The San Luis River finally makes it to the sea.

The mouth of the San Luis River is in front of our condo in Oceanside....but in the last two months the river stopped about 50 yards before Ocean. Even though the river was higher than the Ocean, the ocean had built up the sandy beach in front of the mouth of the river, blocking it from flowing to the sea. In the last few weeks, southern California has had it's first rain since summer and finally this week the river carved its way through the sand to the Ocean. What looked like a wide river, now is a narrow fast moving stream as the river has carved a curvy narrow path to the ocean and emptied the large pool of water in front of the condo.

Visit to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley

Down the road from Santa Barbara, is Simi Valley, home of the Reagan Library. The library is a beautiful facility located at the top of a hill which overlooks several valleys and the Ocean. Reagan chose this site just before leaving office. Many saw the library when Reagan passed away. He is buried here. The library includes a section of the Berlin Wall, the history of Ron and Nancy Reagan, and the Airforce One that Reagan used during his term in Office. I highly recommend visiting this library. It is a very moving experience and a fitting tribute to this great President.

Visiting the home of "Psych" ................ (Santa Barbara)

We drove down scenic Highway 101 from San Jose, stopping in Santa Barbara. Marlene is a fan of the TV show "Psych" which is set in Santa Barbara, so she was anxious to see if she could recognize any landmarks seen in the show. Santa Barbara has a huge pier with parking and shopping at the end of the pier. We were surprised to see many oil platforms in the waters off the coast of Santa Barbara. We both thought that oil platforms in California were located much further offshore, out of site from land.

Visit to San Jose

We drove up to San Jose on Saturday to see Jacob, our grandson, and his cousin Eve perform in the final performance of Oliver in downtown San Jose. The play was fantastic. Jacob and Eve are both talented and I am sure we will see them in future plays. We also all ate dinner together at The Old Spaghetti Factory with Gloria's mom "Gloria" and sister Cindy.

We enjoyed seeing Jacob, Emily, Gloria, and Sean. Sean cooked breakfast for the family on Sunday morning. Sean has really taken to cooking now that he has a family to cook for. Too bad he didn't discover this talent when he lived at home.

A brief taste of real winter

Palm Springs is about 2 hours from Oceanside. We decided to drive over this week when the weather cooled down on the beach to the 50's. Palm Springs is inland in the desert, so we took off anticipating some warm weather. We decided to take the cable cars to the top of the mountain that overlooks Palm Springs. In approximately 10 minutes, the car transports you from 1000 ft to over 8000 ft. Due to the recent cold front and rain that moved through, the snowline was at 4000 feet and at the top there was plenty of snow and cold air. There are miles of trails at the top, but the high winds and cold temperatures convinced us that enjoying a nice lunch and panoramic view from the restaurant was right up our alley. The view was spectacular. The cable car travels up (and down) the highest sheer cliff in the US. It was an amazing ride with an amazing view. Enough winter for me. The beach is beckoning!

Whale and Dolphin watching at Dana Point

We found out Tuesday's are 1/2 price on Whale and Dolphin watching at Dana Point. A 2 hour boat ride for $14.50 per person is a super bargain, so we were off to Dana Point. The trip well worth it. We saw multiple pods of white sided dolphins. The dolphins started riding the bow, racing out in front, then returning to the the bow. It was really exciting. We also saw a blue whale, the largest mammal on earth. We will definitely do this again.

Thanksgiving Weekend in Paradise!

Sean, Gloria, Marlene and I had lunch in downtown Oceanside at a roof top restaurant over Thanksgiving weekend. The weather was in the 70's! My knee almost fully recovered from surgery. One last physical therapy session next week and I should be fully recovered. We all got together with Brian, Jackie, Evan, and Elise on Saturday. On Saturday morning, it rained here for the first time since June. Southern Cal is in a drought, so they can use any rain they can get. It was short lived and blue skies and beautiful sunsets are back.

A week to take it easy

Kevin finally had knee surgery one week ago today to repair an injury from last May. Kevin's knee was locking up if bent back too far, and it was gradually getting worse. He was lucky to get the team orthopedic surgeon for the San Diego Padres to do the surgery. Kevin had to hobble on crutches for a couple of days, but amazingly we were doing some moderate bike riding and walking just 4 days after the surgery. Weather remains great in Oceanside. High temperatures are around 70 and each day features amazingly blue sky. We saw our first whale heading south to Mexico from the Oceanside Pier on Sunday. December is whale watching month, so we are excited to see more.

A day in Dana Point

We drove a short 30 miles north across Camp Pendleton to Dana Point. You may not be familiar with Dana Point, but it is right next to San Juan Capistrano (no, the swallows were not returning today) and San Clemente (yes, home of Nixon's western White house). We spent the day at the Dana Point Harbor walking, looking at the harbor (and boats for sale), and catching lunch the restaurant that Sean created a parody song about (you have to ask Sean). The harbor is huge. I thought Oceanside had a big harbor, but Dana Point definitely is larger, with many restaurants and shops. Dana Point is also a departure point for boats to Catalina Island. We will save that for another day. Weather has been great. Still wearing short sleeve shirts and shorts.

