Saturday, March 26/16 - On the Road!

The next morning we were up and on the road by 8:30. We had a quick stop at Winco and Rite Aid to pick up essentials and heading south on the I-5 by 10:00 AM. I plugged in the 12V. slow cooker and started a wonderful smelling Chili cooking.

CHILI!

We kept up a steady pace all day, wanting to put as many miles on to get to the warmth of Sunny California ASAP. We stopped for dinner - Chili and fresh cheese buns - in Eugene,Or. and spent the night in a rest stop between Medford and Ashland, Oregon.

Holidays once again! March 25/16

Dale started his two weeks holidays so as soon as he got home we started out about 3:00PM. We passed the LOOOOONG 70 minute border lineup and went into the duty free. As we got out of the Navion to go in, I checked the license plate number to confirm it and saw that someone (I won’t mention any names) had forgotten to put the new sticker on. When I asked him where it was he said “on the counter at home with the newly renewed insurance papers”. We had to get the security guard to let us out a back gate as it’s only one way from the duty free. Home we went to grab the papers and put the sticker on.  Good thing we’re only 10 minutes from the border. Back to the duty free and over the border at about 4:30PM - only a ten minute wait now most of the traffic had passed. We drove straight to Tulalip, a quick swim and an early night for an early start the next day.

February 5 & 6 - Silver Reef

The Navion looking like it needed to get away!

We hadn’t been away for a month so once more we headed south to “The Reef” with Allison & Tony. Still cold and shivery weather but we’re all tough RV’rs!

Henry snuggled up warm and cozy in his blankie!

Three of us didn't have much luck but Allison cleaned up. Lot’s of fun once again that too soon came to end and we had to go back to reality.

Happy Hour!

A New Year - January 9/10 - Tulalip

Fun in the Sun at the Park

Bunk Beds - Please Nana & Gramps!?!?

We once again headed south - after all 3 weeks was a long time without RVing. Kelly and the grandkiddlies came with us. They were game for a nice swim at the Tulalip pool and some shopping. We set off right after Jacob was out of school and sped on down to the casino for a swim. What a shock we had - they had a wedding show going on with the Fashion Show being held in the beautiful scenic pool area as the back drop. POOL CLOSED!

Watching Scooby Doo - Warm & Cozy.

We instead watched some kiddie movies and the next day had a good time shopping, including at Cabella’s where Jacob & Ivy found a set of camping bunk beds they really liked. Unfortunately the $300. price tag wasn’t happening at the casino so they didn’t get them LOL! We had dinner at the Olive Garden - one of their favourite places so that made up for the disappointment of the swimming and Bunk beds.

Ivy's "Gummies on a Stick" she had for "Appie Hour"

Boxing Day - December 27,2015

We decided that we couldn’t let the holidays pass without spending one day Navioning with Allison & Tony so we headed out to Silver Reef for dinner and an evenings entertainment with our good friends.

Dinner at the Steakhouse.

 We had dinner at the steakhouse as we had to use up our free Birthday Dinner they give us once per year. We had a fun evening in the casino. They drove home that night but we "roughed it". A quick breakfast the next day and home once more - a little bit of quick but a little cold (shiver) fun.

Friday - Winchester Mansion and Jaxon Keys Winery

Early Morning Fog at Jaxon Keys Winery

We were up early Friday and on the road by 8:00 AM looking for a Walmart and McDee’s. We GPS’d and found one on the way - 12 miles ahead. We pulled out on the highway and two or three exits up we spied a Walmart right at the exit but it came up to fast so we passed it. We followed the GPS to the one on the route but as we came off at the exit it was one of the "off one freeway and onto the next freeway" that California is famous for. We missed the proper exit and had to go up a ways to turn back but now we were on the wrong side of the road to take the exit so had to circle around again. We took a back road, through a residential area and got completely lost! We re-GPS’d, using NO Freeways and finally after 45 minutes of driving around lost we pulled into the Walmart parking lot and bonus it had a McDee’s also. Fed, shopping done, and dieseled up - we headed to San Jose for Winchester Mystery Mansion 11 AM Tour - a very interesting stop we have done many times but really enjoy every time. After the tour we headed through the maze of Metropolitan San Francisco Freeways which was no easy feat! We headed up the 101 to our planned Harvest Host stop for the night - Jaxon Keys Winery & Distillery.  We pulled in about 3:30PM - just in time for us to have a wine tasting before “Happy Hour”. We tasted some delicious wines and chose their “Farmhouse White” to take out onto their wrap-around porch to sip with some of our cheese & crackers and watch the sun go down. There was a group of young people already on the porch enjoying their wine and we invited them to join us in our cheese platter.

Fun and laughter with new friends!

Soon we were having a fun time with Rebekkaa, Thomas, Julia and Tom who were visiting from just north of Hopland - Willitts,CA. We had a great time chatting with them and then went back to cozy up in the Navion parked amongst the rows of the vineyard.

Who could ask for a more wonderful place to "Camp"!

The next morning, I woke early about 6:00 and went out into the fog shrouded, nippy morning to take some photo’s - a photographers dream setting! We had breakfast - a sausage and egg scramble, said goodbye to the lovely ladies in the Winery and set off for the last leg of our long journey up the Oregon Coast to home. We cruised up the all but seasonally deserted coastline, staying in a Walmart parking lot Saturday. We continued up the coast Sunday, stopping only at Tillamook Cheese for a quick look, spent that night at a rest stop near Kelso, Wa. and crossed the border about noon on Monday AM.

The Navion in the early morning Fog

The Vineyards among the rolling hills -
after the fog cleared and the Sun came out

Such a picturesque setting!

Thursday - Hearst Castle

After breakfast, we once more headed up the coast - the destination of the day was Hearst Castle at San Simeon. It was a beautiful sunny day again. We got to “The Ranch” as it was affectionately called in time for the 11:00 o'clock tour.

"The Ranch"

We had done the basic tour before so we chose the bedrooms and upper floors this time and Sue did the basic. Once again we were not disappointed - it is well worth the $25. admission. What a magnificent architectural history - a tribute to the “Money” times of the early 1900’s. After a quick lunch in the RV, we set out mid-afternoon to tootle up the coast. We stopped at the seal vista point not far from San Simeon to see the hundreds of Elephant Seals laying on the beach.

Hundreds of Seals on the beach

We continued on, enjoying the wonderful scenery of the coast but getting stuck in the rush hour traffic of Monterrey. We got to Camping World in San Martin about 7:00PM. A quick meal of homemade sauce and spaghetti, a movie and bed.