Month: July 2023

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Oliver’s Fourth Birthday

It’s been over a year since I have seen Oliver in person and I have really missed him. Although we Facetime regularly it’s hard to know if that has an impact on a three year old so I wanted to make sure I was at his house for his fourth birthday. Unfortunately we weren’t able to make the trip work with Lee’s upcoming two weeks of work trips so I flew out solo.

It’s a long day of flying to get from Burbank to Charleston, SC and the three hour time loss didn’t help. Even though I left at 6am PT I didn’t arrive until 7:00pm ET and we all decided that was too late to see him. So I checked into the Marriot Courtyard and got ready to see him at 9am, and honestly I was pretty nervous. His response to me could have ranged from indifference to anger and I just tried to get a grip on my emotions and be prepared for anything. As I said later it wasn’t fair to have a script of the meeting in my head especially since Oliver can’t even read. 🙂

Thankfully the moment went better than even I hoped for and he ran over and gave me a big hug. Jeremy (my son-in-law) captured the moment and I think the picture says it all.

Many of my friends have grandchildren now and according to them Facetime has been a mixed bag. Some kids get it and others don’t but the combination of Facetime and the small gifts I send him throughout the year (about one a month) seem to have made an impression. I tried to take it slow though and we just spent some time doing normal things as he got to know me a little better.

Slow motion star wars light sabre fight

My big wish was to take him to the toy store and fill up a cart and things were going so well Kyrston recommended we go. The toy store was pretty interesting because he absolutely knew what he liked and didn’t like but has no concept of money yet, but it ultimately worked out. I really felt I could splurge because Oliver is Jewish and to honor that we don’t celebrate Christmas with him. I just figured I could double up on birthdays and it would all even out.

I asked him to pose and this is what I got!
Anything with a remote control was a big hit
Rockem Sockem Robots

In the last year my daughter Kyrston has converted to Judaism and wanted me to go to Friday night service with her. I was thrilled to go so she and I went and got some dinner and then headed downtown. The synagogue is very old and on the historic registry of buildings, but it is also very friendly and I was thrilled to meet her Rabbi’s and cantor. A lot of the service was musical and although it was in Hebrew it was beautiful music. I also liked the sermon and the time where people could pray for those who were sick or say remembrances for the dead.

She is very involved in the synagogue, singing in the choir and even teaching one of the youth classes. Both of the Rabbi’s who helped with her conversion spoke to me about how wonderful she has been and it’s always great being told that you created an awesome kid. It was very special for both of us. I in turn thanked them for helping Kyrston find her faith. Until converting she didn’t have much of a relationship with God and I am so happy for her regardless of what form it takes. At the end of the day their God is also my God.

Where Kyrston taught her class.

That was a long day because I didn’t get back until 9pm and the time change was really kicking my butt. The next day Kyrston and I took Oliver to my favorite thrift store at the nearby base and then we went swimming in the hotel pool. I spent a little extra on a hotel with a pool and was so glad I did because we were the only ones there and it was even a salt water pool. Oliver has this awesome swimming vest (wish they had these for my kids) that keep him safe and allow him to swim. He loved the water and we had a blast floating around.

He was saying he was strong in his floatee

Afterwards we went for lunch and even though it had been a long day he did pretty good. Almost had a mini meltdown over lemonade versus apple juice but pulled it together and we had a nice lunch.

Oliver put his favorite toys I bought him in their own plastic containers to “keep them safe” so cute

After all the fresh air and sunlight I called it an early day and went back and watched the replay of Women’s Wimbledon tournament. I love watching this every year and didn’t think I would have a chance but they replayed both finals at night and it was the perfect thing to do to relax at the hotel. We spent 7-8 hours together everyday but that still left me lots of time and I was glad I had something fun to do in the evenings.

Sunday we celebrated his birthday and Kyrston got him this cool construction cake. I also got us all Chinese food for dinner (Oliver’s first) and we had a blast watching him do a decent job of using the chopsticks. Then we sang happy birthday and hung out for awhile.

I also worked with Oliver on a page for our scrapbook after stopping at Walgreen’s and getting a few printed pictures from the last couple of days. The Walgreen picture printing worked great (only $2 for 7 pictures) and Oliver helped me cut out the pictures, told me what to write and put the stamps on. I started this adventure scrapbook after our first outing with him, but this was the first time he was able to help. Again went better than expected. He really liked it.

Kyrston had to go to work around 2:30pm (she works evenings and took Friday and Saturday off) and I explained to Oliver that I had to leave to go get on a plane the next morning. He very solemnly gave me a long hug and then a big kiss (he’s not much of a kisser) and it really touched me. I’ll just say it was really hard to leave.

