Trip Report: Spring Break '15 Seattle to Carmel and Back

[Supersporttramp]

Hi all,
Thanks for all the tips on our trip to the bay area.
We ended up going all over the place including Windsor, SF, Monterey, Carmel and even Angels Camp, CA (early April 2015).

We started out at our house east of Seattle with our new Yeti air freshener.


Then we drove down I-5 to Van Specialties in Tualatin, OR.
We had to get a broken window handle fixed, but despite 3 mechanics on site, was not successful.
We did check out many cool rigs in progress. Overheard that the backlog is quite long with van conversions.



Then we went down I-5 to Mt. Shasta for overnight at Shasta KOA. It was snowing!!
It was just a quick in/out over nighter.



Then, we went down to Windsor for some swimming and sight seeing. Took the advice to avoid the zig zag roads this time and went through San Francisco.


We camped at Mazda Raceway in Laguna Seca. Awesome campground, virtually empty. Lots of fancy sports cars showed up to race in the morning. Some shots of our van camped out. Thought about trying to race the van, it's pretty fast, but can't compete with the sports cars.





We drove to Bodega Bay which was beautiful.



Saw this little guy near the pier just before Bodega:

This camp ground was very close to Monterey, so we took the kiddos to Monterey Aquarium and then drove down to Carmel. Wow, just as I imagined, sweet little town and awesome beach!

Here's a pic of our van parallel parked in Carmel. We lucked out with parking.

The final leg was to go gem mining and visit the caverns in Angels Camp. Wow it was a big detour, but kids loved it.


After that we headed home, passing Yolo, CA.


Saved tons of $$ camping vs. staying at hotels
Hope you enjoy the pictures. Here's to summer van camping!

[daveb]

That's a hell of a road trip. I've always wanted to go to to Mercer Caverns. I mean I always had seen those bumper stickers since the 60's. Thanks for the pics and glad you guys enjoyed the trip.

Dave

[BrianW]

Boy, you got seriously lucky finding a parking spot in Carmel at the beach for a van! My sister-in-law lives in Carmel out near Hwy 1 and we try to visit once a year. It's a nice place to have a relative with a guest suite :-)

If you are down that way again, a cool, little-known side trip off Hwy 1 at the Bixby Bridge is the Old Coast Road, which heads inland and then connects back with Hwy 1 farther south. A fun drive on an old dirt road that used to be the only route south. We've driven it a few times in a regular 2WD rental car, but if it's wet it can get a bit dicey in some places. See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/heather-h ... 67909.html

Looks like a fun trip. You totally should have taken the van for a lap at the track...

[BrianW]

Where did you get that über-cool Yeti air freshener?

[twogone]

nice report

[Supersporttramp]

Thanks all.
BrianW: You can get your own Yeti freshner on Amazon. It smells very nice too.
http://www.amazon.com/Accoutrements-...+air+freshener
& Thanks for the Hwy 1 tip. I wish I can retire in Carmel one day......

daveb: We got our Mercer Caverns bumper sticker, they are still giving those orange ones out....

[firedude67]

Go Yeti!
Nice pics of your travels in your awesome ride. Great early spring trip on the Cali coast!