Mission Trip 2009
9:00am Tues 7/14/09 Highland, CAsharp.  I knew we needed to leave before that if we had any hope of getting to our destination above Sacramento in time to have dinner with friends Toody and Brit, but also knew that talk of leaving any earlier would only result in stressing out Kari.  So I proceeded to reinforce the before mentioned time with the two of them at about 8:00 am.  I don't know what I did different because it worked and we made it out of the house a few minutes early.  Probably had more to do with the fact that Toody is Kari's friend and she was looking forward to seeing her.
 
10:30am  Tues 7/14/09 Palmdale, CA I choose to go up through Palmdale by way of the 138 and Pearblossom Highway, for two reasons.  First we were leaving on a weekday morning and traffic through LA to the five was going to be miserable, secondly, traveling I138 to I99 rather than I210 to the 5 would take us a route we had not taken in the past.  To me this is slightly less boring and Google had the route at only 22 minutes slower without traffic the presumed traffic on I5.
 
12:30pm  Tues 7/14/09 Highway 99Kari had fought me a little on the route, her point was that the 5 had plenty to see and just seemed quicker.  We'll never know if it was actually any faster but other than trying to come up with the name of the Joshua Trees we saw and peeking Jacob's interest at the Mormon Rocks there really hasn't been much to see so maybe she's right.  Many of the farms that we cannot determine exactly what they are growing they are different types of trees and we're pretty sure they are nuts or olives but unsure what types.  More Corn than I was expecting in CA.  But here in the middle of nowhere we're stopping at a cheese factory tourist trap for a potty break, some gas (yeehaa 19.4 mpg in the Silverado) and some roasted Almonds.  One of the things we did to avoid super costly meals on the road and to save time was to pack the ice chest with breakfast and lunchtime snacks so we were able to pass by this road house's lunch options.
 
2:30  Tues 7/14/09 Highway 99 N of Modesto I need a break and just convinced Kari to drive for a while.  It allows me to rest my eyes, catch up on the trip journal and check out the air card we got by logging into Facebook and checking my favorite blogs for the day.  Still lots of farms here and many towns with many boarded up shops, buildings, factory's and homes.  More typical of middle America than that of what I'm used to in California but I guess this area is more like Middle American than So Cal, it's just such a different world.  Earlier I was telling Kari as we drove through Phelan that I've been anxious about where we are at and how we live, I feel like we are stuck in the Middle of two worlds.  That of the Estate Resident where if you are not at work you are at home because you got more property and you are tending to it and that of the City dweller, where you have an apartment or small home, everything is in walking distance and you spend most of your time out enjoying what the city has to offer because there's little space and little to do at home.  I would be very happy if we picked one of those two situations.
 
5:30  Tues 7/14/09 Roseville Pulling into Roseville reminds me of the many midsize farm towns we found along our trip across the US last year.  Small and quaint with about 150,000 people according to the sign even though it's only 20 mins out of Sacramento so there must be some great opportunity here.  We are going to the Market night in town because friends Toody and Brit need to be here for a function their daughter is in.  Just so happens we stumbled into the historical theatre for a potty break (and because we love the old theatres) and that is where their daughter has a role in Cinderella, she is to promote it this evening in full dress, and we ran into them here.  It's nice because we can walk around (slowly due to the 107 degree temperature) and catch up while Jacob plays with their son Gavin who he's not seen in a couple of years.  Quaint little town and I caught a Picture of a 1966 Shelby Hertz edition 350GT.  Incredibly rare car, still owned by the second owner (first being the Hertz rental car company).  Walking up to the car I told him how beautiful it was "Needs to be painted!" was the abrupt reply.  To which I could only say "Only the owner could tell."  That was the truth, looked perfect to me lacquer and all.
 
7:30  Tues 7/14/09 Auborn. Pulling out of Roseville now with only about 16 miles to go to our destination town of Auborn.  Chosen only a few hours ago for it's proximity to Sutter's Mill, it also offered the best opportunity at finding a hotel last minute.  Pulling off the freeway we find an 'Old Town' area and drove around looking for a room, with no luck we find ourselves on Hwy 49 on our way to Sutter's Mill.  The only problem with that is our research showed only a Bed and Breakfast and the Resort up there, both out of our budget.  Reverting to the GPS we ask it for some recommendations, after a few misses and a few quotes there's a nice Comfort Inn just around the corner for $89 a night, reasonable and sticking to our budget.  Right now I'm sitting in the room looking at rooms with Kari at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco for tomorrow night, a lot harder to stay under $100 but I think we found 1.  I'll keep you posted.
 
