San Jose to Lake Havasu, CA February 10 – March 4, 2016
I must warn you that this post may
damage your pancreas…diabetes is imminent!
We spent 2 weekends with our sweet granddaughter (oh, yeah, and her
parents and Joy) and the first half of this blog is all about our time with
her. Beware!!!
We spent 12 days parked at Coyote
Valley RV Park north of Morgan Hill, CA, which is about 20” from our older
daughter and her husband, Jill and Bob’s house. When we weren't with our family, we enjoyed Coyote Valley Trail. One morning we found these deer in the meadow.
Bob had gone surfing in Santa Cruz
early Saturday morning so we all drove to the beach to join him for a picnic
lunch. Lauren loved the swings and slides
and running around the playground, so we ran around the park, watching her
play. She’s quite agile for a 3 year
old, I think! Of course I might be
slightly prejudiced.
She thought it was
great fun running up and down these steps and quite stylishly dressed, I might add.
Jill had bought these boots a couple of months ago for Lauren to wear to
the snow and she loved them…pink, hearts, Velcro closure! What’s not to love!
Sunday we had a late breakfast at Jill
and Bob’s and then it was off to Campbell to go to the Farmer’s Market. This one was nothing like the one we went to
Visalia and had all sorts of vendors selling everything from jewelry (I got a
lovely pair of earrings!) to free range eggs.
Of course, there was a park close by so we had to check out a new set of
slides and swings.
Our family doesn't get together very often. It was so good to have our daughters together for a few moments! Bob and Lauren with us, too, made for a wonderful weekend. After a busy family few days, we took
Joy to the San Jose airport to return to Portland on Sunday evening. We hope to be together again in Illinois in
the fall. After we dropped Joy off, we
returned to the bus to rest from our fun-filled weekend.
Monday, President’s Day, both and Jill
and Bob worked, but Lauren’s day care was closed to we stayed with Lauren all
day. Yay! We pulled weeds, explored all her sticker
books and colored.
Lauren posed in this day’s outfit of
choice, plus a hair-do that Grandma created.
This child certainly has a fashion sense!! You’ll notice her temporary “Frozen”
(characters from the Disney movie) tattoos on her arms. She’s got two favorite buddies all secured in
the stroller…Monkey and Little Baby.
Everyone is ready to pull weeds in the front yard.
Lauren was just waking up from a nap. She was holding her two “Frozen” dolls on her
lap…Elsa and Anna, plus monkey. Covering
all of them is the blanket I had made for Sleepy Baby. (I am making the quantum assumption that you know about "Frozen".) My great niece, Lily, is a big fan of "Frozen" but is about a year older than Lauren, so I've decided this Disney infatuation of the latest character is a developmental stage for little girls.
Tuesday was a catch up day on the bus
and dinner with Kathy and Larry Belikoff, a couple who we’d met last year here
in Coyote Valley RV Resort. They were full-timers as well and had lots of wonderful recommendations and
resources to share. They were definitely
foot-loose and fancy free, even though Larry still worked full time, using his
computer and the Internet. They were
originally from Pennsylvania, doctored in Stanford, California, were residents
of South Dakota, had bought their bus in Georgia, and owned a lot in
Alabama! Wow! We love meeting folks like this! They were also in a Tiffin Allegro Bus
although theirs was much larger. We hope
to see them again in Texas.
Wednesday and Thursday, 2/17 and 2/18,
we went to see Beth in Turlock. We
didn’t stop to see her on our way north last fall, since we were trying to beat
a storm in the Siskiyou’s. She had
redone her kitchen, turned a garden shed into a sewing/quilting shed in the
back yard, and was in the process of re-landscaping her front yard. She’s a busy lady! Jerry was ready for Beth’s “honey-do”
projects, but she didn’t have many.
Part of Friday we went to the park once again. Anything to keep our little lady happy! Lauren loved to swing and the higher
the better! She liked to swing to swing
so high that she almost stopped this Grandma’s heart.
We had to take her two of her favorite
dolls to the park in the stroller…monkey and Little Baby. She was very determined to push the stroller
all four blocks, stopping once or twice to make sure their blankets were
securely tucked. On the way home, she
held Grandpa’s hand for awhile Sweet
photo!
After a nap,
and a new outfit, it was time to give Little Baby a bottle, while Lauren
watched a little bit of the movie “Frozen”. She rocked in the “family” rocker, the little chair that was purchased by Lauren's great-great-grandmother and passed down through the Woodall family. She was finally tall enough to make it it all
work well. By evening we were exhausted
again! Running after a toddler all day
was tough work.
