San Benito / Morgan Hill, CA

We went to dinner at a place called the Hole (booze and food) located in Tres Pinos not far from the park. It looks like an old western saloon. Some of the bar stools are covered in cow hide. It's a really neat place. It has a dining room and a front outside patio also. There are places in the front of the restaurant to tie your horse.

This is what the country looks like around the park. We have a real understanding now of where our lettuce and vegetables come from. If California loses it's water we'll all starve.

You said I could drive next!!!!

This is the beautiful Olympic size pool at Morgan Hill. It was a great pool to swim laps in and not crowded at all--practically had the pool to ourselves during the week.

Ar Morgan Hill there are a lot of wineries. This one was particularly beautiful because they planted wild flowers between each of the rows of grapes.

We took a day and drove over to Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Carmel by the Sea. We just loved Carmel. The picture above is one taken just driving through the neighborhood by the sea. All the homes were very unique and the landscaping gorgeous. As you can imagine the downtown area was just charming.

I think I've found my dream house!!!!! Isn't this just awesome????

This flower is called the Pride of Madeira. There are many different colors and they are all blooming right now. A flower imported from the coast in Portugal.

This is La Dulce Vita restaurant in Carmel. We had some really great pizza there for lunch.
On the way home we stopped at a place called Giznick Farms. They grew all kinds of berries and had a pie and deli shop on the premises. We had pie there that was to die for.

You can click on the pictures on the collage above to enlarge the individual pictures. The coast line is very picturesque. Dogs are permitted off leash on the beach and Nicky wanted to go in the worst way but we couldn't let him because he had pulled a muscle earlier in the week and we were afraid he would re injure it.

While at Morgan Hill we did get some pickle ball time in which was a lot of fun.

Love to all our friends and family. May you all have a lovely Memorial Day. Till next post be good to one another and live each day as if it's your last.

Hearst Castle/ Sequoia National Park 5/07-5/10/09

The above are pictures taken at the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, CA. We were actually on our way to Sequoia when we realized we had not done the castle yet. Since is was not far out of our way we stopped and took the tour that day. Boy, am I glad we did. I knew it was spectacular but you don't realize how spectacular until you see it. Such wealth and lavishness is beyond a normal person's imagination. The San Simeon area is just delightful and the kind of place I'd like to return to and just spend a week or two touring around the various settings. Check out the video on the pool below. That's the kind of pool I'd like to see in the Thousand Trail parks!!!! OH! did I forget to mention this is just the outside pool. The pool in the picture above is part of the indoor pool.



The two pictures below were taken from the top of Moro Rock which you can walk up. It is very high and since I'm not particularly fond of heights it was a real accomplishment for me to get to the top and take these pictures.

This picture was taken at one of the many groves of Sequoia trees. These trees are thicker trunked than the Redwoods. The trunk does not taper at the top it resembles a giant club in shape.

This is called Tunnel log and you can drive right through it.

Below is the video I shot from the top of Moro Rock. You will see it was well worth the trip up.



We could not have picked a better time to be here. All the wild flowers are in bloom. There is color all over the hills.

The rivers are all running full due to snow melt. We stayed at a private campground just 3 miles outside the park entrance. It is called Three Rivers Hideaway. The place was very active with white water rafters this time of year.

This is David and Sandra Miller from Exeter, CA. We were having breakfast at a really nice restaurant across the street from the campground and met them there. Their home is just down the road from Three Rivers the town we were in. We got to talking and found out David is a pastor and looking to start a new church in Exeter. We put him on the phone with our pastor, Vern Bosserman, who will be a great mentor for David since he has already been through the church planting process. Please keep these fine folks in your prayers that God will bless their ministry.

Rancho Oso/ Santa Barbara, CA 4/27-5/7/09

Howdy Pardners, we are at Rancho Oso and enjoying every minute. This could just be my favorite Thousands Trails campground yet. The view from our camper is beautiful and the amenities are lovely. The stone adult lodge is very picturesque. We love the availability of hiking trails with in the park and at nearby National park facilities. There are 2 pools-- one is heated and one is not. The setting for the pools is just so charming and peaceful. My only regret is we had so little time to spend there. We were on the go the whole time.

These are the horses from the stables right in the campground and that is the incredible view we wake up to each morning. There are also long horn steers, some pigs and a variety of other farm animals over at the stables. I love having the animals around. Is that a surprise to anyone who knows me???

