Adventures with Brent & Molly

November 2011

2011-11-22T15:07:00.000-08:00

Legally Blonde at Broadway Palm Theater

To start the month Molly and VikkiJo, the office manager went to see Legally Blonde at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theater on Molly's birthday. They had a ball. We have season tickets in the front row and VikkiJo had never been to the theater before. I gave up my ticket to go to a season inaugural dinner for the World Span Tour guides, agents, and vendors. I was considering becoming a tour quide for some of their trips, but they want someone almost full time and that's too much like a job! It was great to see all the trips planned already for this season and pick up their brochures.

Blue Man Group

Then two days later, we got tickets to see The Blue Man Group who were coming to town and performing at the Gammage Theater at ASU. We didn't get great tickets since it was a last minute thing, but most of it was pretty good. We had seen them perform years ago in Las Vegas and thought it was about time to see them again. They had much more electronic gimmickry in this show that took away from their normal humor and comical expressions. You had to read some of the electronic material on three different screens and it was difficult reading that much, from so far away to be enjoyed.

Arizona Wing Museum, Falcon Field

Early this month I planted several more Letterboxes. I called one series the "Lower Salt River Series" that I put in each of the recreation areas below Saguaro Lake. The stamps I carved were all of camping related icons such as a tent, picnic table, camp fire, rafting, and RV/trailer camping. The other letterbox was placed at the Arizona Wing Commemorative Air Force Museum over at Falcon Field next door. I carved a stamp depicting the B-17 bomber that regularly flys out of the airport. Needless to say, it took me awhile to carve, box, distribute, and document clues for the location of the Letterboxes. I hope people enjoy them.

Mogollon Rim Letterboxing in Snow

Molly signed up for a quilting class just before the Payson Quilt Show with her friend and instructor from Salem, Karla Alexander. Karla is also the instructor Molly went to Italy with last year. Karla was really glad to see Molly in her class and let her work on whatever she wanted. The class was on Karla's curve design templates and Molly learned a lot. While she was in class, I had plotted out 9 Letterboxes to try to find from 20 miles east of Payson to Strawberry, 20 miles northwest of Payson. I found all but one on top of Mogollon Rim in six inches of snow. I'll try that one again in the spring! The next day we both went to the quilt show and mostly just browsed, just getting a few items Molly needed.

Then it was off to San Diego to cheer Carrie and Mark in their 3-day, 60 mile Susan B. Koman walk for breast cancer. But first we stopped in Yuma to visit Jim and Linda Newton, who I used to work with at ODFW. They invited mutual friends over for a great ham dinner. Of course we had to explain all about Letterboxing and even went out and found a few in their neighborhood.

Save Second Base Team

We left early the next day to get to San Diego and find a few more Letterboxes before Carrie and Mark hit the finish line. The weather this year was much better than last year with only a small sprinkle on the second day. Mark's family had great support for the "Save Second Base" team with lunch and dinner planned each day. After the last leg, they opted out of the closing ceremonies, went back to their campground for a short bite and all then retired for the evening. It was a long grueling walk and the last evening was starting to get a bit chilly with rain forecast, so the party ended early. We headed home early the next day to get back to Apache Wells for our neighborhood's block party. What a way to end a 5 day get-away.

Thanksgiving Dinner with friends

Letterboxing Lower Salt River

Friends Pat and Susan, and Nancy and Herman came to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. Pat and Susan Caniff were on their way through to Texas to visit family in their RV and planned a 5-day stop here to see family, Letterbox, and have a great dinner. Nancy and Herman Ford came up from Green Valley for 4 days. We brought our RV over from storage so they could stay in it right next to us. We had a great time Letterboxing finding all of my plants at the Air Museum, Lower Salt River, Saguaro Lake, and out in Apache Junction. The Thanksgiving dinner was great with everybody contributing some dishes and we ate on those leftovers for several days. It was a real nice visit, except for a concern for Herman. He had developed some unusual feelings in his chest and throat, so we took him to the emergency room, but was tested out ok. He will be checking in with his doctor in Green Valley for further tests. It gave us all a scare.

Molly and I finished off the month of November with another Wine and Cheese party here at the park in the afternoon, and then a dinner buffet and play at the Broadway Palm Theater that evening. We saw a musical rendition of A Christmas Carol. As usual we shared our front row table with some real nice people.

October 2011

2011-11-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

JoAnn busy quilting

Molly headed back to Oregon for a week long Quilting Retreat up in the Cascades with sister JoAnn. While she was there, I was here in Mesa cleaning and getting things in shape in temperatures in the high 90's. They were getting rained on. But they were having a good time and she has already signed up for next year.

My job list included 19 items that I had to get done while she was gone including washing the Park Model, cleaning the car-port and back patio as well as many other items that I completed.

Letterbox hike to Weaver's Needle

Also while she was gone, I couldn't help but go out and get a few Letterboxes. She didn't want to do any of the longer hikes so that's the ones I got. My first one was a 4.5 mile hike in the Superstition Mountains up to a viewpoint for Weaver's Needle. It was quite a hike, especially in the heat.

I completed some of the rubber stamp carvings for some Letterboxes we wanted to plant up at Saguaro Lake. I planted four while Molly was gone that we called the Saguaro Lake Series. They included the Marina, del Norte, Butcher Jones, and Saguaro Lake Trails. Actually the same day I published the clues at , someone hurried up there and found two of the easy drive-bys.

Once Molly got back we both did some Letterboxing to some of the easier ones around here. There aren't nearly as many here in Arizona as there are in the Northwest, and many of them haven't been found for some time. The Weaver's Needle box hadn't been found for a year and a half. We also planted another box named "Red Mountain".

While browsing through the paper one morning, Molly was surprised that Jimmy Buffett was coming to town that week. We hadn't seen Jimmy since we retired, so we got on-line and bought tickets. The concert of course was great, but there were sure a lot of crazy people there. He sang most of his old standards, with only one or two that we hadn't heard. And of course he sang Jolly Mon Sings just for us!!! (we named our sailboat after the dolphin in that song named "Albion", and our trail name for Letterboxing is "Jolly Mon"). It was a fun night, but a late one for us.

Raggedy Ann & Andy?

Apache Wells Pumpkin

The park is busy already providing parties for us residents. Late this month we had a wine and cheeze tasting party with live entertainment. It was good to see a lot of friends that have already returned and we got to compare summer notes. Then, of course, we had our Halloween Party. Molly had asked Jeanette for her Raggedy Ann and Andy costumes. They were fine.....except Jeanette and Terry are not quite as fully bodies as we are! So we went to Goodwill and Sunshine Acres for a few items to make the costumes complete. We had a fun time. And I couldn't go to the party without "something" so I spend a good part of the day carving an appropriate pumpkin for Apache Wells.

We had signed up for a maintenance club last year for free routine electrical, plumbing, and air conditioning inspection. It was about to expire, so we called and had the air conditioning people come out to check the system. They found out it was a 30 year old system, but most everything was checking out ok, until they got inside. A wire to the motor was nearly bare, and to replace it would require a special order for an entire motor, $$$. Then the filter/condensor (looks like a radator) was completely clogged and needed cleaning, $$$. When they removed it, they found it was sitting in water (it wasn't draining) and was all rusted....another special order, $$$. They also recommended that the ducts be cleaned if we were going to get a new filter, $$$. So by this time, the supervisor showed up. We started talking about a new unit rather than putting a lot of money into a 30 year old unit. SO.....now we have a new air conditioning unit, duct cleaning included, that will last another 30 years, $$$$. That's longer than the Park Model will last and certainly longer than WE WILL LAST! We now have a programable thermostat, but the unit is about three times bigger than the old one, and therefore, lost some patio space out back.

Summer 2011

2011-10-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

May:

After getting back from the Panama Canal Cruise we started preparing for departure. We had new park managers arrive and we helped them unload their truck and move in two spaces down from ours. We were all invited to a get acquainted party to meet them and the parties seemed to keep coming every week. We decided to stay until after a “Monsoon Meeting" they had arranged on May 18th.

We left on May 20th and stopped in Las Vegas for a few nights. We got tickets for Mystère Cirque du Soleil at the same-day discount outlet and got very good seats. It is amazing what those performers can do….I thinks it’s all done with smoke and mirrors!

We decided on a different way home from Vegas. We had heard that Hwy 93 through eastern Nevada was a good level road. So we went that way and it was a nice change from the freeway. We stopped in Ely and had a monstrous thunder-lighting-rain storm that night. And discovered a leak in the roof that was dripping down through the TV compartment. We removed the TV to check it out but couldn’t determine where the leak was coming from. Consequently we took the front TV out for the rest of the trip and just watched the one in the bedroom. Other stops on the way home included Nampa, ID, Memaloose State Park, OR to visit brother Richard, and then on to the Salem Elks.

June:

One of the first activities this summer was to attend Sue Stose’s surprise 60th birthday party. The time was even a surprise to Tom who had arranged it. He couldn’t figure out why everybody was arriving so early….until he check the invitation and found out it said 11:00 rather than 1:00 that he thought he had put on it….Surprise! We saw many of our old sailing buddies at the party and had a great time.

RV TV Remodel

One of the things we wanted to do this summer was to put in a new flat screen TV in the front. We had seen another RV exactly like our last fall that had put one over the entrance way rather than in the middle, and turned the old TV cabinet into storage. We took pictures into some RV remodelers in Woodland, WA and they said it would be easy and cheaper than a complete remodel. And they had the 32” TV right there. They got to it that same week and only took one day to install the TV and put a shelf in the old TV cabinet.

Backpacking Eagle Cap Wilderness

The next activity was dinner with the Dickstons, Doug and Peggy, our neighbors in West Linn. We hadn’t seen them since we moved away and decided it was time. During the winter, I had scanned 8 years of slides into digital pictures from weeklong backpacking trips Doug and I took when we live there. I put them into a DVD slide show and gave them to him. The slides were a little faded after being stored for 20 years, but he enjoyed them.

July:

Mulligan - McQuire Concert

To our surprise, a singer that we followed in Mexico, Mark Mulligan, was doing a back yard concert in Dallas, OR with another singer, Kelly McQuire. We signed up right way and got tickets for Tom and Sue Stose as well. They had followed him in San Diego and San Carlos too. The weather was perfect, the setting magnificent, and the entertainment superb. Although we like Mark’s singing style, we were pleasently surprised at Kelly McQuire’s performance. We obviously got some of their newer CD’s.

Other activities this month included Kim Taylor’s 50th birthday party, a long time Sauvie Island Yacht Club friend and Mexico Cruiser. It was held at the old SIYC picnic site on Sauvie Island, called Parker’s Landing. Again, we saw and caught up with a lot of our cruising friends. On a more somber note, we attended a “Celebration of Life” for the passing of a fellow cruising friend, Ken Gregory at Ken and Gail’s house in Battleground, WA. It was a celebration!

For our “bucket list” this summer, we decided to spend a couple nights at the Wolf Creek Inn between Roseburg and Grants Pass. We have always zoomed past on the freeway and always wanted to stop and spend some time there. The weekend we chose was during their first annual crawfish feed. It is a wonderful old inn, and the oldest continuous use hotel in the state of Oregon, that has seen many a movie star spend the night there. In fact, one room is called the Clark Gable suit, and other stars included, Mary Pickford, Robert Redford, and even Jack London stayed there while finishing one of his books. We thoroughly enjoyed the stay, but may miss the crawdad feed next year…just too much work!

Grave Creek Covered Bridge

While staying at the Inn, we made a little side trip to the old mining ghost town of Golden and explored some of the old buildings. We also went to Grave Creek and took a picture of one of the last remaining covered bridges you can drive through.
At the end of July, we traveled to Long Beach, WA in the RV to visit Pat and Susan Caniff, long time cruising friends. Although I had recently started an activity called Geocaching (finding a container with a logbook via a GPS), they introduced us to Letterboxing. This activity is similar, but there is a hand carved stamp in the box with the logbook, and you have a personal stamp and logbook. When you find the box, via some clues at Atlasquest.com, you stamp their logbook, date it, and sign it with your “trail name” (ours is Jolly Mon). So in the end, you have a logbook of all the stamps you’ve collected. This was much more fun that Geocaching, and took over all our spare time. In the first two months of Letterboxing we logged over 100 each month….what spare time! We continually thank Pat and Susan. Now whenever we go somewhere, we query altasquest for that location and find some more Letterboxes.

August:

Letterboxing @ Mission Mill Musuem

Twin Tunnels Columbia River Hike

We did a lot of Letterboxing in the Salem area this month and found places that we didn’t even know existed. And some of the places we became very familiar with. Then we headed up to Hood River for a couple days to take the Mt. Hood Railroad train up to Parkdale. We also walked the 5 mile Twin Tunnels section of the old Historic Columbia River Highway between Mosier and Hood River. We had done the train ride before, but quite awhile ago and only went as far as a park beyond Odell.

Visiting Ray & Carol Rogers, Victoria B.C.

Later this month, we left Salem Elks with the RV and attended the annual Cruisers Rally in Cathlamet, WA. Again, we saw plenty of cruising friends and traded stories. When we left Cathlamet, we drove to Mt. Vernon, WA and put the RV up at the Elks there. Then drove the car to the San Juan Ferry, rode the ferry over to Sidney as passengers, and spent a few days with Apache Wells friends Ray and Carol Rogers at their home in Victoria, BC. We had a lot of fun as they chauffeured us around their old stomping grounds and had wonderful meals prepared by their chef-of-a-daughter, Wendy.
When we returned we visited friends Bud and Lisa Root on Whidbey Island and showed them what Letterboxing was all about. We spent a few more days in Mt. Vernon……yep, Letterboxing! One day we set a new record with 18 boxes for day. However, this activity can be hazard to your health. In the Salem area, we got into stinging nettles, blackberry vines, and burrs. In the Mt. Vernon area, we were looking under a log, moving brush out of the way, when we disturbed a hornets nest. I was stung twice and Molly got stung once.

September:

Mt. Howard Tram, Wallowa Lake

This month we took the RV to Wallowa Lake for four days with Pat and Susan Caniff, Tom and Sue Stose, and Wayne and Glenda Irwin met us there and stayed with Tom and Sue. Molly and I had been there two other times, but we had just missed the tram ride up to the top of Mt. Howard both times. So with four days allotted, we all wanted to ride to the top….of course there were several Letterboxes up there too! In addition we drove to Hat Point over-looking Hells Canyon on the Snake River. Something else we’ve always wanted to do, but the road is 25 miles of wash-boards and dust. Susan planted a new Letterbox up there and we all had to follow her clues to find it.

After leaving Wallowa Lake, Pat and Susan and us, drove back to Bend and stayed with Herm and Nancy in day-use area they were hosting, but they had arranged for us to dry-camp there in the RV. Susan planted another Letterbox on Pilot Butte.

Happy parents at daughter's wedding, Craig & Rene Jones

Another reason we went to Bend was to go to a wedding. Our West Linn next door neighbor’s daughter was getting married. The last time we saw her, and them, she was a very little girl. We were flabbergasted when we got the notice. It was just great to see Craig and Rene again, and they were beside themselves that we attended. We were apparently one of the first ones to confirm our attendance, and during Craig’s toast to his daughter, Joycelyn, and her new husband, he made reference to all the people that came including “our first neighbors in our first house right after we got married, Brent and Molly”. It was a great get-together and party.

Just before we left the Portland area for our trip back to Mesa, we had a new braking system put on car for our RV. It was a real hassle to put the Brake Buddy in all the time and lash it to the brake pedal. Now, it’s built in and works off the brake lights of the RV. When they are activated, the brake in the car is activated automatically. There is nothing to connect other than one small plug when connecting the normal towing lights.

We traveled back to Mesa via Idaho, Utah, and Nevada, Letterboxing along the way in Boise, Ogden (stayed at Willard St Pk), Beaver, UT, and Las Vegas. While in Vegas, we got same-day discount tickets in the front row again for The Lion King performance. The music was great, the performance pretty good, and costumes were something else.

October:

Then it was on to Mesa, get the RV unpacked, cleaned up, and stored away at Mesa Regal, another Cal-Am park close by. Molly didn’t have too much time to get climatized. She just had time to pack for a flight back to Oregon for a quilting camp in the Cascades with sister JoAnn. That left me with a major jobs list of cleaning and organizing the place here. A small price to pay, knowing she is having fun with family doing what she likes doing.

Panama Canal - April 2011

2011-04-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Norwegian Panama Canal Cruise Daily Log

Please sit back, grab a drink, and enjoy our 14 day Panama Canal trip, Miami to L.A.

Norwegian Pearl

Panama Canal Cruise and Ports of Call

Day 1 (Sunday): Leaving Miami

Well, actually before “Day 1” Molly flew to L.A. to visit Lynda and the grandkids. She left on Monday, the 11th, and was planning to fly back on that Thursday. However, our friends Tom & Kathy, on Ahwahnee, were planning to do the Panama Canal crossing and I wanted to take some screen-dump pictures of them in the Miraflores Locks…..which I did!

