San Diego, Las Vegas!

San Diego is by far the nicest place in California that we have encountered…The weather was perfect, albeit a little on the cooler side, the people were friendly and the traffic wasn’t anywhere near as crazy as LA or even Malibu for that matter. The best part of San Diego was visiting with Bill. We had a very relaxing few days to little to spend hanging out and just chatting over our lives. Shirley was very happy to see Bill and I think pretty happy to have a nap in her former bedroom. Bill has kept it pretty much the way it was and she was thrilled that it was like she remembered it. Of course Golf was a big topic for Les and Bill and I had the pleasure of cooking in a real kitchen. You know us, a few glasses of wine, a couple of beers and a simple meal with good company comes as close to perfect as one can. Les managed a swim in Bill’s pool even though both of us thought it was much too cool for swimming!

On Friday we all went to the San Diego Zoo. Bonus was that Les’ ticket was free because he was the escort for the handicapped person. We took the bus tour of the part most because the park is quite hilly and it was tough for Les to push the wheelchair up the hill and it was scary for Shirley to go down the hill. The only part we had to push through was to get to the Panda exhibit which Bill and I enjoyed. We had our photo taken before the bus tour and Bill surprised us with a large print of it.

Les now holds the family record for eating the largest steak at one sitting ! Bill prepared rib-eye steak on the grill and although he and I shared a piece, Les ate an entire one himself and we calculated it had to be at least a full pound, no less. And then comes the Tums….

On Tuesday we headed out to Barstow, California and then onto Las Vegas. As we drove closer to Barstow the thermometer started steadily rising. Today in Vegas as I write this it is 105 degrees on the way up to 108 or so. While it may be a dry heat it is hot and the A/C runs continuously. Haven’t had any luck yet at the Casino but hope to get onto the Strip later tonight or tomorrow night. Les wants to go to The Bellagio because that’s where his friend Jim stays and he wanted to see it. Many of the hotels on the Strip are so pretty and so elaborate that you have to walk thought them to appreciate it. We leave Vegas Sunday morning and head out to Zion National Park. This has been a favorite stop for us so we are looking forward to this one.

California (still?)

Gosh we’ve been out of touch for a while now so I’ll do my best to fill you in on the activities in the last week or so. June 5 was the wedding - and what a grand time it was! Shirley had an opportunity to visit with her brother Ray Sault and his wife Beverly as well as their children and grandchildren. The wedding was wonderful and perfect in every way - heck even the weather cooperated. Lisa and Ross chose a library themed wedding which suited them to a tee with both of them having been conferred with their PhDs and having met at the Circulation Desk of the Library!! We were delighted to see Graham’s family from England again - we had met them 2 years ago when we visited Ray and Beverly. You know we must have taken a liking to them because we invited them to visit with us in Florida (or at least use the house if we were away). Extra special to our visit was the meeting of Les’ cousin and her husband, Jean and Bob. Right away they made us feel special and a part of the extended family. “Aunt Shirley” reveled in the attention everyone showered on her! Bev’s brother-in-law even stole a cupcake for Shirley at the wedding from the dessert table well before the appointed time! And to top it all off, Jean and Bob absconded with 2 more for the next morning rendezvous. Bob is a hoot and we enjoyed his humor. Our last night together we had a cookout at the RV Resort gathering place. Apparently there was a charge to use the grill but Bob talked his way right out of that $25 charge - charmer he is! The last thing I will say on this is ….I have a friend in Florida that I always say makes me a better person when I am around her. She knows who she is…but Jean gave me that same sense of belonging.

From Morgan Hill, CA we headed down to the Hearst Castle and then to Malibu, CA where I am writing this now. I am posting some photos of Hearst Castle and I will add that it was well worth the price of admission. It’s a little on the gaudy side for me (seeing I’m so classy!) but it was certainly a showplace. It is run by the California State Park system and they do a nice job with the tours and keeping the place beautiful.

We arrived here in Malibu on Friday and then off to Hollywood on Saturday. Surprisingly enough we didn’t run into much traffic at all in the morning and we were able to find a parking garage close to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre that was very convenient. We walked up and down the streets to see all of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I was taking a photo and Les and Shirley had meandered ahead when I looked up and saw that Les was talking with two guys - what??? Well it turns out that Les recognized them - Gregg is our across the street (Dick and Nancy) neighbors’ son. He and Jeff were touring Hollywood on vacation! What a small world. It’s hard to believe that you would actually run into someone you know here! I am posting a photo of them as they are getting ready to board their tour van.

Sunday is always “hang out” day for us mostly because there is either a Red Sox game or a NASCAR Race, both yesterday so it was a lazy one for us. This morning we all mustered the energy to travel to Simi Valley to the Ronald Reagan Library. Shirley didn’t want to go because she is a Democrat but we enticed her with the promise of lunch out! The Library was wonderful with all varied exhibits as well as the original Boeing Air Force One that carried 7 Presidents I believe including George W. Bush. We had an opportunity to tour the inside of the AFO, really cool and so obvious that our technology has skyrocketed in the last 20 years. As a bonus for Les the Library happened to be hosting an exhibit of NASCAR and INDY cars!

