August 9 - Winding Down

We left Solvang about 8am today after spending several days shopping, eating and having fun with special friends we had not seen in 25+ years.  What a great time was had by all!!!

We left about 8am and arrived in Long Beach to have lunch with eldest son in Los Alamitos at Taco Surf on Los Alamitos near Katella.  Great food, great company.  Bill surprised us with his 65 lb weight loss....he looks GREAT!

After lunch we headed to Santa Ana to spend some time with my cousin Hillary. Such a sweet lady, who suffers with Alzheimer's.  She paid more attention to Howard than me...having fun flirting with him. She loves to whistle along with the music.  We visited with her for some time and then jumped in the car to head to Yuma AZ to visit our youngest.

California coastline near San Diego

California coastline near San Diego

We arrived in Yuma about 6:30 pm, grabbed some fast food for supper, visited for awhile and are now ready to drop in bed.

August 7 - Fun Day in Solvang

What a fun day we had today! Nothing like being with special friends we hadn't seen in years.  We started with Danish Blueberry Pancakes at Ellen's Danish Pancake House in Solvang.  We got our exercise by walking the streets, and shopping the stores, of Solvang.  For those who don't know Solvang is a quaint little town in the foothills northeast of Santa Barbara (about 25 miles).  We used to come here often in the 80's before moving from southern California and had not been back since.

After a short rest we headed to Andersen's Pea Soup for a light supper and then came back to our hotel for a few rousing games of "Chicken Foot".  We quit about 9:30pm and retired to our rooms for what hopefully will be a good nights rest.

This is where we ate Friday night in Solvang.

August 6 - Fun in Cali

Of all the places we have been this summer we have had THE BEST weather  in California! Monday was absolutely gorgeous as we toured the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.  Tuesday was just as wonderful as we kicked back and recupped from the previous day.  We also had lunch at Marie Calendar's in Camerrello and took a driving tour of the area. In the evening we met hub's sister & her hub's friends - enjoying Lemon Merrangue pie and lots of talk.

Wednesday we arose early, packed, snapped a couple pictures and said our goodbyes before heading north to Solvang.  We stopped for a couple hours in Oxnard for lunch with my brother at The Lazy Dog...great food and lots of fun playing 'catch-up'!  Tonight we met up with our good friends in Solvang. We went to 'The Red Viking Restaurant', a Danish Smorgasbord in the heart of Solvang.  Tomorrow we plan to do the touristy things and see how much damage we can cause and how much $$$$ we can spend/save

Howard and Dorothy

August 4 - Summer Trip - Phase 2

Yesterday we started phase 2 of our summer trip.  After recuperating from phase 1 we took off into the pouring rain and headed to southern California where we are now visiting hub's sister and brother-in-law.  We arrived here Sunday night after a 7 hour drive.  After a short rest we all went to Chili's for some supper and then came back home for some early shut-eye.

Up early this morning, we all headed to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley,...what a beautiful and interesting place.

    

July 29 - Reprieve Time

We planned to take a few days and stay away from the heat of home but our trip was cut shot when on Saturday night there was a large storm in Phoenix and we decided rather than stopping in Flagstaff we would go directly home and see if everything was ok at home.  We left Albuquerque early Sunday morning and arrived home to find we had not been affected by the storm (thankfully) although many of our friends had. What we did discover when we got home was a HOT condo.  The AC had gone out and it was 97 degrees inside (110 outside). Thankfully our condo association fees cover the AC (no additional cost to us) but being Sunday they could not get anyone out to fix it until the next morning.  We debated about getting a hotel room but opted to borrow a couple fans from our daughter, those plus our ceiling fans helped to make things bearable.  We slept in the living room with doors and windows opened - that helped.

The AC man showed up about 9:30 Monday morning and was working on it for over 3 hours (poor guy, we thought we were hot, can't imagine how hot it was on the roof!).  It took the better part of Monday to cool things back down but last night we were able to return the fans.  I spent most of Monday cleaning an empty refrigerator, doing laundry, dusting floors and furniture and repacking items for the next part of the trip.

We plan to leave Friday or Saturday and drive to California to visit #1 son, Howard's sister and husband, my brother, meet friends in Solvang and then stop in Yuma to visit #2 son on our way back to Phoenix.  We should be gone no longer than 2-3 weeks, if that.

I posted pictures of the first part of our vacation on my last post - below are more pictures from the 2nd half.  Be sure and keep reading as there will be more posts to come as we complete this phase of our 'Wanderings'.