We always get emails from Norwegian Cruise Line because we’ve cruised with them before. I just got one that day and decided to open it, and since I was just watching the Panama Canal site, decided to click on “Panama Canal Cruises”. Low and behold, they had a cruise that was advertised earlier in our paper for the same VERY reasonable price for an ocean view room. To make this long story shorter, we booked the 14 day cruise from Miami to L.A., but of course not for that reasonable price. The only problem, which wasn’t really a problem, was that the cruise was leaving in one week!!! Not much time to plan.

We decided Molly should stay in Thousand Oaks. I will drive over on Friday, leave our car with Lynda, have them drive us to the airport Saturday, and fly to Miami via Seattle. That flight arrived in Miami Sunday morning and our ship left at 4:00pm that afternoon.

Day 1 didn’t work out as well as we planned. We got to the ship early and they didn’t let people pass security until 10:00am, so we waited in the sun for about 2 hours. Then check-in was about an hour later, and then we had to wait in a waiting room for another hour to board the ship. And of course we couldn’t get into our rooms until 2pm. We gave our check-in luggage to a porter outside the security building and expected it in our room when we got there……but NO! In the mean time, we checked our carry-on baggage on the ship so we wouldn’t have to carry it around while we explored and had lunch, but we had to pick it up by 2:00pm. They would not deliver it to our room. When it was time to get our carry-on luggage, we couldn’t find where we checked it in and nobody we asked knew where that location was either. We finally found it after telling several cruise people we were very unhappy with the situation, and our checked luggage was still missing but “would be in your room by 7:00pm!!! We had made dinner reservations for 7:00 and we wanted to change clothes after traveling in them for two days! Just before heading to dinner the bags arrived, took a quick shower, and headed to dinner in the La Cucina Italian Restaurant (specialty restaurant), at a two-for-one price. At this point things started to look a little better. The wine and dinner were excellent and we had a good time with the servers. Then it was back to the room, sit on the balcony for awhile (yes, we upgraded to a balcony….I told you it wasn’t that reasonable price we looked at earlier), and then turned in. We were out at sea heading for Colombia, South America under a full moon.

We were also promised, since we were Latitude members (previous Norwegian cruisers) that there would be a letter in our room welcoming us and giving us some added benefits as Latitude members. It wasn’t there! We went to the Cruise Consultant to find out why and they fell all over themselves. They reissued our room keys with a “Bronze Latitude” designation. That allowed us to get a 10% discount on everything we purchased and to attend a special “members only” cocktail party later in the cruise. And although they stopped issuing ship pins, they saw we had pins from the Norwegian Sun and gave us pins for the Pearl. Our shore excursion tickets were not in our room as promised either. After checking with the shore excursion desk, they were concerned we hadn’t received them, but re-issued us new tickets for our planned trips.

Day 1: 19 Photos: (Hit "Day 1" in lower left corner)

Day 2 (Monday): Off Cuba [Norwegian called this Day 1]

Rate this day as a 10! We slept in, took a leisure shower, and went to breakfast at the Summer Palace restaurant. Eggs Benedict and Smoked Salmon on a Bagel were wonderful! Rose was our server at a brief pool and drink stop. It was her first day of working day on a cruise ship and her life-long dream was to see the world without spending any money. She was accomplishing that and was just a delight to talk with. We had lunch at the Blue Lagoon restaurant. It was a light affair, but filling…..you have to pace yourself ya know! After lunch, Molly had coveted a gold necklace in the Greek-Key design (like our wedding rings) and if you bought a 21 inch necklace, you got a matching bracelet FREE!! Then it was back to the room to sit on the balcony and watch the deep blue sea surf by. Molly got spoiled right away and said she would not do another cruise without a balcony room. The price of luxury!

Although we missed the French Wine and Cheese Tasting opportunity, we did make it to the NCL “U” Martini Tasting party, five martinis for $15. We had the Traditional, Cosmopolitan, Apple, French Kiss, and Espresso Martinis. Let me tell you, if you ever get a chance, you will love the Espresso Martini with Stoli Vanil Vodka, Kahula, Crème de Cacao, Bailey’s Irish Cream, and of course, a dash of brewed espresso coffee. We had to ask how to get back to our room!

Dinner this evening was in the Indigo restaurant. What can I say, just another great meal. Then back to the room to rest on the balcony before heading to the Spinnaker Lounge to listen to Evie Turner’s cabaret show. We left a little early from that to head down to the Stardust Theater to watch Brenda Kaye do some mesmerizing hypnosis on several participating members of the audience. Very funny, but you’ll never see us volunteer for that kind of show. Back to the room to relax on the balcony and watch the full moon rise over the Caribbean Sea between Cuba and Haiti.

Day 2: 48 Photos: (Remember hit "Day 2" in lower left corner)

Day 3 (Tuesday): Caribbean Sea

Today was another full day at sea. When the sun came up this morning, it woke us up coming through the big sliding glass picture windows. We gained an hour last night because we are in another time zone east of Florida. So we had plenty of time to make a pot of coffee, sit on the deck, and get ready for the day. First we went to breakfast in the Garden Cafe again, but then Molly put on her walking shoes and tried to get her first 5,000 steps in before we did any entertainment. Two and a third trips around the walking deck is one mile, or for Molly about 2,112 steps (she had her pedometer). But to ease a possible blister that was forming she stopped to relax every now and then. She went to the jewelry shop and picked up her necklace and bracelet. They really looked good! And then we met in the Stardust Theater to listen to Captain Lars and the Chief Engineer tell us about the workings of the ship. One member of the audience asked, why they had to hire a cruise director and entertainers when we had them to entertain us. They were such comedians!

For lunch, we decided to have all-you-can-eat sushi at The Lotus Garden. We had several rolls, shrimp, and salmon…..and then couldn’t eat anymore! After lunch Molly was feeling like she was coming down with a cold, getting tired, and needed to lie down for awhile. I sat on the deck and we both dozed off. But just in time, we awoke and headed off to the Port Shopping Talk. We didn’t really want to know what to buy, just anything special we needed to know while going ashore. We did get some basic city maps of the port cities, but they basically showed us where the approved jewelry shops were.

In the afternoon, I went to the NCL “U” Global Beer Tasting event. The beers sampled included: Dos Quis, Tsingtao, Sapporo, San Miguel, and Red Strip. One fellow I met, Mike, was from Hillsboro, Oregon working in the high tech industry, but was originally from Wales. He seemed to know quite a bit about beers. Anthony, the bartender and beer tour guide asked a trivia question about what all beers contained. Mike knew it and won a giant (one liter) mug with the NCL design on it. Great guy.

For dinner we eat at the Indigo Restaurant and asked to share a table. We met two nice ladies traveling by themselves. Elaine was from Colorado and Kathy was from Illinois. They were a kick and it was fun sharing stories. But then it was off to bed since we were both tired.

Day 3: 34 Photos:

Day 4 (Wednesday): Cartagena, Columbia

I was up at about 4:30 this morning because there were some lights off to our Port. After looking at the TV’s ship navigation channel, I realized it was Cartagena and got my chart out for entering the bay. We entered the lower bay about 5:30 and were docked in the inner bay by 7:00. We headed up to the observation deck to get some good pictures and then headed for a quick breakfast at the Garden Café. Seems like everybody else had the same idea. It was a shore excursion day, of course and everybody wanted to get an early start.

After breakfast we got our tickets for the “Colonial Cartagena” tour and headed for the buses a little early. It was very warm today so we put on some sunscreen and took some water. The guide’s name was J. C. Tous, who was a school teacher and learned English on his own. The tour started with the old military fort of San Felipe de Barajas, the Rafael Nunez House (he was president of Colombia four times), and then went into the walled older city to see museums, churches, dungeons, and do some shopping. It was very interesting with the old and new in stark contrast. The tour lasted 3.5 hours and we were back in time for lunch at the Summer Palace.

We shoved off at 3:00pm, about the time Molly and I were participating in the wine and cheese tasting party. I don’t think we learned much, but it was fun hearing about the five wines and one champagne we tasted. We got done with that just in time for a documentary on the Panama Canal in the Stardust Teater. I have seen several, but this was a new one. From there we headed to dinner at the Summer Palace again, but I was turned away because of a dress code of “no shorts” (only in this restaurant and only for dinner). Molly was seated while I hustled up to our room to change. We were seated with two other ladies that were on our tour today. Sally was from Apache Junction, just next to Mesa, and Dorothy was from Kansas. Go figure. We were wondering where her dog Toto was. There was also an older gentleman from California that was in the Merchant Marines back in 1939 through WWII. Very interesting fellow with lots of sea stories. I wish we could have talked longer. For dinner, I had the lobster and chicken and Molly had manicotti with Key Lime Pie for desert.

We had to hurry a bit to finish so we could get to the entertainment in the Stardust Theater. Tonight it was the comedian Buzz Sutherland. Needless to say, he was very funny and worked on one fellow in the audience that show up a little late to the show and then sat right down front. He kept on working on the guy and finally had him up on stage dancing and putting flashlights up his nose…..I know, you had to be there!

Day 4: 95 Photos:

Day 5 (Thursday): Panama Canal Crossing

Today dawned early with excitement. We were going through the Panama Canal. We forwent an early breakfast to sit on our deck and watch the approach. At 0700 we entered the Gatun Locks, the first of three. It was pretty exciting watching as this 965’x 105’ship slipped into a 1000’ x 110’ lock. You could not have squeezed a person between the ship and the side of the locks. The ship camera crew was sent ashore to take photos of everyone on the rail and on the balconies and to video the entire passage. A narrator was brought aboard to tell us what was happening and give us a little history of the canal as we crossed. As we approached the first lock, he said we may see some crocodiles, and we did!

Molly and I watched the lockage from our balcony, and then went for a later breakfast in the Garden Café again. Typical for me was eggs benedict, sausage, bacon, cornbeef hash with hollandaise sauce, orange juice, and fruit. Molly’s selection was a lot more conservative. After breakfast we retired to the starboard side of the Spinnaker Lounge so we could relax in the air-conditioned lounge and watch what was coming up on either side. We skipped lunch! We got to see the Panamanian train under way (the first transcontinental train in history), the Chagres River crossing, the Colebra Cut (or Gaillard Cut) going through the continental divide, which was pretty impressive and then we crossed under the Centennial Bridge before entering the next lock.

When we neared the Pedro Meguel Locks we went back down to our room to watch. The photographers were back ashore taking pictures again, but it was a short, one level lockage. During the Miraflores lockage, a mile and a half further on toward the Pacific, they got a good one of us raising our champagne glasses. Upon exiting Miraflores, at 5:00pm, we went for an early dinner at the Indigo restaurant and watched from a window table as we went under the Bridge of the Americas and past the yacht anchorage where several of our cruising friends have anchored in the past.

After dinner it was up to the Stardust Theater for an improvisational show by the Second City performers from Chicago. When we were in Chicago a few years ago with Cathy, we went to the Second City to see them perform. They were very funny with short skits and audience participation. Believe it or not, THEN WE TURNED IN for the night in a new ocean, the Pacific!

Day 5: 97 Photos:

Day 6 (Friday): Another day, another ocean!

We awoke to a flat calm ocean this morning with a slight over-cast. It is after all, the PACIFIC, as Balboa aptly named it back when he discovered it. We leisurely sat on the deck and enjoyed our coffee and muffin, took showers, and then trotted off for another breakfast. Molly wanted to put in some “miles” walking, so I went to the room to do some reading. Later, we both went to the medical center to see if Molly could get some cough syrup with an expectorant. She has been coughing something awful, but they said she would have to see the doctor ($105) before he would give her anything. She decided that was a little too much for a bottle of cough syrup. She finished walking and then picked up our pictures at the photo gallery. Some of them turned out pretty well.

Later that day, after Molly’s coughing continued, we decided to go ahead and check in with the doctor. The Freestyle Daily, the ship newsletter, said the clinic was open 8am to noon and 1 to 8pm. We went down about 2pm. The doctor was not in and if we wanted them to call him it would be $150. And again the nurses would not give out anything without the doctor seeing you first. Since we were going to be in Costa Rica tomorrow, we decided to go to a farmacia and get a bottle of cough syrup with expectorant for a couple bucks!

Back to another “U” Beer tour. This one was for European Beer. This tasting party included Beck’s, Pedro Mequel, Bass, New Castle, and Guinness. Mike was there again, but the show was stolen by a German, who knew EVERYTHING about each beer, or thought he knew it all. Anthony didn’t have much time to explain the finer points of each beer.

For dinner tonight, we decided on Cagney’s Steakhouse. We had a two for one ticket by signing up for a Norwegian Credit Card, and at $25 for a cover charge, this was the time. We both had the 10 oz. filet mignon along with appetizers of shrimp and salmon, and desert of apple crisp ala-mode and creme brulee. The salmon appetizer that Molly had was large enough to be a meal in itself, or the large salad we each had, and although there was a 5 oz. filet, the 10 oz. was the same price so why not! It was enormous but delicious. The true test was to be able to cut it with your fork, which I did easily!

After dinner it was off to the evenings entertainment of “That’s Entertainment” which showcased the golden age of cinema glitz and glamour put on by the Norwegian Pearl Production Cast. It was ok, but I was getting a splitting headache and retired early, while Molly stayed to represent us.

Day 6: 16 Photos:

Day 7 (Saturday): Costa Rica

The day dawned with us entering the Golfo De Nicoya and the Port of Puntarenas, Costa Rica. It took a while to get docked, I think because it was pretty shallow. We were kicking up considerable mud from the bottom and with bow thrusters and engines trying to move us sideways toward the dock, we weren’t moving. I think we were aground some of that time.

Today’s shore excursion was the “Pacific Train, Bus and Boat Adventure”. It took an hour of traveling on the bus to get to the “Jungle Crocodile Safari”. That would have been fine if we would have been able to hear the narrator. The bus sound system was very muffled and with the guide’s accent, it was very difficult to make out what she was saying.

The crocodile safari, however, was just great. Her microphone system worked well on the boat, and we did see lots of crocs. But best of all we saw many birds. They gave us a brochure with the common birds on it and we marked off 17 birds on our short 45 minute trip. The most exciting was the Northern Jacana (a type of rail, that I thought was a Purple Gallinule), and the Scarlet Macaw (very colorful and rarely seen). After the trip, they served us some fruit and had time to do a bit of shopping of some touristy stuff they had there.

Back on the bus and down another rough road to a 100-year-old train. At least the cars had been refurbished, but he engine looked like it hadn’t been touched. We backed up through a long tunnel, then reversed and went through the countryside, which included back yards and swamps to the estuary. We disembarked here and headed back to the ship on the bus.

Molly and I then walked back into Puntarenas to find a farmacia. We found one, bought two bottle of Vicks cough syrup for $10. Such a deal…..and we didn’t need a doctor to get it!

Dinner was in the Summer Palace, right in front of the stern windows. We shared a table with Bev and Butch, a couple from Norway……. Michigan. We shared our travels and tribulations too. This was their second trip on the Norwegian Pearl, and fifth cruise with Norwegian. They were a delightful couple and we bonded right away.

Entertainment tonight was Fabio Zini, a Latin guitarist from Argentina. We thought he would not be able to rival Paco Renteria whom we heard in Mexico several times and is billed as the best flamenco guitarist in Mexico, but he was every bit as good if not better.

His fingers were going a mile a minute. He played “Flight of the Bumblebee” which included 1000 notes in one minute, ten seconds. He was GOOD! We bought one of his CD’s.

Day 7: 50 Photos:

Day 8 (Easter Sunday): Day at Sea

Believe it or don’t, we slept in today. A leisurely cup of coffee on the deck with some fruit and muffins from the Garden Café just set the day off. Later we did have a sit down breakfast in the Summer Palace and saw and talked to our friends Bev and Butch two tables over.

We laid on deck for awhile to rest and then I went to a presentation on Guatemalan jade by Mary Lou Ridinger, who in fact discovered Guatemalan-Mayan jade. She is a Texas archeologist, who went to Guatemala 27 years ago as a social worker and took up the interest of archeology. She has been in National Geographic magazine several times and featured on one of their TV programs about her discovery. She has the Jade Museum in Antigua where our tour will be heading tomorrow.

Molly went to the 30-minute Stress Reduction & Relaxation Workshop with Brenda Kaye Bliss, the hypnotist. She came back VERY relaxed! Then later Molly had some Humus for lunch and then came back to the room to relax again. At 1pm, we were invited to the Spinnaker Lounge for Latitude members-only cocktail party. There we met and sat with our friends Bev and Butch, and saw Mike from Hillsboro. I asked to see if Mike got his tickets for the Colonial Antigua tour tomorrow and attended the jade show. There was apparently a mix-up with his tickets. I got an extra copy of the handouts in case he didn’t make it. He got his tickets and was at the jade presentation. During some of the drawings, he won another, smaller mug. Some guys have all the luck, or was it skill? We made arrangements with Bev and Butch for dinner and retired back to the room.

