Pismo Coast Village RV Resort, Pismo Beach, California

Back in Pismo Beach for the week.  Pat and Bill to join us tomorrow for New Year's Eve.  Took pictures of the sunset tonight, and also of the nearly full moon over the park.  Sat out by the fire for a bit, too.

Ventura Beach, California

You won't believe this one.  When I was out walking with Chanti this morning, I took pictures with my camera along the walk (some of which I have already published on this blog).  Later, Jerry walked to the end of the parked RVs and the guy in the last RV at the end stopped him to ask if he saw anything unusual by their RV.  Jerry said "no, why?"  The guy told him that his RV was broken into while they were gone for an hour and the thief stole their laptop and some jewelry.  They called the police. 

Jerry came back to tell my about it.  We checked the pictures I took.  And, as luck would have it, I took a picture of the thief and his car parked in front of their RV.  We printed it out and Jerry walked it down to them.  They couldn't believe it!  We have since given them a disc with the pictures that I took on them.  Now maybe the local police around here will be able to find the thief.

Ventura Beach, California

Found a spot on Ventura Beach, California.  Staying just for tonight.  Going to Pismo Beach tomorrow.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Here is hoping your Christmas was all that you wanted it would be.  We are thankful to be able to celebrate this Christmas season with family in Whittier, California.  Lots of grandchildren make for a fun time.  This will be short.  Will post a few pictures of them and Santa who came to visit.

Tomorrow we will visit old friends in Reseda and then move on to Ventura.  If we are lucky, we will be able to get a spot on the beach again. 

Newport Beach, California

Had the greatest brunch this morning within walking distance from our RV to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary.  Had the best "award winning" sea food chowder ever!   (Jerry's trying to figure out how they made it.)

But, had to make room for the desserts.

Newport Beach, California

Spent Monday night at a Coast to Coast RV Park near Beaumont, California.  Lots of snow covered mountains in that area.  Had time to get the wash done and go in the jacuzzi.

Drove to Newport Beach, California on Tuesday, after first stopping to check out Marathon Coach.  This Dunes RV Park in Newport Beach is hugh.  They also have a great jacuzzi and free wi-fi.

On Wednesday, we took the bikes and went over to Balboa Island.  This is an exclusive and expensive place.  Just looking at the real estate flyers on the window of a real estate office, we were amazed to find very small ordinary houses on small lots located close to their neighbors for sale at $2.5 million.  We parked the bikes and walked up and down both sides of the street.  Quite a quaint little place!

Susan, Raul, Ivan, Samantha and Christian stopped over after Christian's soccer game in Irvine this morning. Was able to give the wrapped Christmas gifts to Sue and make more room for us on the coach.

Tomorrow is our 35th wedding anniversary.  We will be going out for brunch to celebrate.  Imagine, 35 years of marriage to the guy I said "no" to countless times.  Persistence pays off.  It's been a great 35 years.  

Leaving Wednesday for Christmas at Sue's place.

Death Valley, California

Couldn't update this blog for a week because we were isolated in Death Valley, California -- 190 feet below sea level.  No cell towers anywhere.  John and Marijean were with us, but Marijean left early again.  While four storms blanketed the country last week, we had beautiful weather.  It rained very lightly two of the nights.  Otherwise, the daytime temperatures were in the 50s-60s, and the nighttime in the 40s.

I won't tell you that we (once again) went out to eat with John and Marijean at a first class restaurant.  It seems to be their hobby and when we are with them, we join in.  Great food, presented perfectly.

One day we drove nearly a hour to see Scotty's Castle and hear the story behind it.  Very interesting!

On another day, we biked around the desert.

Then, after Marijean left, John took us on a tour up in the hills.

Pictures can't due justice to the geology of the place.  It is something that needs to be experienced.  The following slide shoes gives you some idea of this unique place.

Then, one night, a pack of coyotes kept us awake with their howling.  It is so dark in the Valley that the bright stars and milky way feel as if you can just reach up and touch them.

On the last night we were there, Jerry invited the few people camping in the park over for the camp fire.  One couple had been coming to Death Valley for over 20 years.  They just celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary.  Goes to show -- outdoor living is good living!

Pahrump, Nevada

Spent three days here in Pahrump, Nevada.  Very nice scenery driving over here from Las Vegas on Friday.

