Tag Archives: road trip

It looks like I won’t be doing daily updates as I thought I would be. So – where was I? Or better yet, where am I?

Tonight I am in Corning, CA at the Vagabond Executive – The Lodge At Rolling Hills. Rolling Hills is one of the plentiful Indian owned casinos in California. The hotel is quite nice. The rooms are comfortable, clean, and well decorated. There isn’t much to say about the casino. It’s filled with slot machines and video poker with 6 live game tables. I did win 50 cents at slots – put in $3 and got back $3.50.

I was in Redding, CA late this morning and afternoon. I was told that there wasn’t much there, but I was amazed at the beautiful mountains – still with snow caps – that were around most of the town. I did some further  investigating and discovered that there is a huge lake and an abundance of opportunities for fishing, sailing, hiking, and camping all around Redding and Mount Shasta.

I started my day in Ukiah, CA – and that’s all I have to say about that. There was nothing of interest or note in Ukiah. Even my supper at the hippie organic micro-brew joint was un-incredible.

The drive from Ukiah to Redding, on the other hand, was amazingly beautiful – as was my drive yesterday from San Francisco to Ukiah. I should probably pick up my tail there – since there are pictures.

I left the hotel Monday morning to visit the three north SF hotels. Did you see the movie French Kiss with Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline? I’ve seen it many times. It is one of Talisa’s favorites. Anyway, Meg is in Paris, and the whole time she is there she never sees the Eifell tower. That’s how I was in San Francisco. I was there for almost two full days and I never saw the Golden Gate Bridge. I know was near it. I was even on “Golden Gate Parkway” or some such, but I never saw it. Maybe next week…

So I left SF to head to Ukiah. I took a detour over to highway 1 to see the Pacific Ocean… didn’t see it either. The road was beautiful. The myriad towns I drove thru were hip and chic and hippie, but I didn’t see the damned Pacific Ocean! I did drive around Tomales Bay where – I gathered – they grow some fantastic oysters but again… you know the chorus by now.

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My GPS told me that I was near Bodega, CA where Alfred Hitchcock filmed The Birds. I HAD to go there! Bodega, CA is literally a half dozen buildings at a cross-roads and a church on a hill. That was it.

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So the drive continues to Highway 101, but to get there I had to drive thru absolutely stunningly beautiful countryside and a forest – and wine country which, really, is no big deal. At least not what I saw. One vinyard looks like all the rest.

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Highlights? I had a some great tamales at a hole in a wall tacqueria.

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I had a nice piece of freshly made and gently aged cheese directly from the dairy.

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I found a for real old Western saloon.

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Yes, I did go in and asked the biker/bartender who was talking to his three biker/customers if I could take a few pictures. He relplied, “I’d prefer that you didn’t.” So I didn’t.

The drive to Ukiah was beautiful as well. Not much to say about it except, wow….

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Tomorrow I head to Sacramento, then to Reno and Lake Tahoe, then… drum roll… Bishop which is close to Yosemite!

I’ll have more photos as warranted. Enjoy.