Why Are The Lights Flickering

Yesterday afternoon we noticed our power was “flickering”.  While I was making popcorn, the microwave seemed to by cycling up and down, kind of like a power surge in reverse.  The lights were dimming on and off as well.

Kevin went outside to check things out at the electrical box.  Our 50 to 30 amp plug was partially melted to the plug in the campground’s box.  That’s not good!

We shut everything down and Kevin let things outside cool down.  Being a holiday weekend, the office is closed until Monday. Kevin had a spare plug, so we’re using that.  The box still works, but it’s certainly not working as well as it should.

Ideally, 50 amp service works best for us.  However, we’ve been at a number of campgrounds with 30 amp service and have had no problems.  We just have to be more mindful of turning one thing off before we turn another on.  For example, if I want to use the blow dryer, I have to turn off the electric heater first.  

I’m not very happy with this campground.  Twice we’ve been unable to get out due to the entry road being flooded.  Now this poor electrical box.  The voltage appears to be lower than it should.

So we’ve had to pay for a rental car to pick up the boys when the road was flooded, and now we have to replace a melted plug.

It appears the owners (a corporation) put as little money as possible into the place.  It’s kept clean, but everything is looking rather “tired”.  We will definitely not be coming back to Woods Valley Kampground in Valley Center, California!

Our Wisconsin Badgers played their hearts out yesterday, but came up short in the Rose Bowl :(  Hopefully, the Packers will win today.

I’m trying to fight off this cold, but it’s winning.  I really didn’t feel well yesterday and my throat was pretty sore last night.  Thank goodness for Nyquil.  At least I was able to sleep well.

I’d like to welcome some new followers Beth, Dear Miss Mermaid and Coast to Coast.  Sometimes I lose track of who new followers are, but I welcome everyone.  I’ve been writing this blog for almost a year, and I’m honored that people spend time reading it.  I have learned a great deal from other bloggers.  I hope sharing our experiences can help/inspire others.

Keep those comments coming :) 

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Happy New Year

2010 was certainly a year of changes and dreams coming true.  When I think back to a year ago, we were dealing with so much uncertainty.

Tops on that list was whether the house would sell.  It wasn’t an easy process by any means, but the house did sell and on May 1st we started our fulltime journey!

We are so grateful that our prayers were answered.  Every day is a blessing.  The 8 months on the road have definitely exceeded our expectations.  We look forward to a fantastic 2011.

I put together a collage of some 2010 highlights.  If you click on it, you can see a larger version in a new window.

I couldn’t convince Kevin to go to the Rose Bowl.  He’s happy to watch it on TV.  I’m watching the parade right now with the sun shining in the window.  Go Badgers!

Highs have been in the 50s and lows in the 30s the last few days.  Words like frigid, bone chilling, arctic and hypothermia have been spoken by the weathermen.  It’s funny how people perceive weather.  I guess it’s all relative.  To us this is great weather compared to what winter has been in years gone by. 

There is a creek that runs through the campground.  Every night I hear frogs croaking outside.  That’s not something we’re used to hearing in winter.  A group of California Quail were in our front yard the other day.

 

We plan on staying home and watching football this weekend.  We’ll venture out again next week once everyone has gone back to work.  I think we’ve become allergic to crowds :)

Korey wasn’t feeling well while he was here, and I think I may have caught a bug from him.  My throat has been sore for two days.  I’m taking Zicam and zinc lozenges to try to stave off a full blown cold.  We’ll see what happens.  We’ve both been very lucky to have stayed healthy since May.   

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

A New Food Discovery

We have stopped a few times at a produce stand on the outskirts of town.  They have a nice selection of reasonably priced produce.  The other day I asked what a persimmon tastes like.  The guy had a hard time describing it and told me to take one and try it.  So I did.

It looks kind of like a tomato, but it’s not as soft.  It is definitely not like anything I’ve eaten before with a mild flavor.  I would compare it to a pear for texture and taste, but not exactly.  I found out they are high in Vitamin A and C and fiber and are good for you.  I’ll be going back and buying some.  I love new discoveries!

On Wednesday I had planned to run a few errands.  It had been raining most of the day, and when I got down to the campground entrance road, there was water flowing over it again.  It wasn’t closed this time, but I wasn’t taking any chances so I came back home.  Yesterday the rain stopped, and the road was fine so I did some grocery shopping and picked up some fabric for a quilt project.