John and Marijean are parked right next to us.  You can see a snow capped mountain behind our RVs.

Wow, but the weather is colder here than at any time we were in Alaska.  It got down to 25 degrees last night and 53 degrees during the day -- and very very windy -- which makes it feel even colder.

Marijean came back yesterday.  So, you guessed it -- we went out to eat at the five-star restaurant in the park called the Pahrump Valley Winery and Symphony Restaurant.  Like I didn't get enough halibut in Alaska, I had halibut that was done perfectly with pineapple. 

Tomorrow we all move on to Death Valley, a drive of about 2 hours from here, where we will stay for a week.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is always a fun place for us.  Temperatures were in the 60s during the day and down to 38-40 at night. 

John and Marijean were here with us.  Forgot that every time we are with John and Marijean, it means "eating out."  So on Tuesday night we went to the famous Bobby Flay restaurant in Caesars Palace called "MESA Grill."  Excellent and expensive. 

It was fun walking around Caesars and seeing all the holiday decorations.

Then, on Wednesday night, we went out to one of Emeril Lagasse's restraurants located in the MGM Grand.  Same thing, excellent food, but expensive.  

I tried to stay away from gambling until this afternoon when I spent a few hours in Sam's Town.  Made enough to pay for one of our dinners out the other night.

John joined us for dinner here in the coach tonight as Marijean left to drive back to Long Beach to take care of some business.  She will re-join us on Sunday.

Leaving Las Vegas tomorrow and going to Pahrump, Nevada. 

Thanksgiving in Los Angeles

Stopped on Wednesday (November 25) to see long time friends in LA (Bob and Nancy), their daughter (Gina) and her new baby, Danielle (age 8 months). 

From there we settled in at our daughter's place for Thanksgiving where we had everything normally served on Thanksgiving.  She made a delicious turkey and we all ate more than we should have eaten.

Jerry and Sue carving the turkey.

Raul and Christian jump into the feast.

Grandkids: Ivan, Christian, Samantha, Natalie and Erin

Said our "good byes" (we'll see them again at Christmas) and drove to Las Vegas today.  It was a pleasure driving on a newly paved three lane highway with little traffic in our direction.  But, the traffic out of Las Vegas to LA was bumper-to-bumper (going mostly 35 miles per hour or stopped) as far out as 50-60 miles from Las Vegas.  Guess everyone had the same idea: get back to LA on Saturday to beat the traffic on Sunday. 

The clouds were beautiful though it rained for a portion of the trip.

There was even snow on the mountains out of LA.

We are at our usual RV park in Las Vegas, Sam's Town - voted the best RV park in Las Vegas.

It is 56 degrees out right now and raining slightly.  We will be here a week, with our friends (John and Marijean) joining us with their RV on Monday.

Biking Along Ventura Beach

Biked for an hour along the ocean.  What a beautiful day! 

Our Favorite Beach - Ventura Beach, California

Last night's sunset on Ventura Beach

Here we are again on Ventura Beach, California.  We can see the Anacapa Islands 14 miles off of the coast.  Because it is a holiday week, there were only a few spots left when we arrived yesterday. 

We are parked parallel to the beach so that our large bedroom window (and whole right side of the coach) faces directly to the ocean about 25 feet away from us.  We left the window open and heard the waves crashing on the beach all night.  This morning, before we even got up, we saw from our window a pod of dolphins moving in and out of the water as they traveled up the coast.

Going biking this afternoon along the coast.  Then, we head for LA tomorrow.

Still at Pismo Beach, California

We were scheduled to leave the Pismo Beach Village RV Resort on Friday but were able to extend our stay for three more days.  And, we also moved to a new location in the park.  We leave here tomorrow (Monday). 

It's been a busy week.  On Thursday, we biked into Arroyo Grande, about three miles from the RV park, to attend a 50-Plus Expo at their Community Center.  Arroyo Grande is one of the five cities along the Central Coast (the others are Oceano, Pismo Beach, Grover Beach, and Shell Beach).  They all run into each other.  So, biking in the cities is  not like biking in Alaska.  Got to watch out for cars at all times.

Then on Friday night Pat and Bill joined us for an overnight.  We all spent a relaxing day on Saturday, walking the beach and eating.  They left after dinner last night.  This has only been the third time that we have had guests in our RV overnight.  It seems to work out just fine.