January 27 through 30, 2011

Thursday 27~~~~We drove to Laughlin, Nevada today, arriving about 2:00 PM. We are parked on the 5th level where we can see the city and casino lights real good at night. We have our chairs set out behind our camper and we sit out there and read. It is so quiet up here, it is sunny and warm with a nice breeze blowing and a perfect place to relax and read. I finished reading the "Upstairs at the White House" book to Kent and I had started the book, "Hansel and Gretel" a book about two children escaping the Nazi concentration camps and the Jews. It was sort of small print and hard to read, so I suggested Kent read it while we are here in Laughlin. He got so involved in the book, all I had to do to find him was go outside and there he was sitting in the sun reading the book. He finished it in 3 days and now I have to find him another book. LOL Saturday 29~~~ Today is Pammy's birthday, I called her and she told me she had a card party last night to celebrate hers, Thresa and Jean Marie's January birthdays. They had 3 tables of card players, I sure hate to miss those card parties. She and Jeff went to the casino this afternoon, that is what Kent and I did tonight after we went to Mass, we picked up a pizza and ate it at home. We walked over to the casino where we spent a couple of hours on the slots. We played until we were tired of playing, we came home with $25 more than what we started with. Tomorrow we are going to the "Avi " Casino that is a few miles from here, Kent likes their buffet and the casino.

January 21 through 26, 2011

Friday 21~~~~We drove to Indio, California where we will be staying at the Elks Club for a week, we have stayed here before and we like the park, it is always full and it has a line of campers lined up boon docking until a spot opens up. They don't take reservations, so we were lucky we were on the ball today and pulled in early, we got the last spot, they have about 45 camp sites and that is a whole lot for an Elk's Club. We are parked by the lemon and orange trees and it is so pretty and also so nice to go out and pick and orange for breakfast. (pictures) On Saturday and Sunday we drove to Palm Springs and we did some shopping, we stopped at the College of the Desert ( a large Weekend Market) but it was about ready to close, so we went on our way and found other things to do. Monday 24~~~~ We stayed home and we went for a long walk (my new goal to do everyday) and of course we wound up at McDonald's so Kent could have a frappacino and a glass of water for Sharon!!!!!!!!!!! Kent grilled us some fantastic steaks for dinner dinner tonight while I made the side dishes. Tuesday 25~~~~~Today is Thresa's birthday, I miss being home for the kids birthdays. We drove to Quartzite today, it is about 112 miles from Indio, our friends Cyndi and Howie are camped there out if the desert for a week with some fiends, so we hope to see them while we are there. Quartzite is a very popular place in the desert between Indio and Phoenix where people go and just camp out in the desert with no electricity, water or sewer. It is windy there and your RV gets very dusty, I haven't been able to talk Kent into camping there yet for three or four days. There is a large flea market there in a huge tent where many vendors have their booths with almost anything you could want to buy is there. We walked forever trying to find the food booth where they made Indian Tacos, Kent had one there several years ago and we walked until we found them. I got my walk in today for sure!!!! I have posted a picture of a vendor who sells home made ice cream, notice the tractor that cranks the ice cream. There was a vendor there from Texas who was selling the cutest little animals called Sugar Glider's (Petaurus Breviceps). They are small arboreal marsupials which originate from the rain forests of Indonesia and Australia. As their common name suggests,they possess a gliding membrane, similar to the flying squirrel, that stretches from their wrists to their ankles and it allows them to glide (not fly) from tree to tree. The female sugar gliders have a pouch where they carry their young. In the wild they spend almost all of the life in trees and they live in colonies of 6 to 15, their territory consists of about seven trees. Sugar gliders make excellent pets and the adapt quickly to captivity and can develop very strong relationships with their human keepers. They soon learn your voice and your scent, they are pocket size, very intelligent and love to play. They have a life span of 12 to 15 years if taken care of properly and they do better if they have a cage mate. Two males or two females are perfect, as you probably don't want to increase your family. The man selling the sugar gliders had pockets in his shirt where his pet loved to cuddle and sleep. He took his pet out and had a man in the audience hold the sugar glider in his hand up high in the air and the vendor called him by name and the sugar glider jumped from the mans hand to his masters pocket so fast, you hardly knew he did it. They play at night and sleep during the day. We visited with a couple who bought 2 of the sugar gliders, the cage, food, toys and little pouches they wear around their necks for their baby to sleep in and be with them to comfort them and train them to recognise them. They are so cute and lovable, but with our rag doll cat Pepsi, I don't think we have room or time for another animal. I think the cost of the two animals and the cage and accessories was about $500, they aren't cheap. Here is his website to check them out. travelingcageman@yahoo.com (pictures of the babies)

