Minnesota - June, July & August 2008

Well, I've been told that I can't take a break for the summer & I need to keep up with our blog, so here goes. We got back to Minnesota the first of April and thought we would see little or no snow. Boy, were we wrong! I think it snowed almost every day in April and then switched to rain almost every day in May! We're thinking about not coming back to Minnesota until mid to late April next year. We spent the first few months we were back in Minnesota just enjoying being home and spending time with our family. We took our rig up to Shorewood RV where we purchased it and gave them a list of things that needed to be fixed, all of which was warranty work. There was nothing major wrong with the rig, but since it was in for its 1-year checkup, we wanted to have them fix every little thing we found wrong with it. It was also a great place to store it until summer at which time we were planning on putting it at some campground for the summer. Great plans always seem to go wrong, don't they? We were so busy that we never got around to picking it up & setting it up at a campground until the middle of July. Memorial Day weekend, Katherine, Derek, Jenny and Katherine's sister, Karen decided to head down to Chicago to visit Karen's son, Bob & his new wife, Ellie. They had just returned from their honeymoon and moved from Oakland, California to Chicago. After 7 hours on the road, we arrived in Chicago and tried to reach our hotel, The Belden Stratford. Every road in the area was blocked off. It took us an extra 45 minutes to get to our hotel even though we were only a few blocks away. We later found out that Johnny Depp was there shooting his latest movie. We had to keep our eyes on Karen to make sure she didn't run around the hotel looking for Johnny since he's her favorite actor. The room was actually an apartment with 2 bathrooms and a walk-in closet off the bedroom that was as big as our office back home. The views of Lake Michigan and Lincoln Park Conservatory were beautiful. We met up with Bob & Ellie on Saturday and we all went to the Museum of Science & Industry. Since Jenny is a science teacher & had never been to the museum, she was like a kid in a candy store. On Sunday, we went to Bob's in-laws for a delicious cookout. We had a great time and plan on going back some time in the fall, but next time it will be Karen, Curtis & Katherine and we'll go see the aquarium next time. On June 27-29, we changed our mode of transportation to the Harley. George and I, along with Derek and Jenny, rode the Harleys up to Duluth for the annual HOG Rally. We left early on Friday morning in what looked like it was going to rain at any moment, but we were lucky and only got a few drops on us all the way up to Duluth (about 150 miles north of home). We stayed at the South Pier Inn which is right across the lift bridge from Canal Park. Our view was incredible as we could see and hear the bridge go up every time a ship/boat was going through the canal. It was so much fun. Shortly after we got settled in, we decided to go up to the Harley dealer. We walked out of our room and ran into Tom & Sandy Horne, who are dear friends of ours (and Derek's godparents). What a surprise! We hadn't seen them for awhile and they ended up being in the room above ours - talk about a small world! On our way back from the Harley dealership, we hit a downpour of rain and got totally drenched. Thank goodness, we were on our way back to our room and our room had a fireplace & a jacuzzi so we could warm up real nice. On Saturday, Derek & Jenny headed up to Gooseberry Falls and George & Katherine went to the Park Point Art Fair. We all met back in time to go on the annual HOG Rally ride up the North Shore & around Duluth and the weather was perfect. Our ride home on Sunday was again great because the weather continued to hold and it was a perfect day for a ride. However, since it was the first time this season we had been on the bike for a long ride, we were a bit sore for the next few days. It wore off in time to go on another ride on July 5th. We met up with Jenny & Derek and Craig (my former boss at the PD) & Tommy Reid and enjoyed a nice ride up to Taylor Falls where we stopped for some delicious homemade root beer. The weather was incredibly gorgeous for a ride and we continued over the river and into Wisconsin where we drove south to Hudson. We stopped there for lunch and had a delicious one at a small restaurant that Craig & Tommy had eaten at before. It was a great day for a ride and this time, we weren't nearly as sore as we had been the previous week. So...here we are the first part of July and still haven't gone up to Shorewood to get the RV back! We finally took the time and found a spot in St.Cloud at the St.Cloud Campground and RV Park. It's a nice little campground that's only about 75 miles from home so we rented a site for a month. Getting up here was quite an experience, one which I don't care to ever repeat! I dropped George off at Shorewood RV to pick up the rig and I headed up to St. Cloud in the car. I got a call from George shortly after I left him and he said that the rig was overheating so he had to pull over about 5 miles down the road from Shorewood. And wouldn't you know it...it's a hot humid day & he pulls over in the recycling center with the waste management site only about 1/2 block down the road - yuck! George climbed under the rig & found that the fan belt had broken, so we called Freightliner & they sent out a tow truck to tow it back to them. I thought George was going to cry as he watched his baby being hoisted up on a tow truck! Lucky for us, it was all covered by the warranty. Can you believe it cost $450 to tow the rig 8 miles??? Incredible! But on July 21st, we were finally able to pick it up again and head to St. Cloud. It's nice to be able to stay up there for a night or a week, whatever we have time for since it only takes about an hour to get there. My dear friend, Becky Rogers and her daughter, Krissy, came to town the last weekend in July so I stayed home with them while George, his Dad, and his brother, Eric went up to St. Cloud and had some quality sons & father time. George & Eric decided to play a round of mini-golf while there and George had to gloat because he beat his little brother! Of course, Mr. Bailey (our Shih-Tzu) loves being back in the RV! I think he likes the fact that we're all in the same room together all the time! We only have about one more week left up here and then it will be time to move on. I can hardly believe it's been almost a month since we set up camp in St. Cloud, but we've already reserved a spot at Grand Casino Hinckley. I know it's a casino, but they have a great inexpensive campground, too! Who knows...maybe we'll get rich on the $5 we might gamble!

