March 16h through the 21, 2007

Friday 16th What a busy time I had this last week with the kids and trying to see some of my friends and one day at the shop visiting the girls I used to work with and seeing some of the customers. The time just went to fast to see as much of everyone that I wanted to. Bodie and I had a picnic at the Capital Building and he took his bike along. We had a great time with our lunch and we took lots of pictures. Having me gone is the hardest on him, as he is the age where they like doing dumb things with grandma and it's fun. Blaize is still where she wants Mommy and Daddy. The other kids are busy with friends and school stuff. (Pictures)
Monday 19th Today is my day to head home to California and my Sweetie. It has been fun, but I am ready to join Kent. Tress took the day off work so we could have the last day together before I catch the train. We took my bags down early and checked them in while it is slow there. I took my bread machine back with me so I can make us Carmel rolls for breakfast and bread. The train was its usual late, so Billy, William, Tress and the two kids were with me when I left about 4:30 PM. We had a few tears again as usual, but Kent and I will be home at the end of June for the 4th of July for about a month.( Picture)
Wednesday 21st What a long ride home. the train was pretty full and noisy. Kent and I talked on the phone a lot during the day and I slept better this time because I was so tired I could have slept on a rock. When we got to Los Angeles, they put us on a Greyhound bus as the track was being worked on. This was about midnight and that meant no sleep for us as the bus stopped at every whistle stop to drop off people. We finally arrived in San Diego at 2:30 AM and Kent was waiting there for me. We were both very tired, but the good part of it is, we are retired and we could sleep as long as we wanted to the next morning!!!!!!!!!!!

March 8,2007

Thursday the 8th. We got up real early for Sharon to catch the Amtrak in San Diego. We got there early and had time for coffee and to say our good byes. It is real strange to know we are going to be apart for 10 days and Kent will be alone. The train went to Los Angeles and I changed trains for Oregon. I rented a DVD player that had 5 of the latest movies on it and I had a good book along so I read and then took a nap the first thing. I called Kent about every hour or he called me. I thought he was going to go home and go back to bed after I left, but he went out for breakfast and then he rode the train and did some sight seeing.
Friday the 9th. What a long night sleeping on a train. I had two seats to sleep on, but I was awake a lot. I could hardly wait for the coffee shop to open up for coffee and a roll. Then I went to the club car and a lot of people were there. A lot of snow was coming down and with all the windows it was real pretty. I watched several movies and talked to Kent and Bodie. I didn't tell any of my kids that I was coming, I thought it would be fun to surprise them. Then I decided I might be surprised if I didn't call someone, so I called my daughter Pammy. The train was running quite late by the time we got to Salem and it was almost dark. Pammy picked up my little grandson Bodie to go with her to sit and watch the train come in. It is his favorite thing to do and she didn't tell him Nonie was coming. He was standing there watching the people get off, when I walked up to him. He was so excited to see me that he could hardly talk. We really surprised him and all the other kids when we called them to come over to my house.
Sunday the 11th Today is Mz. Blaize birthday, she is 2 years old today and they are having a party for her. We all come to celebrate the birthdays for the little ones and have a good time. She woke up from her nap just before we all got there and she was a little on the grumpy side. She wasn't her usual peppy little girl that greets everyone with a lot of enthusiasm. (Pictures) I was still tired from the long train ride, so I went home for a nap afterwards and to call Kent again.

March 3rd

Today we walked to the furthermost South West corner of the United States. We drove to the border and then we walked the beach to the border (Tijuana) It was a 2 mile long walk to the beach down a narrow rough road.(picture) Usually you can drive to the Ocean, but due to the rains, the road was closed to traffic because of the standing water. When we got to the border, there were all these big steel poles that extended out from the beach into in the ocean.(picture) There was a guard tower watching us the whole time. To me it was kind of erie, as we were quite a distance from anyone for aid if we needed help. A young Hispanic couple was at the fence who spoke fluent English and seemed so nice. She was a counselor at one of the schools in Mexico City and he was going to school in Tijuana. We were taking pictures there, so they asked us if we would take their picture and email it to them. They gave us their address and we sent them the pictures that night when we got home. They wrote us a nice thank you card and said to keep in touch. That evening we had dinner(Pizza) in an Italian restaurant in "Little Italy" Lots of people and good food.

March 1 @ 2, 2007

March 1st, we are still in Chula Vista and today we went to see "Old Town San Diego" on the train (SDAT). It is an old town with all old buildings that have been turned into a museum with shops and places to eat.
Friday, the 2nd We went to see the "USS Midway" navy carrier ship that they made into a floating museum. It was the largest aircraft carrier ship during World War II. A plane could land on it every 15 seconds when they came in from Missions. If you weren't right on target, you went over the edge, as there was to time to straighten the plane out. It was a two hour tour and it took us 5 hours as we really looked everything over and had lunch there. They had mannequins that look like real people doing their Military jobs all over the ship. The one in the surgery room doing an operation on someone on the table with the big light overhead. It looked so real as did the cooks in the chow line.
That night we ate dinner at a good fish house near by.