Friends in Partlow VA

Savannah River (South Carolina)

Deer on our friend's property in GA

Friends in Georgia

Entering Tennessee

Relatives in Louisville

Ducks at KOA in Joplin, Missouri

Amish buggy in Jamesport, Missouri

Friends from Kansas in Jamesport, Missouri

July 26 - 27 Albuquerque, New Mexico

Saturday was a quiet day - we slept in and took it easy most of the morning and then we drove around Albuquerque checking out the sights.  The afternoon was nap time and then time to catch up on TV watching.  It was a fairly warm day but nothing compared to the 115 of Phoenix.  Tonight we went to an IHOP just up the street from us.  They give a 20% discount discount, which was a nice bonus!  As I type this it is looking like we may get some rain tonight and the wind is blowing which is cooling down the air immensely.

A small Baptist church is within walking distance of the campground and our plans are to go there before heading out of town.  After church we will leave for Flagstaff where we may or may not spend a couple days.  We are close to home now - just 400 +/- miles...we really don't want to end the trip but we know that we have to get home someday.  The good part about going home is within a few days of arriving home we plan to continue on to southern California where we will visit family and friends we have not seen in a long time.  We also plan to drive up to Solvang.  So just because this phase of our trip is almost over don't let that stop you from checking out this blog....it will continue as we travel when possible.

Some interesting pics from our trip (more pictures on tomorrow's blog)

Friends @ North Pole, Colorado

Mount Rushmore

Family in Appleton Wisconsin

Bed and Breakfast in Goshen, Indianana

Beauty in Streetsboro, Ohio

Family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

A Somber Time @ 9/11 Memorial

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Arlington National Cementary, Washington DC

July 25 - Albuquerque, New Mexico

Road from Kansas to Oklahoma

Yesterday we left Kansas City about 9am...we had only intended to drive a few hours and find another KOA or Holiday Inn Express....we ended up driving a lot further than intended. We finally pulled into a 'Days Inn' in Dalhart, Texas (just south of  the panhandle of Oklahoma).  I need to tell you this hotel was in STRONG competition with the 'Bate's Hotel"(not real name) we stayed at in Albany NY about 15 years ago. The little refrigerator in our room made so much noise we had to turn it off around midnight so we could see, the remote on the TV was minus a battery so did not work and the bathroom was so small one could hardly turn around in it.  We went for the complimentary breakfast this morning - 3 tables, 2 of which were empty and dirty.  I had to find someone to come and clean them off.  NO napkins, flies galore....I refused to eat.  Howard had a bowl of cereal. 

Crossing int Oklahoma

Texas here we come

8:30am we planned on staying at a KOA in Tucumcary NM but alas, since we haven't done reservations since we let home our luck had run out and they had no room for us.  Feeling that since it's Friday night maybe we'd better check with the KOA in Albuquerque and make sure they had a cabin for us...they did. We made reservations immediately and then drove the approximate 250 miles.  After unpacking we drove into town and found a WONDERFUL little restaurant called "Mannie's" - the food was delicious! Southwestern cuisine....yummy!!!

We'll stay here until Sunday and then head for Arizona....we're not sure we are going home immediately though...we are talking about staying in Flagstaff (where it's much cooler and less humid than Phoenix).  After resting a few days we are planning on a quick trip to California to see family.

July 22-24 More Kansas

On Tuesday we took a trip to Jamesport a nice area of Missouri about 90 miles from our friends home.  An old time small town greeted us with many antique and old time stores. After shopping for awhile we went to lunch at the Country Cupboard.  The place was 'homey' and the food was wonderful.  It also came in large quantities.  We ate so much it took care of both lunch and dinner for all of us.  While there we discovered I'd left my cell phone somewhere - so we backtracked and fortunately we found it (at the City Hall where we'd used the only bathrooms available to the public).  Frustrating but turned out ok.  From there we found a lovely Amish gift/craft store....filled was beautiful handmade furniture, quilts, crochet doilies, and other homemade items, we spent a good amount of time and money there.  What fun and interesting items we found.  I wanted another quilt but restrained myself, mainly because of cost.  I could have furnished our entire condo with all their furniture, I'm a big lover of Amish and their skills.

Driving Jamesport

Wednesday - Howard and Larry went to the World War 1 Museum in Kansas City, Missouri while Charlotte and I did laundry and other catch up items. When we met up about 2pm we were off to Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue....if you want the best barbecue brisket in the entire world you've got to go to this place.  So much food and soooo good.

