From Weed to High Street, Snowball fight in July and Zebra stripe eyebrows

We left Weed, CA and headed for Crater Lake, Oregon. Made a brief stop for groceries in Klamath Falls and ended up on High Street. I thought that was pretty funny. Mark, not so much. I guess I am easily entertained. (shrug)

Love the downtown area of Klamath Falls, even if it was a bit of a blur. We drove through without stopping; maybe next time. Today we have an agenda. Do Nomads have agendas?

Next stop; Crater Lake Resort. Best site in this park was #15, full hook-ups and on the river. There were approximately 5 sites along that stretch, all with full hook-ups, but #15 was the largest and best situated. All the spots along the river were booked well in advance. Our spot, #6 was good though, it faced out on a grassy field. We had lots of room and privacy.

I got out of the rig to guide Mr. Nomad into the site and about fell to the ground as the smell of pine hit my nose. The pitch had been warming in the sun, melting and oozing, releasing its amazing aroma. I had to hug a tree. And I did. Oh, soooo much better than the smell of vehicle exhaust and pollution.

We set up, making sure to set up outside as well; outdoor rug, chairs, tablecloth, awning. This was definitely a place to be outdoors more than in. We were in a site that did not have sewage hook-up, (raspberries) so the only downside was no showers. (Well, you could walk over to the restrooms, they probably had public showers available. (Bigger raspberries, add nasty face). First no bathtub, now no showers . . . next my hair will be dread-locked. Did I spell that right?

I was overcome with nerves. Five years ago I made friends on Facebook with a gal in Alabama. We started chatting daily and soon became fast friends. Sunday, 7/20 we arranged to meet in person for the first time! She was just as nervous as I. Now that it is all said and done I wonder, why all the nerves? We already knew we were friends, what would meeting in person do that could change that? Well, I suppose if she had picked her nose and ate it in front of me that may have been bad. Ha ha ha…When the moment came, we hugged and immediately pulled out our phones to document the moment. “Click”

 

We spent an amazing two days together. Her husband (Don) and grandson (Tyler) came with. We hung out at the RV the first day . . .

 

. . . then headed to her house for dinner where I enjoyed one thrill after another. They had set up a surprise birthday party for me; balloons, decorations, cake, prezzies and all! I can’t remember the last time I had a group of people sing Happy Birthday to me! It really caught me off guard, in a good way. (I blushed! I have olive skin, I don’t blush easily!) We had a great dinner, followed by my first (and not to be my last) RAW cake. Yum!

Surprise!!!

Beautiful!

I got to meet Fat Man, Tater Tot and Tinker Bell, her goats, as well as her two Guinea pigs, two tiny birds sitting on eggs in a cage in her house and the two dogs; Sierra and Oscar. The cats did not show for the party. Cats. They were out partying with the giant teddy bear in the barn. I am sorry I missed seeing that!

This is, from left to right; Tater Tot, Fat Man, Tinkerbell and Bean (My nickname for Cheri)

Tinkerbell is a fainting goat! She started to stiffen up when Bean pulled her out to introduce us.

I am so glad she didn't faint. I'd have taken it personally!

The second day of our visit we all piled into the car and headed to Crater Lake. I must say, one thing Oregon does well, is impress with natural beauty. Wowie-wowzers!

We drove around the whole lake. Stopped at the gift shop where Tyler the rock collector, added some beauties to his already impressive collection.

Yep, he'd have brought this one home too if he could find a way!

And hard to believe, but on this hot summer day in July, I got into a snowball fight and lost to a 7-year old who clocked me in the head. Grandma was smart enough to run. I didn't see it coming as I was too busy loading up to get him!

Making the plan . . .

Score! Right on target!

It was really hard to say good-bye. I wish we were neighbors. We plan to meet up again next year while we are both traveling in the same area. Meanwhile, back to our daily chats on-line.

During our visit, some treasures were found. Here are Tylers:

Some choice rocks

 

  An abandoned, felled bird nest

      

My treasure finds:

Stone that resembles bear paw

Puddle in bathroom stall that resembles Cotye's head (tilt your head left)

Tree with heart on knot

And lastly, Cotye's treasure:

New friend, Auntie Bean

Before you know it, we were on the road again.