So the trip was nice but when we talked about next year I did share it was tough losing two full days to travel and of course it wasn’t cheap even with just me. We talked about perhaps meeting in a central location and I could rent a house or something and even help with the travel costs for them. It is important to me that there are things for Oliver and I to do though and they said they would think about some ideas and we could talk more about it.

When he gets older and can come stay independently with us this becomes less of an issue but this younger years are kind of tough. I am so grateful I was able to go though and the trip went very well.

Side note, as I mentioned Lee will be gone on work trips for two weeks so not sure how much I will be posting. I am starting my pottery 6 weeks class though and I am very happy about that.

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes
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Channel Islands National Park

Finally after months in the LA area I was able to schedule a visit to Channel Islands National Park. I say schedule because in order to visit the actual islands of the park some planning is required. Although there is a visitors center and a small beach that anyone can drive to, the islands themselves are in protected area of water and only available via one of the few concessionaire ferries. After some research I ended up selecting Island Packers Cruises. They offered a 4 hour wildlife tour around the islands for only $44 a person which seemed the simplest choice. Other options would be to camp on one of the islands (100% rustic carry in all supplies including water) or hire a charter to do some kayaking, which was much more expensive. Ultimately I am glad I made the choice I did, although I will get into that a little later.

Let me start by saying we arrived at Island Packers to check in 45 minutes early as requested and then drove down to the Visitors Center. Even early in the morning parking was at a premium so I glad we took the early cruise versus the one later in the day.

Cool visitors center had a large aquarium in it
The Channel Island Fox is only on Channel Islands and this little guy was designed by a park ranger. I bought one for Oliver.

The visitors center didn’t take long and we ended up waiting in line for about 20 minutes or so. We were surprised by how many people were on this morning tour, but we got lucky and snagged some cool seats right at the end of the boat. Turns out that was a fantastic spot and I didn’t get sea sick at all despite moderately choppy waters.

The line
Our seats
Our boat

We were both pretty concerned about how crowded the boat will be but I found it ok in our seat. You could get up and move around (which Lee did a little) but I kept my movements to a minimum. If you are wondering why I am wearing a warm coat in the picture above its because it is 20-30 degrees cooler on the ocean than in the valley where we were staying. Plus it was the first and only overcast day in two weeks and temps were a little lower to begin with. Ultimately I wore a ski cap and had my coat zipped completely up and was comfortable. Lee didn’t wear a coat and was cold.

Not that far from the channel opening we saw a ton of sea lions on a giant buoy. The captain did a complete circle around and we got to take tons of pictures.

Then we had a long stretch of water and went over to where a bunch of birds were hanging out. We also saw our first dolphins.

Next we ran into another group of birds and there was a pod of dolphins pushing fish in front of them. Everyone got into the act including many pelicans, the dolphin, and at least one seal. It was a feeding frenzy and really cool to watch although I couldn’t get many great pictures because everything was moving so fast.

Dolphins and pelicans
The little brown mark in the center is all I could get of the seal

I have never seen anything quite like that and it was really cool to capture. After that we finally came upon the islands and we drove all along them. We saw several people kayaking and another boat picking up people who were hiking the islands.

All that white was TONS of bird poop

The kayaking looked fun especially because of all the sea caves but personally I wouldn’t do it because of all the flies. The islands are surrounded by forests of algae and as soon as the boat got even close we were descended upon. Everyone had 15-20 on them at any time and although they didn’t bite they were aggressive. It really took some of the phone out of it and I couldn’t imagine kayaking or camping and dealing with that.

These pictures don’t come close to showing how annoying the flies were

The islands were beautiful though, especially what we could see of the caves and in one we could almost make out a huge pride of sea lions..we could certainly hear them. We also saw baby pelicans (a first for me) and some really cool rock formations.

HUGE flocks of birds covered the hillside
Baby pelicans

One of the islands even has a lighthouse and a ranger station which made me wonder what a post here would be like. Talk about remote.

Overall I thought it was fun and I am really glad to check this National Park off my list, but I don’t think I would be in a big hurry to go back. Between the cold, the flies, and the crowded boat it was a one and done for me. As a side note if you do go make sure you take some snacks and cash. They have a small snack bar on the boat but the credit card machine was down so we couldn’t purchase anything. And please do yourself a favor and layer up. If you get warm you can always remove some layers but lots of people were very cold on the boat.

