RV-ing It

Last Sunday we set out for our first-ever stay in a recreational vehicle. Something inside both of us has always wished for this experience. We had stayed with Mab and Joe Hoover (my mom and her husband) in their RV out in Death Valley one weekend many years ago, but hadn't done it alone. Long discussions about insurance, gas prices, and driving such a large vehicle always made us shy away from renting one. However, during our stay in Anza Borrego last year, our friends, Jim and Linda Roller, showed us a lovely RV park there. Wonder of wonders, the RVs, actually fifth wheel trailers for rent, were already parked, stabilized, and ready for occupancy.

We were excited and pleased with our surroundings; desert beauty, clean sites with various types and sizes of RVs nearby, and "our" RV, just waiting for us to enter and enjoy. I was anticipating the "dollhouse" effect, and was only a bit dismayed when I could hardly step up on the first of four steps into our home for the next three days. They were killers! At least there was a strong bar on the side of the RV to hang onto as we climbed, and we made it up and in.

Once inside, Don immediately bumped his head on an overhang, and I was reminded of seeing
 Joe, , bash his poor forehead at least twice during our outing with them. Sorry to say, Don exceeded Joe's bumping record within the first twenty-four hours. He's a tall guy!

By the way, the picture at the top is of daffodils Don brought secretly in the trunk to put out on the teeny-tiny table. . He knows how much I love flowers, and this bouquet brought me joy for three days. Of course, the scent of them was everywhere in the RV, and that was a good thing. Some of the other closed in odors weren't quite as nice. It was a very small space!

Speaking of small, as delicately as possible, we ended up going over to the restrooms at the pool. Three by three isn't optimum for, well, anything. Quote from Don: "I'd rather stay in a tent!"

One more gripe, and then I'll focus on the positive; trailers are designed to travel securely. That means no cupboard door or drawer should be able to open on its own while on the road. Seriously? I almost broke fingers and nearly pulled my shoulder out of it's socket trying to get into the silverware drawer and the towel closet!  Of course, the bathroom door opened by itself whenever bumped by a knee!

Cooking was fun after getting the burners lit with a match (oops, positive now, sorry), the bed was super comfortable once we climbed over stuff to get in (uh oh, did it again), and the view of stars in the middle of the night made it worth falling off the last step down. (darn) All in all, even including the 4.7 earthquake, we loved our little, tiny, short vacation! No need to have the discussion of renting one ever again.

California Traveling

We returned home last week from a five day trip up the highways and byways of our beloved state of California. We logged in approximately 1,200 miles on the 210, 57, 99, 5, 41, 46, 101, and travelled through some of the most beautiful land anywhere.


San Miguel Mission                                             Refugio State Beach

We viewed the Pacific Ocean from vantage points in Southern California, the Ventura coast, and other sandy spots farther north.


Hollywood at Sunset


Coming home, we drove slowly through Hollywood and Los Angeles, but there was no smog, just a glorious sunset as a backdrop to the magnificent skyline.

Throughout our years of traveling, it's been our pleasure to visit most of the State Parks and Beaches in our Golden State, and we look forward to catching two more Spanish Missions to complete that list. We could stay in California for all our vacations and be content.

One more thought: Much of what we've seen and visited has also been shown on Huell Howser's great program California's Gold. We'll miss him.

Christmas Acrostic

C - Christ came to become one of us.
H - Holy time to worship Him
R - Redeemer of sinful humanity
 I  - In the town of Bethlehem
 S - Shepherds, ordinary people, were told first.
 T - Temple Presentation of Jesus on the eight day.
M - Mary, His dear, courageous mother.
 A - Angels proclaimed the good news of great joy.
 S - Savior and Lord

J - Joseph, His loving earthly father.
O- Oh Come Let Us Adore Him!
Y - You can have Christmas Joy; Just say "Yes!"

Peyton

Everyone has heard that it's a good thing kids are born to the young, because they have the energy to keep up with them. There's a cliche in there somewhere, but I can't recall it. See, that's what I'm talking about! We took care of our younger granddaughter a few days this week, and even had her for the night. It seemed every little task or activity was harder than it used to be when we were young and raising her mother.
Check out her beautiful, blue, wild eyes and the dressed-up, also wild-eyed Dakota, the family dog. The night before, Peyton climbed into bed around 8:00, and the next morning was up at 5:45! Every  activity pictured was finished before 8:30 a.m.

Dressing up Dakota

Her own mixture for baked ornaments:
salt, flour, oatmeal, rice krispies, tea.

Breakfast of French toast

She painted and decorated this paper
plate Christmas tree.

Math in the Weekly Reader

I read three library books to her.

She built a fort out of the couch

 .

