Thank God It's Friday!

Slept in this morning and ate cold cereal in our room....then took off to check out the sights of 'beautiful downtown Laughlin'.....not really a lot to see as Laughlin is just a one street town - the main drag. We are located kind of in the middle of 'town'.  We have an Outlet Center just catty-corner from our hotel so we wandered around in it.  There was also a movie theatre in it with movies playing around the clock. Hubs found one he would like to see, while I walked more of the mall - picked up a couple things I didn't really need but what the heck + items are fairly inexpensive here, especially clothing and costume jewelry.

Hubs got out of the movie about 11:30 am....and we headed back to the Edgewater Casino Buffet (half the price of the dinner Buffet).  Now we are EXHAUSTED and hubby is taking a nap while I play around on my computer playing catchup on organizing photos, writing this blog, paying 1st of the month bills while thinking of quitting and taking a nap :)

Interesting tidbit: the reason why we are eating at the Edgewater is because the hotel we are in (Colorado Belle) is doing remodeling and their buffet and some of their restaurants are closed during the remodeling. Tonight we'll either being eating peanut butter/jelly sandwiches in our room or going across the street to an In and Out Burger (amazingly it's the only fast food place that we've seen that is not located in a hotel).

Moi and my sister Susie  @ Bass Pro Shop

Howard at Bass Pro Shop 

The two of us

Thursday's Travelings

We left Lake Isabella this morning, we were not impressed with the KOA where we stayed and it was sad not to see the water that should have been in the Lake.  We're highly disappointed in California's KOA's....none of the amenities that other states' KOA's offer.  This one did not even have many trees, there was one bathroom (with several stalls), which really wasn't very clean, for the entire facility. The only thing good about it was the yummy pizza place they had on site. We only ate half of it though....put the rest of it 'on ice' but don't have a way to reheat it so will probably have to toss it :(

We drove quite a ways today - from Lake Isabella (far West end of the Sequoia National Forrest) to Laughlin, NV.  It was miles and miles of nothing.....one small town (Barstow) and one VERY small town (Needles).  We loved visiting the Train Depot McDonalds in Barstow...the inside looked like a railroad train and not only housed McDonalds but several other stores/eateries.  It was located on the same property that the Amtrak train uses. Interesting concept.

We arrived in Laughlin NV about 4pm - staying at the Colorado Belle, which is built like a steamboat and backs up to the Colorado River. Exhausted we managed to get settled and had dinner in a Coco's restaurant inside the Edgewater Casino.  Friday we will do a buffet either for breakfast or lunch (depends on when we wake up!).  The Colorado Belle has no buffet so we will wander over to the Edgewater again.  We hope to take off through the one street 'strip' and do some shopping and sightseeing.  We're also talking about taking a boat down the Colorado River.

We are getting mighty close to home and it's too early - we've got at least 2 1/2 weeks left of the time we set aside for this trip.  We may do some camping in Flagstaff.....although according to the Phoenix weather it seems the temperatures have come down quite a bit....was only 93-95 there today.

Scenery Between Lake Isabella and Barstow, CA

McDonald's Train Station  Barstow
(Sorry about Iphone in mid picture)

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Lake Isabella

SELFIE taken by moi

Ye gads, haven't posted since last Friday when we arrived at my sister's in Manteca (California).  We left there this morning and were going to stay in Yosemite but entrance was limited because of fires yesterday....so we drove down to Lake Isabella, in the Sequoia National Forest, found a KOA and are 'holed up' here for a couple of days.  California has the worse KOA's!  All last summer we stayed in KOA's with A/C, small refrigerators and cable TV (we were spoiled!)....but this KOA has no cable/TV, no refrigerator and has limited AC....only so much per hour.  It's HOT here...thankfully we brought a small tabletop fan from home.  We do have internet access here too....thankfully!

We spent several days with Susie's (my youngest sister).  We didn't do much but hang - we had dinner out a couple times, BBQ'd on Labor Day, hit a couple of larger retail stores (Target, Costco, Walmart) and then went home and talked and talked, and did some more talking.  We also went to a Bass Pro Shop (hubby loved that one).  It was fun visiting, talking and seeing everyone...she lives with her 2 grown sons and her oldest son's daughter.   Time flew and I hope and pray it's not another 23 years before I see them again! (might not live that long)

We left about 9am Wednesday (today) morning and

enjoyed the (non) sights along Interstate 5 (sure not as picturesque as the coast).