Cotye grabs a toy for the next leg of the trip

I pictured life as a Nomad very different than how things have been so far. I saw us meandering, whimsically down a sunny, flower lined road, music playing in the background like a movie, us stopping to sip from a pristine river long enough to spread out a blanket filled with nuts and berries to nosh from. Whoa … put on the brakes (music screeches to a stop).

Is this a hail storm? It is SUMMER!

Where are all the flowers? 

We have to do what?

Be where, when? Ugh. 

What is it with all the schedules? 

Do Nomads have schedules and agendas?

The Tumbleweed needs an oil change. Then the Tumbleweed needs its screen door fixed. Cotye and I wait patiently. Scratch that, Cotye and I wait quietly. Neither of us felt very patient. It had been a long day.

We do have fun wherever we travel, so this is not a complaint; more of an observation. Responsibilities follow like a shadow. You can’t shake them no matter the lifestyle.

Next stop on our Nomadic Agenda was Sisters. The first night we pulled in and got set up just in time for a huge thunder and hail storm (and barrage of pine cones being blown off the trees). I was screaming as loud as possible and Mark could not hear me over the storm. I was holding Cotye at the time, who was not as bothered by the assault from the outside as he was my screaming…until I started laughing. Poor little guy was very confused. The worst was over as quick as it came, but the thunder and lightning seemed to circle for hours. Wet, dark, yep, we were back in the northwest!

The campground here is forest-like, but on a busy road in town. I don't have the name of the park as there were no pamphlets. I think it is the Sister's County Park? If someone needs me to find out, let me know. There is no office. Self pay. It is, however, on a nice bike trail and is very clean, but way too close to, ahem, in the middle of a neighborhood. Next time we are in this area, we will look for another place.

Tonight we made arrangements to meet with our youngest son, Josh’s, soon to be in-laws. I got caught up in working on my blog and the time got away from me, so I really had to rush to get ready. As I looked in my magnification mirror I spotted white eyebrows. NO! Have you seen my eyebrows? They are blacker than a black hole! I quickly went for the tweezers and plucked it out, only to find another and another…by the time I was done tweezing, I had a big empty spot in the middle of my left eyebrow. Great. Perfect for first impressions! Head slap! I pulled my bangs over my eyebrow and hoped for the best.

As we hopped in the car to head to the restaurant, we realized we had no idea what they looked like. I had a light bulb moment. When we reached the restaurant, we sat in the lobby with a sign that read:

 IS YOUR DAUGHTER MARRYING OUR SON? 

They found us. At least we think it was the right couple we spent the evening with! We shared stories; a lot of them fishing stories, pictures of the wedding location, good food, beautiful surroundings. It was a very lovely evening. And then they brought up “tweezers” of all things. The big tip is, the best tweezers in the world, Grandpa’s Tweezers, are available right here in Sisters, Oregon at a little shop called The Hen’s Tooth. Do you think they noticed the hole in my eyebrow? Oh my head. That’s it, no more plucking out the white eyebrows. Zebra stripe eyebrows, I’m starting a new trend. Watch for it!

Meanwhile, see you two in Washington soon!

And with that, I say good day. It is 1:15 a.m. and tomorrow is a travel day, with a cruel early check-out time. And hey, you Washingtonians, ix-Nay on the ain-Ray, will ya? We're on our way!

WEED the People

Good-Bye Red Bluff, California. On our way out of town, we looked everywhere for a ‘red bluff', or a sign that there had once been a red bluff in the area - Nothing! Yeah, they bluffed us alright! 

I got on the internet to see how Red Bluff got its name, but couldn't find a hint or a clue. Oh bother. 

Short trip today as we head to a little town named Weed. Hey, l wonder if the people who named the town of Red Bluff had recently come from a visit to Weed just prior to naming their town? Just a thought. 

Meanwhile, here are a few fun facts about Weed. (Heehee, not that weed!)

