School's In Session

Next update RV trip planned around Christmas

Now for the Paso Robles Wineries

On our last day, the temperatures were perfect. The high was 80 and the sun was shining. We decided to drive to Paso Robles to visit some wineries. We packed our lunch and other snacks and embarked on 45 minutes of beautiful scenery.

We began at J Lohrs winery. You earned your visit on a road that was probably laid 50 years ago. We actually had to pass a gigantic grape harvester on the road. It is huge, and drives over the grape vines. A sign that harvesting is around the corner. Gerald likes the blend of the J. Lohrs wine so we stocked up. This is a nice small winery.

Our next stop was Eberle Winery. The construction was a little tricky to get into the winery. It did not stop the masses. The winery was quite busy. They had tours every half hour for the man made caverns down below. We spent quite a bit of time at this winery. They were harvesting grapes and mashing their viognier grapes. This was a dog friendly winery. On our arrival the winery dogs were roaming around the entrance. Lexi liked this and asked if we could go to more wineries with dogs. The picture is Lexi with Cabernet, the black poodle.

When we arrived back to the trailer we had a snack and tasted our wine selections. This was a great last day. Time to drive the 12 hours back to reality.

Let's Talk About the Food

I just want everyone to know that everything here tastes a million times better than at home! When we lived at Vandenburg AFB, we would go to farmer's market sometimes more than once a week to get our produce.

On this trip we went to a few farmer's markets. We also went to the Old West Cinnamon Roll for cinnamon rolls. They are the best, we would always stop by when we lived here. The picture above is fresh berries and oranges we picked up at the farmer's market. We reheated the rolls each morning in the oven with our percolated coffee and fresh fruit. Delicious!

The SLO farmer's market was very busy on Thursday. We were so weighed down by what we bought that we had to leave early. We bought carrots, spinach, oranges and berries. I cooked the spinach the next day with just butter and salt. Lexi added to the meals ambiance with a scowl and the statement, "I don't want any spinach". I told Lexi it was from the market and then after she gave it a try was selling it to Gerald about how good it was, and how he has to try it. On a side note, wilted spinach is my favorite and I should have just eaten it and never said a word to the now converted spinach lovers.

I thought the farmer's market would suffice for the trip, but I needed more. I had to go to the farms that provided all this good stuff. It was apple harvest time so we went to the orchards. The road to the orchards was a 5 mile narrow winding road. This was going to be an earned visit.

Before I begin, you have to visualize that it took 10 times reversing and pulling forward to just get the F-250 out of the parking spot in downtown SLO. It was like a moray eel trying to wiggle out of its cave. A slow and long process. The smug Prius owners who were waiting for the parking spot, were probably sneering at our very gluttonous choice of vehicles.

Now we were on a winding road, along a creek, and crossing bridges that only allow one car at a time to cross. Cars continuously came the other way around the mountainous bends. The only time we screamed was when we were facing our equal match, another F-250 coming the other way. I thought the tow mirrors were going to have a kissing moment, but we made it through. Of course, the mailman was also delivering the mail with his truck parked on the side. They say that mailmen have an easy job. I can tell you that mailman has the most treacherous route.

It was all worth it in the end. The cider was probably the best I have ever tasted. I am not a cider lover at all, until we lived in the Central Coast. Lexi was asking about it and I told her my traditional, I don't want to share statement, "You won't like it." She is learning that means you really want to try it. I think she figured this out a long time ago at See's candies. The apples were so good and sweet it did taste like candy. Anyway, we did that trip again because I needed more cider.

Bob Jones Bicycle Path

Each morning Max and I go on a bike ride. The path is named the Bob Jones pathway. It starts at the KOA and it is an incredible path to the beach. I read that in the future the path will start in San Luis Obispo and end at Avila Beach. Currently it is around 2.8 miles one way. It is an incredible ride that doesn't feel like you have ridden over 5 miles when you are done. I decided to take a pictorial of the trip so you could virtually ride with me.

It couldn't be a more perfect ride. You ride along a creek, by the apple orchards, through a golf course and then end at the beach. What could be more perfect.