Salt Lake City, Utah - March 23-28, 2008

We didn't realize how far St. George is from Salt Lake City. It's over 300 miles and took most of the day to get there, so we spent our Easter driving & setting up the coach at our new site in SLC. Of course, the first place we had to visit was the LDS Conference Center since Curtis had never seen it. It is incredible & huge. It sits 21,000 people and has a huge organ. One of the neatest parts of the center is the glass ceiling in the foyer. It's absolutely beautiful, especially on a sunny day! Standing on the roof is the best place to get a picture of the Salt Lake Temple. The roof is about 6 acres and they grow flowers, trees and prairie grass on it. After we left the Conference Center, we walked around Temple Square and got a chance to see the changes that were made to the Tabernacle. One day while driving around Salt Lake City, we came across a few motorcyclists & were really impressed with the way they were dressed - who ever said McGruff couldn't ride his own motorcycle in a parade? We had heard that it might snow on our last day in Salt Lake, but didn't really believe it until we woke up and looked outside! It lasted only a couple of hours and then was all melted - too bad MN snow couldn't disappear that fast! We met Mike & Catherine Long, old friends of ours who now live in Utah, and their daughter, Leslie (who Curtis went to school with) and her husband, Beaudy and their 2 kids, Dakota & Kennedy, for lunch at a really great Vietnamese restaurant. The food was delicious, the view was beautiful and it felt good to have the time to visit with old friends before heading home. Curtis was able to meet up with an old friend and her husband, Catherine & Steve Monson, for a visit at our coach the night before we left Salt Lake City. Our time in SLC seemed short & we were sorry to say good-bye to the friends we had a chance to re-connect with on this trip. This is also the end of our blog since it's the end of our travels. We're now going to put the "pedal to the metal" and make tracks through Wyoming, Nebraska & Iowa stopping only long enough to rest & then continue on our way home. Our travels have been great, but it'll be good to get home - we miss Derek & Jenny and the rest of our MN family. I hope you have enjoyed following our travels as much as we've enjoyed traveling! We'll give our Roaming Valhalla a rest for awhile as we plan our travels for next winter. Until then, may you all have some wonderful adventures of your own!

St. George, Utah - March 20-23, 2008

The drive to St. George was incredibly beautiful and long. In fact, we decided to break it up into 2 days of driving, especially since George is the only one who drives the rig. I can't drive a car through the mountains, let alone a huge motor home! Before we left Pomona, we dropped the coach off at the service center for some work. While they worked on it, we went out to breakfast at Denny's where Curtis said he wanted the kid's rocket ship drink glass, so I asked the waitress if he could have one & she gave him one (some kids never grow up!). Doesn't he look happy??? Our first night on the road, we pulled into the parking lot of Buffalo Bill's Casino in Primm, Nevada and spent the night with all the truckers - what an experience! Buffalo Bill's is in the middle of the desert with nothing around it but an outlet mall and 2 more casinos. Not much to do, but the dinner & the breakfast at the casino were delicious! As I said, the drive to St. George, leaving the desert and heading into the mountains, was absolutely incredible. We couldn't believe how beautiful it was in St. George and the surrounding area. It sits in a valley surrounded by red bluffs & high mountains with snowy tips. We happened to be in St. George over the Easter weekend, which is when they have their yearly art festival. The most beautiful building in St. George, of course, is the Mormon Temple (if you look real close, you'll see Curtis sitting on the temple steps). It was especially nice to go out for a walk each night around our resort and be able to look up and see the temple all lit up. Since we only stayed for the weekend, we didn't have much time for sightseeing, but we did enjoy the wonderful weather in the upper 70's. We knew it would probably be the last time we would see temps that warm until summer hits Minnesota. Happy Easter to all as we head off to Salt Lake City!

