The Holidays - Las Vegas Style

The highway from L.A. to Las Vegas, Interstate 15, is one of the most traveled routes west of the Rockies. So we had plenty of company rolling into one of our favorite preserves - just a few minutes from all the action, either on the "Fabulous Las Vegas Strip" or downtown on Fremont Street.

This is our third trip here, so we've already experienced the Strip via "the Deuce" and seen a bunch of the long-running shows and visited most of the casinos and eaten at most of the buffets. So we're relaxing, decorating the coach, checking out the Escapee's park in Pahrump ("over the hump to Pahrump") and, of course, getting the Christmas goose (in this case Cornish game hens) from, where else, the RVer's best friend, WALMART.

Vegas has added a major new resort in the heart of the Strip called City Center - naturally very impressive, with the anchor being a new hotel called Aria, and it is definitely operatic in splendor. Six very high-rises and a monorail to take you between.

Wilderness Lakes - This Year's Primary Wintertime Home

After spending an wonderful Thanksgiving with Shannon's family, we have arrived at the preserve where we will spend nine weeks this winter. We have chosen this area east of Los Angeles because the weather is mild and there is an abundance of insurance-covered healthcare available. The park has a network of man-made canals and more waterfowl than any place we've been since leaving south Florida - blue and white herons and great egrets and geese and coots (the "old" ones as well as the wet ones.) There are hundreds of black crested night herons all over the place. We have to be careful where we step when getting close to the water's edge - lots of presents from the birds.

During our trip south from Canada, I had some stops at urgent care centers for help getting over a severe sinus infection and a flare-up of my chronic bronchitis. During these medical exams, an irregular heartbeat was detected each time with an accompanying recommendation to get it checked by a cardiologist soon.

So here we are - the nearby city of Hemet with plenty of heart specialists to choose from. After a series of visits and tests - an EKG and a 24-hour heart monitor (oh, don't look, Ethel!) and blood and urine analyses, the verdict so far is elevated blood pressure and barely acceptable cholesterol, but with nothing else amiss. So I'm taking blood pressure meds for now, and we wait for an echocardiogram and stress test to be conducted when we return in mid-January. Maybe we can determine the root cause of the extra beat. Personally, I think it's just the result of a lifetime in love with Jan (oh, don't read that, Ethel!)

Whew, what a relief! We dodged something more serious this time!

Crossing the Los Angeles Metro Area

Many RVers we know will do almost anything, and travel great distances out of their way, to avoid driving through the major metro areas that nationwide touring can bring you into. Not this intrepid duo. In accordance with the "Once bitten, twice shy"  or "Fool me once..." rules of life, we will plan around direct travel through Atlanta or Houston, but the three time we've traversed L.A., we've yet to have a really bad experience.

We spent our first fifty years in the Dallas area, home to a fairly extensive network of freeways and expressways like Central, Stemmons, Thornton, LBJ, Dallas North, GWBush, Schepps, DFW, and maybe more by now.

But Los Angeles undoubtedly has the most freeways of any city in the coutry. Let's see, There's the Ventura Fwy and the Santa Monica Fwy and the Golden State Fwy and the Simi Valley Fwy. Then there's the Hollywood Fwy and the San Diego Fwy and the Harbor Fwy, the Marina Fwy and the Century Fwy. Then you've got the Santa Ana Fwy and the Long Beach Fwy and the Pasadena Fwy and the Glendale Fwy. And let's don't forget the Foothills Fwy and the Pomona Fwy, the Gardena Fwy and the Artesia Fwy and the Riverside Fwy and the San Bernardino Fwy and the San Gabriel River Fwy and the Orange Fwy. And last, but not least there's the Garden Grove Fwy and the Costa Mesa Fwy, the Terminal Island Fwy and the Ontario Fwy and the Escandido Fwy and the Corona Fwy and the Chino Valley Fwy, and I've probably missed some. The guys who do the local traffic reports in the morning might have the toughest job. They certainly have a great memory.

We picked a Sunday morning to travel the 140 miles from Oxnard, on the west side, to Menifee on the east. It was an easy trip, even though you'd think that the end of a four-day weekend would put extra cars on the roads. We took the Pacific Coast Hwy (PCH) right along the beach, through Malibu to Santa Monica with its amusement park right on the pier (a highlight of one of my alltime favorite movies, Spielberg's send-up on the start of WWII, "1941.") We picked up Interstate 10 (the Santa Monica Fwy) at its western inception. (We've picked up I10 at its eastern inception, too in Jacksonville.) Then we merged onto the Pomona Fwy, then the Escandido Fwy to our exit in Menifee, a  mere three miles to the entrance of Wilderness Lakes RV Park.

Thanksgiving Weekend at Shannon's and Bill's - Part 3

On our last full day, Saturday, Bill treated us all to a day at the races - indoor go-cart races that is. This is a really popular recreation out here and the place was pretty packed. It's for the younger crowd, of course. My racing nickname was "the old geezer." (No, I picked it out - but it did fit perfectly.)

Once you're checked in, it's spectate while waiting your turn at the wheel. Naturally, the grown-ups are taking a more relaxed attitude.

But then it's on with the equipment

                          and out for the pace lap.

Our old camera just can't snap the shutter fast enough to catch the full speed action.

After two turns at the wheel, no bandages or broken bones. Even the old geezer had a great time coming in last place.

