Carlsbad Beach

After the excitement (Overstimulation possibly???? for these sedate peeps) of 3 days at Disneyland, we decided to head down the coast to Carlsbad and enjoy some beach time. With some Directions from Stan and June, Diana's Aunt and Uncle who have been full time RVing for over 10 years, we found a nice place to park on the city streets of Carlsbad. Big plus, no charge and pull through sites. Big minus, no slideouts or hookups and a fair amount of road noise. Eh, take the good and the bad. After parking, we suited up and headed for the beach, just over a block away. The tide was low when we arrived and we all enjoyed a great time. The water was cool (about 56), but both the girls and I readily jumped in and fought the waves (the waves typically won, but that is part of the fun). As we were leaving, one of life's little mysteries/coincidences happened. So, Diana and I have a friend from High School, named Hilary. We knew, through Facebook, that she and her husband and her son lived in the greater San Diego area. So, knowing that we were going to be in the area, Diana started setting up the possibility to meet up and possibly do some camping. Hilary mentioned to Diana that she had secured (no small feat apparently) 2 sites at the Carlsbad state park camping area for June. This is where we were playing at the beach a block from our trailer and where, 7-8 years ago, we last met Hilary. So, at the end of our first day of beach bumming, we took the long way home, through the park to see if we could have fit our trailer in (possibly, but challenging). Lo and behold, as we were walking through the park, we heard a 'hey, Callaways..!) Yep, it was Hilary and the Family. They had attended an art fair earlier in the day and decided to stop by the park and look at where their June sites were. Talk about cosmic coincidence. If we had taken the other route home, if they were not driving at the exact time we were heading back, if Hilary had not seen current pictures on Facebook (hey, we all, especially me I admit, look quite different from high school), this serindipitous meeting would never have happened. It must have been our density to meet. (I know, dated movie reference). So, we were able to meet Hilary, her Husband and their boy, Nate the great!. They agreed to meet us the next afternoon for more beach fun, which they did. A great time was had by all and we just loved the open beach (hey, it is winter for all of the local warm weather folks, for us it was like summer and even warmer than Ocean Shores for certain) and the sand was great for building and such, though the girls were given a good lesson on the impermanece of sand castles in front of an incomming tide (view the majesty of Mt. Vesandius, complete with Kelp lava). After this, we are heading out to Temecula, CA to stay at a SKP park for a week or so before we head out to Quartzsite for an RV rally out in the middle of Nowhere (literaly,look it up on a map, there ain't any there there).

Disneyland

Well, the girls were given 3 day passes to Disneyland for Christmas, so, off we all went to the magical kingdom. Diana's parents and Patrick, Rhonda, Zach and Samantha joined us as well. We arrived at the park and got situated and were able to do the most wonderful of modern conveineinces, laundry!! Hey, we just spent over a week out boondocking out by Joshua tree, things get a touch funky. Also the hot showers were very nice too. After only a few moderate delays, we were up the next morning, evading traffic, only to land in what we told the girls was the hallmark of the Disney experience....Lines. It took a seeming forever to get into the parking structure and catch the tram. After that though, and for the rest of the weekend, with the exception of Friday evening, both Disneyland and California Adventures was remarkably free of crowds (for a major theme park that is.) The girls absolutely loved it, as did Diana and I, though we must admit (me mostly, since she is not here to rebuff me) that the rides seem either a bit dated, or waaaay more jerky than I recall from my last visit 12 years or so ago. The girl's favorites at Disneyland were: Pirates of the Carribean, Thunder Mountain and Space mountain. They enjoyed the rest, though we were all D-U-N done by the last night. They both agreed that the experience was much better than the Ellensburg Rodeo (their only point of reference). One thing at disneyland that I can suggest skipping - Innoventions. What a blatant commercial POS. Bleh, enough said. The girls also agreed on their favorite California Adventures rides: Toy Story (why, yes, I did have the highest score of anyone in the group if you must ask), California Screaming (Definately sit in the very back for the best ride) and Soaring over California (now if they could just add some 3D glasses and some drop down Gatling guns to shoot at the people below, but that is just me talking). They both (and me too for that matter) agreed that the Tower of Terror was 'not so much fun'. All in all, it was a 3 day fun fest. We were able (and smart enough thanks to Diana) to pack in enough water and snacks to avoid any of the park fare except the first night when we stayed late. That was a relief and did save on the pocket book, plus what we did have for dinner ranked only slightly less salty than the Dead Sea, but not by much. Also, those who want to talk about the security at the parks should e-mail me direct. I will not go off on a rant here. Enjoy the pics, sorry there are not more of us on the rides, but we were on the rides with them, so there! After this it is off to Carlsbad to visit the beach!