Pomona, California - March 16-20, 2008

We made it driving the RV through Los Angeles from Ventura to Pomona with no problems. The California highways have got to be the worst ones in the entire USA! I drove Aunt Barbara to her friend's house in Claremont while George set up the coach at our new site, which was right next door to the Fairplex County Fairgrounds - too bad it wasn't time for the fair! The weather was absolutely gorgeous in the upper 70's the entire time we were there. Since Curtis hadn't been to Downtown Disney and we were going to meet one of my closest friends daughter & her family at The Rainforest Cafe there for dinner, we decided to get there early so we would have some time to wander around before meeting them. I showed Curtis around taking him to the entrance of Disney's California Adventure, where I got a picture of him sitting inside the "C" of their sign. We met Melissa, Rob, Robbie and Lauren Au at The Rainforest Cafe and had a nice visit with them. (Yes, Becky, I have to agree that they are the cutest grandkids!) Lauren took to Curtis & insisted on sitting next to him at dinner. We sat right by a huge stuffed gorilla & about every 15 minutes it would come to life and make sounds that scared Lauren so that she would grab Curtis. He was so patient with her! I got a day of R&R (actually I cleaned the coach and washed all the bedding & clothes) when Curtis & George went to Warner Bros Studios for a tour. Curtis liked visiting their sound stage and George liked seeing the actual General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard. They had a good time & enjoyed telling me how the studio had an entire floor dedicated to Harry Potter (and I missed it!). The weather was so perfect, I hated leaving California. It meant we were at the end of our travels west and were now heading back to Minnesota (and we were told MN just got a lot more snow!). But Utah...here we come!

Ventura, California - March 12-16, 2008

I feel like we've reached the end of our winter travels in our arrival to Ventura. The reason for heading west this year was to attend our nephew's wedding in Ventura & that time has finally arrived! We were anxious to meet up with our oldest son, Curtis, who was flying in for the wedding and my sister & her husband, Karen & TJ and my aunt, Barbara. We arrived a few days before anybody else so that we could have some sightseeing time before the wedding activities began. We took a drive up through Santa Barbara and into the mountains to Solvang, a Danish town that looks like it belongs in Europe. It was a really cute town, but the drive there was through the most incredibly beautiful countryside, both along the ocean and up in the mountains. I can hardly believe that I drove through most of it. I must admit I finally turned the wheel over to George when I had to cross a bridge (awful enough to do when on flat land) right in the middle of the mountains (another fear of mine) and I was glad I did. That way I was able to enjoy the scenery! Family arrived on Friday and it was good to spend time with everyone. My nephew, Bob, and his wife-to-be, Ellie, hosted a party on Friday night at a local hotel, but instead of having it in a ballroom, it was held in The 50's Flat. This flat was set up as a 1950's one-bedroom apartment with a beautiful view of the ocean and all sorts of fun 1950's memorabilia. We had a great time getting to know Ellie's family and welcoming them to our family. We had time on Saturday morning before the wedding to get together and spend some time wandering through Ventura Harbor Village and along the beach. Bob & Ellie's wedding was held in one of their friend's back yard late afternoon. The wedding was very touching as they decided to not write their own vows, but actually wing it & just say what was in their hearts. It was incredible! I'm so glad we were able to be a part of their special day. For their reception, they had all sorts of international foods (Thai, Indian, Hispanic, Italian, etc) and their wedding cake was the most beautiful one I have ever seen! We feel so blessed that Bob & Ellie have decided to make their home in Chicago so we'll now be able to see them more often. After saying good-bye to Karen & TJ (they were taking a week long cruise), Curtis, Barbara, George & I packed up and headed east to Pomona, California - our first stop on our way back to MN!