January 19 & 20, 2011

Wednesday 19~~~~~We got on the computer last night and we got tickets to the Dr. Phil TV show for today. It was down at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. We went to Howie Mandala's show Deal or No Deal a couple of years ago and we swore we wouldn't do it again. Dr. Phil did a great show and he was really so friendly with the audience and during breaks, he stayed with the guests and continued talking to them just like the cameras were still rolling. His wife sat down 3 rows down directly in front of us. The lady sitting beside her was over heard saying she wished she could talk to Dr. Phil about her boyfriend and Robin (his wife) told her to follow her and Dr. Phil out when the show was over and he would be glad to talk to her. The show was a typical boyfriend and girlfriend conflict and the second one was about two gay men and there problems with their relationship. The studio was smaller than it looks like on TV and it is very pretty with all the back ground lights and the music before the show really had the audience pumped up and ready to see the host. If you watch Dr. Phil's show, we are sitting right behind his wife and where he stops and walks his wife out of the studio. probably 3 or 4 weeks from now. We really enjoyed our day at the show and after we left there, we went to have a burger at one of Kent's favorite places down here, the "In and Out". Then we drove all over Hollywood and Beverly Hills looking at all the rich old and new homes in the area. We were amazed at how many plumbers, painters and repair trucks were on all of the streets we drove on. There must be a lot of upkeep on those homes. Thursday 20~~~~Today Kent wanted to drive down to Long Beach to see the places he and his buddies spent their time at partying, dancing and having fun when his Navy ship came into port. He said there was a building that had lockers to rent and they used to wear their uniforms off the ship and then use the locker to put their clothes in while they partied real hard. He said they kept a piece of cardboard in the locker to lay on the floor to sleep on, sometimes they slept on the beach. They didn't have much money but they sure had a good time it sounds like. The area has changed so much, but I got on my droid and I found a big article and pictures about the "Long Beach Pike" back in the 60's with the large carnival and all the rides they had there. (current Picture) The sailors spent a lot of time in this area having fun on their days in Long Beach. Kent found a couple of older men who helped him fill in where things were a little better. It was fun for both of us to go back in time and Kent's stories are so fun to listen to and he enjoys telling them.

January 18, 2011

Tuesday 18~~~~At the Nixon Museum the had a huge LEGO structure someone had built that I was so fascinated with, I took a lot of pictures of it. They had a list of things to find in the structure and I thought that would be a piece of cake to find most of them. I walked around the whole thing three or four times to find most of them, I thought finding 4 Segways would be real easy and the decorating of a Christmas tree, WRONG!!!!!!!!!! I did find them, but it took me awhile. Maybe that is why Kent was so far ahead of me in going through the museum. He didn't take the time to look at all the Lego structures. LOL We will be riding the Segways with our friends John and Linda soon when we go to Scotsdale, Arizona. We have reservations to ride them for 2 hours. We rode them up the street and back a few years ago and we thought it would be fun to rent them. Are we crazy in our old age or what??????

January 17 & 18, 2011

Monday 17~~~~We were back on the road again today, we drove to Fullerton, California where we are staying at the Elks Club, the club sits on a hill and it overlooks the city below. It is really pretty here at night with the view and with no houses or campers around us. It has 3 campsites, and there are only two of us staying here. We even have 50 amp. electricity, so we run the air during the day and the heat pump in the evenings and we don't have to worry about blowing the breaker. Tonight we kept hearing a loud boom, them another boom, boom, boom while we were watching television. Kent thought it must be the traffic down the hill, I didn't know what it was, maybe someone shooting something. Then Kent remembered that Disneyland did fireworks in the evenings, we opened our curtains and looked out our big window and there it was, all those beautiful fireworks going off at Disneyland. We watched them until they were done, that made this spot even more special. I can't believe there has been no one in the third space here, we will definitely remember this Elks Club to stay at again. Tuesday 18~~~~Today we toured President Nixon's Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, it is the birth place of President Nixon our 37th president. The home he grew up in, is open for viewing and it is filled with all the original furniture they had when they lived there. It is such a small house, one bedroom downstairs and one room upstairs for the 4 boys, it had enough room for 2 double beds, one at each end of the room with a pitched ceiling. The kitchen had a wood burning cook stove, a large kettle they used for their hot water and an icebox to keep milk and some things cool. The piano Nixon played when growing up, plus a couple of other instruments are in the living room. They had a large round oak dining room table in the dining-living room combination where they ate and spent a lot of time sitting around it as a family. One of the brothers and his wife had the good sense when their parents died, to put all the family furniture, dishes , pictures, everything in storage. They had the incite to know it might someday be used as a museum. It was a smart thing to do, that is why the home is so charming with all its belongings back where they belong. The Presidential helicopter used by four Presidents is close to the home and burial grounds of President and Mrs. Nixon and is open for tours also. (pictures) One of the pictures is of the inside of the helicopter, there are two long bench seats and two single seats for Mr. and Mrs. Nixon. It had the cutest small liqueur cabinet with monogrammed glasses and white house cards to play. As usual, we spent about 4 hours touring all of this plus the museum which is really huge and done so well. It just seems to go on forever when you start walking through it. They have a re-creation of the executive mansions stately East room up to scale (picture) and it has paintings of different Famous Presidents and on the walls, this room can be rented for weddings and receptions. They also did a re-creation of Nixon's white house office (picture) There is a room where the First Lady's magnificent gowns, both daughters wedding gowns are on display and the armoured limousine (Pictures) There are rooms full of the gifts they received from foreign ambassador's and rulers of other countries, a room where the Apollo 11 moon landing artifacts are and of course pictures of Elvis when he visited the White House and the letter he wrote to the President. The room where they have the tape recorder and all the equipment from the Watergate scandal was quite interesting and they have a phone you can listen to the recording. Mrs. Nixon's rose gardens all were all and around the reflecting pool, they weren't very pretty with it being January, but i know it must be beautiful when they are all blooming. It is a very nice library and museum and if you plan to ever go see it, be sure and have plenty of time to see it all.

