Yesterday's Mulligan

Today was a much better day and vacation is back on track to being awesome!  Other than the whale watching, today was yesterday's do-over.  We woke up super early this morning to head back to the Tule Elk Preserve, this time with a full tank of gas.  Just as we were pulling into the preserve, a coyote crossed the road to go meet his coyote buddy on the other side.  I wasn't quick enough changing camera lenses to get both coyotes together, but I did get the one after he crossed the road!  While in the preserve we were greeted by dozens of elk and they would just stare at the car while chewing on some grass.  On our way out of the preserve, we finally were able to snap a few pictures of some quail - those buggers are too fast for the camera usually!  Plus I'm excited to share with you that we have named all of the quail Dan.  ;-)

Point Reyes National Seashore - on our way to the Tule Elk Preserve

Coyote

I love how the elk chose such a pretty backdrop!

More elk

Dan

On our way to Muir Woods, we passed an area with a whole bunch of sea lions.

After the preserve, we went back to Muir Woods National Monument.  Check yesterday's post for more pictures, but this morning it was far less crowded (although still pretty busy) and we were able to better enjoy it.  It was a much more peaceful experience today and I really enjoyed a much happier walk in the woods with Steve this morning.

Inside one of the big trees

We went to John Muir National Historic Site which is the house he lived in with his wife and daughters.  For those who don't know, John Muir loved the outdoors and is called the "father of the National Parks."  He's the one who really got the conversation going about preserving these wonderful parts of our country.  I highly recommend watching the Ken Burns mini-series "The National Parks:  America's Best Idea" to learn more about him and how the park service started.  For me, this park was pretty much all a "National Park Moment" since this was really where the park service idea began - in John Muir's head at this house.  His house had few of his possessions in it, but the desk where he did all of his writing about parks was on display in the "scribble room," as he called it.  We watched the video in the Visitor Center where we learned that the lone sequoia tree on the property was actually planted by him over a century ago!

John Muir NHS

The "scribble room"

Some of Muir's books

The tree Muir planted over a century ago!

If you are signed up for the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial tour, you actually leave from John Muir National Historic Site.  In the National Park Travelers Club world, this is considered a "hard-to-get" park, because it is.  You have to get reservations at least two weeks in advance, and the tour can be cancelled at anytime if the working army base decides to be loading ammunition that day.  We had reservations months ago, and we were lucky that the army didn't have any ammo to load.  Port Chicago is a hidden gem as well - not so much for the scenery or the feel-good story (because it's a very sad story) - but it's a story that needs to be told and one I didn't know about until this trip.  So you are about to be educated because this is a very important piece of history.  Port Chicago was a naval base during WWII and on July 17, 1944, at 10:15 pm, while loading ammunition onto two different boats, the boats blew up killing 323 enlisted men, officers, merchant mariners, and civilians.  There were more enlisted men killed than officers and most, if not all, of the enlisted men were African-American.  The explosions were so big that one boat was completely annihilated and they have never found debris larger than a suitcase.  The other boat was blown in half, with one half launching over 500 feet away.  Of the dead, only about 50 were identified, otherwise all they found were feet still inside shoes and hands still inside gloves.  A terrible tragedy in itself, but it got worse over the coming days.  Within a few days of the explosion, the 253 men who survived (they were in a different part of the base which is why they survived) were asked to get back to work loading more ammunition on more boats or they were threatened with charges of mutiny since we were in a time of war.  About 200 of those men did go back to work because either an explosion would kill them while working, or they'd be executed by firing squad.  The other 50 men did start the conversation about racism in the military and about safety precautions (because none were taken prior to this incident).  The 50 mutineers did face trial and they were found guilty, serving 8 - 15 years in prison.  Most of the 200+ survivors had PTSD and the 50+ mutineers were dishonorably discharged and therefore denied VA benefits.  They were never exonerated.  Sorry to bum you out with an extremely sad story, but I hope you realize that parks are not just about preserving beautiful pieces of land, but they also teach us so much of the past, even the bad parts so we don't repeat it.

I highly recommend doing this tour if you ever get the chance.  I'd like to add that rangers often add to the experience at the park, and both Ranger Raphael (John Muir NHS) and Ranger Stephanie (Port Chicago) were awesome!  Raphael noticed Steve and I wearing our Centennial shirts and was so curious about our adventures and he loved hearing any feedback we had about any park.  Stephanie was former navy, and was so passionate about the Port Chicago story which made the tour that much better (if that's the right word for it).

A piece of the wreckage

What's left of the pier after the explosion.

The memorial - each of the four sections displays names of the deceased

After a heavy afternoon, Steve and I needed to cheer up, so we went to the Jelly Belly factory for a self-guided tour!  Sadly, they don't run any of the machines on Saturdays so we didn't see anything in action, but we did see a lot of jelly beans resting.  Jelly beans actually take 7 - 14 days to make partially because they have to rest in between certain stages.  Since the machines weren't running, we pretty much flew through the tour and we probably spent more time in the gift shop.  :-)

In one of the resting phases

All the pieces of art hanging up are made out of jelly beans

These have been polished, but are resting again before packaging

Want!

We ended the day with dinner at E.J. Phair Brewing Company.  It was a shame our waitress was crap, but the food and the beer were very good!  We end the trip tomorrow with our last park, Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park before coming home.  So look for the last blog on Monday since we don't get home until very late Sunday night.

Sampler at E.J. Phair