Winding Up 2022

November and December have gone by in a rush. At least it seems that way. 

After Thanksgiving, we headed to Leisure Coachworks in Fontana to have our new dishwasher and microwave installed. I hope I don't regret not getting a microwave with a convection oven. With all the modern options for air fryers and toaster ovens, it no longer seemed important to have a built in oven-- particularly when I don't bake anymore. If I want something baked, I go to a bakery. LCW did a great job installing them both. They also did some needed work on our generator as Mark was having trouble starting it. It runs like a charm again.

We barely got parked into our next campground in Menifee, though, when we noticed a crack in our windshield, right about in line with the passenger side mirror. So we'll be returning to LCW on our way to Palm Desert to have that replaced.

In Menifee we stayed at the Wilderness Lakes RV Park, a Thousand Trails campground. Finding a 50 amp site was a challenge. we spent the first day or two in a 30 amp site and moved over to the 50 amp section once spaces opened up. That place is loaded with ducks and geese, and I discovered they are just as noisy at night as they are in the daytime. We ended up in a spot between two ponds and the noise was constant. The geese were honking incessantly many nights until after midnight. Party animals!

Menifee put us close to two of Mark's friends from his previous life-- that is, when he lived and worked in the San Diego area many years ago, B.C. as he often puts it (Before Cathy). Tina and her husband, Dave, treated us to some wine tasting and taught us a game called Tripoly, which we played several times. And just before we headed back to Acton, we made a visit to Betty (an old neighbor) and her husband and they treated us to lunch.

Mark, Dave, and Tina (playing Tripoly)

Mark, Betty and her husband

In November, Donna took us to the Palmdale Air Park where they have a bunch of old planes on display. And the Wednesday before Christmas, we all went over to Magic Mountain in Valencia and enjoyed their "Holiday in the Park" lights display, courtesy of my beautiful daughter-in-law, Alicia, who runs the Park. Okay, maybe "run" is a strong word, but she certainly helps manage it. They do a wonderful job of decorating the Park for the holiday, and surprisingly it was not very crowded.

That's all the talk for now. I'll wind this up and get to the pictures, which (I know) is really the best part.

Merry Christmas (a little belated) and Happy New Year to all! 

Merry Christmas!

Entrance to the Palmdale Air Park

Donna used to work at Lockheed/Boeing on the shuttle
floor. Part of her job was moving these engines around.
She did many other things during her time there, including
repairing the heat shield tiles on the underside of the 
shuttles.

The Space Shuttle was moved around attached to the 
top of this aircraft.

More old jets

SR-71 "Blackbirds"

My new dishwasher.
This is sold as a table-top dishwasher,
but is fully installable.

It's small, but does a very good job cleaning
and uses less water than hand washing.

Finally! A microwave with a turntable. 

A visit to Grace Community Church (John McArthur's church)
Parking was a bear, and the crowd was huge, but we wanted to
visit at least once. The service was wonderful. We love the music!

Magic Mountain, Valencia CA

A Very Merry Christmas to You!

In California... possibly for the last time

We're back in sunny California. We arrived just in time for a winter storm warning. Such is the state of the weather these days. No matter where you go, the weather will probably not be what you've always expected. Still, it's warmer than...well, Minnesota, for instance. To be fair, we are in the mountains (sort of--more like really tall hills). The coastal side that we'll be enjoying later in the season is generally ten degrees or more warmer than where we are now.

Enough about the weather.

We've been here, now, almost two weeks. Yesterday was our second visit with my son, Steve, and lovely daughter-in-law, Alicia. Last week Steve cooked us a nice late lunch and we spent the rest of the time catching up. It's been almost two years since we were last here. Then they sent me home with their wine collection--the accumulation of several years of gifts. Neither of them drink wine, so the bottles have just been collecting dust in their wine rack. Thankfully, they were storing them properly (on the side), so they should be in good shape when I open them.

I've also been spending a lot of time with Donna, a dear friend whom I met at church when I lived in the Antelope Valley some forty or so years ago. We attended a Veteran's Memorial Day ceremony in Palmdale on Veteran's Day together. The Antelope Valley has a replica of the Viet Nam War Memorial Wall, which they had on display at the time. Mark found the name of an acquaintance from his youth. I am fortunate not to have lost any friend or loved one in that dreadful war.

Replica of the Viet Nam War Memorial
(Palmdale, CA)

Earlier in the week, Mark and I visited Universal Studios, courtesy of Steve, who works there in technical maintenance. He gave us a couple complementary tickets. This is why we have children, as all parents know-- so they can do stuff for us when we get old, right?

Anyway, we had a blast. We rode the tram, which is essentially a back lot tour with a few added bits of entertainment. One of those was the King Kong 3-D attraction (Steve is very instrumental in keeping this attraction working properly), another was an adaptation of Fast and Furious. And there's the flash flood, which never gets old. 

We rode a few of the rides, watched the "Animal Actors" show, and ate an early dinner at the "Three Broomsticks" in Hogsmead. (The chocolate trifle was amazing!) Mostly we just walked around and took in the sights. It was a long and tiring, but very enjoyable, day.

Here's a clip of "Bumblebee" interacting with the crowd...

You may be wondering why I said in the title that this could be our last visit to California. The state just recently passed a new emissions law that targets trucks and RVs. The law will require all motorhomes like ours to be emission certified, whether they are registered in state or out of state. My understanding is that in the beginning, this certification will be annual, and then semi-annual, and then quarterly. Enforcement will begin in January of 2023. How that will happen and what repercussions come of it remain to be seen. We'll have a better idea by the time we're ready to come back again. But that is at least another year down the road.

That's all I have at the moment. Happy Trails! Safe Travels! And have a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving!

Pictures below...

On the way to Bullhead City, AZ, from Utah

On the way to Bullhead City

Visit from a roadrunner at one of our rest stops

This is as close as we got to the Las Vegas "Strip"

The view of Laughlin, NV, from our campsite
at Silver View RV Resort in Bullhead City

Watch out for the wild animals...

they're everywhere!

It's a good thing there's a fence

These metalwork animals are scattered all over
the campground.

Beautiful pool, and the biggest hot tub 
I've ever seen in an RV park. We enjoyed it a few times.

Diesel fuel - highest price ever (so far)

Veteran's Day Memorial Color Guard

Arriving at Universal Studios - City Walk

City Walk. Heading for the gate.

On the tram for the back lot tour

Dinosaurs!

Scene from War of the Worlds (plane crash)
on the back lot tour

Plane crash

More plane crash

Veggi-saurus

Oh no! Containment breach!

About to be eaten... escaped just in time

Up close and personal with a
velosorapter

Entering Hogsmead

Hogwarts Castle

This show was tons of fun. Sadly, it's being
torn down at the end of the year and replaced
with something new.

Walking across the stage on cue

Apparently you CAN train a chicken.

The stars of the show