California dreaming

We just got back after a 6 day road trip to Bay Area, CA. My aunt and her family live in Saratoga and we had a wonderful weekend at their place. We also visited a couple of Lisa's friends in Berkeley and spent Friday night munching deep-fried Chinese vegetable dumplings and sticky brown rice with mangoes and coconut milk, egg puffs, some black mushroom fungi dessert and a sesame treat. Yum. Even these gargoyles in Villa Montalvo, Saratoga liked it. They're still reminiscing about it.



Villa Montalvo near Saratoga, CA.

On our way back, we spent one night camping at the Harbin hot springs resort in Middletown, CA. It was a great place but a bit too commercial for me. Photography was prohibited, so we only have a couple of stealth photos of the hubba-hubba (our backpacking tent) roughing it out on a deck by the creek.


We were hit by a spring snowstorm on the drive up into Oregon and had to motel-it in Grants Pass.
Marcel taking a pit stop on the shoulder of I-5

He was awed by the fresh March-snow

A continental breakfast of a bagel and butter later, we were on our way to Umpqua hot springs, 65 miles east of Roseberg, OR. These are wonderful rustic springs by the N. Umpqua river. Because it was a weekday and it was snowing, there weren't a lot of people and it was great to have the springs pretty much to ourselves.

On the way to Umpqua HS

The 3 lower pools



View from the main pool

Toketee Lake near Umpqua HS