This Trip Report Is Under Refurbishment For Your Future Enjoyment (UPDATED 9/13 with final bonus chapter)

I am getting pretty tired of remakes and super-hero movies, to be honest.

I don't blame you. I enjoy the Marvel movies and Star Wars films. But it does feel like the market is overstuffed. And now that Endgame came out and wrapped things up, I'm wondering--do I really NEED more of these?

Here's a rare original movie coming this fall that I'm really looking forward to. I love the talent working on this movie:

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/ford-v-ferrari-trailer-christian-bale-matt-damon-1203231169/

Time. Of course. :)

Our most precious commodity.

"gift"... interesting choice of words.

:rolleyes1

There's beginner tees there?????

There sure are! Not that it does any good.

Successful at it too!

::yes::

Always a stickler for the rules...

That's me. Except when I'm not.

I know that hole.
I forgot which course it was on, but...

Yeah, most people can recognize that one.

Huh. Then, yeah. You have to go back.

Good enough for me! (calls pro shop)

Being as far behind as I am right now doesn't afford me much time to multi-quote. But, I can say I am caught up here. :) I've never golfed other than putt-putt and am okay with that.

I suspect there are many others in the same boat, who wouldn't get much out of these chapters. And that's fine. Glad you're still here.
 
And now that Endgame came out and wrapped things up, I'm wondering--do I really NEED more of these?
Actually haven't seen that... or the one before. I'll get a round to it sometime.
Here's a rare original movie coming this fall that I'm really looking forward to. I love the talent working on this movie:
I saw that trailer. Looks good.
Also looking forward to seeing
The Art of Racing in the
Rain when it comes out. Need to read the book first, though.
There sure are! Not that it does any good.
I bet!
That's me. Except when I'm not.
;)
Good enough for me! (calls pro shop)
Huh. Then, yeah. You have to send me money.
 
Wow...that course is gorgeous but intimidating. What a cool way to spend the day with your dad. But I'm dying to know....did anyone get in a fistfight with Bob Barker????
 
Actually haven't seen that... or the one before. I'll get a round to it sometime.

It was a lot of fun. I thought it wrapped up the story well.

I saw that trailer. Looks good.
Also looking forward to seeing
The Art of Racing in the

Rain when it comes out. Need to read the book first, though.

Now that's one I don't know anything about--book or movie.

Huh. Then, yeah. You have to send me money.

Good enough for me! (heads to post office)

Should get there any day now.

Wow...that course is gorgeous but intimidating. What a cool way to spend the day with your dad. But I'm dying to know....did anyone get in a fistfight with Bob Barker????

Well...not this time. But I did meet up with the Dalai Lama. He said that on my deathbed, I will receive total consciousness. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
 


Bonus Chapter 6: To The Bat Cave!

Ok, that’s enough golf for a while.

Good grief. You don’t have to cheer so loud.

Just for that, here’s one more golf note. We actually finished the 17-Mile Drive earlier than I had originally planned. When planning the trip, I’d found a par-3 golf course right outside the Pebble Beach Lodge that seemed reasonable. I was all set to have the family play a quick 9 holes, just so we could say we played golf on the Monterey Peninsula. I even had my Facebook post all teed up (see what I did there?) and ready to go: WE PLAYED GOLF AT the par 3 course next to PEBBLE BEACH!

Sadly, the course had been temporarily closed so they could erect hospitality tents for the upcoming U.S. Open. Womp womp.

So, we ate our peanut reduction and grape compote on wheat and moved on. We made a brief stop in Monterey to buy a couple of crappy drug store flashlights for the afternoon. Then we took a boring 1.5-hour drive through farms and then dusty rolling hills in the middle of nowhere before finally reaching our afternoon destination, Pinnacles National Park.

The Pinnacles area has been protected land since 1906, but it was a National Monument during most of that period. It’s a relatively new National Park, having been converted in January 2013 under President Obama. The park mostly encompasses a small mountain range running along the San Andreas Fault and features distinctive rock formations—the “pinnacles” of the title.

I’d read that the peak visitation in the park happened during spring, so I was worried about the parking lots being full by the time we arrived. Thankfully, we arrived long after the wave and many visitors were already leaving for the day. Given that mid-afternoon is the hottest part of the day, it seemed wise on their part. Instead of staying in the air-conditioned van, we chose that part of the day to go on a hike. Because we are idiots.

