Our California Xmas

Here is our usual Christmas Eve photo. Christmas tree, presents and a roaring fire. The only thing missing is family.

Up bright and early Christmas morning but no presents until Grammie gets her cooking started for the group dinner in the park later.

Finally we get at the loot. We don't buy each other much anymore so we count on the generosity of our kids to have gifts to open. And they didn't disappoint. 

Grammie and I watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy most nights so a Wii game will allow us to play our own games; great idea. 

Who wouldn't want chocolate covered Macadamia nuts. I'm afraid Grammie is going to want to keep them for good. I might have to sneak a few. And a movie gift card will get us out to some great movies.

Christmas breakfast is always eggs Benedict. That's our treat and we only have it then. Another great day in paradise. I do miss all the wrapping paper piled on the floor and kids running around but I guess we can't import them for a day or two.

At least we get enough stuff that I can spend the morning reading instructions. That's always been my favourite Christmas morning activity. After the presents of course. 

A lot of the Resort patrons head back to their families for Christmas so about 10 of the couples who stayed here decided to have a Christmas supper together. That's why Grammie was cooking so early. Each family was assigned something and the meal was great. It wasn't our family but it was our resort family and turned a quiet day into fun, games and good company. 

Keeping Busy

The Hemet Xmas parade has a local flavour. Not many big floats, lot of small groups, bands and military marchers. 

I thought this was cute.

Sooner or later we would need to drive into L.A. so a day trip to Long Beach seemed a good start. Our RV Park is somewhere between those two hills in the background. That's Lake Elsinore in the valley. 

You certainly expect to see beach volleyball along the California coast. We made it to Long Beach; so far so good. 

I didn't realize that Long Beach was a large oil producing area. At one time the whole beach was covered with oil derricks for miles. They're all gone now but artificial islands have been built in the harbour where oil is still pumped and sent to the refineries by underwater pipes. Certainly looks nice doesn't it. 

This is the Long Beach Pier. I always wanted to see the "Spruce Goose", Howard Hughes giant transport built during the second world war. It was located here for years but went to Oregon a few years ago. An excuse to go back to Oregon I guess. 

Lunch at the pier was great. Sunny and tasty. After leaving, we drove past Disneyland on our way home. Maybe we'll go back for a visit now that we know where it is. L.A. isn't quite as scary now.

Christmas dinner in the park helps get us in the Xmas mood, as well as forcing us to over eat.

Then a few days later, we took a bus tour to Huntington Beach to see Xmas lights. The first stop was more food. A great Italian restaurant and again, more over eating. Do you notice a trend here? 

The difference on this light viewing expedition is we're going to view houses along the canals by boat. That should be fun. 

The homes along the canals in Huntington Beach are mansions and most were beautifully decorated. A lot had yachts parked out front and some of them were decorated as well. 

I took dozens of pictures, but because it was dark, the boats was moving and I didn't have a tripod, most of the pictures were too blurry to keep. But, a few weren't bad.

It was a bit cool on the water but we had been warned to dress warm and enjoyed the evening. These were definitely some of the best decorated homes we've ever seen. A great way to get in the Xmas mood down here where there's no snow or family to help build the spirit.

To help pass the time until Xmas I have been forced to even go golfing. Now, that's not me driving, I have much better form but, if you can enlarge this enough, you'll notice my ball, right at the foot of the flag. No kidding. A few more feet could have been a hole in one. Weird photo, huh. But, that was my best shot of the day and I should have quit there; it went downhill quickly. 

This is my shot. You have to admit I've got style.

It was a lovely course and I enjoyed the views much more than my golfing. If you have to kill time, this is a great way to do it. I'm golfing a couple times a week; you'd think I'd get better. But bad golf down here still beats shoveling snow (That's the snowbird refrain). Hope you have a great Xmas. TTFN.

First Trip into LA

Last year we spent most of our time in the area around our camping resort. This year we figure on expanding our horizons so a trip into LA seems in order. But I'm not driving! We decided a bus tour would be a good way to get our feet wet in LA. Notice the wilderness of Southern California. Also, the wet cool weather is perfect for a museum trip.

Our first stop at the California Science Centre was an exhibit featuring the Endeavor space shuttle. This is a photo of moving the shuttle from the airport to the Science Centre on city streets. It took 60 hours and a number of poles and trees needed to be removed and replaced along the route. The move was done in October 2012, less than a month before we came to see it.

The Endeavor was the last shuttle built and was built to replace the Challenger which exploded on takeoff. Pictures on TV don't give you any idea of how big this is. Its stored in a special climate controlled hanger to protect it. This things been to space a dozen times and glowed fiery red on re-entry, how much protection does it need? The shuttle program has been cancelled and all the shuttles have been donated to different museums.

As part of the system designed to protect the shuttle, the support frame sits on special earthquake proof supports. They are big concave steel dishes which a big ball bearing rides on and the shaking of a quake causes the ball bearing to roll back and forth negating the shock of the tremors. After all, this is California.

These are the engines at the back. A person could stand in the opening of one. They are the most powerful and complicated engines ever built and yet only provided 20% of the power at takeoff. Rocket boosters did the rest. The heat shield tiles are visible below the engines. The bottom ones are white from the heat of re-entry. There are 10's of thousands of the tiles and each one is unique. Now that's a jig saw puzzle!

Other items on display from the shuttle include the space toilet. It uses a vacuum to contain waste but did you know that the astronaut  had to tape a bag to his butt and the vacuum pulled the bag allowing waste to enter. The front tube was for making wee wee (for the guys). Stirrups helped keep you in position. Be thankful for gravity. 

There are other space program displays like this actual capsule used during the Gemini program. You can see the scorch marks on the capsule and heat shield from re-entry.

