trip planning...

We are coming up on our 15th wedding anniversary in September. Tradition has always been that we've done a big cruise  to Alaska every five years. We did that both on the 5th and the 10th. This time around, now that we are living in the Pacific Northwest and don't feel the need to escape the hell-fire-inferno of Houston to head north, we are going to explore northern California in our pop-up tent trailer. Specifically Redwood National Park and the Napa/Sonoma Valley wine country.

We had big ideas of making a loop over to Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon and back up through Lake Tahoe,  but after sitting down and looking at a calendar, adding up mileage from this place to that place, and realizing there just aren't enough days with two weekends and 5 days in between, we're settling on a smaller tour. Plus when you are camping it's really NO fun to get to your campground spot, only to set everything up for one night and then bug out the next day. Plus with driving time and check-in/check-out restrictions it really doesn't serve us not to spend at least 2 or 3 nights at one place.

So far I have reserved a spot at Sunset Bay State Park on the southern Oregon coast for the first night that we leave home. About 180 miles from here it's a good place to stop for a night in order to get going the next day into northern California. From there we drive 133 miles to Crescent City California where we'll be near the Redwood National Park on Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights at Jedidiah Smith Redwood State Park. With all day Sunday and Monday to explore the various redwood forest parks and the northern coast of California it should give us plenty of time for a full experience. With 312 miles to drive on Tuesday afternoon we'll camp Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park south of Calistoga and just a short drive from the Sonoma and Napa Valley wine country. Wine tours and tastings are planned for all day Wednesday and Thursday (which is our actual anniversary). Thursday night we'll probably try and reserve a table at a nice restaurant. Obviously something wine/local harvest themed and totally fantabulous will do.

It's at this point in our journey that we're at a quandry about our trip back on Friday afternoon. We have two more nights left and want to make the most of it...plus we want a drive that is do-able in one day in order to get back home on Sunday.  

• Shoot back up the California coastline and stay near Mendocino or Eureka
• Head up I-5 and camp in the mountains of the Shasta Trinity National Forest
• Go all the way into Oregon and camp at the Coast near Brookings, or stay inland and do Crater Lake.

What to do, what to do. The nice thing is no campground is more than $20 a night, and most have restrooms *and* showers.  Sure it's not butler service in our suite aboard an Alaska cruise but it is about 10% of the cost and way more up our alley these days. Plus the ability to take the dog with us and not have to worry about petsitting for him is pretty priceless.