She read books to herself.

We also watched Tom and Jerry Christmas. Needless to say, Peyton is a human dynamo, and Grandmother is working hard to keep up!  I love it

Turkey Trots

Another Thanksgiving Day has come and gone, and with it came many thoughts of years gone by.
 So many of those memories seemed to focus on The Turkey.  One of my earliest memories of doing the actual cooking of the bird is such a cliche; I left the little baggies of slimy turkey body parts inside the cavities. There was actually no harm done, just a little blow to my self esteem when I pulled the steaming mess out, providing a good laugh to my waiting diners.

Then there was the fatal hour early one Thanksgiving morning when after carefully preparing the turkey by removing the baggies (whew) and stuffing "Tom" with fragrant and hot dressing,  I realized the oven had not come on. I frustrated myself for awhile trying to trick it in to firing up, but ended up brainstorming with my daughter about what to do. We finally came up with a plan to call a friend. The call went something like this; "Hi Marie... Are you cooking a turkey today?... No? May we cook ours in your oven?" She promised to leave the front door unlocked, and we drove two miles, lugged the roasting pan up the walk, and found a locked door. Thankfully the back slider was open and we got the turkey going, saving that Thanksgiving day. Thanks dear friend!

While those memories bring a smile, the last one I'll write about still makes me cringe in disbelief even though I think I've forgiven myself for the debacle. We were joyfully planning a weekend in a Big Bear condo with Don's brother, my beloved sister-in-law, and their kids.  Our own three children were thrilled to get to spend two days with their cousins, and did their own packing.
My only dinner related task was to bring the turkey, while Valerie, a great cook, was preparing all the sides. I will blame my lapse of thinking on the fact that as a teacher, I had to work 'til 3:30 on Wednesday, leaving little time for planning. Long story short, I took a frozen twenty pound turkey up to Big Bear on Thanksgiving morning. It took hours, and hours to defrost, as everyone waited with empty stomachs and hopeful peeks into the kitchen. Finally, at least eight hours later than anyone expected, we got dinner on the table.
They always say turkey helps a person to sleep better, and that night it was true as we went from the dinner table to bed.

Just the shortest blog ever to say "Happy Thanksgiving!"

An Evening at Union Station

This morning, after a reasonable night’s sleep, we’re laughing over the event which I’ll call “An Evening at Union Station.” Since my brain isn’t quite awake yet, this will undoubtedly be a rambling account.

          We took the Amtrak from Oceanside to Los Angeles yesterday in order to spend time at Olvera Street, and later visit the Japanese American Museum in Little Tokyo where we met our son, Dan, for dinner.

           When our day was almost over, Dan accompanied us back to Union Station on the Gold Line, and we settled down to wait  half an hour for our train.  We were enjoying the parade of “the beautiful people” who were arriving at the station for a real runway-type fashion show when an announcement came over the loud speaker, “Those passengers on train 790 to San Diego will have a TWO HOUR delay.” No explanation, just the facts, ma’m.

          Urging Dan to leave as he has a life of his own, we found comfortable chairs and cookies and milk to help our moods, and tried to rest. Ha. The runway fashion show was in full, high-decible swing, complete with a wantabe comedian and pounding music.

          An hour and a half later, the show ended and another show began. The women tottering back to the Gold Line to Hollywood were a sight not to be missed! I’ve never seen so many shoes with five inch heels and three inch soles in so many styles in my life. Just to describe a few: Red velvet, green velvet, orange alligator which encased the woman’s feet like strange, mutant oranges, black patent, pink and clear plastic, and boots to the calves, but at least twelve inches below the hemline of the dress. There were shoes with straps which sort of gave them a torture-instrument look, connected to black soles and of course, five or maybe six inch heels. You get the picture, I think.  Very entertaining but stressful as I kept expecting one of them to fall over..

          THEN, “Passengers on train 790, your train will now leave at 10:15 p.m.”  O.K., we were no longer being entertained, and were slumping in the waiting room seats, when a uniformed guard came up and demanded to see our train tickets! When we asked why, she replied, “We are checking for vagrants and homeless who try to sleep in the station.” I kid you not.  I guess we weren’t looking our best, but come on, this was a real case of adding insult to injury. So we showed our tickets, and decided to walk over to where the line would form. Suddenly, an Amazon leaped out of the Amtrak office and yelled, “Train 790 is loading on track 10!” and almost everyone left in the station sprinted down the tunnel.  I was reminded of Dave’s rugby shirt, “Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead.”

          Once we got on the train, a train employee told us it wasn’t number 790, but it would get us to Oceanside. Huh? Turned out he was wrong; it was the right train, we got to our station, and back home, just three hours later than we planned.