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea....

Oceanside, California, November 3.

We have had some beautiful sunsets in Oceanside. The sky has some amazing colors in the evening. The weather has been great, the sky has been blue every day, but the coast does get immersed in fog on somedays. This weekend is the tall ship festival at Oceanside harbor. This is the first ship that arrived this week. It's next voyage is to Panama. They have a sign indicating you can buy passage for this voyage. Tempting.

"Touchdown"

Marlene and I have not been good at updating our travels in the last few days, but after 4500 miles and 3 weeks of (mostly) living in hotels, we have landed in Oceanside, California for a few months. Oceanside is the ultimate beachfront city. It has a huge pier right off the center of downtown. The pier has a "Ruby's" restaurant built on the end of the pier, so you can eat great American diner food, with a fantastic view of the city and the ocean. This is the sunset view tonight from the deck of the condo we rented. The temperature was in the low 80's today. We found a great furnished condo in a beachfront complex, right next the to harbor, so I have already been checking out the trawlers. We are right below downtown, so the beach, the downtown, and the harbor restaurants are all in walking distance. We were really busy in the last week, visiting Kings Canyon, Sequoia National Park, and San Diego. We got a chance to see Brian, Jackie, Evan, and Elise. It was great to hold our grandchildren and see how much they have grown and developed skills. Oceanside is just 35 miles north of San Diego, so we hope to see a lot of Brian's family in the next few months.

Sunny in San Jose

Marlene and I spent the weekend with Sean, Gloria, Jacob, and Emily at their home in San Jose. It was nice to have a break from hotels and restaurant food. Saturday, Emily participated in a cheer leading class and in the afternoon we all went to a high school football game to see Emily and her cousins Alex and Jane perform at the halftime show. Sean and Gloria prepared a Spanish dinner of tapas on Saturday evening. We also had the chance to spend the evening with Gloria's brother Tim and his family. Tim just moved down from Seattle. We had met him at Sean's wedding, but only briefly.

The weather has been sunny and in the high 70's. We are staying at Sean and Gloria's through Sunday, Monday, we plan to start towards San Diego, taking time to visit Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park on the trip down.

Fast Forward to Monterey, California

After a quick cold Sunday overnight in Lake Tahoe, we decided "enough" with cold weather. Descending from Lake Tahoe(in the 30's) we found the warmth of NAPA valley to be very welcoming. We spent Monday afternoon doing a circle of the wineries in NAPA, then headed towards San Jose. The temperatures were a balmy 80+. We spent Tuesday in San Jose, meeting Sean and Gloria for lunch in Los Gatos. We spent the evening with Sean, Jacob, and Emily. Wednesday, we drove down to Monterey and visited Fisherman's Wharf. We took a 3 hour whale watching tour. We didn't see any whales, but we did see a large pod of dolphins. The air temperature on the Ocean was in the low 60's , but it was great to be back on the water. Marlene was happy. Whale watching is one of her favorite activities.

Nevada is a wide state

Spent most of the day driving from Salt Lake City to South Lake Tahoe. It is a long 400 mile drive across Nevada making today's drive over 500 miles. The drive has its natural desert and mountain beauty, but not very many towns. We briefly drove through Reno (mini-Vegas) and decided we didn't want to stay there. Based on the cold temperatures for early October, Marlene immediately took it off our relocation consideration list. We decided to take a scenic drive to Virginia City, Nevada.

Virginia City is located high upon the side of a mountain. Looked like a tough ride for Hoss and little Joe to get there. It is a national historical site. Its claim to fame is being the best preserved western town in the nation. After departing, we skirted the state capital, Carson City, and headed on to South Lake Tahoe. The cold front has made its way here, so there is snow on the rooftops and on the ski slopes. We are planning to head on to San Jose tomorrow and hopefully warmer weather.

Flaming Gorge

October 4
Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area
We had never heard of this area, but it was in our book of The top 150 scenic drives in America that Sean gave us a few years ago. This reservoir dams the Green River, which ultimately flows into the Colorado River. It is famous for the red color of the canyon walls which was formed by the river. This is dinosaur land. We saw many signs where archeological digs discovered dinosaurs. The canyon is also famous as a hide out for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as well as other famous outlaws. We woke up to gray skies and snow but amazingly when we stopped to walk out to the canyon overlook, we had some blue sky above us. Although this lake is in the middle of the desert, we saw lots of boats on the road. I think this must have been the weekend for most to pull their boats for winter storage. The first major cold wave and snow storm is moving in. We went on to Salt Lake City. Just before we got here we clocked 3000 miles on this adventure so far. The goal for tomorrow is to get to Reno, Nevada. I can't believe it is still over 500 miles away. The west is a big place.

But if you fed the wildlife, there would be some around to see!!