Dinner was again at the Summer Palace in the same stern window seat we had the night before. Another great dinner with friends. Then we left for the Stardust Theater for “The Action Comedy of Shark Bait”. They were a couple guys that were a fast track juggle team. They did some amazing tricks and included some audience participation. After the show, we decided to turn in early because the tour tomorrow was going to be long and started early.

Day 8: 12 Photos:

Day 9 (Monday): Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

For breakfast this morning, we went up to the Garden Café and loaded a plate to bring back to the room and eat on the deck. Our tour meeting time was 8:15 in the Stardust. When the staff called for that time to follow a guide, almost the entire room got up, filed down to the ramp, walked through the tourist booths at the end of the dock and boarded a bus for the “Colonial Antigua” tour.

Our guide was Karen, a cute little thing, very friendly, and knowledgeable about her country. Antigua is located inland, up in the mountains at an elevation of 5,000 feet. The two volcanoes on each side of Antigua, Fire and Water, were covered in mist. The streets were very narrow. The buses had to go back and forth to negotiate a corner, and quite often, an on coming car had to pull over until the bus pasted. And when two busses met, well, why they still have paint on them is beyond me!

Antigua used to the capital of the Spanish Kingdom in Central America and eventually was moved to Guatemala City because of earthquakes. First we visited the cathedral La Merced, then wandered around the Central Plaza, the ruins of an old cathedral, had a typical Guatemalan lunch, and then went to the Jade Museum. The only disappointing thing was that we only had about twenty minutes for the museum, so we didn’t get to explore it fully and listen to Mary Lou’s lecture again. But twenty minutes seemed to be enough to guy Molly a pair of white and green jade earrings in the shape of several leaves. Jade comes in many different shades from white (rarest) to lavender, to green and eventually to black. We also got necklaces of our birth dates in the Mayan calendar symbols in jade. I asked Mary Lou if she had a book or pamphlet explaining what she covered in her lecture. She did and took me to where they were and autographed it to Molly and me. I’m glad we only had twenty minutes!

Then it was back on the bus Gus for the 1.5 hour trip back to the ship. The tour lasted about 7 hours today. But when we got back to the pier, we wandered through the tourist huts. Molly got a colorful Guatemalan top, and I got some coffee. There was also a Jade Museum outlet at the pier, so we wondered through that and found Molly a light green jade and amethyst necklace done in gold. She liked it, so she now has it!

Back on the ship, we got dressed and went to the Champagne bar for a couple of dinner drinks, then went to dinner at the Indigo restaurant. The entertainment this evening was “The Beatles Celebration”. These guys looked and sounded just like the Beatles and had the Stardust Theater rockin’. They were encouraged to do several encores.

Tonight we cross the dreaded Tehuantepec. An area that we sailors are very careful to cross, usually holding up in Huatulco, Mexico waiting for good weather, and then heading across. It is a low spot in the Central American landscape that is known to have exceptionally high winds from the East. But the prediction tonight is calm seas, and on this ship, it wouldn’t make too much difference anyway.

Day 9: 64 Photos:

Day 10 (Tuesday): Huatulco, Mexico

Our ETA into Huatulco today is 12:00 noon, so again we had a leisurely morning to get ready for a short stop in Huatulco. Today’s shore excursion was a “Copalita River Scenic Rafting” trip. We got on the bus and spent 30 minutes traveling to the put-in. They gave a brief introduction and then headed down the river that hadn’t seen any rain for many months. We ran aground several times and then either ran into other rafts that were already aground or had others run into us. As Rene, a girl from New York that sat in front with us, said; I could describe this, but not without some profane language….starting with the word “cluster”.

The tour guide (or lead paddler) on our raft didn’t speak English except “Forward Please”, “Back Please”, or “Stop Please”. And he didn’t know too much about river rafting in my opinion. It seemed he headed for rocks just under the surface, and wanted to go down the shallow “rapids” sideways. We stopped about halfway down the river for a swim. It was very refreshing, but the river was the color of chocolate.

At the take-out point, a less experienced guide told us it was only a 10-minute walk back to the bus, so several of us started walking. After about a 100 yards, the leading guide yelled to hold up. He rushed up and said it was about a one-hour walk back to the bus. The other countered him again, but we kept walking until the truck came by to take us to the bus. It was probably a mile and a half back to the bus and quit a few mosquitoes where about. We were glad we decided to take the truck ride offer.

We got back on the bus and then went to a small beach for a few minutes to wade in the water or have a drink. We were glad to get back to the ship, take a shower, and have lunch.

Dinner that night was back in the Summer Palace. We asked to share a table and sat with two other people, Bill and Darlyne, who were travel agents in Aloha, Oregon. We spent the evening discussing different travels they and we have had and asked for their cards so we could possibly get in contact with them when we get back to Oregon. They encouraged that they could help us to look into some additional cruises. We are considering making a deposit on the ship for a future cruise. It seems to be a good deal if we are planning to do another Norwegian cruise in the next four years.

Tonight’s entertainment was the comedy and magic of Chip Romero. He was ok, but when the audience didn’t laugh, he would berate us and almost encourage us to laugh….”that was a joke”! That’s a good indication that it wasn’t funny.

Day 10: 29 Photos:

Day 11 (Wednesday): Acapulco, Mexico

We met Bev and Butch for breakfast in the Summer Palace and decided to meet on the dock to explore Acapulco on our own. We were just going to take a taxi over to the cliff divers and explore the San Diego Fort across the street. But tour guides barraged us when we stepped off the dock. We finally decided to contract with a taxi driver that would take us all over Acapulco, including the fort and cliff divers, for four hours for only $25 per person. We thought that was a pretty good deal since the ship tours were much more, and it was just great!

The driver’s name was Pedro. He narrated the entire time while driving through the old and new parts of town, took us through the old fort personally, and went ahead of the long line to get us tickets to watch the cliff divers. It was very crowed at the observation areas. Molly and Bev stayed up on the higher observation levels, and Butch and I climbed down to the lower platforms nearer the water. Even then, I had to look over the heads of people on the rail, so I climbed up on some rocks beyond the rail and had a pretty good view. There were about a dozen divers, diving at different heights, over about 20 to 30 minutes. It was well worth the $4 per person to watch the show. That is how the divers make their money.

After we got back to the dock, we had some nachos and drinks with our friends and then went back aboard. We made arrangements to meet for dinner at Mambos Latin restaurant with a cover charge of $10. Needless to say it was another fabulous meal with drinks, appetizers, main course, and desert, all the time watching at a big picture window as we left Acapulco and headed up the coast. We lingered after dinner just chatting, enjoying the company and the sites.

Molly and I choose to skip the entertainment tonight and just relax in the room watching our Panama Canal Crossing video on the computer and reading. We gain another hour tonight and look forward to another day at sea tomorrow.

Day 11: 65 Photos:

Day 12 (Thursday): Day at Sea

Not much to say about today. We slept in, went for breakfast, and relaxed on the sun deck until our room was cleaned. We did make reservations for lunch, however, at the La Bistro. It is the “Best of the Best” from the other restaurants on the ship including the specialty restaurants.

And let me tell you, it WAS the BEST! We had quite a selection. Molly decided on La Bristo’s Escargots Bourguignonne for an appetizer, La Bristo’s Onion Soup au Gratin, a selection of Lotus’s Sushi and Sashimi, La Bristo’s Filet de Boeuf Grilled Beef Tenderloin for a main course, and La Bristo’s Vanilla Cream Brulee for desert. I on the other hand, ordered Cagney’s Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes for an appetizer, the Onion Soup, the same selection of Sushi and Sashimi, Lotus’s Kung Pao Chicken and Sweet & Sour Pork from the Buffet selection, Lotus’s Lemon Pepper Shrimp for the main course, and the Cream Brulee for desert. And THAT was lunch!

In the afternoon, I went to the “Future Cruise Presentation” in the Spinnaker Lounge. It was just a brief presentation of some of Norwegians ships and where they go. Shaun kept at the point of the $250 deposit on a future cruise that produced a $100 credit of on-board expenses on this cruise. Since we got an NCL credit card for a 2 for 1 dinner opportunity, we found that if you make a purchase with it within 30 days you get 10,000 points, worth $100, on a future cruise. So we decided to pay for our existing on-board expenses with the NCL credit card, therefore getting at least $350 credit on a future cruise. Oh Boy!!

Dinner again was a shared experience in the Summer Palace. This is turning into our favorite restaurant on board. We shared the table again with Bill and Darlyne, the travel agents from Aloha, Oregon (Darlyne’s Travel Service). We told her to start looking for a good deal on a fall New England cruise for 2012.

Entertainment tonight was a tribute to Frankie Vallie and The Four Seasons, by a group called Oh What A Night. They did a good tribute. Afterward, Molly and I went up to the Spinnaker Lounge to watch The Second City do some humorous improv. We did that to stay up late enough to go to NCL’s Chocolate Buffet. We got there a few minutes early and had to wait in a long line for the Garden Café to open the doors. It was a brief affair for us since we just browsed and only had a few pieces before heading up to retire.

We were crossing the Sea tonight from Cabo Correnties to Cabo San Lucas. It promised to be a very smooth sailing, but the temperature was noticeably cooler, in the 70’s.

Day 12: 8 Photos:

Day 13 (Friday): Cabo San Lucas

Early this morning, 7am, we slowed to enter the anchorage at Cabo San Lucas. Although we didn’t anchor, we just maintained position with GPS activated bow and stern thrusters. It was a pretty sight, but one that we are all too familiar with since spending almost a month here at anchor in December 1999. Finally after repairs to our alternator regulator, we weighed anchor as the sun rose over Lands End on January 1, 2000 (first day of the new millennium) and headed for Mazatlan, 200 miles across the Sea of Cortez.

Today, however, we decided to stay aboard and relax, read, and sun bath. The ship was almost empty and it was very nice to lay on the sun deck and be the only ones there. The Garden Café, most often very crowed, was also reasonable to get around. It was nice to just kick back and do what you’re supposed to do on a cruise vacation, NOTHING!!

The last tender aboard was about 2pm and then it was out to sea again and up the Baja. This portion of the trip, however, portends to be a lot better than the “Baja Bash” I have often experienced during yacht deliveries back to the states.

Dinner tonight was with Bev and Butch at the La Cucina Italian Restaurant. We made reservations at 6pm so we could go to the 8:15 show “The Spy Who Spied Me” by the Pearl Production Staff. Also included in the show were several of the other ship entertainers like the Second City actors. The big finally, however, was the entire Pearl staff including the house keepers, chefs, and the Captain and all his chiefs of whatever. It was a good show and upon exiting the Stardust Theater, they all lined at the exits to clap for us as we left, like we were the stars.

Day 13: 42 Photos:

Day 14 (Saturday): Day at Sea up the Baja

Although the Baja journey started out fairly benign, by late last night it had started to blow like it’s old self. And it was still pretty rough by this morning. The temperature had dropped into the upper 50’s and they closed the swimming pool for fear of someone getting bashed up against the sides. For old sailors, however, it wasn’t too bad especially in a 965 foot ship. We probably would have been in port somewhere if we were making it in Albion.

Breakfast as usual, but this time in the Summer Palace again. Then we bought some additional photos from the gallery of our first dinner with Bev and Butch. And I had to get another Panama Canal T-Shirt. One just wasn’t enough!

Later we went up to the Spinnaker and played Bingo and waited for the drawing for a free NCL cruise…..no joy here! Nor did we win at Bingo.

After that it was time to go back to the room and start packing for our exit tomorrow. Surprisingly it seemed like everything was going to fit so we could take care of all our own bags tomorrow and not have to get a timed exit. We could leave as soon as the ship cleared customs. Molly had been getting emails on her phone right along, so this morning she tried texting Lynda about our exit tomorrow and to let us know where she left the car. Lynda texted back that she would pick us up and we could then drive her to work. That seemed to work so hopefully it should be pretty efficient.

This afternoon, the seas seemed to come down a little. We had lunch from the Garden Café but ate it in the La Cucina because there was more space and it was more relaxing. We finished packing as much as we could and then went to the Crew and Guest Talent Show in the Stardust Theater. The finale was several of the crew all dressed in white togas with a water pitcher on their shoulder. This portion was billed as “The Fountain”. They each took a mouth full of water and then in turn, released the water on the next person. Several combinations of this procedure just brought the house down. One of the staff just could not hold her water (in her mouth!) because she was laughing so much. In the last sequence they all circled one person on the rotary portion of the stage and all released their mouth full of water on the center person who was releasing hers straight up into the air. It looked just like a human fountain and was very funny.

The last dinner aboard was again with Bev and Butch in the Summer Palace. We were in our favorite spot next to the stern windows watching the wake jump and bob in the rough seas. We all reminisced on a wonderful trip and fitting that our last dinner was with our newest best friends. After dinner we went to the final Farewell Variety Show: Sharkbait and Oh What a Night in combination. Sharkbait did some new tricks and the Four Season tribute guys did a medley of some of their best songs.

Then back to the room pack our entertainment clothes and get our traveling clothes ready for tomorrow’s departure.

Day 14: 10 Photos:

Day 15 (Sunday, May 1) Los Angeles Disembarking

To beat the rush this morning, we went to breakfast early and then took our bags down to the Atrium and just waited for the disembarking line to start forming. The process went pretty smooth and we were off the ship and through customs by 9:00 am. We called Lynda who was already on her way to pick us up. She had no problem with finding us since we gave her some local instructions on how to get into the terminal complex and then we headed to their Vespa shop in Sherman Oaks to drop her off and head for Mesa.

We arrived back home in Mesa about 5:00 pm, unloaded a few things, went to dinner, and then just relaxed watching some of the TV programs we missed while on our cruise.

The cruise was just what we hoped it would be. Except for the initial luggage snafu and outlandish doctor procedure, the trip was perfect. We met new friends and had a relaxing time. Fourteen days seemed to be just about right, not rushed like our seven day cruises were. We can now cross this trip off of our bucket list and start planning another!

Day 15: 11 Photos:

March 2011

2011-03-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

Lunch in the dome car

The Globe train ride that we were unable to complete last month because of engine failure finally was completed. We drove the car up this time and turned in our vouchers for a "free" return trip. We boarded and sat in the dome car in the middle as last time and filled out our slip for drinks and lunch. We were the first one's on the train and the first ones to fill out our lunch slip. However, they started filling those orders at each end of the car. Therefore we were last to be served. We were nearly back to the station in our 1.5 hour trip up the line, back through town, and down to the Apache Gold Casino, before we got served. The train ride we knew wasn't much, but the tardiness of the service put a bit of a downer to the entire trip.

Mesa Quilt Show

Of course the next day was another Quilt Show at the Mesa Art Center, so away we went. Molly picked up a few patterns and a kit to do later. On our way out, I thought she should get one more pattern that I liked. She doesn't have to do it right now, but at least she has that option......when she runs out of projects!

Apache Wells Farewell Party

And then that afternoon was the big Apache Wells Farewell Party put on by Cal-Am. We think it is a little early to be saying "Goodbye", but actually some residents do start leaving by the end of March. The theme this time was '50 & '60's. We had hamburgers, potatoes, salad, desert, beer, and wine. It was a gorgeous day in the mid-80's. And then that night we had a sponsored dance by "The Cool Band" which actually was the same group and singer that does AZ Diamond at the Broadway Palm Theater, a tribute to Neal Diamond. They were very good, and we danced our shoes off.

Picacho Peak Battle Field

Union cannon fire

The next day, we were up early, had a Pancake Breakfast at the Rec. Hall sponsored by the Activity Committee and were off to Picacho Peak State Park for a Civil War reenactment of one of the last battles of the war and the furthest west battle which happened at Picacho Peak Pass. We got there in time for the first reenactment and got a good seat on the hill over-looking the battle field. The battle lasted about an hour. The battle they were reenacting, from New Mexico, the Confederates won. It was amazing how close the two sides had to be to fire their cannons accurately. There were also millitary tents set up to browse and some other tents to do some sovenier shopping.

On the 15th Molly's sister Jo Ann arrived for the rest of the month. We had many things planned including a night at the Arizona Opry to hear their unique sound and entertainment, the Rockin' R Ranch country western meal and entertainment, a trip through the Mesa Swap Meet, a day at the Tempe Arts and Crafts Festival, a short day hike in the White Tank Mountains west of Pheonix, a block party pot-luck dinner here in the park, and a lot of quilt shopping.