Tourist Attractions

It started to rain so we stayed in the area and went to a few local wineries. We started collecting our bottles of wine. Wine tasting isn't the same with an 8 year old. After the initial excitement of the very cool gift shop(picking up everything glass and telling us the price) and wanting a $7 tiny candy bar we started to enjoy ourselves. We went to Leticia and Edna Valley Vineyard and found a few bottles, but nothing that says, "Wow, you NEED a case of this!" The pourer, who also doesn't like Chardonnay, said we needed to goto Paso Robles for the grapes grown in a hotter climate so the berry flavor comes through. We are planning to go there on Friday when the vineyards have their cave tours and BBQ's. We checked the weather that evening and it said that the pouring rain would continue for the next 24 hours.

Lexi said she wanted to goto Hearst Castle and started to recite all the cool things she learned on the last tour. We made reservations for Tour 2 of Hearst's private rooms, office, and kitchen. We started our journey early and stopped at Costco for a jacket and soup for dinner. Then we stopped at Morro Bay to feed the seals. Lexi liked this last time and insisted we returned.

We arrived too early for our tour at Hearst castle. The Park Ranger gave Lexi a Junior Ranger activity book ,and that helped passed the time. The tour was incredible. We were with a small group of 12. At the beginning of the tour, everyone said where they were from and we were the only ones from the U.S. The crazy part, the people did not know each other. We had people from Germany, Wales, the U.K. We have been feeling like we are the only Americans here, especially at the RV park. Everyday, the caravanning Europeans swarm the RV park with their RV rentals. The men wear interesting outfits such as tight capris and the women all need their bunyons and teeth fixed. During the tour I was so shocked to see this ladies crazy big toe going over all the other toes, and the fact that she was actually wearing sandals. Oh, I know I can wait for government health care!

We loved the tour and the Europeans had great questions. One group was into antiquities and the others had toured many castles. Normally, when someone has a question, I am thinking in my head, "oh great, another stupid, irrelevant question that the docent can't answer or just told you and you weren't listening". I get this all day at work, I really don't need this when I just paid $24 for a tour. The Europeans had toured the castles in their country and were asking questions about the ceiling and all of the Europeon art that the churches sold to the wealthy Americans after the war. There was this statue of Madonna in Hearst's bedroom and they asked about the artwork. The statue is valued as the most valuable piece of art in the house. We are talking about thousands of pieces of art and this was the most valuable! The docent said it was a gift to Hearst from a friend. The docent wasn't even going to tell us that, if he hadn't asked. They really added to the tour.

My favorite room was where Heda Hopper would stay. It was in the tower and above the pool. The docent said that the voices from the pool can be heard very well in the room. Probably, a good source for information for her gossip column. We also liked the library with all the gates and locks to protect the books. The story behind this was Charlie Chaplain was misusing a book and holding it over the pool, then the locks were installed. It was a great tour. I can't wait to do tour 3 covering the Art Deco rooms of the castle.

Life Is Always Good at Avila Beach

We were sitting at Joe Mommas Coffee house that overlooks Avila beach and the worker said to another patron that "life is always good at Avila Beach". We thought he couldn't be more right with that statement! So far, we have biked to the beach everyday with Max. We love the Bob Jones Bike path. It is paved and meanders by the creek and apple orchards. It is about 2 miles to the beach but it doesn't feel like it. Max sleeps very well at night and is behaving like one of the Dog Whisperers followers. It must be the beach air and his daily 5 mile run.

Our schedule has been pretty laid back. Everyday we goto the Avila Valley Barn. The barn is across the street from the KOA. Lexi feeds all of the animals and we get fresh fruits and veggies for the day. We make fun of Lexi that the animals will starve if she doesn't stop by for the day.

We did goto Ciopinot for a fabulous meal. Lexi loves this restaurant and immediately requested crab and the chocolate mousse. Crab was not available(our wallet was relieved). She did get the chocolate mousse all to herself and only let Gerald have a little bite. Gerald and I enjoyed everything and went home so happy but miserably full.

