April Monthly Review

Monthly Review April

Places visited:

• Yosemite National Park
• Highlight, trail to Wapama Falls, so much water falling from 1,000 ft up
• Lowlight, confusing how to get to trailheads with shuttle not running and shuttle stop numbers covered up
• We are here in April; the weather is great and there is plenty of water for the Falls, Yosemite Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are viewable from the road.
• Nelson Family Vineyards Ukiah, CA
• Highlight, got together with Sarah & Mike for a wine tasting then dinner in the RV, a short visit but a nice one.
• Lowlight, the shop was out of pear jam, oh well.  
• Wonderful spot for an overnight all by ourselves looking out at the vineyards.
• Redwoods National Park Klamath, CA
• Highlight, the trees are amazing, and they are everywhere.
• Lowlight, it lacks a national park feel.  It is a long park with cities and a highway in it and sometimes seems more like a combination of state parks.
• In a battle of the giant trees, I choose the Sequoia.
• John & Bev’s West Coast Resort Cannon Beach, OR
• Highlight, all the comforts of home-including seeing family and it is right on the Pacific Ocean and lots of star fish.
• Lowlight the breeze off the ocean is pretty cold, we will have to come back in the summer.
• We found new places to visit on our second time here which were all great and saw a few puffins flying around Haystack and one through a scope.
•   Boardman Marina & RV Boardman, OR
• Highlight, we drove 4 and a half hours and the weather is a world apart, sunny and in the 70’s.  Our nice wide site is right on the Columbia River  
• Lowlight, this is the best place around, so there is nothing to go checkout.
• They have a nice trail along the river and barges go past on the river.
• Ambassador RV Resort Caldwell, ID
• Highlight, nice campground, easy pull through site with full hookups.
• Lowlight, it just a 2 night stay to break up long road trip no great natural wonders here.
• We met nice neighbors on our first night here and chatted for awhile this evening.

My overall favorite place is a tie between Yosemite and Cannon Beach.  Yosemite had great waterfalls and the Mirror Pond Loop trail while Cannon Beach had oceanfront, sea stacks, star fish and several great trails the ocean views are never ending.  Jim’s overall favorite place was Yosemite with all its strong waterfalls.  

Our favorite trail was Wapama Falls in Yosemite National Park.  We hiked in two and a half miles along the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to reach this spectacular falls full of water thundering down from 1,000 feet above.  It had multiple outflows at the bottom accessible via bridges where mist from the falls sprays you.  When I was walking off the last bridge the falls splashed water on the bridge to say goodbye to me.  Wapama Falls and I bonded.

My favorite day in April was spotting a whale momentarily in the ocean then watching the seals and sea lions playing in the surf where the Klamath River flowed into the Pacific Ocean.  The surf was crazy, and they looked like they were having a terrific time swimming and surfing in the waves.  Jim’s favorite day was the day we went to Crescent City, CA saw Battery Point Lighthouse and feasted at the House of Jambalaya.

Jim’s favorite picture is of the two of us hiking in Yosemite, the background has blue skies and a waterfall in the distance. My favorite picture is of the sand pattern made by water flowing to the ocean on Cannon Beach.