Hiking, Hiking, Hiking

We have done a lot of walking the past two days. I told you about Ryan Mtn. hike, then on Saturday morning we took the Lost Horse Mine hike which was a 6.2 mile loop over and around a small mountain. Lost Horse mine got its name when a man who was looking for a lost horse came across the mine and bought it. It was a very pretty hike and no body else was on the trail once we left the mine and stamp mill. We skirted the back of the mountain and then started down thru a small canyon. As we were making our way thru the rocks, I heard a noise right behind me, turned around to see what it was and screamed! It was another person almost on top of me! This caused John to turn and he, too, yelled out! Then we laughed. A young man was running the trail and came up on us very quietly and fast! He apologized and ran on. We saw him again in the parking lot where he was waiting for his buddies and playing a guitar. He was from New Hampshire and headed to the Naval Station in the Great Lakes for training camp. Nice kid! After lunch at Keyes View (overlooking Palm Springs) we hung out at the campground around a nice warm fire.

Sunday found us exploring several areas of the park -- the Desert Queen Mine (1 mile walk), Wall Street stamping mill (one of the riches gold producers ever -- 2 mile walk), Barker Dam (1 mile walk), Hidden Valley (1 mile loop), Ryan Ranch (1 mile walk) and Arch Rock (.3 mile walk). Around Hidden Valley there were a lot of rock climbers. This area is popular for training and recreational climbing. Many learn to climb here before tackling El Capitan in Yosemite N.P. All were easy walks but wore us out. The day was cool and very windy but with the sunshine it was comfortable. But the evening was miserable! The high winds and temperature in the low 40's drove us inside the RV all night.

Today we drove the short distance to Catherdral City where we will park while John goes skiing this weekend. Laundry, grocery shopping and visiting our friends rounded out the day.

Joshua Tree National Park

We are happy to be out of Quartzsite. We drove to 2 different dump stations with over 1 hour waits before finding one that had only a 15 min. wait to dump and fill the water tank. One line had 16 RV's waiting for 2 dump stations!

We found a nice spot in the Belle Campground at Joshua Tree N.P. A desert trail goes right past the campground that is 16 miles long -- I don't think we'll walk that far! We built a roaring fire after supper and then as we were enjoying it, we saw 4 bright yellow lights hanging on the northern horizon! They didn't move up or down and they didn't get any closer. We could hear no noise from that direction. Then, one by one, they blinked out. UFOs!!! Maybe or maybe something from the military base north of here!

Today, we hiked up Ryan Mountain. The summit is at 5,500 ft but I'm not sure where we started -- maybe around 3,000 ft. It was a moderately strenuous climb with an awesome view of the valleys surrounding us. We picnicked at Hidden Valley then drove a 4-wheel road across Pleasant Valley and partially into the Little San Bernardino Mountains. This area is full of Joshua Trees which are actually Yucca trees, a member of the agave family. They grow straight until it blooms and then it grows a branch where the bloom was located. Scientist think that the tree only blooms after the tip has been frozen.

The night sky is so full of stars that is almost takes your breath away. I found the big dipper and Orion's belt but that is all I know of constellations. We looked at the sky through binoculars and saw even more stars than can be seen with the naked eye! God has created a most wondrous universe!

Enough of Quartzsite

Last night the hippies gave us quite a show even though we watched it from a distance. One of the guys plays with fire! He twirled a fire baton for over half an hour and even at one point blew fire from his mouth (or at least that is what it looked like from a distance!). They had a very rowdy evening.

Today we listened to a presentation by Fantasy Tours about their caravan into the Copper Canyon region of Mexico. They do not think there is any danger in that region from drug dealers and are very confident that it will be a safe trip. So we signed up to go. We leave Las Cruces, NM on March 8 and return on March 22. That gives us 36 hours to drive to Austin for a convention. Our winter is now almost all full. We have three weeks from mid Feb. with nothing planned. Tomorrow we will pull out and head to Joshua Tree National Park.