Weed, California

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Weed is a city located in Siskiyou County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the town had a total population of 2,967, down from 2,979 in 2000 . . .Weed is about 10 miles (16 km) west-northwest of Mount Shasta, a prominent northern California landmark, and the second-tallest volcano in the Cascade Range.

Weed's city motto is "Weed like to welcome you". It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.

 

Notable residents

·         Mario Pastega (1916-2012), businessman and philanthropist, born in Weed.^[33]

·         Pamela Courson (1946-1974), long-term companion of Jim Morrison, vocalist of The Doors, born in Weed.

·         Aaron Thomas (1937–present), NFL player, tight end for San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants, grew up in Weed, and graduated from Weed High School.

In popular culture

Weed is mentioned in John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men (first published 1937) as being the town that George Milton and Lennie Small are fleeing from at the beginning of the book.

In the WWDC 2014 Keynote, Apple Inc. engineering executive Craig Federighi displayed a map of locations in California that Apple could name its OS X desktop after, and Weed was joked as a location.

Ha, I feel like I'm back in school, writing a book report. I was stunned to see Mt. Shasta; the snow is so sparse it is nearly unrecognizable.

I grew up drinking Shasta soda, so the image of the snow topped mountain is very familiar to me.

Apparently they no longer have that image of the mountain on their cans . . . which I guess was a good marketing move for them if Mt. Shasta turns out to be a tropical destination!

The little town of Weed has an adorable walk-back-in time setting. The locals appear to have fun with the name of their town, as seen on billboards and names of businesses. One of my favorites was GRASS AUTO MECHANICS . . . (they veered just slightly from the obvious, and this made me chuckle.)

Here are a few pictures from our drive from "No Red Bluffs In Sight", CA.

A Rainbow of Trucks

 

                     50's style Motel & Cafe              Craggy Rocks

 We are currently tucked into our site for the night at The Friendly RV Park here in Weed. It is an odd little place. Empty at the moment but the owner says it fills up fast in the evenings, being right off the freeway. We'll see. 

We are both pretty tired tonight so hoping the "late check-ins" are 

not loud party-ers! Wow, we really are old, aren't we? 

We even ate dinner at 4:30 p.m. today! Sheesh!

(Hon, what river do we live on at the moment?)

Today is our Twentieth Wedding Anniversary!

Started things off a bit slow today. 

Just before we packed up to head out, I accidentally took my evening pills instead of my morning pills; slept the whole three hours from Lodi, CA to Red Bluff, CA.

I awoke to find our home sitting on and facing a river. 

('Hon, what river do we live on at the moment?')
 "Sacramento." Nice!

We are in site #100.

This is the Durango RV Resort, complete with Spa amenities, 

which, yep, we booked at the same time we booked our RV site. 

Nice dog runs, a doggie wash, well kept, plush grounds, tennis courts, and more. If you are not on a river site there are 'fountain sites' down the middle. 

 This place is a bit spendy, which may explain why the park is fairly empty and the rigs that surround us are all top-of-the-line beauties.

We just returned from 90 minute massages. I am a puddle of relaxation. Isn't it sad when a massage has to end?  Had to exit via a long flight of stairs when done. This was not an easy task with rubbery legs. I told the staff a slip-and-slide option for the recently-massaged would be a better idea, but I don’t think  they took me seriously. Um, I was totally serious.

Well, the Mr. went to pick up some restaurant take-outs. We are starved, all oiled up and rubbed down from the spa. Going out sounded, well ~ like a big hassle. So tonight we eat in. Relax. Drink lots of water.

Tomorrow we'll go out and hit the town, or is it paint the town? I am such a lump of clay at the moment, I can’t even figure out what generation I should be  speaking. Have a great evening! 

I know we will!

Leashed to California . . . Breaking free, for a few months

We have had invisible forces working against us as we have tried and tried and tried to cut free from California. Finally, ignoring several “issues” we hit the road any way. Here is a visual of a couple minor set backs . . .

