Paicines, California

October 16 - 30, 2008

Thousand Trails - San Benito

We had a nice, comfortable 100 mile drive here to TT-San Benito in Paicines, California, to find again we are in a very rural area. Who would have thunk that California has so much open space!!! I have to say I was a bit disappointed when we first got here. We spent about 45 minutes trying to find the least dusty, flatest spot with trees that wouldn't affect our satellite service. After The Lakes and its beautiful landscape, concrete pad and patio, we're back to the real world. Of course, we spent $300 for the week at The Lakes and we only spent $68 for two weeks here...

The campground is in this valley beneath the trees.

We settled in and met our neighbors, Bev and Marv Bolland from "between" Portland and Salem, Oregon. Bev asked me to join her the next night to play Bunco at the lodge. I decided to join her and had a wonderful time. I met some very nice people and will probably see them again a time or two during our stay here. Just goes to show you can't always judge a place by its looks.

I know you will all be interested to know that it is mating season for tarantulas here in California. I used to think you would only find those spiders in the desert. However, we are in the country here and it is very dry. We were driving down the road and passed this HUGE thing in the middle of the road. What was that? So, we turned around to get a picture........

If we should see another one in our travels, I will make sure we TRY to put something down so you can see the size of these guys. I have been told that they "leap" a long way and very quickly so I'm not sure I will be the one to get that close.

One of the great attractions in California is the wineries. Although we have left the well known Napa and Sonoma Valleys, we have found a couple of wineries that can hold a candle to the more famous names. Sharing the same valley as Thousand Trails is Pietra Santa and DeRose Vineyards.

Pietra Santa is beautiful. To get to the winery you drive through the vineyards and enter the winery through a sculpted vine-covered gate. The wines are nice but their price reflects the amenities. We then visited DeRose which was nothing more than a warehouse. We met the owner (in all our winery visits, this is a first), Pat DeRose. Check out this moustache (he's had it for over 40 years).

One of the "perks" of owning your own vineyard is being able to indulge your hobby. Pat DeRose's hobby is antique cars. At the vineyard they have a car museum with about 50 vintage cars, from Thunderbirds (my favorite) to a Continental originally owned by Doris Day to, what I called the "mafia limousine" where Bev and I had Marv as our chauffeur.

We then visited Fremont Peak State Park. The highlight of this trip was to be a view of Monterey Bay. However, we arrived there in the late afternoon and the view was only to be seen after a "hike" up a steep hill. Since there seemed to be some cloud/fog cover on the coast, we decided to keep this on our list as a possible "revisit"; but took a picture in case we don't make it back.

We took a couple of days to visit Carmel-by-the-Sea. Not a small, quiet town by any means and I never saw Mayor Clint Eastwood even though I kept my eyes open...he must have been out directing another movie or hosting another golf tournament. Carmel has many quaint shops, art galleries, restaurants and hotels, but the most glorious sight to me was Carmel Bay and the homes (and cypress trees) that overlook it.

When we first got into town, we went to the Visitors' Center and we asked about golf at Pebble Beach. The lady was very helpful, even ready to call to make tee times for us. Then we found out the greens fees are $475 and decided in today's economy that was even too much for one of us to play. You could see Pebble Beach Golf Links from the beach. We took out the binoculars and saw four carts on every tee box, fairway and green. That's a lot of people playing golf at $475 a pop!!

We passed The Cypress Inn at the corner of Lincoln Street and 7th Avenue, once half owned by Doris Day (her name seems to pop up a lot around here)!

We visited The Basilica of Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo (wow, that was a mouthful). The mission was founded in Monterey on June 3, 1770 by Padre Junipero Serra. Because of the lack of good soil the location was soon changed from Monterey to its present site near the Carmel River. In September of 1987 Pope John Paul II visited the Carmel Mission as part of his tour of the United States.

I believe we'll be visiting more Missions now that we are heading into Southern California.