Joshua Tree National Monument

After Christmas, we headed just out of Palm Desert to beautiful Joshua Tree National Monument. (yes for you U2 fans, the photo comes from this area, and the trees look just like that). We actually parked just outside the South side of the park on BLM land for the best price out there, free ninety eight. Obviously we had no hookups, but after looking at the sites in the park, we could not have easily fit and for 20$ per night we could have had a site with, well, no hookups either, so why spend the money. We were able to drive the 7 miles into the park and watch the interpretive talks and participate in some of the Junior Ranger events for the girls (they did receive their second Jr. Ranger Badge here, we will keep a tally, first one from Olympic National Park, WA) The weather was fantastic, if I was able to post more than 5 photos per post, I would show a picture of our atomic clock at 4:06 Jan 2, 2010 where the temp is 81 degrees in our trailer. Ah quite different from the Arctic North. As you can see in the pictures, Patrick (Diana's Brother) and Rhonda and the kids came out and joined us in their motor home (ours is the little white 5th wheel, theirs is the other one for those who are wondering). We had a wonderful time playing, hiking, shooting (bows and firearms (hey, it is BLM land))stargazing, sitting around the fire making s'mores and on and on. There is a picture of me wandering aimlessly across the desert, hopelessly lost (OK, not so much, but it does look like that on my face) and of the girls in one of the canyons that we hiked through. On one of our hikes of about 7.5 miles, the sand and ground were so soft and inviting, we took our shoes off! Just like when I was growing up in AZ. As you can see, the vistas were amazing as were the sunsets. From some of the ridges, you can see the Salton Sea off in the distance. All in all a beautiful, peaceful, relaxing time was had by all.

Amusing (in retrospect) side note: Apparently the TP holder when it is used in our small bathroom makes a noise to a half asleep wife like an intruder going through our side holds. So if you ever get a chance to camp with us and I come bursting out of the door in my skivvies with my pistol and my surefire light in the middle of the night, it is not likely an intruder, it is just the TP holder squeaking. No pictures of this event will be posted.

Christmas 2009

Christmas this year was quite different than the past 10 in many ways. It was much warmer at 75 deg. vs. the normal 30 and snow in WA. It was not at our house like for the past many years, it was at our trailer, Diana's parent's motorhome where Santa arrived with lots of fun stuff for the girls (recurve bows, archery supplies, compasses, lots of chocolate, etc.). Then it was off to Patrick and Rhonda's house for further festivities, more presents (yes it is a challenge sometimes shoehorning things into the trailer), more food and the inevitable crash at the end of the day. Ahhh, the holidays. Cami and Andi did score some cool new sleeping togs from our friends Kathy and Albert - Penguins Rule!!- . I was stoked, I received all four books in the Bowyer's Bible set and enough scratch to get the few remaining tools I need to make my own archery bow. Looking forward to it (thanks Rhonda). One of the funniest gifts was one of the table gifts during Christmas Eve dinner (traditional mexican food (thanks to Mamacita for that tradition)) was the biker's Do-rag shown here on the two 'bikers' Phil and Pat. The other was Diana's mom Carol's pregnancy test (negative fortunately), but that is another story. Cami and Andi had a fantastic time playing with their cousins Zachary and Samantha, shown here with Diana and the Girls (and Carol, always butting in... ;) )Much fun, laughter and frivolity was had by all. I am sure that that will also be the case as we move on to Joshua Tree National Monument.

Side note: I may make note of this from a place of 'Hmmm, that's interesting..." point of view. It seems that at certain RV parks, not all, but at least half so far, we have been treated as second class because we have young children (no matter how well behaved and quite adorable) and very little grey hair (well, more for me, none for Diana)and are not 'old'. It is interesting that the same people who complain about age discrimination in the workplace or elsewhere don't think twice about discriminating against us because we do not fall into their precoceived notions of what an RV'er should be. It will be interesting to see if that trend holds out. On the other hand, some of our elders around the park have been fantastically friendly and have wanted to adopt the girls, and have been a fount of info. Time will tell

At the Lake

In the middle of December we spent some time checking out this lake in Patterson, California. Quite the shift in temperatures from the same time last year in WA. We spent a week relaxing with full hookups and just about no one around. We did do some boating as the pictures show. During our stay here we were able to do our annual gingerbread house, or in this case our gingerbread trailer, since that is our house now. Small note: due to some recipe challenges, the trailer collapsed on its own weight not long after the pictures (remember to not use whole wheat flour in your gingerbread, it is not as strong). To 'pay' for our time there we did some lawn maintenance and I even got my very own Forrest Gump moment on the riding tractor. Since it was not freezing anymore like in WA, we were able to clean the trailer and you can see Diana doing her due diligence as a good wife and cleaning the windows (hopefully she will not review this post, otherwise I am toast). From here it will be onward South to Palm Desert for Christmas.