Tampa, FL – January 2015

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

MacDill MapAs we worked our way south to warmer weather our next stop was Tampa. We normally stop here as we go south to spend time with our niece, Robin, and her two kids.

While there are quite a few campgrounds and RV parks in the area, our favorite is Raccoon Creek Recreation Area at MacDill Air Force Base. As I have mentioned before, one of the benefits of being an Army retiree is that we can stay at military bases that have a campground as a part of the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) program. With over 300 campsites that offer full or partial hookups, Raccoon Creek is a popular destination for military campers and “snow birders.” DSCN4640In some of the sites you can stay as long as six months at a time. Some can be reserved for two weeks and some are set aside for stays of two weeks or less. When all the sites are full you can stay in “dry camp,” without any electric, water, or sewer hook ups. We arrived without a reservation, stayed one night in dry camp and then were moved to a full hookup site for the remainder of our stay.

Tampa hosts one of the largest RV shows in the country at the state fairgrounds. We 20150115_174432spent the day there on Thursday and wandered through the many trailers and motor homes. It’s always interesting to see what is hot in the RV industry. In addition to the RV dealers highlighting their inventory, there are hundreds of smaller vendors that offer discounts on their items. We took advantage of this to buy a sunscreen for our awning and upgraded our cell phones. Of course we left our camera in the trailer, but I was able to take a picture of Pat with my new cell phone. My knee was still bothering me and I bought a set of crutches, the day before, to take the pressure off of it. It did make it quite a challenge to go up and down all of those RV steps!

With so many veteran families spending so much time here over the winter, they have formed their own community. There is a church service in the community building on Sunday, potluck dinners every Friday night, and many other group activities going on throughout the week. If you don’t have anything to do, it is your own fault!

20150117_144332On Saturday we rented a couple of kayaks from the MWR marina and took Robin and the kids on the kayak trail at Weedon Island Preserve across Tampa Bay from MacDill. It was a lot of fun and enjoyable for Pat and I to watch the three of them as we paddled across ponds and through mangrove forest on canals that made for some difficult paddling.

The next day they came to our campsite and we watched the Green Bay Packers vs. the Seattle Seahawks in the playoffs for the Super Bowl. We also took Jeremiah to the beach to chase seagulls.

Later in the week we met up with two comrades from the Ranger company I commanded and their wives. We were able meet for drinks and dinner in town. It is always a good thing to catch up with old friends and retell all of the war stories.

DSCN4641On our last day in town Robin’s family came to hang out. We had lunch, played games, and had pizza for dinner – just a fun time. Jeremiah was my number one helper for packing up the things we had outside and everyone pitched in to load the kayaks and bikes in the truck.

We heard that the military RV park in Key West was filling up, so on Sunday morning, January 25th, we were on the road to Key West.

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Wine Making on the Road

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

In 2011 my wife and I sold our home and moved into a fifth wheel trailer as full time RVers. We now travel all over the country. However, I did not want to quit being an amateur wine maker. Home wine making is a fairly simple process but when you live in a fifth wheel trailer there are some unique problems.

DSCN3726The first is the lack of space. I have read several blogs that described dozens of 6-gallon carboys of wine in various stages of fermentation, or how it can be challenging to make wine in a small apartment. In our trailer there is no space to set aside for wine making so it is important to maintain a minimum of equipment and supplies.  I have one primary fermenter, one six-gallon glass carboy, two-one gallon glass jugs, and a small plastic container of chemicals, racking tube, corks, and reference books.

The second is a matter of temperature and timing. It is much DSCN3728easier in a home to have a location with a consistent temperature. I try to start my wines when the outside temperature is appropriate for the primary fermentation. Even in the south it is often quite cool at night when it is warm during the day. I often have to put my primary fermenter in front of our electric fireplace to warm the must after a cold night. If it is too warm outside we have to run the air conditioning to keep the must from getting too warm and killing the yeast. Because it normally takes more than a month to complete a batch of wine and we are often moving from to another location during the wine making process. I make sure I can complete the primary fermentation prior to a move, then rack the wine into the secondary (glass carboy or jug).  I store the Wine Making OTR-3secondary Wine Making OTR-4container on the floor of our truck, then drive to the next location. I then store the secondary in the trailer, out of the way. If we move again before the wine has cleared, I rack the wine before the move and repeat the process.

