Month: July 2009

July 16^th

We traveled North again up through Morro Bay past Hearst Castle and along the Coast to Big Sur.   As we drove up the coast we were hoping to get to see some of the dramatic scenery along the coastline up to Big Sur.  We did get to catch glimpses but a marine layer of fog obscured the view for most of the drive.   We did stop at and got watch a bunch of Elephant Seals Males lounging on the beach.  They come down to this beach from Alaska to molt.  Most of these guys weighed in at 3000 – 5000 lbs.  They entertained us with their antics. Maneuvering for the most comfortable position in the pile of their friends, throwing sand up over  them with their flippers and battling in the surf to establish dominance. Their battle cries sound like giant long belches.  You can learn more about them at http://www.elephantseal.org.     We continued our journey on up the coast as we had learned a valuable lesson.  When traveling in CA,  Travel Early & Stop Early to find a Camp spot and enjoy your stay.   We travelled up to Big Sur and made it there before noon.  The State Park campgrounds  were already full but there was a space available for one night at a local private campground called the Fernwood Resort.   It was a lovely spot right next to the creek and we had a great afternoon of bicycling.  We rode from the campground down to the beach.   A round trip of about 8 miles.  Only half of which was uphill!  A great ride through Sycamore Canyon led us down to Pfeiffer /Big Sur State Beach.  It was definitely worth the effort as we were rewarded with beautiful soft sand and dramatic arched rocks and crashing surf.   I made Mike pose for a couples pic.  He was a little more accommodating this time and even smiled.  It must be because we were on a beach.   We rode back to camp and grilled some salmon and veggies for dinner.  It was cool and comfortable sleeping and we even had to break our fleece in the evening and the next morning. 

July 15^th 

We drove north and traveled along the California Coast Hwy 101 and then Hwy 1 enjoying the scenery.    We passed right by Vandenberg AFB and wondered if Sage might end up there someday.    We really enjoyed the coast drive and the farm lands we traveled through.    As the day turned to evening we tried to find a camping spot along the coast but to no avail everything was full.  It is hard to believe that Arnold is thinking about shutting down the State Parks.  Every park that we visited the campgrounds were full.   We stopped at a hospital parking lot but it was so busy that we drove on until we ended up at the Wonderful  “Walmart” Resort and Camping Lot in beautiful Paso Robles at about 10pm and crashed for the evening.  Nothin but the best for us, but really it wasn’t half bad, level and pretty darn quiet. 

July 14 – July 15^th     

Visit with Symons/Galassi Family

We left Fullerton and drove up to Pasadena to meet up with Crystal’s Cousin Deb, and her Husband Dave and their children Nico, Peter, & Marina at Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Jim’s home to take the kids swimming.    Uncle Jim is a retired Presbyterian Minister and he and Aunt Marilyn have a wonderful Duplex Apt in a retirement complex owned by the Church.   They have wonderful amenities including a pool and tennis.    When we arrived we walked the Kids over to the pool.  They were so cute in there swim suits and floaties and they were so excited.  Our best laid plans were dashed as we approached the gate to find a sign reading “Pool Closed until Thursday for Maintenance”   Talk about some tears and long  faces and cries about life not being fair.   Deb attempted to find a public pool but to no avail.  We were able to round up a couple of squirt bottles and there are at least  3 hoses that reached Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Jim’s front yard so………The water fight was on!  Smiles returned and a great cooling time was had by all, even those who hadn’t planned on getting wet.   We had a wonderful Mexican food dinner from a place called Lupita’s.   Uncle Jim recommended some sights to see along the Olympic Peninsula where he grew up.    We drove back to Deb and Dave house a few miles from Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Jim’s and spent the night with them.  It was great to get to catch up a little as we really did not get to spend much time talking with them at the wedding.    The next morning  Deb & the Kids took us to Huntington Gardens.   It was a beautiful research botanic garden in Pasadena.  We really enjoyed getting to see some of the Kid’s favorite areas including the Desert Garden, the Chinese Garden, and the Japanese Garden.  We bought the kids the book “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss to remember our adventure together at the gardens as Crystal was quoting excerpts from it during our tour.    We said our goodbyes to the Galassi Family and pressed on North.  

July 12- 14^th

Visit with Cindy, Kerry & Boys

We drove from Prescott to Fullerton CA. to visit with Cindy, Kerry, Cameron, & Cristovan.   As we traveled to their home we came through the desert and got out first blast of really hot weather.  Whew!  It was good though as we will need to reacclimatize to the heat and when we get into the tropics the humidity as well.    We stopped at Hadley’s Orchards I introduced Michael to their famous Date Shakes.  Hey we have to do a couple of tourist things right?!  We traveled on into smoggy SoCal.  Coming in on Sunday was really a breeze as far as the traffic and we had no delays reaching our destination.  We parked in Cindy and Kerry’s Driveway with only inches to spare and had to climb in and out of the camper through the driver’s side front door.   We spent the next couple of days laughing and visiting with them.  Cam and Chris where also there for the week and so we got to spend time with them as well.    We had some great walks and Cindy and Kerry showed us around downtown Fullerton and introduced us to some of their friends.   Kerry is still trying to figure out a way to move to Pagosa Springs and has recently seen that one of our friend s back home is looking for an engineer.  We gave have hooked the two of them up via facebook and who knows where those positive thoughts may lead.  Good Luck!   Thanks  to you guys for opening your heart and home to us.