Time for a lunch break and then a stroll through the lovely rose garden at the museum. 

There are 165 different rose beds, some still blooming, and numerous little nooks around the grounds like this one. Private and peaceful; doesn't sound like LA does it? 

Some of the buildings are old and very ornate. The rose garden was a pleasant surprise and knowing Grammie, you know she would have spent the rest of the day looking at flowers. I had to drag her to the next exhibit.

How often do you get a picture of two beauties at once? The main focus of the bus tour was the Cleopatra Exhibit. Archaeologists have discovered that the port of Alexandria in Egypt was destroyed by a tsunami and started looking in the harbour for relics. They discovered Cleopatras palace and all of the items on display are from harbour digs. Some items like this statue are in great shape, historically I mean. 

All sorts of gold jewelry have been found. 

All sorts of gold leaf and gold flakes were found as well. That mound of gold is about the size of a loaf of bread. Now that's a lot of bread. 

There is some debate about whether this statue is of Cleopatra. The exhibit did a great job of covering Cleopatras life, but for me it was a bit short on things to look at. It was still a great day and we enjoyed it.

There was so much more to the California Science Centre and museum than we had time to see. If there are planes, I'll find them. A whole building on dinosaurs awaits as well as many other displays. Maybe next time.

Yuma to Hemet

Leaving Tucson and heading to Yuma Arizona takes us through typical desert terrain. Miles and miles of miles and miles. Its a great drive though and as you can see the traffic isn't too heavy.

A week in Yuma gave us time to catch up on what our friends are doing. Sort of relaxing like we do. A day in El Godonas Mexico allowed us to get some cheap stuff, but the best part of the day was drinking Coronas in a Mexican cantina.  Real authentic heart burn, none of that prepackaged stuff. On Mexican time, a couple beers and a burrito took a couple of hours. But the day was warm and the beer was cold!

The week went quickly and we're on our way again, this time to Hemet California for our final stop for the winter. Driving through the desert it's rare to see any water and this lake is huge. Its called the Salton Sea. Apparently it was a huge vacation destination a hundred years ago but the water absorbed chemicals from the ground and couldn't be swam in or fished anymore so now its nearly abandoned. Still looks good. 

Now we're getting close to our final stop. This is the mountain valley just north of Palm Springs. Do you think they may get a bit of wind here? Last year when we were down, the wind was so strong it blew over power poles. See that mountain range on the left? We're going to be staying on the other side. It blocks the wind and we see little wind there. Just the way we like it.

Arrived in Hemet with no problems and after a couple of days of setting up, we're ready for the winter. Last year we were parked on the other side of the street but between the trees and Harvey, we got very little sunshine. So this year we're facing the other way. Now we're on the sunny side of the street. I needed to get a sun screen because the sun is low in the sky and the awning did little to block it. Now its just right.

Between the time zone and the change from daylight savings time, its dark by 5 PM. So if I want to barbecue I need to do it in the dark. So I take our excellent $5.00 T bone steak, put on my head light and BBQ in the dark. Where where's a will, there's a way.

Just another beautiful desert sunset at 5:00 PM. Well, that's our trip for this fall. Not as interesting as last fall but I hope you enjoyed some of the postings anyway. We're set up and ready to relax. The postings are going to be less regular now that we're here. We've stayed here last year so not much new to cover but we're planning on going into Los Angeles a few times and may blog about that. So check back once in a while, you never know. TTFN

Odessa to Tucson

Our next leg is from Odessa Texas to Van Horn Texas. Along the northern side of Texas the traffics light and  it makes for a long quiet drive. This truck livened up the drive for a few minutes. Its a large decal on the back doors that looks like the front of a truck. The driver and passenger are both looking back like he backing up down the highway. Really cool. I can imagine it could startle someone who's pulled out to pass and sees this right in front of him.

We're getting used to Texas campgrounds. Lots of dust and dirt but that adds to the ambiance, right.

The KOA in Van Horn is quite rustic in a cowboy sort of way. At one end of the campground is a horse corral and you can buy feed and grain for your horse if you stop there. And you get the most current weather. 

The old hitching post had a few saddles that have been there for awhile. Perhaps payment for staying there.

Sunrises and sunsets are quite beautiful in the desert. When we have a travelling day we're up by 7 AM. So we get to see a few sunrises along the way. 

After Van Horn we head towards Las Cruces New Mexico. But, to get there we have to go through El Paso. It sounds like a sleepy north Texas town, but its not. Along the west side of the town is the Rio Grand river with Mexico on the other side. The east side of town is bordered by a mountain range so the town is 20 miles long and about a mile wide with one main road for all Texas traffic heading west to go through. It's crowded, busy and aggressive. When you finally get through it, it's like being popped out of a champagne bottle.

Where did everyone go? 

Just into New Mexico and you start to see feedlots and dairys. They're huge with thousands of cattle. I don't know how they can milk that many cows.

 A couple of days in Las Cruces gives me time for a bit of repair work on one of the lights.All the road vibration takes its toll on stuff.

Then on the road again, this time to Tucson. This is what most of New Mexico is like as we drive through, flat and mostly wind swept.

As we entered Arizona the terrain changed dramatically. From open windswept flatland to open windswept hills. A welcome change from the boring prairie.

We start to see great orchards of pecan trees and these pistachio trees. After the bare desert these look so green and healthy.

We look forward to our stop in Tucson. We stayed here in 2009 for two months and loved it (check out our blog from then if you're curious). It's a beautiful resort with more amenities than we had time to use. We do miss our friends John and Elaine who introduced us to the resort and showed us the ropes back then. They'll be down later in the year so we missed each other this time. 

This is one of those lovely desert sunsets I mentioned earlier. We're sure enjoying the warm weather and look forward to heading to Yuma and then on to Hemet. Stay tuned.