The third is having a stable platform for clearing the wine. No matter how well braced it is, our trailer always has some movement. To get the last few particles out of the wine, I always rack the wine through a filter before bottling.

DSCN3730I use a hand corker when bottling (no room for anything bigger). Our “wine cellar” is the floor of my closet, so I am limited to four cases of wine/empty bottles. On occasion I will make a kit of six gallons (30 bottles), but more often will do one gallon batches. When I am making from a kit and have to stir the must with my drill to drive off the gases, I move to the picnic table to avoid making a mess in our small kitchen.

We used to have a patch of raspberry bushes in our backyard and raspberry wine was always a staple. I would often get fresh fruit from local farms when it was in season. Now that we are on the road, I often buy packages of frozen berries to make wine in small batches. One of my favorite DSCN4517inexpensive wines is a concord grape wine made from Welch’s Grape Juice. E.C Kraus has the recipe on their website.

Because I am from Michigan and love lighthouses, I name all of my wines after lighthouses on the Michigan shore of the Great Lakes, such as Copper Harbor Concord or Rock Harbor Riesling. I found a lighthouse label that I can run through a printer with six labels to a page and use that on all of my wines.

Wine making “on the road” can be a challenge, but is still an enjoyable hobby.

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Rainbow Springs State Park, Dunnellon, FL – Jan 2015

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

Rainbow Springs MapRainbow Springs and the Rainbow River are unique places to visit. The Rainbow River is one of the clearest rivers in the world, with underwater visibility of over 250 feet in the headsprings area. This is why we wanted to visit the area. Years ago we had kayaked and snorkeled in the Rainbow River, and two years ago I did some SCUBA diving there as well.

We stayed at the Rainbow Springs State Park. This is a very nice campground with campsites that are spread out with sufficient trees between each site to give you some privacy, but not so much that you can’t make friends with your neighbors if you chose to do so. There is a swimming area and canoe/kayak launch a short walk from the campground. They have carts available to move your boat from the campground to the launch – a nice touch!

The Rainbow Springs State Park has a unique history –

In the 1920s, this spring was a favorite spot for tourists and locals. The privately owned Rainbow Springs attraction opened in the 1930s. As the attraction grew, the river was dredged for glass bottom boat tours; and waterfalls were built on piles of phosphate tailings. A zoo, rodeo, gift shops and a monorail with leaf-shaped gondolas were included. In the mid-1970s, when larger theme parks lured the tourists away, Rainbow Springs was closed. In 1972, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated Rainbow River as a National Natural Landmark. On October 25, 1990, Rainbow Springs State Park joined the Florida Park Service. Today, the park consists of more than 1,470 acres and has three main entrances.

Shortly before we left Pensacola I injured my knee while running, so my mobility was very limited. It was very frustrating to be in such a nice place and not be able to enjoy it to its fullest. However, it didn’t stop us from kayaking on the Rainbow River.

DSCN4604We paddled up to the headsprings where the river begins. Because the river is spring-fed, it has a constant temperature of 72 degrees. The temperature and the clarity of the river make a popular location for kayakers, snorkelers, and SCUBA divers. The current is slow enough that it is easy to paddle upstream to the headsprings and drift back downstream. We landed our kayaks at the headsprings DSCN4615canoe launch and explored the site of the old Rainbow Springs attraction. We wandered passed waterfalls that were created from rocks dredged from the river and water pumped from the headsprings. We could see the remains of the zoo and other features. It was a very unique history lesson. Later in the week we paddled upriver again, had a picnic lunch and searched for geocaches.

Our niece, Robin, and her kids drove up from Tampa to spend the day with us on Saturday. We “entertained” them with pictures of our trip to Alaska and she brought us up to date on what is going on in their lives. Afterwards I took her son, Jeremiah, kayaking. He has a great eye for spotting wildlife and we had a lot of fun.