9:30 am  Wed 7/15/09 Sutter's Mille Another early departure for us today.  We are on our way to Sutter's Mill or Marshall's Gold Discovery Area as it is listed in the GPS and all the National Park signs.  We were getting worried as we get deeper in the mountains that are similar to the Appalachian area of Arkansas, mixed trees through which a tight and curving road weaves it way like a startled snake.  Little towns pop up and if you look close you can see, some nice, but many beat up old homes with broken down cars sitting around their property.  Passing through the town of Cool, which is neither Socially or Atmospherically it's namesake, the name provides all the local businesses a 'Cool' lift off for their name.  But can there ever be a 'Cool' Laundromat? A whitewater rafting community every other vehicle that passes us has a welded on table to it's roof to accommodate an inflatable raft.  Nothing much at Marshall's Gold Discovery Center, a monument that we take a picture in front of and a replica of the original mine (Monument in original spot and Replica otherwise), and a visitor's center with accompanying gift shot at which I purchased a small open top ink carafe as this was the closest to the touristy collectible shot glass I can find.
12:00  Wed 7/15/09  Sacramento Entering Sacramento I'm amazed at just how few miles it is outside of the city there are farms and open area, it's the state capitol but surrounding it is nothing but untouched land with a few doted farms and wide open spaces.  Also amazing is that this is closer to San Francisco then we live to LA.  Downtown is a city like any other with one way streets, little one off eateries that just look like they are great, no parking, and homeless.  Kari and Jacob jump out of the truck at a red light as I circle to get this shot of Jacob "The future Govinator" in front of the Capitol Building.  Leaving the city do  a double take to get this shot of the other Golden Bridge in CA, this one to show the opportunity, the bug stains from the windshield add to the shot, I'm sure of it.

3:15  Wed 7/15/09 Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco. Checked into the cheapest hotel we could find within 2 blocks of Embarcadero St and the Canary at Fisherman's Wharf it was everything you'd expect from a local no-name brand hotel correction 'Motel'.  Super small rooms, the faint scent of 20 year old cigarette smoke still stuck in the walls (that even the renovation and new granite bath could not cover up) and in this case, very small parking spaces.  Kari doesn't like old stuff, even if they've been fairly well maintained, can't believe I get her to stay here.  Time to head down to Embarcadero Street.  Just as we are getting to the Fisherman's Wharf I notice a couple of duck boats in the area, a girl selling tickets is there and I check the price.  $90.00 for all three, it leaves in 45 mins. Kari's uncertain if she wants to throw that into the budget but I figure since we are staying in the POS we should spend the difference (about $150.00 or so) on something we wouldn't normally do and getting a nice dinner.  I negotiate the price down to 70 and am feeling pretty good.  Duckboats are World War II Amphibious vehicles, if you've never seen one they are pretty cool and will drive right off the road and into the ocean, the tour is enlightening and entertaining as narrated by the 65 year old Swiss Navy Captain.  Jacob is in charge of the camera and I wish I could figure out how to post them all here so you can see San Francisco through the eyes of a 9 year old.
                          
9:35 am Thursday 7/16/09 Lombard St, San Francisco, CA.  Still trying to find something to do while I wait for Kari to get ready, walking up Columbus street to Little Italy before heading up Lumbard Street to the switch backs.  Using the excuse that it was probably 'about that time' when Kari would be ready for me to pack up the truck to prevent me from hiking up that last little bit by the switchbacks but it might have been the steepness of the ascent that really change the direction of my step.  After packing up the truck Jacob convinces me to go in halves on a marionette he was playing with on Pier 39 yesterday, I don't want to walk there and I don't want to pay for parking just to run in and get a toy so initially we plan on dropping off Jacob and Kari to go get it while I circle or try to find cheap timed parking but we saw the 'Pier 39' parking structure and it offers free first hour with validation, we regrettably do not see that it was only if you dined at a few exclusive restaurants and thus after unsuccessfully trying to haggle a validation got stuck with the $7.00 parking fee.
 
