DAY 147 : December 1/22 Thursday. Del Rey, CA to Veteran Memorial Park, Monterrey, CA

 

Oliver's hair... pretty much always looks like he's been dragged through the bushes backwards these days. Oh boy. Feral.

I woke up at 5am !!!! totally unnecessary. Jonathan woke up an hour later. These early mornings are not cool. I'm not sure if it's because we kind of moved quickly through time zones for awhile? Anyhow, got up at 7am - Jonathan watched a FIFA documentary.

I made coffee and cocoas (with way too many marshmallows), and crepes! Kids made some stop motion videos while I cleaned up.

9am : decided to go find a beach somewhere and check out Monterrey. Rain expected today on the coast. Boooooooo... the rain seems foreign to us after so much dry desert. Today we are basically passing time until we can see Uncle Mike and the cousins. 

Depart 1:15pm for Monterrey and a short drive (10-15min) to Cannery Row in the rain. Parked and walked down the quaint but WET street and looked in a few shops. Went into a very overpriced candy store, and a funny little toy shop. We half considered checking out the Monterrey Aquarium (Jonathan and I had been years ago... it's a beautiful aquarium!)... but we didn't really have the oomf for it, and it was expensive to get in, and it appeared that rainy days are busy days there... plus we saw a few school groups milling around outside in the rain waiting to get inside. Didn't feel like a good choice for us today!

We kind of forget it's almost Christmas time... but seeing the Christmas displays and the Santa hats on statues are good reminders of what awaits us when we get home!

We got back in the rig and drove to Del Monte (stopping at the POST OFFICE on the way... I've been to sooooo many post offices in North America, lol). We got to the Del Monte shopping centre and spent a wonderful and entertaining hour at the local PetCo store! better value than the Aquarium for our family today, hahahaha. We saw tarantulas, adorable mice and hamsters. We fell in love with a funny little budgie who was playing with a piece of millet stick, rolling around in the bedding and trying to poke his friends with it. No one would play with him. If we were to get a budgie, this guy would be the one!

After our entertaining time at the PetCo, we drove another 10-15min to Veterans Memorial Park to camp for the night. We drove up steep winding hills through a neighbourhood to get to the park. When we arrived, it was self check in with little envelopes. We chose site #19 - $44/night plus a $6 RV charge (weird?). It had showers though, and a sani (and we needed water!)  The campground was small and filled with a wandering herd of deer - much to the kids' delight.

After we got settled into our site, we had a drizzly walk over to the playground and the kids went crazy taking photos and videos of all the deer. 

Jonathan and Oliver went to the tiny shower block close by. When they got back we had to run the generator (after asking our neighbours if they minded) because our batteries were almost dead due to the zero sunshine the last while so no solar intake! and we've been running our furnace to stay warm at night. 

Meems and I needed showers, so off we went to the shower block (Jonathan and Ollie telling us the showers are GREAT).... liars.  We got there and it's teeny, and cold, and dark. Two shower stalls, one was being used so we shared the other and the water was barely warm, and had a pathetic stream. It was possibly one of the worst showers we have encountered on our entire trip. How very unsatisfying!

Back to the rig for some daddy pedicures and Minecraft time. Then Veggie meatballs/potatoes/veg dinner (delicious on a cold wintery night). 

After dinner we played 3 rounds of Sabateur (card game) -- Amelia was SUPER hyper. I have no idea what got into her! She was an animal. Then we played Sleeping Queens (another card game) and Amelia was still goofing around being silly on the bench seat. She threw her head back so super hard and managed to crack it against the exposed metal from the seatbelt holders (the cushion had been removed during driving and wasn't replaced). YOUCH!!!!!! The look of shock on her little face was awful and I knew instantly that she'd hurt herself. She gave herself the biggest goose-egg on the back of her little head. I don't think she's hurt herself that badly in a long time :(

After Tylenol and snuggles, she calmed down and Jonathan set up the "living room" for a movie on the laptop, and made popcorn. We settled into a nice evening of watching the rest of Star Wars - enjoying seeing the Death Valley scenes throughout.

