We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. The day started with an introduction to geocaching for Matt & Suzanne, Donna, & Tiffany. Linda had chosen 4 local caches to find, ranging from a small to a large find. Two of the caches were in Creek Park, close to where Lois used to live. The other caches were in 24 hour fitness and a greenbelt area close to Los Coyotos Country club. Linda found the first one attached to a storm drain. Suzanne found the next one up in the bushes above a bridal path. Tiffany found the cache at the fitness center, and Suzanne found the last one above the walking path near the greenbelt. We found all of the caches!
Then we headed back to Lois' for a delicious turkey dinner with all of the trimmings. Everyone agreed that the food was some of the best we had ever had.
Our exciting weekend wasn't finished yet. Valerie had asked us to watch our niece Iris for the weekend while they went out of town for a special concert. Linda was on cloud 9. There was playtime on the floor together, trips to the park with the dogs in tow, pushing the stroller in the shops and long evening baths. Grandma Donna visited to share the joy of the weekend. And GG, Great Grandma, enjoyed all of it. It was a weekend we won't forget. Special times with special people.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Geocaching Around Diamond Lake
While we're at this campground we thought we would continue our quest of finding more geocaches. As we mentioned in an earlier posting, geocaching is a modern treasure hunt using a GPS device to find interesting caches all over the world. For more information, see the website geocaching.com.
The first two caches took us over some dirt roads not to far from the campground. We're were pleasantly surprised to find a west coast ranch for the famous Budweiser Clydesdale's!
This is a breeding farm with no tours or access. But you can see the horses from the road. They were being fed while we were there so they weren't near the fence by the road. For information about the Clydesdale's, click on this link: http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/clydesdale/index.htm
There were two different caches here, at each end of the property. Linda found both of them-good eyes for details. Here she is replacing one in the middle of the pile of boulders.
The other five caches we found were up in Hemet near Matt & Suzanne's new house and Diamond Lake. Matt's house is located in a major development called McSweeny's farm. Here's a link to the website: http://www.mcsweenyfarms.com/. It looks like it's going to be a great area. We visited the lodge, which is the recreation center of the community. It has a great fitness center, pool, meeting rooms, etc. They're even planning a equestrian center. Matt & Suzanne got in at the beginning of the development, so they'll be able to watch it grow over the years. In fact, the area behind their house is going to be an elementary school. The cache by their house was in the hills above the development with a great view down into the valley. John found this cache after a 1/2 mile hike.
There were two different caches here, at each end of the property. Linda found both of them-good eyes for details. Here she is replacing one in the middle of the pile of boulders.
The other five caches we found were up in Hemet near Matt & Suzanne's new house and Diamond Lake. Matt's house is located in a major development called McSweeny's farm. Here's a link to the website: http://www.mcsweenyfarms.com/. It looks like it's going to be a great area. We visited the lodge, which is the recreation center of the community. It has a great fitness center, pool, meeting rooms, etc. They're even planning a equestrian center. Matt & Suzanne got in at the beginning of the development, so they'll be able to watch it grow over the years. In fact, the area behind their house is going to be an elementary school. The cache by their house was in the hills above the development with a great view down into the valley. John found this cache after a 1/2 mile hike.
The next two caches were on a long dirt road to the south of Hemet where there's a lot of ranches. One of them was located on Rawson Ranch, which dates back to 1860. We passed by a lot of gates, with the highest number being gate 250. There are great views of Diamond Lake, which is across the street from Matt's development. This lake is the newest in the chain of drinking water lakes built by the Metropolitan Water District. A coincidence is that Linda's father worked for the MWD for over 30 years.
The final cache in the Hemet area was in a park dedicated to the CDF Air Attack team that's based at the Hemet Airport. Inside of the display airplane, John found the cache under a wing. We found all of the caches we were looking for, a new record for us!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Girard Awning-A Great Company
We arrived in San Clemente on Sunday night, camping in the parking lot of Girard Awning. What a great place to have a small company. The day was beautiful, the traffic wasn't bad, and the ocean looked very inviting.
The next morning John had to get up early, because our appointment was for 7:30am. That's very early for this retired couple. Luckily he was up, because they knocked on the door at 7:15am. We think they go to work early so that they can get off early to still catch a few waves on the beach. Anyway, they got right to work replacing our broken arm and realigning the awning. It took about 1 1/2 hours, but the awning is as good as new. This is the main awning over our patio that goes out and retracts automatically at the push of a button. Very nice.
When he finished, and we asked about a bill, he stated no charge! We were shocked, because our motorhome is a 2002 model, long past any warranty. We thanked him, moved the MoHo quickly before he changed his mind, hooked up the car and headed for Wilderness Lakes, in Menifee, CA.
Where in the heck is Menifee? It's half way between Riverside and Temecula, close to Hemet where Matt and Suzanne live. This is a Thousand Trails park, so we can stay there for free. We got there early because of the efficiency of Girard, so we got a good spot and set everything up for an 8 day stay.
We don't know why they call the park Wilderness Lakes. It now has housing developments all around it. There's no lake, just some small canals that run thru the park. Somebody got creative I guess. We enjoy this park because of it's location, but this time we were a little disappointed because we were infested with hundreds of flies. They were everywhere, on the car, on the side of the motorhome, and when a door opened, inside the motorhome. We tried a lot of different ways to keep the fly population down, but it was a losing battle. The only thing that helped a little was spraying Pine Sol full strength by the doors and windows. It seems flies don't like the smell. So now, even thought we're in the high desert, the MoHo smells like a pine forest.
