2020
The fun started with a 2 week trip to Southern CA. I headed down 101 and spent the first night in Petaluma, a little north of San Francisco, arriving there on January 25th. On Sunday I proceeded the rest of the way to Caliente Springs resort in Desert Hot Springs. A bunch of my ORVW friends have tiny houses there and spend the winter months where it is sunny and warm. I had a beautiful house overlooking the 9th hole of the resident golf course which I got to play on Tuesday.
Kathy Okay took me for a ride on a 4-wheeler out on the desert where we stopped to look at an old bed spring that Patti Knight and some of the other gals have been decorating for the holidays. It still had New Year's decorations on it that day, but they were getting ready to change those out for St. Patty's Day as I recall.
In addition to the ride on the desert I learned a little about pickleball with Kathy, Kelsie, Marjo and Jeanette. We had lots of fun lobbing the ball back and forth but I still have no idea what the rules are. Some day...
A bunch of us went out to dinner and also to an estate called Sunnylands that was very interesting. Owned by the Annendale's and almost like a CA White House. Lots of political meetings were held there in the past.
I played golf in the ladies group on Tuesday. It was a shotgun start and we started on hole #2. 7 of the 9 holes had water, but you could play around the water by starting on a different tee which is what I did. I think this was the 3rd time I played golf this year. On #1, there was no water. I had a great tee show, landing on the green, and hole the putt for a birdie! I got my name up on the birdie tree for the year along with a round of applause.
This is a bench President Obama presented to the President of the People's Republic of China at Sunnylands in June 2013.
Jeanette, Marjo and I had fun exploring the grounds with the beautiful succulents and sculptures.
From there I headed over to Escondido to visit Jim and Sherry in their beautiful, remodeled home. We went to see Cassie and Gavin for dinner and I got to meet my new, great-niece Savy who at that time was just shy of 5 months old. She had peas for the first time while we were there. She wasn't so sure she liked them on the first spoonful, but by about the third she was wolfing them down. Cassie introduced her to sweet potatoes about a week later and she liked those even more!
Friday Jim, Sherry and I played golf at a nice course near where they live. It had Lawrence Welk in the name though I'm not sure of the situation that had it named that. We played 18 holes which I was not expecting, but we stopped for lunch in between the first and second nine which worked out well. Saturday we went to the San Diego Wildlife Park which is affiliated with the San Diego Zoo. It's closer to Escondido though. It's very similar to the Wildlife Park in Winston, OR that I have been to many times though it is much bigger.
Sunday was the Super Bowl and Jim and Sherry hosted a party at their house. I got to meet a couple of the people in the football pool that I'm in every year. This year, I did very well in it - won 5 times out of 21. One of the guys was teasing me about finding another pool to be in next year. I got to see Savy and her folks again and got my photo taken holding her. It's not like I know anything about babies - I don't! She is a cutie pie!
Monday I took off for San Luis Obispo to spend two nights with my friend, Terry. She was Janet's friend before mine, but we have stayed in touch. On Tuesday we headed up Highway 1 to the viewing area for Elephant Seals that is just south of the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse.
The seals are there now with the females nursing their pups and coming into heat for the next breeding cycle. The males are there to breed. The pups are still rather small and we saw several who didn't look like they were going to make it. A docent told us that between 8 and 18% each year die for one reason or another. One reason might be the 5000 pound males climbing over the top of them trying to snag a female. We saw one pup that had his head stuck under the male and he was flaying to get away. He finally did, but it was a close call.
On the way back to SLO we stopped in Morro Bay. The rock is impressive every time I see it and this time I spotted a couple of sea otters in the bay. That is always a treat.
From SLO I headed up Highway 1. This time I stopped at Hearst Castle and took what I call the Tour 1. They call it the Grand Rooms or something like that now. It is different - you don't go in a guest house any longer and the movie is shorter than it was. It's also silent. I do think it did have narration by the guy who made it, but now the guide tells you who people are. Then they allow you to wander the gardens til you want to come back down the hill. The tour was never let on its own when I worked there.