Tomorrow we hope to drive around a bit and find some pretty  spots to snap a few shots, if we get some good ones I will share them with you soon.

Thursday and Friday Doings

Thursday we just "chilled it" while Kevin went to work and Felica  (my cousin) went to a meeting at church and then to a memorial service. I did laundry and catch up while Howard read.

Friday it was on the road again...we wanted to drive the coast highway but ended up taking the 101 Freeway, which was probably just as well since many people take off early on a holiday weekend (Labor Day). We arrived at my sister Susie's house about 3:30pm (had not seen her since 1993).....played a lot of catch up, talking and sharing pictures and memories.

Today we'll run some errands, check out the area and do some sightseeing, and then just catch  up on OLD times.

Lake along highway 152 between 101 Freeway
 and Interstate 5 in California  

Luna (taken by our favorite  dog sitter, Kim

Busy Day and Other Happenings

Wednesday was one BUSY day....my cousin (her hubby had to work) took us on a tour of Atascadero. It is a small city about about 250 miles south of San Francisco and very close to the Pacific Ocean (10 miles)....we had breakfast at their son and daughter-in-law's cafe "McGee's" right on the main strip of town and then took a larger tour of the city - it's small town America right in the middle of California!  There is not even a larger shopping mall!  It has corner  strip-type malls but to get to a Target or Walmart you have to go to the next city north which is about 10 miles. We drove by their church, their daughter's house, as well as other points of interest in the city.  After this we drove home for a quick lunch and then took off for the movies....I haven't been to the movies in about 12-13 years but hubs goes regularly (hard for me to sit still long enough).  I really enjoyed this movie 'War Zone' and would recommend it to all.  There is a small theater in town but nothing good was playing so drove to San Luis Obispo to see it (15 miles) and it was well worth the trip!

After the movie we drove down to Morro Bay, had Mexican food for dinner, and watched the sunset. Morro Rock was just as stunning (truly God's working!).  We then toured the state beach where my family did some camping back 100 years ago when I was a kid.  The sunset was GORGEOUS (again only God could have done this!).  One of the things we love most about traveling is seeing all these awesome places!

We were exhausted, went back to my cousin's home and fell asleep early!

09.02.2015 Sunset over Morro Bay

09-02-2015 Morro Rock

09-02-2015 Morro  Rock

Central Coast Hopping

We spent Wednesday night in a KOA about 8 miles n/w of Santa Margarita, a quaint LITTLE town in central  California  just north of San Luis Obispo.

Just checked Wikepedia and it said:

Santa Margarita is a town and census-designated place located in San Luis Obispo County, California.^[2] It was founded in 1889 near Cuesta Peak and San Luis Obispo along State Route 58.  The population was 1,259 at the 2010 census.

There were a half dozen stores: one antique store, one liquor store, one small gas station that had a small grocery store attached, and a couple of other small stores.  We ate in a cute little restaurant, that was one of 3 in the town, called 'The Porch Cafe'....great food. Charming little town just a couple miles inland from the ocean.  Not too far from Morro Bay.

The KOA was not the best we've been in and it was a

little pricey comparatively. We were disappointed that our cabin did not have A/C, a TV, refrigerator like all the KOA's we stayed in last summer.  It had only one electrical outlet which held 2 cords....couldn't even charge all our electronics  we had!  :)  Plus it cost twice as much as we paid last year for a KOA.  (we are not sure if all KOA's have upped their prices, or if CA KOA's just charge more)....we experienced the higher prices at the KOA in Banning when we first started out on the trip (ended up not staying there because in addition to the higher price they also required a 2 minimum nights stay). Nevertheless, we had a wonderful stay there last night with cool air and nice breezes....couldn't ask for nicer weather....we slept with windows opened. (We do recommend though that if you are interested in camping in this area that you check out the California  State Park that is just a half mile pass the KOA on the same road.  You will get a cheaper rate, although we don't think there are cabins).

