Beautiful day for walking around “the city” so we left the pups at a doggy day care (they already visited to make sure it suited their stringent pee mail requirements) and set off for San Francisco with a stop off in Sausalito to catch the view from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Little boxes made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same…now it’s stuck in my head.  When we passed South San Francisco and saw the dozens of box like pastel houses perched all over the hills we knew we were close to San Francisco.  How could anyone build those tacky little things so close to a city who’s architecture brought people from all over the world to admire and with homes built by genius’s such as Frank Lloyd Wright?

Sausalito was first.  It is a beautiful little city with dozens of small unique art studio’s and a peaceful bay that looks across to the city of San Francisco.  The houses are all built on top of one another to make sure that each and every million dollar postage stamp sized lot has an equally exceptional million dollar view.  John and I had coffee at Starbucks and walked the downtown area enjoying the bright sunlight and the cool breeze before heading back across the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco.

The fog and smog glazed over the area so the pictures were not as crisp and exceptional as the view.

The drive down Lombard Street was made even more interesting by a dumb ass that clipped one of the curbs while trying to make the turns, wrenching off his entire front bumper and grill, holding up traffic long enough for people to start honking and ended up backing down the curvy street while good Samaritans walked with him holding onto his bumper.   Made anything stupid I’ve ever done while driving seem trivial.

John and I wandered into the pin ball museum on the wharf.  I love playing these machines.  Wonderful place to peek into past forms of entertainment.  Lots of music, flip pictures, games and pin ball machines like those I played as a child.

We walked up to Pier 39 for a sour dough bowl of clam chowder, down to Fisherman’s Wharf and over to Ghirdellia Square for a dark chocolate Sunday before ending the day with the long traffic laden drive back to the LilyPad.

So if I haven’t already said it’s not all fun and games…”It’s not all fun and games!”  We have an -unexplained rat-a-tat-tat coming from the motor of Ribbit whenever we step on the gas going up a hill.  Sounds like someone riding a very short zip line under our hood.  And for some unknown reason the front step decides to swing back under, about half way, every few days and there isn’t anything on any of the forums that gives us a hint as to why.  Seems like the minute we solve one little inconvenience, another pops up to take its place.  Nothing life threatening, but it’s like a tiny little gnat that you keep swatting away but it just keeps coming back and then you realize that it’s a floater in your vision and not a gnat at all so you stress over it for a few days and then it becomes a natural part of your vision and sort of goes away.  Not actually the best analogy but then this gnat kept buzzing around my right eye and driving me nuts as I batted it over and over until I realized that it really was a floater so resigned myself to just live with it along with those little RV inconveniences and popped a piece of Lindt dark chocolate into my mouth for consolation.

The four of us, that would be 2 humans and 2 dogs, took a trip down the coast to Monterey.  It was a bit foggy and cool but the perfect weather for walking around and exploring the Cannery Row area.  Not much has changed in all the years that have passed.  Not even the area where my father and his skin diving buddies, The Pokey Penguins, (no, I’m not kidding…that was really their name!) used to dive when I was a pre-teen.  It used to be old rusted out buildings that lined the streets instead of the current businesses but the sand, the rocks and the stripped down cement walls with rusted rebar protruding out of the tops still remain there along with the local homeless and all their belongings stowed in plastic bags stuffed in grocery carts.   The bums used to make mom feel uncomfortable when I was young and it bothered John when we walked by so the dogs didn’t get their play time on the sand.  After walking around the area, John and I had lunch at Bubba Gump’s, the only restaurant that allows dogs to dine outside with their humans.  KatieBug was very interested in the waves splashing on the rocks that she could see between the pier planks below her and she tried to dig her way down to them several times.  Millie just sat and watched the two kids that were sitting next to us in hopes they would drop some tasty morsels.

After lunch we headed down 17 Mile Drive for a short distance and stopped to view the glass bottom boat that was on display.  Memories of sitting in the swan boats, watching the sea creatures below while dad and his buddies were out in the ocean came back to me and I was surprised to find out that these little wooden boats had been used as far back as the 1800’s.   They were no longer used after the 1970’s and the last swan boat sits bolted to the cement walkway a short distance from where they sailed in the ocean.  As the fog rolled in, we made our way back to the LilyPad.

Hard to believe we have been homeless and unemployed for five months!  The inconveniences seem to be settling into a reasonable, although not totally acceptable, rhythm which does tend to lower the stress level of living in a rolling box.

We are staying in the valley, aka silicon valley, and every one of our high tech instruments is acting strangely.  My computer is being stubborn, my cell phone refuses to stay charged and our navigation system has not the faintest idea where we are.  The birthplace of high tech and we get no respect from ours.

Spent the day strolling down memory lane.  Breakfast at a local iconic restaurant, visit to my cousin Cathy in Monte Sereno, drive to Franklyn Street where my Grandmother lived, down the street to Saint Clair’s where John and I were married, searched for Wilson’s Bakery and found out it went out of business 5 years ago, drove down Winchester Blvd to see the Winchester Mystery House, over to my childhood house and grade school, a few blocks over to my high school now a Senior Center and across the street to my college now a county building.  My life goes on but the places I remembered from my childhood have all been wiped away.  Tiny pity party…boo hoo…before California Pizza Kitchen for a snack and relaxing back at the LilyPad.

Heading to San Jose with stops whenever something interesting catches our attention.