Quartzsite, AZ

This place is crazy! There are so many people and they are all old like us (mostly older!) and they all drive RV's. We rode our bikes past all the vendors, crossed over I-10 and then thru town before coming back. The gas stations are lined up, the grocery stores have long lines, the Post Office is crazy, and all the RV dealers have "The Sale of the Century!" Oh, yeah, don't forget The Yacht Club Bar and Grill! (no boats!?)

The big white 'mid-way' tent is full of vendors and thousands of people. We poked along at a crawl checking out the booths but not really stopping at any of them. Our friends who have been to the Missouri State Fair will know the feeling. We had a terrible fried lunch and then visited the vendors not under the tent and there are even more of them. There are gems, dresses, tools, kitchen gadgets, geodes, carvings, discounted stuff, leather purses, gadgets, goo-gaws and junk! And that is only along one aisle! There must be 200-300 booths, tents and backs of cars. The guy who fixed our window shade was working out of his pickup truck.

Thankfully the weather is fair -- starts out at about 40 warms up to 70 and then by supper its 60 and cooling fast. We bought some wood and have built a fire every night. It is beautiful. We moved to a different site so don't have all the traffic. Our neighbors down the road are hippies singing songs and playing the bongos. The sky is full of stars, more than you have ever seen. Cocktails at 5 to watch the sun set around 6 and then supper by the firelight. Aaahhh.

Prepping for Quartzsite

Saturday was spent doing laundry, washing the Jeep, and grocery shopping all to get ready to head for Quartzsite on Sunday. We also filled as many extra jugs and jars as we could with water. Then on Saturday night we had dinner with our friends at The Jackalope Ranch -- good food. Is a jackalope real?? Then we attended a Bonnie Raitt concert.

Sunday we got going pretty early and arrived in Quartzsite around noon. The desert for 3-5 miles around this small town is dotted with thousands of RV's. We unhitched the Jeep so we could easily scout out a camping spot. We opted to stay in the Long-Term Visitor Area which costs money but we will have access to water and a dump station at no extra cost. We have a nice spot but it seems to be on a major thoroughfare, with cars kicking up LOTS of dust. We may move tomorrow. The good thing is we are just a short one mile bike ride through the desert to all the activity in town.

Mountain Climbing

The campground and lake abut some low mountains so today we hiked them. My legs are still stiff! Very narrow trails and lots of loose gravel define this trail. But we did enjoy the exercise. Now we are taking it easy, getting a sunburn and enjoying the rest of the day with nothing to do. I'm planning a fancy dinner for us tonight! The picture shows the lake where we are camped. If you look look close you can see some RVs, one of them is ours.

Busy, Busy

We can't seem to get going in the mornings until 10 even though the alarm goes off at 6:30 AM. Thursday we got on our bikes and rode into Old Town La Quinta -- about a 10 mile ride one way. It's not a hard ride - no hills but it is along a busy road. Old Town is just a small shopping district where we found a nice deli for lunch. After we got home, we turned around and drove to our friends RV park and then had dinner at a great restaurant called 'Zin - An American Bistro'. Their mushroom soup is to die for!!! Then we went to the "Follies" This is a song and dance production that is like a Las Vegas Style show only all the participants are over the age of 58, some even in their 80's!! We had a really good time -- even John!

Thursday dawned windy so we had to change golf courses to one in the valley where the wind is not as strong. It turned into a nice day and most of us enjoyed our game. Then for the evening we spent a couple of hours strolling thru the street fair in down town Palm Springs, stopping to shop, eat, and listen to street musicians. I got some really sweet strawberries and a HUGE $1 head of lettuce.

Palm Springs

On Sunday we decided to take advantage of the driving range on the 9-hole golf course and hit a couple of buckets of balls before we pulled up camp and moved. During one walk around the resort we saw that someone named Lindstrom also was staying here and during a visit with the golf pro I found out that he was a minister who led services at the resort. So as we were leaving the driving range I ran into the minister and asked if he was Rev. Lindstrom. When I told him our name was Lindstrom, you would have thought we were long lost cousins! Just kidding but we did have an interesting conversation. His parents, as well as John's grandparents were from Rockford, IL. Lots of coincidences but no relation.