Wednesday we left early and headed for Mary's cousin's in Atascadero. We spent a little time sightseeing in the morning and then arrived here about noonish.  It was great to see my cousin and visit with her...it's been years since we've had time together.  In the evening there was a birthday party for her daughter and she was here with her hubby and 4 boys.  Felicia's (my cousin) son and his family were here also as well as others.....it was a lot of fun seeing extended family and meeting new people.

Tonight we are EXHAUSTED!  It's off to bed and hopefully sleep late time.  Felicia has lots of plans for us tomorrow.

Just Pictures

This Blog was originally started to share stories and pictures of events while traveling...this year my new MacBook Air has put a glitch in sharing the pictures.  I'm still trying to learn this computer, I only had it a week before leaving on our trip and it's a big change to move from a windows based computer to an Apple product!  I take pictures using my iPhone and my Tablet.  I've finally figured out how to access the pictures on the Tablet but am unable to get them moved from the IPhone (problem is I'm still on a learning curve with the IPhone....only had it a couple months.  The first load of pictures I took after starting the trip were all on the IPhone.....the last couple of days I've been using the Tablet.....those on the IPhone will have to wait until I can figure it out but today I'll be posting some of the ones I took with the Tablet....I'll date and ID them to make it easy for you. These are some of the pictures we took Saturday at the Car Show in Solvang....so many beautiful old cars it was impossible to get all of them.  ENJOY.

 

Again, these are the vehicles from the Solvang Classic Car Show on 8/27/2015
All Rights Reserved (2015) Do not use without expression form Mary Warren

Later this week I will try and post additional pictures from this past week that I was unable to get up. Pictures of my sister-in-law, her husband, my niece, her husband, the hubs, my brother and sister-in-law and the beautiful boat he works on, as well as our one night at Point Mugu camping.  

Lazy Sunday Doings

After a great nights sleep we got up to cool weather and overcast skies. Saturday was HOT (over 100) ....today it's in the high 80's/low 90's, we slept the last 2 nights  with the a/c off and the window open.

This morning we drove out to Lake Cachuma, where we use to camp when the kids were little, and sat talking about  all the memories we made there in years past.  The lake is strictly drinking water so no sminning, water skiing or anything like that.

After visiting the lake we came back to our room for a short rest and then walked to a restaurant where we had lunch. Then off for a half hour stroll around the park and town and back to our room for a rest.  Like I said in a previous  post the town closes down at 5pm....so we'll just sit here, relax, enjoy each others  company, maybe read, and hubs will watch the Raiders /Cardinals game.  Guess who he is rooting for? It isn't the hometown team!!

More manana  (did I spell that correctly?)

Saturday Morning Musings

We've been on the road since Tuesday morning and we've finally made it to Solvang (one of my favorite spots in California). We arrived here yesterday afternoon to be greeted by a group of people who are involved in a large Antique/Classic Car Show being held on one of the streets in Solvang today.  Tons of the owners staying at our hotel.  The picture below shows just a few of them in the parking lot of the hotel.

We spent a day and a half in Thousand Oaks with hub's twin sister (their birthday was Wednesday) visiting with them and their daughter and her hubby who were visiting from PA.



We then spent several hours with my brother and sister-in-law in Oxnard....a lovely lunch overlooking the ocean and a tour of the yacht he works on plus a tour of the hills in Oxnard/Ventura with awesome views of the ocean.   It was a beautiful day and we had a lovely time.

We also got a night in camping at Point Magu.  This was REAL camping...no RV for us - although we did sleep in the back of the van on a futon mattress (too old to use sleeping bags and get up and down off the ground!).  Met some wonderful people (husband, wife, 2 little girls and one in the hatch) visiting from Barcelona, Spain.  They lived in MN for 4 years and then drove here to visit parts of CA before taking off on a plane to go back to Spain.  Love traveling and meeting different kinds of people everywhere we go.

We'll spend yesterday, today and tomorrow here in Solvang and then head north to visit friends and relatives.  Be back with more tales/pictures tomorrow hopefully.

