A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That . .: 09/07/12

Friday, September 7, 2012

Up the West Coast - Day 6 - 8/28/12 - Benbow, CA to Gold Beach, OR

Well time to head north again since we have to be in Portland at a certain date. So after breakfast we left the lovely Benbow Inn and headed towards the Avenue of the Giants. This is the old 101 and parallels the new I-101. It is about 31 miles long and has several giant redwood groves. It is definitely worth visiting. Along the way we stopped at the Shrine Drive-Thru Tree. We had received a ticket for that from the Benbow Inn. The tree is about 3000 years old and not in a very good shape. They also have some "tree houses', or more like "hobbit" houses made of redwood tree trucks. The Visitor's Center along the the avenue is also worth stopping. They have a really nice small museum in it with all kinds of information from plant and animal life to logging and even a Travel Log, a camper made out of a redwood log.

Along Avenue of the Giants

Shrine Drive-Thru Tree

Jeff driving through the Shrine Drive-Thru Tree

Jeff at the Shrine Drive-Thru Tree

Inside of the Shrine Drive-Thru Tree

"Tree/Hobbit Houses" at the Shrine Drive-Thru Tree

A log at the Shrine Drive-Thru Tree

A bench made out of a half of a redwood log at the Visitor's Center

The Travel Log

Story of the Travel Log

Our friend Sue from Sunnyvale had suggested the Lolita Cheese Factory as one possible stop so we headed there. It is a very cute small cheese shop and factory. You can see inside the factory and watch them make cheese. While we were there they were making Monterrey Jack. It takes a lot less time to make the cheese and mold it than I thought it would. Of course it still has to age. The factory also has a very nice garden next to it with places to sit and eat. But we didn't want to eat there, we did by some cheese though, Smoked Salmon Monterrey Jack.

Loleta Cheese Factory

Making Monterrey Jack at the Loleta Cheese Factory

Gardens at the Loleta Cheese Factory

Instead we headed just down the road to the Loleta Bakery and Cafe. It was a really cute little place with a nice, but small selection of dishes and lots of baked goods. Those desserts looked really good and we ended up buying couple of slices of cakes. The slices were huge and could have fed a small family. This place seemed to be really popular with the locals and we had to wait a little bit to be seated. They had some seating outside and that's where we ended up, right next to the post office and mailbox. The local 3-legged dog, whom we saw in the park earlier came and lied down next to us. The mailman tossed him a dog cookie, but this dog was not interested at all, nor was he begging any food from us or anybody else. We first thought it was homeless but our waitress told us that it was the butcher's dog. . . no wonder it was not interested on any cookies or food.

Jeff having lunch by the mailbox at the Loleta Bakery

the 3-legged dog

Lunch at the Loleta Bakery

After lunch we headed north and wanting to stop at the ocean we ended up at the Dry Lagoon State Park. We just had to dip our toes in the water, well at least I did. The water was freezing. Northern California's ocean is always cold thanks to the cold stream that comes down from Alaska. We walked along the beach for awhile and Jeff tried to find out if his bike was finally delivered to the hotel in Astoria (which it was). We also ate one of those giant slices of cake we bought from the bakery. The temperatures have been quite cool in California, except in the Napa Valley area. San Francisco is always cold, but even Sunnyvale was cool, but going up the coast it's been quite cold. Who would have thought that California in the summer would be cold.

Dry Lagoon

Jeff at the Dry Lagoon trying to find out where his bike is

There is only sand and salt water but still flower grow and bloom

California is quite cool in the summer... only 15C

We also drove through part of the Redwood National Park. And sometime after going through Crescent City we entered Oregon. We stopped at several of the overlooks along the coast both in California and especially Oregon. The coast especially in Oregon is absolutely gorgeous. We didn't have a hotel reserved for that night since we were not sure how far we would make it. We ended up in Gold Beach and at Motel 6 (. . . oh how the mighty have fallen ;) ). The hotel was quite nice, clean and quiet. Our dinner ended up being the cheese from the cheese factory, the bottle wine from Napa, bread from the bakery and the other slice of the cake. . . yum . . . which we ate at the picnic table overlooking the Rogue River.

Crossing the Klamath River, CA

Fog coming in somewhere in northern California

Somewhere in northern California

Somewhere in the Redwood National Park

Samuel H. Boardman State Park, OR

Along the Oregon Coast Highway or I-101

Meyers Creek Beach at Pistol River State Park, OR

Along the Oregon Coast Highway or I-101

Up the West Coast - Day 5 - 8/27/12 - Napa to Benbow, CA

Since we were in Napa we still wanted to see some more wineries. So after breakfast we headed out without any real plan. We had gotten a map and a list of wineries that did tours from the Visitor's Center and used that as a guide. It looked like Robert Mondavi had an morning tour and we didn't need reservations so we went there first. We were one of the first ones to arrive, but found out that they charge $50 per person for a tour and tasting. The one we went last night was free and the tasting was only $10 and it was quite good too. Needless to say, we didn't stay for the tour, that price was just ridiculous, especially when we really didn't want the tasting part of it, probably just pay for the name since it is a well known winery. So we ended up just driving around stopping at couple places when we recognized a name, but they neither had tours nor tastings. We did take a quick peak at the Caymus Winery, they only had tasting, no tours. Then we headed out towards Sterling Vineyards since they had a self guided tour. We never made it there, we passed V. Sattui Winery and their sign said that they've won awards for many years in a row. So we stopped there, had their wine tasting, and have to admit that their wines are really good. Unfortunately you can't buy then anywhere but there or from their wine club. They also had a very nice store with cheeses and other stuff in the front, with free tastings. We bought a bottle of wine to take with us.

Robert Mondavi Winery

Caymus Winery

We had a lunch reservation at the CIA, Culinary Institute of America. They have a restaurant called Graystone in the campus. We have eaten at the Hyde Park, NY restaurants a few times and it has always been very good. And they didn't disappoint us this time either. Jeff had their Bouillabaisse from their regular menu and I had their special three course tasting menu.

CIA, Graystone Restuarant, St. Helena, CA

Menu, CIA, Graystone Restuarant, St. Helena, CA

CIA, Graystone Restuarant, St. Helena, CA

After our lunch it was time to head northward. But before we hit the road we stopped quickly at the Castello di Amorosa Winery. We didn't do a tour or tasting, just wanted to see it. The owner of this place is the same as V. Sattui, but it is different wines all together. He had also built this Tuscan castle in the middle of the Napa Valley. It was really quite amazing and looked like we could have been in Italy.

At the entrance to Castello di Amorosa

Castello di Amorosa

Sheep at Castello di Amorosa

Then it was time to head towards Benbow, where we had reservations at the historical Benbow Inn. The drive there was about 3 1/2 hours and you could really see how the scenery and especially plant life changed from wineries to dry hills to redwood forests. When we got to the Inn it looked like we had stepped back in time for about 100 years. It is a nice cozy inn with huge common area with games and puzzles etc.. The rooms in the older part didn't TVs but we did have internet connection. We had dinner at the hotel. They have a really good restaurant and yet again I ate way too much.