We moved down to Lake Cahuilla County Park and then drove back to our friend's RV resort in Cathedral City for supper. Had a great evening.

Monday we went back to Cathedral City (a 45 min. drive) and a friend of our friend gave us haircuts. Then we went for a hike in Palm Canyon and had supper at "Babe's", a restaurant that has everything pig to eat -- just what John loves!

Tuesday (today) we hiked up the hills near the campground and then played golf at Desert Dunes C.C. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! Perfect temp. of 83°, little wind and clear blue skies! We thoroughly enjoyed the whole day.

Driving Lesson Continued

Day two of my driving lesson was intense! We reviewed making turns before heading out to the freeway. We also reviewed how to slow down on a steep downhill grade and I learned how downshifts hold the speed down. We practiced getting off and on the interstate, pulling into a rest area and a gas station. I also learned how to negotiate a large dip in the road so that we don't scrape the hitch or bumper. After going back up the steep grade we headed to an empty lot and I learned 4 different ways to back the RV into a camping area. This involved distance, timing and proper use of the mirrors. John and I will need to coordinate hand signals but I actually caught on fairly well. At least the instructor thought so. In fact, he thought I did so well, that he set up a slalom course. Going forward I went around 4 cones. It took a few times to get the cones spaced far enough apart so that I didn't smash one! Ha! THEN, I negotiated the same course going BACKWARD! The only way to do that is by using the mirrors. That was hard work! But I did it! We then hitched the Jeep to the RV and I practiced driving while towing.

After I got my certificate, John drove us down to Desert Hot Springs where we'll spend two nights before moving on. The RV park is more of a resort than campground. They have a 9 hole golf course, a pool and two spas, tennis courts and all kinds of activities. Our golf games have deteriorated in the 3 months since we last played (that's a nice way of saying we sucked!). But we did relax in the hot tub afterward and that was good for the aching muscles.

RV Driving Lessons

Yesterday we left Dana Point on a day when the temps were finally going to be in the 70's. We drove up to Yucca Valley which is just north of Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park. It is a small town built into the side of a mountain at about 3800 feet. So it is high desert, not warm and windy although the weather is supposed to improve by the weekend. We explored the area and did some grocery shopping before supper. It got so cold during the night that our water hose froze!

Today is driving day. My instructor is a veteran truck driver so he really knows his stuff. Jerry patiently told me how to make a correct turn at corners using my mirrors to keep off the curbs (right turns) and crowding the white/center lines for left turns. More right turns than left as that is more of a blind turn. I guess I must drive too fast as a consistent instruction was "Slow Down!" We also practiced driving up a curvy mountain road and down then up a steep grade. The last thing we did was practice backing up into a parking space. John always makes that look so easy, but its NOT! Tomorrow we practice freeway driving!

Biking Along the Coast

When you look for us on the map, you will find we are near San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, and Laguna Niguel, all of which we reached on our bicycles. Yesterday morning we took off south along the beach on a bicycle trail. We went about 6.5 miles to San Clemente Pier, stopping to watch dolphins cruising just off shore. The day was sunny but not real warm. We saw lots of surfer's as this is one of the best spots in the area. Using the binoculars, we were able to see Richard Nixon's western White House (well, sort of). Then yesterday evening we had supper with friends whom we jeeped with this past summer at their house. A wonderful evening.

Today we road our bikes inland to San Juan Capistrano Mission, built in 1776 by Father Junipero Serra. This is the 7th in a chain of 21 missions. Most of the rooms and buildings in the mission were built around a a central plaza, the industrial areas on the outside. The had gardens, vats for dying wool,for making wine, and for tanning hides. They made their own tallow used in soap, tanning, and candles. A small chapel is still used every morning for mass. The Great Stone Church was begun in 1797 and took 9 years to construct. Then on Dec. 8, 1812 an earthquake struck during morning mass toppling all 7 domes and killing 42 people. It was never rebuilt.