But the biggest of the planned events was an over-night to the Grand Canyon with a stay at the Thunderbird Lodge, dinner at the El Tovar Lodge, schuttle to Hermits Rest, IMAX theater show, and a drive up the Canyon to the East entrance. Then we spent the second night in Prescott at the Hussayampa Hotel, (oldest in town) and coctails at the Palace Saloon (oldest in the state). Needless to say, it was a very good and eventful trip. Some of the selected photos that we took at the Grand Canyon are in the slideshow below, enjoy!

February 2011

2011-02-26T09:33:00.000-08:00

February opened with our return from Prescott after seeing Wyatt Earp perform at the Palace Saloon. The next day I had a dentist appointment to take an impression and insert a temporary crown. Molly had one of her regular cleanings.

Molly got her first lesson on her new serger and eventually learned how to thread it. Her next lesson was two weeks later. But during that lesson, she had trouble with one of the doors. When she asked for help, the instructor came over and said that shouldn't be that way and commenced to pry on it until it broke. Obviously, it was still under warranty and they sent it off to be fixed. So no serger for the rest of the month.

Events at the park this month included (1) a Super Bowl Soup Supper, where the activity committee volunteers made three different soups out of the left-over meat from the welcome back party from last month, (2) a Talent Show, where residents performed in all kinds of ways from singing to playing instruments to comedy, (3) a five piece band called the Igor's Jazz Cowboys, including the lead bass fiddle player that used to be with the New Cristie Minstrels, they were very good and and funny.

The big trip this month included a World Span Bus Tour to Laughlin, Nevada for three days to see the Oak Ridge Boys at the Riverside Casino. That is the first time we ever saw them in concert and they put on a great show. And of course we bought one of their greatest hits CD's. We met some nice people on the trip and especially at the concert. Friends Bud and Lisa Root were in their RV just down river at Needles so when we told them we were going to be in Laughlin at the Edgewater, they decided to come up and spend the night too. We went out to dinner at the Prime Rib Room at the Riverside and had breakfast the next morning. We had a great reunion and caught up on recent activities.

Other concerts or shows this month included (1) The Sound of Music at the Broadway Palms Theater, (2) Menopause, the Musical at the Mesa Art Center, and (3) The Texas Tenors at the Mesa Regal RV Park.

Menopause actors

I knew Molly wanted to see "Menopause, the Musical" so I went on-line and got "best available" tickets. Little did I know that I was going to be one of only a half dozen males in the entire theater, and that the best available tickets were front row seats. I knew I was going be a target for the evening when all the women started looking in my direction and smiling, some even saying how brave I was coming to this show. During the show the performers were always looking down at me and during a solo, one of the actors (the ex-showgirl, the other characters are a business women, house-wife, and a hippy) came over to the edge of the stage in front of me and started to sing just to me. Now keep in mind the comedy aspect of this show is to put new lyrics (menopause, change of life, women oriented lyrics) to some great old sixties and seventies songs. Well, the song she was singing to me was "We're going to have a heat wave".......but she had changed it to "I'm having a hot flash". She came over to me, sat on my lap, stroked my beard, felt my forehead and finished by saying, she wasn't the only one having a hot flash! She also finished by motioning to me, finger to ear and mouth, and mouthing the words "Call Me!". I grabbed the program and pretended I was writing her phone number down. The audience burst out laughing even more than they were. On the way out after the show, I heard and saw a lot of the women pointing and saying "There he goes!" Needless to say, I had a great time!!!

SNJ 25 Fold-Wing

B-17 Sentimental Journey

After five years living here in the Apache Wells RV Park, we finally decided to go across the street and visit the Commemorative Air Force Aviation Museum at Falcon Field. Our new neighbor, who had never been here before, went last week and it was just too embarrassing to let this unique attraction slip any further past us. It was a very good museum with actively flying World War II planes that you can ride in if that is a priority $$$. We toured the hangers and watched one of the SNJ fold-wing fighters take off. We climbed through the B-17 Flying Fortress Sentimental Journey, and had a nice conversation with one of the ex-military volunteers. We were made aware of two pieces of trivia. One was about the special pin-up of Betty Grable that was so popular during the war and that graces Sentimental Journey. It turns out that the reason she had her back to the camera, looking over her shoulder, was that she was pregnant at the time, beginning to show, and didn't want it on camera.....who knew! The other piece of local trivia, for us anyway, was the upper gun turret on the Sentimental Journey was off of the plane at The Bomber service station in Milwaukie, Oregon. The museum had made a special deal, since that was the only one they could find, that they would swap the turret for some volunteer work on other parts of The Bomber. I visited The Bomber on a field trip in the second grade (1951), and it is a well know landmark in Milwaukie.

We also decided we needed to get the RV out for a run this month. We saw an advertisement for a short train ride in Globe, AZ, so we decided to take the RV up to the Apache Gold Casino in Globe the day before, take the train ride the next day, and come back the following day. Because of friends Pat and Susan Canniff were coming by to visit for a few days and a fund-raiser for a good friend here in the park, we decided to make it just an over-night trip. As we pulled out of the station and got about a 1/4 mile down the track, they lost power. They got it started again, but decided to return to the station while it was still running. Drinks, therefore, were on the house (train), and we could either get our money back or reschedule to another date. We will return in a couple weeks to finish the trip.

January 2011

2011-02-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

January was a short month as far as activities are concerned. We started out this month watching a lot of football of course. And did go to a Mark Mulligan "concert" again on the 5th. It was at a place called Fiddler's Dream and was basically a vacant room with a small coffee bar in the back. It was nice to hear Mark again, but the venue could have been better. The backyard concert back in October was much more relaxing....and warmer.

Friday the 7th was the big Apache Wells sponsored Welcome Back party. The park hosts the event with a great meal and beverages. The weather was perfect and we sat out by the pool, eat, and visited with friends.

Then Saturday the 8th we were bound for Portland on our way to Hawaii. We stayed with Jeanette and Terry for two days and then boarded an evening plane to Kona on the big island. Jeanette and Travis's girl friend, Meghan, flew with us and joined us for a week. On the way over we were missing the college football championship game for #1 in the nation between the University of Oregon and Auburn. The pilot, however, let us know what the score was occasionally, and was disappointed at the end when UofO lost at the last minute. The ride over was a little bumpy. We hit one turbulent area that bounced the plane pretty good and an announcement came over the intercom for any medical persons aboard. Apparently a couple of the flight attendants were hurt (probably by a mis-lodged cart) and when we got to the airport, there were ambulances and fire trucks surrounding the plane. It was also raining quite heavily. In the short distance across the tarmac to the terminal, we got drenched. We hurriedly got our car about 9:30pm and headed to the Puako condos.

On-the-Beach!

Jeanette and Terry have been to the islands before, but it was basically the first time Meghan had gotten out of the Northwest and specifically to Hawaii. They (and I) brought snorkel gear, and did a little. The water, however, was a little murky and the surf on most beaches was very big. In fact for several days, the authorities closed the public beaches because of the high surf hazards. But the girls enjoyed laying on the beach getting a mid-winter tan.

Thurston Lava Tube

Hot Lava

The one activity they wanted to do while on the island was to see the Kilauea volcano. So we drove around the top of the island, down the coast to Hilo, and then up to the volcano. In Hilo we stopped and shopped a bit and had lunch. We were going to drive around the rim drive, but beyond the overlook, the road was blocked. We drove back around the other way to the Chain of Craters Road, but it was block again there. We stopped briefly at the Thurston Lava Tube and then went on around to the other end of the lava flow where it was entering the sea near Kalapan. We walked out the road and felt the hot air created by the recent lava flow and could see the plum of steam about a half mile away where it was entering the sea.

Just before the girls left, JoAnn came over (Jim was still recovering from surgery and would be coming over later after we left). So they had a few days to lay on the beach, eat, and visit with JoAnn before they headed home.

Waipio Valley overlook

Waipio Valley Guide

Molly and JoAnn wanted to go to a quilt shop, of course, up in Waimea and heard of another quilt store in Honokaa, so on we went over to the North side of the island again. It was a neat little town and did some touristy shopping, but the quilt shop there was closed. Since we were on that side of the island, we decided to drive up the Waipio Valley overlook. It was a beautiful day, unlike what we left on the other side. Since this activity is about the only thing Molly and I didn't do several years ago when we were there, we decided to take the tour into the valley. We couldn't have picked a better day. The guide was very informative since he had a taro farm in the valley and we really enjoyed ourselves.

After thirteen days on the island, it was time for Molly and I to make that long flight back home. We stayed with Jeanette and Terry again for a couple days and then flew back to Mesa.

Me & John Denver?

We had tickets, the night after we got back, to see the play Chicago at the Broadway Palms Theater. We had seen the movie several years ago and just loved the production. We shared a table with an old crotchety fellow that didn't seem to like anything! On my birthday, we went to the Arizona Opry to see Brad Fitz, one of the Opry members, do a tribute to John Denver. He says he doesn't do an impersonation of Denver, just a tribute to the man. Of course he DOES look and sound just like John. We loved the show and got to talk to Brad about some of John Denver's music.

Wyatt Earp at the Palace Saloon

The next day, it was off to Prescott to see Wyatt Earp's one man show again at the Palace Saloon. He was glad to see us there, greeted us warmly, and got to talk to him a bit. I told him we came up here to see him perform, because I wouldn't see him on the Desert Belle anymore. We stay the night in the Hassayampa Inn just a block from the Palace Saloon and Whiskey Row. The historic Inn was built in 1927, and was heralded as the grand jewel of Prescott. It is on the National Historic Register. We had a great time there meeting some of the staff who were very friendly. In fact, because it was one day after my birthday, the desk clerk upgraded us to a king-size bed in a corner room. She said she just did it "Because I can!" Needless to say, with friendly service like that, we will be back and highly recommend it to friends.

We also went to the annual Arizona Quilt Show after getting back from Hawaii. Nothing there of much interest except seeing a Viking serger for a really good price. Molly has wanted one for quite a while, and we just couldn't pass up this special show price, with lessons. Now she will have one more tool for her quilting projects.

The only other activity this month was putting a weekly park newsletter together and sending it out via an email blast. The first two bulletins were distributed long distance from Hawaii. When I got back, I also decided to put out a monthly calendar by email, of all the new and routine activities in the park. I have heard nothing but good reports from the residents. And now that I'm not working, I have at least got something to keep me occupied.

December 2010

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The Duttons

December was a stay at home month for us. We didn't do any traveling, but just attended Apache Wells functions (which were many) and went to a Christmas Special show at the Broadway Palms Theater featuring The Duttons. Their show was not part of our season tickets at the Broadway, but we didn't have any shows this month and wanted to see their's. They were on America's Got Talent in the early years, and were one of the finalists. They do put on a great show and have their own theater now here in Mesa as well as their theater in Branson, MO.

December Pool Party

There were several coffee and donut functions here in Apache Wells at the rec. hall and a pancake breakfast. And can you believe in December we had a pool party and karaoke? Yep, it was a good function and the temperatures were in the 70's and 80's. They had one last month, but we were in San Diego and missed it.

The Needham Twins

Marty Berk

The Apache Wells entertainment this month included a comedian named Marty Berk who mimed with funny faces and props to some old time music of Ray Stevens. He also did several acts to Christmas music, it was a Christmas show after all! Another AW entertainment night included Carla Elliot who played a special key-board that simulated every instrument you could think of. It turned out to be a very good show! And then there was the Needham brothers who sang and played while we danced. You know, it's getting harder and harder to do that twist down to the floor and back up!

Molly busy quilting!

Molly spent most of the month making quilts for the family. She

Quilts for Carrie, Jeanette, and Lynda

finally got 5 quilts done and in the mail by Christmas and then worked on a few more before New Years. Needless to say, she was quite busy! While she was doing that, I have been converting tons of old slides into digital photos on the computer and then making PhotoStory slide shows out of some of them (Route 66 trip, eight years of backpacking trips from the 1980's, sailing and canoe trips, etc.). So you can see we didn't have much time for anything else.

Saguaro Lake Hike

We did manage to get out for a little hike along Saguaro Lake from Butcher Jones Recreation Area. It was a short hike, but it was nice to hike along a lake that we knew so well, and it was a beautiful day for it. We also saw several movies this month, Fair Game about the Valerie Plame outing, The Kings Speech about King George VI's speech stammer, and Social Network about the creation of Facebook and it's founder. We like the first two the best.

Christmas Dinner

The Christmas dinner was just great. Each table has a "sponser" who decorates the table and provides a sign-up sheet. You sign up for a table and bring a supplemental dish while Apache Wells picks up the ham and turkey. It's just nice to have a dinner to catch up with all your friends and meet new ones. Of course we always over-eat at these things!

Molly's new bike

I did get an early Christmas present, a new flat-screen TV for the front room. We had gotten an up-grade of the DIRECTV receiver to a DVR receiver and I thought a nice high-def TV should go with it (even though the receiver isn't high-def)! This is the receiver we transfer into the RV when we travel, so that necessitated getting another cable from our RV dish to the receiver so we could record shows when we weren't present. Molly got a new bike from Santa. It is a 12-speed fold-up with 18" wheels. Now she can get out and do some riding in the neighborhood and maybe even join the biking group in the park. Two practical gifts we got each other were a knife sharpener for me and a Dutch Oven for Molly. Now we have all sharp knives and a big pot of stew!

The New Years Eve dance featured April Walker with a mid-night dinner. Happy New Year to everyone!!!

Brent

November 2010

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View from our room of Montecatini Alto

The big news this month is that Molly has returned to Mesa from Italy. I missed her so much! We did correspond via SKYPE with video, so kept in touch that way, except the time difference here (-9 hrs) made it a little difficult, and she was kept pretty busy. With sister Jo Ann, they had a 10 hour plane trip over and back. The travel guides I made for them and a few others in their group apparently went over pretty well. Molly finally gave hers to the the trip tour guide.

Florence

During the 10 day trip to Tuscany they toured Lucca, San Gimignano and the San Donato Winery there, the towns of Riomaggoiore, Vernazza, Monterrosso and La Spezia of Cinque Terre, the IL Poggio Winery, Vinci, Pisa, Siena, and Florence, while coming back to their Tuscany Inn hotel in Monecatini Terme every night.

Although I've included a couple of her photos here, you can view some of Molly's selected shots (85 or 416) in a slide show below:

She spent most of the next week adjusting to the time difference again and just recovering from all the touring and shopping. Of course we kept busy the rest of the month by going to several Arts and Craft Festivals (Litchfield Park and Fountain Hills), two Broadway Palm Theatre performances (Sugar--adaptation of the movie Some Like It Hot, and Annie), and this season's premiere of the Arizona Opry.

Mogollon Rim

Driving the Rim

We also did an overnight mini-trip to Payson, AZ for a quilt show and a long-anticipated drive of the Mogollon (MOE-gee-on) Rim drive . It is a spectacular 45 mile section along a 200 mile abrupt 2000 ft up-lift stretching from Ft. Apache near the New Mexico border to Ft. Whipple in Prescott. It is also called the General Crook Trail because it follows the original military supply route between these forts constructed in 1872 by Crook during the Apache wars. This up-lift, most of which is over 7000 ft. elevation, is the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau and affords many spectacular views. On a clear day, they say you can see the Catalina Mountains near Tucson 150 miles away.

1st Day Finish

2nd Day Deluge

The other major activity this month was a 4-day, 3-night trip to San Diego to cheer-on and support daughter Carrie and her Mark in their 60 mile, 3-day Susan B. Komen Cancer walk. This is Carrie's 4th year walking and Mark's 8th year. Molly and I got to meet Marks family (Mom, Dad, Sisters and nieces and nephew), most of whom also walked in the walk and have been for many years. The weather was not the best this year with rain all three days, and the second day was a deluge. They were soaked. Most of the participants had to sleep in provided tents, but Carrie and Mark lucked out this year by staying in his sister's 5th wheel. Of course Molly and I got to sit in the car and wait at certain designated areas along the way to cheer them on when they passed. The closing ceremony was something with the 4,000+ participants and survivors gathering in an arena listening to the final comments and cheering. It was just great fun that raised over $10.6 million!

Final Ceremony

Walkers and Support Group

More photos at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bmforsberg/SanDiegoCancerWalk2010

And then a major accomplishment! I finished the back patio. I started it when Molly was in Italy and gradually leveled, laid down a sand base, place blocks, and cut some into smaller spaces to fit. To take the patio to the raised street, I made a step with building blocks and put the square concrete slab blocks on top of them. It seems to work ok and it is much nicer now to go out back without getting your feet all dirty. Then, feeling energetic, I put new shelves in the storage shed. I now have much more room and it's all organized. I can now find things I want. It was usually easier to go buy what I needed rather than go out in the shed and dig through the stuff to find it!