Saturday and Sunday Bob was off to a
company skiing weekend in Lake Tahoe, so Jill had found tickets for her,
Lauren, Jerry and me to go to “Disney On Ice Presents Frozen” in downtown San
Jose. Lauren was beyond excited and, of
course, wore her Anna costume from Halloween. We all enjoyed it immensely and it probably helped that at this point we
had seen the movie a few times and knew the story.
Bob surprised us by coming home
Saturday evening, so he was able to join us on Sunday. We went to Happy Hollow children’s park in
south San Jose. Lauren had been here
before and made a beeline to her favorite rides. The park is designed for kids up to about age
10…perfect for her.
We went to lunch in Morgan Hill and
then the Kluck’s came to see the bus. By
this time it was late afternoon and everyone was winding down so we said
good-bye. We won’t see them again until
June when we will meet in Visalia.
Monday, February 22, we were off to Visalia. We had recently learned that many Elks Clubs
have RV parking for members and guests so that’s where we put Abe, thanks to
Visalia friends who are Elks members. We
were in the back of a parking lot, but had power and water hook-ups and were
right in the middle of town. Location,
location, location!
Tuesday afternoon we went for a drive
into the Sierra Nevada foothills to enjo
It was delightful to see the
green hillsides covered with lush grass and fields full of fiddleneck.
Friday, February 26, we
drove to Earp, CA, on the Colorado River below Lake Havasu City…a big day of
420 miles for us! Visalia friends, Mike
and Sandy Albaugh were members of Emerald Cove RV Resort, a huge snowbird park
on the west bank of the Colorado River, and invited us to spend a few days with
them there. Another new experience! Mike and Sandy had been here many times
before and were ready to play tour guides.
Our first stop was the Poston Memorial Monument, south of Poston,
AZ. This memorial marked the site of a
war relocation camp where over 17,000 Japanese Americans were interned during
WWII. Poston was built on the Colorado
River Indian Reservation, over the
objections of the Tribal Council, who refused to be a part of doing to others
what had been done to their tribe. Not
much was left of the buildings and town has grown up over the site.
Sunday morning, after
several Sundays of sleeping in, we were off to Messiah Lutheran Church, in
Parker, AZ, with Mike and Sandy. They
had been here many times before and knew this little congregation to be warm
and welcoming. For being first time
attendees we received a coffee cup and an information packet…nice! We were surprised to see that the sanctuary
was almost full. This congregation,
openly invites and welcomes the snowbirds from the RV parks in the area to come
for worship. What a great idea.
The "Nellie E
Saloon" (DESERT BAR) is situated in the Buckskin Mountains, in Parker,
Arizona, on land that was an old mining camp. The camp was located on the
portion of land that is now the parking lot. When Ken acquired the land in
1975, there was nothing left of the old mining camp. With the land and a liquor
license from an old business on leased river land, the owner decided to give
the "bar in the desert" idea a try.
On our return to the RV
park, we drove across Parker Dam, which created Lake Havasu, around and read
the signs. Built between 1934 and 1938, it extended 235 feet below the
riverbed, making it the deepest dam in the world. The building of this dam was quite
controversial and to this day Arizona would like to renegotiate the terms of
the water and power alotment agreements!
It primarily distributes water to Southern California.
Tuesday, March 1, we were
off to do some more exploring. This time
we went to Oatman, AZ, an “authentic western ghost town and gold mining camp”
on the old Route 66. Famous for its
street-wandering burros it draws lots of tourists, us included. We had lunch in the old hotel, explored the
shops, and all agreed this was a great place NOT to live! The burro in the photo was licking the rocks
in the old ore cart.
In all our travels and
explorations we had driven through the Sonoran Desert several times. Wildflowers were in abundance as well as
several cactus varieties. We saw lots
saguaro cacti, which are unique to this area.
I read somewhere these cacti grow 1” year!
We also saw blooming prickly pear cactus,
barrel cactus, and teddy bear cholla.
Blooming sand verbena
While we were in Emerald
Cove, the days were quite warm for February…low 90’s a couple of days, but, of
course it’s a dry heat! The evenings
were beautiful with lows into the high 50’s.
We had little light pollution and a new moon, so the stars were
glorious! Since Mike and Sandy’s RV site
was right on the beach of the Colorado River and it was lovely to sit outside
to listen to the river flow by as we talked and talked.
Join me next time for more
Arizona adventures!