January 13, 14, 2011

Thursday 13~~~~~Another beautiful day in Pismo Beach, California, the Elks Club RV Park is almost full of RVers. There is a large group of campers here from Nappa and they have big bond fire in the steel fire pits the park provides and they gather around at night in a big circle around the fire drinking, talking and having fun. We walked over to the beach this afternoon to watch the campers on the beach, some were flying kites and some were wind surfing. They have a big oval type kite with a harness they wear and a big boogie board they surf on in the ocean, they sure have fun. (Pictures) The sun was setting about the time we were ready to leave, so I caught a nice sundown picture of the same surfer earlier. The campers let the air out of their tires until they are sort of flat and they drive on the sand that way. They sometimes stay out there for several days riding on sand buggies and just having fun. I would be afraid of a big tide coming in and not being able to get out. I saw a sign at one of the shops before you enter the beach and it said "AIR $1.oo per tire". That could get pretty expensive with a 5th wheel and all the tires on your truck and rig. We are leaving for Santa Barbara in the morning. I will finish this when we get there. Friday 14~~~The weather is so warm today, I wore a short sleeve shirt and no jacket. When we arrived in Santa Barbara, it was 85 degrees, by the time Kent was half way done setting up the dish and electricity, he came in and put on a short sleeve shirt. I fixed him a sandwich, but he said he wasn't hungry, he just wanted a frappacino, so off to McDonalds we went, I got an ice water, and he got his treat. LOL We are going to watch TV tonight and do nothing, tomorrow we are going to a Mission and into Santa Barbara to some street festivals. I could just stay home and read a book, I almost have that White House book finished that I have been reading to Kent while he drives. He said it is so good, he hates to see it end. I have another good one I will start as soon as we finish this one.

January 12, 2011

Wednesday 12~~~~ Today was a beautiful sunny and we drove to visit the old Catholic Mission LaPurisima (The Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary). It was the eleventh of twenty-one Spanish Missions established in what later became the state of California. Founded December8, 1787 the La Purisima Mission land holdings once covered nearly 470 square miles. Bordered by the Santa Maria river in the north and Gaviota coastline in the South. The land was home to the Chumash people and the Spanish settlers. The Mission was best known for its hides and blankets, and its inhabitants herded as many as 24,000 cattle and sheep. Today, history lives at LaPurisima State Park with over 2000,000 visitors every year. It is self guided tours and sometimes the park provides a re-creation of life here during the 1820's, when the residents engaged in candle making and weaving, pottery making, black smithing and leather work. In the early years of operation, several thousand Chumash Indians were baptised into the Catholic Church and small adobe buildings were built, a water system developed, crops were planted, livestock were raised and the Mission grew and prospered. It suffered an earth quake in 1812 and the buildings were severely damaged, the after shocks and drenching rains damaged the Mission beyond repair. The priest requested that the Mission be rebuilt 4 miles away where it became a thriving Mission again. It had a better water supply, a better climate and was closer to the access of El Camino Real , California's main travel route. In a few years LaPurisima was once again a thriving community with about 1000 Chumash Indian Neophytes living on the land. Due to measles and Small Pox brought in by the settlers the Chumash Indian population went from a high of 1600 to 33 in 1913. In 1834 the order to secularize California's Missions was enforced. Mission assets were to be civilly administered, landholdings divided up among the habitants and the neophytes be released from supervision of any type. In1845 the Mission was sold for $1000 to Juan Temple of Los Angeles, it subsequently changed hands a number of times prior to the close of the 19th century. Buildings and other features of the Mission eventually collapsed from weather and other long neglect. In 1933 when the property was given to public ownership by Union Oil Company, the Mission was a complete ruin. Preservation and reconstruction of the Mission complex began in 1934 through the efforts of the state and county of California, the Nat. Park Service and the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps.) Under direction and labor from the latter two organizations, the buildings and grounds were restored and furnished to appear as they did in 1820. We enjoyed this Mission so much and with it a self guided tour you can take all day and carry your lunch and sit and eat on the many benches all over the mission. The walls are so thick and the rooms so large, it is so impressive to see. I really enjoyed the church in the mission with the old confessional booth and the lectors post so high in the air. The stations of the cross were so old, the pictures were absolutely gorgeous. We took a lot of pictures, I will post a few of them.