A Magical Week

Downtown Disney

December began with two magical days.

The first was none other than the "happiest place on earth," the magical place that started them all --Disneyland. We drove down to Anaheim the day before and got a hotel room so we could hit the Park first thing in the morning without having to deal with those annoying issues of traffic and getting up early. Our hotel was walking distance. We checked in around 2:30 in the afternoon, and headed out to explore "Downtown Disney," which is essentially a shopping mall situated between Disneyland and its sister park, Disney California Adventure (DCA). When they say, "two or three blocks away," what they mean is a half mile. (Mark and I found out the hard way how pathetically out of shape we are.) A couple hours later and who knows how many steps (because I forgot to put on my step-counting watch), our feet were sore, my lower back was aching, and we wondered if we were going to be able to manage a whole day at Disneyland come morning.

The next day we decided to buy tickets to ride the shuttle that ran from our hotel to Disneyland. An all day ticket, with a senior discount, was $2.50 each-- and we were glad we did!

Steve and Al (son & daughter-in-law) were meeting us there, but since they have annual passes and visit fairly regularly, they came a little before lunchtime. Mark and I have both been to Disneyland many times, but neither of us has ever been to the California Adventure side, so we decided to buy "park-hopper" tickets so we could spend time in each area...and also because Steve made reservations for lunch on the DCA side and dinner on the Disneyland side. It turned out that we probably didn't need to make reservations, but you never know...and better safe than sorry.

We arrived when the Park opened at eight, headed over to DCA first. and visited as many attractions as we could before the kids showed up. It was great fun. If you get a chance to go, there are two rides there you have to ride:  "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Radiator Springs Racers". I think those were our favorites. Fortunately, it wasn't too terribly packed the day we were there (a Tuesday) and lines weren't too terribly long in most places (less than an hour).

Guardians of the Galaxy tower

Entrance to the Guardians ride

Radiator Springs Racers...just before the race

After lunch we all headed over to the Disneyland side of the Park and went straight to Galaxy's Edge, the new Star Wars Land. Be it known that I am directly responsible for crashing up the Millennium Falcon. I'm very sorry. The "Smuggler's Run" attraction is an interactive ride where guests act as pilots, gunners, and cargo handlers. Apparently I have trouble with "Up" and "Down". Still we all managed to survive the ordeal, and next time (if they let me on), I'll volunteer to be a gunner. 😉

Galaxy's Edge town

Entrance to the Galaxy's Edge interactive ride

After we emerged from Smuggler's Run,Stormtroopers were dispatched
to look for troublemakers... (maybe they were looking for me!)

Most of our afternoon was spent just walking and looking. Some of the attractions we might have visited were closed; others had lines that were longer than we felt like standing in. But I was able to get a good start on my pin collection. We spent a lot of time shopping. 

Indeed it is!

A memento from my piloting debacle

Commemorating my 2019 visit

The Christmas season is a wonderful time to visit because the Park is decorated so beautifully. I'm told the light show at DCA is fabulous, but since everyone knows it's fabulous, it is also unbearably crowded unless you are fortunate enough to get premium seating, and we weren't. Maybe next time. Besides, we were all beat and ready to call it a day by 7:30, which is well before the light shows and fireworks.

The castle, all lit up

After Steve and Al left, we decided to hop on the Disney Express and take one last spin around the Park before heading out. It was a very enjoyable day. No matter how many times I visit Disneyland, it just never seems to get old.

We spent the night again in the hotel and drove home the next day.

The following Saturday, my lovely daughter-in-law, Alicia, who is a manager at the Six Flags Magic Mountain Park in Canyon Country, provided us with complimentary admission so we could accompany Katie, Brent, and Sophie, to Magic Mountain for Sophie's first theme park adventure. It was a chilly day, and none of us were well dressed for the weather, but we had a great time anyway. I had the honor of riding with Sophie on her first roller coaster ride (children's version).

"Did you have fun?"
"Yes."
"Do you want to ride again?"
"NO."