Anaheim, California - March 5-12, 2008

WOW...I think we now need a vacation to rest up from our week in Anaheim! During the week we were there, we went to Universal Studios for a day, Downtown Disney for a day and then 3 days at Disneyland & California Adventure. The weather was incredibly warm being in the mid to upper 80's almost every day. Universal Studios was way on the other side of LA, so the drive up was about 45 minutes and the drive back took about 1 hour & 45 minutes because it was during rush hour. Who would ever want to live here & drive through this mess on a daily basis? We had fun on the rides, but especially enjoyed the shows, particularly Water World and the Studio Tour. It was nice to get a little wet on the Jurassic Park ride since it was such a warm day. Our camp site was only about 1/2 mile from Disney so every night we either sat in our coach or walked around the park enjoying the Disney fireworks. Of course, Mr. Bailey didn't think they were much fun for the first few nights, but he did get used to them eventually. I think we walked about 8-10 miles each day. The days we went to Disney we walked and while we were only about 1/2 mile from Disney, it was about 1 1/2 miles to actually get to the main entrance. I couldn't believe how much Disneyland had changed since the last time we were here about 10 years ago. I can't help but feel like a kid every time I enter the Disney park! It truly is "the happiest place on Earth"! We had so much fun going on the rides, especially Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Indiana Jones Adventure and the all time favorites like Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion. George bragged about scoring so much higher than me on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters the first time we were on it, but I scored higher the second time. Luckily, I got to follow him on Autopia so I could play bumper cars and ram into his car. We also got to watch the fireworks as we drove our little cars in Autopia - perfect view! I think our favorite ride at California Adventure was definitely Soarin' Over California. We had so much fun that we had to go on that ride twice. There was also a fun ferris wheel that not only went around like normal ones, it also slide around and back and forth which was a little eerie the first time it swung way out from the ferris wheel. What a view from the top! I think George really enjoyed the 3-D "It's Tough to be a Bug!" show with it's smellovision and all. The 1/2-hour performance of "Aladdin" was incredible. While it was a very exhausting 3 days at Disney, we had a super time & perfect weather. Now on to Ventura where we're going to meet up with family for our nephew's wedding. Curtis is flying out to join us and will make the drive back to Minnesota with us over the next 3 weeks.

San Diego, California - February 27-March 5, 2008

San Diego was super. We had beautiful weather and we were able to spend a few days visiting with some cousins we hadn't seen in years. Our campground was right on Mission Bay and our site overlooked the bay & wild life refuge. It was beautiful to see the sun set each night. We went to the San Diego Zoo, which we hadn't been to in many years. It hadn't changed much and we did enjoy seeing the panda bear. I drove over the bridge to Coronado - once I got on it, there was no turning around. You all know how much I love to drive over bridges & this one was really long. I kept telling George I thought I was going to faint or throw up, but I made it across and we were able to spend time on my favorite beach by Hotel Del Coronado. George drove back over the bridge, but the road back had 3 lanes so that was a lot easier! We went to Sea World and were lucky enough to get into all of the shows without any waiting time. While the dolphins, the sea lions, and the whales were great, George's favorite show was the one with the dogs, cats and pigs! We spent one day driving up to La Jolla, which was our old hang-out when we would come out to visit my aunt. We were surprised how it had grown and thanks to GPS, we were able to find my aunt's old house. We also drove up to another old favorite spot - Mount Soledad. There's a 30' cross at the top, which is now also a Veteran's Memorial. The view of San Diego is incredible (the bright white building that looks like a castle is the San Diego Mormon Temple). Mr. Bailey had his first experience with water other than bath water - the Pacific Ocean at the Ocean Beach Dog Beach! I don't think he liked it very much because every time a wave came, he ran away from it and headed to George for safety. However, he did enjoy playing with all the dogs. I've never seen so many dogs running around & having so much fun! Bailey also enjoyed chasing the ducks by the bay where our campsite was, so he got lots of exercise (and so did we chasing him!). And now we're off to Anaheim - I can hardly wait to visit THE MOUSE!

Indio, California - February 22-27, 2008

I think we found motor home heaven here on earth in Indio! We have never seen or stayed at such a gorgeous RV Resort in all of our travels so far. It's absolutely incredibly beautiful! The sites are enormous - I think some are at least 1/4 acre here at the Outdoor Resorts Motorcoach Country Club. At our site we faced the man-made canal that ran through the resort and looked out at the snow-covered mountains. Mr. Bailey got so excited just to be able to run through the lush grass and roll around - it's been so long since he's seen grass like this. It's just like Minnesota grass in the summer. Amazing! I'm so glad we spent most of our 5 days here just relaxing and enjoying the resort with long walks & relaxing in the hot tub. We were amazed at all the luxurious motor homes we saw as we walked around the resort and how beautifully the lots were landscaped. They were building an inground swimming pool with a hot tub & waterfall at one lot at the end of our street. Most people also have incredibly cute golf carts or little electric cars that they use to get around in the resort. One of our neighbors invited us out on his electric pontoon boat & we were able to enjoy a nice leisurely cruise around the 1-mile long canal. The weather was absolutely perfect here, too. The days got up in the upper 70's to low 80's and the nights got down in the low 50's. We spent one day driving around the base of the mountains through Palm Desert and Palm Springs. Most of the towns have gated communities so it was hard to see what the houses were like, but if they're anything like the resort, they must be beautiful. So enough relaxing as we're off to San Diego for a week!