Gerald had his traditional Central Coast nap in the afteroon. No sun, and Gerald can't stay awake. We know this from when we were stationed here. Lexi and I took the truck to the beach and to the pier. Of course, in our haste to leave, we forgot the camera. The tide was out and we were able to walk to the cliffs. A family was walking the other way and asked if we had found any sand dollars. In all my time on the beach I have never found a complete unbroken sand dollar. I want you to know this was a quest of mine. We said no and they gave us a perfect sand dollar! They said they had already found three and we could have one. Wow! Lexi was happy and I was shocked. I also thought they may have bought them at the store.

Lexi and I walked the 100 year old pier to the Old Porte Inn. I was not driving on it in the big truck. We checked out the prices for the fresh seafood and of course watched the sea lions sunbathing. There is this sign that cautions people that the sea lions bite and aren't friendly. Of course, there was a family that opened the gate and was on the stairs with their 2 year old who could haplessly fall onto the sea lions. The sea lions were barking and warning them not to get any closer as they took each step closer. The family spoke and they were from England. At least it confirmed that there are dumb parents worldwide and not just here, like the media implies.

Banning to Avila Beach

We took two days to get to Avila Beach. Towing through California isn't easy!!! Small gas stations and parking lots with limited entry and exit points were challenging. We made it here with a drive time of over 12 hours. We made too many stops. This time we are travelling with Max and it was challenging at first. Within the first hours in the middle of the desert Lexi found a tick on him. Gerald was driving and there was no where to pull over so Lexi had a life lesson of pulling the tick off of Max. I was pretty much grossed out thinking we have to be in the cab for 4 more hours with the tick dog. The first thing on the to do list was to purchase a tick collar. We stopped in Banning for the night. The KOA was nice and very rural.

We got in the car early in the morning to get through Los Angeles before the traffic. We made good time and made it to Buellton around noon. We stopped at our favorite restaurant Andersons. We were craving their Monte Cristo sandwich and famous pea soup. The fog was really thick on the way up so we couldn't see much of the ocean. As we entered Buellton the sun came out.

We arrived at Avila Beach around 2pm. We unhooked the trailer. The KOA is pretty empty and we have all the spaces around us to ourselves. We went on a bike ride to the beach. The path is paved and starts right behind the KOA. It is a 30 minute ride to the beach. Lexi played and Max slept very well when we got back.

Back in Arizona

(Happy Birthday Jimmy!!!!!)

After a sleepless night in Provo, we were on the road. We found out that the train tracks ran alongside the Provo KOA. I never remember the train running through the day honking its horn!!! We were on the road at dawn. I think everyone that was there for the night was packing up to make some distance between that place.

We stayed on the Interstate and made good time. Then it was back on Highway 89, a two lane road that weaves through picturesque country and small towns. The road will take you to two National Parks, Bryce Canyon and Zion. We will return in October to these parks if California is still boycotting us.

On our way, we stopped for lunch at the Three Bears in Kanab, UT. The service was a little slow but you could smell the homemade bread baking . We had some really good sandwiches. Next time we will save room for their ice cream.

We stayed at the KOA in Flagstaff. It was a great place to stay. The park had an entrance for hiking on a mountain and felt very rural. Although, the mall was less than a block away! We were equally happy when we found out that the KOA had a liquor license. We had our drinks and Lexi had the park. The park had this round about. I haven't seen one in years, probably because they were deemed unsafe. As you can see from the picture it was the rage.

The next day we ordered breakfast from the KOA Kitchen and they delivered it to our trailer. We will definitely be back.

Wind Turbine Blades

I forgot to put these pictures on my blog. We saw all of these trucks in Idaho and Utah. The trucks were parked at various places along the road.

I had no idea what they were carrying but of course Gerald knew. They were each carrying one wind turbine blade. The trucks could only travel at night due to their size. It is hard to imagine how big they are when you see them working on the hills. The cabs of the semis look like Matchbox cars next to them.

Another Sunday in Utah!!