Sophie rode on several rides--we each got a chance to accompany her at least once. The holiday lights were beautiful and Sophie got her picture taken with Santa after making s'mores over a fire pit.

On the carousel with mom

Dinner is done; heading to the s'mores fire pit

Melting marshmallows for s'mores

Yum!

It was great fun until the end. By that time we were all freezing, but no amount of reasoning with a three-year old could convince her it was time to go home. The fountain of tears erupted amid wails of, "I don't want to goooo...I want to ride the airplane agaaiin...I want to get my face painted...I want to ride the airplane...I want to get my face painted....[repeat a dozen times or so]."

I can't wait to do it again! 😄

December got off to a good start. We're looking forward to spending Christmas with our kids and that adventure is just around the corner. But in my next post, which I'll try to finish in the next few days, I'll tell you about my little spill and its aftermath.

Safe travels to all our RV friends, and God bless you all!

More pictures...

Mark is shopping for a special "Grumpy" hat

Waiting behind a barricade for the 8:00 opening

We rode the Ferris wheel with its rocking cars

Steve and Alicia showing off their special
tile commemorating their wedding day

Space craft parked along the path

 

The Millennium Falcon...before I crashed it

I believe this is a Tie Fighter

Lighted trees at Magic Mountain

More Magic Mountain holiday decorations

Chilling in the Hills of Santa Barbara

As I reported in my previous post, we were evicted from Soledad Canyon RV Park due to complications from the power outage and were sitting it out at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds RV Park, along with many of our fellow campers. When it looked like it might be a while, we booked a Thousand Trails park in Idyllwild, the only park reasonably close with openings. At $25 a day, the AV Fairgrounds was biting into our budget too much and we had pretty much reached our limit there. However, we had to stay at least through Monday, the 4th, for Mark's dental appointment (to fix his broken tooth).

Happily, we got the call that Soledad Canyon Park would reopen the next day, on Tuesday. So of course we cancelled the Idyllwild booking and were able to finish out our stay in Acton.

Now we are in the Santa Barbara area at the Rancho Oso Thousand Trails RV Campground. This park is about 25 miles northeast of Santa Barbara, up in the mountains. It is very remote and we can't get either phone or internet connectivity here. Supposedly, there is WiFi at the lodge, but it's no good for anything except perhaps checking email and text messages.

Rancho Oso's claim to fame is horses. They cater to campers with horses, and they also have horses available to ride (for a price, of course). Having no horse skills whatsoever, I hesitate to rent a horse. I've only ever been on the back of a horse twice - both experiences were disastrous. The first time was as a teenager. I went horseback riding with a church group. The horse I ended up with kept stopping to eat grass, and if I made any attempt to motivate him to move along, he answered by reaching around to bite my foot, which I kept well out of the way. This horse knew I was terrified of it and took full advantage. The second time I was a little older and it was considerably less traumatic, but I still couldn't get comfortable with the whole experience. It's probably better that I leave horse riding to the equestrians and be satisfied with admiring them from a distance.

Our first excursion after arriving at Rancho Oso was Solvang, a quaint little Scandinavian town about a half hour's drive from the campground. They are noted for their ambiance, which is primarily pricey. Everything was expensive. I almost bought a coffee mug, but couldn't bring myself to pay $15 for it, especially since it was likely made in China with slave labor. Still, we visited three bakeries for lunch and pastries. (I love my pastries!) It was a very nice day, and if nothing else, we got a good walk in.

Solvang, CA

We had a bit of a scare last week when a fire broke out between us and Santa Barbara due to severe wind and probably a downed power line. We weren't too worried until the next day when the wind shifted and we saw the giant plume of smoke coming our way. Fortunately, the good Lord sent a rain storm to put it out, but not before it did some damage on the highway-- melted some guard rails, I'm told. They're supposed to have everything repaired and the road opened again before we're due to leave.

The fire north of Santa Barbara threatening to come our way

In the meantime, the high desert (Lancaster) and Soledad Canyon RV Park are dealing with a couple inches of SNOW! It seems we chose a good time to be gone from there. By the time we return it should be melted away and back to its normal fifty degree weather pattern.