October 2010

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After we got back to Mesa on the 2nd, we spent several days unpacking and cleaning up the house a bit. Then Molly and I had a few days to recuperate. But two days later, we had tickets to the road show of America’s Got Talent here in Phoenix. We had front row seats in the first balcony, which were just great. There were several of the finalists, however, that were absent because, they said, it was a weekday and they needed to stay home and be in school. They included Anna and Patryk the ballroom dancers, and Jackie Evancho the opera singer. Jeremy VanSchoonhoven, the stunt bike rider, had just broken his arm in practice and was unable to perform also. But the other performers were just wonderful. The winner, of course, was the singer Michael Grimm, who put on a great show. The only thing that wasn’t great, was the MC, Jerry Springer. His jokes were old and lame. The audience didn’t even laugh at most of them. They need another MC for next year’s tour.

Mark Mulligan and fans

The next week we went to a back yard concert by Mark Mulligan. He is a singer Molly and I followed in San Carlos, Mexico. As we arrived he greeted us with Hi Brent & Molly. That guy has one fantastic memory. It has been several years since we’ve seen him in San Carlos. He has a nice easy Caribbean Soul type delivery (Jimmy Buffett style) about life in Mexico and on the beach. Every now and then he comes back to the States and Phoenix to do some private shows. The evening was clear and warm. We brought our lawn chairs, some food and drink and wished we were back on the beach in Mexico.

Jacket at Cave Creek Art Festival

After that is was get Molly ready her two week trip to Italy. She had to buy a few new things. At an arts and craft festival in Cave Creek, she picked up a nice jacket since it was going to ge a little chilly there. And I got her a very small camcorder about the size of a cell phone. She studied the manual and made several practice videos so she could take some panoramic shots of the countryside in Tuscany. So on the 19th she flew to Portland, spend the night with daughter Jeanette, then to Salem the next night with sister JoAnn. On Thursday they both boarded a bus to Seattle with a group from their quilting shop for their flight to Paris and then on to Florence and Montecatini Terme in Tuscany. Of course, I had to stay home with a long “To Do” list. But we did communicate via email and Skype video.

Superstition Mountains

After getting most of my list completed, however, I decided it was time for a little break and went for a few short hikes in the area. The first was up into the base of the Superstition Mountains out of the Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction for about 2.7 miles. It was a hot day (90 degrees) and a little bit of a climb, but quite a view.

White Tank Mountain

The other hike was into the White Tank Mountain Reginal Park west of Phoenix. Again, it was a short hike, but in a nice area. I just hiked up to a periodic waterfall when it rains. There was only a pool of water at the time. And then I toured the park and the camping area

Summer 2010

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The following post is how we spent our summer of 2010 back in Oregon and on our way back to Mesa, Arizona in the fall. The post is arranged by month. Thanks for caring enough to read it and remember to click on any picture for a larger view.

May/June

We arrived back at the Salem Elks on May 17th after a quick trip in the car from Mesa. Since we took the “new” car to Mesa just after purchasing it last September, we didn’t have time to get tow bar attachments put on before we left. So that was one of the first things we did after coming home. Since I kept the tow bar from the old Rav 4, all I needed was the attachment and I thought that would be fairly inexpensive…..it wasn’t! But now it’s ready to go.

One of the things we always want to do as soon as possible when we get back to Oregon is to see friends and family. Of course we had to just kick back and rest up for awhile. But we had lunch with sister Jodene, which was also a lunch with daughter Carrie too. She was having a donation lunch to raise money for her yearly cancer walk in San Diego. Good lunch, and had fun meeting some of her friends.

We also had a planning lunch with Dick and Colleen Bonney, another captain on the Desert Belle, to talk about our planned trip to the San Juan Islands next month. Dick had arranged the 40 foot power boat, so I did most of trip planning since Molly and I had cruised the San Juan’s many times.

Eagle Cap Excursion Train

Molly had two desires this summer. One was to go on a train trip. So I Googled “train trips Oregon” and found several. But we had already done many of them. The one out of Elgin, down the Grande Ronde River, however, seemed like a good one. So we made reservations for the train and a motel. The trip was an all day trip that included lunch and took us along the river about 40 miles and then up the Wallowa River a short way.

We boarded the train in Elgin and got a table seat next to the window. It was very relaxing and scenic. And we also met some nice people along the way.

Molly with Bella Rose and the Sheriff

This trip was going to be a special event, because there was to be a train robbery. The outlaw “Bella Rose”, was lead onto the train by the sheriff, bound by ropes and made the rounds through each of the cars. During the trip, some masked train robbers on horseback stopped the train, boarded it, broke Rose loose, and road off. A lot of fun!

Open door seating!

Lunch was prepared aboard and served at our table. Since they didn’t have enough tables for all the passengers, we ate and then moved to another car. Since I had walked the train earlier, I saw that the last car was a baggage car with open observation doors. So we quickly moved back there after lunch and had a great open door ride back. The weather was just perfect and the trip was a memorable one.

Wallowa Lake

After the trip, we decided to go up to Wallowa Lake and ride the tram to the top of the adjacent mountain. Because of a phone call about the RV that we had to return, we got to the tram 10 minutes too late for the last trip. This was the second time we misted the tram on a trip up there. But the lake was beautiful anyway!

On the way back to Salem, we decided to spend the night in Hood River and visit brother Dick. We didn’t get to see him last summer, so we thought we better check in early this year. We had dinner with him (Bonnie was busy) and caught up on the latest goings-on.

July

The crew at Sucia Island, San Juan Islands

The major activity for July included the week long San Juan Cruise. We picked up the 40’ power boat in Anacortes and was able to spend the night before take-off on the boat. Our itinerary included Sucia Island, Friday Harbor (2 nights with cruising to Garrison Bay on the day trip), Butchart Gardens, B. C., and Rosario Resort on Orcas Island (2 nights).

With Ray and Carol Rogers at Butchart Garden's Cove

At Butchart, we were surprised to get one of the four buoys available in their private cove [our boat is over Carol's head]. We contacted Apache Wells friends Ray and Carol, that live very close, and they met us for a walk-through of the gardens and lunch. After walking through the gardens during the day, and a BBQ on the boat for dinner, we went back after dark for the evening experience.

Pool day at Rosario Resort, Orcas Island

During our stay at Rosario Resort, Molly and I spent a day at the pool while the others went to East Sound on a shuttle bus. Dick stepped off a curve and severely twisted his knee. He had to have help moving about from then on and will be getting it operated on later this summer or fall.

We had a little problem with the boat. It would not come up to cruising speed and was throwing considerable black smoke out the back. The charter company made a small consideration in the final charter fee because of the inconvenience. But all in all, it was a fine trip and nice to get back on the water in the Pacific Northwest.

Lisa Root ejoying the sun on their deck

And of course, on the way back from the San Juan’s we stopped to visit long time friends Bud and Lisa for a few days at their place on Whidbey Island over-looking Admiralty Inlet and Port Townsend. Always a good time!

On the trail at Silver Creek Falls State Park

Later that month Molly and I took a little trip to Silver Creek Falls State Park and did one of the small loops around the waterfalls. Molly has been walking several miles nearly every morning at the Salem Elks to get in shape for her Italy trip this fall. So we thought this would be another good exercise, and a beautiful day to view the waterfalls.

Then we went to an all school reunion at Scappoose High School. Reunions are always fun. I saw several classmates and teachers, and my Scappoose next door neighbor that was very close when we were in school. When he found out we were going to Redmond for an RV Rally next month, he suggested we meet at Crooked River Ranch (where we were staying before the rally), since he has a place there, and we could have dinner. We had a great dinner in Terrebonne and met his wife, Pam, who came over from Portland just for this event. We agreed we should get together again before heading south. We did, but the circumstances were not as happy. His mother, Hazel who I considered my surrogate mom, had just pasted away and we made arrangements to go to her service.

August

The second thing Molly really wanted to do this summer was go to Crater Lake. It had been a long time since we had been there…..I think it was when I ran the marathon around the lake…..so you know it had to be a loooong time ago!

Debbie Reynolds at RV Rally, Redmond

So in August we went to the FMCA RV Rally in Redmond where the entertainment included Debbie Reynolds and the Texas Tenors. We didn’t buy much this year, probably because we had just purchased a new couch and had new carpet put in the RV. That was probably enough!

Talking to the Captian

Crater Lake

After the Rally we had reservations at Diamond Lake RV Park for several days so we could do Crater Lake. We decided to take the boat tour of the lake and in the parking lot before heading down, I met one of the captains who encouraged me to contact the boat manager and put in an application. When we took the cruise around the lake, the captain of our boat also said the same thing. All the captain has to do is DRIVE! They have a Ranger aboard that does the narration. So that may be a new summertime activity next year that could be fun and help keep my license current.

And that may be a real possibility, now that I am no longer captain of the Desert Belle on Saguaro Lake. I had always said when it wasn’t fun anymore, I would be out of there. Enough said!!! And four years was probably enough anyway. Now we have all winter in the sun without anything scheduled and can explore the sites of Arizona and ……

Fireside chats at the Cruiser's Rendezsvous, Cathlamet

In late August we again attended the Cruisers Rendezvous in Cathlamet, Washington. We took the RV down and met up with lots of our Northwest cruising friends from Mexico. The reunion, pot luck, and catching up on activities was a wonderful time.

September

Bumpus Hell, Lassen Park

Driving through Lassen Park

We left for Mesa on September 18th. Since we didn’t have anything to rush back for, we decided to take our time and see some of the California National Parks that we never had a chance to visit before. We started our two week trip by spending a couple nights in Redding at their Elks and then up into the Lassen Volcanic National Park for a few days. We parked the RV in a campground and drove the car through the park and took a lot of pictures. We also took a few little hikes, one around the lake near our campground and another to the second biggest volcanic sulfur springs and mud pots in the U.S., second only to the ones at Yellowstone N. P. The weather was perfect.

East entrance, Yosemite N.P., Tioga Pass @ 9945'

Hetch Hetchy Valley and Reservoir, Yosemite N.P.

From there we crossed over the hill to Reno/Carson City, NV and spent the night in a nice little park in that valley. I had scoped out Yosemite National Park for road conditions and elevation gain for the RV by using Google Earth’s on-road cameras. The trip of from the East side was not as bad as I had thought, even though there were some 8 or 9% grades up to the 9945 foot elevation at Tioga Pass, the park entrance. The road was a little rough and curvy on the west side, however. We camped at Hodgdon Meadows Campground and drove the car up the Hetch Hetchy Canyon and viewed the reservoir that John Muir fought to prevent. It was a beautiful valley and we wished he had succeeded. We did walk across the dam and through a railroad tunnel on the far side.

Half Dome from Glacier Point

Ahwahnee Resort in Yosemite Valley

The next day we spent driving driving the car into the Yosemite Valley, taking the obligatory photos, doing some touristy shopping, and having lunch at The Ahwahnee Resort. We have cruising friends Tom and Cathy Edwards, who named their boat Ahwahnee, so we had to get them a souvenir or two. The next day I drove the RV (Molly drove the car) from our campground on the north edge of the park, through the valley (and its four tunnels), and out the southern entrance. The road was very curvy, narrow, up, down, and under construction. Entering some of the shadowy curves, from the sun, was almost blinding. I hit the newly constructed curbs a couple times and was glad Molly was driving the car behind me. At the south entrance, we stopped at the Wawona Hotel, one of the oldest hotels in California, and had lunch.

Wawona Hotel, south entrance to Yosemite N.P.

Reason for the smoke!

Smokey Kings Canyon N.P.

Then it was on to the Elks in Oakhurst, a small little mountain community. We paid for two lights, but didn’t like the neighbors’ three dogs wondering around unattended and crapping anywhere they wanted without it being picked up. We left early the next morning and went ddown the road to the Fresno Elks, a real nice place with grassy sites overlooking a small lake, and lots of nearby amenities. It was so nice, we decided to keep the RV there and make the one hour drive into the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks with the car…..much better idea! We drove up into Kings Canyon first. There was a contained forest fire in the canyon that had been burning for two months that made it a little smoky for good picture taking. We had lunch at a small little hole-in-the-wall place and then on into Sequoia National Park. I was a little disappointed in the park. We just drove through big trees without many scenic views . We did make our obligatory stop at the visitor center and watched one of their videos. And of course, we made it to the General Sherman Tree, the largest living thing in the world. However, that is not Molly in the picture below. It was a steep walk down to the tree and she choose not to climb down there considering the heat and altitude.

General Sherman Tree, Sequoia N.P.

We stayed in Fresno for four nights and just relaxed from the heat in the air conditioned RV. The next stops were Newberry Springs, east of Barstow, and Blythe. And finally arrived early on Saturday, October 2, at Apache Wells. We parked the RV in the space next to our Park Model for two days to do our unloading in the 103-degree heat, and then stored it just down the road at another Cal-Am Park where it will be handy for any short trips.

Winter in Mesa, 2009-2010

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Just after spending our 35th wedding anniversary in Las Vegas with Tom & Sue Stose at the new Trump International Hotel in early November, we flew back to Mesa.

We didn’t do anything special for Thanksgiving, since we had to work the next four days on the Desert Belle. On November 28th, however, was Wyatt Earp’s second performance on the Desert Belle. Molly & I had talked to him in Prescott, AZ last spring and encouraged him to do his one man show "Life on the Frontier" on the new Desert Belle. The show presents of an older Wyatt Earp talking to an off stage reporter asking Wyatt about his life. During the performance, then, you get a well-researched history of Wyatt Earp, by Wyatt Earp, the great grand nephew of the original Wyatt Earp. His first performance on the Belle was Oct 17th, and then he returned for a total of five shows this season.

On December 5th the traditional Parade of Lights on Saguaro Lake was lead by the Desert Belle, this time with the "new" Belle. I was captain once again, but I was training another of our newer captain’s for a future opportunity. It’s obviously a nighttime charter with no lights to follow. You just have to know where you’re going. It’s a fun trip for all, except the captain can’t partake in all of the onboard fun!

On December 26th we picked up our new "Brent & Molly Forsberg" sandstone sign to display outside our park model. It has an outline of Arizona and Oregon on it, each depicting our residential cities (Gresham and Mesa), and a Saguaro Cactus in the center. We had just gotten it when Jeanette informed us that that is what they got us for a Christmas present, but didn’t want to ship it because of the weight. We will use theirs to display outside the RV when traveling.
　
This winter we enjoyed several performances at the Broadway Palms Theater nearby. We went to a total of six different shows including:
Oct. 8: Smoky Joe’s Café; we took sister Jodene when she was visiting,
Dec 17: Meet Me In St. Louis,
Feb 4: Molly Brown,
March 14: George M; sister JoAnn was our guest for this performance,
May 8: Nunsense, and
May 11: AZ Diamond (a performer tribute to Neil Diamond).
Every seat was an excellent front row seat. We went to so many this winter and also went to quite a few in the past, that we decided to get season tickets for next year.

Jan 16-17: This year we decided to once again go to the Blythe Blue Grass Festival in Blythe, CA. We met friends Bud and Lisa Root there and enjoyed another great concert. We even picked up a couple more CD’s. Bud and Lisa later visited us in Mesa and took a ride on the new Belle.

Jan 19-28: Since one of the other captain’s normally takes the month of December off to go home and visit family for the holiday’s, I decided, with his and the owners blessing, that Molly and I would take most of the month of January off. I substituted for him and now he can reciprocate.

And it worked out great because Molly’s sister, JoAnn and husband Jim, had rented a condominium for a month in Hawaii (big island at Puako) and asked us to join them for some of that time. We jumped at the chance. The only problem was getting there. There are no direct flights from Phoenix, so on January 19th we had to fly to Seattle, spend the night, and then fly to Kona, Hawaii the next day.

It was one of the best trips we’ve made. Since we spent two weeks on the big island several years ago and "saw everything", we didn’t have to do any of that this time. We just laid around on the beach sunning ourselves, read our books, did some shopping, and ate! Of course we had to take Jim to the doctor after he fell while he and I were walking along the lava rock "beach" below their place watching sea turtles. He had to have several deep stitches in his knee. He still says I pushed him!

After another two flights back to Phoenix, we arrived just in time to go to the Phoenix Quilt Show on January 28th. It’s a big show, but we didn’t see anything there we couldn’t live without.

Since we are spending more time in Mesa now than in Oregon, we decided to locate a local Dentist and Doctor. Finding a doctor was out of necessity since I came down with something that reminded me of the Valley Fever I had several years ago. I had achy joints, headaches, coughing, and couldn’t breathe while laying on my left side at night. Apparently it was "just" walking pneumonia or bronchitis. I didn’t miss any work, but it was difficult narrating for both hour-and-a-half trips a day, sometimes three trips. The dentist we chose was very close, on the same mile-square block that we live on, and very good. We liked him a lot.

On February 21, Molly was again flying off to Las Vegas for the "Hen Party" with the other cruising girls. This has become an annual event, and this year they decided to have their get together in Vegas and see some shows. They couldn’t get the same great deal we had at the Trump in November, but after a little surfing, found a great deal at the Rio Hotel and Casino with adjoining rooms and a car. They decided to see the "Jersey Boys". That makes the third time for Molly, but it’s such a great show she didn’t mind seeing it again. They also spent a day at the Spa and shopping till they dropped!