The scenery changed abruptly after entering the Los Angeles area.  From flat land to rocky outcrops atop smooth sided mountains, from lazy floating buzzards to precise surveying hawks and from sand and Joshua Trees to tall skinny palm trees, spikey green cypress and lazy fragrant eucalyptus.  The landscape left it’s sickly stick look and was replaced by huge full trees and the ground was covered with those succulent ice plants that my cousins and I used to use to color the sidewalks.   Instead of seeing dessert illusions of water on sand, we saw the blue and foamy waters of the ocean.   I love California…the weather, the smell of the ocean and eucalyptus, it’s my home state and I think it is a most magnificent state.  As soon as one of us wins the lottery we can afford to come back and stay for a while.

Our path of choice was El Camino Real aka Highway 101.   We weren’t sure if the markers were bells or lights but their  rusty presence marked the road every few miles.

First stop was Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove.  Awesome clumps of butterflies clinging to eucalyptus tree branches.  They winter here, not in Mexico as those that come from the Eastern states winter.

We overnighted in Paso Robles at the Rio Seco Winery.  One of the perks of belonging to Harvest Host is staying at winery’s for the night.   The owners gave us a bottle of 07 Zinfandel to enjoy for the night as a gift.  It was fruity and absolutely yummy!  The area was cool in the evening and we expected the roosters to crow in the am but not a peep.

In the morning, we spent some time talking with the owner who used to be a scout for  professional baseball. After having breakfast muffins and coffee offered by the owner’s daughter, we bought a few bottles of the Zin, one MVP and one Cab and again rolled down 101.  One stop at Flying J for diesel and a much appreciated long hot shower and then settling in for the night at the Santa Clara Elk’s Lodge RV site where we will spend the next week.

Late getting up today.  Visited with Aunt Susie and Jerry last night.  Thoroughly enjoyable dinner and company far into the night.  Another ”cooking for the dogs” day, a quick trip to the market and a side trip to the local dog park.  Millie and KatieBug were being unsocial so we came back home.  Tanner, the Coon Hound next door, has become friends with both of our pups and have great times dashing all over the Elks Lodge lawn.   Turns out our neighbors at the Lodge were in Quartzsite same time as us.

Another fabulous dinner with Aunt Susie and Jerry along with very stimulating political discussions ended the night.  When we got home Tanner was waiting to play with Millie and KatieBug and they ran some laps before bedtime.

On our way to Los Angeles and snow is floating in the air.  Nothing is sticking this low but the mountains are beautiful with lots of white.

Got a picture of the World’s Largest Thermometer…almost as exciting as the World’s Largest Ball of String.  Good thing this wasn’t the highlight of our trip!

Passed by the California Dessert Conservation Area.  Not exactly sure what they are conserving because it’s flat and void of all life.  My kind of job…getting paid by the government to conserve totally flat sandy land with nothing growing on it for miles.

Stopped at Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner.  A grand mixture of 50’s culture, comfort food and movie star memorabilia that included signed autographs of all the stars I grew up watching on TV and some larger than life replicas of Elvis, Betty Boop, the Duke and others.  Yummy food!

We arrived at our home for the next few days, the Elks Lodge of Canoga Park, CA.

Last day in Vegas.  Trying to get ready to leave for Los Angeles in the morning.  Toured the Las Vegas Motorcoach Resort and looked at a few sites for sale but we are not ready to buy anything yet.

Took the dogs to a really nice, huge, dog park but KatieBug didn’t like it because she had to stay in the small dog area.  Very unhappy pug and she let me know it!

On a suggestion from one of our neighbors, we stopped into Silverton Resort, the local’s casino near LVM Resort.  When we drove up, it was like a flashback to our trailer travel days with the kids at Glacier National Park and the beautiful lodge we visited.  Loved the smaller crowds, hardly any smoke, friendly dealers-but we still didn’t win, great buffet at the Seasons and a fraction of the cost of the “just OK” dinner at the Italian restaurant at the Venetian.   We played a few penny machines, ate, relaxed, played roulette and then came back home for the night.

Just before turning in, I read one of the blogs from a couple that were nice enough to let us “convoy” with them to Quartzsite, Richard and Patsy, and found out they had come to Vegas several days after us.  We enjoyed their company so much, it would have been fun to meet up with them again before we headed out…note to self, better planning next year.

The Big Boys are moving in all around us for the rally.  Prevost, Newell, Foretravel, the “they cost WHAT?!” motor coaches, custom designed for each individual owner.   We have to move out Monday but still have plenty of time to play before then.  These coaches are way more fancy than I can handle.  I bet I could break that gold veined glass raised bathroom sink in less than a day if it were in our RV.

Out among the Vegas lights on the strip for a stroll tonight.  We walked from Paris to the Venetian and back again and watched the dancing waters of the Bellagio twice.  And no, Waterway Square dancing waters do not look anything like those at the Bellagio.  Between the constantly moving bright lights, dodging traffic, the porn advertisers and general people watching, it was a full evening of entertainment.

Love being in beautiful gated community among the million dollar “homes”.  We aren’t the least expensive rig out here but we are down there at the bottom of the pile.  Planning a visit to Whole Foods,  get some house work done (YUCK) and cook for the dogs before the end of the day.

Headed out to see Terry Fader tonight at the Mirage.  He’s  playing at the Terry Fader Theater.

It was a fantastic show!  This guy is one multi-talented entertainer.  He is also big time Patriotic.   Had US flags everywhere, gives a percentage of his sales to a non-profit that benefits vets.  Amazing ventriloquist, singer and comedian.  John and I laughed so hard our mouths hurt.