October 13, 2023 by Lee and Tracy

Second Time in Sedona

Generally I am not a person who likes to go back to places (there is so much to see) but in the case of Sedona after the one day we spent there I wanted to go back with either my Mom or Dad. So when Mom reached out and said she wanted to trade in her timeshare so we could spend a week together I picked Sedona. Extra bonus was that Mom had never been there and that is really saying something since she is an avid traveler and have legitimately been all over the world.

For me driving to Phoenix would be about the same time as flying I chose to rent a car and drive. The nice thing was once out of LA the drive was pretty mellow and I met up with Mom in Phoenix in the evening. We spent one night in a hotel near the airport and then in the morning we headed out. The drive north was really pretty and we stopped at a Ranger station as soon as we hit the red rock area.

Since it was a little early to check in when we hit Sedona we stopped at an art show and I saw the most amazing pottery. The potters were very kind sharing tips and the glazes they used and this started a week of me dragging my poor Mom through every pottery store in the area. The art in the area is really beautiful and very inspiring. Miles (shown below) was incredibly nice in particular and his pottery was absolutely amazing. If you are interested you can check out his work here.

Miles work the picture doesn’t do it justice

After lunch we headed to the hotel in the hopes of an early check in and a very nice Desk person found us a room. We were both pretty tired at this point and although we didn’t get a room with a view we did get on that face the courtyard that was absolutely beautiful. Los Abrigados Resort and Spa is an absolutely beautiful hotel in the older section of Sedona. It is built around an old irrigation system created in the late 1800’s and there are gardens and water everywhere. Plus a huge pool, very nice spa, and lots of activities. Really really nice.

These canals are throughout the hotel. Really cool

Unfortunately it was still a little hot some days so we tried to get out early and sty in the shade as much as we could. One day we went to the spa (Mom had a facial and I got a massage) and we walked to the beautiful mall that as right next store. The mall was build around some gorgeous courtyards but unfortunately the prices were on the high side for me still is was fun walking around.

Did you know the Sedona McDonalds is the only one in the world with green arches??? Just had to throw that in.

Unfortunately on Tuesday there was a fire in the Cochino Forest and for the next couple of days the smoke smell was pretty intense and the air quality was not great. So we decided to explore the surrounding area and visited a great Casino and Cottonwood which we both loved. The historic downtown of Cottonwood had some amazing shops AND the prices were actually affordable. This was my favorite day. We even went to one of my favorites, Big Bear Diner, which Mom had never even heard of let along eaten at and I had some awesome pot roast. The next day we drove to Flagstaff and we ate at one of Mom’s favorite places Lone Star Steak House. Sometimes you just want food you know and love.

Putting beverage centers in Casinos is really smart

All three towns were really great but there was even more to see in Sedona. There is Uptown Sedona which has shops on two floors along with lots of standalone shops as well and a small mall. Everywhere we went Mom tried to see if she could get a drop in haircut but we didn’t have much luck. Mom likes to get her haircut in new places but wants the experience to be sort of serendipitous. On the last day we literally stopped in one last place and the owner had an opening. She doesn’t usually work on Saturdays but was just finished with a favored client and took Mom in. It’s nice that now Mom has one more haircut to add to her list!

Not only is Sedona know for its art but also for it’s mysticism. There are tons of shop devoted to spiritualism and we went into one and got our Chakra’s read. Suffice it to say my Chakra energy is really depleted, but it was fun to do and I bought Lee a special worry stone I thought might help him. When in Rome as they say….

Overall for me at least the food was hit and miss but we did splurge and have a beautiful view at Mariposa. This restaurant hands down has the best views of any restaurant I have ever been in and the architecture is beautiful. The food was hit and miss (loved the yucca fries didn’t like my tacos but the desert made for it as the prickly pear cheesecake was as delicious as it was beautiful.

Seriously one of the best desserts I have ever had in my life

The single best thing about Sedona though is its very special church. The Chapel of the Holy Cross is built into the cliffs of red rock and is the single most beautiful church I have ever seen. I couldn’t wait to show it to Mom and although the climb is a little steep she really enjoyed it.

It was lovely spending time with my Mom and it was great really getting to explore the area in depth. If you ever stay here I absolutely recommend Los Abrigados and The Mariposa and of course everyone should see this church at least once.

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

October 10, 2023 by Lee and Tracy

Finally Getting To See Friends

We have been in LA for over 11 months now and although Lee has connected with many of his old colleagues, I really miss seeing my friends. So I was pleasantly surprised when a woman I went to high school with reached out and arranged a meeting when she came to Temecula for a work event. Unfortunately it was a crazy long drive, but it was worth it because I haven’t seen Leah in over 20 years. It’s funny how with some people you pick up right where you left off and that’s how it was.