Once again daughter Jeanette came for a weeklong visit (March 2-9). Since we had done so much with her on previous trips, we let her just take it easy and get some pool time. We did, however, take to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior, a trip that Molly and I have always wanted to make. We enjoy her visits and wish that Terry could break free one of these years to join her, although we know that’s his busy time of year. On the day Jeanette flew out of the Phoenix Sky Harbor

Airport on the 9th, Molly’s sister JoAnn arrived. She stayed a little over a week (March 9-17th). Again, we had a relaxing week, but did take her for a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, his western living quarters and studio. Molly and I have done the tour before, but the guide this time made the place come alive. You could tell it was his life love. The best tour we’ve had.

On March 21-23 we drove to Yuma to visit Jim & Linda Newton. He and I used to work together at the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Back on February 12 they came through Mesa for a visit and went for a ride on the Desert Belle with her sister and brother-in-law. They have a great place in Yuma and were very good hosts and guides. They took us to the Yuma Territorial Prison and up the Colorado River to visit a wildlife refuge and another tour boat that I had a chance to operate several years ago…..glad I didn’t get that job! They also treated us to the infamous date-shake.

Then the next week (March 28-30) we took a bus trip to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico. We have been looking at some of the World Span Travel Trips on the board in the Rec. Room at Apache Wells for a long time, and finally decided to take this trip. We had never been to Rocky Point and decided this was the best way to get there after driving all the way to Yuma the week before. We stayed in the largest and finest hotel in town (Penasco del Sol), right on the beach and were very well taken care of. We had plenty of time to wonder around and shop, just lay in the beach cabanas, or by the pool. The tour guide was knowledgeable and very friendly. Another great time!

On April 5-6, we made another minor trip to Winslow, Arizona. We stayed at the La Posada Hotel, one of the last great railroad hotels build by Fred Harvey. We were originally given a small un-level room, but asked about an upgrade and moved to a large room with a Jacuzzi tub, large poster bed, and a library. In fact there was a good book about a couple sailing to Antarctica to spend the winter there. I borrowed it to read later, then sent it back. The lounge treated us like special guests, and the meal in the large dinning room was wonderful.

Oh, the original reason for going to Winslow in the first place was just to get a replacement T-shirt. The original one I bought during our Route 66 trip had an awful stain on it. The shirt had the Route 66 logo on it with "Standing on the Corner in Winslow Arizona", from the Eagles song. It got an awful stain on it so I had to replace it! It turned out to be an expensive T-shirt, but well worth the relaxed great mini-vacation.

On April 7 we went to the Arizona Opry with the Dick and Colleen Bonney, the other Desert Belle captain. Dick invited us because we had given them a couple tickets to an Oak Ridge Boys concert that we couldn’t make earlier this year. While we were there, Dick and I saw an advertisement for the Dolly Steamboat, a tour boat on Canyon Lake, on their large stage screens. We asked George Staerkel, the music director and star, what it would cost to get a picture of the Desert Belle on the screen and he said just send him a picture with any info we wanted. So we did, but by the time we left Mesa, it wasn’t up yet. He did give us several music CD’s, however, to play on the Desert Belle for the type of music we liked. We went back to the Opry on April 20 again with the Bonney’s and cruising friends Pat and Susan Canniff during their visit.

By far the best trip we took this season was on April 11 to the Four Peaks Amethyst Mine. We briefly talk about the mine during our Desert Belle narration as being the 2nd largest and highest quality amethyst mine in the world. As part of their appreciation to their captains, David Smith and Jeff Kitchen
gave us a helicopter trip to the mine. We met at the Sami’s Jewelry store in Fountain Hills, were driven to a ranch outside of town, boarded a special high altitude helicopter and flew to the mine at about 7,000 feet elevation. The helipad is almost big enough to land…..the tail still hangs out over the cliff! We met the owner and miners, donned our hard hats, and entered the mine with hammer and chisel to chip away. We got to keep all the amethyst we collected unless it was gem quality. We kept the best we could find and put the rocks in a small bowl with a candle in it to show off the purple color. As the helicopter leaves, it lifts off slightly, turns, and then falls straight down the cliff….an E-ticket ride! Even though the trip was a free gift from management, it cost me about $800. When we got back to the jewelry shop, I asked if they had a pair of earrings that would match Molly’s ring that I got her last Christmas with Four Peaks Amethyst and Arizona Peridot. Of course they did!!! It even had a third stone of Arizona Ruby (Anthill Carnet), also mined in Arizona, but by ants!

Our last day on the Desert Belle was May 14th. And we left the next day. Since we didn’t have the RV down this year, we planned a quick trip and made it to Barstow, CA that first day. Then on to Medford on the 16th and back to the Salem Elks on May 17th. We got the RV out of storage and started it with the generator and a little battery booster and drove it about 50 yards to our spot for the rest of the summer.

Summer and Fall 2009

2009-12-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

This is a long-time-coming update to our blog for the Summer and Fall of 2009 by date. Enjoy!

June 2-6: Molly flew to LA for grand-daughter Megan’s High School graduation in Thousand Oaks and a visit with Lynda. For her graduation present, Molly made Megan a beautiful quilt that she had been working on for quite a while. It was full of bright colors and she really enjoyed it.

June 6: While Molly was in LA, I went to the Sauvie Island Yacht Club picnic in Scappoose. It was good to see all the old gang again, even though we don’t have a boat anymore. They are initiating a new membership, however, for those who have sold their cruising boats. It’s good to still belong!

June 18: One of the first thing we did when we got back was to have dinner with Carrie and Mark and his son. Carrie has moved out of her apartment and in with Mark. They are waiting until the kids get out of school for any future plans. At dinner I met a high school chum, Roger Rimers, and had a good chat and reminiscing about our other classmates. We said we should get everybody that’s local together for a mini reunion. It seems like we are starting to loose some of them.

June 22 – 26: We had a great opportunity to RV to Bullards Beach State Park in Bandon with Tom & Sue Stose, Pat & Susan Caniff, and Tom & Cathy Edwards, to visit Tom & Sue’s RV friends that were hosts at the Bandon Lighthouse this summer. Good time had by all! Then we motored up the 101 to South Beach, Newport for a few days and visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium before heading back to Salem.

July 10 – 12: Molly & JoAnn went to Sisters, Oregon for the annual Quilt Show there. They drove over to Bend and stayed with MaryAnn and family. While there, they met up with JoAnn’s friend Susie Irwin to catch up on things. The quilt show was another very crowed event but the quilts were something to see.

July 16 – August 9: When I was informed that the new Desert Belle had arrived at Saguaro Lake, I flew to Mesa to work on it for while. I stayed in our park-model and boat-owner David lent me his car for the month. The temps were bouncing around 113-114 for the highs. I called Molly everyday and one day when the temperature only 107, she didn’t have any sympathy for me, because it was 107 in Salem that day too. For the next month I did quite a bit of work from painting, and cleaning, to ordering and picking up new carpet and linoleum. When almost complete we took it out for sea trials and finally took our first passengers out on August 8th. By then I had had enough of the heat and work, so flew home on the 9th and let the local captain take it from there. That’s when I’ll take the helm again at the start of the Fall season in October.

July 28: Molly signed up to Face Book this summer and made contact with several high school chums. We made arrangements with one of her friends Pat Short and her husband in Vancouver, WA for lunch to catch up on old times. Isn’t the internet great!

August 11: Grand-daughters Megan and Brianna came for a visit this summer all by themselves. We picked them up at the Portland Airport, but they stayed with Aunt JoAnn because she had more room and their cousin Karen was also visiting at the time. But they were close and we did quite a bit with them while they were here.

September 3: We found out that the "check engine" light on the Toyota was going to run into much more money than we were willing to put back into the car…again, so we started looking for another Rav 4 or a Honda CRV. Finally bought a 2 year old CRV in Salem with only 12,000 miles on it. The two criteria for the new car were, it had to be towable behind the RV, and any color but black (since both of our last two cars were black and not compatible with Arizona sun). We had a hitch put on it as part of the bargain so we could tow a trailer to Mesa, AZ.

September 8-9: We made a trip to Rockaway to visit friends Bud & Lisa Root at their time-share. We had great outings for eating, shopping, and just hanging around catching up. And this was the first trip in the new car.

September 17-18: Our Apache Wells friends Jim and Char from Wisconsin made a surprise visit to the Northwest. They called and we made arrangements to meet them in Portland. We spent a few days with them showing them the best Oregon had to offer for the newcomers who had never been here before. We stayed in an inn near the airport and on the first day of their visit we took them up the Columbia River Gorge scenic highway to Crown Point, Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam, up to Hood River, and around Mt. Hood with a stop at Timberline Lodge. The next day we took them to the Oregon coast at Cannon Beach for a bit of shopping and on to Seaside and Astoria with a visit to the Astor Column and a ride on the trolley. Then we made a quick trip back up the Columbia River to Portland. It was great seeing them and having them contact us during their vacation.

September 23: We decided to leave the RV in Salem this winter since we bought the park-model in Apache Wells RV Resort last year. There didn’t seem to be any reason to drive it down and spend all that money for fuel. Molly wanted a washer and dryer put in the park-model this fall, so we decided to buy it in Oregon with no sales tax, clear out our storage unit, and take most of it to Mesa in a U-Haul trailer. It took us only three days going very slow with the new car pulling the trailer at its maximum load.

We arrived in Mesa Sept. 25, unloaded the trailer, but couldn’t put anything away because we were having some remodeling done in the Arizona Room for the washer and dryer. They needed to get into the attached shed for plumbing, so I had to take everything out of there too. The carport was stacked with several rows of boxes and shelves. What was estimated to be a three-day remodel job, turned into a week and a half. We just kept coming up with "one-more-thing" as long as you’re here. But the final job was just what we wanted. It got done just in time for Molly to wash clothes for her trip the next day back to Oregon.

October 15 – 22: Molly flew back to Oregon to go to a quilt retreat up in the Cascades with sister JoAnn. So she missed putting all the boxes away in the storage shed and in every little hidey-whole after the remodel. All this while I was captaining the new boat on Saguaro Lake. But she had a great retreat and we wouldn’t want her to miss that.

October 23 – 29: Sister Jodene finally came to visit us here in Mesa the day after Molly got back from the quilting retreat. She wanted to see the place and go for a ride on the new Desert Belle. We showed her the area, took her to our favorite restaurants, and it appears she had a good time. She was the first one to stay in the newly remodeled Arizona Room.

November 8 – 12: Right after Jodene left, we got ready to fly to Las Vegas for our 35th anniversary. Tom & Sue Stose were flying in from Portland to share their 40th anniversary with us. Their anniversary is on Nov. 8th, and ours is on the 9th, so we have shared that event with them on several occasions in Portland and in Mexico. The first night we got there we went to see the finalists of the "America’s Got Talent" TV show. Then the next night we had tickets for "Jersey Boys". Molly & I had seen the show in Phoenix last year, but had horrible seats. So we were thrilled to see it again and enjoy it with good friends. Again, the show was superb! Tom wasn’t feeling all that great after a cold, so we had plenty of time to just lay back and enjoy a luxurious room in the brand new Trump International tower.

Albion Remembered

2009-06-03T09:21:00.000-07:00

After looking through some of the pictures we've taken over the 12 years we've had Albion, I got the idea of selecting a number of representative photos and making a slide show of them on our blog. Please enjoy! [To watch a slideshow with larger photos and slower speed, click on the lower left icon and then "Albion". Then select "slideshow" on the web album page. A photo may be downloaded by right clicking on the photo and selecting "Save photo as".]

Heading back to Oregon the long way home

2009-05-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

The following blog entrys are some emails sent back to family and friends about our trip back from Mesa to Oregon. We decided to take the long way home since we won't be taking the RV back down to Mesa next fall and the fuel prices were very reasonable. We will just be driving the car down and staying in our Park Model.

5/8/09 On The Road Again:
Hi guys;

Cortez, Colorado:

Just a quick update of our travels. We left Mesa last Friday (5/1/09) and didn't go too far for our first RV miles in 7 months. We stayed at a Coast-to-Coast park near Overgaard, AZ. As I was setting up the computer, I realized I didn't have the power cord . We looked at the time and realized we still could make a quick trip back to Mesa (135 miles) in the car to get the power cord. We got back about 8:30 pm.

The next day we visited a good cruising friend in Show Low (Irene Harlander--Hiafin). She recently lost her husband, Lou, and thought we should stop by and spend some time. We had a good visit and then went on to Sun Valley, AZ at the Root 66 RV park (Passport America). And yes, that's how they spell it!!! Since we got there late, we decided to spend two nights there and watch Tiger play his final round on Sunday. It was a time to finally get everything located and unpacked.

We took our time on Monday and headed up to Canyon de Chelly> in NE Arizona. We checked into their campground and made reservations to take the day-long trip down into the canyon. Believe me, it was a trip well worth the jerking and bumping ride, as they say in the canyon, these trips are called "shake & bake". Of course Molly had to buy some of the beautiful <Navaho wares that were displayed at some of the stops.

On Wednesday, it was another short day to Cortez, Colorado. We drove up into the Mesa Verde National Park> to make reservations for a few of the tours to see the cliff dwellings. The tours were at the far end of the park so it was going to be about a 30 mile drive from our park in the morning. We left early Thursday morning and spent the entire day hiking in to some of the ruins and driving to see others. Got pictures--will share!

The weather so far has been just great, in the mid 80's. It's in the low 100's back in Mesa, left just in time again.

Today we head off to Durango, CO (another very short trip) for another couple days so we can take the Durango to Silverton steam train ride again. We took it back in 2000, but decided it was so much fun and such a scenic ride, that we would do it again. This time we would take the train up the canyon, but take the bus back to make it a little shorter day.

Well, that's it for catching up. We will be going on through Colorado (Colorado Springs, Denver, etc.), then up through eastern Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington, where we will stop in Pasco and take a look at the "new" Desert Belle that will be heading to Saguaro Lake later this summer. And then we will head back down the Columbia to Portland and Salem where we will probably be staying at the Salem Elks again. We've been out of Mesa now for one week, and the time-line for the rest of the trip is negotiable, but will definitely be back by the first of June.
We had good signal for the internet, so thought we would catch you all up.

Thanks for reading,
Brent & Molly

-----------------------------------
5/15/09 Update of travels home:
Hi again,

Just another update from the last spot in Cortez Colorado on our way home.

5/8/09 Cortez, CO to Durango:

As we left off with our last update, we were heading off for another short trip to Durango, CO. It was in fact a very short trip of only 58 miles and just over an hour. We stayed in a real nice Coast-to-Coast park north of Durango on the Amimas River>. We were going to head back into town to get our steam train tickets to Silverton for the next day, but the park check-in person said she could arrange them for us. So we could just relaxed the rest of the day and read our books. We asked about nearby restaurants and she suggested a great steakhouse just down the road, but the "rare" prime ribs were over-done. But still a nice, unique restaurant.

Next day we headed into Durango very early to get our ticket confirmations at 7:30. We were in one of the nicer cars and got a "free" <Durango to Silverton RR mug. At first we were wondering if we should do this trip again since we did it nine years ago when passing through Colorado. But were pleasantly surprised at the renewed experience. There was much more water in the river and much more snow in the mountains than the August 2000 trip. Anyway, took lots of pictures, had a great lunch in Silverton, bought Molly some more unique ear rings, and enjoyed the bus ride back> through the 13 and 14,000+ foot> mountains to Durango.

We enjoyed the RV park so well, we decided to stay an extra day……just because we could! It allowed us to travel around the town of Durango, go to a local quilting shop for Molly to buy another project, and have dinner in town.

5/11/09 Durango to Blanca:

Yeah, who ever heard of Blanca, Colorado? To drive the 184 miles we had to climb over an 11,000 foot pass that was spectacular with snow all over along side the road. There was a Passport America park in Blanca, and it was just 20 miles from the newest <National Park called the Great Sand Dunes N.P. and Preserve. We drove up and really enjoyed the site of enormous sand dunes (750’ high)> tucked up in the corner of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The prevailing winds blow the sand to the northeast where it is picked up by a stream that transports the sand back to the southwest, perpetual motion!

In the morning after showing, I noticed water running out from beneath the RV. It was coming from the fresh water tank, which seemed to be overflowing, even though the "tank fill" lever was in the off position. Since we had another nearly 10,000 foot pass to go over, we drained most the fresh water tank and would examine the cause of the problem more closely later.