February 19,2007

We have arrived to Chula Vista,CA near San Diego. We are staying in an Elks RV Club here and our space is on the very edge of a hill with a great view and no one on either side of us. We spent 13 days at our last stop (Aguanga) and I think we will be here the rest of the winter. There is so much we want to see here and the weather is pretty nice. The transportation system here is fantastic, a months pass for a senior on the SDAT (same as MAX in Portland) is only $15 a person for all the rides on any system you ride for a month. We drive down to the lot and catch SDAT and off we go for the day. We rode it to Tijuana, Mexico once and walked across the border, we thought it was a pretty dirty little town so we didn't go back.
On the 24th we went to see the "Olympic Training Center" where the athletes train for the Olympics. (picture) It is a huge facility where they do most sports except the winter ones of course. They even have a lake to practice the rowing events. There are 3 of them in the United States, California, Colorado and New York. The tour was very interesting and was done by a young man from Ill. (I think) who is training in Archery for the Olympics. He shoots 450 arrows everyday and works out constantly. There is are local Doctor's who devotes their time with injuries and massaging sore muscles for the athletes. They also have a psychologist that works with the athletes to give them the confidence to be a winner. It is a free tour and Monday through Friday you can see all the athletes doing their workouts while you tour the complex in a large golf cart. They have the Olympic flame going all the time. (picture)

February 7,2007

Today we have arrived at Aguanga, California, it is southwest of Sun City and 18 miles from Temecula. It is an SKP'S park and it is has the most recreational things to do than any place we have ever stayed in. It has a large pool, two 8 person Hot tub, tennis court, shuffle board court, quilting and sewing room, a huge library with sofas and chairs for reading or checking out books, a billiards room and all the latest DVD's to rent for 50 cents a movie. The money goes to a pot to buy the next new DVD. The park is on tiers with the large boulders all over (Picture), you can see for miles up there. The town of Temecula is close and we go there for pizza and shopping. They serve the pizza with a Olive oil and jalapeno spread that's delicious.
On the 13th we drove to San Diego to see our friends Gail and Gary from Oregon. We picked them up and the 4 of us went all over sight seeing and we ate dinner and had a great day (Picture)
Friday the 16th we drove to Palm Springs to visit our friends Bonnie and Ruebe from S.D. They are staying with their daughter while Ruebe is taking some cancer treatments there. It sure was fun to get together with them and their daughter.(picture)

February 5, 2007

We went to Universal Studios today and we saw the set of the movie "Water World" It was so realistic with the fires and all(picture).
We attended a mock show of "Fear Factor". They had 3 couples that they had selected from the audience and 2 of the woman were actually put into the tank with Tarantulas crawling all over them. The other woman refused to do the stunt and disappointed the crowd. It showed on a small scale of what the show is really like. The set of "Jurassic Park" and the "Penguins" were closed for repairs or maintenance. We were really disappointed over that but there was a lot more to see and do and we had a good time. (Picture)

February 2, 2007

We stayed home yesterday after our long day with Howie the day before!!!!!!! Today we went to Disneyland, we started out on Magic Mountain which is a kind of roller coaster. Sharon said that was enough of the roller coaster type rides. We then went to see Mickey and Goofy,(picture) Sharon's favorite characters. She put her arms around Mickey and danced around in circles I think Mickey was quite startled at first then he regained his composure and liked the fun.(picture) After seeing them we went on some more slower rides like the "Pirates of the Caribbean", "The Stern Wheeler" around "Tom Sawyer Island"( picture) and other rides that were fun. After all the fun we had there we decided to go to Knotts Berry Farm for it's famous chicken dinner. The food was great, but not as good as the chicken at the "Bayway Tavern in Wheeler, Oregon where we go to eat "Chicken and Joe"s every time we go to the beach. We had a great time and we went home tired, we didn't even have a family of children to keep up with all day like most of the people did. I guess that is why we have our children when we are young.