Oak Ridge Furniture/Sherwood Quilts

Thursday - we were packed and on the road by 9am.  We are heading home much earlier than planned.  We've been on the road exactly 2 months tomorrow, we had planned on a minimum of 3 months...but things went much faster than expected, obviously. Tonight we are in Dalhart, Texas at a Best Western. We hope to get to Albuquerque, NM tomorrow where we understand they have one of the best KOA's....got this information from 2 different people (who do not know each other). Will give report after we've stayed there. Then we may stay in Flagstaff, AZ after leaving there and do some touristy stuff.  We haven't visited Flagstaff in over 15 years and it's not that far from us.  We REALLY do not want to go home to the hot August weather - today it was 116 in Phoenix.

July 21 - Kansas

Actually in Kansas but there was no Kansas sign,
will try and get one tomorrow

We arrived in Kansas City on Saturday the 19th and have pretty much been going nonstop ever since. Saturday was mostly filled with eating and catching up on several years of not seeing each other.  Sunday was church, Sunday school and then out to lunch (Italian food) with Larry and Charlotte an a dozen or so of their friends.   After lunch we came for naps and more chitchatting.   Today Charlotte and I went to the mall (I did not spend a penny!!!!) While the guys ran some errands, then we all went to Cheddars (wish they had these in Arizona) for an early supper.  While at the mall we went into a store called "The Lego Store'. I had never seen anything like it.  In the 'old' days when our kids were younger Legos were just coming out. We bought a box of assorted Legos and the kids used their imagination an built stuff from scratch.  Today everything is sorted down into boxes - "Iron Man", "Star Wars", Ninja,etc. ...there like putting a puzzle together.  Totally amazing!  But in thinking about this I thought 'where is the imagination in all this?"  I was appalled also in children's clothing stores to see skinny jeans and crop tops for kids as young as 3-4 years old....no wonder when these same girls turn 13 they are trying to act like they are 21 - what happened to t-shirts and simple t-shirts or cute little dresses?  OK, off my rant for the day.

Tuesday we will be going to Jamesport a small, local Amish town  in Missouri.

The weather here was great the first couple of days but today has been a lot more humid....hoping it is not too humid tomorrow.

July 20 - Nothing Like Camping

Couldn't resist when I saw this on Facebook - although we are not totally camping we are staying half our nights in KOAs which are a camping-like atmosphere

July 18 - Musings as We Wind Down

What a whirlwind it has been.  Although we thought we planned it for a good 3 months +. we are now discovering we will probably be home by mid-August at the latest....maybe somehow we can stretch it out to the 30th but it looks unlikely.  We've visited with friends/relatives for so long that I'm sure some of them have felt we wore out our welcome.  We've done a lot of 1, 2, 3 night stays in KOA's so we could see parts of the country where relatives/friends did not live.  We've also stayed a night or two at Holiday Inns.  We're headed tomorrow to our friends in Kansas City where we will spend several days  After that it will be a slow trip home.  We have mixed feelings about ending this but it's been an awesome time and we are looking forward to getting back to normal....just wish it would cool off in Phoenix before we get there.......110 temps do not appeal to us.

And although the 110+ temps and monsoons/haboobs/rain) does not appeal to us it's much better than the humidity we've discovered in the east, south and mid-west!  Our few nice days - weather-wise - were in Joplin Missouri.  We had cool temps (cool enough for a light jacket) and drizzling rain.

Our next stop is good friends in Kansas where we plan to stay until Thursday....we always have such a good time with these friends we have no doubt it will be more fun and laughter.

Some pictures from various places....

Phone Booth in Ohio

KOA in Sheppardsville Kentucky

Fireworks in Georgia

Sunflowers in Kentucky

  

July 16 - This and That

When we started this trip we began with the intention of relaxing, visiting friends and seeing parts of this beautiful country we'd never seen before.  We are well into our 7th week on the road.   The trip will probably not be quite as long as we first anticipated....but it will be no less fun than we expected.  We watch the news on TV and aren't in any rush to get home....much rain and monsoons there.

We are currently relaxing in Missouri....we're having beautiful weather here...the temps have been in the 60's and 70's compared to the 90's we had last week in Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky.  It's truly kick-back time!  Our cabin overlooks the lake and ducks run free....it's so fun because there are even a mommy and daddy duck with six babies  As well as sitting around and feeding the ducks we took off for a few hours, had lunch at Cracker Barrel , then Howard went to the movies "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" while I took in some serious shopping at the Joplin Missouri Mall, and outer shops. 

Ducks Out for a Walk

 Mama duck and baby ducks getting ready for feeding;
ducks in back talking over other things

 One happy duck....hmmmm, 6 happy baby ducks and a coupe happy female ducks