Thanks a ton, Bill and Shannon!  What a fantastic finish to a Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving Weekend at Shannon's and Bill's - Part 2

Thanksgiving weekend wouldn't be complete without some "Black Friday" shopping. While that was going on, Bill helped me tackle a balky furnace - just wouldn't come on at all. I had gotten info from a couple of different techies that it was most likely a faulty sensor which, of course, was hidden deep inside the guts of the unit. With Bill's help, we got to the little devil and pulled it out for testing. Of course, it seemed to be working just fine. So after putting the whole mess back together (you understand, my job was passing the tools to Bill) we turned it on and it WORKED. Must have only needed a little TLC. But the whole project DID keep us out of the shopping frenzy.

Then it was back to their house and a short stroll down to the beach with Bill's wagon loaded to the top. (He's going to build sideboards for it soon.) That's it next to me - I don't think I'm dressed for surfing. (WOW is that the Unibomber behind that smile???)

The three kids were decked out in their wet suits, ready to try out their boogie boards in the surf. Couldn't get any shots of them doing their thing with the sun right behind them. (Never used to have that problem on a Florida afternoon.)

But we still got some memorable views of brother and sister.

And mother and son feeding Ritz crackers to the seagulls. Not thirteen yet and already taller than Mom.

From these pics you can tell that Jan's and my blood is still Florida thin. But it's still worthwhile bundling up to fight the chilly winds and getting sand in your pistachios!

Thanksgiving Weekend at Shannon's and Bill's, Part 1

Finally we arrive at Shannon's and Bill's house Thanksgiving morning. Bill's daughter Brianna and Shannon's two kids, Austin and Emily (all the way from Ft Lauderdale) are here too. We haven't seen Austin and Em since October of last year, so it's great to be with them again. (This is the only downside to being on the road all the time.) The coach is in an RV park only a few miles down the road, so we can spend almost every waking moment of the next three days enjoying their company.

Great eats, of course. Everybody pitches in - it is a family thing, after all. We bring sausage balls (Bisquik, cheddar, and hot sausage) to go with the mimosas and brandy and cofffee, while we finish up the preparations. We are going for a Honeybaked ham this year instead of a roasted Tom, but all the trimming are present and accounted for.

There's always time for father and daughter to remind us of what family get togethers are all about.

Out on the balcony, even the two labs get in on the act.

The kids take a break for some street time. It's great that they're so close in age. Austin will be a teenager on New Years Day. Brie will soon be 12, and Emily is 10 (10 1/2 she'll tell you.)

Almost there. Can everyone please sit? Looks like the kids are ready.

Uh oh. Do I have mashed potatoes on my chin. And how did Austin manage to get his mug in the frame?

Over the River and Through the Woods

After stopping for a few days on the Russian River, taking in the wine country's fall colors, and in the Sacremento delta (in central California, they just call it the Delta - an unremarkable area after the last 4 or 5 months) and getting some meds to halt a flare in my COPD, we continued south toward a Thanksgiving date with our daughter and her California family in the Channel Islands Harbor area.

We had a stop in Avila Beach - that's Ahvila Beach, forget your Spanish - we walked the docks with the seals and sea lions, and shopped at a farmers market (the rooster was showing how happy he was to not be a turkey.) Then we were off on a repeat visit to Rancho Oso on the other side of the mountains from Santa Barbara.

This area is already coming back from the fires that were scorching the forests and chaparral when we were here in the spring. A few weeks ago, they received nearly four inches of rain up here. It's amazing how quickly the land could recover from the ten-year drought (LA has had a total of nine inches of rain for all of 2009) with a few rainy years - come on El Nino. We enjoyed a great birthday dinner (how can I possibly be 68???) at the Cold Spring Tavern - a 120-year old stagecoach stop in the mountains - with rack of lamb and filet mignon our choice du jure. Woo-hoo!

Oregon Coast and Lighthouses

It's hard for us to tell you how much we love this area of the country - although for you, it is likely "Enough, already! We get the message!" So we thought we'd do a little photo montage of the views and the lighthouses. We saw them all, and got photos of many. Unlike the Atlantic coast, these lights are typically two to four hundred feet above the water - making them visible for many miles, except on the foggy days.

Yaquina Head

Lewis and Clark in Seaside

               

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach - one of three along the coast

The lighthouse at Cape Meares

This is a gigantic sitka spruce has the candelabra shape common along the coast. The arms have a circumference of 12 feet and extend out as much as 30 feet from the center. The base of the main trunk has a circumference of 50 feet - nearly 17 feet across.

Heceta Head

    Devil's Churn - a deep cut into the rocky coast                   

Rhododendrons in bloom

Near Cape Foulweather                               

                                 Near Newport on a foggy day

Near the mouth of the Columbia                        

There are so many spots we can't remember exactly where this was, but does it really matter???

Blue whale territory in Depoe Bay, a neat little fishing village

A puffin playing around at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport

The Newport Bridge over the entrance to Yaquina Bay

The mushrooms love it but after a few weeks we were turning into mushrooms too!
                                      











Thousands of seals and sealions on the beach near Florence.

Sand dunes country, a hundred mile strech of the central coast.

Another haystackof the coastline at Pacific City. This is the tallest of the three at over 300 feet.

Just somewhere along the way