All from here for now, almost time to pop the corn for the Bruins/Canucks Game.

One for the Books!!

Morgan Hill, California

Friday morning we hurried to leave the Yosemite area campsite, sad to leave beautiful serene Yosemite, but anxious to get the Red Sox games back on satellite for Shirley as well as to have cell service again! How spoiled we are today! We only had about 148 miles to go from Midpines, CA to Morgan Hill (outside of San Jose) so we were leisurely in our drive and Les was gingerly winding his way down the mountains. We arrived about 12:15 pm Friday afternoon at a most lovely RV Resort, Coyote Valley. We had stayed here before and we were anxious to get on the 30 miles bike trail that runs nearby the resort. Les and I both went in to check in and also to see what site his cousin was in as we were all attending the same wedding Sunday and we were excited to meet them. We were assigned our space and would have an escort take us to our area. Les left the office 3-4 minutes before me and said he would disconnect the car so that he could get into the site. When I followed him I went to the back of the coach to drive the car behind him. I looked and the car wasn’t there so I thought “boy he did that quick, I was going to help him disconnect”…and then in those few seconds I realized that the CAR WAS GONE - and I mean gone - bikes, hitch, tow bar and our car were totally GONE! What can you say but “Holy Crap Les where is our car?”….he says “behind the motor home” and then looks - we were both speechless, which is easy to believe of Les but not of me!

Okay stop laughing, it really wasn’t funny at the time! The receiver broke off of the frame of the motor home and the whole thing fell off. The only problem was we did not know we didn’t have our tow car until we arrived here. So the saga continued, a call to the CHP (they had a little trouble not laughing out loud!), unbelievably helpful staff here at CVR. Our escort volunteered to clock out on his lunch hour and drive Les to see if they could locate the car. Off they went and Shirley and I just had this “what just happened” look. After 45 minutes or so on the phone with CHP they were unable to locate the car and wanted the plate number. “really dude? It’s the black Lincoln with Florida tags with 2 bikes and a tow bar hanging off it - how hard could it be to find it?”…well turns out Les and Robert couldn’t locate the vehicle so when they returned, off we went in Dorothy to find Abe! Lo and behold, and thanks to some prayers, we find Abe sitting on the side of the road beside a Cherry Orchard (I will never eat a Bing Cherry again!)…just waiting for us. Of course the bikes were destroyed and the tow bar and receiver and chains and cables and everything was under the car. Abe took out some bushes but had minor damage (or so it appears). Les seems to be the new celebrity of the park since no one really had seen this happen before. I am posting a couple of photos so you can see that this is really is a true story! I am sure it will become more real to me when I write the check for the insurance deductible. Seriously we were just grateful that no one was hurt as it might have been quite a different scenario.

Anyway, all is well and I know this will be the funniest story we will tell for a long time! We are posting a few photos so you can see we are not nuts!

Wow - that’s really the only word that can describe how beautiful Yosemite Valley is. The views are spectacular, the waterfalls rushing, white water flowing down from the highest points and we are humbled by the experience. We spent the day touring around the waterfalls and mountains, lunched at Yosemite Lodge and ended our day driving to Glacier Point, a bit of drive but since the road just opened we felt that we had to see the views from the top - and they were well worth the drive. There was a temperature difference of about 30 degree from the Valley to the top of Glacier Point Road and it was evident that Winter had visited there with snow drifts taller than our car. Even though it was cold Shirley loved the views and Les pushed her chair all the way to the top! We are posting more photos than I am sure you want to see but really the scenery was gorgeous. On our down day we went into Mariposa, CA town are and just looked around, stopped for a few groceries and to send a quick text and back to the camp we went. Although the camp is clean and lovely it was disappointing to learn that wi-fi was not free and there was absolutely no cell service for anyone so I was feeling a little lost for a while. Today, Thursday, we went back to Yosemite for a second look and to tour the museum, lodge and visitor center including a very nice 30 minute movie in the visitor theatre. Les had his heart set on a picnic lunch so we packed up the tuna and chips and found a nice spot to enjoy our picnic lunch. Unbeknownst to us we were right next to the side of the mountain where the climbing school is so we were able to get several nice photos of the climbers. That’s as close as I want to get but of course Les had to climb up a rock…well it’s not really a rock, more like a boulder it’s so large…so you can enjoy shots of him too!

We are off tomorrow to Morgan Hill, CA outside of San Jose anticipating the upcoming wedding of Leslie’s cousin Lisa on Sunday. We look forward to seeing all of the family and catching up with everyone!