                                     

Me; complications from February knee surgery. Mark practically knocked himself out and bled all over everything when he hit his head on a sharp part of the sky. Ice pack wrapped in towel on bloody head does not deter him from chatting on the phone. Chatty chatty.

These are just inconveniences. There is still a bigger health issue tying me to my doctors...waiting for approval to leave town!

Whoa, good news! I just got a call from the doctor advising that I am cleared for travel. Especially good to know since we are already on the road!

Dear Northwest, we are headed your way!  A little later than planned, but we nomads aren't concerned with dates and times, right? Wouldn't that be ideal.

However, doctors don’t play by nomad rules.  I have to be back in Santa Clarita in October. Therefore, we have to cancel our plans to spend the winter in Florida. 

Hey, if that's the worse news that comes out of all this, I'm good with it! Florida isn't going anywhere. We, on the other hand, will find some other places to explore.

And...I realized that I have been skimping on pictures. Here is our site (#185) at the Anaheim Harbor RV Park, poolside.

And as promised, the best view of Disneyland’s nightly fireworks I've ever seen.

      

Not really a dog park there though, they share the grassy area designated for the children’s playground area. Poor kids! Even if the doggies are picked up after, there is sure to be residual messies left behind for kids playing on the grass. Ew.

I am going to start making notes on each RV Park we visit; listing the best features and site numbers to reserve. With my memory getting 'full' it will make for a good reference later on if we wish to revisit sites or refer friends, or for you readers if you should cross a path we once traveled.

When we stay in Valencia, we like the Valencia Travel Village RV Park. Anything on row A faces the pool, and is near the store and laundromat. The lower the number the better, i.e. A1, A2, and so on. They are also pull-through sites, which we like best.

Today we pulled into Flag City RV Park in Lodi, CA. Haven’t had a chance to investigate the place yet so updates tomorrow...although maybe not. We are only staying the one night. Not sure how much time we’ll have before we head out in the morning with tomorrow being our 20^th Anniversary! Seems impossible since I'm only 38. Mark really robbed the cradle!

We have reservations at an upscale RV resort and spa, with appointments set for a 90 minute couples massages upon arrival. Yeah baby!

As I have mentioned nearly every travel day, they are exhausting. Plus after dinner I baked a cake. Why? Because. Now if I don't go crawl into bed, I shall pass out on the sofa. 

I will log off with a few pictures of the younger loved ones enjoying their California vacations. (Had to steal a few photos from family as I lent out my phone so we could all keep in touch while in Disneyland).

Scarkett, Lightening McQueen, Parker
The car talks...it IS alive!

Parker chillin' California style

Josh and the soon to be Mrs. Monica Randall

Becci, Asher, Scarlett and Parker

The Sound of Silence

Has it really been six days since I blogged? I am literally hanging my head in shame as I type. I do have a good excuse, really I do. I have been held hostage by two small children; four medium-sized young adults; three Senior Citizens; a dog and a Mouse (M-i-c-k-e-y).  Not complaining. No time. No time for breathing much either. But it’s all good. Oh who am I kidding…it’s like a sitcom family Thanksgiving get-together. (She says with a wink and a smile)

At the moment I am sitting in the RV and the silence is deafening. It is kind of scary actually, somewhere there are nine people very close by and yet there is no noise. Did the rapture come? Did I get left behind? I now understand the phrase “the sound of silence”.  

Best not to investigate. If it was the rapture and I am still here, I'd rather not know. Or if I peek outside, and they are nearby, someone is sure to notice me and there goes my stolen moment alone to post. 

This week we are staying at the Anaheim Harbor RV Park and in my opinion we have the best site in the park (#185). We have a nice grassy lawn and then the pool right outside our front door. PLUS Disneyland's nightly fireworks take place right above our heads. We have a better view of them here than if we were standing in the park itself!

I think I have seen more fireworks this trip than in my entire life totaled up. Lobster and Fireworks, two things I could never tire of. (Strange combo; I just visualized a lobster exploding mid-air and it wasn't pretty!)

Time is flying by much faster than seems possible. Josh & Monica, Nana & Lyle all leave on Thursday. Then Asher and his family will leave on Saturday. 

