Last full day of the Vacation

We left Santa Cruz around 8:30 and headed north on highway 1 along the coastline. There was off and on fog along the way - making the drive even more scenic. We stopped at several places - a lighthouse and a very small town/village that was just off the main road. This is one of my favorite parts of California. It's amazing that it can be so close to San Francisco and yet so different.

When we got into the San Francisco area, we stopped at Fort Funston which is a park where I've flown hang gliders in the past. It was a little foggy and there were not pilots there until we were leaving. We didn't stay to watch them fly (been there - done that).

Since the fog was still kinda low, we decided to go into San Francisco and then check out the Golden Gate Bridge in the afternoon. We went down to Fisherman's Wharf area and hung out there for a while - having some lunch and doing tourist things. We drove on some of the super steep streets and went to the top of Lombard street (the really crooked one that you see on TV).

Later, we drove across the Golden Gate bridge and up to a good area to view it from on the north side.

In late afternoon, we drove back down to Half Moon Bay and checked into our hotel. This is a super cool town with a really good vibe. There's not a lot of places I would want to live in California (been there - done that too), but this is one of the exceptions. We had dinner outside on the patio at the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company which is located out at the harbour and just south of the airstrip.

We'll be flying out of San Francisco today. Mom and Dad have a direct flight to Charlotte. Jan and I will be connecting in Atlanta, then to Daytona. Tomorrow - there will be humidity!

Looking out over parts of San Francisco

Mom and Dad at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

The Ft. Funston hang gliding launch is just behind mom and dad.

Alcatraz!

To the Coast

Mom & Dad at the Old Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey

We got up in Oakhurst, CA, had some breakfast and then got on the road. Our path took us through the Central Valley and then over the mountains, and to the sea.

We passed through Gilroy -the garlic capital of the world - a place Jan has always loved to visit. They have everything 'garlic' here including garlic ice cream.

We then headed over to the beach at Marina. Marina, California is my favorite hang gliding site in the world. If I could only pick one place to fly - this would be it. You can fly miles to the south of launch and pilots have gotten thousands of feet high here - just getting up from the dunes and into the convergence of the sea breeze and the land air mass. It's a wonderful playground that the average hang glider pilot makes the mistake of not appreciating enough.

We then headed over to Old Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey and had some lunch and did a little shopping. Driving down to Carmel-by-the-Sea, we walked around the town, looking in the local shops and such.

In the mid afternoon, we headed over to my buddy Jim John's boat in Monterey, where he currently has it 'hauled out' on land and is doing a little painting on it. (For some stupid reason, I didn't take a photo of Jim)

From there, we drove up to Santa Cruz, checked into our hotel and then went over to my buddy Rusty's house where he and his gal Angela have really done a great job of remodeling their first house. We then all went over to the Wharf in Santa Cruz, met up with an old hang gliding buddy - Tim Shea (and his gal Mary) and had dinner at a great Mexican place. I met Tim about 15 years ago when I came out to this area and did a series of hang gliding clinics. Tim turned "professional" as a hang glider pilot for a number of years, but now works as a building inspector for the city of Santa Cruz.

After dinner we spent some time on the Santa Cruz boardwalk - which is like a permanent county fair. Dad had a deep fried twinkie and played a carnival game. Both he and mom really seemed to enjoy the day.

Today is the last full day of the trip. We're off to San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge as well as other stuff.
Mom on Jim's Boat

The hang gliding site at Marina

Me and Rusty at his house

Flowers in Gilroy

Tim, Me and Rusty on the Wharf in Santa Cruz

The longest day....

We got up monday morning in Lone Pine at sunrise to be able to see the sun hitting the Sierras at the perfect angle. The time I've spent in this area in the past had me knowing exactly what I wanted Mom and Dad to see and it was beautiful. After having breakfast, and going up Whitney Portal Road to take a group photo, we headed north in the Owens Valley. I called a long time friend of jan and I - Kari Castle - who has lived in the Owens Valley for a long time and told her we wanted to stop by for a quick visit.

Kari is an extraordinary person. She's been mulitple Woman's World Hang Gliding Champion and friends who have seen my film "Pura Vida Flying" may remember her as 1 of the main stars. Kari has just bought herself a perfect house - north of Bishop in a beautiful Oasis at the foot of the Sierras. It has a stream running through it with a nice little pond. It's a nearly perfect place! I'm so excited for her. After spending about an hour at Kari's place, we got back on the road headed north.
Me and Kari at her place.

At Lee Vining, we gassed up the car and had some lunch then headed west toward Tioga Pass. This is one of my favorite drives with the stark background and the steep climb to the pass at just under 10,000 feet. We drove through the High Sierras and then into the Yosemite Valley. It is a spectacular place and anyone who has never been there - needs to make a point of seeing it.

After having a snack at the Awahnee Hotel, we headed out to check out Bridal Veil Falls and then on to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias.

It was a very long day and we settled into the Hotel in Oakhurst after dinner.

Today, we're headed to Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Marina and then Santa Cruz for the night.

Tioga Pass. You can see the road in the background beside dads hat brim.



Bridal Veil Falls

Mom and Dad at the Awahnee Hotel.

Day 4 - Death Valley and Owens Valley

We were on the road at 8am this morning toward Lone Pine California - via Death Valley. I think we must have climbed about 30,000 feet of mountain ranges - as there are many between those two points. There are many things to do and see at all of our destinations - but we just can't do and see them all in the amount of time we have allotted for the trip, so we have to hit the highlights.

While we stopped to look at a lot of things in Death Valley, the highlight would have to be Badwater Basin - which his the lowest point in the western hemisphere - at 282 ft below sea level. It was stifling hot there (yesterday's high was 120) so we didn't spend a lot of time out in the sun on the 'salt flat' which makes up this low point.

From there, we drove over more mountain ranges - some quite steep and high to the Owens Valley -a place Jan and I have spent some time in our earlier days together. The Owens Valley used to be the premier hang gliding spot in the world and it's an EXTREME place to hang glide with some of the worst turbulence on the planet. I first flew the Owens in 1988 when Jan and I took our first trip out west. I few it other times when we would run trips there when I worked in San Diego for the 'Hang Gliding Center'. After checking into our hotel in Lone Pine, we drove up to Walt's Point - a famous hang gliding launch site. It was cool to show mom and dad some of the places I've flown before - especially this one - because of it's obvious extreme nature.

From Walt's Point, we drove back down into the valley to the Alabama Hills - the main reason I brought them to Lone Pine. This is where hundreds of old black and white western movies were filmed and we drove around the rugged landscape and (using a guide from the chamber of commerce) we found the exact locations where the cameras were placed during the filming of some of these old films. The 'guide' had some photos of the scenes with rough directions of how to get to the filming position. We went to each of 10 and took photos from the same angle. It was a fun time and Dad really loved it.

Monday, we'll be headed up the Owens Valley and turning west into the upper meadows of Yosemite. Should be a blast.

Hoover Dam

Walt's Point Hang Gliding Launch

Mom and Dad at Badwater Basin

Badwater

Alabama Hills