After a brief visit to the visitor center to get our passport stamp and pick up a Junior Ranger workbook for Drew, we drove up into the hills.

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We were lucky enough to find a parking space all the way at the end of the road, at the trailhead for Bear Gulch Cave. This is a mile-long hike that takes you up through Bear Gulch to a talus cave, which is a cave formed when a narrow canyon gets filled by boulders from rockslides. In other words, you’re climbing through a pile of rocks, and there are enough spaces in between to make it seem like a cave. The park website had said flashlights were required for this hike, hence the stop at the Monterey CVS. Drew insisted on taking the responsibility of holding a flashlight for us. He’s a take-charge kinda guy.

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The hike took us through some neat passageways in the rocks.

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When we reached the entrance to the cave, we found that there was a little stream running through the middle of it. This was “Bear Gulch”. The cave is actually home to bats, and the trail is occasionally closed during mating season for the bats. We did not encounter a single bat on our hike. I know you’re disappointed. We also did not see any sign of Alfred or Bruce Wayne.

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Once inside, we found that the flashlights were indeed a necessity. As you can see in the photo above, there were portions of the trail where you basically had to walk through the stream. Without being able to see where you could pick your way through the rocks, you’d end up with cold, soaked feet.

We only had moderate success on that front, even with the flashlights.

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Still, it was a lot of fun climbing through the cave. I think it’s fair to call caves the bacon of hikes—exploring a cave makes any hike better. You might think differently if you encounter thousands of bats, but whatever. We thought it was cool.

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Looking out over the top of the cave:

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The hike continues on to a reservoir on top of the mountain, but the trail was poorly marked and we took the wrong branch and hit a dead end. Rather than flounder around in the wilderness looking for a trail we’d never seen before in an area with no cell phone signal, we decided to return to the loop trail and head back down the mountain.

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It had been nice and cool in the cave, but it was hot out in the sun, so we were all happy to get back to the van so we could blast the A/C and grab some drinks. We drove back down to the visitor center so Drew could be sworn in as a Junior Ranger and pick up his badge.

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And then we settled in for another boring drive. This was 2.5 hours on back roads through winding hills dotted with…well, nothing. I can’t remember a single interesting sight along the drive. It got even more boring when we crossed the hills and into California’s great Central Valley, which might actually be flatter than Delaware. We took several 2-lane roads that blasted straight and true through miles of farm fields and orchards. After what seemed like forever, we finally reached a major road in Highway 99 and turned south toward the town of Tulare.

It was here that we had a DISMeet at dinner. Alicia (@Leshaface), her husband Dan, and her boys were gracious enough to up with us at a sandwich/pizza shop called Bravo Farms. Dan and Alicia’s kids might be the friendliest kids I’ve ever met. They were best friends with Drew about 30 seconds into the conversation. Needless to say, with three young boys there, our table was…how should I put it?

Loud.

It was kind of funny—you could see a big ring of empty tables all around us, kind of like a buffer zone between us and any other patrons in the restaurant. It reminded me of…just about every time my family goes out to eat.

I figured when in California, order the tri-tip, and ended up with a pretty decent beef sandwich. The kids shared some pizza, and I don’t have the foggiest idea what Julie ordered. Once again, it’s that incisive detail that keeps you coming back to these TR’s.

j06MyTTnf8WkHmks5o1J00ml7xsejbZmaxdTwZdVb8AoDnmgR_Rfqh1CPqql9QvWxjmv8Ekq8Ep7MURoS_hvYOLZJcrVaEty14Oc3x5t7jnCtWMllV2lDiF9RdanBZi9SDW0pT-ESCXajufM2a_qZVV1j4CmuOrO-ZhZY4CW1O8CTOj03-B6krY3npvAggPgvCIulBb9BQLREEkCSoVVjUqV2LHDsZxbo1udD-nnURg-YvnjFVZl9w5C3l0sNAsBP7CTp06fg9cIwNVxVQPU7_2hMaKKfV5mEXvl7elgt4ghslgZkBoJ_nrL113OkBCAcgX95In1cbwGaYICQie_2879TN4XsamE5rBGf7MQOSkxPbCBjo1fcPRJ5SqQP2_6m2nNnzRI1ZhVjEJXtSs6XYCyiOPLOHIPLNtXld8nMwT7L8vHFxKMjSy9l3Q6cfHH3Z36eczdNKDOQqgpOHKmA0ebu-Rmv2dNl7F9M1SRmkuzkTWvaHAtUlpjDPiquXjvFHAgKTYy4pwwb2Y1Gqaeo-x9fqzCqJXNS77VquFucEEhX67DwK5OSSRDe7GscFLFVYtBN0V0-DDSB_R3qb3S6IJWFI003cnsnF7mqqKS8dS2huNxQaPj0kBk4a48hNEfFt7xzU3zN76aPMTdUNdBHjGFxTu44nTf=w1076-h807-no