We left the mission after lunch and went in search of fresh fish for supper. This took us into Laguna Niguel, up a very LONG and HIGH HILL!! The grocery produced no fresh fish so we coasted down hill to the Dana Point Marina and got some salmon steaks at the fish market. YUMMY! We rode about 12 miles today. We had appetizers while basking in a glorious red sunset. A great ending to a very nice day.

Los Angeles

I don't know what we would do without a GPS -- probably get lost or just not go anywhere! We left Friday morning to drive to our friends home in Lake Forest, CA near Irvine. We had to negotiate several freeways. Our GPS was invaluable as it shows us which lane we need to be in to make the transition from one freeway to the next. We also discovered that Friday is a light travel days on LA freeways so we did not have to contend with stop & go traffic - just a lot of cars!

We had a nice visit with our friends and reluctantly left after the Chief's football game -- darn shame they lost! It was a very short drive to Dana Point, CA to the Doheny State Park. We are right on the beach again. We rode our bikes to Dana Point to watch the sun set into the . . . clouds! (Thought I was going to say ocean, didn't you?) The weather prediction is sunny and warmer this whole week -- finally!

Los Olivos, CA

We explored more of the Santa Ynez Valley by going to Los Olivos. It is a quaint, small village with over 20 tasting rooms from various wineries in the area. There were also some art galleries, small cafe's, miscellaneous shops and two olive oil tasting rooms. We tried one of the olive oil tasting and found the oils to have levels of green, earthy tastes with hints of pepper. We also tasted Balsamic vinegars and found one with hints of fig to our liking. We liked the wines from Alexander & Wayne which is Fess Parker's son's winery and purchased a couple more bottles. Don't know where we will store them unless we finish off a couple of wines we brought from home. The picture is Solvang which we drove through on our way to Los Olivos.

The weather today was much warmer than it has been the last few days -- 66° but that was only when the sun was shining thru the clouds. We had an enjoyable walk along the beach late afternoon then John showed off his woodsman skills by building a nice fire.

Off-Roading In Wine Country

The road leading into the Refugio State Park also goes the other direction toward Solvang. On the map it looks like it might be a shortcut but boy is that ever wrong! A sign at the beginning of the road states that the road is closed 7 miles up and for local traffic only. John and I looked at each other, smiled and said "Let's go!" It was a good thing we were in the Jeep! The narrow and winding road went up the canyon thru some pasture land and lots of forest. We passed a ranch where you could rent cabins, ride horses and attend the theatre. As we climbed further up the scenery behind us became more interesting. We were better able to see the ocean and the Channel Islands off shore. No vineyards on this side of the 'mountain'. There are several fairly large houses, ranches and even an RV off this road and then at the top the sign that says the road is closed. Now comes the fun part! It seems like it takes longer going down because the road is so narrow, winding, and unpaved. There is evidence of mud and rock slides but the way is open. Some curves are so narrow and wet that we feel a regular car would have trouble getting around them and a bubbling brook follows us down most of the way. There are no homes in evidence until we near the bottom. We emerge into civilization after about 15 miles and 1-1/4 hours of travel. Who knew we would be off-roading in wine country! We later learned from a local that we had driven right by the Ronald Regan ranch but it is so well hidden we never saw it.

We then spent 2 hours in a coffee shop catching up on computer work. Then lunch and some wine tasting. As we were leaving one vineyard, a gentleman saw our MO license plates and started talking with us. He was from St. Louis but owned 3 vineyards just down the road here in Lompoc. His name was so familiar but we couldn't place him. We decided to go to his vineyard for a tasting and there we found out that he owns grocery stores in St. Louis and also owns the Hermanoff Winery in Herman, MO! His name -- Jim Dierberg! And yes we bought some of his wine.

