By Jim.
Our drive from Bodega Bay to San Jose Friday afternoon started with a smile-inducing milestone – it was warm enough for us to dress in short-sleeves (Ginny went totally crazy and opted for sleeveless)!
We traveled on US 101 and Interstates 580, 80 and 280, which equated to Memory Lane for me. I insisted on crossing the Bay Bridge so I could use the new eastern span that was completed recently.
That caused the mini-stressfest of the day. The bridge may be a 21st century marvel, but it seems to have preserved the original 1930s-vintage toll booths. If the Iz was a foot wider, we wouldn’t have made it through. As it was, I tiptoed along at a few mph, with Ginny in the Jeep behind me coaching me up (“A little to the left; a little more left; no, too much, go right!”) and probably with a lot of people dog-cussing me in cars behind us during this impromptu soap opera.
We arrived at Jim and Eileen Beckley’s house at the universally-acceptable hour to open the first bottle of wine of the evening (from Jim’s mighty impressive cellar) in their wonderful backyard garden, followed by a delicious steak dinner.
While all this was going on, Roxy got some revenge for being stuck in the Iz and missing the party.
Mercifully for the womenfolk, Jim and I didn’t spend the whole evening telling stories and semi-truths about good ole Woodside HS.
Jim arranged for us to play golf Saturday morning in the Livermore Valley, in the southern portion of the East Bay. It was another milestone morning as we got dressed – shorts! After driving past the Concannon and Wente Brothers wineries, we arrived at Poppy Ridge GC. As for the golf, the only number in the 70s was the temperature – it was about as perfect a weather day as anyone could hope for, which a couple of pasty-skinned Northwesterners savored!
After golf, we had a four-hour drive to Yosemite. We scaled the New Priest Grade (probably so named because it involves a few turns that would prompt a lot of people to appeal to a higher power to be their co-pilot),
past Lake Don Pedro and through some old Gold Rush towns (including the politically-incorrect Chinese Camp and Groveland, home of the self-proclaimed World’s Oldest Saloon – stay tuned for a full investigative report in a future post).
When we arrived, we had our first RV park disappointment – the place we booked was not nearly as nice as its Google reviews. We stayed there Saturday night, and were able to switch to a great Thousand Trails park Sunday morning, where we’ll be until Thursday.
Today is a chill-out day.
Tomorrow we go exploring Yosemite – Bridal Veil Falls is first on our list.