Time to Move

Well, Disneyland has been visited, the kids have gone back home so it is time to move!  This past week we spent a day at Seal Beach.  While the weather was not hot, the sun was shining and the kids had a great time as the waves came crashing on shore, making sand castles and sand volcanoes, and trying to avoid getting wet - it didn't work!!!

Everyone at play

We went over to the Discovery Cube - a science centre in Anaheim.  As we spent the morning on the main floor, we were somewhat disappointed and the kids didn't really seem to enjoy it.  In the afternoon we went back to tour the second floor which was amazing.  The interactive activities, and variety of things, were were fun for the kids and the grandparents.  The activities were both fun and educational for everyone.

A desert sunset

But the week has wound down and we are in the process of moving east and south - eventually ending up in Yuma for a few days.  Right now we are doing some visiting in Indio and are parked in a casino lot.  Doing that, we sign up for a players card and they give you forty dollars once you play twenty.  I had a great night - my twenty and their forty gave me seventy - I came home a winner - a rare occasion.  But Gerry paid for our camping spot so we didn't stay for free.

The weather is supposed to be cloudy and maybe rainy and windy the next couple of days so we will hang tough until the weather clears.  Also, with some extra expertise around, Gerry is once again tackling his electrical issue which still isn't resolved.  It seems that every time he has someone around he tries to get some help and each time, things end up a bit better, but still not right.  He does manage to have his help scratching their heads as they try and determine the problem and an ultimate solution.  Eventually, it will come I am sure.

All problems do get solved eventually - some quicker than others.  We did have a compromised credit card a couple of weeks ago and that got resolved in a matter of days - so there is still time!!!

I see the weather at home is still decent and that is great.  The weather here has been cooler than usual, or at least than it has been the past couple of years but it's still great to not have to wear boots and jackets and to see the clear blue sky.  I hope your week is great and I will be back next weekend.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Rylind's Super Hero

We are currently camped in Mickey's backyard - very close to the Happiest Place on Earth and it truly is.  We spent three days at Disneyland and/or California Adventure as some of us went on rides, some of us stood in line to meet princesses, and some of us just enjoyed the sights.  The characters are amazing with beautiful costumes and their interaction is terrific with the people - young and old alike.  The parades are full of colour and music and effects of various types.  Fireworks are held every evening which we can easily watch from just a couple of campsites away and they are like none other.  And probably the best part is that everyone is friendly, mostly polite,  and as a result, despite the fact that there are sometimes crowds, it is a terrific place to visit.

We attended a Medieval Feast which was most entertaining.  As with any Medieval Feast, there are no utensils - you drink the soup, you eat the potato and meat by hand as well as anything else they serve.  It was fun to rip apart the chicken with your hands.  The tables were around a large arena and as you ate there was constant action of jousts and fights by the knights.  Each section was assigned a particular knight so the cheering was intense.  At the end, the knights tossed all the little girls live carnations and afterwards, everyone could meet any or all of the knights as well as the king and queen.  What a marvelous show!!


I went to the Santa Ana zoo for an afternoon.  While it was small, it was quite interesting and a great way to spend an afternoon.  The kids got to pretend that they were off-roading in a jeep.


And the saga of our charging problem continued.  We had first thought it was the alternator so we went to order one.  Well they had the alternator but not the regulator which was ordered to be delivered a week later.  We received a call that it was in so off we go to get it but oops, wrong alternator in stock and we needed one with an built-in regulator - it will be here tomorrow.  So tomorrow comes and we go to get it, bring it back but it isn't working.  So back we go, and have the old one tested (which was supposed to have been done before ordering a new one) and it works fine.  So we return the new one, that wasn't working anyway (or so it seemed) and home to put back the old one.  So now  after ten days of running back and forth with the alternator issue,  Gerry and Greg spent an afternoon and found two things - one a broken ground wire and a broken sensor wire.  They think that the problem is solved and how I hope that is the case.  It has been terribly frustrating.

Quiet time at Grandmas

This seems to be the year of issues - it seems we go from one repair project to the next one - oh I hope that this is the end.   We will find out as we head out later this week!!  Until next week, I hope your week is great!!

Home and Back

It's been a couple of weeks since I have written but it was both a very busy, and quiet couple of weeks.
 

