California2013

We started our trip On October 12th by heading over to Redding, CA to see our good friend Terry. Originally, it would have been on our way to Sacramento and the RVW Convention that we eventually decided to skip. We promised we would stop and see her on that trip so, a promise made is important and that's where we started out. The RV park was interesting - it was very nice but oddly placed in that you had to drive through a used car lot to access it. Terry came over and picked us up for dinner and then again the next day for sightseeing. We had heard about the Sundial Bridge and wanted to see that. Terry told us it was built strictly to attract tourists and it is working! It is only accurate one day a year - on the summer solstice. It was about 15 minutes off when we saw it which really isn't too bad, all things considered.

From Redding we headed west to Oakland. We stayed in Anthony Chabot Regional Park which was high in the Oakland hills. If you are a hiker, it was a great place to be but if you're not, there was nothing else to do near our RV. They only have 12 RV sites and there's not much in the way of parks in this area, so we were lucky to get in there. It was quiet and the night sky was beautiful! We did have trouble with our electric hookup there. We thought it them, but after getting home, found out it was us after all. We strung together two power strips out the window in order to be able to have coffee and toast. We did survive. We rented a car here. Don't believe Enterprise when they say, "We'll bring the car to you." They only do that if you are in the same town and nearby. We had to meet them halfway which defeated the purpose of not having to drive the RV to the car rental. It took us all day to pick up the car. Sigh...

First order of business was to meet Mindy, Janet's friend, in Oakland for lunch. We were feeling very Internet deprived and she was kind enough to let us bring our computers over and catch up at her apartment. In spite of us having our noses buried in our email for the first half hour or so, we had a nice visit.

The next day we drove into San Francisco to sightsee. We wanted to go to the Golden Gate Planetarium, but only succeeded in going to the Aboretum. There were some beautiful orchids displayed there though the butterflies, the main reason we went in, left a lot to be desired. We tried to go to the Planetarium, but there are no parking lots there, only on street parking, and we couldn't get close so we gave up an decided to head to Fisherman's Wharf. Our ever faithful GPS took us there via Lombard Street - the famous downhill street with all the turns. Thank goodness we were in a car and not the rig!

Fisherman's Wharf is a tourist trap, but fun. We looked around a little, got something to eat and I bought a tee shirt and we got a pin for our RV wall hanging. Then we headed over to Ghiradelli's for our ice cream sundaes.

From Oakland we headed down the coast - and yes, that means Big Sur! Janet was driving and I was hanging on, white knuckling it, though I did manage to get a few nice photos. I do not know if we will ever travel this road again, but if we do, I guarantee it will NOT be in an RV! We had planned to stop for a meal at Nepenthe which is where Janet took me for dinner the first time I came to California, but instead she turned left at Ventana. That is a lovely restaurant on top of the hill (or is it a mountain?) Janet was sure we had been there before, but I didn't remember it. She drove up the narrow driveway quite skillfully and gave the poor tourists who were leaving quite a start. We encountered a delivery truck or two and that gave me a start as there really was not a lot of room to get by one another. But, we made it and even managed to find a place to park.

The next day we were on our way to Los Angeles for a full week of visiting relatives and sightseeing. Originally, Janet wanted to drive down Topanga Canyon, but due to my previous skittishness, she opted for Malibu Canyon instead. It wasn't as curvy. Besides, it was overcast and the view wasn't great due to that. When we got to Highway 1 again, we turned north to see if we could find Zuma Beach. Janet remembered going there and body surfing. She thought Jim would get a kick out of hearing that she was there again. We found it and were shocked that it would cost $12 to park there - I guess because we took up two parking spaces. It's not like it was crowded - there was one other car in the lot, but it is what it is. As long as we were there, we might as well go swimming! We donned our suits, but then I put my toes in the water and that was all I wanted of going swimming. I am just not into cold water - or at least I try not to be in cold water!

After drying off and changing back into our clothes, we continued down Highway 1. We had tickets for the Getty Villa, but when we got there, we found out you can only turn into the parking lot from the northbound lane and we were southbound. So, cross that off the list. Besides, with the motor home I'm not sure we could have parked there. Next we pulled into the Santa Monica Pier. When we found out it would be $48 to park the rig, we pulled right back out again. We'll come back when we have our rental car. So we headed on down the road to Dockweiler RV Park which is right on the beach. It's a city run park with security and pass codes and it was great. We did find out it is right under the takeoff path for planes from LAX, but after the first day or so, we really didn't notice them. This park ended up being the perfect place for what we wanted to do. It was very centrally located and had easy access to the various freeways we needed.