5/12/09 Blanca to Denver:

This was our longest day of travel so far at 220 miles, still not long by our standards, but on this trip we have just been taking it easy. In fact we were going to stop at the Colorado Spring Elks lodge for the night, but we were there by 11:30 and decided another hour or two to the Westminster Elks just north of Denver would be ok. It would still be an easy day and we would be beyond down town Denver to avoid the morning traffic for the next days travel. Another camper at Colorado Springs Elks recommended this lodge. Upon getting to Westminster, we enjoyed another fine prime rib dinner at the lodge and retired for the evening.

5/14/09 Denver to Casper, WY:

We thought we would finally put on some miles today and head for Kaycee, WY (340 mi), but the strong winds today (up to 35 mph) made it a difficult drive and very tiring. Our next option was Casper (only 280 mi) at a Passport America park. The only bright spot today was filling up with fuel. The needle was only on ½ tank, but we had gone 534 miles on that amount giving us 11.0 miles/gal at a price of only $2.18/gal for the diesel.

5/15/09 Casper to Billings, MT:

We were up early today and stopped for breakfast before we even hit the freeway, and were on the road again by 8:20. We thought we would make some miles before the wind started begin. It did, and started raining too, our first rainy day. Probably getting us used to typical Oregon weather again. There just seems to a lot of nothing in Eastern Wyoming, just miles and miles of miles and miles.

We did, however, stop for a short re-visit of the <Little Bighorn Battlefield (Montana). We watched a video and took some pictures in the rain, and then headed up to Billings for an over-night at the local Wal Mart. Today was still a long day making 286 miles and putting up with some head winds. More Montana tomorrow!

Thanks for reading. Keep in touch. More later!
Brent

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5/20/09 Kennewick—On the Road Home:
Hi everybody;

This will probably be the last update of our travels home. We are presently in Kennewick and heading home tomorrow. Here is a run-down of the past several days.

5/16/09 Billings to Deer Lodge, MT (262 mi):

Yeah, I know, where the hell is Deer Lodge Montana? Well it’s about 40 miles north of Butte and has a Coast-to-Coast Good Neighbor Park here. All freeway today and a beautiful valley drive up the Yellowstone River and the Clarks Fork of the Flathead River. We can’t get over how everything is so GREEN! The snow is still heavy in the adjacent mountains and the rivers are full. We started wondering about the road conditions going over Lolo Pass (5233’) between Missoula, MT and Lewiston, ID, our planned route. But after calling the road condition line, we found it would be clear over the pass. And when we went over the continental divide today at 6453’ it was clear with the snow level several thousand feet higher.

We have seen considerable wildlife on our trip so far. Through Wyoming we saw Pronghorn Antelope around every turn. Today we saw a Turkey along side the freeway shoulder and a moose eating shrubs along side the Yellowstone River as we crossed it. We have seen several herds of mule deer and keep our eyes open to identify the birds as we pass. Today we saw several flocks of White Pelicans, Osprey, and of course Red-tailed Hawks.

5/17/09 Deer Lodge to Kamiah, ID (229 mi)

Today was just a nice drive down the Clark Fork of the Flathead River to Missoula and then a fairly quick trip to the top of Lolo Pass> going into Idaho. This is the same pass that Lewis and Clark traveled over during their journey to and from the Pacific and that Chief Joseph passed over while trying to elude the Calvary on his way to Canada, before he was stopped. There was still snow on the pass, but the road was clear.

The next leg of the trip was down a very curvy road on the Lochsa and Clearwater Rivers. We eventually got to our Coast to Coast park in Kamiah, Idaho and relaxed for the rest of the day and the next. It was a very pleasant little community.

5/19/09 Kamiah to Kennewick, WA (204 mi)

Today we got up early, had breakfast at the park restaurant and hit the road. Last night it thundered, lightninged, and poured down rain. This morning it was fresh and green with some higher fog and a little sprinkle here and there. It was a beautiful trip down the Clearwater to Lewiston, but the wind just kept increasing until it was at least 35 mph. And after we left Lewiston, it was on our side making it a very jerky ride trying to stay in our lane.

Still blowing in Kennewick, we found the Elks lodge where we set up our dry camp in the parking lot and then tried to find the Columbia Voyager (aka the new Desert Belle). After considerable driving around and asking questions we located it in Richland, WA and called Dick Bonney (the other Desert Belle captain) to let him know where it was located. We were going to meet the existing captain and owner tomorrow and go for a test drive. We met Dick and his crewman, Gary, along with their wives, for dinner and to discuss the trip tomorrow.

5/20/09 Kennewick, WA

Today we slept late, then went out to breakfast and met everybody at the dock to discuss the working systems on the boat and take it out for a spin. WOW! What a pleasure. The 150 passenger boat handled great and will be a great asset for Saguaro Lake with dinner and entertainment cruises. We spent three hours going over the boat and took it out for some maneuvering practice in the basin and on the Columbia. We encouraged the captain to visit the boat after they moved it to Saguaro Lake and got it all put back together, and he said he would.

Tomorrow, it’s just a quick trip on down the Columbia to Gresham to get our mail at Jeanette’s and then over to Vancouver to spend a day or two with Tom and Sue at their place to catch up. Then it will be on to the Salem Elks again where we will be hanging it up for the summer.

Keep in touch!
Brent

Albion Sold

2009-01-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

After a long hard decision, Molly & I have decided to make Mesa, Arizona and working on the Desert Belle Paddleboat on Saguaro Lake (www.desertbelle.com), our winter time activity for the foreseeable future. We came here in the fall of 2006 to captain the Desert Belle so I could get the necessary days to renew my captain’s license with the Coast Guard. After that season, we were going to return to Albion the next winter season to continue cruising in Mexico.

However, the owners made it very attractive for me to come again the next season. It was a great opportunity. We liked the area, we liked the RV park we were in, we loved the lake and the vessel, and we liked the opportunity to meet new people every day. So we decided to return to Mesa in the fall of 2007 and let Albion sit in the Mexican sun again in Marina Seca, San Carlos, one more year.

This year (fall, 2008) we returned again to Mesa in the RV and finally bought a comfortable park model with a nice Arizona Room. With that and the decision to make the Desert Belle Paddleboat a long-term prospect, we decided to put Albion up for sale. If she didn’t sell by the end of this tourist season in May 2009, we would take her back to the Northwest waters to use periodically in the San Juans or Canadian Gulf Islands during the summer.

Wouldn’t you know it, shortly after we made that decision, we had an offer and it was finalized by the end of the year. We are now boatless in Mesa…..except for the Desert Belle paddleboat. It was difficult to sell her, but it made sense for what we were doing and what looks to be a long-term situation here.

We are glad Albion went to a couple that appreciates her, will take good care of her and have as many great adventures as we did.

Summer of '08

2008-11-15T09:51:00.000-08:00

As we headed back to Oregon, the fuel prices were at an all time high. We topped off in Mesa, which was the lowest price at $4.65/gal (diesel), and the highest paid was in Pendelton at $4.79/gal. We paid a total of $708 for 149 gallons for 1535 miles, which averaged 10.3 miles per gallon. We traveled the Mesa-Vegas-Salt Lake City-Boise-Portland route. Just before Provo, Utah, we discovered that we had lost our hydraulic fluid reservoir for the jacks. So we couldn’t put the jacks down for the rest of the trip and several weeks while in Salem. When we eventually got it replaced and installed it cost about $700.

We did make it almost home before we stopped in Hillsboro for granddaughter Emily’s graduation party from Art Tech High School in Wilsonville. Then it was on to the Salem Elks for the summer.

In mid June, David Smith (Desert Belle owner) called and asked us to take a trip to Klamath Falls to evaluate a side-paddle boat for sale that they may purchase for Saguaro Lake. We asked Dick and Colleen Bonney (the other captain) to take the trip with us and examine the engine. The boat needed work and we gave David our opinions.

Shortly after that, Molly & I headed down to the South Umpqua Lighthouse at Winchester Bay to visit Nada and Dorsey Hensley. They had volunteered as tour guides and office help for a month. It was a great outing and we stayed in a nice little motel on the Winchester Bay waterfront.

On July 1st, Molly and I took our real vacation and flew to Chicago to visit Dan & Cathy. They picked us up and then drove to their new place in Elkhart, Indiana. We had a book of 1000 things to do before you die, and asked them if they didn’t have any specific agenda, if we could see some of these places. We got to check off: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Shipshewana, Amish Acres in Nappanee, and The 100-mile Heritage Trail. Along the way we also did and saw many other interesting things such as the RV Hall of Fame Museum. We spent the fourth of July out on their pontoon boat watching the fireworks, and also did a poker run on their lake.

The last few days before flying home was spend in Chicago marking off some of the 1000 things there. We stayed in a high rise condo over looking the harbor that we had reserved through a friend of a friend of Cathy’s. Some of the 1000 things included: Viewing Chicago’s Architecture, Chicago’s Comedy Scene at Second City, eating Chicago-Style Pizza at Uno Pizzeria, Millennium Park (which we over-looked from our condo), the Shedd Aquarium, Wrigley Field, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home and Studio in Oak Park, and on the way to the airport we stopped at Superdawg for their well known hot dogs. One of the neatest things experienced in the city was their transit system. We bought a two-day pass on the Elevated Railway (the EL) and traveled all over the city by getting on and off where ever we wanted. It was a great time filled with a lot of activities.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Home was one of several of his houses that we have visited now with Cathy. She got us into appreciating his architecture when we were on our Route 66 trip and visited the Dana House in Springfield, IL. When she visited us in Mesa we toured his studio in Phoenix, Taliesin West. So when we got back to Salem, we decided to visit his only house designed in Oregon at the Oregon Gardens. It was called the Gordon House and was an example of his inexpensive production models.

In August, we decided to travel to the Long Beach Peninsula in the RV to visit Pat & Susan Canniff and Tom & Kathy Edward’s RV lots there. We also visited Dick & Colleen Bonney who lived just across the lake. The weather was rainy and blowing during the visit, but we had a good time. Then we three couples with RV’s headed down to Cathlamet, Washington to the Cruiser’s Rendezvous and the annual pot-luck dinner. It was fun reminiscing with the old Mexican Cruisers.

Bud and Lisa Root invited us to stay in their Time-Share in Rockaway Beach on the Oregon coast during early September. The weather was beautiful and it was nice to just kick back and relax for a week. Thank you Bud & Lisa!

In late September, we finally had to say goodbye to Oregon again and head back to Mesa for the winter tourist season on Saguaro Lake. We decided to head down I-5 through California and then over to Mesa on I-10. With careful planning I only had to stop for fuel once in California. The fuel price was less than this spring ranging from $4.02 in Roseburg, Oregon to $3.61 in Quartzite, Arizona. We paid a total of $533 for 139 gallons for 1377 miles, which averaged of 9.9 miles per gallon. This appeared to be a better route even though it was through California.

When we got into our normal space at Apache Wells RV Resort, I gave David a call to let him know we were back in town. He quickly told me I could do a charter the next day if I wanted. The charter, to make a long story short, was less than ideal. Those people will probably not get the same annual charter that they’ve gotten in the past for their Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Molly flew back to Oregon to attend a quilting retreat in the Cascade Mountains with her sister Joann. Molly had left her machine in Oregon so she wouldn’t have to take it on the plane and Tom & Sue Stose had offered to drive her back to Mesa since they were heading down right after the retreat. Molly had a great time and has already signed up for next year.

While they were driving back, a lady we had talked to about buying a Park-Model here in the park last season, stopped by and made us a very reasonable offer. I called Molly, and she said, "Buy It"! So when she and Tom & Sue arrived, they had a nice furnished place to stay for several days while visiting. They like to tell friends that Molly and Brent are really nice, they even bought us a place just to stay while visiting. It was entirely furnished and had a very comfortable Arizona Room attached with it's own bathroom and large closet.

While Molly was still in Oregon, her sister Joann called. They had had so much fun that she treatened that Molly wasn't going to come back to Mesa until I could find her a place that she could have her sewing machine up all the time rather than continually having to put it away after using it in the RV. So we HAD to buy it! Now Molly has her own sewing machine table in the Arizona Room where she can quilt to her hearts content

Jeanette (Molly’s daughter) had previously been arranging with me for a surprise for Molly’s up coming birthday. Jeanette and Lynda (other daughter) were going to fly in and surprise her. Strangely enough, I kept the secret! At about 9:00 pm on October 31, I got up and said I though I would go get her a birthday present. Molly looked very quizitive and unbelieving. We normally go to bed about that time and watch TV in bed. I told her that I would be gone about two hours and that she may want to stay up and get dressed. More quizitive looks! She though maybe someone may be flying in to surprise her, but the airport is only 20 minutes away. After picking up Lynda from the SW terminal, we waited for about 45 minutes for Jeanette to arrive at the Alaska terminal. When we drove in Molly couldn’t believe it and was showing great emotion, seeing both girls together and knowing they loved her enough to travel a great distance to spend a few days with her on her birthday. The stayed for three nights in our "new condo" so they could have some time to themselves as well.

Shortly after that, our Tucson friends Nada and Dorsey came to spend a night in the park model. We had owned it now for three weeks and we hadn’t even spent a night in it ourselves. Although on Sunday 11/9 we had our HD satellite installed, so on Monday the 10th we finally moved into our "new condo".

I’ll stop our "Summer" summary here with this news. I will continue to update this blog as new events unfold or when I get time. Thanks for caring enough to read it.

Brent

Mesa, Arizona '07 - '08

2008-06-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

The last BLOG entry ended with high expectations of getting down to Albion to do some cruising this winter, but those expectations quickly evaporated when time kept slipping away waiting for the fuel tank to be repaired. It was finally late December when we were notified it was fixed. The project that should have taken two weeks, took two months….but then again, it’s Mexico! Molly & I did a whirl-wind trip to San Carlos to close up the boat and move it back to the storage yard. We decided that maybe we would wait now until Spring to put Albion in the water to get it ready for some cruising in May, after the Desert Belle season ended.

The days in Mesa, however, were filled with company and other events. Horst & Bea Eberspaecher, and Will & Joann Gallant came up for the Christmas Light Parade on Saguaro Lake, which the Desert Belle always leads. And it is normally a company party with invited friends. Other friends that came for a complimentary trip this season included Bud & Lisa Root, and their friends Mike & Terry, <Nada & Dorsey Hensley, John & Barb Wilde, Earl & Marta Encell, Cathy Fleming, and Pat & Susan Caniff. Some of the other events we took these guests to included the Arizona Opry, Organ Stop Pizza, drive up the Apache Trail, Olive Mill, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, our favorite restaurant Café Roma>, and the Broadway Palm dinner theater to see Hello Dolly.

<Cathy came from Elkhart, Indiana for a few days and then her, Bea, and Molly took off for L. A., California for Joann Gallant’s daughter Kristen's wedding in the Wayfarers Chapel. They were busy doing a lot of the busy work during the wedding and had a great time calling it this year’s "hen fest". Molly & I also were busy going to several plays and concerts including "Jersey Boys" at the ASU Gammage Auditorium, "SWING" and "Buddy" at the Broadway Palm dinner theater, Smothers Brothers, Bobby Rydell & Lesley Gore at several CalAm RV parks, and Wyatt Earp by Wyatt Earp (a grand nephew of THE Wyatt Earp) at the Palace Saloon>, one of the original saloons on Whiskey Row in Prescott, Arizona. We also made a trip up to Globe, AZ to tour the <Besh-Ba-Gowah Pueblo. It was a fascinating site that has done some reconstructing of some of the ancient indian pueblo buildings so you can go inside and climb around seeing what they were like when in use.

At the end of March, we went to Sunsites, Arizona to stay with Horst & Bea, and were also joined by Will & Joann. We made a trip through <Bisbee viewing the "hole" left from copper mining, and then spent the better part of a day in Tombstone. David Smith (Desert Belle owner) sponsored the Tombstone portion of the trip for extra work I had performed. He told us to have a time fun on him and recommended several sights not to miss. And it was a blast, eating in Big Nose Kate’s Saloon and sitting at the <same table that Wyatt Earp had sat at during his time there. We sent an email postcard back to David thanking him for the trip. But as always, the girls got a little rowdy>!

We spend the next day touring the <Chiricahua N.M. on the East side of the valley from where Horst & Bea live. The rock formations there are something to behold. The next day we made a short trip up in back of Horst & Bea’s home to the Cochise Stronghold, where the great Apache chief was able to avoid discovery and capture. He is buried up there somewhere but the only white man that know where is his friend Tom Jeffords. We hiked around some the short trails and identified some of the plants>. Again, a great time with great friends.

After the Desert Belle peak season ended on May 1st, we headed down to San Carlos and Albion. In March I had gone down and put her in a slip at Marina Real, just north of San Carlos. We put Albion up for sale with the idea of buying a park-model in Apache Wells RV Resort since our Mesa location looked like it was going to be a long-term opportunity on the Desert Belle and we weren’t getting down to the boat during the winter anymore. If the boat didn’t sell by the next Spring we would consider taking it back to the Northwest for periodic summer cruising. The plan was to spend the month of May working on the boat making it pretty and then cruising the Sea of Cortez for a few weeks. However, the following is an email we wrote back to fellow cruisers about what happened during that month.