Alicia and Dan were incredibly easy to talk to. We laughed a lot and had a great evening with them, and I remain amazed at the way we can meet people from the DISboards for the first time in person and immediately carry on a conversation like we’re old friends. Alicia and Dan, thanks for being such great hosts and taking the time to meet up with us.

Or at least they put up a good front. Clearly Dan didn’t actually want to be seen with us.

uNhJDWe9dwTwMj59kY1JkMW1tjOFa3MhpXekWBVEGHRoLnTjzeP-039dvwtRxpaF8l_Qhdiz-xlotdl1kF9kJYSZAqG0z0oKPGCbiw3Q_iBw6IEatX2G47Vle7ImZSwmzSlWolPyfSbYV6NnmxEU62XSsh_9TC4WIoJLi812JGnQQs7G9jEYAyHSZvJZdmchojwWWgGqbGjOoY5gWAIcdxCHxzKSEVFeP2psyW3DARyIDd-IUrLLpdxTRv0GSr7sIfD95t5RTDT8ach4DWoOmUMPCn_C486Ml1Sc312FiIrC4rX8JdmTKwVBp3gcdHSwLOHIBp62uItRHSDsyQ38QsJy7fYySvoigGtb29SfIhw9yn3axdvvKKOBlhx6quc81VF6x53wqwg46WDZrM0JD_rVGyMO-8-hNzjj2RnMTuXA9_Eq1ablSYkcTtFJYE3_2ulDV2t3BjJk_FC9q5YTLtC05myb6wcMNowZEovsRtUMHvtO39kEqXlnny1Tho6yOHFABZvlzj_JDFOXM9mPm3utbKI4FduNMc6nwY_UkWUraDrTzm9h1ybQxV4LJuJpRQoyKDn7iOAFpnl2hQfGz_WdJ2KVpYZkIfLULQzxQfN1cbeCaZLhlXxXg3-EqirHMW4vGg3vbTuG10FHgFjHRaQB84870yUi=w1088-h807-no


Travel map for day 3:

enlbH031yDlpm3uaxh02R3LoQBEVikmVwQHsVIWPEfdXiFgPFF3Qbj-aB61psxa7B032Hn3wDV5l0_TupzcwsiU-Y_IIbSJMDvCwjVeH-81DBAxT_WAbZbATtfq7dFK1usyeFAPr7CAVqIiD3krCnH1YaUV6B3XpEvDBEY519m505yLNawGrlUu6J4P5MfZUeoxgDiuiw4vNY7xeyYYgk-ULY3hyt1l3fpyhT0R9mieBKe6CLNQ1eJeMwIPOqQsttBy0Z2s_n3ak_L39_6UBF--WoV4jOx-ZPWv4mxwr30_4PiHIU-LGwOGnnTvSi0rPkuc4Hkhb7Y3Q3zRbMOq3eDiSY78yjCZV1LYpDCztDkGdKIEEtRu3txd83Tn2yDQvgHEboQTqDJEG2ETxjLcdCmHn-qtLRxv303JRsJfwwtcyu7WriU5BIw5nyaoGPWBfxFq-K3dhKxkQvDe6qGFR17Efxo-N0hhbzHR64G6gGwA9SjoX-VMW8_VNk7AyhPyaI2ECAJLg9GYtg90i4dlBdkLisKgfvMk8ciFPiTxYnou_cBtmTP7PIj7nKgkIMLIw6RuDYa7uqbEoa-MKkIgnXXc-Gez45-BAnq1BnOcbf7Fu43DRhE6crZ45Pikmpd0ViNbeJBrLCkVIBNCds8J1CaCmBbMuJpwB=w1112-h768-no


Coming Up Next: The National Park tour continues.
 