First Day Out

We took off this morning at 10am....after dropping Luna off with her favorite (and only) pet-sitter (our lovely daughter) we hit the road making it to Banning CA about 2pm (for those who don't know Banning is just west of Palm Springs).  It rained on and off most of the trip, nothing heavy just drizzles.  While on our way we checked out the 'collapsed bridge' (caused from very heavy rain early this summer).  Both sides of the highway were down to 1 lane but all the traffic (which wasn't a lot being a weekday) flowed right through with no issues. We could see where the damage was and the work that was being done. Thankful we were not traveling this road when it collapsed.

We arrived in Banning where we had reservations at a KOA but we were not told we had to stay 2 nights and it was $110 per night.  We left with no loss of money on the reservation.  We really like the KOA concept as it's inexpensive (usually $45-$60 per night for a cabin that sleeps 4, has a/c, and a refrigerator).  But we were really disappointed in this KOA.  We drove back into Banning and found a Travel Lodge (not our favorite but there was availability and it is situated right next to a Sizzler Restaurant, which used to be one of our favorite places to eat).  It's OK, clean...friendly staff....and it has FREE wi-fi so I'm a happy camper!

Tomorrow we head to Thousand Oaks to visit hub's twin sister and her hubby and their children/grandchildren/great grand children).  Looking forward to an afternoon of just visiting.  We will then head west toward the ocean where we have reservations at Point Mugu (close to the ocean). Probably won't have internet access there so may not be blogging the next couple of nights.

Rain is expected the next couple of days - appreciate prayers for our safety.

Having nothing better to do while hubby drove - i practiced taking 'Selfies' of myself.  This is one of the best.  I keep telling my hubby and kids I need a 'Selfie Stick' for my Christmas present but they just laugh at me :)

Trip Preparations!

YAY! Nothing like waiting until the last minute to tie things down....we have reservations made for this week FINALLY made....we'll leave Wednesday morning the 26th and visit hub's sister and then stay at Point Mugu State Park (on the beach) Wednesday night/Thursday night - we'll have lunch with my brother/sis-in-law on Thursday....then we will go to Solvang and spend 3 days  there at the same hotel we stayed at last year. Getting excited as the plans firm up!

P.S. Plans have been tentatively changed to leave tomorrow (Tuesday, the 25th) and spending a night in Banning (outside Palm Springs) so we don't have such a long drive on Wednesday.  This way we can spend more time visiting hub's sister.  This also means I need to 'high-tail" it and get moving on packing for the next few weeks, plus move around a couple other things that need to be taken care of!

The Trip Begins (AGAIN)

Crazy summer....as stated in the previous post we'd had many car problems this year but we're assured the van was in good condition to make our 5,000 mile +/3 month trip.  We started out the end of June on a typically very warm day and made it to the Palm Springs area where we spent the afternoon visiting friends.  We then drove up to Idyllwild (in the mountains just south/west of Palm Springs).  After 'communing with nature' and resting up in the nice cool mountain air headed out on the remainder of our trip.  Next stop was to be Thousand Oaks where we were going to spend some time with hub's twin sister.  But that was not to happen!

(right to left) Hubs, moi, Dave
(hub's best friend from days gone by)

On our way down the mountain the van's engine light came on and the van started running rough.  We prayed our way into Riverside (the next larger city) and found a Hyundai dealership.  After checking the van out thoroughly and running a diagnostic on it they showed us a list just short of a 'mile long' of things that were wrong with it.  After doing some repair work, which set us back another $500, they told us we could make it back to Phoenix but did not recommend a trip like we had planned.  We took their advice and came home....not happy campers but thankful God had taken care of us.

Fern Valley Inn - Idyllwild, CA (this is where we stayed)

After arriving home we took it back to our mechanic and they insisted nothing was wrong.  If we would like to spend some more $$$$ they would be glad to fix something that didn't need to be fixed...Noooooooo, we don't think so we said.  Just to be safe we took it to another mechanic and were told the same thing our mechanic had told us.  VERY frustrating, to say the least.

Not feeling real comfortable about starting out again we decided to wait and see what the van did this summer....taking some trips of 200 miles and just driving around town.  No problems at all.  We feel comfortable now that we can take a 5 week trip with no problems hopefully.