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes
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Richard Nixon Presidential Library

As excited as I was that a Presidential library was an hour away from us I will admit I had reservations about visiting this library. Turns out I am so glad I went because not only is it very well curated but it also sits on the birthplace home of President Nixon and that house is part of the tour. But let me start at the beginning.

The library has a beautiful fountain and is much larger space than the outside would suggest.

When you walk in there is a beautiful presidential seal and pictures of the president and his family. In some museums it is easy to get lost of miss things but the layout was very nice with hallways escorting you from one section to another.

This private residence was called the Western White House and many famous world leaders came here
I kind of forgot he was Vice President under Eisenhower

Pretty early on we went into a recreation of his oval office. Unlike many others we have been in they let us sit in the chair behind the desk and the Docent was very helpful. One thing that struck me was how perfectly the color of the yellow couches matched the sash in the George Washington picture. Nice interior design. It also was the first oval office to have the seal of the President in the carpet. The seal was always in the ceiling (I had no idea) but Pat Nixon felt it should be in the carpet as well so it could be seen better and every president since has maintained that tradition.

He had a bird collection
Seal in the ceiling
Seal in the carpet

I like many others only think of how he was almost impeached when I think of President Nixon but no person is all one thing. He ended the Vietnam War, brought many prisoners of war home, and was President during the walk on the moon.

My father was in the National Guard in Columbus when the Kent State shootings happened. He wasn’t there but there were many riots at Ohio State he was at
Nope this picture isn’t upside down when you looked up there were men walking on the moon
President Nixon and Elvis

The most interesting thing in this section was about his trip to China and it had significant impact on “opening” China up to the outside world. Pat Nixon wore her red coat everywhere because it signifies luck and prosperity in China and she was hugely popular.

Too be honest my biggest disappointment was how little information there was on Pat. She won a medal for her work in the Red Cross and raised two daughters in Washington (one of whom married in the Rose garden) but despite her work in women’s activism I didn’t see much about her.

The big question in our minds was how they would handle the threat of impeachment but this was done VERY well. They had an entire corridor devoted to it including maps showing where all the White House bugs were. Several Presidents before him had made recordings but for obvious reasons he was the last.

What was crazy about all of this is he ended up winning in a landslide, so it wasn’t even necessary. Look at the electoral map…solid red.

But again no Presidency is one thing and his lists of accomplishments including creating the EPA, The Clean Air act, requiring equal opportunity hiring on job sites, and the Endangered Species Act still have a profound impact on us today.

I had one of these puzzle elephants when I was a kid
He really tried to get us to switch to metric but no luck there
Title 9 had a HUGE impact on me and others of my generation.

As if to make my point when you passed through the potential impeachment area the next thing you saw was his childhood. His was a modest one (the son of an orchard farmer and grocer). Everyone comes from somewhere and I really liked the subtle messaging.

He called himself a “first class scrounger” while he was in the Navy.
He always said he was an introvert in an extroverts job. I can relate to that.
Me in the Rose Bowl Parade 🙂

He also really loved his wife. She died a year before he did and the look on his face says everything.

I also really liked this picture of all the Presidents and First Ladies who attended his funeral.

The best part of the museum though was the center of the U shaped building which has reflection pools. a miniature rose garden, the Gazebo used in the daughters white house wedding, and their graves. I liked the simplicity of the graves and the fact they had two benches that people could sit at. It was beautiful.

The house sites at the end of the gardens and is in it’s original spot. It was a modest house to raise 5 boys and the bed is actually the one Richard was born in because the weather was so bad they didn’t want to travel the 20 minutes to the hospital.

Nixon studied at this table
The original bathtub. Baths were oldest to youngest using the same water. That’s where the expression don’t throw the baby out with the bath water comes from because the water is so dirty at that point. I use that expression all the time and had no idea.

Finally we saw the actual helicopter he left the White House in at the end of his Presidency. We got to walk through it ..very small inside but still Presidential. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside because it is officially still owned by the Marines and only on loan.

I absolutely recommend this Presidential Library if you are interested in our history. I also would like to commend the museum curators for doing an even-handed job of presenting all sides of his presidency.

Update: A reader notified me that he wasn’t actually impeached he resigned which is fair so I am changing all the references in the blog.