Now that's one I don't know anything about--book or movie.
I didn't either until one of my readers
(or I was one of theirs)
mentioned it to me.
Sounded interesting.
I just downloaded the ebook from
the library. :)
Good enough for me! (heads to post office)

Should get there any day now.
I'm gonna just wait by the mail box, then.
 
Ok, that’s enough golf for a while.
Lost your ball?
Good grief. You don’t have to cheer so loud.
<turns off microphone... wait... it's already off...>
I even had my Facebook post all teed up (see what I did there?)
Nope.
Sadly, the course had been temporarily closed so they could erect hospitality tents for the upcoming U.S. Open. Womp womp.
:sad2:
Didn't they remove them when you indicated to them you wanted to play and told them who you were???
So, we ate our peanut reduction and grape compote on wheat and moved on.
You guys are really moving up in the world!!!
We made a brief stop in Monterey to buy a couple of crappy drug store flashlights for the afternoon.
For the afternoon?
Dude... I may not live in that neck of the woods, but I'm pretty sure you buy them for the night.
Thankfully, we arrived long after the wave and many visitors were already leaving for the day.
So... pretty good timing.
Instead of staying in the air-conditioned van, we chose that part of the day to go on a hike. Because we are idiots.
Oh.
a talus cave, which is a cave formed when a narrow canyon gets filled by boulders from rockslides.
Thanks for the explanation. Soon as I saw the word "talus", I was wondering what that was.
The park website had said flashlights were required for this hike, hence the stop at the Monterey CVS.
Also for night.
Drew insisted on taking the responsibility of holding a flashlight for us. He’s a take-charge kinda guy.
I got that impression when I met him :laughing:
Not at all what I pictured!
And here I picture a coyote and a lever waiting for a certain bird to speed through.
This was “Bear Gulch”. The cave is actually home to bats,
Of course.
We also did not see any sign of Alfred or Bruce Wayne.
Either out spending money or fighting crime.
I have yet to see a comic or movie where he sleeps.
I think it’s fair to call caves the bacon of hikes—exploring a cave makes any hike better.
I wouldn't know... but suspect you're right.
You might think differently if you encounter thousands of bats, but whatever.
Yeah, that'd be cool!
Love that. :)
This was 2.5 hours on back roads through winding hills dotted with…well, nothing. I can’t remember a single interesting sight along the drive. It got even more boring when we crossed the hills and into California’s great Central Valley, which might actually be flatter than Delaware.
Even more boring than North Dakota????????????
It was here that we had a DISMeet at dinner. Alicia (@Leshaface),
Oh! Nice! Haven't seen her on the boards in ages.
They were best friends with Drew about 30 seconds into the conversation.
:goodvibes
Needless to say, with three young boys there, our table was…how should I put it?

Loud.
:laughing: No! I wouldn't have believed that.
It was kind of funny—you could see a big ring of empty tables all around us, kind of like a buffer zone between us and any other patrons in the restaurant. It reminded me of…just about every time my family goes out to eat.
:lmao:
I remain amazed at the way we can meet people from the DISboards for the first time in person and immediately carry on a conversation like we’re old friends.
::yes::
I've had that time and time again. It's... wonderful. :)
Clearly Dan didn’t actually want to be seen with us.
I've never met the man, but my respect for him has just grown.
 


So, we ate our peanut reduction and grape compote on wheat and moved on.

:lmao:

I was going to quote more, but was really enjoying the photos and forgot! In a rugged sort of way, the area is very beautiful. That cave does look like a fun one to explore and I guess I'm one of the weirdos who'd actually have loved to have come across a (non-rabid) bat. Bats are uber cool.

The Central Valley is boring with field after field of veggies. Sometimes you can smell the onions, or berries, or cabbage growing. YAY!! for another successful DISMeet!
 
What a full day! Too bad the golf course was closed but the national park stop seems to have made up for it. How fun you met up with Alicia and family! I always followed her TR's. I'm a national park fan so interested to see what your next stop is??
 
I didn't either until one of my readers
(or I was one of theirs)
mentioned it to me.
Sounded interesting.
I just downloaded the ebook from
the library. :)

Let me know if it's good! I'm always looking for my next favorite book.