Time To Move On

We left the RV park in Santa Clarita on Monday morning and drove just a short way up the coast to just north of Santa Barbara. It is warmer on the coast and there is NO snow here. We are staying in Refugio State Park right on the beach. The weather is some warmer during the day but still gets pretty cold at night. We drove into Solvang which is in the heart of the Santa Ynez wine valley and were surprised to find it is a copy of a Danish town including the foods of that country.

On Tuesday, we drove to another park on the coast but it was a very long drive from the wineries so we enjoyed the scenery and then headed back inland. We explored the La Purisima Mission, one of 12 in the area that California is famous for. It was built by the Spanish in 1787, rebuilt after an earthquake in 1812 and then restored to its 1820 splendor by the CCC in 1941. After a good Danish lunch we tasted a few wines, but the day was so nice we didn't want to waste it drinking, so we headed back to the RV and sat by the beach until sunset.

Floats Up Close

Today I went to see all the Rose Parade floats up close. John didn't want to see any more floats and even volunteered to do the laundry instead. The floats are lined up along a divided street at the end of the parade route. Then all afternoon on the 1st and all day on the 2nd you can inspect them and see all the wonderful detail on each one. There were docents at each float that could help with descriptions and names of flowers, seeds, etc.

The best way to describe what the floats are decorated with is to imagine you are in a bulk seed store. All you see can be used to decorate -- seeds, beans, grass seed and grasses, herbs - dried and fresh, rices. Then go to the grocery produce department and everything there is used and then wander down the spice aisle and everything there is used! Plus all the wonderful fresh flowers, especially roses. Cinnamon was used to darken crushed rice, cayenne was blush on a girls face, the horses manes were pampas grass, the shade on a lamp was onion skin, the warriors chest plate was made of cumquats and cranberries, the shiny black tires were from sea weed, the 'wool' on the teddy bears was from a type of palm tree. Lots of button mums, red, white, pink and yellow mums, daisies, and blue stasis filled in the larger pictures. Roses of all sizes and colors decorated the skirting of each float.

By the time I left to go back to the RV, the rain that had threatened all day finally fell and turned into snow! Just 5 miles north of the RV, they had to shut down the freeway due to 5" of the white stuff on the road. Talk about a California traffic jam! Snow in this area was last seen 17 years ago.

Rose Parade

We were on the bus at 6 AM! And once we hit Pasadena, we understood why we had to leave so early. There must have been 60 or more buses unloading passengers and all parking spots were taken along the street, in driveways, and in the garages. Bleachers 15 rows tall lined the 5 mile long parade route on one side and were filled to the brim! More people in blankets and chairs were 5-6 rows deep on all the sidewalks. The whole area was a festive affair of vendors selling seat cushions and hand warmers, brats wrapped in bacon, silly hats and noise makers. The floats started moving at 8 AM but we did not see or hear any signs of the parade until after 9 AM. If you had a ticket for a bleacher seat, you had your own private port-o-potty, otherwise it was LONG lines.

We'll let the pictures tell the story of the floats. It was neat to see again the bands and horses we had watched the previous few days.

Getty Villa

We had most of Friday free to do whatever we wanted so John and I took off in the Jeep to see Nethercutt Museum (he is the co-founder of Merle Norman) but they were closed for the holidays so we then went to the Getty Villa in Malibu. It was a great place to spend the day. The museum is a replica of a villa from first century Rome. It houses over 1200 Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities. It had several gardens, fountains, lots of statues, busts and other items of interest. When we left, we decided to go up the Pacific Coast Highway and then cut over to Santa Clarita where we are staying. Our GPS did not like our choice! She complained all the way! But we only got so far and then had to turn around due to mud slides. This route took us thru 2 canyons with steep, twisty roads.

We got back just in time for happy hour, dinner and New Years Eve party. The minute the ball fell in New York City, we yelled Happy New Year in CA, the hosts packed up the goodies and we were back in the RV at 9:15 PM! Luckily friends from home called to wish us a Happy New Year so the evening was extended somewhat!