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!