That seemed to open something up, because next we got a call from our long time friends Georgia and Jim who were coming down to Santa Barbara from Salem, OR. We spent a nice day exploring Santa Barbara (Georgia used to live there and gave us lots of cool history) and had an awesome lunch at a long time Italian restaurant in the area. They also got a gift of some pottery I have made and although my skills still aren’t that great they seemed to appreciate it.

Next Deb and Steve made the effort to see us by coming through LA on their way to Arizona. We really appreciated their extra effort and they stayed at the Elks Lodge in Burbank which is where we stayed when we first came here. We treated them to Elks Taco Tuesday one night and then the next night Deb made some fantastic lasagna. And on a side note they got some cool pottery as well as a parting gift.

One other thing I want to mention about Deb and Steve is that although we have spent more consecutive days with other friends we have had some of our most memorable experiences with them. Since 2014 when they first went on the road and visited us in Keene (experiencing the great pumpkin riots of 2014) they have always gone out of their way to see us.

I counted it up and we have seen them at least 13 times including an epic Grizzly Bear sighting in Glacier National Park, Deb helping me empty our poo tanks in Quartszite, an awesome April Fools joke at Lost Dutchman State Park, visiting the Bridges of Madison County in Iowa, exploring Bryce Canyon National Park, and Goblin Valley. Seriously when I look back on the series of images from the last nine years they are a huge part of it and I have seen and explored many things I never would have without Deb’s recommendations. We are really grateful for their friendship.

After Deb and Steve’s visit I went to Sedona with my Mom (next post) and then when I came back we met up with Sherrie inLong Beach. We met Sherrie at our very first RV-Dreams rally and have remained friends ever since. Although we have only seen her once in her old home in Cottonwood, AZ she and Lee are two peas in a pod and have a wonderful connection. We were thrilled to learn she was relocating to the LA area to be closer to her daughter and our lunch was the first of what I hope will be many visits.

And of course she got some pottery. Are you noticing a theme here? Yes, LA is hard to get to, and yes, it’s expensive, but if you come visit you will definitely get some pottery!!! It was really nice seeing all these people and I hope more folks come to visit soon.

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

October 5, 2023 by Lee and Tracy

American Museum of Ceramic Arts

One of the cool things about LA is there are tons of smaller museums. So I was thrilled one day to stumble across the American Museum of Ceramic Arts which is only about an hour away from where we are staying. Since pottery has been such a big part of the last few months I wanted to get some inspiration from museum quality pieces and Lee was kind enough to come along with me.

As museum’s go it is relatively small but the staff is great and they are making use of their space including a beautiful gift shop with pieces for sale from resident potters. They also offer classes and residencies at the location which is a great multi use purpose for the space.

When you walk in there is a gorgeous gallery I spent lots of time looking at several pieces. It’s hard to tell from the pictures but the level of detail is extraordinary and I know enough now to realize how hard these pieces would be to make,

The pieces ranged from very large to very small and were made from all types of base clay. A variety of techniques were used as well and the signs next to each piece detailed not only the artist but the techniques which I really appreciated.

Probably my favorite. Looks simple but it definitely is not

The coolest thing about pottery is almost every culture has a form of it and it has existed for thousands of years. The possibilities are endless and the artistic expressions vary as much as each individual potter. The fact that there is no right way or wrong way really appeals to me.

Some of these you may be thinking what’s that doing in a museum, but I didn’t think that once while I was there. In fact I loved that they showed different styles including this artist who is known for his less structures approach. Since I started with glass blowing I like the idea of letting the clay do what it wants and this art in particular encouraged me to not worry so much about throwing the “perfect” piece.

Along with the standard gallery they had a space in the basement with a collection of steins which was interesting. I never really thought about the fact that old steins were pottery pieces. They also had a separate area with a collection of LGBTQ artists that was pretty interesting as the medium was used to express some pretty interesting concepts.

I am so glad we went and highly recommend it if you are a big fan of pottery. As you can see below I had a great time

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

September 20, 2023 by Lee and Tracy

LA Natural History Museum

My favorite type of museum is a Natural History Museum and I was excited to visit the one in LA. It is on the small side and not nearly the caliber of the one in D.C. or New York, but it is well curated and I enjoyed the exhibits. It is also in an absolutely gorgeous building and the architecture of the museum itself was really enjoyable.

