Welcome back for PART 2 of our adventures in Northern California! The town that we were based in was called Windsor and the Armstrong State National Reserve was only +- 30 minutes away. The drive from Windsor to the Armstrong Redwoods was very scenic! With little barns, farms and vineyards! Here are a few from the drive: (You can see a vineyard next to the barn...)
Here is one of us crossing the Russian River which is the second largest river in the San Francisco Bay area (110 miles long).
Then in the little town leading to the Armstrong Redwoods... (The road's name was Armstrong Woods Road)
And here we reach the Woods:
Here is a link to check out the Armstrong Woods in more detail: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=450
The most variety of giant redwoods are found in California. So enjoy sights of these incredibly beautiful trees! We first did a very easy walk, called the Pioneer Nature trail to see some of the famous trees in this specific reserve.
Here are some fellow explorers that were along on the trail with us... It wasn't long before the little girl was asking if they were lost! hehe!
Here are some more pictures of treetops, one of me next to a HUGE tree (you have to look carefully!) and one of Izak and I being towered over by a giant redwood:
Then they have this huge tree and have marked down it's germination at 948AD! Amazing to think of all the generations that have passed while this tree stood!
A few more... In this one you can see how lovely and flat this trail was:
Look at how big this tree is! Izak fits inside quite comfortably!
We then proceeded onto the East Ridge Trail which appeared to be as easy a walk as the one we had just done... But it turned out to be pretty intense! Lots of ups and downs and we weren't wearing the right shoes... but it was beautiful and also good to see how far we could push ourselves!
Note the ups and downhills in these pics:
After completing our 'moderate' hike, we made our way to Bodega Bay... It is so interesting to see how quickly the temperature can change as soon as you head towards the coast... Watch how the fog sets in only after a few miles:
And here are some pics of the coast leading up to and in Bodega Bay... Note the dark brown sand and cliffs. It reminded me of a mix of Port Alfred, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town...
We actually found that we wished we had something warmer to wear after being so warm at the Armstrong Woods!
Here is a picture on our back to Windsor: (It reminds me of the Karoo in a way... perhaps close to Somerset East.)
And lastly, I made MILK TART and took it for a dessert for some friends to try. It tasted just like milk tart and Izak and I were very excited about that! Can you believe that we have already been away from home for almost a year exactly! This is where I found the recipe: http://www.justeasyrecipes.co.za/2009/08/27/milk-tart/
And here is the finished product:
Such an easy recipe and it makes TWO medium tarts! Bonus! Well, we hope that you enjoyed seeing another part of Northern California... We will be back with PART THREE of our vacation shortly! Keep in touch and please feel free to leave as many comments as you have time for!
Love the Bakkes three
As most of you know by now, Izak and I are going to be parents!
Meet Blueberry Bakkes! (a blueberry is how big he/she was when we first had a scan!)
This is part of the reason for our recent lack of blogging... But we are BACK! The nausea seems to have subsided and my energy levels are a little higher which means back to keeping you up to date with our adventures! It feels like there is waaay too much to tell you in one post. I plan to do the trip in THREE PARTS!
Also, Izak has begun working for Grace Advance as an intern. It is a great opportunity and he is thoroughly enjoying it. Grace Advance basically assists seminary students and churches seeking a pastor to find the right match. There will be church planting initiatives too. It is a new ministry set up by Grace Church and if you would like to read up more about it check out their site: http://www.gracechurch.org/graceadvance/
Now... put on your seatbelts for PART ONE: :)
We have just returned from our very first ALL AMERICAN SUMMER VACATION! It was unbelievable! The dear Gillies got us tickets to fly up to San Jose (our little dodgy dodge is just as unreliable as ever) and our landlady Ina gave us a week's worth of her timeshare at a Worldmark resort in Windsor!
We arrived up in San Jose on July 15th and stayed in San Jose with the Gillies overnight and then they let us use Mary's faithful and super comfy bronze Toyota for our travels up to Windsor for the week.
Windsor is a little town one hour north of San Francisco. Here is one of us making it over the Golden Gate Bridge! Something interesting to note about California is how it will be so hot inland and then as soon as you reach a coastal area the temperature can drop quite rapidly and there can be a great deal of fog! (Only shortly after this picture was taken, did we reach sunny and hot Windsor which is a little more inland!)
Now for you to see the lovely place that we were booked into! WOW! Such luxury! There was a dishwasher, cable TV, gas bbq/braai, hot tub and pool just outside our condo, gas fireplace, clothes washer and drier, looots of SPACE! Let me introduce you to our luxurious Windsor abode: Here is a link if you want to check out their site with more pics of the place: https://www.worldmarktheclub.com/resorts/wz/
Firstly, to mention that Windsor is a little town flanked by vineyards. It reminded us so much of the Western Cape when we traveled up to our accommodation.
Then from our condo, we had a view of the pool and hot tub:
Our gas bbq/braai and table etc on our balcony:
Then some unfortunately blurry pics of our lounge and kitchen area: (you'll see our sprawled things everywhere indicating that we were already thoroughly relaxed and settled in!)
Now for a tour of Windsor! What a quaint and sweet little town. You will notice that the town doesn't look very old and many of the buildings looked similar almost as though they had been built all at once! Here is a link to the town site: http://www.ci.windsor.ca.us/
Now you will see what I mean about the similar looking buildings:
And then to the Town Green:
And then a warning to South African's asking for a doggy bag when you actually mean 'take away' bag! hehe!
And... that concludes PART ONE of our Windsor travels! We hope to hear from you soon. Thanks for reading about our adventures. :)
