Weston-Bond's Travel Blog: Wandering our way through spring

On most days we set out with a rough plan of what we are going to eat, how far we are going to drive, where we are going to sleep and what interesting places we are going to visit. Most of the time it works out, but occasionally you get snookered by a full campsite or (rarely) lousy weather and your rough plan gets thrown out the window. So you find yourself driving by the seat of your pants, hoping you stumble across a new destination. This morning I find myself writing from the Gold Country Inn in the small town of Angel's Camp. Angel's Camp lies in the foothills of the Sierras in central California on highway 49, which follows the settlements of the famous California gold rush. The towns are close together and from our preview last night full of character. We planned to drive highway 49 but our intention yesterday was to camp further south in Yosemite National Park. Twice we have learned that you can't show up in a famous US national park after noon and expect to get a camp site. This also happened to us in Zion national park. Both Zion and Yosemite are jaw dropping beautiful (if you can see over the guy in front of you) and definitely worth visiting. Unfortunately their beauty has got the best of them and they are now magnets for sedans and cell phone cameras. Our journey out of the desert two weeks ago and onto the California coast saw us leave relative quiet and enter a zoo of humanity. The coast of southern California is beautiful but feels down right packed with people and loaded with regulations. Its obvious to me that we missed the heyday of the area by about 100 years. The best part about our time in Los Angeles was our reunion with Leyla's old university friend, Sina, and his family. They welcomed us with open arms, Sofia and Sullivan got a chance to play with their own kind, and their home provided us a base to explore and embrace the big city. We can't thank them enough for the hospitality. So now we find ourselves back on the road. We spent a few nights on the Big Sur coast and now its all about gold rush towns, antique stores, saloons and of course, juicy rocks. Time to dig out the gold pan...