Feb 16th

Happy to have found the Apple store and it was open on a Sunday and they fixed our laptop.   Nice warm day!   Daryl had a swim in the pool.  I took a tumble off the sidewalk outside the Apple store, rather embarrassing and I put a hole in the knee of my favorite jeans, skinned my knee and knuckles and wrenched my back so feeling a little sore.  Had a drive around some of Palm Springs and it really is beautiful with all the palm trees, bougainvillaea and flowers.   Tomorrow I think we will be heading to Joshua Tree National Park for 2 nights of camping.

Feb 15th - Day 7 and into warm weather!

Madera to Indio:   We passed acres and acres of walnut, pecan, pistachios, almonds and grape vines.  Apparently Selma, California is the raisin growing capital of the world.   I now will have second thoughts about eating Sunmaid raisins that are grown next to a 6 lane highway with all the traffic and emissions coating the grapes.  Lots of smog as we neared Bakersfield.   President Obama was in Fresno yesterday to see the effects of the drought.  Lots of signs about the political aspects of water and lost jobs.  "Food grows where water flows".  We are now heading east through acres of orange groves.   We stopped at a stand and bought 6 different types of oranges.  In looking at the map, we really are at the outermost suburbs of LA it seems.   Tons of traffic leading to Palm Springs and on the opposite side of the freeway, an accident has caused a tremendous traffic jam for miles.   at 5 PM, we got the last spot in a RV park and are finding out that a nice climate = more dollars for an RV site.

Happy 88th BD Mom!!!

Today we drove from Redding to Madera.  We left the I-5 and took Hwy 99 and a bit of Hwy 36 which runs through some really pretty orchard country.   Almonds, pecans, pistachios, peaches; blossoms on some of the trees.   Up to 22C and as a special Valentines Day treat, parked the RV in the WalMart lot!  2 other RVs with us too and IHOP for brekkie.  Talk about living the high life!

We took a rest day and stayed at the 7 Feathers RV site another day.  We slept in, had lattes and hot showers.  Did laundry and took a few photos, but still raining.  Apparently, there are flood warnings a bit north of here.  We drove into Canyonville to get a few groceries and, at the hardware store, saw some great  looking rubber boots by BOG.  Daryl ended up buying a pair, but they didn't have the cute ones with dogflowers on them in my size.  Then we went to the casino for lunch, got our "players card" which gave us 10% off the RV site, 3 cents off gas and $5 to gamble.  I got $10 since it was my birthday month!  We came out ahead by $16, a mug and deck a cards after about 30 minutes.  Gambling is so not our thing.  Back to the RV and then to the pool for a swim, they keep it warm enough for me to get in easily and enjoyed hot tub and then back to the RV.  The downer today is that our Mac Air appears to have crashed for some reason.

Still raining!

We left Canyonville this morning for a short drive to Grants Pass where Daryl planned to buy new tires for the truck.  We took the dogs for a walk to an off leash dog park and we had lattes and enormous cinnamon buns at a nearby bakery whole the tires were put on.  Picked up the truck again and headed south and very soon the drizzle turned to pouring rain again.  The weather report for the coast was pretty dismal so we changed plans and are heading for Palm Springs.  We talked to Ken and Liza in Phoenix and it's hot there,  and there is an Apple store.  The Mac Air has crashed, so there won't  be photos in the blog till it's up and running again.

At the first rest stop in California, the fragrance in the air was so amazing, like being at a spa with the wonderful herbal (eucalyptus?) woodsy smell.  Too bad it was raining, as it was a very beautiful rest stop along the Klamath River.

As we drove south we passed the Shasta reservoir and it looked quite strange as there was so much of the shoreline showing.   We read that about 90% of California is experiencing drought conditions and the Shasta Reservoir is only about 30% full.

We are at an RV park in Redding tonight and once again have internet and cable, so we are watching the Olympics!  A mild evening as we walked the dogs before bedtime and heard the frogs croaking in a little creek.

On the road again!

I retired last August and this winter is the first time that Daryl and I were free to load up the 5th wheel and the dogs and take to the road with no particular timetable. We decided (well, I decided) not to leave until February because I wanted to be at my granddaughter's first birthday February 8th. We left Campbell River and parked outside Melissa and Jeff's place for 2 nights and really enjoyed the birthday party. I can hardly believe Isla is already one! She took all the people and attention in stride and had a good time!

Being pretty delicate, I was really apprehensive about freezing to death in the RV with the below zero weather in Vancouver, but we were able to plug in and run a heater, had our really warm sleeping bags as well as having Daegan on the bed to keep us warm and hot showers & Lattes at Melissa and Jeff's place.

Feb. 10th we left for the States and immediately hit a road block at the border -- oops, wrong lineup. We were in the bus lineup but the US Customs officials were pretty accommodating and after a brief inspection, set us loose. We travelled as far as Kelso, Washington the first night and got a hotel room due to the continuing cold weather. The next day we continued on I-5 and stopped at the 7 Feathers Casino Resort north of Grant's Pass. Very nice resort for a great price, $40. Power, water, cable, pool, hot tub, beautiful heated shower rooms, dog run and of course, the Casino. Not sure we'll sample the Casino as I think the dogs will bark their brains out if we aren't with them.  In fact, I think we will stay for 2 nights.  We both commented on how weird it feels to be able to just play it by ear and not feel like we have to get moving.

 I am really impressed with the State rest stops. Due to the time of year, it seems to be mostly truckers who stop, so we find areas that we can let the dogs off leash and they get to have a good break from the drive. They are really good travellers. I wonder if every stop has very different smells for them? We stop every 2-3 hours and today, by mid-day,  the temperature hit double digits!  I will put away my winter coat and get out my spring coat! It's still very grey though, no sunshine yet, but the daffodils are showing colour so we must be headed in the right direction!

PTI November Blog Hop

Last month my sister and I got together to make glitter houses.   My grandmother had a Putz house on her Christmas tree that I remember as a child and I thought it would be fun to try to recreate one.  There are many tutorials and templates available on the internet and I also found Melissa Frances kits at Simon Says Stamp.  5 of the houses above are from the kits and the largest one is a template.   The 3 small houses are for my grandchildren.  I plan to recruit my husband to draft a plan of our house and make them for my daughters.  Not sure if that will happen before Christmas though.   I used a variety of glitters, PTI paper, the little trees are from the local craft store and Melissa Frances, Aleene's snow and some vellum in the windows.  It was a fun project for my sister to do together.