July 7th – July 12

Visit with Mom & Dad

We have spent the last few days visiting with Mom and Dad and getting the animals accustomed to their new home.  Dad has built Dusty a ramp from their deck to a little enclosed yard so she will be able to go outside unsupervised.    We spent time walking with her around the lake near my folks home and spending some quality time with both Dusty Dog and Archie the Cat before we say our goodbyes for a while.  

We also took a really great bike ride through the Dells, a rocky outcropping near my folks home.  I should say it was a ride/hike as I ended up with a flat tire and no spare tube so I had to hike out for a couple of miles while Mike rode on back to my folks to form a rescue squad.  We mapped out the route I would take out of the park and they met me on the road, (all of them, Mom, Dad, Mike, & Dusty.) 

We got to visit with Mom’s Aunt Mary Lou Lewis and her cousin Ginny also and had a rousing game of Mexican train dominos.   We also had a visit with Mom’s & Dad’s Friends Pat, & Martha Ann & Gordon and keeping in the tradition of game night with my folks Pat introduced us to Scrabble Slam a fun word game but we finished up the night with Mexican Train dominos. 

We left for SoCal on Sunday morning and it was just as difficult to say goodbye to the animals as it was to say goodbye to Sage.  They are our children too. 

July 5th – July 7th 

Upon advice of our wonderful friend Lori – we decided to bypass the tourist area of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and Travel along Forest Service dirt roads for 20 miles.  We had no map but followed USFS Signs out to a place that listed Vista Points.  We found our way to a place called North Timp Point, 20 miles off the main route between Jacob Lake and the USFS Fee Station.   We traveled the dusty forest service roads past an area where there was a control burn going on.  The smell of smoke was heavy in the air and we did not meet up with any other traffic.   We just kept driving  in the general direction of the canyon and followed the few small signs we saw until we reached North Timp Point.   One of about 6 points along the North Rim.  This was Michael’s First visit to the Canyon and we arrived in the late afternoon and set up our motorhome without incident.   We were just  in time for cocktail hour.   Mike and I enjoyed a glass of wine and watched the sunset over the canyon.   The temperature and weather was terrific.   We had the area to ourselves for most of the 2 days we spent there.  We took photos and enjoyed the evening.   As spectacular as the sunset was, the sunrise was even more beautiful.  We hiked along the rainbow rim trail, a trail that connects the other USFS points along the Rim, for 6 miles before breakfast and we were relaxing back in camp when Michael remarked that he hoped we could see a California Condor.  They are large vultures with a 9 foot wingspan.  They were almost extinct and have been bred in captivity and reintroduced into the canyon.   There are only about 100 being monitored in the wild with another 100 being bred in captivity.  That’s all.   About Mid – day we were just finishing taking outdoor showers when I looked up and yelled to Michael that his Condor had arrived.   It flew over our camp and landed in a tree about 50 yards from our camp.  We took pictures and then he took off and circled around our camp again and flew out over the canyon where he was joined by a 2^nd Condor.  Both Condors then spent the next 30 -40 minutes circling our camp.  We realized that the reason that they circled for so long was that our Corgi dog Dusty, who had hiked with us that morning, was lying outside of the motor home asleep and wasn’t moving.  They probably thought they had a free lunch.    It was quite the show.    We were visited later that day by a couple from Prescott who had come out to enjoy the canyon for the day  and then by a natural history group of about 15 that were studying goshawks and kaibab squirrels.   We  chatted with them for a while and then had another lovely sunset on the rim.   We snuggled into our Motorhome bunk and  slept soundly with a spattering of rain tapping on the roof.   The next morning we woke early in time to see the full moon setting over the canyon.   We took a last walk along the Rainbow Rim Trail before climbing into to motorhome and heading to Prescott to visit with Crystal’s parents and drop off  the dog and cat for them to care for while we are traveling.

There are no pictures to include in this post as there was barely time to breathe.  We had only 11 days to pack, sort, and sell the majority of our belongings as we had found  long term renters for our house who wanted to move in on July 1st.   We felt lucky to have  found them in this down market but they wanted the house unfurnished.   He purchased a few of our larger pieces of furniture but we had to get rid of the rest of it.   We had a successful garage sale and what didn’t sell in one day we ended up giving away to friends or the thrift store.  It is amazing how much stuff a couple of people can accumulate in just a few short years.   We then proceeded to transfer our respective businesses and wrap up loose ends.  I sold my Mitsubishi Eclipse.  We packed our keepsakes into a 4 x 12 ft space, and prepared the Motorhome to become our “HOME” for the next few months.   We cleaned the house for the new renters including have the carpets cleaned.  It looked very strange to see the house so empty,  but we will be back someday.     We moved into our Motorhome  on July 1st along with the Dog and Cat that we will be taking over to Prescott to live with Crystal’s Parents Pat and Martin Sperry.    We parked it by the 14th St. Townhomes and became Unit 10 for the next few days.  Jim Kelly wanted to charge us Association Dues.   We spent the next few days wrapping up loose ends and saying goodbye to many wonderful friends.  On July 5th we Dropped off Mike’s Truck with Hi-Mesa Auto Sales for him to sell on consignment and said a final tearful goodbye to Sage.  He will be staying with his father this summer prior to entering the US Air Force in the Fall.  We miss him already.  We climbed into the Motorhome and headed for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.   The adventure begins.