San Franscico, the Redwoods and Oregon

San Francisco: We parked the RV in Antioch, Ca at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds. With our Escapee discount, the $20 fee was only $17. The site was a full hook up, but unfortunately the sewer was located too far away for our hose to reach. The location was just a plain lot in a chain link fence, but it was perfect for our purpose. We drove to the local BART station (Bay Area Rapid Transit), paid $1 to park all day, and rode the train into San Francisco. The cost for 2 round-trip tickets was $23.80 which was more than we hoped, but it was much better than driving into San Fran, trying to find a place to park, and paying whatever they wanted to charge. Plus the streets really do run almost straight up and down, and who wants to deal with that?

We went to China town and found the main street of it (Grant Street) was also nothing but tourist shops; it looked like a Chinese version of Tijuana. But just one street over was quite different. That street, Grant, was lined with small shops selling mostly food. They don’t cut the heads off the chickens or ducks before they sell them, they sell tea leaves in small balls, and they don’t translate their store signs into English. It was really pretty interesting to wander along with the crowds who were, apparently, doing their daily shopping. We couldn’t understand what was for sale, how much it costs or what it would be used for, because all the signs were in Chinese, but it was a lot of fun!

We walked along Fisherman’s Warf, which was almost all tourist shops. There is an area where they have a series of different types of ships that is very interesting. We didn’t have time to explore the boats but I think it would have been a lot of fun and educational. There was one that is an old ferry and it has a series of old cars and trucks on it.

But the real reason we went to San Fran was to see Alcatraz.












First lesson: There are several agencies that sell Alcatraz tours, but there is only one tour, Alcatraz Cruises. So all the others are selling that one tour plus their own add-ons, and charging for the add-ons. The actual tour is booked through Alcatraz Cruise and booking through them is the best value. (Note: Food and Drink is cheaper on the ferry than it is at the dock.) The ferry to the island was a short trip, and you can leave the island on any outgoing ferry you like, so you determine the length of your stay (the previous inmates would have loved that!). We watched a short moving that the Discovery Channel had made about the Island history and listened to Ranger John Cantwell talk about the escape attempts. He was very good and had a lot of background information. According to the Government, there was no successful escapes from Alcatraz but there are a few, 4 or 5, inmates who are not accounted for. Apparently there is an annual Alumni Reunion of guards and ex-prisoners who get together every year. It seems a bit odd, but on the other hand, the number of people who lived on Alcatraz when it was a prison, either voluntarily or not, is a small group and there is apparently some feeling of fellowship among them.

Afterwards we took an audio tour through the actual prison. We saw the old jail cells and warden office, as well as the recreation yard. Very few people died at Alcatraz, but to me it felt like it should be haunted. And the clash of those steel doors shutting stays with you…. (Be sure to hear the cell doors shut. If you must find a ranger and ask when they will be demonstrating the shutting mechanism.)

After we left the San Fran area, we spend one night at the Redwood Acres Fairgrounds in Eureka, California. Eureka is a really charming town. It is full of huge, old buildings and homes that have been carefully restored and painted in the Victorian “Painted Lady” style. This is some of the best paintwork we have seen, and it’s impressive to see street after street of these beauties.


Redwoods: We decided to stay in Klamath, which is about the halfway point in the large Redwood Forrest National Park. Several RV parks are in Klamath so we thought it would be a fair sized town. However, it’s a very, very small town – not much here besides RV parks. The one gas station didn’t have a grocery store or even a working tire pump, both of which we needed, so we had to drive 15 miles north to Crescent City. However, that wasn’t too much of an inconvenience.

We drove highway 101 into town, and after awhile I remembered what it reminded me of – the old Route 66 era. There are kitschy tourist stops all along the way, such as drive-through trees and the “Trees of Mystery”. Still, if we weren’t in a big RV with a towed Jeep that takes so much room to maneuver, it might be fun to stop at some of these spots, just for grins.

It alternated between rain, sun and fog all day, but we only had one day here so we set out on the Newman Parkway drive. It is the old highway 101 and it goes right through the forest. We parked a couple of spots and walked up some hiking trails into the forest.

This forest if very different from the Sequoia area. Here the forest has very thick undergrowth and many of the trees are covered in moss, up to an inch thick. Everything was so green that when we were walking through the forest, the air almost had a green glow. This forest has a slightly dangerous feel to it – like you could get lost and never be found. The redwoods have that stately majesty that is the birthright of huge things, but the forest below them is wild and overgrown. That, of course, is one of its main beauties.

We also drove along the Costal drive a bit, against the advice of our camp host. He described it as having potholes “bigger than your Jeep” but Randy was able to drive on the road just fine. The reward was some spectacular views of the rocky shoreline and the endless ocean.

Oregon: Saturday we parked in Midway RV park in Coos Bay. It’s a very pretty park, with privacy hedges between the sites. The coastline is so amazing – it’s so different from the calm beaches in the south. Here the shore is rocky and big waves crash in endlessly.













It’s so beautiful that we stood out in the cold rain to see it – for a few minutes, anyway. The rain is staying with us, unfortunately. But this area has great coastlines and some interesting things. We may stay here a couple of extra days. We do have to be in Seattle by next weekend – we have to get tires for the Jeep at Sam’s, and there aren’t many Sam’s Clubs on the West Coast.