pismo Beach RV site, we headed up to Coarsegold where there is an Escapee Club Co-op RV park.  What a change!  The sites are spacious and separated so there’s quite a bit of privacy at each site.

But, as with all the Escapee Club parks, everyone is very friendly!  The park itself is in the foothills of Yosemite, so all our walks are up and down hills.  Good workout!

And, there’s a small dog park where Laddy can go off leash and run around.  It’s quite hilly as well.  It’s open 7/24 but around 4pm a lot of people show up with their dogs so Laddy can socialize…although almost all are little guys!  Laddy is definitely the biggest dog in the park!

Here are a few pictures of our site and the park:

29-Pismo Beach, CA, Places we Visit-Year 1

Pismo Beach/Avila Beach – what a lovely area!

We’ve been in Pismo Beach for over a week now and will be here till this Saturday.  While here we’ve had fun seeing the area here, up to Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo and down to Grover Beach.  It’s a great area, gets windy though!

The only negative is that the sites here at our RV Park are very tight!!  The space allotted to us is just barely enough to set up our trailer and put out the slides and park next to it.  Our neighbor has his truck just inches from our living room window and his picnic table is right under our bedroom window.  Ugh!

We were told about a dog beach up in Avila Beach where dogs can go off-leash.  It’s bordered by rocky cliffs  – not too high but high enough that he won’t attempt to climb, so we’re comfortable letting him rur around!  Laddy just loves running up and down the beach with the other dogs that are there, and he also loves running into the water to fetch balls and sticks.  He’s afraid of the little waves though, so if we throw the ball too far we have to hope another dog will go out to fetch it!

Here are a couple of pictures of the dog beach area:

29-Pismo Beach, CA, Places we Visit-Year 1

Pismo Beach

We moved on Saturday to Pismo Beach where we’ll stay for 2 weeks enjoying this area.  We’ve been to San Luis Obispo and Morro Beach before and love this area so we wanted to have plenty of time.

It’s a good thing too, as Thursday I went down with the flu, and Saturday evening Jeff did.  So the first several days of our stay here is Pismo Beach we didn’t do anything but lay around and eat toast.  Ugh!

28-Ventura and Ojai, CA, Places we Visit-Year 1

Riding the zipline at the Ventura Ranch KOA campground

We discovered while we were staying at the Ventura Ranch KOA that they have a zipline!  Neither of us had ridden one before and both of us wanted to, so here was our chance!  We signed up to ride and were in a group consisting of mostly kids – some were young enough that they had to ride tandem (there has to be 80 pounds on the line or it won’t go the whole distance and then the kid would be left dangling in the air!)

Here’s a photo of Jeff in the gear and ready to go:

and here are a couple of Youtube videos that Jeff took, one while he was riding the zipline and one of me riding.  What fun!!

http://youtu.be/9hkQKocKzTU

http://youtu.be/5DIDGKZ-_dY

28-Ventura and Ojai, CA, Places we Visit-Year 1

Ventura/Santa Paula/Ojai – beautiful area of the Calif coast

We’re in the Ventura area this week, staying at a KOA in Santa Paula which is just outside of Ventura.  This is a lovely KOA area, lots of trees and space, and teepees, tents and cabins in addition to RV areas.

One of the attractions in the campground is a group of peacocks.  Several females and at least 2 males.  One strutted around this morning showing off his beautiful tail and Jeff got several pictures. Laddy shows quite a bit of interest in these large birds as they wander through the camp area, and he and Jeff got within a few feet of them one day.