10:30 am  Thurs 7/16/09 Mission San Francisco de Dolores. After  two days and nearly 700 miles we have arrived at the first mission.  Mission San Francisco de Dolores, on Dolores Street not Mission Road as it turns out.  We drove around in circles a couple of times before asking for directions from a very helpful lady. Not wanting to spend all our time driving around looking for the Missions I'm staying in the car to transfer the addresses for the next two missions from my computer to the GPS as Kari and Jacob go in to check it out.

11:30 am Thurs 7/16/09 Mission San Rafael de Soledad. Driving over the Golden Gate is always a special treat and feels different every time I do it.  This time it is punctuated with classic San Francisco fog thick enough so you can't see the top of the towers.  Jacob is sarcastically impressed.  Mission San Rafael is a smaller mission and was completely rebuilt from drawings and archeological findings since they are unsure even of the exact footprint where the Mission stood.  San Rafael as a town is very pretty but traffic is surprisingly poor, still close enough to San Francisco to have to pay for parking everywhere we look, fortunately we find a few 'paid ahead' meters and steal a little time back.
 
12:20 pm  Thurs 7/16/09 Mission San Francisco de Sonoma. The drive to Sonoma is beautiful, rounding the North side of the bay you exit the hills into rolling farms and spotted hills that resemble warts on a frogs back yellow now due to the dried out grass with broccoli like trees spotting their sides.  Jacob thinks it looks like a Stagassaurase's back.  The beginning of wine country we see all the rows of grape trees stretching through the back roads of Route 12, all sorts of touristy lawn art, metal dinosaurs, oversize chairs, and such meant to bring you in to buy their wares.  Mission San Francisco de Sonoma is the last mission to be built and as most of the missions was rebuilt after being decimated similar to Grecian Ruins after California's independence.  Typical of most missions, a chapel and a straight housing area off one side so the whole thing would look like an L from above, a courtyard in the back with an adobe oven and grated cooking facilities.  I can't help but think about building an adobe oven.  This mission has a working candle pot in place and an incredible cactus tree that is so old the old cactus leaves have turned in to 20 to 30 foot solid branches, grey and barked like any other trees but you can still see just a bit of their original heart like shape.
 
4:30  Thurs 7/16/09 PCH Northbound. The last few hours we've spent clawing our way out of wine country on Route 12 to Santa Rosa and have decided to waste another day by going up PCH on the only part we haven't traveled, North of San Francisco.  Crossing the mountains to Jenner there's plenty more wineries and a beautiful mountain community sprung up due to the popularity of the Russian River, a slow moving mountain river that eventually follows the mountain down to Jenner and the Pacific Ocean.  Kayaker's and Canoer's rule this area and it stays warm, much warmer than the coast in this area which proved to be mostly foggy all day and bitter cold, from the top of the mountains the temperature dropped from 80 to 51 on PCH.  Heading up the coast it's like a different world, this part of PCH feels so foreign, no beaches like in the south, no open valleys like central California, just cliffs and forests.  PCH weaves between the occasional low estuary that shoots into the cliffs to find it's little river or stream, and then up above the fog line and into the forests with the knarled Eucalyptus trees and Towering Redwoods.  The occasional farm breaks up this monotony with wide open grassy hills, followed by the occasional winery that found the perfect side of a hill to grow their perfect grape, from their perspective at least.  Town by town goes by, this world is completely separated from the rest of the inland valley with only 3 connecting roads to the 101 over the 150 mile journey.  Mansions stand ominously alone along the cliffs with no perceivable source of income then a small tourist town of less than 400 people will pop up and you can tell most people here barely make due, still it's beautiful even if the sand is mostly rocks and the surf is only 2 feet.  PCH again does not dissapoint.
7:00 Thurs 7/16/09 No towns around.  We pass this biker, hair all dread locks, beard grown down to his chest in bright yellow biker clothes, skin tight, with a yellow helmet.  The contrasts of the clothes and the hair key me off to the fact this is not a short range journey for this guy.  We passed him once, then stopped and on the second by asked him where he started "Phoenix, AZ three weeks ago."  Wow and we're impressed with ourselves for now trying to complete just Driving the PCH in segments over the last 15 years.  Snapped this shot of him on yet another wrap around.