Wednesday the 26th we will head out.  Please pray for safe travels.  We'll head back into California, through Riverside (we hope), and onto Thousand Oaks for our visit with hub's sister/husband.  Then we will head north to visit my brother in Oxnard.  We hope to spend a few days at Lake Cachuma (a popular family camping site when the kids were younger) and get into Solvang again (see earlier post from last summer to read the history of it).  By the first of next week we will head further north with details to be told at a later day.

Pray for us as we travel and that our health and van hold up.  Looking forward to sharing our travels, pictures, and thoughts as we go through this adventure.

Here We Go Again!

After an up and down couple of months with our summer trip being on-again/off-again we are FINALLY about ready to leave. The last few months have been full of unexpected as well as regular doctor appointments, emergency surgery for the hubs, and a myriad of car problems.  After a cracked radiator, a blown head-gasket, and a leaking gas line we are praying the van is ready to make this 5,000-6,000 mile trek.

We got the van back this past Monday (after it being in the shop for 12 days this final time) and we're ready to pack it up and move on with the summer....just in time for Phoenix's infamous 110+ temps (last week we had a day or two of 114-115 degrees).  We are being told our monsoons (rain and dust) are ready to roll in the first of the week.

We leave Saturday morning early and our first stop will be in Idyllwild, CA.  If you've never been there it is a lovely town tucked up in the mountains west of Palm Springs.  We use to pack the kids up and go camping there.  This time we will be spending 2 days in a cabin with all the amenities, relaxing and enjoying the cooler temps. We will be visiting with friends in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area while there.  Then we'll be off to beat the holiday (4th of July) traffic through Los Angeles...and visit hub's sister and brother-in-law in Thousand Oaks and then my brother who lives in the Ventura area.  We'll be spending a couple of days hanging around the streets of Solvang and enjoying one of my favorite little towns in California....wonderful Danish shops and, of course, lots of delicious eating of Danish pastries!   

I'll chat about our times in these places as we go through the week.  As we continue our trip I'll keep you all updated as to where we are, who we are visiting, and what we are up to.  Pray for us as we start our travels.

This is the route we will be taking....

('K' on the map is our start and finish points)

Happy New Year and Vacation Plans

With the new year we begin to think about vacation plans for the summer.  We had so much fun and positive response when blogging about our trip last summer that we want you all to know our New Year's resolution is to do it again this year.

After reviewing the trip last year we decided two things 1) we left a little too early - we had planned 3 full months and maybe a week or two more.  But the best laid plans of mice and men don't always go the way we want - we were home by mid-August (we had left Memorial Day weekend).  As most of you know August and September are the hottest and wettest days of the summer in Phoenix. This year we plan to leave closer to the 4th of July and be home by late September.  2) Although we did a lot of sightseeing and went to places we'd never been, we spent too much time hurrying to get to the next place on our agenda.  This year we plan on taking it a little slower and being gone a full 3 months.

some of our sights from last summer
(sorry goes too fast, must learn to master this)

Our plans are to visit the far western coast of the United States - from San Diego all the way up to the Canadian border. We have plans to be with family and friends, time for just the 2 of us and plans for lots of sightseeing. While in California we hope to visit our son in Long Beach, my cousin in Yorba Linda, hubs sister and brother-in-law, my cousin and my baby sister.  We also hope to travel through and stay at some of the awesome National Parks (Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings River).  We plan to continue the trip up into Oregon where we hope to see my dad's sister, Aunt Shirley and her children (my cousins).....it's been several years since seeing them. From there we'll go to Washington state (visiting more friends), over to Idaho (where my mom was born and spent some of her youngest years), Montana (to see Glacier National Park), then head south - down through Wyoming (Yellowstone), into Colorado, New Mexico, over to Nevada and then down home. If you live in any of these areas, or are just visiting during this time, and want to get together let's work on making that happen! Email or private message or call or leave a message below and we'll see what we can work out.

Be sure & bookmark our blog: www.WanderingsOfTheWarrens.Blogspot.com by clicking the link and then right clicking to save the page. I'll try and post here when there are updates so all you will have to do is click through. I did find sometimes last summer that I would forget this last step....so just be sure to check it out occasionally.

For the next few months I'll just be updating this blog occasionally....be sure to keep an eye out for the updates....once the trip starts I'll work hard to update daily.