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

A Visit to Zion National Park

In October we checked off another item on our "bucket list" -- Zion National Park, in southern Utah. What a beautiful place! I can't believe it took me 68 years to see it.

Zion N.P. is a canyon that runs through a very mountainous terrain -- mountains that are primarily giant rock structures. 

There are two main roads through the Park-- one you can drive through in your car and one you can only see by taking the free shuttle. We did both over the space of two days.

The first day, we took the car on the winding road through the narrow tunnels about which there are signs well in advance warning away tall and wide vehicles. There are many places to stop along the way to view the scenery and take pictures. We drove all the way to the east entrance of the Park before turning around and heading home. 

On our second visit, we rode the free shuttle, which takes you on the scenic route where there are some pretty amazing rock formations (or mountains, if you like) with lofty sounding names like "The Grotto," the "Court of the Patriarchs," and "Temple of Sinawava," to name a few. Mark got a break from driving, and we even got off once and took a short hike up a hill to a viewpoint. That was the extent of our hiking, however. 

Our only frustration was the parking situation at the visitor center. We couldn't find a parking spot on our first trip in, arriving a little before noon, so we figured we'd have better luck if we arrived earlier in the morning. So on the second visit we showed up at about 9:30 in the morning and the lot was already full. This tells me they need a bigger lot. Fortunately, the little town of Springdale, which is situated by the south entrance, has lots of parking options. There's a fee-- anywhere from $20 to $40, depending on how close to the center of town the lot is-- but Springdale also has a free shuttle, so you can park at the edge of town for cheap(ish), get on the shuttle, and ride up and down the main street of Springdale. Then, you can transfer to the Park shuttle and ride it to the visitor center. And that's what we did on our "shuttle day."

If you like hiking, there are lots of hiking options, from easy to strenuous to you-need-a-special-permit-to-do-it (Angels Landing). We didn't do any this time around. Maybe next time. We did, however, make a final trip in to Springdale the following week and walked the main street, stopping in some of the shops and checking out their wares. I purchased the requisite refrigerator magnet and coffee mug... of course.

Enough talk-- here are some pictures of that majestic place...

Mountain goats

Checkerboard formation

The Patriarchs

Miniature topographical of the canyon. The blue
line is the road.

Mark enjoying an ice cream cone on our
walk through Springdale

We stayed at the St. George/Hurricane KOA through 
our RPI membership. This was the view behind us.

This was the view looking forward. It's a nice park, and
well kept, but the sites are very narrow and crowded.
We were here two weeks and had neighbors on
either side most of our stay.