This year we spent Thanksgiving with our community of campers. The Park hosted a full blown Thanksgiving dinner and asked attendees to bring a dessert to share. I made two pumpkin pies:  one regular and one non-dairy with a gluten free crust. It was my first attempt to make a pumpkin pie with almond milk, but it turned out surprisingly good. Nut "milk" is the only real alternative because nobody wants their pumpkin pie tasting like coconut. We sat with another full-time RV couple from California and really enjoyed the afternoon.

Thanksgiving dinner at Rancho Oso with John and Janet.

The only thing missing at the Thanksgiving meal was the actual "Thanks" giving. No blessing was asked over the meal (though of course we asked our own blessing privately). Perhaps they were worried about offending someone. It makes me sad that praying to the God of heaven, the Creator and Sustainer of life and thanking Him for His provision would give offence or cause discomfort to anyone. Too many have forgotten from whom the blessings flow.

Nevertheless, I hope your Thanksgiving was happy and bountiful.

God bless, and safe travels to all!

Halloween Disruption

Temporary parking spot at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds

How many times now have our "best laid plans" gone awry? I've lost count.

This time Mother Nature and Southern California Edison (SCE) have teamed up to kick us around a bit... us and a whole lot of other unfortunate Californians.

Unless you've been living in a hole in the ground somewhere, you've probably heard about the fires in central and southern California... "The whole state's on fire!" That's not true, of course, but there are a few nasty fires burning here and there, some of which have been started in some way or other by electric lines.

Prevailing winds in California come from the west, but occasionally the "Santa Ana Winds" come howling in from the east with steady speeds of twenty or thirty miles an hour, and gusts that can reach up to eighty miles an hour. Tree limbs fall on power lines, sparks fly into the dry tinder, and fires erupt. To solve the problem, the electric companies have decided to cut off the power.

I'll withhold judgment on whether or not this tactic is actually working to prevent fires. They seem to be continuing to break out randomly here and there, wind or no wind. There's not a lot of talk in the media about how they're starting-- they either don't know or they're not saying (for whatever reason). But the lack of power is definitely causing widespread hardship in the state of California.

Sometime this past Tuesday night, SCE cut power to an area that included Acton and the Soledad Canyon RV Park, where we were camped. The campground's water pumps and sewer system operate on electricity. When the power still had not been restored as of Thursday, the RV Park was compelled by the county authorities to close and evacuate the occupants. It was a safety issue, they said.

I was in Lancaster at the time, enjoying a Trick-or-Treat event with Katie and Sophie at Katie's workplace. So Mark was left to pack up the coach and leave with no help from me. Fortunately, he was able to secure a spot at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds RV Park before it filled up. I met him there later in the afternoon.

Trick-or-treating at Katie's workplace,
High Desert Medical

Sophie, the Unicorn Fairy

It was a bit sobering to go through a mandatory immediate evacuation, even though there was no actual emergency. No one wants to think about having to get out of a place at a moment's notice to avoid impending doom, but this experience gave us a little taste of what it's like. It was a good drill.

The winds have died down and most of the fires are out, but Soledad Canyon RV Park is still closed. Mark has a dental appointment in Valencia on Monday, so we'll be parked at the AV Fairgrounds until Tuesday and then heading over to Idyllwild, another Thousand Trails campground, which is the closest one we could find that had any openings for more than a few days. Idyllwild is in the mountains between Hemet and Palm Desert. We haven't been there yet in our travels, but others have told us it's a nice campground. Hopefully, we won't run into any fires or power outages there. After that our plan takes us to Santa Barbara for three weeks and then back to Soledad Canyon on December 8. By then they should be back in business.

It's beginning to feel like winter. We've had two nights in a row of below freezing temps here in the high desert, and the furnace runs all night. But during the day, it's back into the 70s. The weather should be milder at the next campground, with the lower elevation and proximity to the coast.

Until next time, blessings & safe travels to all!

Back in California

We're definitely in California!
This is I-15 going through Victorville to Cajon Pass.