Whale bones overhead in the entrance were really cool

The dinosaur area was really well done although most of the bones are replicas. It’s also two levels so you can go upstairs and look down on the displays which I really liked.

I really enjoyed the area with North American extinct animals like the sabre tooth tiger and wooly mammoth. They also had an area that showed the skulls with the evolution of man that was really well done.

The nicest room in the entire building was a center rotunda with absolutely gorgeous columns and a statue.

Then they had a gallery with North American Mammals with scenes and large taxidermy animal. These animals were killed a long time ago and at least they are being used to increase awareness.

They had a separate room with African animals as well

The rare shell area was pretty neat and the bird area had so many different birds.

One of my favorite rooms is always the gem and natural mineral room. This museum has an impressive collection and I really like the way it was laid out. Could have spent hours in here, but Lee got a little bored 🙂 Since it is California they have an EXCELLENT gold collection. The most I have personally seen anywhere.

Overall it was a nice museum but I do recommend getting there early because parking is limited and it gets crowded pretty fast. Definitely worth a stop though if you are interested in Natural History museums and in LA.

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

September 11, 2023 by Lee and Tracy

Pinnacles National Park

Although the most popular National Park’s get all of the press we have found that many of the smaller National Parks can be really fun. That’s partly why I chose to spend a few days in Pinnacles National PArk and as always it did not disappoint.

Unfortunately it was surprisingly hard to book a campsite and I ended up getting a Weds – Fri recommendation, but ultimately was glad I did because we practically had the place to ourselves. But first we had to get there, and like many remote parks it’s not easy.

First of all there are two entrances, but because there is a mountain in the middle the roads don’t connect. The one RV friendly campground is on the east side and the road getting to it is very windy with lots of curves. We did fine in our 40 foot RV but slow speeds were definitely called for turning a 4 hour estimated drive into a 6 hour drive.

It was a beautiful drive though but by the time we got there no one was at the gate and we just drove on in. I was surprised that they charged $30 a day for this park but with our American the Beautiful pass we got in for free. It was a little confusing finding our way to the campground (surprising since there really isn’t that much road, but we made it to our spot that had 30 am electric and one hell of a view. The places was almost empty though and although there was a large youth group camping they were in another designated area so we rarely saw them. The campground also has a swimming pool (another first for us at a National Park) which we didn’t use but saw many people did.

They had cabins with canvas walls and roofs (first time we’ve seen that)

We arrived and got setup in time to see the blue moon and although I didn’t get a great picture of it, the view was spectacular.

The next morning we got up bright and early and went to the ranger station/camp store and asked for advice on hikes. It was still getting pretty hot here, but the volunteer recommend the cave trail which he said was pretty cool and we decided to go very early. Great thing we did because it was practically empty and best of all we were finished by the time the heat started to rise (around 10am).

This hike was one of my all time favorites and even though part of it was in caves, I didn’t feel very claustrophobic because the cave were formed by rocks falling and had some ceiling cracks that let the light in. The trail is pretty rough though so hiking boots are definitely recommended.

Thank heavens for Lee’s phone flashlight I don’t know how to use mine 🙂

I love rocks so I absolutely LOVED it. Yes it was tight in some places but it was also magical and again having the whole place to ourselves was awesome. I would think doing this hike with huge crowds wouldn’t be very fun but we had a blast.

Since we were done so early we decided to drive to the other side of the park, which takes over an hour by the way. The cool thing was the drive was beautiful with tons of farms and vineyards and we had a great lunch at the Windmill Restaurant in Soledad, CA “The Salad Bowl of the World”. They aren’t kidding about that because Soledad has tons of lettuce farms and the most interesting smell. It’s also 20 degrees cooler than the park which was a welcome relief.

Local rancher ribeye, local vegetables, local salad, and fantastic homemade potato salad for $33!!!

One thing I will say is I would NOT recommend going into the east side of the park unless you were in a very small van or Class C. The road was really twisty and steep and goes down to one lane at one point. It also only has a small day use area and the visitors center (at least the day we were there) was closed. There were heat warning signs everywhere, which we took seriously because we saw a rescue copter the day before, but we did walk out and take a few pictures.

The next day we took it easy and didn’t do much of anything but we did enjoy the Juvenile Condors in the tree behind us. They left the next day when the crowds started coming in but there were tons of them Weds and Thursday night. My only concern was Jack becoming a condor snack but we kept him on leash and stayed close to him and took the best pics we could. They were always backlit and in super tall trees so hard to get pics even with the long lens. As a side note those trees had the biggest pine cones I have ever seen in my life and that’s saying something.