We took a little walk yesterday and it was a bit chilly but the sun was shining.  The weather people are going on and on about the arctic temperatures.  It got into the 30s last night.  It makes us laugh :)

I updated my Campground Review page and organized the digital pictures I took while the boys were here.   We’ve rented a few movies at Redbox including Salt, Charlie St. Cloud and Going the Distance.  They were all OK, nothing earth shattering. 

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable New Year’s Eve.  We have no big plans.  We’ll enjoy the wine we bought in Pahrump and watch the festivities on TV.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

As They Say “Time Flies”

The five days our boys were here flew by.  We had a great visit, but I think they were ready to go home.  As much as we love our home, it’s cramped in here with four adults.  We’ll see them again at Easter.

We took them to the airport yesterday morning.  They both had uneventful flights and arrived home safe and sound.  After seeing all the airport delays on the news, I think they were lucky.

It was a good thing that we went to Disneyland last week.  They closed admission to the park after just two hours yesterday and the day before due to capacity crowds.  I can’t imagine it being any more crowded; crazy!

After leaving the airport, we had lunch with Merikay and Craig.  Merikay writes a blog titled “Merikay’s Dreams are Written in Smoke”.  They were visiting their daughter in San Diego so we made plans to meet in person.  This is our second face-to-face visit with fellow bloggers.

We had a great time getting to know them.  They both grew up in Wisconsin and are dreaming of fulltime RVing in a year or so.   I was touched when Merikay told me that she printed my blog entry the day we closed on our house as inspiration for selling their house.  We wish them all the best on their quest!

On Monday we spent the day touring San Diego on the Old Town Trolley Tour.

 

 

 

It’s a fully narrated tour.  It takes about 2.5 hours if you stay on for the entire route and just listen.  There are several stops where you can get on and off.  We’ve done these trolley tours in Boston and Washington, DC.  It’s great to hear the history and stories about a city.

We stopped at the USS Midway which is an aircraft carrier museum.  Included in the admission price is a self-guided audio tour.  If you listen to the entire tour, it takes 3.5 hours.  We were somewhat limited on time, so we spent 1.5 hours checking it out. 

This is the type of aircraft used in the movie Top Gun.

 

 

 

 

 

We had no idea how big the museum was and how much there was to see.  It would probably be best to save an entire day to tour the ship.

We hopped back onto the trolley and our next stop was The Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island.  The island has some of the most expensive real estate in the world.  The hotel has been featured in many movies and TV shows. 

The condos on the left sell for 2.5 million dollars and you can only stay up to 30 days a year. 

The bridge to the island is 250 feet tall so that Navy ships can quickly cross under it.  The view of downtown San Diego from the bridge is great.  Because of the proximity of the airport, downtown buildings cannot exceed 500 feet in height. 

The Carnival cruise ship Splendor is docked for repairs.  You may remember seeing it in the news several weeks ago.  It’s the one that had the fire, and passengers were stuck without power for days as it was towed back to San Diego.

We finished the tour at Old Town State Park in the heart of the city.  This three block area is the original site of San Diego and has many restored historic buildings which house museums and shops.  We wandered around for a while and then ended the day with a Mexican dinner at Cafe Coyote.  Good food and margaritas! 

This geranium was growing in the ground outside one of the buildings.  I had no idea geraniums could get this big!

It’s raining again today.  The average annual rainfall is 10 inches.  We’ve had that in less than 2 weeks.  Hopefully, this will be the end of it.  The last 2 days were sunny and in the 60s so I’m not complaining. 

Today will be a catch up day.  Some cleaning, laundry, shopping and whatever.  Nothing too exciting.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

La Jolla

Yesterday we took a drive along Historic California Route 101 from Oceanside to Mission Beach, California.  We spent most of our time in La Jolla.

We traveled along the ocean and enjoyed beautiful scenery for several miles.  We saw Torrey Pines Golf Course and headed to Glider Port.

This is a historic site where people have been hang gliding and paragliding since 1930.  It was fun to watch them.  In case you want to participate, the cost is $150 to $200 to do a tandem ride with an instructor.  We just enjoyed watching :)

We found out where Santa goes to relax after he has finished with his Christmas deliveries.