DAY 146 : November 30/22, Wednesday. Ridgecrest, CA to Moose Lodge in Del Ray, CA coast

Good Morning from Walmart's parking lot! It was cold last night! we had to bust out the beautiful quilt we got from Sandra as an added top layer, and bundled the kiddos up as well. Woke up early and were enjoying hot coffee by 7am and making a shopping list. Headed into Walmart for necessities, and bought a gingerbread village kit to take with us to Palo Alto to decorate with the Cali cousins! x.  Also stocked upon some Tylenol kids medicine having been warned about the shortage at home. 

Back at the rig, I wrote some postcards and we searched up the route to take -- headed West. Decided it was prudent to skip the Sequoia / Yosemite Parks as it was too cold and lots of snow expected in the coming days! Yikes! We can put Yosemite on the list for another adventure in the future x

We left our parking lot "campsite" around 10am and hit Hwy 395. I have a scratchy note that we turned right on Garlock Road (missed turn)... no idea what that means. <shrug>

10:45am we drove past "Jawbone" - no gas.  Also a huge solar panel farm that looked like a lake from a distance it was so shimmery and vast. Then past tons of Wind Turbine farms, and randomly spotted on google maps (and got a visual on it)... the "SS Minnow" (from Gilligan's Island).... just a random boat in the desert by some rocks, marked SS Minnow on the bow. Strange! Equally strange there is a tag on google maps for it!

Around 11:20am we stopped in Tehachapi, CA for diesel ($6.40 USD per gallon). Then it was onto Hwy 202 West . The scenery started to change to dry grassy hills reminiscent of a model train set (tunnels, tracks, dotted with trees). 

By noon we were suddenly out of the desert landscape and into vast farmlands with crops and greenery and colour! no more bland beige. We passed orange tree farms (orchards? - I don't know what the correct term would be). 

Another 45 minutes and by 12:45pm we were on the I5 North for 15 miles before heading to the Hwy 33.  We passed Sunny Gem Juice Company - pomegranate juice/orchard.  Then onto Hwy 46W around 1:30pm when we put a movie on for them (Home Alone 2) on the phone. We were in for some long driving times.

2:15pm we drove to Pasa Robles, CA and pulled into Barney Sahwarts Park to stretch our legs and play on the playground and have some serious rounds of "pizza frisbee". Made tuna sandwiches and noodle soup. I finally got to experience some fall colours on leaves on the trees! yay!!  there's been a serious lack of trees for weeks haha.

3pm we left to find the TSC (Tractor Supply Company) to get propane - they had none. Did some re-con to find somewhere with no luck. Kept on driving... passed by vineyards, fruit trees, oil fields with 100's of pumps, and more miles and miles of vineyards. Kids continued their movie - lots of giggles x

By 5pm we were in Salinas, CA and got $55 of propane at the Salinas Valley Truck Stop (and diesel USD$117 at $6.11/gallon!) and some candies for the kids. 

It was dark within 1/2 hour (5:30pm) and we rolled up to the Salinas KOA - but $67/night seemed too expensive for a piece of concrete in a cramped hilly parking lot. We were feeling like we were in a bit of a pinch, but really wanted to find a different option since literally all we needed was a place to park - but not for so much. Jonathan called the Moose Lodge in Seaside/Del Rey Oaks and got a very warm welcome for us to "stop on by! it's $25/night and you are welcome to come on in and join the indoor disc golf event or have a drink at the bar!".   Sold. 

We drove along the 156south to Monterrey and by 6:30pm we were in Del Rey at the Moose Lodge! It was the below map that gave me quite the surge of emotions... I could see we were driving beside the Pacific Ocean! It was so dark out that there was no way to actually see the ocean from the road, but knowing it was there felt like we were suddenly so close to home. x. I cannot wait to put my toes in the ocean tomorrow.

We parked by the lodge and when we stepped in through the main doors we could hear the ruckus from the indoor disc golf competition in the main hall. No one else around at the front so we peered down the halls (all still decorated in original 60/70's or earlier decor). We peeked into the main hall to see very jovial folks drinking pints and throwing discs across the room into the chain disc golf "nets", having a blast. Another room was the bar area where there were some poker games happening. We went into the bar and found the person to pay for the night. Kids were welcome to stay, but we took them back to the rig (beside the building) and locked them in with a walkie talkie (Ollie did stop motion videos and Amelia did art), and Jay and I went inside (with other walkie) to have a beverage... Red Stripe beer for Jay, Vodka Seltzer for me.  A mini date you might say, haha. We tried to make plans for the last week headed home. 

