Thursday, June 30, 2016

California June 2016 Famous Rocks, a vineyard and cousins Agua Dulce/Santa Clarita, CA Jun 13-14



If you were as devoted to Star Trek, the TV show,  as I was as a teen, you would find our next stop eerily familiar.  Several episodes were shot here, including when Capt. Kirk fought the Gorn (and to get an idea see THIS) as well as scenes from the movies.  There were many other movies filmed here, including The Flintstones movie-the Town of Bedrock.  But, they were also the hiding place for a Robin Hood type bandit, Tiburcio Vasquez (upon whom the character Zorro was probably based) in the 19th century and were named for him.  



We stopped at Vasquez Rocks on our way to Agua Dulce Winery where we'd be spending the night with our Harvest Host membership (a great idea for anyone who travels long distances in an RV), because after leaving San Juan Capistrano at 5am to (successfully) beat the Los Angeles morning rush hour(s) traffic, they were open and the winery was not.

6 am traffic going to LA-we'd been on the road for an hour and it was starting to pick up but never got much worse than this

We got through LA without any major tie ups, heading northeast as the skies started to clear




Skies almost clear we drove through the Antelope Valley


The drive had been easy and once outside the city quite beautiful.  Vasquez Rocks was very much so.  The famous rocks dominate the site but there is a geology trail that had several examples of geologic features and then a nature trail that some other interesting points of interest.











California Juniper

Mistletoe growing on a juniper tree










California Juniper tree







Holly leaf cherry





We parked the MoHo and went for a walk and then left for the winery.  Once again, it was in a lovely setting with a store in which I was able to find several thank you presents and after setting up we strolled around with the pets.  The winery has a large menagerie of animals behind it and Phoenix and I visited them including the...



curious horse

unshorn alpaca

bunnies

and a regal pheasant who lived among the chickens




Don's cousins, Ginny and Eric who live nearby, called and we arranged to meet for dinner in nearby Santa Clarita. We met them and had a great time at Yamato, a Japanese restaurant where there is a large koi pond and a rotating sushi table. You choose what you want as it goes by and when done, the hostess totals the tickets from the items chosen.  You can also order items, as Eric and I did, since I wanted sashimi. After a lovely time, a preamble for our visit with them in July, we drove "home" to spend the night.

Beautiful Agua Dulce Canyon Rd.




Driving back to Agua Dulce


Dawn at Agua Dulce Winery




Map of travels California Second Leg Central Jun 13-


Previous Stop: Laguna Niguel and San Juan Capistrano
Next Stop: Fairview Campground in Sequoia National Forest, Kernville, CA

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