Thinking maybe I should record an hour of random family time today, just to play after everyone has left. The sound of silence can be soothing but it can also be a very lonely thing.

Oops, they found me. I will post pics in a couple days. Apparently we are about to watch "Frozen". 

Hey, are there leeches in rivers?

Let’s see, how can we tell we are getting closer to Mexico?  

We are actually in San Diego. 

Not sure if this little area has its own name, however since it is right on Mission Bay, that is what we shall call it. 

I can tell just passing through this town on our way to the Camp Land on Mission Bay RV Park, I would love it here. 

We’ll have to come back when we can spend more time and explore these artsy shops and cafes.

It is my favorite combo of;

beachy - surfer - boho - laid back 

atmosphere that makes my 

heart smile.

The RV Park here is really just a huge paved parking lot but it is very well organized and has a lot of trees so you don’t really notice. Every spot is a close walk to the beach. There are four pools, a well stocked Market, a restaurant, laundry facilities and a game room next to the laundry, just in case you have more quarters you’d like to throw away. 

Between the four of us, we didn't have a pair of undies to share, so it was time to hit the laundry facilities. 

        

The game room turned out to be a great distraction for the children, and was a wonderful means of squelching the whining from not coping well with the lengthiness of such a boring chore.

I, however, kept up my end of the whining until the awful chore was completely behind me.

To say it lightly, I detest Laundromats. So when discussing the aspect of full-time RV-ing, I obviously wanted the washer/dryer unit. But Mark wanted the storage. (Our RV came plumbed and ready for a washer/dryer unit, as well as set up for an outdoor entertainment center, that we have yet to acquire).

We now have plenty of storage for appliances we don’t use, and we get to go to the public laundry once a week. Hoping Mark will get sick of this routine rather quickly and I'll get that unit sooner rather than later. I would love to be fully self-contained. I guess it will also depend on how long we decide to stay full timers.

Looking forward to our first out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere trip where Mark gets to pound his clothes clean on river rocks. (Maniacal laughter...silenced only by the realization that he'll have ME doing this, not him...Hmm, thinking maybe a few leeches in the boxers will do the trick. Wait, do rivers have leeches? Drats!)

Meanwhile, back to Mission Bay…The beach has great sand for building castles, making sand friends or just digging your way to China for some good take-aways.  No waves, just fresh saltwater air.

There are also tons of noisy, bright green parrots that are very hard to capture with my phone camera. (Hint; birthday is almost here. Maybe it is time for a big girl camera???)

Can you spot the parrot in this tree?

Neither can I, but I know it is there because I watched it fly in!

With four pools all linked together, the kids could spend all day hopping between them.  

Scarlett is like a fish that only comes up long enough for air. 

She had me take a photo of her eyes so she could see how red they were. (Mum, those freckles are a mere figment of your imagination, go back to whatever you were doing).

Parker checks back every 5 minutes looking for food. Look at that little belly! Does he look underfed to you? 

I cannot imagine the cost of feeding him when he hits his teens. 

Poor parents (literally!)

They usually come out shriveled like little white raisins.

This is the only RV Park in California we have found to date that allows campfires. Not to say there aren't more, just that we've never found any. 

The kids roasted hot dogs over the fire for the first time, and later made S’mores; fun American traditions they won’t find at home in Australia. 

Just as we enjoy learning Aussie traditions while we are there, it is fun to share with the kids some of the things their daddy grew up with.

.

Scarlett is not fond of the smoke...such a little Princess.

We are right across the bay from Sea World, which every night sets off fireworks from 9:50pm to 10pm. Last night Scarlett was able to stay awake late enough to see them. (Parker, no way, ZZZzzz)

This is our last day here in Mission Bay. Next stop is Anaheim, where we will have other family members meeting us for a Disneyland Adventure the kids will never forget. 

Plus, it will be great to have the 'parents' back from their missions trip so that us grand-folks can catch our breath and enjoy not having to be the ‘enforcers’ any longer, just the spoilers, as it should be.