I'm gonna just wait by the mail box, then.

Any day now. I'm sure of it.
Lost your ball?

All the time.

<turns off microphone... wait... it's already off...>

Aha! I knew it!

:sad2:
Didn't they remove them when you indicated to them you wanted to play and told them who you were???

Didn't even consider it. People these days are so lazy.

You guys are really moving up in the world!!!

:woohoo:

For the afternoon?
Dude... I may not live in that neck of the woods, but I'm pretty sure you buy them for the night.

Well, keep reading...

So... pretty good timing.

For once!

Thanks for the explanation. Soon as I saw the word "talus", I was wondering what that was.

I didn't have any idea, either, until I read up on it during my research.

Also for night.

To explore the hotel room!

I got that impression when I met him :laughing:

Sarah has been drawing sketches of him as the "little tyrant".

Not at all what I pictured!

Sorry if that photo was misleading. That was actually a tunnel along the trail, not the entrance to the cave. The cave entrance is a few photos down, the one with my back to the camera.

And here I picture a coyote and a lever waiting for a certain bird to speed through.

:lmao::rotfl::rotfl2: Perfect!

Either out spending money or fighting crime.
I have yet to see a comic or movie where he sleeps.

That's a good point. Maybe it's just when he's knocked unconscious.

I wouldn't know... but suspect you're right.

Waterfalls fall in that category, too.

Yeah, that'd be cool!

Until they all start pooping on you.

Love that. :)

I think it's such a great program for the kids.

Even more boring than North Dakota????????????

Nothing is that boring. Nothing.

Oh! Nice! Haven't seen her on the boards in ages.

Yeah...I suspect life has stolen her away.

:laughing: No! I wouldn't have believed that.

Shocking, I know!

::yes::
I've had that time and time again. It's... wonderful. :)

::yes::

I've never met the man, but my respect for him has just grown.

Yeah, he's definitely a great judge of charac--


HEY!
 
I was going to quote more, but was really enjoying the photos and forgot! In a rugged sort of way, the area is very beautiful. That cave does look like a fun one to explore and I guess I'm one of the weirdos who'd actually have loved to have come across a (non-rabid) bat. Bats are uber cool.

Like I told @pkondz, it's all well and good until they start pooping on you. Or so I've heard.

The Central Valley is boring with field after field of veggies. Sometimes you can smell the onions, or berries, or cabbage growing. YAY!! for another successful DISMeet!

I didn't smell anything. Probably because we were hot and had the A/C going full blast.

What a full day! Too bad the golf course was closed but the national park stop seems to have made up for it. How fun you met up with Alicia and family! I always followed her TR's. I'm a national park fan so interested to see what your next stop is??

I bet if you look at the map you can figure it out!
 
Let me know if it's good! I'm always looking for my next favorite book.
Will do!
Any day now. I'm sure of it.
Yep!
Aha! I knew it!
Um... dang. cover blown.
Didn't even consider it. People these days are so lazy.
Probably millennials.
I didn't have any idea, either, until I read up on it during my research.
Well, I wasn't going to do it!!!
To explore the hotel room!
Of course!

or a light switch. But that's so pedestrian.
(Pedestrian. Definition: Someone who walks in the dark and stubs their baby toe on furniture.)
Sarah has been drawing sketches of him as the "little tyrant".
:lmao: Perfect!
Sorry if that photo was misleading. That was actually a tunnel along the trail, not the entrance to the cave. The cave entrance is a few photos down, the one with my back to the camera.
Got it. And yet... still not what I expected.
Until they all start pooping on you.
What are guano do about it?
Nothing is that boring. Nothing.
I thought so.
Yeah, he's definitely a great judge of charac--


HEY!
:rolleyes1
 
Tobacco Road is all about one's attitude. It's said that you can learn more about a person's character in one round of golf than in a lifetime of conversation, and I think there's a lot of truth to that. You can learn if someone is honest--do they count all of their shots? Call penalties on themselves? You can learn if they can handle adversity--do they throw tantrums? Whine and complain about bad breaks? Or do they buckle down and say, "Watch this shot!"

So I'm still catching up on the last few chapters. But this made me think about the conversation I had with my husband. In the past couple of years, it's become a tradition for my dad, Joe, and Dad's friend Craig to go play golf. And nowhere fancy, just a small local course. That evening as we were driving up to the lake, I asked Joe how the game went.