Las Vegas, Nevada - February 13-22, 2008

Las Vegas...Sin City...the lights & all! The first night we were in LV, it got windy with gusts up to 64mph. While laying in bed, we could feel the rig moving. I thought for sure we were going to take flight! We enjoyed our visit to Red Rock Canyon because the day was warm & sunny, so we decided to put the top down on the EOS & let Mr. Bailey experience the wind in his face. He really seemed to enjoy it. Red Rock is incredible with all the different colors in the rocks on the mountains. We didn't do too much hiking as I was still somewhat afraid of running into another rattlesnake! The highlight of our time in Las Vegas was when Karen & TJ (my sister & brother-in-law) flew out for 5 days. Before they came, George & I ventured down to The Strip once & decided we would wait for them because they've been to LV several times. We went downtown to Fremont Street their first night and enjoyed the light show. Wouldn't you know the first light show we saw was about aliens (I think they did that just for George & TJ!). WOW, that's a lot of lights! After dinner, we decided to go into one of the downtown casinos and George, who usually won't gamble more than a buck, put in $5 and was having fun winning. He was happy to walk away $35 richer! Since Karen & TJ were only going to be with us for a few days and there was so much for them to show us, I don't think we rested until we pulled out of LV! I even spent one night staying at the Luxor with Karen - a girl's night out - and TJ stayed at the rig with George. We had a ball! We not only spent a lot of time walking around The Strip, we also went to Valley of Fire, which is a beautiful spot that gave us some time away from all those huge casinos. I think we did more walking (and Karen & I did more shopping!) in those 5 days we were together in LV than we had done since we left home! We had to check out all the fancy new casinos on The Strip. Of course, we hadn't been to LV in about 15 years so there were a lot of new sites to see. I couldn't even tell you which casino we liked the best. They all had something neat to see like the auto museum at The Imperial Palace, the conservatory & fountains at The Bellagio, the lion habitat at the MGM Grand, the masquerade show in the sky at the Rio, the canal & gondolas at The Venetian, and the waterfalls at The Wynn. So much to see...so little time to see it all! The best part about Las Vegas was spending time with TJ & Karen since we hadn't seen them since we left the first part of January. We dropped them at the airport on Friday & headed to Indio, California. We'll meet up with them again mid-March in Ventura, California for their son's wedding.

Lake Havasu City, Arizona - February 6-13, 2008

The trip from Mesa to Lake Havasu City was incredibly beautiful as we drove through the mountains. I think I could easily make this place a winter retreat. The weather has been in the mid to upper 70's during the days & low 50's during the nights. The site we stayed on gave us an incredible view of the sunrise over the Arizona mountains to the east of us and unbelieveable sunsets over the California mountains to the west of us. We really enjoyed sitting out each evening and watching the sun go down. Of course, the most important site to visit here was London Bridge. We walked under it & we drove on it. It's incredible to think that it was shipped here piece by piece back in the 1960's or 70's. Who would have thought that you had to go to Arizona & not London to see the London Bridge?? We drove down to Parker one day to see the dam on the Colorado River and enjoy the scenery. The water in Lake Havasu is so much bluer than any lakes back home. We also spent one day driving up old Route 66 to Oatman, Arizona. Oatman is a small western town where the donkeys come down into town each morning and hang out hoping to get fed carrots by the tourists and then they head back up into the mountains each night. While we were there, we decided to have lunch at a saloon where people have tacked dollar bills on the walls until you can no longer see the walls. While driving back to the site down Route 66, it was hard to believe that George & I had taken Route 66 home from California about 37 years ago when we came back from our honeymoon. All the twists & turns really made for some fun driving with the top down on the EOS! Is it really winter??? I don't think so! Mr. Bailey has had a great time here because there were so many dogs his size to play with. He especially enjoyed playing with Ms. Twinkie Sparkles, a 13-week old Yorkie who had just as much energy as he did! We've met a lot of really nice people from all over the country here, but tomorrow we say good-bye to Lake Havasu and head to Sin City...Las Vegas here we come!