January 31,2007

Today was a real long but fun day for us. We drove from Santa Ana to Burbank to go the the "Deal or No Deal" TV show. After a nice lunch, we decided to go to the studio a little early(11:30) than what we were supposed to and were the fist ones in line. About 5 minutes later the people started showing up and there was a long line very quickly. If we had known before hand what a lot of waiting and such we had to do to be on the show, we wouldn't have done it. They take you inside and seat you and re seat you a number of times. If they find a better dressed couple they move you to a more away from the camera. The instructions said to wear dark clothing if you want to be in the camera rows. With us having a long haired cat(who sheds daily) in our home, we have no dark clothes. Sharon said Kent should wear her favorite shirt a bright lime and Sharon wore a bright yellow shirt. We looked Like a giant lemon and lime among the dark clothing audience so we were seated right behind the contestants that would only show us as shadows. The seats were great for seeing everything that went on but not to be on TV. Then after 2 hours of people getting seated in their final seat, they went through the ways they wanted us to clap. Some long, some loud and fast and some the golf clap. They taped 1 and 1/2 shows like they do on TV and we were free to go. With the time out for the commercials and all, it was 7:00 PM when we got to leave. It was a fun experience to do and Howie is a real neat guy who is spontaneous with answers and questions for the guests with no cue cards. He has a great sense of humor that has you laughing all the time. There are no freebies or anything, so I think if we did it over again, we would go see Oprah. We went out for a nice dinner at The Pantry in downtown LA. they serve you lumbermans portions. After dinner we then did our hour drive home.

January 27,2007

We are in Santa Barbara, California staying at the Elks Club here. We are going to stay here for three days. Not much to do here but the campground is pretty and a nice place to relax and catch up on the mail. There are orange and lemon trees growing here with fruit all over the ground in the park here. Both of us drink lemon water, so we left with a sack full of each. This was a real treat for a South Dakota girl to find and Sharon was very excited over it. Our next stop will be Santa Ana and we will have lots of things to explore and do in the area.

January 26,2007

On our way out of town headed for Santa Barbara, we stopped in a park where the largest colony of Monarch Butterflies west of the Mississippi come and mate (picture). The trees were very large and tall and they were full of large clumps of these butterflies. They were hard to spot until you knew what you were looking for. These clumps of butterflies looks like a hive of bees all tight together(picture dark clump on white trunk). They had telescopes set up and volunteer people who explained to everyone about the Monarch Butterflies and their lifestyle. Everyday when we drove the park on our way to different things. We would see these people in this park and we couldn't figure out why everyone would be walking around there, as we couldn't see anything from the road. We were glad we stopped on our way out of town as it was very interesting and educational to see.

January 24 2007

We are still in Oceana the Elks RV park is really nice and busy for such a small town. Today is Kent's laundry day and Sharon's day to clean. We ate lunch outside as it was so nice and warm. We were playing a game of cards when the neighbors came over to visit, so that ended the card game. In the evening we went to "The Hitching Post" steak house (picture) in the little town of Casmalia, California, on Highway One about 20 miles south of Oceana. Kent read about it in the Tillamook PUD magazine and remembered the place. It is one of the best steak houses in the west. The movie "Sideways" was filmed in the restaurant and all the employee's were used in the movie. The steak was cooked over an open wood fire and had a great flavor. We would recommend it to all of you if you go in that direction.

January 23,2007

On our way home we stopped at the ocean to see the Pod of Elephant Seals. They have a trunk that resembles an elephant. It was calving time and there were a lot of new babies there crying for their mommies. This is the time of the year when they come home to give birth, stay a few weeks, get bred before leaving North to British Columbia. Gestation is about 11 months. We were told there was a new baby born just a few minutes before we got there. It was crying a lot for its mother and another seal came over to it and a fight occurred. The mothers identify their baby by its cry. The bulls are very aggressive over their territory and females. We saw several fights with them. (Pictures).

January 23

Today we went to the "Hearst Castle". What an enormous home to live in. Kent and I really felt lost in it after living in our small "castle" for one year. The swimming pools were Olympic size I could just see our grand children swimming there and playing hide and seek in all those rooms. They had so many bedrooms for entertaining their guests, a lot of them were movie stars and famous people. They had they own maid and servants provided to them and they sometimes stayed for several weeks. It is divided into three different tours as it is so large. After taking one of the tours, I can understand why there are three of them. It is so large and beautiful, I can't imagine it being someone's home. It feels like a museum when you are walking around on the grounds. With all that money, elegance and toys, why would Patty Hearst resort to Bank robbery? Maybe she was a 1980's Paris Hilton who went a step further. (pictures)

