Temecula, California

Spent a week in Long Beach, California, but didn't spent too much time in the coach. Lots of activities kept us busy. 

Long Beach, California (Weather that day was

a bit windy, but still beautiful.)

We arrived on Wednesday, Dec. 21.  On Thursday we met with one of Jerry's former employees from one of his businesses in the 90s, Pete, and his wife, Jamie, and their cute, fun-loving 18-month old, Jimmy. 

Jerry with Jamie, Jimmy and Pete

On Friday, I spent the day with family while Jerry ran a few errands. He met us at Shan's house where we all went to see granddaughter, Samantha, sing at the Celebrity Centre in Hollywood. It was quite exciting to see her perform in front of an audience.

Samantha, age 12, singing at the Celebrity Centre in Hollywood, California

The only day we had without any activity was the day of Christmas Eve. Jerry and I spent a very nice evening watching the Morman Tabernacle Choir Christmas Performance on television. 

What a production! 

The family Christmas celebration was on Sunday. Sorry, folks, but this is the one or two times of the year that we post pictures of humans instead of locations and sites that we are visiting. 

How many cooks does it take to de-vein shrimp?

(Raul, Susan, Shannon, and Jerry)

Jerry's deviled eggs with Shannon's hand

Grandchildren (James, Christian, and Natalie in front; 

Brenna, Samantha and Sara in back) 

Granddaughter, Erin and Natalie (Erin left for Florida 

to spend the rest of her holiday with her mother's family)

The following day, we met with John and Christian for lunch at the Sage Restaurant in Newport Beach. They were also married in December --  4 days and three years after us!

Jerry, me, Christine and John at Sage Restaurant where the food was delicious!

On Tuesday, we had three different events scheduled. First, I attended the Hughes Human Resources get-together. This group meets every December and consists of former Hughes Electronics employees (most are retired) and current DirecTv employees (the only direct surviving entity of the former Hughes Aircraft Company).

Would you believe that her real name is Eddie Murphy?

Dolly, who lives in Northern California, is responsible 

for pulling off this event each year.

Warren and Lidia (my former co-workers) -- both 

still working in the Law Department at DirecTv 

This group picture was taken after a number of the attendees left.

Next event, same day, was to visit with Jerry's former photography 

teacher on the strand in Manhattan Beach, California.

John (former photography teacher) and Jerry

Last event for that day was a dinner party at Brad's house. Brad is someone with whom Jerry has stayed in touch with through the years. At one time, Brad worked with Jerry. Heidi is his girl friend who is a flight attendant from Germany. And Don is someone we just met, but has known Brad since they were 15 years old. A fun evening with good food!

Heidi, Brad, Jerry, Mary and Don

We arrived yesterday at the Pechanga RV Resort. Last night John and Marijean (who live here in Temecula) came over for dinner on the coach. Our next big event is a dinner party for 12 at John and Marijean's house on New Year's Eve. Jerry and John will be doing the cooking and 

plan to shop for the food tomorrow. 

We wish everyone a safe and happy New Year's Eve!

  

Merry Christmas!

We are spending three days on the beach in Ventura, California. The place is dead. Out of 130 parking spots, only 9 were filled when we arrived on Sunday.

Perfect!

Beautiful day!

Only thing that somewhat dampened the mood was the throbbing pain each of us had to experience after our teeth implants last Thursday. But, we called the dentist and he ordered a stronger paid killer and antibiotics for me. So we are good to go.

Jerry had a fire while we watched the sun go down. We can't think 

of a better way to celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary.

It doesn't get any better.

Taken this morning from the beach.

Chanti had fun chasing the birds.

One more picture of the sunset.

We leave tomorrow for Long Beach where we will be for a week while we catch up with family and friends. Seems as if every day is taken up with commitments. We are looking forward to seeing everyone. 

Again, we wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season.

Back in Oceano, California

We're back in Oceano! But just for this week. It's great to be in 4G Verizon coverage again. I didn't update the blog last week because of the poor internet reception. That is the trade off. We were isolated in the Santa Barbara mountains where there is nothing but peace and quiet. No lights, no sounds (other than an occasional airplane overhead), no people to speak of. Just nature, horses, hiking trails and a great jacuzzi.

We had to come back to civilization because we were scheduled to see the dentist this week. Don't know if you remember, but we both are having dental implants. This was on Thursday. Jerry didn't need sutures, but I did because my implant is right in the front of my mouth. We survived this round. We also ran up to Cambria this week and picked up our mail, and got a lot of errands accomplished in Cambria, San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles.

So, tomorrow we start heading towards Los Angeles to be with the kids for Christmas. But, before we get there, we will spend a few days on the beach in Ventura, again. I will post pictures of that stay because it is one of our favorite places. And, being within 20-30 feet from the ocean, how can one not take great pictures of the sun going down over the ocean?

Didn't take any pictures of the dunes in Oceano this time. But, here are a couple of pictures of our little Christmas tree in the coach. It sits at the front window.

With Christmas music playing, this works.

Close up of out tree. There are fiber optic strands 

that make the tree change colors at night,

Well -- you get the pictures.

Happy Holidays to the everyone!

Rancho Oso Guest Ranch & Stables in Santa Barbara County

Been here at the Rancho Oso Guest Ranch & Stables since Monday now. This is really a nice place for horse lovers. You can bring your horse and camp out. They have a separate fenced stable for your horse right next to your spot. So there are lots of horse trails through the hills.

But, it is also an RV park and is part of the Resorts of Distinction group of parks. There are at least six step levels to park and we were given the opportunity to choose the spot of our choice. Normally, we would always select a high spot looking over the whole park. This time, we decided to take one on the lowest level right next to a cabin that they also rent out. No one is renting the cabin so we are pretty secluded.

Here we are parked on the lowest level next to an empty cabin.

Thank God we were parked there. The high winds that the LA area experienced this week also came through our area on Wednesday night. Chanti did her usually fear thing again and we ended having to give her the homeopathic anti-anxiety drops twice during the night. The winds were so powerful, overturning semi-trucks in LA and tearing out countless trees and telephone poles. We could hear the wind and our coach rocked a bit. But it was nothing like it could have been had not that cabin been in the way protecting us. God was definitely with us when we selected that spot.

We took a long walk on one of their many hiking trails on Wednesday. Took a few pictures along the way.

Saddles on one of the coral fences.

One of the horse corals with RV storage in the background.

There are even covered wagons to rent.

Another view of the covered wagons.

We also took a day trip into Solvang and Buelton. The hills are so beautiful around here.

Stopped along the way to take a picture of 

Cachuma Lake with my cell phone camera.

And of the Cachuma dam.

In case you are wondering, we do not have very good cell coverage or internet connection in this isolated area. So today, we drove into Santa Barbara (about 15 miles from the RV park) to check our emails and update the blog. It is Friday afternoon and we are at Starbucks. This town is so full of people. We are not used to that. 

Jerry got a hold of a classmate of his from high school (Dawn) and she happened to be shopping right next door to Starbucks. He is visiting with her while I finish this blog. 

Have a great weekend, everyone!