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Redwoods plus  August 4-11, 2017
Bay Area
San Francisco's skyline has changed a lot in the last few years
Still a beautiful ball park (I wandered around, we were seated near the right field foul pole on the field level)
They didn't have three the last time I went to a game (maybe only 1) Mare Island is still working on ships (Just not as a Navy Base anymore)
Grandson Austin was starting middle school in a week (6th grade) so his father and I took him on a 2100 mile week long camping trip to Crescent City and back. We took a high speed (catamaran) ferry from Vallejo to AT&T Park to see the Giants defeat the Diamondbacks. An old friend Barry went with us to the game and latter his girlfriend Elaine and a mutual longtime friend Mark joined us at Napoli's in Vallejo for pizza and Italian food. We spent two nights at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in Sonoma. A night at Burlington, the headquarters of the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. A night at Mill Creek campground Del Norte State Park near Crescent City. A night at Butte Lake campground in Lassen National Park and finally a night at Plumas-Eureka State Park about an hour north of Reno.
Redwoods
Austin used to be a big Bigfoot fan
Living in the desert the vivid green of the redwood forest was a refreshing change. Scot slept on a cot the first night but it bothered his back. He slept in the trailer after that. I slept on a cot every night sometimes joined by Austin. He actually made it once or twice without ending up in the trailer sometime during the night.
Lassen National Park
Butte Lake (Fantastic Lava Bed on backside of lake)  Cinder Cone
We got glimpses of the peak on the way to and from the Butte Lake Campground but were unable to see it from camp. We hiked a mile towards a cinder cone. If we had climbed the steep final half mile we may have seen the mountain but we didn't have the time. The campground was the only one with space available when I made reservations and was 6 miles on a dirt/gravel road. The campground was without water and the showers were locked. I rained  and hailed very hard before we arrived and we caught the tail end of it.
Reno
We left the trailer at Plumas-Eureka State Park and went down to Reno to check out the car show. Because of the show there were virtually no rooms available. Had diner at the Eldorado. The cars were interesting but I didn't like the idiots with the loud engines, gunning them to make noise. Enough to turn me off from ever going again, or at least wear ear plugs. I don't like loud noises and crowds much, that's why I live on the edge of nowhere. Unfortunately at home the newer JSF planes are even louder than the F-18s that are frequently overhead. Unless you are near the runway on base the noise is usually more bearable than the throaty roar of the car engines at the Reno car show. The other big event that fills Reno is the Reno airshow.
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