31Jan 2012 by Lboll

Ventura, California

Traveling

We have truly found the best view at a campsite since we entered CA. When we were at Pleasanton, a couple staying next to us told us they were heading to Ventura to Rincon Parkway, a strip of blacktop along Hwy 1 that the County of Ventura allows RVs to stay at for $27 a night. So we went online to check it out. By the description people gave that had stayed there it was exactly that – a strip of blacktop a few feet off of Hwy 1 between the ocean and a railroad tracks that carried Amtrak trains every few hours. With no hook-ups at the sites we decided to look a little farther. On the same section of Hwy 1 were two actual RV parks run by…

27Jan 2012 by Lboll No Comments

Central California

Traveling

Seacliff State Park in Santa Cruz was our next stop. Okay, here is one of my complaints about CA. The state park system in CA is terrible. It’s not that they don’t have nice state parks but they are so expensive for really nothing. The sites are normally close together and short, not meant for RVs over 25 feet. The least we paid was $35.00 a night and this was with no hook-ups. Seacliff, because it sat right on the beach, was $55.00 a night and there were no hook-ups plus we sat on black top with no space between us and our neighbor. Now it was our choice to stay here because we wanted the experience of staying right on the beach but $55 a night – really? And…

26Jan 2012 by Lboll

Northern California

On Our Minds

I’ve been really having a hard time getting started writing about our California adventure. It’s not that we haven’t been having a wonderful time in CA. We have seen some beautiful areas. I love CA’s beautiful trees and flowers. One of the first things that we saw as we crossed the border from Oregon was the Giant Redwoods. We went through the 31-mile scenic drive called the Avenue of the Giants of the Ancient Redwoods. We spent time hiking in some of the groves and even got lost once when we got turned around on a trail. We spent an anxious hour trying to find the trail that would take us back to the truck. We also spent time hiking at Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in Guerneville, CA. Beautiful…

10Jan 2012 by Lboll

Our Abby

On Our Minds

Today we lost one of our beloved four-legged family members to kidney disease. It was a tough decision to make and one we always prayed wouldn’t come. We’ve been very fortunate to have had almost 15 years of loyal companionship with Abby. In her younger years she loved to play fetch with the ball in the back yard and would wear herself out trying to catch the light beam from a flashlight as we moved it across the floor. She has been a great traveler and a trouper when it came to hikes until these last few years. We made a huge mistake when we went back to Minnesota for the holidays. After several visits to our own vet, being hospitalized and knowing she wasn’t going to fully recover, we…

08Jan 2012 by Lboll No Comments

Christmas in Minnesota

On Our Minds

We’ve been asked why we haven’t posted anything since the first part of November. Not sure other than leaving Oregon was sad and anticipating our trip back to Minnesota was all that was on our minds. So I’m going to talk about Christmas back in Minnesota and come back to our adventures in California later. Joe and I could hardly wait to get back to our kids and grandbaby Cate in Minnesota. We gave ourselves 5 days to make the 2052 mile trip back. We were so fortunate. The weather was perfect which made the roads perfect. We left CA on Dec 16th and were in MN on Dec 20th. We were so excited to hold our granddaughter but our dogs had other ideas. Both ended up sick on the…