It was a great trip even though it wasn’t the best time of year to go and if you can I completely recommend going during the week in off season.

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

September 6, 2023 by Lee and Tracy

Sometimes That’s Just How it Goes

I don’t know about you but my life seems to go along pretty stable (which is why I haven’t written in awhile) and then BAM! everything happens at once. That’s what happened this last weekend, so I thought I would share.

It all started with the need to move the RV. In the LA area all of the RV parks make you physically move out of the property for two days once you hit 6 months. This is to stop you from being able to legally claim resident status which is a protected class different from “occupant”. They told us upfront that this would be required but unfortunately ours fell on Labor Day weekend so months in advance I booked a site at Pinnacles National Park and took three days of vacation because we actually needed to move during the week.

Two reasons for the during the week move. I could only get reservations Weds-Fri, and more importantly since I have no idea what site we would be coming back to (if any) I wanted the extra time just in case. You may be wondering why I didn’t know the site, well this park does not tell you if you can come back, or what your new site will be until you are off property. Since I personally witnessed a pretty ugly confrontation regarding staying here where the police were called I get why they do it, but as someone with limited options of places to stay and a fulltime job it was incredibly stressful.

To relieve some of that stress Lee personally visited every other possibility (there weren’t many) in a 50 mile radius and in every one of them the wait lists were long, and because we have a 40 foot RV our options were nil. This really put the pressure on, but we knew as a last resort our home is on wheels and we could leave the area completely but we only would do that as a last resort.

To add to that my company went through a round of cuts and my boss was suddenly let go and replaced by someone I didn’t know. Under the best of circumstances getting a new boss is tough (especially explaining our lifestyle to them) and this was not the best of circumstances. My brain was in overdrive trying to grapple with my new set of circumstances and the move was looming. Normally I would ask for an extension, but we had already got one the month before when Lee was working out of town so we simply had to move. There is no laxity in these policies, for legal reasons.

Then my mouth started hurting. At first I just thought it was stress related, but the pain was pretty intense feeling like I had a raw nerve. Turns out I had a really tough cavity filled over a month ago and the dentist said I might eventually need a root canal. Unfortunately it got worse and worse and the weekend before we needed to leave I went to see the dentist. He called in a favor and got me with a specialist but that guy said he could only complete half of the job. Well I had no idea if I would be able to come back here at all and I wasn’t thrilled about going through it twice, so he managed to squeeze me in first thing the morning of our departure. Not great but I honestly didn’t know what else to do and although the procedure itself went OK driving 6 hours with a swollen face was not great.

We finally made it to the National Park though and although I am going to write a separate post on that experience something in me simply loosened. No light pollution, hardly any people, and a break from the oppressive heat we have been experiencing. Jack lit up with all the new smells and things to see and I simply relaxed for what felt like the first time in months.

I simply relaxed.

When Lee called the park and found out we would be allowed back in I would love to say that made me feel great, but instead I was filled with a mild sense of dread. I was relieved sure that we had an option, but I was also pretty sure I wouldn’t like our site. Our rig is on the big side for this particular park and there were limited spaces, but it is also not full so I was hoping they could put me towards the back where the road noise would be less.

When we returned we learned that our site was right in the front with my desk window facing the street. Even with double paned windows the road noise is pretty constant and the occasional siren or screeching car is pretty unpleasant. On the plus side it is a HUGE level site and we only have one neighbor. I will just have to get used to the road noise. Plus they gave us a nice 22% discount off the monthly rate for being a good customer which we appreciated so that helps keep the costs down a little.

Many of you who either know me or have read this blog for years are probably wondering why on earth are we doing this. The answer to that is simple. Lee is trying to see if he can fulfill a dream and I am trying to support him in that. It’s not his fault the strike has been going for over 100 days or there are such limited choices for places to stay in LA. More importantly as his wife I want to support his career aspirations just like he has supported mine in the past.

Yes, as we get older it feels like time is getting short, but it’s also true that this lifestyle (for us) has been a marathon and not a sprint. And on the plus side (and yes I always try to look on the plus side) I can go to the nice dentist I found and get the crown put in and hopefully I can get a membership spot at the ceramics place I have been going to.

No its not perfect and frankly this is not a place I would normally choose to be in but sometimes that’s just how it goes.

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

August 1, 2023 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Getting the AC Units Replaced

I know everyone is dealing with heat this summer, but in Northridge , CA its been over 105 several days in a row. It’s weird because once you leave the valley the temps drop between 10-20 degrees, but where we are its been insane. Unfortunately our site has no tree cover and even with two air conditioners running constantly at times we were reaching 97 degrees inside the RV. Then the worst happened. The bedroom AC froze up and we couldn’t turn it back on.