DSCN4623Sunday was a beautiful, warm day and we paddled up to the headsprings and changed into our snorkeling gear. With our kayaks in tow and my Diver Below flag up, we drifted downstream. The water was SO clear! We saw small mouth bass and turtles as they swam below us. There were spots along the river bottom where other springs flowed into the river. You could feel the warm water flowing right out of the ground.

On Monday, January 12th, we took our time to make the relatively short drive to Raccoon Creek RV Park at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL.

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Pensacola, FL and Home for Christmas – December 2014

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

Pensacola MapFrom New Orleans we traveled back to Oak Grove Park at Pensacola Naval Air Station. This is a great campground – nice sites, close to the water, nice running trail, and the camp hosts have a no-host happy hour every afternoon so you can meet your neighbors and make new friends.

We didn’t do much sightseeing in the area. I did some DSCN4541work on the trailer and upgraded the fan in the bathroom, and we did a lot of our Christmas shopping. Even though we live in an RV we did hang our Christmas decorations in our “house.”  The campground manager hosted a Christmas Party for the campground. The theme was “Your Ugly Christmas Sweater” and there were DSCN4522several there that I thought should have won a prize. Regardless of the attire, we had a great time, renewed old friendships and made new ones.  The base chapel hosted a night of Christmas caroling with a drum and bagpipe band from a local Irish restaurant.  We caroled in the enlisted housing area ans many of the sailors and Marines joined us as we sang our way through the complex.

DSCN4527We volunteered to help place wreaths on the headstones at the Barrancas National Cemetery as a part of the Wreaths Across America program. In 1992, a Maine company, Worcester Wreath, found themselves with a surplus of wreaths nearing the end of the holiday season. The owner, Morrill Worcester, realized he had an opportunity to honor our country’s Veterans. With the help of Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, arrangements were made for the wreaths to be placed at Arlington in one of the older sections of the cemetery, a section which had been receiving fewer visitors with each passing year. This marked the beginning of “Wreaths Across America.” Over the years the Wreaths Across America program has grown dramatically and now they ship wreaths to over 540 locations. At the Barrancas National Cemetery there were so many volunteers this year that I’m not sure they needed our help, but it was uplifting to be a small part of this effort. It was moving to see families putting wreaths on headstones of their loved ones.

DSCN4531We took a day to do some kayaking at the Big Lagoon State Park. We launched our kayaks from the Gulf Islands National Seashore and paddled across The Big Lagoon to the state park. we paddled through a series of lagoons and went for a short hike. It was a nice place to spend a day.

On Dec 17th, we flew back to Michigan for the holidays. Our friends, Susan and Gary Aten, invited us to stay at their home while we took care of medical appointments in the Lansing area.  We were able to spend some time with our son, Dave, and do some final Christmas shopping. We met my sister and her husband for lunch in Mount Pleasant, then drove to Detroit to pick up our daughter, Elisabeth, who flew in from North Carolina.

DSCN4546On Saturday we drove to Bad Axe to stay with Pat’s brother and we celebrated Christmas with her family. Of course the star of the show was our niece’s daughter, Addy. It takes no effort for a two-year old to be the center of attention!

We flew back to Pensacola on the 30th. These were the easiest flights we have had in a long time – no delays or problems, in fact, most of the flights were early!

We celebrated New Years with a New Years Eve Party and a New Years Day dinner in the campground. A great way to celebrate the start of 2015!

DSCN4580Saturday I visited the National Naval Aviation Museum. This is my third visit, but I still enjoy it. The museum covers Naval Aviation from WW I to the present. The exhibits are very well done and there are several special effect exhibits that simulate actual flight operations. One of the nice things about this museum is the planes are not roped off as in other museums, you can actually touch them!

On Monday, January 5th we headed for Rainbow Springs State Park, in Dunnellon, FL.

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New Orleans.LA – November 2014

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Michigan Traveler

New Orleans MapNew Orleans is always an interesting place to visit. While we didn’t intentionally plan this, our schedule had us camping there over Thanksgiving.

