Archive for January, 2013

Hang onto your wallet

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

We made it out of the Bay Area after 4 months of loving home.  First stop was LasVegas where we only dropped $65.00!  Gamblers we are not but a great buffet and we are there – at least Paul is!  I don’t care for buffets simply because I have no self control and think I need to try everything!  We filled ourselves on fresh (Frozen!) shrimp and crab and then all the desserts.

Las Vegas

The good news is Las Vegas is a great place to walk and people watch.  We walked up and down the strip and then we found the car and escaped.  The next afternoon we were on our way to the desert and hopefully some warmth and sunshine.

Just not ready to leave yet!

Saturday, January 19th, 2013

We keep moving our moving date which is really ok because we keep finding things to do that we hadn’t gotten around to yet.  We took a drive up to Mt. Umunhum for some great views of the valley and to see if we can get close to that big box that sits on the hill.  The box has been there since the 60’s and is now controlled by an open space district so you can hike the mountain.  We didn’t get to hike because when you get to where the road is closed and the hiking begins there are big signs stating that dogs are not allowed!  Oh well, it was a very clear day and we enjoyed the view.

It's a really big metal box!

It’s a really big metal box!

A lot of haze and really cold.  You can really see so much and it isn't really that high

A lot of haze and really cold. You can really see so much and it isn’t that high

The weather has finally jumped into normal.  70 degrees and perfectly blue skies and no wind.  I heard on the news that they were going to have the Maverick’s Surf competition in Half Moon Bay this Sunday because the surf was going to be good.  We would not even think of going there for the competition, too many people, but I thought it would be a good chance to take a drive and see the big waves on Thursday.  Thinking it is only 4 days away the surf should be good.

We headed to the coast with a stop in Moss Landing for some great clam chowder at Phil’s .  The best clam chowder besides mine!  The clam chowder was great and the weather was spectacular although the bay looked very calm, almost like a lake!  Hum,   I thought sure the surf would be good if the big waves were coming on Saturday.  So we headed up the coast past Santa Cruz with a stop just north and enjoyed a wonderful walk on the beach where Duke could run crazy and dig giant holes.  His holes were the only giant things today at the beach because the waves were very ordinary!

Beautiful, but not what I was expecting.

Beautiful, but not what I was expecting.

I have lived in San Jose most of my life and have never experienced the “Big Waves”  that I had been hearing about.  Apparently the waves are sparse!  After further investigation I learned the waves for Sunday’s competition are still out near Hawaii and will arrive Saturday afternoon and besides that along the coast they will only be 10 feet.  Apparently the only place for the really big ones are right on Mavericks’ Beach which is really impossible to get near when they deem it a good time for the competition.  Your best viewing is on TV!!!

It really didn’t matter because a day at the beach is a special day anyway.  It was so warm that if we had planned better we could have stayed awhile and even had a picnic.  I have not seen a day at the beach this nice since we have been back in CA  so I was so happy.

California coast is very special

California coast is very special

Since we had traveled so far north we decided to continue to Pacifica past Devil’s Slide where they are building a tunnel and the spectacular, crazy road on the edge of a cliff will no longer be driven once the tunnels are opened sometime in the next couple of months!  I can’t believe how beautiful of a drive this is and will be gone in a few short weeks. The good news is San Mateo County will be opening it later in the year for hiking and biking – that is going to be very cool!

Looking north to Devils Slide

Looking north to Devils Slide

Besides taking wonderful drives we have also spent our extra time getting in one last visit with as many people as we can.  We spent a wonderful weekend camping with some of our camping/square dance friends in Gilroy.  We were able to reconnect with four couples, three that we hadn’t seen in at least 5 years.  We played cards and ate way too much, just like the old days!  It was so nice to see them and get caught up on everyone.

And,  of course we are still working on the house!  The toilet leaked last week so Paul got to play plumber!  Yuck!  Today I got to work on the cobblestone path I started.  Hopefully Amy can finish it over the next couple of weeks.  She made me help with 4, 80 lbs of concrete today!

So much fun!

Ouch!  I’ll be lucky if I can get out of bed tomorrow!!!  Oh well, I’ll be watching the 49er’s!

We leave for the desert in 2 days!

What is all that white stuff on the ground!

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

The plan was to head to Pioneer CA and spend New Years with our friends Kip and Pat who we spent four months traveling with this past summer.  Yep, it was only 4 months although every time we talk about it the time gets longer.  We left on Sunday in the Motorhome knowing they get snow at their home but it hadn’t rained in several days so I thought the snow would have melted!  Wrong!  About 3 miles before their home we find snow on the ground and not just a dusting.  By the time we reached the turnoff I was really nervous about pulling off the highway into a neighborhood with this much snow.  I could see some of the roads were not plowed.  We were lucky, at our turn the road was cleared but not the next road!  All I could see was uphill and ice on the ground and it was way more snow than I was expecting!  This is going to be a cold week!

After passing the turn.  We didn’t miss it Paul just wasn’t willing to turn while I was complaining that we can’t make that street.  We pulled off at the next turn where we unhooked the car and I drove up the hill to their home, handed over the keys and said “Go,  find Paul and my house and help him up your street!”

Kip found Paul and directed him to our site next to the house and we got set up.  There was about 6 inches of snow pack on the ground and it was really cold.  It turned out perfect and we had a great visit and a wonderful New Years Eve, enjoying music and singing at their golf club.  Kip was part of the entertainment so of course we had a great time!

New Years Day was a huge brunch compliments of Pat, her sister Vi and two of our other friends Janet and Judi.  Way too much food, great football and relaxing indoors watching the ice cold snow on the ground outside.