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.

Palm Springs, CA 4/10-4/19 2009

After 2 years of not seeing our friends, Will and Ella Tatham, we were finally reunited in Palm Springs. They have been touring the West for the last two years. We were able to go to church together and to spend Easter together. The picture below is the church we attended for the last 2 weeks. It is called Southwest Community Church and I would highly recommend it to those looking for a church in that area. At the Good Friday service Will and Ella introduced us to new friends they had made, Arlo and Vern Mallory. We really enjoyed them and look forward to seeing them sometime in the future. The above picture is Will and Ella taken on a day trip to Idllywild.

This is Southwest church and the picture below I took of a little girl on Easter morning. I told her I didn't have any granddaughters here to take a picture of so could I take a picture of her and she was thrilled to do it. You could tell she felt like a princess in her new Easter outfit.

Below are Vern and Arlo, smooching as usual! We were also able to celebrate Vern's 68th with him.

We toured the desert oasis. It was fascinating. In the middle of dry desert there appears out of nowhere a grove of Palm trees and ponds of water. We were told that the water bubbles up along the fault line. We girls are showing out girl power by holding up this Palm. From left to right: Ella, Diane, Arlow, Judy, and Jann.

This is the path we took going out to the Palm grove. It really was very interesting.

Below is the lovely pond nestled among the Palm grove. It was a very bright green color. What a beautiful spot to just sit and meditate.

This is the group that went that morning on the Oasis walk. From left to right top: Wayne and Diane(friends of Vern and Arlo's), Will and Ella, Bart (his wife Jann is taking the picture) and on the bottom is Lee and Judy, Vern and Arlo. After our tour of the Oasis we all had a lovely breakfast together.

The picture below was taken during our day trip to Idllywild with Will and Ella. While there we toured the Thousand Trails campground and decided we did not think it was wise to bring our big rigs up the windy, narrow mountain road. There was, of course, still snow up there and it was in the comfortable high 60's unlike the 90's in the valley. We also toured some of the stores in the town and had a very yummy lunch.

As you can imagine the scenery was beautiful and the flowers are just beginning to blossom.

What a wind tunnel exits here. The windmills here supply 10% of the electricity for all of California. I was fascinated watching them. There were places where as far as you could see it was rows and rows of windmills.

You can tell this was a windy day! Look at the visibility.

We spent a lot of time here just visiting with friends. Pot lucks, good conversation and great church services. There is a spectacular view of the mountains no matter which way you turn. One day the girls (Ella, Brenda, Arlow, Jann and myself went thrift shop shopping. Palm Springs gift stores are like an upgraded department store. I got 3 lovely new church outfits. While in Palm Springs we drove around some of the more famous homes and then we had a lovely lunch together.

On Thursday night we went to the Palm Springs street fair. Lots of good food, all kinds of shopping and music. Had a lovely dinner with Arlo and Vern.

While at the thousand trails park we met up with Judy and Brian Arnold. You all remember them from pickle ball in Florida. It was good to see them again. We did not play pickle ball there because Lee's elbow has not recovered from the last time he re injured it which was in Verde Valley.

We've had a great but very busy 10 days here. I think in Soledad Canyon we plan to relax a little around the pool.

Pilot knob, Winterhaven,CA/Mexico 4/4-4/9

Isn't this a lovely camping spot. Nice shade trees, a slate patio, and an incredible view of the mountains.

This is the dentist office Lee went to. He had two very nice crowns done for a total of $340. compared to state-side cost of $840./ per crown.

Sunday we crossed the border to Los Algodones, Mexico to locate the office of the dentist that Lee would be seeing on Monday. On Monday we went to the dentist and he prepared Lee's teeth for the permanent crowns. Lee said he was very efficient and very pleased with the work he did. While we were there we did a little shopping and had a lovely Mexican lunch at this nice courtyard. I ordered a pair of glasses, bought 2 lovely leather purses, and a lace tablecloth. This entire border crossing is predominantly dentists, opticians and pharmacies. We have spoken with many people from Arizona, California and as far away as Oregon and Canada who come here for their dental work.

The area reminded us of some of the Caribbean shopping areas. Sidewalk vendors, cute court yard eateries, and music on the street corners.

We met a lovely couple at the campground. Bart and Jann DallaMura. As you can see they have a black standard poodle, Camille. She is 11 years old and looks like a 4 year old. She and Nicky had a great time playing together.
Jann gave us some grapefruit off their trees that were delicious. Never tasted a grapefruit so sweet and juicy. We really enjoyed the time with had with them and hope to see them again while we are in Palm Springs. We will be in different campgrounds but close enough to get together.

Click below and watch these dogs at play.

Las Vegas, Lake Havasu 3/29--4/4/09

It was so good to see family!! We visited with our niece, Brooke, and her husband Sean. Brooke took us out to dinner at a restaurant in Bellagio's and then Sean met us there and gave us a tour of the nightclub in Bellagio's that he manages. During our stay in Las Vegas we also went out for breakfast with Brooke and had a great time just catching up with one another. Brooke gave us a tour of their place and also drove us around some of the developments they've been looking at as future home buying possibilities. It is so nice to be able to picture Brooke now when I'm talking with her and can visually picture where she is. The cream colored house below is Brooke's
This is Las Vegas taken from our return from Hoover Dam . It gives you a good general picture of where Las Vegas is located in conjunction with the surrounding mountains. It's really quite pretty and the sunsets are lovely.

All tourists do this. So we decided why should we be any different!!

The next two pictures give you a little overview of the strip. There are so many cassino's and they all have different themes. It's a fun place to study people and touring the various buildings is fascinating.

This is the casino in which Sean's nightclub is located , it's called The Bank

This is a picture of Lake Meade. I saw this lake when I was in my teens and it has receded greatly since then. You can see the line on the rocks of where it used to be.

This is the new bridge that is being built over the Hoover dam. It is due to open in 2010. What you are looking at is suspended over the water and men are climbing all over this portion of the bridge walking up ladders. The whole process is fascinating. There are cables everywhere holding it in place as they work on it. If you're in the area it's well worth the trip to see it.

Hoover dam

This is a picture of the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, AZ. We were only in Lake Havasu for 2 nights. While there we spent time viewing the lake and also touring some model homes. We love the architecture of the homes here. The floor plans are very open and the courtyards and entry ways are beautiful.

The water looks like the Caribbean doesn't it!!

This is a picture of Nicky's new friend, Parker. Two big,bad boys on the prowl in the desert.

This sunset is taken from our camper at Lake Havasu.

Grand Canyon March 25-27

We left Verde Valley, AZ for Williams, AZ to put us within and hour's drive of the Grand Canyon.





During the next 2 days we visited the various vistas around the South rim. I saw the Grand Canyon when I was 17 while Lee on the other hand has never seen it. I wish I had been able to capture the expression on Lee's face as he first beheld the majesty of it.







We walked one of the trails part way into the canyon. Bright Angel trail down to the base of the canyon and the Colorado River is 18 miles round trip. If we had had more time we would have enjoyed doing this. Nicky went with us the first day and we walked his legs off. We got back to the camper and as soon as he had dinner he was out like a light.

The immensity of it is hard to take in. As you walk around the rim the colors and configuration of the rock varies.

Doesn't it look like it goes on forever?

I hope all the grandchildren get to see this someday.

This is the trail going down into the Canyon.

We met this little guy along the rim trail.

I got some of my Christmas shopping done in the Hopi gift shop. Most of our time was spent seeing as much as we could of the canyon in the two days we had there.