This time, it was a little easier to get the car as Enterprise did pick us up. The bad news was they didn't have a little car like we ordered. Our choice was to either wait or take a big Ford station wagon. They gave it to us for the same price so we took it. It was a beautiful car and loaded with stuff we never figured out. It took us until the next to last day to realize we could put the back seats down to clear up the view that was being obstructed by the headrests. Better late than never.

Our first person to see was Janet's brother-in-law, Paul. He's in the football pool with us and several years ago, he sent us Superbowl Sweatshirts when he was at the stadium the game was going to be played in. That was so thoughtful! It was my first time meeting him and we had a delightful visit. He told us about his other, unwanted houseguest. An oppossum had gotten into the house when he left his sliding door open for the cat. I went in search of it and found it under his bed. Using a long stick, I shooed it out from under the bed and it ran into a corner in the livingroom. After a few tries, I managed to herd it back out through the sliding glass door. I'm not sure who was happier, that possum or Paul. We then went out for a lovely meal at a nearby Mexican restaurant and Paul also guided us to a Target so we could pick up some supplies. It was a great afternoon.

The next person on our relative list was Janet's cousin, Gordon. He lives south of Los Angeles but once again, it was an easy drive from our RV park. I had met Gordon once before, but it was quite a while ago. We went to his apartment and once again availed ourselves of someone else's Internet connection. He also helped us get tickets for Catalina and Knottsberry Farm while we were there and printed them for us. Thanks Gordon!

Now we can concentrate on our sightseeing! We actually started sightseeing the day between our visits with Paul and Gordon by going to see tapings of Jeopardy! We watch the show almost every night and after seeing an ad about tickets, I went online to check it out. The only taping we could get while we were in LA was on October 23rd so our arrival in LA was orchestrated around that date. I forgot to check back with them a week before the taping as required so I was afraid they wouldn't let us in, but we had no trouble. We were there for three shows, the semi-finals of Teacher's Week. We thought we would have trouble not shouting out answers, but the whole thing was rather nerve racking so it wasn't a problem for me at least. It turns out, they tape in real time leaving time for the commercials to be cut in. This allows them to re-record a question if Alex makes a pronounciation mistake. This happened at least twice. If anything else is amiss, they re-record that as well. If all is well, Alex takes questions from the audience. One was about what he likes to do in his spare time. In the course of that answer, he said he likes to iron. Come on over! It was fun to find out how the shows are taped, especially since Janet auditioned for Jeopardy back in 2006, but three shows were plenty.

After the taping we got some lunch and then headed downtown to the La Brea tar pits. Janet had been there years ago when that was about all it was - this one big pit. Now there is a beautiful museum there. We caught a tour of the grounds and learned that it isn't really tar, it's asphalt. And, it's still seeping up through the ground all around that part of LA. They are also still unearthing skeletal remains of all sorts of creatures and will be sifting through boxes of earth for many years to come. If we lived there, we'd probably both volunteer as it sounds really interesting.

The afternoon after visitng Gordon we drove back into Hollywood to go see Grauman's Egyptian Theatre. After all the volunteer work we have been doing to restore our own Egyptian, we wanted to see the only other Egyptian on the west coast that is still open. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get inside. They have a tour once a month, but not the day we were there. It is set back quite a ways from the street and we didn't see the marquee when we drove past the first time.

They do have some nice exterior paintings. Otherwise, there really isn't that much to see from the outside. Ours, when finished, will be nicer!

The next morning we were up bright and early for our trip to Catalina. We got to Long Beach a little before 9:00 for our check in with the boat leaving at 10:00. It was rather overcast as was much of our stay in sunny southern CA. Go figure. But, when the ship docked in Avalon the skies started to clear and our day there was quite beautiful.

The first thing we did was go play miniature golf. Isn't that what everyone does? It was a challenging course but not with things like windmills trying to hit your balls. They just had an intersting take on the general layout of the course. And, at each hole, they had a little bit of local history intended to get you to sign up for one of their tours. We liked the signs, but didn't sign up for the tours. After lunch we headed over to the casino. That is the huge circular building you always see associated with Catalina.