One of the sculptures

We started out at Borrego Springs where we had amazing peace and quiet, great scenery, and nice days and cool evenings.  We spent a couple of days there, and met a very nice couple from Ontario who kindly volunteered to look after our motorhome while we flew home.  We are very grateful to them as it made our trip home very easy.  While at Borrego Springs we did go on a couple of 4x4 runs - very little rock crawling but some wonderful scenery.  We also took a small tour to see the most amazing sculptures that are all around the town.

Our flight home was great although quite tiring.  It seems that it always takes a full day to go anywhere.  It was great to see the grandkids and take in a couple of their activities.  I also go some work done, we did a bit of visiting, and I complained a lot about the darn cold weather.  But it was only for a few days so really nothing to complain about.

On our way to Anaheim

We flew back to Palm Springs and found that the folks who looked after the motorhome did a fine job.  The next morning we headed out.  Shortly after we left, Gerry said "my batteries are dead".  With that comment we carried on until we had no gauges, could not shift, and not much was working so we pulled over to try to see if we could figure out what the problem was.  The decision was that it was likely the alternator.  We wanted to be in Anaheim by about lunch so how were we going to do that.  Well, Gerry came up with a solution - he wired the coach batteries to the house batteries, we ran the generator to keep the batteries charged, and off we went - hardly lost any time!!  The reason we wanted to get into Anaheim so quickly was because Taryn and Greg and the kids had arrived the day before.  Greg to the rescue as he removed the alternator and a new one got ordered.

The Castle at Disneyland

It's a small world!!

Then it was day one at Disneyland.  The weather was perfect, the kids had a blast, and it was even fun for the old folks - no one does it up like Disney!  But while there we get a phone call from our credit card fraud department about some unusual charges.  Since we couldn't check at that moment, we got home and found that there were some charges on our credit card that didn't belong to us.  So now we have no credit card until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.  That's a real bummer as I really wanted to go shopping.  Oh well - crap happens.

We are at a campground where you can easily see the fireworks at Disneyland.  There is really nothing like it and it seems that they vary them daily.  All I can say is WOW!! We are here for almost a couple more weeks so we will definitely see more of Disneyland.

I hope everyone has a great week and I'll be back next week!

Hello 2016

 

This past week we rolled over into a new year.  The neighbours behind us received a large set of wind chimes for Christmas.  They hung them in a spot that every small breeze would make them "sing".  Well when the wind was blowing fairly hard, you can imagine the racket.  In order to quiet them down, Gerry went over a five foot fence to silence them (in the dark) but on the way down, he landed on a corner of a board.  His knee came up and knocked the metal part on his wristband onto his nose and made quite a scrape.  He got to tell his story fairly often as everyone wanted to know what happened. 

Then it was time to celebrate the incoming new year and one certainly can not do that without a celebration New Year's Eve and we took part.  We joined friends - Jim & Myrna and Gary & Marleen.  After supper we had some bubbly and then we played a few games of Bingo.  Yes, it isn't a type - we did play Bingo.  Gary & Marleen's son commented that old people sat around playing Bingo, and would sometimes refer to the women as blue hairs.  He also was generous in that he sent a bingo game to him mom and dad.  So us girls sprayed the front of our hair blue and we sat around and played a few games of bingo.  We had lots of fun and lots of laughs.  Our partying carried on into the evening but we were home by shortly after ten!!
 
The next day was New Years day and it was time for us to move so we drove over to Borrego Springs.  With it being a holiday, the sand dunes and OHV (off highway vehicle) areas were very busy.  Each of these areas became towns as the many RV'ers came down with their toys.

Once at Borrego Springs, we were able to do a bit of off-roading.  Today we went up Grapevine Canyon - an easy, pretty drive although some areas have been devastated by fires.  Since we were able to catch the tail-end of a 4x4 rally so it was also a great time to catch up with some old friends.

Today we toured a little.  The orange harvest is starting - it should be a great year by looking at the trees that are very fruitful.  We also toured a couple of sculptures - there are dozens and they are absolutely amazing.  There will be more coming next week.

This past week we have had wind, a bit of rain, lots of sun, but relatively cool temperatures.  Here at Borrego Springs, the temps are a bit warmer although this coming week there is the prediction of rain most of the week.  The desert sure does need the moisture and we don't mind as we will be gone half of this week as we are flying home.

I hope you all have a great week!