 

 

 

 

We saw one guy in a hang glider.  All of these pilots made it look really easy.

Our next stop was at Mt. Soledad Natural Park.  There were some amazing houses perched on the hillsides as we drove up.  A Veteran’s Memorial is located on top of the mountain.

 

The views were breathtaking.  Here’s San Diego.

The Pacific Ocean.

Our final stop was La Jolla Cove.  This cove was originally designated as a children’s beach.  Sea lions had other ideas.  Years ago they took over, and people have been flocking to the beach to look at them ever since.

We walked along the sidewalk above the beach for several blocks.  This is a really nice area.  We saw more sea lions in another cove.  This guy was showing off for the cameras.

A few seals were hanging out in the water.  It looked like they would be crushed against the rocks every time the waves came crashing in, but they just bobbed up again when the waves receded.

There were a bunch of birds on the rocks.  I think these are Cormorants.  There were, of course, many seagulls and even some pelicans.  The pelicans just kept gliding overhead.  They wouldn’t land to have their picture taken.

Since the pelicans didn’t want to have their picture taken, you’ll have to see one more of us.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Relaxing Christmas Day

Yesterday we had a great Christmas Day together.

Kevin cooked us breakfast in the morning.  After that we took a walk around the campground.  It’s wonderful to come across a blooming flower on Christmas Day!

Here’s the small creek at the entrance.  It’s hard to believe that two days ago the water was a couple of feet over the road.  At one point, the pond and the creek were one big body of water.

There are at least 15 of these fire hose boxes throughout the campground.  We’ve never seen a fire hose in a campground before.  With all the rain we’ve had since coming here, I can’t imagine it ever being dry enough for fires to be a concern.  I’m glad we won’t have any first-hand experience with that.

In the afternoon we played some games outside.  How cool is that! 

Then we had a great steak dinner.  We watched Nightmare Before Christmas on The Disney Channel.  After seeing The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, our curiosity regarding that movie had been piqued.  I found it to be a very strange movie.  Certainly out of the norm for Disney.

So, another wonderful family day.  I’m savoring and treasuring every moment :)

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to All of our Family and Friends!

We had a very nice day Friday just spending time together.  We slept late, played Wii games, exchanged gifts, had a lasagna dinner and watched a movie in the evening. 

My guys humored me by posing for a family picture.  It took a few tries and by the time we finally had a nice picture, we were all laughing our heads off!

I’m making an effort to take more family pictures as I don’t have that many of the boys as adults.  Here’s one of my favorite Christmas pictures from the past (1986).

 

 

 

We had decided to go to Disneyland on Thursday because the research I had done stated that the days between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are the most crowded.  I can’t imagine it could get more crowded than the day we went, but we still had a great time.

We had three passes left from a trip to Disney World ten years ago.  We were actually able to use them at Disneyland so it only cost us the admission for one person which was still $76.  And, we have another day left on our old passes to use in the future.  I’m foreseeing Christmas at Disney World in a few years :)

Our focus was to make sure and ride the attractions that are different from Disney World.  We were able to get a Fast Pass for the Indiana Jones Adventure ride and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.   The Indiana Jones ride was great!

We also rode The Matterhorn, Finding Nemo Submarines, and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.  The Haunted Mansion theme was based on The Nightmare Before Christmas movie.  We’ve never seen it, but it’s playing on The Disney Channel so we’ve got it set to record.

Most lines were less than an hour.  We should have planned to get a Fast Pass for Space Mountain.  We waited in line for 100 minutes.  We also managed to see the parade from a distance and the fireworks display.  We watched the Fantasmic show which was awesome.  They use live actors, boats, fireworks, lasers and scenes projected onto walls of water.

We liked It’s a Small World much better at Disneyland.  It was beautifully decorated for Christmas and there were several Christmas songs as well as the main theme song being sung on the ride.

Cinderella’s Castle is smaller than the one in Orlando.  It was beautifully lit at night.

So after a very long 12 hour day, everyone was exhausted and ready to go home.  We had a wonderful day together!

Today is supposed to be in the 60s again.  I’m thinking a nice walk is in order.  We’ll see if I can get everyone moving :)

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!