We were just in time for a 30 minute tour. The downstairs is a beautiful art deco movie theater - the first in the country built for both silent films and talkies. It is huge and the acoustics are phenomenal. It also has a working theater pipe organ that they use for the silent films. They still show movies here nightly with the feature changing on Fridays. The acoustics in this place are so good that engineers came to study it when they were building Radio City in NYC so that they could copy the acoustic design.

Above the theater is a huge, circular ballroom that at one time could hold 6,000 dancers. It has been modified since but can still accomodate 2,000. Instead of stairs, you use huge ramps to get up to that level. That is what they use to bring in all the supplies and furnishings plus guests. It makes much more sense than trying to accomodate thousands of people in a few elevators or have dancers climb 10 flights of stairs. The ramps came from Wrigley Field in Chicago which makes sense when you realize the Wrigley family owned and developed most of the island though now it is a trust.

The next day we went to Knottsberry Farm. I've not been there before. It is more like a typical amusement park now than in what was its original development. They have some huge, twisting roller coasters as well as an old-fashioned wooden one. We stayed clear of all of those. First we took in a show by a fellow named Marshall Purdy. We thought it was going to be a country western show, but this fellow does a one man act with songs we all grew up with like "Oh, Susanna" and "Home on the Range". He gets the audience involved and we have to say, we really enjoyed it! We got the lay of the land by going on a train ride around part of the park. Unlike Disneyland, there is only one place to get on or off. Then we tried out a couple of the rides. Being close to Halloween, the park was decorated appropriately and the old mine ride was supposed to have ghosts, but it wasn't very spooky. We also went on Timber Mountain where you are in a log and you land in water at the end. That was fun and not too wet. Then we went on one where you go through rapids in what looks like an overgrown tire. There is a sign at the beginning of that one warning you will get wet. Well, guess who the one that got wet was - the one who doesn't like to get wet naturally. That would be me. They had dryers - $5 for three minutes. Three minutes wasn't nearly long enough. In August, it would be nice to be wet. In October - not so much.

Our last day in LA we went back up to Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier. It was a cool, rather overcast day so Venice Beach was rather disappointing. There weren't nearly as many people there as we expected and little in the way of local color. We saw one lone guy using the weight equipment in one area. So much for "Muscle Beach". I got a nice tie dyed tee shirt with an embroidered dolphin. I've never had a tie dyed tee before.

From there we headed back to the Santa Monica Pier. This of course is very iconic. It was still overcast, but I enjoyed it in spite of the weather. We had lunch there and got to watch some football, then headed out on the pier to check out the rides. These too have gotten quite expensive unless you buy an all day pass which we didn't want. We did the merry-go-round and ferris wheel which gave us a nice overview of the whole pier. It is undergoing some renovations on one side to strengthen it for future years. We did finally find a reasonably priced pin for our RV collection here - it is the end of Route 66.

The next morning we headed south to Escondido and the Halloween festivities. This was our first visit to Jim & Sherry's new house (to us) though they have been there about two years. It took them quite a while to find a house and we had no idea that they were living amonst these huge boulders. They even have one in their house as the contractor didn't want to take the time, effort and expense to move or destroy it. So, it is in their storeroom. They were telling us how folks they met talked about a "penis" rock. When they first heard about it, they didn't realize they now own it - it's on their property! They also took us past one that looks like a huge burger - and they both do look like what they are called!

Their home is beautiful. However all the photos we have of it include Halloween decorations. I guess we'll just have to go for another visit! They were in the midst of decorating when we arrived so we jumped right in to help. The party was on November 1st and the last decorations were going up that afternoon. In between times we did manage to play nine holes of golf on a beautiful executive course near them, go to the movies and go watch Jim officiate a baseball game. During the game we were joined by Gavin, Jim's son, and his lady, Cassie. After the game we went out to dinner at a superb Chinese restaurant.

It took us two more days to get home, pulling up to the house the afternoon of November 7th. Something pulled loose on the way north around the muffler and it got pretty loud, but it was a refreshing change from the things we usually hear driving the rig. We had that repaired, got the gas tank fuel fill repaired, found out we did indeed have an electrical problem with a screw in the ground wire of the inverter and got that repaired as well as getting the seals around the cab over and roof recaulked. Then today we got "Jenny Too" washed and waxed. $1200 later she's ready to go to bed for most of the winter. We'll start her up once a month to run the engine and the generator and drive her 10 or 15 miles, but our next scheduled trip won't occur until March. Having an RV is alot like having a big boat - a hole you pour money into. But we had a wonderful vacation that we wouldn't trade for anything. 11/29/2013 Back to the 2013 page.