We stayed at the Aviation Arbor RV Park at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans in Belle Chase, LA. This is a relatively new military RV park and is the only military RV park near New Orleans. One unexpected benefit was that the base Galley (dining facility) was offering a Thanksgiving Dinner with all of the trimmings to all base personnel, military DoD civilians, and retirees.

DSCN4469New Orleans has several events around the Thanksgiving holiday. There is a tree lighting on the day before Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving day there is the Bayou Classic Parade from the Superdome through Lafayette Square. After our dinner at the Galley, we drove to the Algiers Ferry so we didn’t have to drive into the French Quarter DSCN4473and deal with all the traffic. The French Quarter is a short walk from the ferry. We wandered through Lafayette Square, stopped by the Cafe Du Monde (famous for its Beignets), and checked out the French Market. The parade was one high school band after another. I have never seen so many high school bands in one place before!

DSCN4484Saturday there was the “Tis the Season” Art Festival at Palmer Park. There were many craft booths. Some were the typical paintings, or crafts made from some kind of scrap, but others were quite unique. The one I liked the best had banks that had been fashioned from post office boxes. There were food vendors and live blues music as well.

From Palmer Park we rode the street car to the New Orleans City Park for the Celebration in the Oaks. DSCN4491City Park’s famous oaks were swathed in hundreds of thousands of twinkling light displays, throughout the Park. We were treated to a wide range of attractions, from light displays to the walkways lined with dozens of Christmas trees decorated by local school groups. The animated “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” with a Karaoke Santa was fun, but the most entertaining exhibit was the animated “Cajun Night Before Christmas” display.

It was certainly the most unique Thanksgiving we have ever had, and on Monday, December 1st we were on our way to Pensacola, FL.

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San Antonio, TX – November 2014

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Michigan Traveler

Lackland AFB MapIt was a two-day drive from Carlsbad, NM to San Antonio, but we were able to find a city park in the small town of Junction, TX. IMAG0165It’s a nice park, right on a river, and the City of Junction allows people to dry camp in the park for up to three days at no charge. I wish our schedule would have allowed us to stay there another night.

In San Antonio we stayed at the FAMCAMP (Family Camp) at Lackland AFB. It operates on a “first come, first served” basis, but we had no problem getting a site, and there were openings available during our entire stay.

We didn’t have any plans for a lot of sightseeing while in town. After so many stops in a relatively short period of time we thought it would be nice just to relax for awhile.

We did have some friends in the area to visit. We had met Ernie and Kathy Bader while we were camped at Camp Murray, near Tacoma, WA. We met them for lunch and they showed us around the Continual Care Residential Center where they live. It was interesting to see how many amenities are available to the residents, from a variety of clubs, exercise facilities, and even an RV storage area with electrical hookups.

An old friend of mine from my National Guard days is CSM (ret) Jerry Alley. We met Jerry and his wife, Debbie, for dinner. The food was almost as good as the conversation. It was interesting to hear stories of their time in the Army. Before he retired Jerry had risen to the position of Sergeant Major of the Army and he had a lot of stories. I was privileged to have known him when he was a Sergeant First Class and my unit’s Active Army Advisor.

DSCN4439We did go into San Antonio DSCN4445to have lunch on the Riverwalk and to stop by the Alamo again. It’s always interesting to see history where it actually happened. You can’t always trust movies for their historical accuracy!

DSCN4449Lackland is where the Air Force conducts basic training.  The parade field is surrounded by vintage aircraft.  I wandered by the aircraft and thought the “nose art,” pictures the crew would paint of the nose of the aircraft, fascinating.  I don’t think this is allowed anymore and that’s a shame.

We extended our stay one day to avoid a big weather system moving in from the west. If we had left on time we would have moved east right with the storm. This way we followed it and stayed in clear weather.

