Lesson #16 ~ Whales Out-Perform the Bellagio

Lesson #16 ~ Whales out-perform the Bellagio

It’s time to start mosey-ing our way home.  Thursday we traveled from San Luis Obispo to Los Gatos, California (just south of San Jose).  It’s about a three hour RV drive.  We took a detour.  In September while Travis and I were on our 10-year anniversary trip we had stopped at a National Park called Point Lobos.  It was extremely memorable for us.  This time it was off the beaten path but we decided to add the extra hour of driving to share this place with our kids.  

Point Lobos National Park is a treasure - with huge redwood and cypress trees.  We hiked our way out to Sea Lion Point.  It was like being at Seaworld!  We hadn’t even made our way to the path before both Travis and Taite spotted whales!  The park volunteer at the trailhead encouraged us to keep watch because this was the time of year gray whales migrate from Alaska to Baja California, Mexico.  We didn’t just see one.  We didn’t just see one pod.  We saw multiple pods of whales!  We saw tails, backs, and sprays.  We would see one pod moving south, then within 5 or 10 minutes see another pod.  There must have been about 10 whales in one of the pods.  We saw spray after spray after spray!  Travis said it looked like the water show at the Bellagio.  “The Bellagio has nothing on these whales!” Travis said.  We learned that gray whales will come up for air, usually spray three times, then go under for three to six minutes.  They’ll travel 10,000 to 12,000 miles round trip each year.  Similar to us in the RV. ;-)

We grabbed a pair of binoculars and saw about 100 sea lions out on a rock formation approximately 150 yards from us (the whales were farther out than the sea lions).  We could see them without binoculars, but with the binoculars we could see which ones were making the barking noises.  We could also see the egrets and herons sharing the rocks.

When we looked into the ocean we found the sea otters playing, floating on their backs, and performing flips in the water like my children do in Prior Lake (but the otters were a little more graceful).  Then we looked on some other rock formations located a little closer to us and saw eight harbor seals.  “This trip just keeps getting better!!” Taite and Calla both said.  Ocean mammals are not something we see in Minnesota. ;-)  These experiences sure make us think harder about what God has for us at home, though.  We’ll probably wait until spring, but we are inspired to head to northern Minnesota and see what we can see. ;-)

Just like in Minnesota, we saw a few roadside stands with fresh produce.  They advertise their pricing on avacados and brussel sprouts to catch your attention.  In Minnesota I’ve purchased avacados for as much as $1.99 each.  (Gulp!)  Here, where they grow them and sell them at the farm, they cost me 50 cents each!  For as much guacamole and sliced avacado as our family eats, I made Travis brake for it and loaded up.  

We arrived in Los Gatos around 4:30pm to a very warm welcome from the Howard family.  They could have the nickname “The Positive Family” because they are rarely without smiles.  It was wonderful to see and spend time with Andy, Georgia, Evie, Olive, and baby Grant.

Friday morning was spent doing school while Georgia attended MOPS and Andy logged in a half day of work.  What California experience would be complete without wine?  So after lunch, once Andy and Georgia were home and naps had been taken, we prepared the RV, piled in, and drove to the coolest winery Los Gatos has to offer.  TestaRossa is a new winery in the place of a really old winery.  A Jesuit Seminary opened a winery in the late 1800’s and did not have to close during the prohibition era like all other alcohol-producing businesses - making it the longest consistently run winery in the U.S.  The Catholics here were able to continue producing wine for the rest of the diocese nationwide.  The facility is unlike any of the other wineries we visited on our last trip to wine country.  Inside there are examples of giant oak barrels used in the fermentation process.  Outside there are cork oak trees grown for their bark - used in the bottling process - and a large old fashion winepress - a great visual for our Bible studies.  Nobody drank any wine, but it was a fun place to visit.  

After the winery we went for a short hike then a drive.  Travis carefully maneuvered this monster through the windy single-lane mountain roads.  I started sweating and almost had a heart-attack looking at the terrain out the windshield.  Once again, I’m thoroughly impressed with Travis’ RV driving skills.  He handled the Flyer like he was driving a Ferrari.  

Once we returned to the Howard homestead we re-parked then walked up the hill to Nanno’s, the pizzeria of the Redwood Estates.  We shared some pizzas and played bocce ball.  

Saturday morning we all had breakfast together.  Calla got some baby Grant time (she LOVES babies!!).  

Then we started driving east.  Our next stop is Reno, Nevada.