The next morning John had to get up early, because our appointment was for 7:30am. That's very early for this retired couple. Luckily he was up, because they knocked on the door at 7:15am. We think they go to work early so that they can get off early to still catch a few waves on the beach. Anyway, they got right to work replacing our broken arm and realigning the awning. It took about 1 1/2 hours, but the awning is as good as new. This is the main awning over our patio that goes out and retracts automatically at the push of a button. Very nice.
When he finished, and we asked about a bill, he stated no charge! We were shocked, because our motorhome is a 2002 model, long past any warranty. We thanked him, moved the MoHo quickly before he changed his mind, hooked up the car and headed for Wilderness Lakes, in Menifee, CA.
Where in the heck is Menifee? It's half way between Riverside and Temecula, close to Hemet where Matt and Suzanne live. This is a Thousand Trails park, so we can stay there for free. We got there early because of the efficiency of Girard, so we got a good spot and set everything up for an 8 day stay.
We don't know why they call the park Wilderness Lakes. It now has housing developments all around it. There's no lake, just some small canals that run thru the park. Somebody got creative I guess. We enjoy this park because of it's location, but this time we were a little disappointed because we were infested with hundreds of flies. They were everywhere, on the car, on the side of the motorhome, and when a door opened, inside the motorhome. We tried a lot of different ways to keep the fly population down, but it was a losing battle. The only thing that helped a little was spraying Pine Sol full strength by the doors and windows. It seems flies don't like the smell. So now, even thought we're in the high desert, the MoHo smells like a pine forest.
Friday, November 09, 2007
A Visit to Turlock
We finally headed to Turlock on Wed., 11/24, after the winds died down. Our good friends, Bob & Kathy, offered us the use of their ranch to park our moho even though they were vacationing in Lake Tahoe. What great friends.
The reason we went to Turlock was to visit our good friends, and to check in with our Doctors. We both were going to visit our primary care physician, and John had an appointment with his Oncologist. All of the appointments went well, but the Oncologist wants to see John again in a month because his blood test showed his Iron was low(he may be bleeding internally). Hopefully everything will be fine during the next test.
While we were in Turlock we were able to share many meals and good times with our bible study friends. Bob & Kathy returned home on Sun., and we had a wonderful visit with them also. Whenever we get together with them we have a great time playing games, mainly Mexican Train .
We had a reunion dinner on Sat., 11/3. We had everyone meet at Cal State Stanislaus near the waterfall for wine and appetizers. Then Linda led everyone on a geocache right there on the campus. We had to identify different sculptures and solve puzzles to find the cache, so it gave us a chance to tour the campus and get some exercise. Bob was the one who found the cache inside of a parking sign in the west parking lot. We then went on to find 2 other caches, but we came up empty. Either the caches had been removed, or we couldn't find them.
We all went back to Bob & Kathy's house for a German dinner to celebrate Oktoberfest. John barbecued 3 different types of sausages, while Linda prepared all of the side dishes. We served beer and wine, and finished the meal with a delicious pumpkin cheesecake. It was great food, and it was the company and fellowship that made it special.
John enjoyed 2 lunches with his friends, Kristine & George, from his days at Gallo. It was a lot of fun catching up on different people from the company, and their families. It's hard to believe it's been almost 2 years since John retired. It's always nice to know everyone is still doing great even thought he's no longer there.
We had a surprise when the refrigerator door in the moho just fell off! We were lucky to find a new one in Sacramento. Can you believe a little side door would cost $395.00? We a happy that our food didn't spoil.
All to soon, it was time to head back to SoCal. We have an appointment to get our awning fixed at the Girard Awning Co. in beautiful San Clemente on Monday, 11/12. Hopefully it won't bruise the wallet too much, but we've missed having our awning when we sit outside. Until then, keep in touch.
The reason we went to Turlock was to visit our good friends, and to check in with our Doctors. We both were going to visit our primary care physician, and John had an appointment with his Oncologist. All of the appointments went well, but the Oncologist wants to see John again in a month because his blood test showed his Iron was low(he may be bleeding internally). Hopefully everything will be fine during the next test.
While we were in Turlock we were able to share many meals and good times with our bible study friends. Bob & Kathy returned home on Sun., and we had a wonderful visit with them also. Whenever we get together with them we have a great time playing games, mainly Mexican Train .
We had a reunion dinner on Sat., 11/3. We had everyone meet at Cal State Stanislaus near the waterfall for wine and appetizers. Then Linda led everyone on a geocache right there on the campus. We had to identify different sculptures and solve puzzles to find the cache, so it gave us a chance to tour the campus and get some exercise. Bob was the one who found the cache inside of a parking sign in the west parking lot. We then went on to find 2 other caches, but we came up empty. Either the caches had been removed, or we couldn't find them.
We all went back to Bob & Kathy's house for a German dinner to celebrate Oktoberfest. John barbecued 3 different types of sausages, while Linda prepared all of the side dishes. We served beer and wine, and finished the meal with a delicious pumpkin cheesecake. It was great food, and it was the company and fellowship that made it special.
John enjoyed 2 lunches with his friends, Kristine & George, from his days at Gallo. It was a lot of fun catching up on different people from the company, and their families. It's hard to believe it's been almost 2 years since John retired. It's always nice to know everyone is still doing great even thought he's no longer there.
We had a surprise when the refrigerator door in the moho just fell off! We were lucky to find a new one in Sacramento. Can you believe a little side door would cost $395.00? We a happy that our food didn't spoil.
All to soon, it was time to head back to SoCal. We have an appointment to get our awning fixed at the Girard Awning Co. in beautiful San Clemente on Monday, 11/12. Hopefully it won't bruise the wallet too much, but we've missed having our awning when we sit outside. Until then, keep in touch.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)