I thought we could go out for fireworks without dying of heat exhaustion. We were in Provo, Utah for the night. I had a difficult time getting a 1 night reservation for the holiday. We had to stop in Provo at the KOA. As we were leaving Yellowstone I noticed the price seemed awfully low for July 4th. I told Gerald, "I don't know about this place, $32 seems really cheap." Then I told Lexi how you get what you pay for. This lesson was going to be all too true!!!

The KOA was in downtown, which is the first scary revelation. A campground in the city? We took the wrong turn and went through the ghetto of Provo. It wouldn't be a wrong turn without 1 way streets, with cars parked on either side. We maneuvered our way back, because there wasn't a parking lot big enough for us to do a U-turn.

As we entered the KOA we saw a creek and a nice park surrounded by more ghetto. I went inside the office to check in. There were two older gentlemen sitting around, while the teenagers ran the desk. I have never been to a KOA where we weren't escorted to our spot. I figured it was to protect their grounds. Well, this was the tightest spot we had ever been in and we were on our own. These jokers never left the building except to smoke on the front porch.

We drove around the campground and parked. All I saw was scariness. As we were getting out of the truck I told Gerald, "do not unhitch, we are out of here at dawn". We started to notice that all of the trailers had permanent utility posts. That meant these people permanently lived at the KOA, in their trailer down by the river. (see top photo of meter, there were a lot of cobwebs underneath his trailer)

Gerald and Lexi took a walk to check out the park. After his walk around the park he said that this park adjoins to a really bad mobile home park. The laundry and pool are shared between the KOA and the park. He said he witnessed a drug deal transaction, and another family tent camping in their Sunday best, reading their bibles

I went to the office to see if we could find some fireworks and get out of the campsite of deliverance. The clerk, with his KOA uniform shirt unbuttoned downed to his belly button, said "this is Sunday in Utah, the fireworks were on Saturday, July 3rd". I then asked the only thing I could think of as he leaned in so close I could braid his grey chest hair, "where is the liquor store?" He chuckled and said, "again lady, this is Sunday in Utah."

We stayed in our trailer by the river, on another Sunday in Utah, rationing 4 ounces of red wine on July 4th without any organized fireworks. The other trailer people had their own versions of fireworks until after midnight.

Beginning the Long Drive Home

I checked at the ranger station for road closures before our long drive out. I was reading the board when the ranger came out. He said "can you believe it?" I was unsure of what he was talking about, and he explained that snow was on its way. Sure enough, I checked the weather and there was a chance of snow. The temperatures had dropped by 15 degrees from the previous day. I thought its a good time to get out of here as I was thinking of all of the required snow chain signs in the area.

We went back to the trailer to get ready for the next morning. We had done a good job conserving energy(we had no electric). The picture shows the solar panel which I guess wasn't big enough. Come to find out the heater fan works off of the battery. We checked the batteries and one was almost empty and the other was 1/3 full. The most important thing we need from the trailer battery is it runs the trailers brakes. It was going to be a cold night in the trailer. Thank goodness we carried all the blankets up to Yellowstone because we used them all.

We got on the road early. It was very cold and foggy. The heat vents made fantastic scenery. We were lucky that the road that is normally closed was opened for the holiday weekend. This saved us 14 miles of driving and a road that crossed the continental divide twice with elevations of over 8,000 feet. We felt lucky until we went through the road that was opened! You earned that 14 miles that was saved. It was a one land dirt road and luckily we were early enough that no other RV was coming the other way.

We travelled through a few states this day, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and ended up in Utah. We stopped at a Wal-mart and restocked. When I entered the trailer you could see the result of that one lane dirt road. My makeup was all over the place. It had fallen out of its drawer, and was close to the hole in the floor for the toilet hoses.

Ugggh!! I had put my jewelry in that drawer this morning! I had even had the thought "should I leave all my jewelry in that drawer?" Then I reasoned with myself that we were stopping at truck stops and it wasn't the best to be decked out with all my goods. I know everyone is thinking why would anyone bring all their jewelry to Yellowstone. Well I did, and wore it all until that day. After some serious panic and anguish I found all of my jewelry. Gerald seriously thought he was ripping that toilet out right there in the Wal-mart parking lot to find my jewelry. We all know that he had all the tools to do it.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone?

