Perfect day at Pinnacles

San Francisco is a noisy city. Noisy during the day AND at night. This morning, I awakened prematurely to the sound of a garbage truck doing its rounds. Slam, bang, roar! That, coupled with bed covers that were too heavy and warm, resulted in me getting up early. As I left the city going south, I got caught in some rush hour traffic. The northbound traffic was much, much worse. I wonder if people are excused when they show up late for work everyday? As I traveled down US Hwy 101, I passed through the town of Gilroy, garlic capital of the world! And, yes, I smelled garlic!

My fun destination of the day was Pinnacles National Park. I had visited this park twice in past road trips, and my plan for today was hiking a 1.5 mile loop trail to Bear Gulch Cave. The weather was perfect...sunny in the mid-70s and blue skies. It made for picture perfect scenery of the rocks and spring foliage.  Can you see the rock climbers in the third photo?

 

The cave was really cool...literally.  The temperature inside the cave was much lower than outside it. It was fun negotiating the water hazard and climbing up the rock steps to the exit. It was pretty dark for most of the cave walk, but I had brought a flashlight to see the path.

As I walked along the trail, I had my eye out for wildlife.  I was not disappointed.  Well, maybe a little.  I was hoping to see California condors, but all there were in the skies were turkey vultures.

Besides a lone lizard, the rest of my wildlife sightings were birds.  California quail, Western scrub jay and acorn woodpeckers.  It was the first time I had seen acorn woodpeckers, and they were busy working on their granary tree...where they store their acorns for future meals.

Well, tomorrow morning I'll be making the drive to Los Angeles. I'll be spending a week there, seeing the sights and having more fun. This road trip has gone pretty good so far. Who knows what surprises might be in store for me in the City of Angels.

A whole lotta driving...and ice cream!

I had an early wake up this morning...6:00 am...because I had a six hour drive ahead of me. When I left Klamath, CA this morning, it was a bit foggy among the redwoods. But, as US Hwy 101 left the trees behind and hugged the coast, it was all sun for the rest of the day. At one point, a driver coming in the opposite direction flashed his headlights in warning. As I rounded the bend, I saw why...elk crossing the road! I pulled off and snapped a few pics. A lot of them had already crossed and others decided to just stay put.

When I reached my destination of the day...San Francisco...I found the traffic in parts of the city particularly bad. There was a whole lot of street repairs going on, and I got stuck in the gridlock. After asking my GPS for alternatives, I took a roundabout way of getting to Union Square. I left my car in a parking garage and walked a few blocks to the Museum of Ice Cream. This special exhibit explores the history and fun of the sweet, frozen treat.

Tickets for this unusual museum have been hard to get, and I lucked out when they extended the San Francisco run and it fell within my road trip. I opted not to participate in all the fun, such as the sprinkles pool...as in simulated candy sprinkles. But, I DID partake in the ice cream! I had a sorbet cone, a coconut bar and mint chip mochi. If you don't know what mochi is, it's a chewy, sometimes sweet, confection made from pounded cooked rice. There were also colorful oversized displays of items that you would find on ice cream desserts...cherries, gummy bears, whipped cream. As for the unicorn, it represents things you dream about in life.

Tomorrow, I'm planning to visit a park and do a little hiking. I'll be looking forward to getting a good night's sleep...on my own pillow. My pit stop hotel has supplied me with half pillows again. They might be pretty to look at, but my head can't stay put on them!

Celebrating National Zoo Lover's Day

It continued to rain this morning when I left Eugene, OR, but the weather forecast looked promising where I was going. I left my hotel just after 7:00 am and made it to West Coast Game Park Safari in Bandon in time for their 10:00 am opening. It was fitting that I visited this zoo on National Zoo Lover's Day. I've been to this particular one several times in the past, and have always experienced something new. Even though I've seen most of the same animals, I'm always looking for great photo opportunities. I was surprised to see the wallabies eating evergreen boughs, and a female peacock...I guess it's called a peahen...wanted to join the capybaras in their warm house.

Even though many of the animals were in chain-link enclosures, I forced my camera to focus through the links and got some sweet head shots. Here are a Canadian lynx, an African leopard and a bobcat. It was easier to get pics of the African lion and white tiger. The lion was VERY interested in the deer and goats roaming freely on the zoo grounds. Not sure why it's tongue is visible...that's known as blepping. The tiger looked quite noble with crossed paws.