This picture was taken on one of our many hikes and when you enlarge it you will see the campground nestled at the bottom of the hills.

One of our main entertainments here was hiking the many beautiful trails in the area. Nicky loved the many hiking outings we had and needless to say he slept very well at night.

This is a picture of the Bradbury dam which we pass on our way to Santa Ynez. The entire drive over to Santa Ynez to pick up our general delivery mail is just beautiful.

One of the many sights on our way over to pick up mail in Santa Ynez.

The pasture land surrounding our campground was something Lee fell in love with. What a place to have a ranch.

This is a scene taken from our hike into Redrock trail head. So many beautiful swimming holes along the trail. It was hot while we were there running on average about 10 degrees above normal.

The day we took this hike it was about 96-98 degrees and the humidity was about 3% . We took about a 6-7 mile hike. It would weave back and forth across the river and was very rocky at times. Even though we hydrated often both Nicky and I had a slight case of sun stroke. We were glad to get back to camp and cool off. This picture is of Gibraltar dam taken at the top of our hike.

As you can see the wild flowers were in bloom everywhere. We would come across hills dotted with splashes of yellow, blue, purple, and red flowers. I have enough pictures of wild flowers to put together a really nice screen saver.

We spent a day touring around Santa Barbara. We walked the downtown area as pictured above and we went over to the coastal areas as pictured below. There was a lovely patio restaurant over looking the coast where we stopped for lunch. On the way home we spent time driving through some of the beautiful neighborhoods. Awestruck by the beautiful homes perched up on the hills over looking the mountains on one side and ocean on the other. After we arrived home that same day we heard a announcement on TV that a brush fire had started in the foothills. At that time it was just a small brush fire. By the next morning it was 196 acre and then the following morning it was just totally out of control from the sun downer winds over night. A lot of the beautiful homes we had just viewed a couple days before were now burnt to the ground. Please keep these people in your prayers and pray that the weather will become more conducive to containing the fire.

This is simply a picture capturing the surrounding terrain. The flowers in the fore front were everywhere.

We can plant all the flowers we want but what God and nature do all by themselves is something to behold in these hills.
If you visit Rancho Oso be sure to spend some time in the charming town of Santa Ynez even if you don't have to pick up mail at the post office. The town is very picturesque and there are several good restaurants. Lee and I went over to the town twice just to sit and have coffee at the nice coffee house there and use their wi fi.

The only down side of the campground was that our Verizon air card did not work there. So we did most Internet work at the coffee shop. AT&T works fine there so phone was not a problem. As I said at the beginning, this was one of my favorite spots and our 10 days there flew by.

Adios pardners --Look forward to chatting again with you soon. Love Judy, Lee and Nicky

Soledad Canyon (TT), CA 4/20/2009

We are working on this blog on what is called Verizon hill. We are at Rancho Oso now and the only place to get Verizon reception is on this hill. We have a Verizon air card and this is where it works. We do get AT&T reception on the phone at the campground, however, we get dropped once and a while.

The picture above is the beautiful view from our camper. They have the largest swimming pool here I've ever seen. They have not filled it yet for the season but the smaller pool is open.

We walked this path to the far knoll on the left. It was about a 3 hour walk and a lot of it was straight up. I took this walk just so I could get a video of the area.

One day we took the Metro Link from Acton into LA. The train station is the Union Station and has just recently been refurbished. It was about 1 1/2 hour ride in and a lot of pretty scenery along the way. The station is beautiful inside and out. We spent a couple of hours touring before returning to the campground. Just across the street from the station was a lovely park centered around a gazebo. Vendors are set up all around the square and there are restaurants scattered throughout.

All the trees and flowers are in bloom and it's so pretty everywhere you look. This little area above reminded us of Mexico. Below is a picture of the park across from Union Station.

My two mountain men of a hike.

This is a picture of Doug and Vera Clark. We first met them in Palm Springs. A lovely couple. They have been full-time RVing for 16 years. They are in great shape and soon to be 80 and a tremendous wealth of information for fellow travelers. When we arrived in Soledad they were set up across from us. It was really nice to have additional time with them.

At this destination we spent most of our time hiking and hanging around the pool rather than touring. After our busy pace at Palm Springs we needed some down time.

Picked up a parcel from Renee Carl in Acton and had a grand time going through card. Thanks Renee it's nice to be missed.