California Adventures

I hope eventually I'll get better about posting and updating the blog.  Life has it's way of distracting you sometimes.

This has been a busy 6 weeks.  Jeff has traveled for work 4 times, we've had Colt's Marine Graduation and a fun trip to Disneyland.   Colt graduated this last Friday and what an incredible site to see.  The Marines really have it down pat when it comes to putting on an event.  The only problem is that it was the hottest day we've had since we've been in Cali and they had to march on asphalt for 1-1/2 hours.  His shoes were almost too hot to touch when they got done.  In the meantime, we melted in the stands but were glad to see the ceremony.  He's now a real Marine.  I've heard people talk about the changes they see in their children when they come back from boot camp and I'd have to say I agree.  Colt spent his time with us saying "yes ma'am", "thank you", "yes please" and folding everything in site. Not to mention he was up at 4 am every morning.  Of course, I was still sleeping and had no intention of getting up that early.  I'll be posting a before and after picture so you can see for yourself exactly how much he changed physically.  He's very handsome in his dress blues. We are extremely proud of him.  To make it thru Marine boot camp is quite an accomplishment.  So many do not make it.  

The day after Graduation we headed to Disneyland and the California Adventure Park.  We spent 13 fun filled hours eating, laughing, riding every roller coaster we could find and just enjoying being together.  I have to say that we enjoyed the California Adventure Park the most.  It seemed to have more rides and at the end of the night they have an incredible laser light, water and music show in the center of the park.  The highlights for us were the California Scream roller coaster and the light show.

But all things come to an end and Sunday evening we took Colt and his girlfriend, Shay, to the airport and said our good-byes.  Sniff! Sniff!  We're going to miss him so much and we're not exactly sure when we'll see him again.  He'll spend 8 days in Colorado visiting friends and family and then head back to report to Camp Pendleton for SOI training for the next couple of months.  After that he'll get his assignment.  All I can say is that I hope and pray it's somewhere easy for us to get to because we definitely want to go visit.

The remainder of the time here in Cali has been spent exploring and relaxing as much as possible.  Oh what a hard life we have living on the road, lol!

Colt - Before

 Colt - After

MCRD - Family Day (the 1st time we got to see him after 13 wks)

Graduation Day - August 30, 2013

Disneyland - August 31, 2013

 Light Show

 Buzz Lightyear Ride (I don't look like I'm having fun but I was having a blast)

After Escondido, CA

After our son Colton's Marine Boot Camp Graduation on August 29th we'll be headed to Austin, TX. We're really looking forward to seeing our daughter, son-in-law and of course, the Grand kids!  Nevaeh is 6 years old and Jadon is 10-1/2 months and has just about mastered walking.  We haven't seen them since September of last year when Jadon was born.  We'll actually get to celebrate his first birthday with him. Sooo looking forward to it!

We'd originally planned to stay through the end of December but looks like we'll be staying through the end of March.  I've gotten a Workamper position at the RV Resort where we stay in Austin.  It's called La Hacienda and it's a great place to stay.  It's near Lake Travis, close to the grand babies and all the hill country fun.  I'll be working about 20 hours a week doing reservations and greeting guests.  It gives me something to do and completely pays for our RV site and electricity.  Traveling for free!  Being in Austin during the winter months is right up our alley.  No snow, mild temperatures and wearing our flip flops as much as possible.

In the meantime we're still enjoying California and are planning a trip to the San Diego Zoo tomorrow.  I'll be posting some pics soon.

Escondido, CA Day to Day Living

Even though I don't have any new photos to post I thought I'd let you know about some of our experiences while we're here in beautiful Cali.  This has to be the most perfect weather.  Warm but not hot days and cool nights.  A girl couldn't ask for anything better!

Anytime we visit a destination for more than a week or so we get to experience more of the day to day life kind of stuff, like grocery shopping, movies, gas stations and restaurants.

The main grocery stores here are Albertsons, Sprouts and of course the usual Walmart and Target are always an option.  I do find the prices here more expensive but you can find much better quality vegetables and fruits.  Both of which we love.   ,

We decided to go to dinner to celebrate our Anniversary.  I use Yelp regularly to find everything.  It's a great resource with location, directions, hours, etc.  I looked up restaurants in the area and found several with great ratings.  We chose Intertwined Bistro which is located in the downtown Main Street area of Escondido on Grand Street.  They serve an American Cuisine with some great things on the menu.  For appetizers we chose Mac n cheese (Jeff) and Crab,Mango & Avocado Tower (Me).  Both were yummy!  Portions were huge and we could have just stopped with the appetizers.  Jeff ordered a flat bread pizza (of course, he's a pizza connoisseur) and I ordered something called a plank.  The plank came in small, medium and large. Thank God I chose the small!  It's a cedar plank with your choice of one meat, two cheeses, bread, olives, three condiments and dried fruit.  We brought home 3 boxes of leftovers. I would highly recommend this place.  Great food, large portions and great ambiance.  You can sit inside or out.  We sat by the window inside.