January 21, 2007

We are now in Oceano, California staying in the Elk's Club RV Park on Pismo Beach. This is a beautiful park and it is always full and harder to get into as it is 1/2 block for the ocean. A Lot of the RV's big and little, camp about 2 miles up the the beach. We saw that the tide was up to the wheels of a brand new 40 foot toy hauler motor home. They let the air out of their tires until they were almost flat to get through the deep tacks in the sand to and from the beach. Sunday we sat with Dallas and Lawanda (the couple we met from Pacific City, OR) on the beach for over an hour watching the campers heading for home after a busy weekend of 4 wheeling and playing on the beach. The more rigs that go up the incline from the beach, the more softer and worse the tracks got by several tracks running together. We were making bets on who would get stuck or make it, hoping someone would get stuck so we could see more fun. It was close for a lot of them, but all the campers made it out. When they got out, they would go to the blacktop where they sell air from air compressors or use their own compressors. They would fill up their tires for the trip home until the next weekend to do it all over again.
Then along comes a young man and his gal in a nice BMW. He must have thought it was easy to go through if those big rigs made it. Wrong!!!! It took a big truck and a long rope to get him out of the hole and back on firm sand with lots of instructions on how to do it right the second time."A better run at it and don't slow down" and many more instructions.
. After all that excitement, Dallas and Lawanda joined us for a cold beer at the Elks Club .

January 17 through 20

We are in San Luis Obispo, California now and Sharon is still sick with the bronchitis-asthma problem. We called Kaiser and they said she needs to be seen by the doctor, so off to Bakersfield we drove to see the Doctor. Our appointment was for 5:30 PM and the drive back home made it a long day. The good part of the late appointment was that it left us time to go see the Famous "Buck Owens Crystal Palace" nightclub-museum!(picture) That made being sick almost worth it for Sharon, as she has been a fan of Buck's for years and getting to see all of his awards and memorabilia was exciting. Kent said she was like a kid in a candy store running here and there to see and read everything. They have a large dinner club with tiered seating and a large stage and dance floor for dancing while eating dinner. There are bronze statues of most of the country singers from his era.
On Saturday we drove to Oceano to see our friends from Oregon that we had met earlier and spent the day with them. We are staying here for 3 days until we can get into Pismo Beach which is a great Elk's Club RV Park one short block to the ocean.

January 10 through the 16

Today we are headed for Monterey, California, it is a sunny day and more like the weather we expected for California. After we were settled in, we drove downtown to get Kent an ice cream cone and when we parked the truck we saw some pan handlers that were the slickest we have ever seen. They sat right outside this neat sandwich shop and asked the men, even if it was a couple coming out for money, rarely did they ask a woman. What amazed us the most was the amount of money they gave them, always several bills. A large group of long shore men came through walking to their cars from work and they really hit the Jackpot with them. They were giving them five dollar bills and more. It sure pays to pan handle in Monterey. They were the only street people we saw in the two towns of Carmel and Monterey.
We wound up spending a week here as we had our mail forwarded here and with Martin Luther Day the mail was really held up until the 16th. This left us with time to go to Carmel a couple of times. We went to Clint Eastwood's "Mission Ranch" (picture) for dinner one night. Clint bought this old dairy farm to keep it from being turned into condo's. He restored the buildings and house and he turned the old dairy workers cabins into remodeled cottages It is very charming and the food and atmosphere is great. They said that Clint is there a lot and around town as he has a huge house right up the hill form there. Sharon was hoping to see him while we had our dinner, but he was in Hollywood at the Emmy's.

January 3,2007

Jan. 3rd we arrived at Petaluma, California on a cold and rainy day. We are staying at a nice Elk's Lodge RV Park that has lots of room. Here we met two couples from Oregon that we enjoyed so much and are headed the same direction we are.
We drove to San Francisco the second day, we took pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and we found the home of Rose Wilder Lane on 1019 Vallejo Street (picture). She is the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Author of the Little House On the Prairie Books). Laura spent time visiting and writing her last book here. What a time we had with our huge truck getting to her house and turning around to get out of there. Sharon walked ahead to find the house and scope it out as Kent couldn't find a place to park the truck. She asked some guy walking his dog if we could drive a 23' truck up the street and he said Yes!!! So with a wave at Kent to follow, the fun began. The lady who now owns the house came out as we were taking pictures and was so interesting and nice. She told us stories about the house and how people from all over as far as England have been there taking pictures. Sharon climbed back in the truck, pleased with the pictures we took to send to Kim and Lisa. Kent was left with the job of figuring out how to turn around the monster on such a narrow steep street that was on a dead end.
We spent about a week here touring San Francisco going to Alcatraz, (pictures) China town riding the cable cars and drinking Irish coffee at a local bar down by Fisherman's Wharf. We rode "BART" the train that goes through a tunnel that went underneath the bay to Oakland. We went across the Golden Gate bridge (picture) twice to retake our pictures that we somehow deleted by accident the first time. It didn't take near as long to take the pictures the second time. LOL The tour to Alcatraz is a self guided tour with an Ipod headset telling prison stories with the prison sounds and voices in the back ground it was really worth while. We went to the town of Sausalito a couple of times, it is on the San Francisco Bay and has neat shops.