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Carlsbad Caverns, NM – November 2014

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Michigan Traveler

Carlsbad MapCarlsbad Caverns National Park is one of the twenty World Heritage Sites and the most impressive cavern I have ever visited. The development of the cavern began over 250 DSCN4232million years ago as a reef along the edge of a great inland sea. Twenty to thirty million years later the Guadalupe Mountains were uplifted, fracturing the reef. Rainwater percolating down from the surface mixed with hydrogen-rich gas forming sulfuric acid. This acid carved out the large rooms and passages that exists today. In many areas, ceilings have collapsed creating huge rooms, larger than anything I have seen before.

We made reservations ahead of time on http://www.recreation.gov for two Ranger-led Tours. The first one was the DSCN4257King’s Palace Tour. During this tour we learned how a 16-year old ranch hand with a third grade education, named Jim White, discovered the cavern and began the exploration. We descended by elevator 850 feet below the surface to the Underground Rest Area. From there we were led by a Ranger through a portion of the Big Room, the Boneyard, and the Green Lake Room to what Jim White described as a room fit for a king, the King’s Palace. DSCN4366Early in the tour we walked around Iceberg Rock, a 200,000 ton boulder that broke loose from the cavern ceiling thousands of years ago.

After lunch we joined another Ranger-led tour, the Left Hand Tunnel Tour. DSCN4332I consider this to be a “must do” activity at Carlsbad Caverns and strongly recommend that anyone visiting the park make this tour a priority. Much of the cavern that is accessible to the public has been improved with lights, paved walkways, and guardrails, but not this area. The only paths are those worn down by visitors walking through the cavern and your only light source are candle lanterns that you carry. I felt I got a real sense for what it was like for Jim White to explore the cavern. Our guides on both tours did a professional job of explaining the cavern, the “decorations” (stalactites, stalagmites, etc), and how it was explored. On both tours the Ranger turned off the lights and we were subjected to the pure blackness of the cavern – what an experience!

After spending the day underground we celebrated Veterans Day with a free meal at Chili’s.

DSCN4342The next day we took self-guided tours. The first one was the Natural Entrance Tour. I highly recommend that you purchase the audio tour for this to get the full benefit of the tour. The Natural Entrance Tour takes DSCN4270you into the cavern through the same entrance used by Jim White. The lighting isn’t as bright as we experienced on the King’s Palace Tour and we had to use our flashlights to see some of the features. On this one-mile tour we descended 750 feet from the entrance along what were sometimes steep and narrow paths. I could just imagine what it was like for Jim White following much of the same route with only a candle or oil lantern to light his way. Unlike other caves we have visited (Mammoth Cave, Carter Cave, and Jewel Cave), the rooms in Carlsbad Caverns are just huge!

DSCN4429The Big Room Tour is a one-mile walk around the perimeter of the largest room in the cavern. The Big Room was SO HUGE that, no matter what I did, I couldn’t DSCN4375get a picture that would capture the size of this place. To give you an idea how huge the room is, it covers an area of 8.2 acres. Around every curve there was another geologic feature – flowstone, gypsum columns, “popcorn” ceilings, and crystal clear pools to name a few. It was a very impressive tour.

Our last morning was the worst part of the whole stay. The temperature dropped into the 20’s overnight and the campground water faucet was frozen. It made dumping our waste tanks a bit of a challenge, but we were soon on our way to San Antonio.

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Sedona & Tempe, AZ – November 2014

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Michigan Traveler

Sedona-Phoenix mapOver the years we had heard countless people talk about Sedona and what a wonderful place it is to visit. This seemed the perfect time to check it out. We had several campgrounds to choose from in the Flagstaff area and around Sedona, and we settled on the Dead Horse Ranch State Park. This was a ranch that was sold to the State of Arizona to be a state park. The campground has nice sites that would accommodate a large trailer and several local hiking trails. I even found some geocaches in the park.

DSCN4160We wandered around some of the shops in Sedona then headed south to explore some of the nearby attractions. We stopped at the Chapel of the Holy Cross. This is a chapel built on a rock feature. It was inspired and commissioned by local rancher and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude, who had been inspired in 1932 by the newly constructed Empire State Building. In 2007, Arizonans voted the Chapel to be one of the Seven Man-Made Wonders of Arizona.