We spent another day on 17-Mile Drive which circumvents the Monterey Peninsula through the Del Monte Forest with stops along the way. By the way, there is a charge of $9.25 for this drive. Four stops along the way are the famous golf courses located on the Peninsula:

Poppy Hills Golf Course, one of the three courses in play during the annual AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (a bargain at $195/pp greens fees).

The Links at Spanish Bay, established in 1987 with the Inn at Spanish Bay, attracts golf enthusiasts from around the world to play the Scottish-style course ($250/pp greens fees).

We stopped here to do a little shopping (although everything was a little more than I can afford!!) and walk through the resort...now that's the way to live!!

Next up was Spyglass Hill Golf Course which takes its name from the classic tale Treasure Island whose author, Robert Louis Stevenson, was inspired by the wonders of the peninsula's forest and sea ($315/pp greens fees).

And last, but certainly not least, Pebble Beach Golf Links, built in 1919 ($475/pp greens fees). It's pretty humbling to stand on the championship tee on the first hole at Pebble Beach and know you're sharing it with the likes of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Ken Luckraft.

We have seen some very nice golf courses since we started this adventure (Pinehurst and Coeur d'Alene come to mind) and found these four courses, with their very high greens fees, left us feeling a bit disappointed. I'm sure part of this is because of the time of year we are here; there is no lush landscaping, and we found the clubhouses nice but nothing special. This impression would have probably changed had we played any of the courses.

Our trip around the peninsula also included some very nice scenic stops along the Pacific Coast.

We stopped for lunch and watched the unique offshore turbulence generated by the submerged terrain. Waves were going in all different directions at the same time. Although not as pretty as the Oregon coast, this area is very impressive.

We came upon The Lone Cypress, one of California's most enduring landmarks. The tree has prevailed on its rocky perch for over 250 years withstanding Pacific storms. The hope is that it will continue to prosper for another 50 years. This icon of fortitude has inspired many and is revered as the symbol of the Pebble Beach Company.

Later we found The Ghost Tree. With a trunk bleached white from wind and sea spray, this Monterey Cypress has a sinister silhouette just perfect for this time of year. Come on, use your imagination.

Thousand Trails - San Benito in Paicines (pronounced Pa-see-nez) is remote like most of the other Thousand Trails we have stayed at. It's nestled in the valley surrounded by rolling hills, vineyards and grazing land. Across from the entrance you can find buffalo and cows grazing under the sun.

Within the park we have found numerous types of birds and the ever-present California ground squirrel. There are three fawns and a buck that stay at the park as well as a bobcat and wild boars you can run into at any given time. So far the buck and boars have eluded us when we have the camera present and ready.

Ken came upon the bobcat while taking Barney for a walk. He didn't get too close as the cat was really giving the eye to Barney, almost licking his lips!

In the time we have been on the road, we have seen some pretty great stuff, both man-made and creations of God, like the sun rising in the morning behind the rig. I have to say it keeps me in awe!!

We went back to DeRose Winery for a Sunday "Club Member" Wine Tasting with members, Marvin and Beverly. What a great way to taste and compare a number of wines. I'm finding I'm a real fan of "dryfarmed" wines which are just what they say...there is no irrigation for these grapes and they acquire a very bold taste. A lot of wineries won't dryfarm as the yield from these grapes is a lot smaller.

We had to say goodbye to Marv and Bev on Tuesday but not before getting all their suggestions for our future travels (they have traveled extensively) and exchanging e-mail addresses to see if we can get together again. They truly made our stay here much more pleasant and we missed them once they were gone.

We played a round of golf at Ridgemark Country Club. I have to say I was terrible for the first 4 holes, terrible for the last 4 holes and about average through the rest. I just don't know which golfer will show up on any give hole. This was one of the golf courses covered by our Player's Pass. I have to say if you're going to do any traveling, Player's Pass is a great discount golf membership...it has more than paid for itself in our travels.

We say goodbye to San Benito tomorrow and head for a long weekend at Pismo Beach. Wouldn't you know it, we're heading to the beach and the long-term weather forecast is for clouds ... something we haven't seen for two months now. Of course we will see what it's really like when we are there.