The Perfect Day in the Grand Tetons

October 3rd
Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole
We departed Yellowstone and traveled the 2 miles to Grand Teton National Park. What a change! What Yellowstone offers in wildlife and geothermal wonders, Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole deliver in beautiful mountain peaks reflecting in lakes and brilliant fall colors. The park is smaller and we spent most of the day doing the 60 mile loop checking out the magnificent views of snow capped mountain peaks and fall colors. We saw a few examples of wildlife, but not to the overwhelming degree we saw in Yellowstone. We then decided to change our plans and head 200 miles south to southern Wyoming to check out Flaming Gorge near Rock Springs. We are staying overnight in Rock Springs, Wyoming which is on I-80. This will put us in great shape to head west to Salt Lake City and on to California later this week.
PS. Another bit of "good karma"....we ran in to a couple who had been at the park for a couple days. They had endured snow and high winds the two days before. We had great timing with the weather.

Celebrating the 37 year anniversary of our first date in Yellowstone

October 2 is the 37th anniversary of our first date. Celebrating in Yellowstone was really special. We had to start the day early, since the fire in Yellowstone limited access to the East and North side of the park to 6-8am and 6-8pm. The road was an hour and a half away from our hotel so we had to leave about 6AM to catch the road open. The day was cold (18F) but it eventually warmed up to 40F. We saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone with two beautiful waterfalls. We also went to many more geyser areas. We saw several buffalo on the road. One was coming at us in our lane. Needless to say, we went around him. We also saw wolves, elk, deer, and foxes. It was a great day.

October 2, 2009
Yellowstone National Park













Rock climbing in Yellowstone is a lot of fun.......Doh!........I think I'm stuck in this rock. .......STUPID ROCKS !!!!!!

Yellowstone National Park

October 1, 2009
Yellowstone National Park

1st snowfall of the season







"I could go east....I could go west....It was aaaalllll up to me to decide...... HOMER (lyrics by Bob Seger)

Montana is really Big

Wednesday, September 30
Yellowstone the long way


Took off from Sheridan, Wyoming for Yellowstone. We were headed for the east Yellowstone entrance and planned a stop at Cody, Wyoming on the way. After driving across a steep curvy road which was under construction at the peak, we decided to stop at a little store in Shell, Wyoming to take a break. We had driven a couple of hours and Cody (named for Buffalo Bill) was only an hour or so away. While talking with the lady at the counter, we noticed an intense conversation by a tour bus driver with a load of passengers from England. Turns out, the east entrance to Yellowstone was closed this morning due to a major fire along the road that crosses the park to get to "Old Faithful". The option, was to head north to Montana and continue on I-90 to Bozeman, Montana and come down from the North. No problem? Not if you don't mind a 300 mile detour. We were actually lucky, since if we had not stopped, we would have gone an additional hour or so and then had to backtrack. More "good karma". Just outside of Bozeman, we ran into a snowstorm. The temperature remained around 35, so the roads were just wet. After driving 411 miles today, we are settled into our hotel at the West Enterance on the Montana/Wyoming boarder. Even Homer was silent today as we toughed out the long drive.

"Devil's Tower" Wyoming

Tuesday, September 29. Devil's Tower

"I don't care if they serve free beer on top....I'm not climbing that thing......HOMER"

Mount Rushmore

Tuesday, September 29 Mount Rushmore






"In your face MR. PRESIDENTS....HOMER"

Night at Mount Rushmore

Monday Evening, September 28
Night Lighting Ceremony at Mount Rushmore
Ceremony at the end to honor all veterans visiting the memorial.

Badlands

Monday, September 28 - Badlands of South Dakota










"I'm the baddest, bad guy in the baddest part of the badlands...HOMER"

Corn Palace

Monday, September 28 Corn Palace in Mitchell, Wyoming

"I don''t understand why they make it from corn, then get mad at me when I try to eat it........HOMER

700 miles

After a great family reunion on Saturday, we hit the highway for the great west. With light traffic on Sunday we blew through St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Sioux City and finally Sioux Falls It was a beautiful sunny drive. At the end of the day the trip odometer was on 700 miles. Now that we are out of the flatlands, our next stop should be the Badlands of South Dakota.

"Going Mobile"

This is our first entry in this journal which will chronicle a new stage in our life, which at this point, is an uncharted adventure. We sold our house, boat and one car all within one week of putting them for sale "by owner". We can only explain the great luck we had in "going mobile" as GOOD KARMA. We are putting everything in storage and looking for a new "warmer" place to settle. Packing up our house proved to be a huge task taking all of the time we had prior to closing. On Friday, Sept 18th, we finished loading the moving truck and took off on a 300 mile journey to put our possessions in storage. The weather was a perfect.....everything fit on the truck! I managed to be a capable "truck driver". Our "good karma" continued passing through Chicago at rush hour with very light traffic. We unloaded everything into our storage facility on Saturday, including our Miata. Again, the weather was perfect and everything fit with a little room to spare. We spent the following week visiting family and old friends in Illinois and Indiana. We leave on our driving journey to the west coast on Sunday, September 27.