Mountains and Beaches RV Trip (169-172)

As a kid, I remember watching a beach party movie with Annette Funicello where they drove from the snowy mountains, where they were skiing, to surf in the ocean three hours later. Not that I’d want to that in an RV, but California has both beautiful beaches and beautiful mountains that are an easy drive for us. While we did this over two RV trips a month apart, here is what it would look like if we made the trip in a day!

The Beaches

Our first destination was Half Moon Bay State Beach Campground. This is one of our favorite places to visit for the ocean front camping, beautiful beaches, miles of bike trails, the quaint downtown, and the marina and restaurants just a couple miles away.

Here we are at the marina with Mavericks Beach in the background. Mavericks is where they hold the famous giant wave surfing competition. Obviously, not today!

Beyond that is Pillar Point Bluff with some good views looking over Ross Harbor. It was foggy the day we were there, but still beautiful.

At the marina, you can buy fresh fish right off the boat!

And, of course, you can always count on a great sunset most days from Half Moon Bay State Beach, especially in the early fall.

Our next stop was Moss Landing KOA, close to Monterey. The drive there is half the fun. This is one of the most beautiful stretches of the Highway 1, and you will want to stop several times along the way to take in the view.

Here we are at Minwoo’s Cliff overlooking the ocean and Pescadero Marsh Preserve. Unfortunately, construction signs obscured some of the views on this trip.

While we’ve been to Monterey many times (Trips to Monterey Area), we never get tired of visiting. This time, while conditions were not right to take our kayak, we enjoyed biking from fisherman’s wharf to Pacific Grove, stopping at our favorite places to eat along the way. Our favorites include Parker Lusseau Bakery, Crepes of Brittany, Vivilo’s, and The Red House.

On this trip, the sea lions had literally taken over the beaches by Fisherman’s wharf, some within a few feet of the bike path. Much closer than any zoo would allow. We probably stayed a half hour just watching their antics.

The Mountains

Our next trip took us to the Gold Country in the Sierra Foothills. This is an ideal time of the year to visit, as temperatures are cool but moderate, and it is less crowded than in the summer. The only downside is that some shops and restaurants are open only from Thursday to Sunday this time of year.

We love staying at Jackson Rancheria for the expansive sites with great views. (Note they are doubling the size of the park, and you may hear construction work during the day. We hardly noticed it at our site)

The view changes throughout the day. I loved this view in the morning.

Makes you want to spend time just sitting outside looking into the distance.

However, the town of Jackson and nearby Sutter Creek are worth exploring. Here’s a view of Jackson near the Argonaut Mine. The church and graveyard in the photo is of a Serbian Orthodox church, as most of the miners came from Serbia with specialized mining skills needed in the area.

The Kennedy Mine, Kennedy Tailing Wheels Park, and Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park are all worth visiting. Our favorite place to eat is Rosebud’s Cafe. We had an amazing breakfast there before we left, including beignets, just like they make in New Orleans.

Here’s the town of Sutter Creek. We enjoy a latte at Chocolatte every time we visit. We also like Cavana’s for lunch, and Gold Dust Pizza, if we can sit in the back by the creek.

Closed to the public is Argonaut Mine. It was discovered here in 1850 by two freed slaves. More than $350 Million dollars (in today’s dollar) in gold was mined here. In 1922 it was also the site of the worst mining disaster in California history, with 47 miners losing their life. Mining continued here until the 1940’s.

Our next stop was Placerville, as a base to visit Apple Hill. You see, after the gold fever died out in the late 1850’s, a mere flash in the plan, the farmers moved in to plant crops and orchards on the hills that were cleared of trees by the miners for firewood. It transformed the area. Even though the area is known as Gold Country, it has been growing apples far longer than it produced gold.

There are dozens of apple farmers in the area all harvesting and processing apples at the same time. Thousands of people visit for the festivities.

You can see the apples in the trees being harvested, processed, ….

and even baked into a pie right before your very eyes.

Here we are enjoying a small “hand pie” at Delfino Apple Farm.

Just north of this area is Coloma and the Marshall Gold Discovery National Historic Park. This is the site where the Gold Rush actually began! Several of the buildings are still there from the 1800’s, and it’s interesting to imagine what life was like then.

Of course we stopped for a delicious lunch and latte at the Argonaut Farm to Fork Cafe. The food and coffee was delicious.

We took a docent led tour of the area, including the Indian grinding rock, Sutter’s Mill, and the Chinese buildings. The docent was one of the best. He made the history come alive by telling us stories about the people that lived there, from the Indians, the “Mormon Boys”, and the gold miners. It was a fantastic tour that we highly recommend.

This was the site of Sutter’s Mill, where George Marshall looked down and saw what he thought was gold. The rest is history, of course. Before you knew it, 90,000 eager prospectors arrived in the area looking to make their fortune. Most, however, did not find their riches in gold, and left. Some, however, saw the potential of the land, and stayed on to farm and ranch the area and raise their families. Im glad they did.

We feel blessed to live so close to both the beaches and the mountains. There is so much to see and do, each trip is a unique experience.

Al & Deb