9:00pm Thurs 7/16/09 End Highway 1   "Highway 1 END" is the sign we snap a shot of as we finish our journey and close the book on the entire length of the PCH.  The last 20 miles or so were all spent deep in the Redwood forest above Fort Bragg.  No sign of coast here and the temperature jumped from the 50 degrees at the coast to 70 here, it's getting dark now and we're trying to drive through the Drive Through Tree here but were too late.  Another time.  Now it's time to jump on the Fast road the 101 south and

regain some of the 180 miles we went out of the way today back down to the missions before tomorrow.  The 101 through here is a fast road through the mountains, two lanes most of the way and almost no other signs of humans.  I already had a very close encounter on the PCH with a faun and am a little anxious about hitting another as we saw a doe and a buck a the 101 onramp.  Really need gas now, should have gotten it in Ft Bragg but figured I'd get it at
the 1/101 fork but nothing here.  GPS says 15 miles to next gas, hope it's right.

10:30 pm  Thurs 7/16/09  Willit, CA 101.  Decided Willit would be the best possible resting place.  Found gas about 25 miles back and got a big cup of coffee expecting to be driving late into the night, should have made that Willit decision first.  On the way decided to pull over and lay in the bed of the truck with Jacob and just stare at the stars.  This part of the highway has no lighting and no homes, tonight is a moonless night.  He's never seen so many stars.  We still can't find the Big Dipper and are unsure of the North Star or Orion's Belt because of all the stars, sure glad we're not lost.  Now I'm lying in bed thoroughly annoying Kari with my typing wide awake because it was a beautiful day, who would want it to end.

1:00 pm Friday 7/17/09 Mission San Jose. We are the last one to check out of the Best Western this morning. By far the nicest rooms we've had so far and the least amount of time we've spent in one. It's ok I didn't sleep long, late to bed and early to rise. The drive down to our first mission of the day is long and boring, now back on the 101 it's typical California roads and traffic. Mission San Jose is actually located about 10 miles N of it's name sake. Gargantuan in size comparatively speaking and a nice rebuild leaving some original foundation and exposed adobe construction. This original tomb featured a glass tomb of Christ. 2:30 pm

12:00 pm 7/18/09 Mission Soledad     Choosing to go down to Soledad for the next mission on the 101 because as we were getting off the highway to the scenic byway to Monterey we saw the traffic and realized that this was the weekend getaway route for all of San Jose. Now leaving Soledad after having to ask for directions we've decided to tale a real small backroad to Cardiff by the Sea called G16. About a tenth of the way in I see a sign about a closure and detour on some street. For a moment I pull off of the street but it doesn't seek right as it leads me back on the G16 so off we go for the next 45 miles with that nagging road closure in the back of my brain. It didn't help the fact that the roa gets smaller a d smaller as we go, cell service disapears and all the corners become single lane lane but two direction at 10 miles an hour.

1:30 pm 7/18/09 Mission In Carmel by the Sea is by and far the most beautiful mission I've seen to date. Obviously updated though retaining the original feel, it has an elaborate pipe organ and huge courtyard with a working school and parish. On the way out Kari and I are spending quite a lot of time trying to locate the exact location of the next mission. Turns out it's on some military base that's not on our maps in the middle of nowhere. The directions online all come from the 101 which does us no good and when I finally get an approximate location into the gps it puts us there just after it closes. Again our plans are changing it's good we don't keep very strict ones.

9:30 pm 7/18/09 San Simeon   Kari doesn't like to drive an windy roads and hence hasn't done so at all in th past 13 years so I kind of tricked her into taking over after leaving Cardiff by the sea and let her drive down most of the Big Sur area. It was a struggle and she was a bit upset but she did a good job and learned how to Down shift to drag the car down One thong about Cardiff, it's like that place was built by Roy Disney. Every house came out of wonderland simply a Amazing. Now we've just set down to book tickets for Hertz Castle after getting way overcharged for a couple of burgers And fries by what looked like the cheapest place around. Where's my $6.00 burger.
5:00 pm 7/19/09 Herst Castle No words can possibly describe the detail that William Randolph Herst put into his ranch home in San Simeon.  Treasures that he acquired over a lifetime were carefully installed as part of the architecture of this overwhelming location.  Every corner had a new surprise, a new history far and away from even Herst's lifetime.  One ancient Egyptian piece is as much as 4000 years old, simply installed as a feature of a small courtyard off the main courtyard. 