In our wandering nomad life, we always end up back in California every year, for at least a little while...and sometimes longer. We come here because we have two children who are planted here. Stuck here is a better way to put it. But here they are, and so...here we are.

We expedited our arrival to California in order to facilitate the anticipated cataract surgery that the optometrist in Spokane had prescribed for Mark. Once here, Mark made another appointment with Costco's Vision Center in the expectation of getting a referral for surgery. Instead, he walked away with another pair of glasses and the happy news that surgery could be postponed another two years. Most likely. Ya gotta love second opinions.

At least he can see to drive again, which is handy, since he is the only driver for the motorhome. And God willing, the new glasses will suffice for at least a year.

View from "Rim of the World" drive, in the mountains
north of Fontana

Weekday matinees are the best!

Our first stop in California was Leisure Coach Works, where we had some work done on the RV. They inspected Mark's patch job he did to repair the tear in the roof caused by the pine tree branch I ran into in September. It was given a thumbs up. We were having trouble with the generator-- on at least two occasions, we were unable to turn it off, either from the inside switch or from the one on the generator itself. Mark had to use the generator's governor to shut it off. LCW fixed that problem for us. We also had a few other leaky spots sealed from the outside, and some other minor work done.  While they were at it, they replaced our carbon monoxide and LP detectors, which were the original units installed in 2004 when the coach was built. We still have a few issues to resolve, but we'll be returning in December to get those done.

This coach appears to be in much better shape than the first one we owned. (Thank God for that!) It took a full week in Fontana to cover everything on our list, primarily because they had a very heavy work load. There were at least half a dozen coaches being worked on the week we were there. At about 4 p.m. each day, they parked us and plugged us into power. But by eight in the morning, we had to vacate for the duration of the work day. Finding things to do (without busting the budget) was a challenge. We saw a couple movies, took a long drive, and walked the nearby mall. The rest of the time we hung out in their customer lounge. I was super glad to finally be on our way to Acton.

We've had some great visits with the kids and my delightful little granddaughter, Sophie. The camera has been hiding in my purse during my visits, though, so pictures will have to wait until next time.

Cook out - Eat in
Visit with the kids
Left to right: Mark, Steve, Katie, Sophie, and Brent
(Alicia had to work & couldn't come)

Sophie taking a break from playing in the dirt
to "pose" for the picture

We've been fortunate to be out of the way of fires and earthquakes so far. The angels are watching over us.

That's it for now...

God bless & safe travels!

The Spirits of Arizona

We spent nearly the whole month of September in Arizona this year. After our visit to the Grand Canyon, we spent just short of two weeks in Verde Valley, a very pretty area south of Flagstaff. Verde Valley is still in the higher elevations, and even though it was hot enough during the day, the humidity was low and the nights were cool.

Our campground was a Thousand Trails campground close to Cottonwood. It is one of the nicer Thousand Trails parks we've been in. The roads inside the campground are in good shape (always an important factor to me), and the grounds are well kept. Also, they have a swimming pool, which Mark tends to use more than I do (these days, anyway).

We took a few side trips while we were there--to a semi-ghost town, an ancient ruin, and a town known for its spiritual connectivity...I guess you could say we checked out the spirits of Arizona.

Jerome, Arizona -- a city on the side of a hill

Jerome is an interesting little mining town near Cottonwood, built on the side of a hill. In its heyday, it had a booming population--somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen thousand people. But today it's closer to five hundred, relying primarily on tourism. It is, in most respects, a ghost town.

We visited the museum on the hill, and for $7 each, learned about the glory days of its past.

Rocks & precious gems in the museum

Old mining equipment

The Jerome Museum

We also drove over to the Montezuma Castle National Monument. Twenty years ago, you might have been able to see the inside. But these days, it was merely a photo opportunity.  They no longer allow people to actually go up and walk around in it because of the obvious problem of degradation, caused by...well, the wear and tear of people walking around in it. The ladders that used to be there have been removed as well, to keep people from sneaking in when nobody's looking.

