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.