Yes, there is a Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The park ranger proudly touts this canyon as being carved in a short amount of time. Stating that the one in Arizona took millions of years. The heat of all of the geysers made the rhyolite rock erode easily which carved this canyon.


We started at the top of the falls and then drove around the falls to the lower basin. It was roaring at the bottom. We saw a crazy foreigner climbing the rocks, 5 feet above the railing, in flip flops for the perfect angle for her photograph. If people think that Americans take risks, they need to see foreigners risking their lives in Yellowstone for the optimum photo.

The Other Side of Yellowstone

Working At Yellowstone

As I was touring around Yellowstone I snapped a few pictures of the other side of Yellowstone. You have to always remind yourself that at Yellowstone it is another world. This place has been managed by the government for 138 years.

We saw the government workers in full action at 4p.m. They were painting the check in lanes of the campsite. The parking area is only for checking in and there are 400 sites. This is the prime time of check in. Yes, they had all morning to do this, but hey that would be too easy. The first thing they painted was the stop line. Then they had to re-route all of the RV's and trailers to one lane because the paint was wet. The photo we took was of the 3 people tackling this job with a paint roller and broom. The lady would sweep the spot that needed to be painted and then the man would roll the paint on. The guy in the middle is managing the project. We were waiting for our crazy bus trip and within 30 minutes there was a back up of 8 various trailers and RV's. Every time someone pulled up the guy with the roller would stop and tell them where to park.

This is the same day that the water pump went down in the park. The showers and laundry room were unavailable for 2 days. We sat and watched at least 50 dirty people carrying all of their shower supplies to find the dreaded sign on the door telling them no showers. I will have to say there was a lot of swearing and I thought one teenage girl was going to cry.

Men's Style

I have to say the in fashion for men is the overall. We saw so many men in overalls, I almost had to buy a pair for Gerald. Then he can look more like my favorite t.v. star Mike Holmes from Holmes on Holmes. When we were at a restaurant there was a whole booth of men in overalls. There cell phone conversations went like this, "I am eating, I can't solve the problem for you, just get the tractor and pull it out of the way!"

I had to capture this pair of overalls because they were whitewashed. I was unable to capture his footwear which was suede slippers. The amazing part is his wife was gorgeous and fit like an aerobics instructor!!!!! The next day we saw this couple again and he was sporting the shorts version of this outfit.

Limited Brain Use

In the distance, you see a ton of people who stopped their cars on the side of the road. They walked 100 feet off the road to view bears feeding on an elk. The warnings to stay in your car and have limited distance to the wildlife was all over the place. What were these people thinking.

At one point, we saw a bear cub and people were hanging out of their windows to take pictures . Of course, the car was still in the lane running and holding up 10 cars behind them. Again, what are these people thinking there was a man killed the previous week from a bear at Yellowstone.

Fishing in Yellowstone

Fishing


(Photo is of a fisherman in waders in the hypothermal water, we decided he deserved anything he caught)


I fished a lot in my lifetime and have never been very successful at it. When I was younger, I never caught anything so my parents took us to a trout farm. I remember the fish practically jumped out of the water. I think you paid by the pound and this lasted for 10 minutes because my parents were scared at the cost.


I was very excited to fish in Yellowstone because I knew we would be successful. The added excitement occurred when we heard our trailer neighbor come home at 7 a.m. with his quite manly Chevy Diesel Dually truck. I don't know when this guy left to fish. We never heard this truck start even though he was 3 feet from our bed through a 2 cm wall of fiberglass siding. He got out proudly and held this 20 inch trout that he caught. We marvelled at his catch knowing that Yellowstone was going to be the honey hole of fishing.


I was willing to shell out the license cost of $24 for a 3 day pass for the family. It would be worth the cost when we had fresh fish to eat. We even contemplated how we would store the fish for the drive home. The guy who issued our license said we could fish right behind the Visitor Center. He also said that his lures had brought luck to this other guy before us at Gulls Point. We went out and fished for a few hours. We never saw one fish!!!!!