DSCN4179After getting some recommendations from the volunteers in the Visitor Center, we decided to hike the Courthouse Butte Trail. This trail was a little over four miles and circled around the Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock. It was a great hike with terrific views of the surrounding area. It has some moderately challenging areas, but for the most part is level and easily trekked. The views of Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock are absolutely stunning. The weather was beautiful and we met some friendly people on the trail.

DSCN4183After the hike we drove to DSCN4185Tlaquepaque, Sedona’s Arts and Crafts Village. The facility is like a large southwest Hacienda with tranquil plazas, graceful arches, and dancing fountains. It has a collection of shops, DSCN4188galleries, and restaurants. We had fun wandering through the various shops and galleries. It is sometimes frustrating to see things I would like to buy, but we don’t have any space for them. We treated ourselves to dinner at the Oak Creek Brewery & Grill. The food was good as was the view of the mountains, sunlit by the setting sun.

DSCN4202The next day we drove to Jerome, America’s largest ghost town. This is a mining town built on the 30o slope of Cleopatra Hill. At its peak, Jerome was the fourth largest town in Arizona, with a population of 15,000. Today Jerome is a bustling tourist magnet and artistic community with a population of about 450. It includes a variety of artists, craft people, musicians, writers, hermits, bed and breakfast owners, museum caretakers, and gift shop proprietors. We spent some time wandering through the shops and enjoying to view of the valley below.

DSCN4206Jerome also hosts the Jerome State Park. This is the former Douglas mansion, designed by James “Rawhide Jimmy” DSCN4196Douglas. It was equipped with a wine cellar, billiard room, steam heat, and, ahead of its time – a central vacuum system. It is now a museum which exhibits photographs, artifacts, minerals, videos, and a 3-D model of the underground tunnels under the town.

The next morning, Wednesday, November 5th, we drove to Tempe, AZ.

DSCN4231We wanted to stop in the Phoenix area to visit some friends. We stayed at the Apache Palms RV Park in Tempe. We weren’t looking for a campground with a wilderness experience, but for one close to our friends to make the visiting convenient, this urban RV park fit the bill.

We visited our old friends from Michigan, Lewis and Marilyn Astroth. It was great to catch up on each others activities. They had recently taken a train tour into Western Canada and we compared notes and pictures of our travels. It was interesting to relive some of our experiences through eyes of someone else .

Debbie and Kermit Suits were on the RV caravan to Alaska with us. This was one of the few times we didn’t feel like we had to show our Alaska pictures, because they had their own! We had a nice evening eating and sharing stories. We hope we have the occasion to see them again in our travels.

The next day the RV park was busy with Notre Dame fans who were in town for the football game. Some of the “Fighting Irish” were camped next to us and the grill was going all day. They were a lot quieter when they returned from the Arizona win.

Sunday, November 9th, we were on our way to the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

 

 

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Las Vegas – October 2014

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Michigan Traveler

Sedona-Phoenix mapOur primary purpose for stopping in Las Vegas was to see some friends we made while on the caravan to Alaska. We stayed at the Desert Eagle RV Park – the MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) campground at Nellis AFB. This is a nice park that has won awards for its facilities and customer service.

We drove to Henderson to DSCN4132meet George and Ann. Between emails and phone calls we had our plans in place. We had done a lot of hiking together on the caravan and George had a local hike that he had been wanting to do. We had dinner together at their house and spent the night in their “casita,” a separate “little house” that is a great place for visitors to stay.  Their home is an ideal place for viewing the sunset.

