We visited the California’s Great America amusement park in San Jose. We’re not really into amusement or theme parks, but Jenn wanted to do the Mass Effect ride, so we went basically just for that.

A selfie:

We wandered around and looked at the other rides, though nothing really appealed:

Jenn with Snoopy:

Gondola:

We decided to ride the gondola back to the entrance:

Then it was time for the Mass Effect ride:

Jenn really enjoyed the ride, so mission accomplished.

Posing with Wrex:

Jenn with Garrus:

Since we were at an amusement park, we had to have some park food to round out the experience; we shared a tasty funnel cake:

While staying near San Jose, we toured the famous Winchester Mystery House.

A rather bizarre house, with low-riser stairs, windows in floors, a door to nowhere, and other strange things.

Here’s a model of the house:

Info plaque:

Winchester goods:

Green screen tour photos:

Low riser stairs:

Bedroom:

Desk:

Low riser stairs:

Bedroom:

Pictures:

Floor window:

Arboretum:

Hair wreath:

Desk:

Sink:

Basin:

Bedroom:

Floor window:

Arboretum:

Stained glass:

Display:

Door:

Roof:

Dresser:

Bathroom:

Laundry:

Stores:

Kitchen:

Unfinished room:

Dining room:

Front door:

Dining rooms:

Fireplace:

Parlor:

Pantry:

Dining room:

Parlor:

Ceiling:

Foreman’s house:

Fruit drying shed:

Water tower:

Carriage:

Greenhouse:

Back of the house:

Gardens:

Windows:

Fountain:

House exterior:

Door to nowhere:

Front door:

Gardens:

We visited Bidwell Mansion in Chico, CA, and had a guided tour inside.

The exterior of Bidwell Mansion:

Portraits:

Drawing room:

Dining room:

Kitchen:

Laundry:

Library:

Office:

Stairs:

Hall light; both electric and gas:

Main bedroom:

Bathroom:

Closet:

More bedrooms:

Bathroom:

Servants bedrooms:

Servants bathroom:

On the third floor, a ballroom:

Skylight:

More bedrooms:

Storage:

Stairs to the tower:

Back door:

Architect’s house:

Carriage house:

Plaque:

House exterior:

Info signs:

We visited a vineyard… which isn’t a particularly unusual thing for us to do, but this was an interesting one: the New Clairvaux Vineyard is part of a Cistercian abbey; yes, wine made by Trappist monks.

Tasting room:

Cork cross:

Picture and model of the abbey:

Info:

We enjoyed a tasting, and bought some bottles.

Another roadside attraction that we visited in southern Oregon was the Oregon Vortex.

To quote from their website:

The Oregon Vortex is a glimpse of a strange world where the improbable is the commonplace and everyday physical facts are reversed. It is an area of naturally occurring visual and perceptual phenomena, which can be captured on film. No matter your education or profession you will find a challenge to all your accepted theories.

The Oregon Vortex entrance:

Entrance and gift shop:

Info signs:

The main gimmick of this place is that things appear to have different heights depending on where you stand. We had a guide to ourselves, who got us to stand against poles, then reverse positions, and it appeared our heights changed. Certainly not evident in the pictures, but while there, it did kinda feel like it, either through the power of suggestion, sloping backgrounds, or other magic:

A feature of the place is the “House of Mystery”; a 1904 gold assay office that slid off its foundation:

Within it, there is just one small level platform, as demonstrated by our guide:

Jenn on the platform:

Behind the house, another level platform:

Another demonstration was a board between our guide and Jenn, where they swapped places again, and felt a height change, though again the camera shows it was an illusion:

Another demo, with me and Jenn swapping places:

The gift shop:

It was an interesting place to visit, and an iconic Oregon attraction.

While staying at Valley of the Rogue State Park, we visited a local attraction, the Golden ghost town, an Oregon state heritage site.

Quoting from that website:

At its peak, the 19th century mining town of Golden, now a ghost town, was home to 100 people and served as a hub for many others who worked the land in more remote locations. The 1850s mining camp eventually gave way to a town established around 1890. Golden was distinguished by its lack of saloons in the town center, its two active churches and the large orchard established by its founding families. Today, visitors can explore the remaining settlements perched above the valley where miners once toiled.

Golden’s remains include four buildings: a church, a former residence, a shed and a structure that once housed a post office and store. The entire property is in the National Register of Historic Places.

Here are the store and homestead of Golden:

The Golden sign:

Store:

Inside the store (peeking in from outside; it looked very dark to me, but the iPhone works well in low light):

The homestead:

Shed:

Inside the shed:

Church:

Inside the church:

Graveyard:

Tombstones:

Metalic remains:

Info signs:

Back of the church:

Homestead, store, shed:

Me in front of the store, with my Stetson hat (that I got in Yellowstone):

My posts on this blog aren’t all about RV modifications and maintenance. Sometimes we do other things. In this case, during our water sanitizing process… so yeah, can’t escape the maintenance stuff.

As previously mentioned, we are currently staying at the Olde Stone Village RV Park, which is next to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.

They are connected by a walking path, of which we partook on Saturday:

The museum has some planes, including a jumbo jet, parked out front:

There’s also an Air Force Two plane outside:

The entrance to Evergreen Aviation Museum:

Wright Brothers plane (reproduction, of course):

Spirit of St Louis and Amelia Earhart info:

The museum is dominated by the massive Spruce Goose:

Spruce Goose info:

Inside the Spruce Goose:

Spruce Goose nose:

Spruce Goose wing:

Jet planes:

Prop planes:

Helicopter:

The path between the aviation and space buildings includes an indication of the distances between planets:

The space museum entrance:

Space stuff:

Capsule:

Rocket engines:

Helicopter and capsule:

Rocket engine:

Rover:

Lunar lander:

Moon buggy:

Moon buggy and lander:

Rocket segments:

Rover:

After the museums, we went for a drive, with the vague notion of perhaps doing some wine tasting, since there are a bunch of wineries in the area. But we don’t have any room for more wine at present, so decided to head to the Oregon coast instead.

We went to the outlet mall at Lincoln City, to buy some clothes and a blanket, then headed to the beach:

It was about 15:30, so we thought we’d have a snack or very early dinner at the Mo’s restaurant there, but even at that time it was very busy, with a half hour wait:

We decided we didn’t want to wait, so wandered across the road to an ice cream shop, and enjoyed cones instead:

When we got back, we spent the evening flushing out our fresh water. The excitement never ends.