It was a fantastic trip. One of my alltime favorites. Northern California was just what my soul needed to reset. We had lots of laughs and saw some really cool sights. A few things I hadn't mentioned. On the whale watch, we witnessed the crew pull out a mylar balloon bouquet from the ocean. The crew said they look like jelly fish to the sea inhabitants and are a threat to their survival. It was pretty impactful to see them scoop it out. Also, evidence of the drought can be seen all over as you drive the state. Hopefully they will get slow, gentle rain soon. Lastly, to stand among the giant redwoods is something that words and pictures can not do justice. Everyone should see them in their lifetime.

After that we headed to red rock country and sedona. So pretty there.

Today we headed North to escape the brutal heat of Phoenix. First stop was Montezuma Castle ruins. They were really cool to see.

Yesterday we had a chance to squeeze in a visit to Fort Point and Chrissy Field. They are the remnents of a time when the Presidio and the Golden Gate area was militarized to protect the bay. The views were stunning and it was another beautiful, fog free day. We were also there during a really fun run, the Avon39 for Breast Cancer research. The participants were having a great time! In the afternoon we caught our flight to Phoenix to begin our journey home.

And Max did some pigeon chasing on the pier.

We also saw FDR's presidential yacht.

We drove back down south today to Oakland, via Napa Valley. More really beautiful views. But being Saturday it was supe busy, so only a few pics. Relaxed and enjoyed our view of Oakland Bay and Max finally got to swim. It's been too cold! Tomorrow we fly back to Phoenix, but not until the afternoon. We plan to take the ferry to fishermans wharf in the morning just to enjoy the ride and check out the views.

We saw a black tailed deer, two wild turkeys, a couple of birds we couldn't identify, and several Stellar Jays at lunch. We got in trouble for feeding them. 😨

The middle is Max standing by the high water marker in Meott. The others are closeups of some of the greens from the forest.

Today we did Humboldt state park. More of these unbelievable giants.

I love the place we are staying. It's a little 2 bedroom cottage on the Avenue of Giants. It is so quaint an cozy. We have a fire going roght now for naptime. The village of Miranda is a half mile stretch of road and is just adorable. Pretty sure I could stay here forever.

Fun day making our way further north today. We drove through chandelier tree, explored some oddities and big foot gift stores, saw grandfather tree and a tiny home built from one redwood log. The gift stores reminded us of the mystery shack in the Disney show Gravity Falls. It's just so beautiful here. I can't even put into words how amazing it is.

Started out morning on Glass Beach in Fort Bragg. In the 40's there was a glass factory here and they dumped glass waste into the ocean. Even after decades of beach combers, there is a lot sea glass. It was very cool. And with the time difference working on our side, Heather and I were there all alone.

We spent about 7 hours driving up highway one. It was just stunning. And remarkably isolated. Rarely had a phone signal and miles at a time without seeing any type of business. Lots of pullovers to enjoy the view and a fantastic lunch in Stinson Beach. I put that town at the top of my retirement list! Tomorrow we head to the avenue of Giants. We will spend 2 nights at Miranda Groves cottages. I am not sure we will have any wifi or cell reception for a couple of days. So no worries if if no update tomorrow.

PS-we had Jarrito sodas in glass bottles for lunch. Max asked if he could take his straw out and drink it like a beer. We all had a laugh over that one. We also caught him taking a selfie at GGB this morning. He was trying hard to get just the right shot. He sure is growing up fast. He has done so well on this trip. Even today on our long, leisurely drive.

Next we stopped in Muir Woods. It is so beautiful there. We got our first glimpse of redwoods. These are smaller than the ones we will see tomorrow. We ran into a ranger who told us a lot about the trees. Including that their pinecone is the size of an olive. Sure enough, we found one on the ground and it was tiny! This area was young for an oldgrowth forest, around 2000 years old.

Today we started out with a stop at the edge of Golden Gate bridge before driving over. We were lucky again that it was not shrouded in fog. There is an outdoor interactive area the gives some history. That was nice since the visitor center was not open yet.

Odds and ends, here are a few more photos from the whale watch. We saw harbor seals, risso dolphins, and a black footed albatross (not pictured). We had a long, but very fun day.

We came back to San Francisco on the Pacific Coast Highway and were treated to some specatular views.

Max tried a program to camouflage himself. Here are a few takes.

We headed to the Monterey aquarium after and it was really impressive. They had loads of jellies and a lot of diversity. A very impressive place.

We carried on to see if we could find the blue. The main reason we went with a company over 2 hours from San Francisco was because of their success in seeing the blues. It was at the top of my bucket list. This summer the water is warmer along the coast, and they haven't been spotting them as regularly. Si we were thrilled when we started seeing the spouting of a blue! You can see it from a good distance. The whale was only up a bit then went into a dive. They will usually dive for 15-20 minutes and may travel 2 miles during their dive. So usually, they spout, you race to get as close as you can, then they dive and move away from you. Well not this blue. She came up after 2 minutes and was a little closer. The pix don't do it justice. It was a thrilling experience!

Wow. What a day! We got up early and drove down to Monterey Bay. We started the day with a whale watch tour. The company, Monterey Bay Whale Watching, was really outstanding. We saw a minke whale-rare to see because they are so quick and shy. Next we came across two humpbacks. Before anyone could take pics, a spotter contacted our crew of marine biolgists and naturalists with a tip of a blue whale sighting. We headed south to big sur to check it out. Along the way we came across theee more humpbacks at the surface. We got to see them spout and saw the flukes of 2 of them.

My favorite photo of the day

We ended our sightseeing day in chinatown, where we visited a fortune cookie factory and did some souvenir shopping. We are all excited about our trip to Monterey Bay tomorrow and Whale watching!

When our city tour ended we checked out the NPS Maritime museum, which was actually a pier full of boats. When we were in the visitors center to get our NPS passport stamps, the man at the desk had a huge face tattoo and floppy lobes that had been gauged before. He was probably 70 years old. Max took it all in stride. He is such a good little traveller.

Next we went to the Castro area, which is very important in LGBT history. We saw the first ever openly gay bar, Castro theater and the HRC's hq. Our guide told us about how Harvey Milk convinced the gay community to invest in their community, and how the Castro used to be a sketchy area but now its one of the nicest areas.

We also toured Haight Ashbury and saw where Janus Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and the Greatful Dead lived there. We also got to see some beautiful painted ladies. Our guide grew up in SF and was very knowledgeable about the history of the city.

Such a fun day!! We started with a trolly ride to fishermans wharf where we began our city tour in a vw bus. It was awesome and we saw so much! Started with the Presidio and up tonthe Golden Gate bridge. Then we rolled through Golden Gate park.

Leaving AZ and headed to CA in a few. We visited the Desert Botanical Garden today and the Heard Museum of Native American culture. We saw a Hopi hoop dancer and in the end his chidren came out to dance the eagle dance. They pretty much stole the show. The flora and fauna here are other worldly. I am including a few snapshots of that too.

We explored the beautiful grounds of the Tempe Mission Palms this morning. There was a wedding going on when we got here so we didn't want to intrude. That orange Max has nearly fell on my head. Heather and grandma tried it. It was very tart.

The hotel pool is shoulder to shoulder people. And still above 100 degrees. We are chilling in the A/C. Had some delicious Mellow Mushroom pizza for dinner. Enjoying day one of our vacation adventure!

Made it to Phoenix. It's hella hot here. 🔥🔥we walked about an 1/8th of a mile from airport to rental car. The Alamo employees greeted us at the door with a sense of urgency to get chilled bottles of water in our hands. Yep. It's that hot. A mere stroll was treated as if it were a marathon.