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.