motorhomediaries

 We realized that this trip to SoCal was a good opportunity to visit a place we've never been, and plant the second and final letterbox in my Only Califronia Pirate Series.  My pirate, Hipolyte Bouchard, attacked Monterey and San Juan Capistrano in the early 1800's.  So off we went to Capistrano.  What a cute little town.  Pure trapo del touristo, but cute nonetheless.  The Mission, however, was fabulous.  Once considered the Jewel of the Missions, the main stone church was destroyed in an earchquake in the 1812.  What's left is pretty amazing, and you can just imagine the majesty of the building whole.  BUT, the oldest standing church in Califronia does remain: Serra Chapel, where at one time, Junipero Serra actually said mass.  Lovely.  Very Spanish, but still warm at the same time.  Still an active church.  The Mission grounds are well kept and the historical society obviously works hard for their money. http://www.missionsjc.com/ . We've bene in a lot of missions and this is one of the best.  Yes, even better than San Diego and Santa Inez, and that's saying something, as these two had been my favorites forever.  And there is even a timeline posted that includes the attack by Bouchard.  I was so excited. 

We had an appointment in Riverside at CT Coachworks to get some things done to the Beast.  Like finish the bar they'd started on the last trip down, and get a new and improved dryer that doesn't fry clothes.  The folks at Coachworks are the nicest ever.  Steve Thomas, the owner, gets right in there and does what needs be done.  CT is where the Beast was born, and they've taken pretty darn good care of him.  And Sherry did a fabuloso job on the bar.  Beats the heck out of a dishwasher for sure.  Anyway, we spent a couple of days back in Riverside just before Thanksgiving.  Rancho Jarupa park, bordering Rubidoux and in the shadow of Mount Rubidoux.  On a previous trip we hiked the mountain.  It has very popular hiking trails and a letterbox.   3 or 4 miles from Rancho Jarupa is Old Town Riverside, which is very nice.  Small, but lovely parks and buildings.  And the home of the Taco Station.  Once upon a time a gas station, the Taco Station is an outstanding "fast food" spot right on Mission.  The owner is always there, and the food is good and reasonable.  What better place for two unemployed and homeless people to have lunch.  We'd been there on previous visits and have yet to be disappointed.  We ate outside because we had Bogart with us.   We were on a letterbox hunt further in downtown Riverside, but all the times we've been here, we've never taken pictures until this trip. 

The Mission Inn is a lovely hotel that was built a century ago in the "mission style".  That is, its built to look like a California mission.  Absolutely gorgeous.  On previous visits we ate at the Mexican restaurant, outside, with a pretty darn good mariachis band.  That was a lot of fun.  Terrific patio and good food.  Again, quite reasonable.  The next time we were here, we had dinner with Ron at Duane's.  This fine dining restaurant is something out of a different decade.  That decade back when restaurants had amazing service.  The embiance is fabulous, and our waiter, Bogart (yes, Bogart) )  A perfect gentleman, attentive withough being annoying, and patient as hell considering we never order off a menu...ever.  Great wine list, great menue, and the food lived up to the service.  We actually had caesers made tableside.  Now, when was the last time you saw that.  Rocked.  And, really, it was pretty reasonable for what we got too.  I won't call it an inexpensive evening, but worth every penny.  The bar is gorgeous also, except both time we've been there the lounge music left something to be desired.  This particular guy needs to find a new line of work...I hope this isn't his day job, ya know?  This time, we didn't eat at the Inn, but we did walk by and take pictures.  They were just decorating the place.  Its huge.  There are a lot of spots to decorate and I couldn't get it all but here is what captured my camera lens.

Wow, out of commission and disconnected for most of November.  We have been places without internet access, and most recently without even phone access.  Can't say we missed it, really.  I would like to express gratitide to those who made our brief stay in the Bay Area a pleasure:

The Golf View gang - The Halloween shindig rocked.  That side of the street IS better.  I'm so happy that something Sue and I just threw together so many years ago has become the tradition it has.  And, Kathy, thanks for carrying on the Toys for Tots thing too.

Pam and Rudy:  great evening with you guys.  Always a pleasure; we really miss our evenings with you.  See you in Austin.

Mare and Casey - what can I say?  You guys are the best.  Thanks for joining us for dinner, and Mare, thanks for coming down to the Pinns.  Great hike.

The Penumbra Gang - It meant a lot to Mark to have y'all come to lunch, and to just welcome him back so warmly.  Thanks for lunch, Kathleen, great sushi. 

Trudy - thanks for lunch.  It was great spending the time with you. 

Jon and Lettie - nice evening; it was nice jsut sitting and talking all evening.  We miss you.  Thanks for dinner.

Patti and Bill - Great brunch.  I wasn't hungry for days.  I'm so happy we were able to get together.

Steve and Marina - lovely evening.  Thank you for a good traditional dinner.

And Sarah and Brian, for whom we returned to the Bay Area in the first place.  Congraulations; the wedding was beautiful.  Thank you for including us in your life.

This short sojourn back into the bowels of mass civilization was sobering.  The crappy roads, the traffic, the crowds.  Yeah.  Not something we miss.  And not likely something we're going to rush back to any time soon.  Does that mean we're gone for good?  Probably not.  But we'd rather you all come visit us.

A year ago we spent a couple of days at the Pinnacles National Monument, http://www.nps.gov/pinn/index.htm,  which is not nearly enough time.  We vowed we'd return.    And really, its such a short drive from San Jose, I can't beleive we didn't spend tons of time there over the years.  But I digress.  This place rocks.  Literally.  Some of the most amazing rock formations ever.  And hiking trails.  Last year we did the High Peaks trail, which is just over 10 miles roundtrip from the campground.  It was brutal, but I'm blaming the heat that day because 10 miles isn't that bad.  We did not repeat that hike this time, why bother.  But we did every other trail.  The Balcony Caves Trail was simply amazing.  Climbing through, into and out of caves was very cool.  Should brought 2 flashlights, but who knew it was really that dark?  According to the new little gadget Mark has, that was 10.77 miles round trip.  But the weather was a ton cooler than that day last September.  

We also did the Bear Gulch Reservoir hike.  Probably the prettiest hike in the park.  The several trails that get you to the lake cover such interesting terrain, including the bear gulch cave with is no way as interesting, or scary, as the Balcony caves.   When we hiked there with Sue, we hiked from the campground and had lunch above the lake.  The next day Marilyn and I hiked there from the day use area at Bear Gulch.  But then we continued up the trail beyond the lake on the Chalone trail, past the Little Pinnacles.  A good hike. 

The Tunnel trail, up to the other side of High Peaks, was a little disappointing.  The hike was good, but the tunnels weren't that interesting.  Actually, the hike itself was a pretty darn good challenge.  And because it ventures onto the west side of the park, as we did it on a Saturday, parts of the trail were heavily populated. 

Mark at the entrance to the Balcony Caves and a photo in the only section with enough light to take a photo.  The only section light enough to see at all without a flashlight.  We got to one point of the trail inside and could not figure out what to do.  Honestly, if those kids hadn't been coming DOWN the trail opposite us, we may not have found the way up. 

The Pinnacles 

Two views from High Peaks of the Western side of the Park. 

And one day we rode into Monterrey to plant the first of the two Only California Pirate stamps.   We'll plant the other one inSan Juan Capistrano when we get to southern California.