These ruins are estimated to be about eight hundred years old. There's a lot of conjecture about what happened to the original builders and inhabitants, but the truth is, it's a mystery. Nobody really knows. The Hopi Indians discovered it already abandoned.

Our last sight-seeing trip was to beautiful Sedona-- New Age mecca. Here is where you can go to connect with your spiritual side, or just spirits, if that's your thing. Several rock formations are marked on maps as "vortexes." I'm not exactly sure how they know where the vortexes are, or even what they're supposed to do, but they seem to be pretty popular. Sedona is also supposed to be a hot spot for UFOs...but we didn't see any. It's probably a good thing. I have a strong suspicion UFOs are just demons in disguise anyway. And I sure don't need to see any of those. But we took lots of pretty pictures while we were there.

Sedona from the airport trailhead

Mark's niece, Becky, and her husband, Ty, came up from Phoenix to see us just before we left the area. We all drove into Old Cottonwood and walked around a little bit.

On that weekend they just happened to be hosting an annual motorcycle rally, and the streets were lined with them. It was a little more crowded than usual, but everyone was well-behaved and we had a nice afternoon. Becky and Ty treated us to lunch-- Thank you! 

Our original plan was to stay a week at the Thousand Trails campground in Las Vegas, but while we were in Verde Valley, we heard from several of our fellow campers that the Las Vegas campground was terrible--run down and in an undesirable part of town. So Mark got on the phone and booked an RPI campground in Bullhead City, Arizona, instead--about an hour and a half south of Las Vegas--called Silver View RV Resort. It's a very nice park up on a ridge overlooking the valley. We will definitely return to this park if we're ever in the area again.

Coming into Bullhead City on Hwy 68 from Kingman

The view from our front window with Laughlin NV and
the Colorado River in the distance

The only excursion we made while we were in Bullhead City was to the Hoover Dam. In order to see everything Mark wanted to see, we had to take the "Whole Dam Tour." So we did. It took us down into the generator room and the tunnels. The security at that place is tighter than your average airport! It's too bad such efforts are necessary, but I'm glad they take it so seriously.

Walking across Hoover Dam

Before we left Bullhead City, Mark was blessed by a visit from an old-time friend, Miss Betty (and her husband, Steve) from his days in San Diego. They have since moved to Henderson, NV, and made the trip down to see us while we were in the neighborhood.

Miss Betty and Steve from San Diego (now Henderson NV)

Today we left Arizona for California. And, yes--we fueled up before crossing over the border! (Saved ourselves a dollar a gallon!)

God bless! And safe travels to all!

✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦

More pictures...

Village ruins below Montezuma's Castle

Beautiful riverbed near Montezuma's Castle

These are a variety of Sycamore tree. I was fascinated
by the bark on them. They reminded me
of paint-by-number pictures.

This was as close as we got to the inside of Montezuma's Castle.

Sedona, from the airport

Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona

Crucifix inside the Chapel (recently added)

The smaller rock formation is called "Madonna and Child"...
this was taken from the Chapel

The rock formation to the right is a "vortex" called Bell Rock

Bell Rock up close... still no UFOs

Mountain landscape around Bullhead AZ

Hoover Dam

The generators at Hoover Dam

Tunnel going through the width of the Hoover Dam.
At the end is a grate to the outside.

The grate looking out toward the river.

The dam was built in block, which they identified with
letters of the alphabet. This is a seam between two of them.
You can see there has been minor movement, as the copper pegs
above the letters and the letters themselves are no longer on level.

The power poles are built sticking out at an odd angle
in order to clear the rock face. (The copper building is
the visitor center.)

Nevada time on the Nevada side

Arizona time on the Arizona side

Lake Mead water level is managed by the state authorities
as they decide how much water to release downstream.
As you can see, it's currently very low but is expected to
fill up in the spring from the winter snow melt.

Hoover Dam was built with tourism in mind.
They designed it with an "art deco" theme.

Palm trees near the visitor center at Hoover Dam.

The bridge over the river that I refused to drive across.
(Call me a coward.)