Tim Joins Me - Hitting The Parks

Saturday morning, June 11th, I headed out from Carmel By the River RV park to the Santa Cruz bus terminal where Tim was to arrive around 9:50 am -- he figured to save me some of the drive time to San Jose but, probably cost him more time.  He also had made reservations for campsites near each of the parks:

June 12th to June 15th at Yosemite Pines RV Resort in Groveland, CA (near Yosemite)

June 15th to June 17th at Sequoia RV Ranch in Three Rivers, CA (near Sequoia N P)

June 17th to June 19th at Pinnacles Campground in Pinnacles Nat'l Monument, CA

This June 11th meeting with Tim was the only specific date I had to meet anyone on my travel around the country other than early July in Denver to catch my niece and nephew before they headed on their vacations.

I looked forward to having Tim's company in the pop-up and sharing the time together -- just he and I.  My only other vacation time in CA was two years ago when I visited him and Kathryn shortly after they had become engaged -- I was first to visit them after the engagement and got to see where he proposed at Half Moon Bay, hiked the trails and beach surrounding the spot (and a few other places in days following).  I had many pictures from July '09 including them and some of the wonderful sights along the beach -- all luring me back to discover more about California.

 

After meeting up with Tim, we had a good breakfast there in Santa Cruz before heading back and we stopped briefly in a small town on the beach near Marina.  We took a walk along the beach while I had the oil changed in the Jeep at a small auto repair shop nearby -- hadn't been done since I left Virginia some 3000 miles ago.  We also stopped at an organic farmers market near the RV park and picked up some more fresh fruit -- like the "Galia Melons" (which were fantastic).  Then, we headed to Point Lobos State Park and hiked around for the afternoon -- saw some sea lions in a cove below us but, my camera failed again and didn't get any pictures of the beautiful scenery or the wildlife (major disappointment and Tim had not brought a camera either).  Time for a new camera -- Googled the nearest Costco (found one in Salinas on the way to Yosemite).

Yosemite Pines RV Resort (two Yurts behind)

After stopping at the Costco to get a new camera (an Olympus with 10x zoom), we hauled the camper/trailer across the valley to Groveland, CA a short distance from Yosemite.  Since Tim was now with me, we set the pop-up including the awning (which requires two people to do so).  Neighbors were in "Yurts" behind us and no one on the other side.  Turns out some of these folks on motorcycles had been relocated from Yosemite proper as some of the campsites had been flooded -- waters were raging from all the spring run-off.

We went back into Groveland and picked up some more groceries at the local market -- another Galia Melon (Yummy).  Tim was able to get WiFi on his computer but, it was the first time my 3G Sprint broadband device could not get me service.  The RV park had a petting zoo too and we enjoyed a few moments with the little kids joining in to feed the rambuncuous goats climbing on each other or on the Llamas to get the clover or grass we had in hand.  Some were poking their heads through openings in the fence.

Had a fire that night, a couple beers, hot dogs, some soup and salad (probably some of those potato chips from the huge bag we bought too).  Next day would be Yosemite.