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes
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Picking A Neighborhood And An Apartment

One thing I really didn’t understand about LA when we first arrived is that rather than one big city it is a collection of “neighborhoods”. In some cases they’re just neighborhoods but in others they are their own little towns with their own governments, but they’re surrounded by LA proper, so they’re part of LA, but their own thing. From the outside the identity and culture of LA is all one thing (I certainly thought that) but in reality each neighborhood has its own unique character. I know that is the case in other large cities but here the differences between the neighborhoods can be significant and more importantly because of traffic once people pick a neighborhood they tend to stay in it. This might be self evident to anyone who has ever lived in a major city, but it’s kind of new to us.

Recently Lee and I had dinner with some people who have lived here for awhile and that was really brought home. They commented on how we were using the city as a whole rather than finding one neighborhood that worked for us. It was seriously like a lightbulb went off in my head and I realized that if we wanted to stay here we really needed to find that neighborhood.

Don’t get me wrong we have been exploring the neighborhoods, but certainly not with the mindset we would rarely leave it. With that in mind we spent a Saturday in Burbank (top of our current list) really checking it out. Turns out that was a good idea because although I have been to Burbank multiple times and we even stayed in the Elks lodge for several weeks I didn’t really understand the layout. The city is bisected by a major freeway and I have only been on one side missing a whole section. Nuts right, but that’s the thing about LA you really have to explore to see it all.

The first thing we did was go to the Burbank farmer’s market which is in the old downtown. (Beautiful downtown Burbank, for those who remember Laugh In and Carson!) 100% organic, and really great. I loved it and loved the vibe so next we drove up and down all the main streets in the downtown area. It’s unusual because it has a great small town vibe and also has a small mall right in the middle of downtown. Around the mall they have built apartments and lots of small restaurants to create a 15 minute city. These walkable foot prints close to public transportation are very attracted to the younger generation but for me it’s a little densely packed. Still it was great to see this area would be available for an evening out and I liked that there was a mall close by.

That big building in the background is the headquarters of Cartoon Network

After driving the streets and seeing the police station (Burbank is it’s own city), Local library (very nice), and grocery store availability we drove over to the apartments that have made the top of our list. Lee had narrowed our selection down but I needed to see them in person. Turned out I really liked the complex he picked. It sits on the edge of town with a view of the mountains and a small city park next door. It also has a workout faciality, small theater, nice pool, and a wonderful garden courtyard vibe. The apartments themselves are a little smaller than we would like but they all have balconies two bedrooms and two baths.

Interestingly enough the things that matter most were layout (right side kitchen I hated but left side kitchen was fine) and where they sat in the complex itself. I really want a nature view (rather than pool or street) so it’s important which apartment are available. The rental manager was also very nice and chill and they have an outstanding fenced in dog area that is under the parking garage so it is shaded. The dog area totally won me over and I was ready to sign.

Obviously it is way more complicated than just signing a lease. Due to the ongoing writer’s strike and the potential for a SAG/AFTRA strike, nearly all production work has ground to a halt. So while Lee is doing freelance work here and there we haven’t proved out that we can swing the $4000 a month without a steady second income and of course we have no furniture. We will also need to become California residents the moment we move in which will increase our state taxes significantly. All the financial stuff aside though I could truly see myself living there which was a bit of a surprise to be honest. It’s been a long time since I even allowed myself to think in that direction and figuring out what mattered to the older me required some introspection.

Since I think Lee will be working long hours, I wanted a place I felt comfortable being alone that had safe places to walk the dog and facilities I could use without leaving the complex. Since I work from home I also wanted a decent view for my workday and a generally peaceful feeling. The day we went there were people around, but as I said it was pretty chill which is exactly what I am looking for.

To be clear, we are not going to do anything rash. It took us over a year to become full time RVers and I anticipate it taking a similar amount of time to stop being full timers if that is what we ultimately decide to do. All the steps we have taken to date are in preparation, but picking a neighborhood and an apartment were major steps. Now that I know there is a pleasant alternative to how we are living now I feel a lot more Zen about the decision overall. There is absolutely nothing wrong with our current life, but if we choose to change it I am OK with doing that as well.

On another note I have decided to take advantage of being in one place and signed up for an introduction to wheel potter class. Well I LOVED it and immediately signed up for another 6 weeks of classes. Once I have the basics down I will be able to do it anywhere, but its nice to be in one place and be able to complete a set of classes. Been a long time since I have been able to do that and it will be a nice creative outlet for me. I miss nature photography.

Not bad for my first time

One last thing, Lee and I have been talking about the blog and it is really important that I keep writing it until we stop RVing and through the transition. I agree that will be a nice bookend to the start of the blog which showed how we become full timers and talking about the exit (when it happens) is equally important. From that point forward I am not sure to be honest, but I will continue for the foreseeable future and let you all know if that changes.

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes