Cotati and Klamath

This was our second visit to Cotati, CA; the first time was back in 2004, when we visited with our kids in tow.  We had flown into LAX and rented a car, we visited with my sister-in-law, who was living in Burbank at the time.  We then drove up Rt 5, spent 2 nights with Lisa in Cotati, 2 and nights in San Francisco before returning on Rt 101 down the coast, to the LA area to fly home.

My cousin, Lisa, and her husband, Ofer, generously invited us to stay on their driveway.  I did feel a bit bad b/c the timing wasn’t the best for her, she works for a tax accountant and tax season is upon the whole USA.  I sat in front of my calendar and tried to come up with a different time to be there, but with our need to keep pushing north, it was not possible to make it happen later.

With Lisa’s help with routing, we made our way past San Francisco traffic completely, and I was so grateful, as we’ve all heard the horror stories about it.  We pulled down her street about 3:30 and Ofer met us outside, watching as we fully filled his driveway with our home on wheels.

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there are a whole bunch of these Calla-lilies growing in her front yard
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love this one – still wet from the rain
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Callie made a new friend! She even ate cookies out of his hand!
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Ofer cooked the most amazing tri-tip and also this chicken in his home-made smoker! Delish!
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we had to move s’more making indoors due to the rain
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Ofer enjoying his first s’more ever!

We spent our time in Cotati visiting with Lisa and Ofer, seeing some of the local sites and relaxing.  We had wanted to go back to San Francisco for a day, but the relaxing evening the night before, I had a serious argument with a Gentleman named Jack, and sadly, he snuck up on me and I lost the battle, which wasn’t fully apparent until the next day.  We also learned that morning that it was supposed to rain a good portion of the day, and to completely top off the decision not to go was the discovery that President Obama had also decided to visit the city that day.  Guess he didn’t check with me – oh well – there isn’t room in San Fran for both of us – I generously decided his visit could go on as planned.   I’m special that way!

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cool light fixtures in one of the tap rooms we stopped at
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snack time!
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sorry Lisa – got you with food in your mouth!
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beautiful grounds

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one of the many wineries we passed
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lunch time!

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town square of Healdsburg – adorable town!

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tasted some great wines here – Lisa knows the owners
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trying to decide

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great views of Lake Sonoma

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Bill and I want to pass along a HUGE THANK YOU to Lisa and Ofer for opening your home and driveway to us!  Love you!

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stopped along the way

Our next stop was further north up Rt 101, to a town called Klamath.  We were on the hunt for some BIG trees – the Redwoods!  To help us with that, Lisa had suggested we drive up Avenue of the Giants, which I remembered my friend Tracy had done months ago and loved!  What majesty!

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Avenue of the Giants

Bill was backing into our spot at Kamp Klamath at about 4pm.  As we were setting up, our neighbors said hello, and we invited them later for a campfire.  Marci and Bill are a great couple, and invited us for dinner the next night!   What a wonderful evening!

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Marci and Bill

During dinner, they told us about the walk down to the beach they took, and how they saw seals playing in the surf.  We could not just ignore that information!  After we hosted breakfast for them, before the pulled out the following morning, we took off to see the seals for ourselves!  I have one word – WOW!

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wish my son was here – he could make me a walking stick out of one of these!
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first look at the seals!

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its not a good pic at all, but this is an Osprey

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We stopped at home for some lunch and then headed to Fern Canyon, which was recommended by our camp host, Tim.  Our already amazing day wasn’t over yet!

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this is the bumpiest road we have ever taken the truck on – knocking the road out to the Desert Bar in AZ off its pedestal 
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we’re going in!
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on foot now

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trying to keep my feet dry
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this should look familiar – does anyone know why?
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Bill trying to keep his feet dry
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view from above
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Bill took this one

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this guy was just sitting all by himself
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this is where a landslide happened a few years ago
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elk!

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As we sat and watched they moved closer to us
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they weren’t getting close enough – Bill took this shot through the binoculars

That night there was some thunderstorms, which we hadn’t experienced in a very long time, so it was very cool to sit and listen to that.  We watched some TV before going to bed exhausted and exhilarated.

The following day it rained – all day.  We got some chores done, made some reservations for the days ahead.   I’ve started communicating with a woman, through RVillage, who is crossing into Canada through Sumas the same day we are.  We are meeting at a CG in Bellingham, WA.  This is getting very real now, isn’t it?!

We woke on our last full day in Klamath to sunny sky’s!  After clouds, rain and even a thunderstorm! for the previous 36 hours, we were happy to see it!  After a leisurely morning, we hopped in the truck and headed to a tourist trap.  Yes – on purpose!  We heard about Trees of Mystery from brochures at CG office and they said it was actually kind of cool, the main attraction being the Sky Ride, which is a gondola ride through the trees up to a vista point, and then back down.  That alone sounded worth the $15 per person admission.  They also boasted other “attractions”, such as Towering Inferno, an “End of Trail” Museum, the Cathedral Trees, etc.  The place has been open for over 65 years – we figured there had to be something good there.

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people come from all over to get married here

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taken in the gondola on the way back down

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this one is called the Towering Inferno

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My Irish Grandmother used to tell us we could leave a bite of food on our plates for the Little People – she didn’t mean these little people though, she meant leprechauns -he he

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saw these (imitation) Bigfoot crocs in the gift shop 

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read the pic below to learn about this – I had never heard about this before – very interesting
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am I the only one hearing this for the first time?

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To finish out our day, we drove the Coastal Drive to see what there was to see.  There are 2 sides, south and north of the Klamath River.  We started with the north side.

 

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Finished up on the south side.

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where will this take us?

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Bill looking out through his binoculars

Which is your fav?  I’m finding it hard to choose.

We will be moving on from here tomorrow – hoping to see more awesomeness!  Crater Lake and OR Coast – get ready!

 

p.s.  the pic that may have looked familiar above?  Its from a scene in Jurassic Park 2

 

0 thoughts on “Cotati and Klamath

  1. Love your pictures at the mouth of the Klamath along the coast, Kelly! We’ve been to the Oregon and Washington coasts, but we’ve yet to see Northern California. Definitely somewhere we want to see! When you get to Washington, are you going to go to Mt St Helens?

    1. Thanks! I had a very hard time keeping it to the pics I did – took quite a few more.

      We are considering Mt St Helens, we will be in Vancouver this coming up weekend. I’ll let you know.

  2. Kelly, love the post. I could look at the seal pictures all day. That will be a must do for us. Looks like an amazing time. Thank you again for all the great information you gave me. Enjoy your week.

  3. I just love, love, love all the photo’s that you show…..Will be looking forward to more from Oregon and on your way to Alaska….we did the trip in 2012, and never tire of seeing pictures.

    1. Thanks for reading! So glad you are enjoying the blog and adding to your bucket list! I add to mine all the time reading other people’s blogs.

  4. We are in Crescent City for a few days visiting the Redwoods and walking along the coast. These redwoods are absolutely incredible! When and where are you guys crossing the border?

  5. I am so so glad you got to see the Redwoods and the coast and think its great you guys did totally different things than we did. We were there a month and didnt see some of the sites you saw in a few days. Juts goes to show there is always more to see 🙂

    1. I thought the same thing! I guess it’s b/c we stayed further north! We put seeing the Redwoods on our list b/c of all the great things you said about it!

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