A formerly deluxe roadside motel, just hanging on. It has a steakhouse which looked nice, but was closed on Tuesday night.
Real good find! I thought these county parks were spendy, but $10 seems like a pretty good deal to me right now! On one of those little "creeks" LADWP sculpted out to constrain "their" water. Wide open sagebrush on one side, a column of willows and cottonwoods following the creek on the other. Very quiet and pretty today.
The other grandparent's house, in lovely, user-friendly downtown San Rafael. It's very handy for Martha's business and they seem to always host family functions, so I end up here quite a lot.
one of my favorite little spots ever! very pretty, Datil has a quite useful store/restaurant (with wifi).
Was called the Bear Lake Lodge until recently. The old motel seems to be some kind of doomed placeholder for a deluxe extended stay place "coming soon". Great location, the lake directly in back, pizza place to the north and a nice modern place that even serves beer to the south ... which turns out to be the same owners as the motel.
convenient to Jackson, and very pretty in it's own right, also very large.
On the edge of downtown Eureka. Across the street from the wonderful Humboldt County Library, in sight of the famous Carson Mansion, 200 yards from the Donut Mill (eek!). A rambling, beautiful old house. Wood-paneled dining room, high ceilings, old-school push button light switches. Kinda sketchy neighborhood though. The sidewalks look good in the daytime, but after dark they're owned by Eureka's uniquely aggro and insane-ish street people.
Funky place on the Russian River, more lo-budget than its fancy neighbors. We got a lovely site surrounded by redwoods, 40 yards from the river.
There's no signs to say it's ok to overnight (or not!). Allstays says they allow it, so I did it and it was great. I parked at the edge of what used to be the dump station loop, behind the Information Center building. There's a couple of trees, a covered area (with no picnic table), looking out over the skateboard park 100 yards away. Nobody bothered me from 7pm to 10 am. Kudos to Guymon!
California state park campgrounds are too expensive. If you're paying for beachfront that's one thing, but parking my van on a level spot in the woods with a bathroom for $35 does not work for me. The fine young man at the entrance kiosk told me that a couple of miles back on National Forest land, the signs saying "Camping 14 days max" also signify "OK to camp here tonight". So that's what I did.
Making their way back to the Bay Area. A nice house on a busy street walking distance from user-friendly downtown Petaluma.
not fancy, but quite serviceable, restaurants with walking distance
One of the cheaper motels in town, and for good reason! The room itself is nice. Motel 6 is (IMO), kind of the Target of motel chains in that it offers quite a bit more style than it's competitors. There's a bar/restaurant on the lot that's very handy. Just pack up in the morning and walk to breakfast.
Camping is just the edge of the forest behind the lodge. Next to a very pretty cow pasture at the edge of the huge Sierra Valley. Nice lodge to hang out in, wifi and kitchen, free to campers. The Hot Springs has also taken over the hotel in town. There is also a breakfast place and aMexican restaurant in town, both pricy but good!
In the good part of downtown Bishop. The funky little Bishop AAA office is right across the street, restaurants and coffee shops a block away.
Expensive, but oh so cool, on the bluffs at Cardiff CA. The town is right across the highway, great bluff-waking for miles northward, Cardiff Beach and beach side restaurants southward. Mornings and evenings are often pretty gray and damp. Nice firepits.
In the harbor area. You can see it far below you from 101 in the east side of the bridge over the Noyes River. The "office" is the cashier on the second floor of Silver's at The Wharf across the parking lot. It's also great place to return to for a sunset beer. Very user-friendly place. Upstairs rooms are $10 cheaper, but they were full.
Cafe conjures up an image of a modest little restaurant. This place is HUGE! A multiple tour bus handling, multi-roomed dining hall and entertainment complex. I was kinda put off by the style, but the servers were nice, the food was good and plentiful, and it was fun! As part of their hillbilly hospitality thing one is welcome to sleep in the parking lot! For all my snobbishness about it, it was actually very pleasant. Everything about my night and morning in Sykesville was very nice.
handy city-run campground, easy to walk to everything in town.