An angler came up and told us that the Forest Ranger said they pulled 1,000 lbs of trout from Gulls Point. Now I was interested. I searched all the maps for this secret Gulls Point. Guess what, it was not on the map!!!! So I went to the activities desk and asked where this place was. At first the guy told me to just go behind the Visitor Center. I was not about to leave until I found out this secret place. I told him I heard the rumor about the 1,000 lbs of trout. He smiled, and said it was true. He knew I was more than this good looking lady, but I was a seriously hot angler. He whipped out the secret map and even drew his own map of how the road meandered through the forest.


I told the family we are fishing after dinner. I packed 2 bottles of Off(9$ at the store) and the personal Off fans.We found the road closed, but I was not deterred. We kept on questioning why would the park close a perfectly good road. We parked the truck on the side of the forest. We walked down the road, because I saw the wild animal warnings posted all over the place. Somehow, in my mind, the animals wouldn't take the road. There were others like us down at the secret place. We walked in over 3/4's of a mile to where the bank drops off 5 feet from the edge. The great thing about this lake is it is clear. There was minimal catching of our lines. The mosquitoes were out in full force landing on the top of the lake. It was the optimum fishing moment, other than the 8 year old freaking out at every bug that came close. The temperature must have dropped 10 degrees and it became very cold. We were the only ones left at the lake. Again, I saw no fish, not even a ripple from one coming from the surface. It was time to go.



We saw that most of the people took a path through the forest and we wondered where it came out. We were commenting at the scat(poop) by the path, which we attributed to a deer or a bear. We all agreed to take the path. We were in the forest on this path when I heard two branches break. My mind recalled the days events when I watched a very well fed 12 year old German girl jumping on a fallen tree trying to break the branches. She must have jumped for a full 5 minutes before she was successful at breaking one branch. That is all it took, we were out of that forest and fast. We took the road all the way out. After our all to near encounter with wildlife, we realized that perfectly good road was closed because of bear activity.

We can say that we saw one fish during the week. That fish was our trailer neighbors and we were wondering where he bought it.

July 1, Yellowstone Day 2

West Thumb

This was the longest day because we completed the caldera loop of Yellowstone. We saw more geysers, fumaroles, and mud pots that one can imagine. This loop is a round trip over 100 miles, so we started the day very early. We started off at the West Thumb Basin. These steam pools and vents are right off of Yellowstone Lake. The story is that fishermen would catch fish and cook them in these hot pools. They called it the "hook and cook". Can you imagine the sulphuric taste? This place smelled so bad.

Old Faithful

After West Thumb, we hopped in the car for another 17 miles to Old Faithful. The map for Yellowstone said that it takes 1 hour to go 17 miles. We immediately were stopped in animal jam traffic. We broke through the crazy tourists, to find a hilly ride all the way. We reached the Continental Divide twice on this road. It seemed we were the only ones on the road. Then we got to Old Faithful. It was like we went through the forest and walked through the gates of Disneyland. There were thousands of people.

I took a picture from the second story of the gift shop to show the madness.

We saw the geyser blow and then went on a bike ride to all of the geysers and vents that are behind Old Faithful. It was a 3 mile bike ride and a lot of people were walking this trail in flip flops!!!!!! I saw lots of jealous stares. It was about 6pm at this time, but is doesn't become dark until after 11 p.m. so we continued our journey.

Norris Basin

Even though this has been a National Park since 1872 ,there are a lot of surprises. We went to Norris Basin and entered the parking lot not knowing what it was all about. We walked down and the sign said 1.5 mile loop. Gerald and I were done with the exercise after our bike trip. Lexi kept us going and we were glad we did. It was a tour of thermal features. There was Steamboat geyser, that is actually the tallest geyser in the park. It can shoot 300 ft. high but the last time it did this was 2005. The Porkchop geyser actually exploded in 1989, throwing rocks 200 feet in the air at tourists. I would have called these "rocks" boulders. The earth is so hot that the trail has raised boardwalks. You can feel the heat off of the wood. It was a great day and we got back to the trailer around 9:30pm.