From there I headed up Big Sur Highway. I only stopped once to take a photo, but I sure did enjoy the vistas and seeing it again. This was sort of a memory tour for me - revisiting places I'd been with Janet. I had hoped to stop for lunch at Nepenthe where Janet took me for dinner the first time I came to visit her, but I was running late and I also wanted to go to the Monterey aquarium so I skipped the restaurant. When I got to the aquarium, I only had an hour and a half before it closed, but that was enough time to see the new exhibit about Baja. The first thing I saw though was the otters as they were being fed. Yeah!!
The next day I wanted to go to the Giant Artichoke for breakfast. Janet took me there to have deep fried artichoke hearts. I think it was more an excuse to eat mayonnaise. At least that's what we always said. It was almost 9, but they weren't open! There was no indication of when they would open so they lost me and two other customers that morning. I drove through town to find another place to eat but didn't so headed back to the highway. I passed the Artichoke again and they were now open but, too late - I was in the wrong lane to turn.
That day was one of driving and I got to Eureka and the Motel 6 there for my next stop. I thought I might look for a movie, but I was tired and just went to the diner next door for dinner and called in a night. The next morning I headed up the road with home my final destination. It's always pretty to drive through the redwoods and this time I decided to stop at Confusion Hill. We'd driven past it many times, but never stopped. It's a tourist hole from back in the 50's or maybe earlier. Someone built a building on a slant and they try to convince you that down is up and up is down. I have to say, when I put the golf ball where they said, it did roll and it did appear to be rolling up hill. There are some beautiful old trees there and it was worth a one time stop.
175 miles from home, an error light came on telling me I needed maintenance. What??!! I had the oil changed just before I left. And of course, I only had 20 miles left on my warranty at this point. Well, I kept driving and went straight to Coos Bay Toyota. It turned out to be a warning they couldn't turn off before it got to the specific mileage even though there was nothing wrong. Phew. When I got home, I had driven 2221.6 miles and averaged 40.0mpg. I thought that incredible. Also incredible was the beautiul amaryllis that greeted me when I came through the door.
Thus came the end of my CA adventure. I had a good time, saw lots of good friends and made a few new ones.
Sadly, my friend, Gayle, who was supposed to do the first part of the trip to Desert Hot Springs with me, passed away the day after I got home at 10:30 that evening. Rest in Peace, Gayle. Love you!
A week after I got home, I had hernia surgery on the umbilical hernia I've had for a couple of years. I had no idea the aftermath of that would be so painful! It took me 4 weeks to feel like a normal human being and I'm still bruised but the Dr. said everything looks fine. Suffice it to say I will not being having hernia surgery again!
My 70th birthday was on March 11th. Wow! I honestly never thought I'd reach 70 when I was in my 20's and 30's. I had a lovely lunch with friends at the Plankhouse and then also got to have a birthday dinner with other friends at EZ Thai. Then we went and played Idiot and I won 3 of 5 hands. A good night indeed!
And then shortly after I got home, I found out that our governor has instructed that all large gatherings be suspended for 4 weeks due to the Corona Virus pandemic. I'm not especially worried for myself, but things have certainly happened in the last 4 years that I would have never in a million years foreseen starting with Trump being elected and now this world wide pandemic that is being so poorly handled by our government.
April 17th - I've been home a month now with very little contact with friends. My days aren't a whole lot different than usual, but I do miss the activities I do have. And I wonder how we will all come out of this. Will we learn anything from our mistakes in all of this? I'd like to think so, but I have my doubts.
The rest of 2020 has been stay at home, wear a face mask if you go out and socialize at a safe distance. No hugs or close contact. On June 25th I bent over to pull a weed and did something to my back. Eventually, I found out I herniated a disk between T12 and L1. I had surgery September 22nd and at the end of October was able to go back to Physical Therapy. I did that until the end of January. My back improved a great deal though I still have pain from the old lumbar injuries in 1993. Getting old is not for sissies!