Shortly afterward, I got to pet the real deal...a lynx kitten and a bobcat kitten. So cute! I also petted a Patagonian mara...that's a large South American rodent...a red fox and my favorite, cuddled an opossum! The opossum is the same one I've held in the past and it never gets old.

After a wonderful morning at the zoo, I was ready for lunch. I stopped at Battle Rock Wayside Park in Port Orford, and ate in the car, enjoying the scenery. The remnants of yesterday's storm was still evident in the ocean's violent wave action. I got some great photos there and further down the road at Arch Rock.

Tomorrow, I have a long drive to San Francisco, where I'll be visiting a very special tourist attraction. It will be another early wake up. I always get a good sleep with my own pillow. By the way, last night's hotel had regular pillows and tonight's hotel actually has KING SIZE pillows! Not that it matters.

Oregon road tripping: Everyone knows it's Windy!

Yes, it's that time of the year...time for my spring road trip! Actually, it officially started yesterday, but it was spent driving to Portland, OR. After saying my goodbyes to my cat, I headed out. Things didn't start out so well, though. I planned to take an early lunch at Wendy's, but they couldn't serve food until they got a replacement cook! I drove a little further down the road to another Wendy's that WAS serving food. Things still didn't go my way because their Coke Freestyle machine didn't have my favorite Dave's orange cream soda! I decided to try the berry vanilla root beer...I know, a weird combination. When you have your heart set on something and the alternative just isn't up to snuff, it's somewhat of a downer. It was raining on and off from the time I left home, but as I crossed into Oregon, it was SUNNY. The sun was shining and the mid-60s temps actually felt HOT to me. Of course, part of my discomfort was probably the raincoat I was wearing.

Before going to bed last night, the weather forecast in western Washington and Oregon was ominous. Gusty winds and rain all night and into the next day. Things didn't look bad when I left my Portland hotel. It was breezy and I could even see blue skies. I decided to skip the hotel breakfast, opting instead to grab something sweet from the famous Voodoo Doughnut. I ate a Portland Cream in the car and saved a Voodoo Doll to eat later.

After a quick side trip to Uwajimaya in Beaverton to pick up snacks, lunch and tomorrow's dinner...where I'm staying has very few places to eat...I headed over to the Oregon Zoo. When I arrived, the weather continued to be quite pleasant...a little breezy and no sign of rain. The Oregon Zoo is fairly small compared to other big city zoos, but it more than makes up for it with large enclosures, quality displays and a nice collection of animals.

Mountain Goat

Amur Leopard

Amur Tiger

Hadada Ibis

Southern Ground Hornbill

Naked Mole Rat

When I entered the Predators of the Serengeti exhibit, I arrived just in time for the lion enrichment presentation. To keep the lions happy and stimulated, the keepers place ground meat all around a small enclosure, then let them find the treats. No doubt, the lions look forward to it!

After I exited the building, the skies opened up and the rain came down. I already noticed most of the animals chose to the spend the day out of the weather. That included these two cheetahs who looked very comfortable snuggling up together. 

The Oregon Zoo's Elephant Lands exhibit, displaying five resident Asian elephants, is the largest and best in the country. A huge facility with multiple habitats allows the elephants the freedom to roam where and when they want. Meadows, water pool, mud wallows and feeding stations simulate their natural environment and they are free to interact with each other.

 

The elephants didn't mind the rain, but the same could not be said of the California condors in the Condors of the Columbia exhibit. The three birds on display cannot be released into the wild, but are part of Oregon's successful condor breeding program. After the rain stopped and the sun came out, the condors took full advantage and spread their impressive wings to dry out.

I had my sushi lunch in the car, then encountered the forecasted gusty winds and more rain as I drove south to my pit stop for the night. Tomorrow, I'm planning another zoo day and some Oregon coast scenery. The weather forecast looks a lot more promising compared to today. Crossing my fingers that I see lots of sun, which makes picture taking much more pleasurable. Oh, and in case you thought that I got over my disdain for hotel half pillows...I haven't! This is what greeted me yesterday when I entered my hotel room. Like usual, it made no difference because I brought my own pillow.