We also went to see Pacific Rim at the Escondido Movie Theater.  The movie was entertaining, not the best movie I've ever seen but good.  If you keep up with Sons of Anarchy you'll love the main actor.  I have to say that we were in shock when we got our tickets.  We normally would pay about $8 per ticket and they were almost $12 per ticket.  On top of that you add popcorn, drinks and candy and you've got a pretty expensive trip to the movies.  The theater was nice but not any different than any other we've been in.  I think next time we're in California we'll opt for buying a movie at the store and making our own snacks. I guess the frugal side of me comes out!

Gas stations are extremely hard to find and sometimes the lines are long.  A lot of them only take debit or cash.  You have to plan ahead to get gas. Definitely not like Colorado.

Overall it's been great to be here in California, even if it is very expensive and not as conservative as we're used to.  We're looking forward to attending our son Colt's graduation from Marine Boot Camp the end of August.  I'll definitely have pictures to post after that.

Escondido, CA outside of San Diego

I think I'm finally getting caught up on my postings.  whew!!

We're in Escondido, CA, just north of San Diego.  The weather is incredible here and our air conditioners are getting a much needed break.  We're enjoying the outside and taking advantage of the cooler temps.  Highs are in the 80's and lows in the 60's.  Perfect!  I could get used to this!  It's a very pretty place.  We're surrounded by hills, lots of palm trees and blooming flowers. 

We're staying at All Seasons RV Park which is an older park with spaces that are closer together than we had in Las Vegas but the good news is that we can actually enjoy the outdoors.  There's a stream that runs down the middle of the park for fishing, a great pool and spa and a little store in the front.  We'll be here through the first of September.  Ahhhh!

Las Vegas Baby! Experiencing the Strip

We're headed down to the Strip for some fun and luxurious accommodations.  Jeff's employer is having a marketing event at the Wynn Hotel this week.  They've booked us a wonderful room, with an incredible view.  TAZ is staying back at the RV protecting it from unwanted visitors.  Any of you that know our English Bulldog, TAZ, know that that's a joke because 1st of all you'd be lucky to wake him and 2nd of all he'd probably run to the back of the RV and hide, scared to death.  He's a big chicken!  We're running back and forth from the hotel to the RV taking care of him.  In between we're checking out the sites on the Strip, touring around a few of the hotels and enjoying our room. 

Our first stop was The Venetian Hotel.  I've always wanted to see this hotel because I'm so fond of Venice, Italy.  I have to say that it's very nice, especially the Canal, Shops and Gondola ride area.  The ceiling above this area is painted like a blue sky with fluffy white clouds.  If you look up, it actually looks like the clouds are moving.  Amazing! 

Even though we are neither one big gamblers we decided to be big spenders and put $10 in one of the slot machines at The Venetian Casino.  Four pulls later we'd won $175.  We didn't push our luck and promptly cashed in our winnings. 

Of course, I had to go to some of the shops, do some looking and a little buying.  Great shopping here ladies!  If you come to Vegas it's worth checking out.  Jeff really enjoyed this part!  lol

I have to say that after we did some looking around the different hotels I've decided that there's no place like the Wynn.  It's an amazing hotel.  They've put a lot of detail into every inch of this hotel.  From the entry, to the shopping, restaurants, the casino and the gorgeous rooms.  Just want to give you a description of what our room was like.  When we first arrived and opened the door to our room, we turned on the lights and the curtains automatically opened exposing floor to ceiling windows and a perfect view of the Strip.  Beautiful décor.  White leather sitting area, desk, table and chairs, king bed, flat screen TV on the wall and push button controls that control temperature, lighting and the curtains.  The bathroom is all marble, has a large glass shower and huge bath tub.  It even has a TV in the bathroom!  As nice as our RV is this place is huge in comparison.  If you decide to visit Las Vegas I highly recommend staying at the Wynn.  Just gorgeous!

Our last night we decided to go see a show.  We picked Penn & Teller which turned out to be an excellent choice.  We both love comedy and this show was excellent.  It was at the Rio Hotel.  What a fun time!

We checked out on Thursday and headed back to the RV and start to preparing for our next destination.  We're headed to San Diego, CA and we're looking forward to cooler temperatures. 