The two wolf man like guards that frame the main door are from 300 years before Christ and were guarding a Norwegian Palace doorway at that time.  I could go on an on but it's really worth a day of your life to take a couple of tours and see for yourself.  I would like to take an Artisan tour of the castle sometime to have someone explain the works of art more thoroughly, all 22,000 documented pieces.  I took tons of pictures but if I had to go back I think I'd leave the camera at home and instead spend the time marveling at what I was seeing rather than looking for that shot, if I needed pictures thousands of professionals have taken wonderful photographs and have books available for purchase.

10:30 am 7/20/09 Mission San Luis Obispo.  Pounding out the last 4 missions today so we got a move on about 9:30 am and hit the Highway down to San Luis Obispo.  Nothing interesting to note here, same rolling yellowed hills dotted by Asparagus and Broccoli trees along the countryside.  The few other times we've been this way have been in the winter and the hills are all green making me think I'm in a movie about Ireland.  All the missions are beginning to blend in together and this one is no different, a working Parish, the museum is a small offshoot and income provider but the originality of the mission has been lost, although the grounds are beautifull with a grape trellis entryway, fountains and rose bushes.
11:30am  7/20/09  La Purisima Mission, Lompoc.  Fortunately by necessity we are taking this charming backroad through the farms to reach La Purisima Mission.  The GPS sends us a 1/4 mile past the entrance to the state park which looks alarmingly more like a campground than the other missions we visitied, without any signs of the mission near the gate we presume it must be in the other location and try going down the road.  Denied a different entrance we're back and pay the 4.00 entrance fee at the Electronic Ranger (ATM machine).  Theres a large new construction building up on the hill to the right and on the left across a creek and through some Eucalyptus we can see the mission now.  Firstly we visit the mission.  Unlike all the other Missions this mission has been left in as close to it's original form as possible, all dirt floors with many exposed original elements, like tallow ovens, olive grinders, and even remnants of the original wheat grinder.  This mission shows more of the industry of the missions including a working farm, garden, and tannery.  Larger than all the other missions to it actually has two Chapels.  Really our favorite, not for it's beauty but for it's truthfullness.

12:15 7/20/09  Mission Santa Ines, Solvang.  After La Purisima I'm in no mood for another tourist trap Mission like Santa Ines in Solvang.  The entrance fee is large and I know exactly what we will see; a completely rebuilt Chapel, some non time period ornaments, and a few glass encased relics of the original mission, so I let Kari and Jacob go through on their own as I am content with sitting on a bench watching a farm drive his tractor through the rows of his newly planted crop dragging chains and mesh, I'm assuming he's weeding.  Solvang present it's usual Danish flavor but I'm dissapointed to see more chains becoming part of the downtown area and seeing some of the traditional restuarants and smorgasbourgs closed.  There's no need to drive 200 miles to go to some unique town if you are just going to find a Subway and Rocky Mtn Choclate Factory there.  We dream about opening our own unique shop and living in this unique community like we do every time.

3:50 7/20/09  Mission Santa Barbara.  This is it, it's the last mission on this journey of 13 missions and 7 days of travel.  Excitement to finish is in all of us and are already making plans for what we will do when this is all over.  This mission is beautiful as expected, it's a major piece of the Santa Barbara experience and has been update extensively.  The most interesting part is the Mausoleum in the cemetery, first it's a working cemetery with recent burials, and second the mausoleum chambers were mostly covered with wood covers.  I work at a cemetery and our requirements are:  Sheet rock cemented over the opening followed by a 100 lb, 1" think piece of granite or marble shutter.  Not here, here they use plywood, painted and screwed to the mausoleum, some of them you can look inside and see the casket.  Additionally one of the wall in the mausoleum was a false stucco wall, you could tap on it and hear it was hollow, the other side was what appeared to be the original construction or local rock and mortar so I wonder what it was hiding.

6:30 7/20/09 Camarillo.  Meeting friends of our here, and ending our journey much like we began it around some friends we don't see often enough.  They suggest a great local BBQ restuarant, full of local flavor and peanuts instead of bread as a table offering.  Dinner was great and they followed that by taking us to a little shop that specializes in specialty Soda Pop and hard to find Candies.  All the odd named root beers and creme sodas are there, followed by sasparilla and orange drinks, great place and we took home some interesting ones.  They had Wonka products, Cups O' Gold, Abba Zabba's and What Cha Ma Call Its.  Great place, now wishing we would have bought more.  It's been a great trip, great memories and great pictures, I hope the kid appreciates what we've done just to help him through 4th grade.