After a quick "date" we headed back to the rig and played Saboteur (card game) with kiddos from 8:30-9:30pm and all crawled into our beds... tired from the big day driving and thankful for a safe and inexpensive place to park for the night. 

 

DAY 145 : November 29/22 Tuesday. Death Valley, CA to Ridgecrest, CA

Texas Springs Campground, Death Valley, California.

Awake again at 6:30am - no wind last night despite the Ranger warnings. We made coffee and hot chocolates (Amelia addicted to hot chocolate, I think) and made eggs for breakfast. Kids finished their Jr. Ranger booklets and by 9:10am we were departing the campground (with a stop at the sani-station and filled with water).

Our first stop was Zebrinski Point Overlook. On the drive over, we saw one small creek flowing beside the road. That's the only natural water we've seen here in this rocky, desert park! We reached Zebrinski Point around 9:40am. Stunner views of ridged and folded mountain ranges. It was fairly chilly and kids were not in the mood for adventure at this point.  

 

Below you can spy our little home on wheels in the parking lot. 

Next on the itinerary was the 20-Mule Team Canyon. A one-way drive (we discovered why!) that was restricted to vehicles 24ft or less. This is the site of "Jabba the Hut's lair" from the Star Wars movies. It felt right out of a sci-fi movie set. When driving around Death Valley, there were very few vehicles around and this drive was no exception. We saw two heavy duty motorcycles drive up the road and they managed to squeeze by us when were were stopped for a photo. It's a super narrow and winding gravel road carved through the rocks. Our Navion looked so little and lonely in this landscape!

 

 

These monkey-heads stayed in the rig for most of the time... Jonathan and I hopped out to check out the landscape on the drive at 20-Mule Team, but the kids were kind of over it. 

Next we carried on driving several more miles to Dante's View which was the highest accessible point in the park where you can look over a sweeping vista of the salt flats. We stood at the overlook and gazed over the salt flats and incredible views of Death Valley National Park. This is the same view that Obi-Wan and Luke stood gazing over Mos Eiesly in Start Wars! Kinda fun. We checked that off our "Star Wars film Set" List.

View of "Mos Eisley" (Dante's Peak, Death Valley)

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."

- Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi

Jonathan was the only one who wanted to hike up to a summit for an extra high view. It was pretty cold here at this peak, and the kids didn't want to walk up with him so he went on his own. 

There's Jonathan up the trail... that little black dot! and below is his view from the peak.

We left Dante's View around 11:45am and reached the Visitor Centre at Furnace Creek around 12:30pm. It was warming up now and not being at the higher elevations, the temperature was a pleasant 21c.  Inside the visitor centre the kids presented their Junior Ranger booklets to the Rangers at the desk and received their Junior Ranger badges for Death Valley NP.  Oliver bought himself a compass. 

After about 1/2 hour in the centre, we topped up the fuel with 4 gallons of diesel. I have numbers written in my notes here saying 340km and also 190km within park. I've no idea what this means exactly, but guessing we've maybe driven 190km within the park boundary (it's huge!!) and maybe we had 340km to drive today. It was always cautioned that we have as full a tank of gas/diesel as possible since the stations were few and far between and you DID NOT want to get stuck somewhere (cue: stories of death in death valley). 

Above is a snapshot of the Furnace Creek "resort"... a little oasis of green in the midst of 100's of miles of gravel and rock landscape. 

We drove next to the Salt Creek Interpretative Trail, but it was closed. Apparently this was where you might be able to see the little blue Death Valley Pupfish (aka Salt Creek Pupfish).

1:20pm : Next stop was the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes (aka Tattoine Dunes where C3-PO and R2-D2 landed in their escape pod!). We parked explored the sandy and cracked dunes. Amelia sat and "carved" a solid piece of sand, and Oliver explored a bit then sat under a Mesquite tree.