In all fairness we’ve never had to replace an air conditioner so they are around 10 years old and we’ve definitely got our money’s worth from them. The bad news was that it happened two days before Lee left for a two week out of town work gig which left me dealing with it alone. Thankfully Lee was able to get a good repair tech to come out on Friday and we decided to replace them both while he was gone. The costs came in at a whopping $3712, but since the parts themselves are $1350 (total for two $2700 + Tax) I was willing to pay it.

But the parts weren’t available until Monday morning, so it was a long hot weekend for me dealing with the heat. If I didn’t have Jack I would have been able to just leave for long stretches of a time but instead I just tried for as little inside movement as possible and prayed the remaining AC would last through the weekend. Thankfully it did and as of this writing the repair tech is here and on the roof starting the work.

Replacing AC units can be done with just one person (our friend Bill has done it alone twice), but it requires a ladder and ropes to pull the boxed AC units up to the roof. Don’t unbox them before trying to get them up because the boxes provide some extra protection getting them on the roof. And really it should be a two person job. One of the roof pulling and another down below steadying the box. It’s also not something to be done lightly because you could seriously hurt yourself wrestling with these things.

You can see the ropes in this picture and them pulling the boxes up

To be honest even if Lee wasn’t going out of town I wouldn’t want him to do it. First off chances are you are doing this repair when its crazy hot, and secondly it would be done under pressure. Those factors aren’t a great combination for a non-professional even if it does same on the repair cost. IF we couldn’t find someone to do it though (which has often been the case with needed RV repairs) Lee would have done it and I would have had to help in whatever way I could. The boxes aren’t that heavy in the grand scheme of things but they are bulky. Plus you have to get the old ones down and since they aren’t boxed that can be tricky also although you don’t have to worry about damage. Still it’s not like you can just throw them off the roof.

As far as hooking the new ones up since Lee isn’t doing it I am not even going to attempt to explain how its done. My understanding is it isn’t that difficult and thankfully the repair person hasn’t made me turn off the power in the RV while he’s doing the work. We are turning off each AC in turn as he removes them but the main power so far has stayed on and I can run the front one as he replaces the bedroom. Since it doesn’t take long for the RV to heat up I am very grateful for that.

The hooking up was done inside and I like that he laid a tarp down. Jack wasn’t that crazy about all the activity, but I had the repairman feed Jack a treat in the beginning and that helped some.

Lastly by hiring a repair person disposal of the unit is included in the cost. Old AC units should be taken to special recycling centers and that’s one more thing we don’t have to worry about. As much as the cost hurts I am grateful that we found someone good to get it done and Lee’s work will more than cover the cost. As always I choose to be grateful for how much worse this could have been (happened after Lee left, the second one stopped over the weekend and I had to get a hotel room, etc) and I always think in these situations that if I owned a house it would have been much more expensive!

Filberto was so great. He would stop and ask if things were ok (like this bolt is tripped is it ok if I drill another hole. I said yes to everything because what do I know and he’s an expert. He was also extremely pilot which I appreciated.

Oh and a quick side note. I work for an HVAC company and they offer employees rebates when we buy their units. Turns out 20 years ago my company made Dometic products but the brand split off and is now its own company. It’s interesting though that the warehouse that probably made these units is across the street from our plant in Kansas. Small world. As much as I hate the heat and worry about global warning, it’s not the worst time to be in the HVAC field. Our stock prices have jumped considerably over the last two weeks as people and governments are coming to the realization that these temps are probably the new norm.

And hooray I have two brand new AC units and wow does it make a difference!!! I slept great over night and upgrading from the 1350 to the 1500 size really makes a big difference. For the first time in forever I am putting the fan speed on low and it actually feels cool in the house when I walk the dog. Yes it was pricey but totally worth it!!

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

July 19, 2023 by Lee and Tracy

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.

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!

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.

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

July 12, 2023 by Lee and Tracy

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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

July 10, 2023 by Lee and Tracy

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

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.

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

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 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.

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

Camper Chronicles

Travel Tales from Working Full Time RVers

Author: Lee and Tracy

Second Time in Sedona

Finally Getting To See Friends

American Museum of Ceramic Arts

LA Natural History Museum

Pinnacles National Park

Sometimes That’s Just How it Goes

First Time Getting the AC Units Replaced

Oliver’s Fourth Birthday

Channel Islands National Park

Richard Nixon Presidential Library