Doheny Beach State Park

It looks like California is experiencing one of its worst winters in over 28 years and this is the year we chose to visit.  I’m not sure why I brought any shorts or tee shirts because all I’ve been wearing are long pants and sweaters!

The first part of the week wasn’t too cold.  We were able to ride our bikes on the adjacent bike trail most days.  We rode to Mission San Juan Capistrano and enjoyed a walk through the old mission, which is quite large and well preserved.

We found some pickleball courts nearby and tried to play but the people were much younger, better players, and not very inviting.  Did not go back. The bike lanes are along most of the roads so we have ridden or walked to grocery stores or other shopping.

Our friends, Jeff and Linda, whom we met many years ago when we had our Born Free RV, live just up the coast a short way so we had a delightful lunch and afternoon visit with them. 

Friday and Saturday this week are totally wasted as a huge winter storm moved through.  Parts of Orange County got snow which they haven’t seen in 28 years.  It was very windy, cold and rainy.  The bad news is that we can look forward to this kind of weather for the next 2-3 weeks where ever we go.  Yuck!!

Palm Springs in the Winter

We parked our RV at Outdoor Resorts in Indio which was only 1.5 miles from our friends Mike and Dianne’s home in La Quinta. Our two weeks here will be the longest we will stay in any one place for the rest of our trip.  We had hoped the weather would be warmer and less windy here but that was not the case.  Our site is one that is owned by someone and they have rented it out for the winter.  They have done a nice job of decorating the site with a covered patio, a built in outdoor kitchen, and comfortable patio furniture.

One reason we chose this park was because it has eight pickleball courts and an 18 hole executive golf course.  Of course the amenities included swimming pools, laundry, a restaurant and many planned activities.  Since we were only going to be here two weeks we did not make use of much except the pickleball courts.

Mike and Dianne kept us busy.  Dianne’s sisters were visiting so the girls took a architectural and historic tour of Old Palm Springs with a nice lunch. We dined with them several times either at their home or a restaurant.  They graciously included us in their family Super Bowl party. Go Chiefs! 

Mike and Dianne were married two weeks before we were and the men were in each other’s ceremonies.  We celebrated our 50th anniversary with them in Switzerland and Italy last August.  While in Italy we stayed in a lovely Villa in Tuscany with them and three other couples from La Quinta so we wanted to get the whole group together while we were here.  It was such a fun evening and yet we never thought to take a single picture!

Luxury Camping in the Desert

From one desert in AZ to another desert in CA, we enjoy this one more. Basically because we stayed in a commercial campground called The Springs in Borrego.  Anza Borrego State Park is California’s largest park and the city of Borrego Springs is right in the middle of it.

The Springs has an 18 hole golf course and the guests have access to the community’s eight pickleball courts. It is also very close to town so we ride our bikes around to view all the metal sculptures in Galleta Meadows and to go shopping.

One of our favorite things to do here is to take our cocktails out to Fonts Point to watch the sunset over the mountains. We never get tired of this view.

Our Last Stay in Quartzite

This may be our last time to stay out in the desert near Quartzite.  We enjoy it less every time.  Especially this year with the weather being so windy and cool. And the RV Show tent has less and less interesting booths and more and more ‘junk’ to sell.  

We rode our bikes into town almost every day.  We went to the tent a couple of times, checked out the junk tents nearby and also out on the highway. We toured the town on our bikes and walked into the desert for exercise. 

Our friends, Dwight and Sharon, are camped about a mile down the road from us for the winter having been there since November. We had a nice lunch with them and had intended to connect up again but we ran out of time.  We did find pickleball courts at a commercial campground and enjoyed playing one day.

Nothing much changes in this desert community and we didn’t take a single picture the entire 7 days.

Pleasant Harbor

We are camping on a site in Pleasant Harbor State Park overlooking Pleasant Lake and next to a commercial campground. Our friends John and Susanna from Missouri are staying for a month in Anthem and two other couples from Sedalia have homes in Cave Creek.

Our first outing was to watch the AFC playoff game at John and Susanna’s for a Chiefs win over the Bengals.  We also went hiking with them a couple of times, ate dinner with them and the folks in Cave Creek and I spent a morning with a former Sedalian, Beth, at a small Farmer’s Market nearby.

It felt like a very busy week.

More to do in Tucson

We connected again with our friends Judy & Tom from Sedalia and went out to dinner a couple of times with them.

Then we had dinner one night at a restaurant called Locale Neighborhood. John made these reservations almost a month ago but it was worth the wait to dine on really good Italian food.

Before we leave Tucson I wanted to go to two highly rated tourist destinations - Mount Lemmon and the Pima Air and Space Museum.

Mount Lemmon towers over the Tucson valley.  It is over 9000 feet high with snow at the top. In fact, it had snowed so much two weeks before that there was still enough to keep the ski resort open.  We enjoyed the magnificent sights along the road and a nice restaurant at the top.

Then we visited the Pima Air and Space Museum, an all afternoon affair but very interesting. We explored several buildings full of planes.  Some were vintage WWI and WWII, some from Vietnam and some from more recent wars.  From small planes to giant commercial planes, from helicopters to fast jets, we saw it all.

How To Enjoy Tucson

This is the way we have explored the city and surrounding areas - by foot, by bike and by car. 

First one needs to keep an eye on the weather forecast.  If it’s going to be rainy, windy or cold you want to get in your car and drive around. One day we drove south to Green Valley and toured the Titan II Missile Silo.These nuclear weapons were put in place more as a deterrent to Russian aggression than as an actual weapon.  The missiles were three stories tall and were watched by four man teams 24 hours a day.  If a threat came from Russia, we were prepared to launch within minutes.  After the silos were closed, the missiles were removed and some were used to launch the Apollo rockets.

Other dreary days were spent looking for a meat market, checking out grocery stores or trying to find wood pellets for our new portable fire pit.  New Year’s Day was spent searching for an open BBQ restaurant or any kind of restaurant since I didn’t want to cook!

The occasional hot days were spent on our bicycles riding some of the numerous bike paths. One took us downtown, another out into the desert and another to a very expansive sports complex.

The cooler but sunny days were spent hiking in Saguaro National Park.  The East Park Tanque Trail was a steep trail that about did us in while the West Park was covered with saguaro cacti and has a more diverse selection of trails.  The Desert Winds trail was a flat desert walk while the Brown Mountain Trail took us up and across the mountain then down onto the desert floor.

And in between all these excursions we played pickle ball with our new friends from around the country - Canada, Iowa, Colorado and other cold states. 

Tucson Before Christmas

We arrived in Tucson on the 17th and fairly quickly made ourselves at home in the KOA Campground.  It’s a large campground with probably 200 sites, two swimming pools and hot tubs, weight room, two pickle ball courts and lots of planned activities for both adults and kids, plus a restaurant.  We explored the area around us while trying to find a nice grocery store and shopping.

Monday morning found us playing pickle ball and making new friends.  We also got together with friends from Sedalia, Tom and Judy, and had dinner together before walking through Christmas lights in the zoo.  It was a nice evening although a bit chilly.

The resort hosted a Christmas Eve pot luck dinner with ham, dessert and wine while everyone else provided some really nice side dishes.  We sat with our new neighbors, Bill and Tracy, and another couple and laughed a lot while sharing RVing stories and blunders.

Christmas Day was cool but sunny.  I enjoyed a church service in the morning and we watch a football game before preparing a nice steak dinner.  Of course we talked with all the family at some point during the day.  Merry Christmas!

A southwest Winter Trip

Hurricane Ian changed our plans for this winter.   Our spot at Fort Myers Beach was devastated and we chose not to add to confusion of rebuilding. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families in Sedalia then took part in as many Christmas activities as time would allow before heading to the Southwestern states in our RV.  We have hopes for a warm winter but it is not starting out that way.

We left home on December 10 and spent some time with our daughter and family in Norman OK. After driving in fog and rain for two days we finally drove into some sunshine in New Mexico but not the warm weather we had hoped for.

Roswell NM seemed like a good place to camp for a couple of days. Just a few miles from town is the Bottomless Lake State Park.  The Lakes are fed by springs so water is very cold.  It appears to be a popular spot in the summer.  But it’s winter, it’s chilly and it’s very windy.  What better time than to examine the UFO Museum and walk the city streets.

Saying Goodbye in Venice

Sadly we have to leave the Dolomites today but the good news is that we will be in Venice for a very short visit.

We said goodbye to our bus driver then boarded two water taxis to take us to our hotel.  From there we walked to our lunch spot on Campo San Polo. All the squares in Venice are named Campo except Piazza San Marco.  It’s the only one that can be called a Piazza.

Following lunch we walked to the Museum Fondazione Civici di Venezia which has the best collection of 17th century artwork housed in CA Rezzonico (CA stands for house).  We found the room decor, ceilings painted in fresco and massive chandeliers to be of more interest than the paintings.  

The last hour of the day was spent exploring the Grand Canal and many of the side canals in a luxurious water taxi.

Numerous toasts, sharing memories of the past ten days and over indulging in the Italian cuisine closed out our day and our trip.  We made new friends and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Northern Italy.  Now it’s time to go home.

The Mountains Are Visible

The sun is shining, the sky is clear and the mountains are showing off their majestic peaks!

Our first climb was at the top of a gondola near the village on Monte Lussari. This is a cute spot for tourists and skiers for lunch, or a  bed or shopping spot before heading down the mountain.  We walked to the peak to get a magnificent view of the surrounding mountain peaks.

A short drive took us to Lake Fusine, a park with two lakes nestled in a valley of meadows and forests.  It’s a popular destination for hiking, swimming, picnics and fun.  Again we enjoyed the the towering peaks surrounding us and a nice walk along the two lakes.

Lunch was at German restaurant in Slovenia then we had the afternoon to rest, swim, shop or pack for the last day of our trip.

Villach and Landskron Castle

Again the rain has changed some of the plans for the day.  It was only about a 30 minute drive into Villach (pronounced Veel - lack) and since it was too wet to hike we had a coffee then visited the City Museum.  It was interesting but just a stop gap to kill time until the rain let up - finally!

Villach is at the south end of Ossiach See (lake).  A pretty waterfall feeds into the lake and was a short but nice hike up to see it.  

We then drove up as close as we could to Landskron Castle where we ate in a very nice restaurant with the ambiance of olden days.  We finally got some exercise on the hike down from the castle.

Upon our return to Tarvisio we walked thru town checking out shops and restaurants before walking back up to the hotel.  The sky is clearing and the sun is showing off the mountains peaks!

Go With the Flow

The deluge of rain continued most of the night and by this morning it had washed out the main highway between Kobarid, Slovenia and Tarvisio, Italy.  A change of plans added a couple of extra hours driving time but what else could we do on a rainy day?

The route took us further into Slovenia with a stop in Soriska, a ski town, up to the 4000 foot pass through the Triglav National Park and down into the town of Bled.  The way was very curvy and at times on very narrow roads.  Several times our driver had to back up to allow a large truck or a fast car to pass by. Milan is a wonderful driver and we felt completely safe in his hands.  Unfortunately the views of the mountain peaks were obscured all day by clouds.

Bled is a tourist destination.  The lake is beautiful and has an island with a white church and is surrounded by high mountains and tall cliffs.  It’s a really pretty setting.

We were going to try to hike after lunch but the rain continued to prevent that activity.  We arrived in Tarvisio mid afternoon with a lull in the storm so John and I quickly unpacked and walked into town, turning around about half way in and getting back to the hotel just as rain started again.

Cividale and Kobarid

Cividale (pronounced chee-vee-dah-lay) is in Italy near the Slovenia border in a region called Friuli. It’s a Roman city once ruled by a descendant of Julius Caesar.

Just inside the old city wall is a stone bridge across the Natsione River called The Devil’s Bridge, built in 1441.  Legend has it that in order to complete the stone bridge, which was taking a very long time and had many problems, the city made a pact with the devil.  The Devil said that he would finish the bridge but only if the devil would win the soul of the first creature to cross it, assuming it would be a person.  The city leaders thought to cheat the devil and sent an animal across first.  There is some discussion as to whether it was a cat or a pig but either way the devil got the animal’s soul.  To this day animal squeals are heard in the middle of the night.

The original bridge was destroyed to prevent soldiers from crossing it during WWI but it was finally rebuilt in 1980.  

We stepped inside the Duomo di Cividale briefly before visiting the Monestera di Santa Mariana in Vello and the Temple of Longobard. The Scandinavians settled here in 568 and built the Temple.  The word Longobard comes from Long Beard.  This is another legend. The women were left to defend the city.  The matriarch got a spiritual message that they need to look like men.  So they pulled their long hair around to the front of their face and tied it to look like a beard.  They saved the city without any bloodshed.  They had ‘long beards’.

The interior of the monastery has walls covered with faded frescoes that they are trying to restore to the original pictures.  They are using digital models, following the style and colors from that era and using their imagination to bring the frescoes back to life.

Before the deluge of rain in the afternoon we hiked up to Slap Kozjak, a tall and beautiful waterfall.  Along the way we passed more bunkers carved into the mountainside from WWI.

We also visited the WWI Museum and learned about the Austro-Hungary push to take over Italy and the devastation of that war.

Just as we wanted to leave the museum the rain finally fell in huge deluges.  We got soaked running back and had to turn around and do it again because I dropped my glasses along the way.  We found them but came in soaked through and through despite raincoats.

On the whole a good day except for that last run!