Back in the rig for some food - Jonathan made a smoothie, and we had "Stampedas" and salsa (tortilla chips that Amelia keeps calling stampedas instead of SantaRitas). And Ollie enjoyed a grapefruit he picked off the trees in Tucson. Dessert were red and green "Christmas" oreos... quite disgusting as they had so much dye in them. Impulse purchase begged for by the kids at Walmart. 

 

Departed around 2pm and headed for Stovepipe Wells - built in 1926 it is the oldest resort in the park.

After that it was Mosaic Canyon. This was 2.5miles up a dirt road (10min drive). Kids were whiny on the drive, and somehow the chips and a grapefruit fell on Ollie's head. I don't know how that happened, but it's in my notes here, haha. Perhaps Oliver can recount it later.

The kids were full on grumpy by now and so Jonathan and I decided to walk into the canyon for 15min and then back to the rig. We left the kids locked inside armed with the walkie-talkie. Jonathan and I really wanted to check it out as it was supposedly a really beautiful hike. This was our compromise!

The stone was particularly beautiful here... one side had a rough mosaic of stones embedded in the concrete-like store, and the other side was smooth as marble. You walked between the two undulating walls of stone as it snaked along. Super cool. Kids would have loved it. We met a fellow hiker along the way. She was an older woman dressed in full proper hiking gear and was wedging herself between the walls of a narrow portion so she could shimmy her way up the hip high ledge. Her knees couldn't handle trying to step up, so she had this "tried and true" method to get up this portion, as she'd hiked it many many times. She was on her own and seemed quite vulnerable, yet was very confident in her abilities on this particular hike. She accepted assistance to get up once at the top of the ledge, and she raved about the hike saying it was too bad we couldn't hike the full distance as it just got more and more beautiful and interesting. 

Jonathan and I hiked (walked) for our 15 min and then headed back, admiring what we did see of this gorgeous section of the park. 

It was around 2:45pm when we departed Mosiac Canyon and we were now on our final journey to head out of the Death Valley National Park. It was about an hour's drive to Panamint along a steep road up and down over Towne's Pass (elevation 4956ft). We stopped at the gas station to fill up at USD6.449/gallon!), then back out onto Panamint Valley Road. It was much rougher pavement so it was loud, but at least it was FLAT!!!

We drove 74km along a super desolate road, and even saw some wild burros! Miners back in the early 20's had their mules and burrows here during their attempt for borax and other minerals then abandoned them when they left the desolate valley. Apparently they are a nuisance in the park and are periodically rounded up by a rescue group and adopted out. 

By 4:40pm we were driving through Trona, a small industrial town. Lots of Burro X-ing signs along the side of the road. The town seemed built around the Searles Valley Mineral Co.  - Borax, Pot Ash... Lots of boarded up and patched up homes, broken down cars. Pretty rough, depressed looking town in the shadow of a big chemical plant. Feeling grateful for Marshall Street every time we drive through a town like this.

We kept driving another 40km or so to Ridgecrest and hit up the Walmart there for supplies. Passed the Burro Round Up area where they remove burros from the BLM/National Park areas in the wild and bring them here for adoption. 

By 5:15pm we were pulled into the parking lot at Upjohn Park and playground as the sun was almost set. It was 9c outside! brr.....   Kids had a huge play on the awesome playground while Jonathan made some phone calls and I made some pizza. Didn't leave the playground until 6:50pm (we were tempted to stay there overnight as there wasn't anything except open spaces to the south of the playground... but there were houses on the other side and we didn't want to risk having someone call about us. 

*our imitation of the Las Vegas poster at Sam's Town*

by 7pm we were at the Walmart down the road in Ridgecrest parked near another camper. Home for the night! Oliver upgraded his stop motion app to the "pro" version to get more out of it... they are into stop motion again these days. Jonathan prepped the RV shower by removing all our things from the shower stall! He had a luxurious shower in the RV at the walmart - as you do! haha. 

Ollie and Meems made stop motion videos using a green screen.   It was cold this evening. I crawled up top into the bunk to snooze and stay warm. Jonathan made popcorn around 9pm then we put on Star Wars on the laptop so we could see the Dunes/Artist's Palette/Desolation flats, etc that we'd just seen in person at the Death Valley N.P.