"Worst game of my life."

Oh, well, how did Dad do?

"He didn't do too bad at the beginning, but then at the end whatever karma caught him too and we both sucked."

How about Craig?

"He threw his clubs."

I think they still managed to have a good time. But I'm not quite sure.
 
So, we ate our peanut reduction and grape compote on wheat and moved on.
It does sound fancier when you put it that way.

This is a mile-long hike that takes you up through Bear Gulch to a talus cave, which is a cave formed when a narrow canyon gets filled by boulders from rockslides. In other words, you’re climbing through a pile of rocks, and there are enough spaces in between to make it seem like a cave.
As a geologist, I feel like I should have known this. But I have to confess I've never heard of a talus cave. Interesting though.

We did not encounter a single bat on our hike.
Too bad. That would have been cool.

We also did not see any sign of Alfred or Bruce Wayne.
That would have been cooler.
Except Affleck.

Still, it was a lot of fun climbing through the cave. I think it’s fair to call caves the bacon of hikes—exploring a cave makes any hike better.
Absolutely. It's like Tom Sawyer Island in WDW.
Someone says "let's spend take an hour to go over to an island and walk around".
Me: "no thanks"
"But there's a cave"
Me: "Where's the raft?"

I figured when in California, order the tri-tip, and ended up with a pretty decent beef sandwich.
Bread and meat. What more could you want?
 
Probably millennials.

Darn right! So lazy!

Welp, back to surfing the DISboards at work.

Of course!

or a light switch. But that's so pedestrian.
(Pedestrian. Definition: Someone who walks in the dark and stubs their baby toe on furniture.)

Probably has my photo listed there.


I think Julie posted that sketch on FB, you might have seen it there.

What are guano do about it?

Right now, this issue is my #2 priority.

The caves sounded really cool! And what a nice Dismeet

Caves are always cool! Unless bears are inside.

Well, isn't that true with most situations in life? Makes me glad I'm not a Med-Surg RN.

:scared::crazy2:

And that makes sense.

Quoting this for posterity. I don't often make sense.
 
So I'm still catching up on the last few chapters. But this made me think about the conversation I had with my husband. In the past couple of years, it's become a tradition for my dad, Joe, and Dad's friend Craig to go play golf. And nowhere fancy, just a small local course. That evening as we were driving up to the lake, I asked Joe how the game went.

"Worst game of my life."

Oh, well, how did Dad do?

"He didn't do too bad at the beginning, but then at the end whatever karma caught him too and we both sucked."

How about Craig?

"He threw his clubs."

I think they still managed to have a good time. But I'm not quite sure.

Well, they say a bad day of golf beats a good day at the office. I wouldn't take them to Tobacco Road, though.

It does sound fancier when you put it that way.

Sorry to burst the bubble, but it still tastes the same.

As a geologist, I feel like I should have known this. But I have to confess I've never heard of a talus cave. Interesting though.

I had never heard of it, either. See? These trips are purely educational! I should get a subsidy.

Too bad. That would have been cool.

Unless I was getting dive-bombed by the bat. It would be funny if it was somebody else, though.

That would have been cooler.
Except Affleck.

I'd take him over the Clooney version.

Absolutely. It's like Tom Sawyer Island in WDW.
Someone says "let's spend take an hour to go over to an island and walk around".
Me: "no thanks"
"But there's a cave"
Me: "Where's the raft?"

::yes::

Bread and meat. What more could you want?

Bacon?
 
we took a boring 1.5-hour drive through farms and then dusty rolling hills in the middle of nowhere

I was gonna say this drive is pretty interesting, wait until you get to the valley floor!

The Pinnacles area has been protected land since 1906, but it was a National Monument during most of that period. It’s a relatively new National Park, having been converted in January 2013 under President Obama.

I didn't realize it was now a Park, all my life its been Pinnacles National Monument.

I think it’s fair to call caves the bacon of hikes—exploring a cave makes any hike better.

I can see that.

It got even more boring when we crossed the hills and into California’s great Central Valley, which might actually be flatter than Delaware.

And there it is!

Clearly Dan didn’t actually want to be seen with us.

You know, I would think the two of you are a good match, you could have a snarkiest contest, both of you have rather warped senses of humor! :laughing:
 

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