Our View

 

 

The Wynn - I should have gotten more pics

The Venetian Hotel

 

 

 

Hoover Dam

I've gotten really behind on my postings due to a wonderful computer virus.  I'll be adding things over the next few days to get you up to date on where we've been and where we are now. 
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Jeff's back safe and sound from cool San Francisco with temperatures in the 60's and 70's.  Of course he had to rub it in.  This week in Las Vegas has been hot as usual but we actually got a few rain showers which were followed up with steam and more heat.  Thank God for air conditioning!

It's Saturday and we're headed to Hoover Dam.  It is an amazing place!  To think that the workers who built this place worked in this heat, hanging off the side of the canyon, working 7 days a week and going home to no a/c.  Incredible!  The dam was built starting in 1931 and completed 5 years later in 1936 ahead of schedule.  It was originally called the Boulder Dam and later renamed the Hoover Dam after President Hebert Hoover.  The Dam was built to supply water to Nevada, Arizona and part of California.  An amazing amount of concrete was poured to create this Dam. We took a tour of the Power Plant and made our way around the outside of the dam and visitors center.
We took some great pictures and thought we'd share them with all of you.

 

 

Las Vegas, NV

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile.  We've been busy staying cool here in hot Las Vegas.  When we arrived it was 118 degrees and our poor air conditioners were struggling to keep up.  We concluded pretty fast that we were going to have to buy some sun visors for some of the windows to block out some of the heat.  We rushed off to the nearest Camping World and found a large one for our front windshield.  Even though we have the black out shades on the exterior of the windshield it just wasn't enough.  Thank goodness it helped and we've been a lot more comfortable since.  Of course the temperatures have gotten a little lower (110) over the last week and a half and today is actually rainy and cloudy.

I hope everyone had a great 4th!  We headed down to the Las Vegas Strip to check out the festivities. Our plan was to drive down the strip and then head back the other direction to find parking so we could get out and enjoy the fireworks display near Caesars Place.  Well that didn't exactly work.  After turning around we got stuck in a massive traffic jam.  I've never seen anything like it.  Cars, taxi's and limos, bumper to bumper, and people everywhere.  We never made it to a parking garage and watched the fireworks from the car.  While sitting in the traffic we discovered that our gas gauge was on empty.  We had visions of our car running out of gas right in the middle of the strip, all the cars and people.  Thank goodness we were able to eventually get out of the traffic and found the nearest gas station.  After filling up the gas tank it was time to fill our tummy's.  We found a great little diner called "Blueberry Hill".  Great breakfast for me and Mexican for Jeff.  Both were excellent. 

Jeff will be headed to San Francisco this week for work.  I'll stay behind to hold down the RV and take care of Taz.  After he gets back we're planning to take in a show when the Vegas Strip is a little less congested.  I'll keep you posted.

Antelope Island - Last Day

Today is our last day at Antelope Island.  It's very hot today but I guess it's getting us prepared for Las Vegas.  We drove around the island yesterday.  Visited the oldest house in Utah, passed some buffalo and antelopes and beautiful views.  A wonderful day which was completed with a beautiful sunset.  I've posted some of the pictures I took.  Enjoy!

Antelope Island - Exploring the beach

Today we decided to explore the beach area.  Very interesting but not like normal beaches.  First of all, Salt Lake is extremely salty, the beach sand is actually dirt covered by layers of salt and unfortunately lots of gnats.  Thank goodness the gnats don't bit they're just annoying.  The water is very clear but also very shallow in the area we're in.  We were able to walk out quite a ways without getting soaked and at the same time stay cool.  Taz loved it and actually started floating at one point which confused him to no end.  The salt water makes you very buoyant.  He loved falling his daddy around in the water and trying to keep from floating.  He decided that drinking salt water wasn't very good.  

Antelope Island, UT June 24-28, 2013

We arrived yesterday at Antelope Island.  Coming onto the island you go over a 7 mile causeway with views of Salt Lake and surrounding mountains.  The smell of salt air is awesome.  We parked at Bridger Bay Campground and our spot is right on the beach with incredible views.  Of course, I took lots of pictures. 

Jeff's birthday is today so we drove into Ogden, UT to have lunch.  Of course, Mexican!  This afternoon we walked out on the beach and went wading in the water.  Very, very salty but clear!  No matter how far we walked out the water never got over mid calf.  Taz loved it!

We also decided today to make a change in our plans.  Our original plan was to head to San Francisco and stay there until we headed south to San Diego for Colt's graduation.  Staying in San Francisco is not only super expensive and it's hard to find a good place unless you book way ahead.  Our only option was not in a good area of town and we just weren't comfortable with that.  So we've decided to head south from here and go to Las Vegas.  Yes, Las Vegas in July and August and we're really not crazy.  A much nicer RV Resort, less expensive and it will put us closer to where we need to be in San Diego the end of August. 

Again, the beauty of living full-time in an RV.  You can live where ever you want, whenever you want.  Even if it's 120 degrees.