DSCN1508After breakfast we drove to the Hot Springs Canyon Trail, near Boulder City. it was a hot day, but as we hiked into the canyon we entered the shade from the canyon walls. It was certainly different from our hikes together in Alaska, DSCN1510and the ones Pat and I made in Washington and Oregon. The terrain reminded me of my tour of duty in Saudi Arabia and Iraq during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. We thought the trail would take us past a hot spring that we could climb to on a permanently installed ladder. However, what we found is that the trail went directly into the hot spring and there were pools created by a series of sand bag coffer dams. We took off our shoes and waded DSCN4110through the pools and climbed down the ladder to finish hiking to the Colorado River. We had lunch on a bluff overlooking the river, the water was crystal clear and it was a perfect spot to eat. We hiked back along the White Rock Canyon Trail to complete the loop. It was an gentle grade, but hiking in the loose gravel of a dry river bed was a bit of a slog. However, the terrain was impressive as we saw multiple examples of rocks and other features created by the erosive force of the water that floods the canyon in times of high water.

After the hike we returned to George and Ann’s place, eased our muscles in the hot tub, and had a wonderful dinner together at a nearby restaurant. A great way to end a fun visit.

On Saturday, November 1st we drove to Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, AZ.

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Napa Valley – October 2014

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Michigan Traveler

DSCN4073As we drove south through the Napa Valley we were impressed by the vast number of wineries and vineyards. We knew this was THE place for wine, but never imagined this scale.

We stayed at the Skyline Wilderness Park. This is a nice campground with a large network of trails in the hills above the park. They were a great place for exercise – a major challenge! It was surprising to find such a wilderness area within a few miles of downtown Napa. During a visit to the visitor center in Napa we discovered there was a ferry that ran from Vallejo to San Francisco. We decided to make that the next item on our agenda.

DSCN3897As we rode the ferry to San DSCN3943Francisco, we had great views of the surrounding area including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Prison, and the San Francisco waterfront. This was much better than driving into San Francisco in our one-ton, dual-rear wheel pickup truck!

DSCN3947Our first stop was Pier 39 on Fisherman’s Wharf. It was fun wandering through the various shops. We also visited the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. DSCN3962I enjoyed viewing the displays that described the history of San Francisco harbor and the maritime trade. On the pier there were several ships tied up that we could go aboard to tour. As a maritime history buff, I admired the extent that these historic vessels had been restored.

DSCN3970No visit to the Fisherman’s Wharf area is complete without a visit to Ghirardelli Square. We were able to read about the history of the Ghirardelli family and the free samples were the best part of the visit.

We walked (climbed) Hyde DSCN3981Street to Lombard Street – the curviest street in the US. The view from here was phenomenal. Cable cars are emblematic of San Francisco and our next DSCN3997stop was the Cable Car Museum. This museum is housed in the central station for the cable car system and we could see the actual cable driving the cable cars on their routes. The history of the cable car system was very interesting, seeing it in actual operation was the icing on the cake.

We walked through Chinatown, DSCN4020with all of its interesting shops on our way. We passed through Nob Hill, representative of the “high class” neighborhoods of the past and boarded a cable car to ride to the Embarcadero. The best way to ride a cable car is to hang on to the outside rails.

DSCN4027Although it was overcast, we had a view of the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge on our return trip on the ferry.

Of course we had to visit some wineries. DSCN4030Our first stop was the Sutter Home Winery. In the early 1970s, Sutter Home started a trend when the company created White Zinfandel, introducing a new, sweeter flavor profile. They changed the way Americans enjoyed wine by offering them high-quality varietals at an affordable price. Years ago, Vera Trinchero, one of the owners, was diagnosed with breast cancer. So, in 2001, they launched Sutter Home for Hope, with the goal of raising money to help find a cure. Since then, they have raised over $900,000.00 for breast cancer research, treatment and education.

DSCN4032The Robert Mondavi Winery was DSCN4046our next stop. We had a great tour through the vineyard, fermentation vats and bottling area. This was followed by a wine tasting that was the most informative wine tasting I have ever attended. Our guide was just a wealth of information.

DSCN4063On our last day in the valley, we had a light lunch at the CIA – Culinary Institute of America. We wandered through the public areas and were able to see some of the kitchens and classrooms. DSCN4070On our way back to the campground we stopped in at the Beringer Winery and toured some classic architecture. It has been interesting to see the uniqueness of each winery and how they reflected the character of their founders.

On Monday, October 27th we departed on a two day sprint to Las Vegas.

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