5/14/08
Albion's near disaster
Howdy fellow cruisers;

Albion is safe in the work yard at Marina Real and Molly & I are back in Tucson to pick up a boat part for Albion.

It all started Saturday. I had spent the day polishing the stainless stanchions, bow pulpit, and lifelines and decided that was enough for the day in the 100 degree heat. While we were sitting in the cockpit relaxing I decided to start the engine and make sure it started and operated properly. We had been on the boat now for a week cleaning and getting things fixed. And Albion had been at the dock in Marina Real> for a month and a half. So it was time to make sure it still ran. It started fine, shifted into forward and reverse just fine, and then I shut it off. As usual, I check the normally dry engine "room" for any leaks. IT WAS FULL OF WATER!!!! And I heard water gushing in from the rear. I tore the bed apart to check the drip-less packing gland under it and the water was running in as though there was no packing gland there. The bellows had torn.

I spent the next hour and a half trying to get enough of the lip on the back portion of the bellows to clamp back onto the shaft boot. I could make the water slow down, but then it would spring eternal. While Molly watched the water run in and the bilge-pump pump it out, I ran over to San Carlos to see if I could get a replacement hose for the bellows. NO! I stopped at the work yard/dry storage at Marina Real to let them know I had an emergency and would have to have the boat hauled immediately. They said to check with the office. Ran to the office, made sure they knew it was an emergency....."the boat is sinking!!!", and they radioed the boys at the yard to get over here ASAP. As I got to the boat, two other dock guys were already there, helped me throw the lines loose and headed over to the ramp. By the time we motored over to the ramp.....bilge running the entire time....the trailer was there, and luckily for us it was near high tide....Albion needs more water for it's winged keel. The movers worked efficiently and in no time Albion was heading down the road to the dry work yard leaving a trail of water from the still running bilge pump!

Mi Casa (Mel & Sherry) graciously loaned us their RV to stay in until Albion is back in the water. The next day, a referred mechanic came by to help remove the shaft and get the drip-less packing gland and torn bellows off the shaft. To get the packing gland off, you first have to remove the coupler that holds the shaft to the transmission. It wouldn't move. He got a unique piece of equipment, something like a wheel puller, but try try try as we might.....it wouldn't come off. After discussing our options, the mechanic said he has never seen a coupler come off a shaft after it had been on as long as ours...about 9 years. He suggested cutting the shaft $$, pulling it out, having a new coupler and shaft made $$$$, and cutting a notch in the rudder $$$ to put the new shaft back in (rather than taking the rudder off). I eventually bowed to his expertise and he gave me the cutting grinder to cut the shaft and said he'd be back in an hour or so. I took the grinder up and took a big swallow....maybe I'll try ONE MORE TIME. I had put a scratch in the shaft when we started working with the puller to see if we were making any progress. As I took a second look, I thought maybe while we were doing all our discussing, the pressure MAY HAVE MOVED the coupler a fraction. I put another block on the propeller so it wouldn't turn, and tried with all my Swedish stubbornness one more time. IT SEEMED TO MOVE!!!! I tried it again, and again, and in about 20 minutes I had the coupler, the packing gland, and bellows off the shaft. YAHOO!!! The mechanic was very surprised when he returned and I was feeling like I won the lottery.

Back to the marine mart to order a new bellows, but they said I would have to order the entire packing gland $$$ and it would take two weeks. Not good enough! I called the manufacturer, PYI Inc., in Bellingham WA, ordered just the bellows $, and had it shipped on two day delivery to friends Nada and Dorsey's in Tucson while we went up there and waited. The part just arrived and is the correct part. Tomorrow we will be heading back to the boat in San Carlos, re-install the gland with the new bellows, put Albion back in the water to finish our work, take it for a sea trial, and put it up for sale (not sail).Just thought I would give our cruising friends a little update. Albion is scheduled for haul-out on May 28 after which we will drive back to Mesa to get the RV and head back to the Northwest for the summer.

[Update after we got back to San Carlos] The bellows went on, no problem and we launched the next day. But there was still a lot of work to do on the boat and by the time we got it pretty well complete, the nice cruising weather ended. We decided to run the boat back to San Carlos, haul out early, and put it back in dry storage in Marina Secca until sold or next Spring.

Summer & Fall '07

2007-11-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

As many of you know Albion didn’t hit the water in the winter of ’06 – ‘07 in Mexico. We wintered in Mesa, Arizona, where Brent was Captain of the Desert Belle Paddleboat on Saguaro Lake.

This summer was a stay at home activity where we reunited with many friends and did a lot of things in Oregon that we had not done before. One of the nearby activities that we have driven by for years, was the < Air Museum in McMinnville. It was truly something to stop and see after all these years. Then there were a couple of Jet Boat trips on the Rogue River>, something that we have always wanted to do but were always too busy. And then we took in a couple of Shakespeare plays in Ashland. That is going to become a regular for us in future summers.

Also this summer we visited <Tom & Sue Stose up at their Detroit Lake campground that they were hosting. We stayed there a few days seeing all the work that is involved with camp hosting (at least all the work that Tom & Sue did) before heading over to Redmond for another FMCA RV Rally. The venders just seem to love to see us come, as described in the last BLOG. This year we decided to take the Crooked River Mystery Train trip>. It included a dinner and a mystery that started before you left the station with someone on the train platform getting shot. WHO DONE IT was the theme during the trip. It was a delight. Others that we met this summer at the Salem Elks included <John & Barb Wilde. They became real good friends as well as the hosts Jimmy and Brenda Holm. It was great to have picnics in the Elks park and help out with some of the chores. As we headed south, we decided to head to Klamath Marsh and visit John Snively’s new cabin> on the marsh. What a great spot to kick back and relax and watch birds right <from the porch.

This winter WAS going to be a return to Albion and do a little cruising before heading back up to Saguaro Lake for their peak season of February, March, and April. HOWEVER, the since the tour boat on the next lake up was going to be out of commission this winter because of a lake draw-down, the owners decided to pick up the slack by increasing our tours. They wanted us back enough to tell us to write any schedule we wanted and they would accept it. So we told them that to get some use of Albion this winter, I would have to have a couple of weeks off at a time to drive down to San Carlos (8 hr drive from Mesa), work on the boat or take a short cruise in the Sea. They agreed, so I’m driving the Desert Belle Paddleboat (http://www.desertbelle.com/) for two weeks and then taking two weeks off.

My first trip to Albion, however, found that it was going to be difficult to find an in-water slip to moor her. I finally located one in Marina Real, but while waiting for the slip to become available, I discovered a leak in the fuel tank. Unable to spend the time to work on it, I asked Jesus at Marina Secca to have his men fix it, and that I would be back in several weeks. That was "several" weeks ago now, and it still isn’t fixed…..Oh yeah, I forgot, IT’S MEXICO!!!
Well, WHEN Albion is fixed and WHEN we locate an empty slip in the San Carlos area, we will start our short limited cruising in the upper Sea of Cortez. In the meantime, if anyone is headed to the Phoenix/Mesa area this winter, be sure to call, stop by, and take a complementary 1 ½ hour narrated paddleboat tour on Saguaro Lake…..and yes I do the narration too! I will have to admit that this is a beautiful 10 mile long lake with canyons and cliffs and Saguaro cacti. It is hard to call it a job!

Living in Mesa, Arizona (Season '06-'07)

2007-06-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

We decided to taking this year off from our boat in Mexico and drive the tour paddleboat Desert Belle to get my days needed to renew my Coast Guard Captain’s license. After searching the web for warm winter locals and sending out several emails, Mesa, Arizona and Saguaro Lake were chosen (or they chose us). The narration in the next Log below is what happens on the Saguaro Lake every day, but during our stay in Mesa, we made a few excursions that broke up the routine. Our first guests to visit were Tom and Sue Stose. They arrived shortly after we got our routine down and were our first complimentary guests on the Desert Belle. While here we showed them some of the area although we weren't that familiar with it ourselves yet. We did, however, do some kayaking on the Salt River below the Stewart Moutain Dam that holds back Saguaro Lake.

In mid December, Molly & I thought we would take several days off and drive to Los Angeles to visit our good friend and cruising/RV buddy Cathy Fleming. We had a great time going and shopping and visiting. It was a great break that we needed.

In January we made a short local trip down to see the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument just south of Phoenix. It was interesting, but not as impressive as we expected. Later that month we had to make a trip to San Carlos, Mexico to get a survey done on Albion. We have to have one done every three years for insurance purposes. We got a local surveyor in Guaymas and he gave it a good bill of health. It was nice to be on the boat again, even though it was still in the storage yard and if only to just check up on it.

Daughter Jeanette came to visit for a week in February. We had many things planned to show her while here. Of course we took her to the Organ Stop Pizza parlor to listen to the world’s largest Wurlitzer Pipe Organ. It is always a great time listening to the many old songs that the organist plays while having a pizza and a beer. We also took the drive up Apache Trail past all the lakes with a stop at Tortilla Flats for their great hamburgers. We also took her to see the play 42nd Street at the Broadway Palms Dinner Theater. We have gone there several times and wanted to show her what we do for fun. And of course we took her out on the Desert Belle to see the beauty of the Arizona desert habitats from the lake.

Later in February, Granddaughter Briana came to stay with us while she had a try-out with the Phoenix Ballet. They actually weren’t hiring apparently, but it was a good try-out and we got to see her and had a great time showing her the area. Oh, yes, we took her to the Organ Stop Pizza parlor as well, and she loved it, even though someone spilled a beer on her while maneuvering to their seat. She liked it so much that when she came back in March for a follow-up try-out with a friend, she asked to go back to Organ Stop to show her friend.

Another little excursion we made was up to Payson, Arizona to see the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. It is the largest travertine natural bridge in the world. It is quite impressive and I walked down the creek under the massive bridge. We stayed the night in Payson and took some Desert Belle brochures up to the Payson Chamber of Commerce. Bud and Lisa Root (more cruising friends) came for a visit also and went out on the lake for a tour and visited Tortilla Flats with us. It was a great time. They were in their RV and stayed in our Apache Wells RV Resort.

In April, Cathy Fleming came to visit for a few days and so we had to take her on the Desert Belle and show her around our area. We got tickets to the Arizona Opry and she thought that was great. That was the second time we had been there. It is not quite what you expect, not quite like the Grande Ole Opry. It is a mixture on all kinds of music and the leader of the program (the guy who sings the high notes in "The Lion Sleeps Tonight") plays every conceivable horn instrument, from the Alpine Horn to the largest tuba in the world. He has about 20 or 30 on stage and plays every one of them before the night is over. Some of them have been given to him by well know artists like Al Hert and others.

All in all, it was a great winter season. Except for not being on our boat in Mexico, it was great. We had a lot of visitors who made the time go faster and more enjoyable. During the last few weeks, the other Captain became unemployed and I was the "only" Captain. Although I had planned only one season here to get the days for my license renewal, the owners made it attractive to return for the next season. Molly liked the area, the park, the people, and got very involved in the quilting group here. I enjoyed the lake tour and meeting new people everyday, so we decided to come back next year if they gave us time to head down to the boat in San Carlos, Mexico for a cruise or two during the season. The die was case!

As we headed home, we decided to stop at a few more attractions along the way. The first was the Verde Canyon Railroad> trip in Cottonwood, Arizona. We stayed close by in a Coast to Coast park. The trip was an all day excursion up the Verde River Valley with great scenery, and a turn-around location at <Perkinsville that was in several movies. It was a great trip that we would highly recommend to everyone.

Then we went on to Fredonia, Arizona again like last year, but this year we waited until May 15th when the North Rim of the Grand Canyon was open. Again, it was quite impressive. We then head home via I-15 through Salt Lake City, Utah and I-84 through Boise, Idaho. Again, we spend the first two weeks back at our "home park" in Neskowin and then headed for the Salem Elks for the summer.

We are now back in Salem after spending about a week in Redmond at the FMCA RV Rally. We kept the vendors happy by leaving a few $$$ with them. Our major purchase was a GPS....we have been checking out the various madels available. The one Brent was interested in was having the ability to utilize nautical charts and at the rally, we found one that already had the charts installed, so that was a definite plus. So now we are just having a good time learning how to use it and maximize all the bells and shistles on it!

At the rally, we went to a seminar on how to create BLOGs. Although this is far from the start of our BLOG listing at "Log 1", this portion of this posing was the first try after the RV Rally. Then we went back and changed all our "Log of Albion (and other travels)" from the Northwest Yacht Delivery web site to be included in this on-line BLOG. Hope you have had fun reading and keeping up with our travels. Stay with us as we continue learn more about this blogging stuff and put our activities out there for you all to keep track of us.

Saguaro Lake Paddleboat Tour--'06-'07

2007-04-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Saguaro Lake Tour on the Desert Belle

This winter we didn't put our sailboat (Albion) in the water in Mexico. We decided to work in the Phoenix, Arizona area as a tour boat captain, and ticket taker, to get the days needed to renew my captains license. The owners of the Desert Belle Paddleboat asked us to work for them and we accepted. The duration of this position was from October 1, 2006 through May 5th, 2007.

This is a representation of the 90 minute tour on Saguaro Lake, Arizona, aboard the Desert Belle Paddleboat (http://www.desertbelle.com/). Most of these pictures were taken by me (Captain Brent O. Forsberg) and the narration below is basically that given during the cruise about the features on the lake and presented here with photos.

TONTO NATIONAL FOREST;

When you came up to Saguaro Lake today, you entered the Tonto National Forest, about 3 million acres in size, and for perspective, that’s 2 1/2 times the size of the Grand Canyon. The forest has a wide variety of habitat from middle desert to high alpine mountains. And Saguaro Lake also has a wide variety of habitat including the canyon, marshes, and the Sonoran Desert habitat.The Salt River, that you are on, has four lakes on it. They can be remembered by the acronym SCAR for Saguaro, Canyon, Apache, and Roosevelt Lakes. The dam for Roosevelt Lake was dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1911, predating Arizona’s statehood by almost a year.These lakes were created between 1907 and 1930 by the Bureau of Reclamation and a coalition of farmers called the Salt River Project, now a local utility. They were created for the purpose of flood control and agricultural water storage.

STEWARD MOUNTAIN DAM:

Saguaro Lake was the last lake of the chain to be formed in 1930 with the completion of the Stewart Mountain Dam, the concrete structure you see ahead of us and slightly to your right (starboard). The dam is 1260’ long, 207’ high, the current water depth at the dam is about 95’, and there is a small 13,000 kw water turbine in the dam for power generation. Saguaro Lake is 10 miles long, has 22.5 miles of shoreline and has a surface area of about 1200 acres. The maximum depth is 120’ deep, and you are at an elevation of 1526’. The Salt River , as well as over 90% of the land in Arizona, slopes in a SW direction towards Yuma and drains into the Colorado River

FOUR PEAKS:

The first feature I want to call to your attention is the mountain range off to your left (port) that you see in the distance. This is the Mazatzal Mountain range and the four major peaks you see are called the “Four Peaks” and includes a 60,000 acre wilderness area, also called the “Four Peaks” Wilderness Area.Those peaks are about 20 miles away and are at an elevation of 7700’. This is one of the older mountain ranges in the area at 1700 million years. The peaks are made of quartzite and are resting upon granite. The 2nd largest amethyst mine in the US is locate on the mountain between the third and fourth peaks (from the left) and was once owned by the Tiffany Co. of New York City. There is also a large black pear population that lives in the mountain range.

TEDDY BEAR RIDGE:

Speaking of bears, if you’ll look ahead and slightly to your right, you’ll see a rock outcropping on the ridgeline. To some people, it looks a little like the head of a teddy bear. You can see its left ear sticking up, its nose is pointing at us, and there are two slits for eyes. This is called Teddy Bear Ridge. So if we don’t see any other wildlife...that’s probably going to be it!

LAVA CLIFFS:

The cliffs to our right (starboard) are called “The Lava Cliffs”; however, this isn’t lava in the truest form, but a kind of fine grained granite. The predominate geology of the area is volcanic; consisting of lava, volcanic ash, and granite. And granite is intruded Magma, or does not get exposed to air. It slowly cools, partially crystallizes, and then turns quite hard.The black streaks you see on the face of the cliffs are evidence of past water flows. When it rains, which is a relatively rare event here, since we only average 7.5” per year, much of the water is runoff, but some percolates into the ground to leach out minerals such as manganese and iron oxide, which are then deposited as the black streaks. Geologists call this “desert varnish”The green patches you see on the rocks (also yellow or reddish) are a plant called lichen, a combination of algae and fungi living in close association. The organic acids produced by the lichen break down the rock, eventually to soil, so other plants can gain a foothold. This is normally a good thing unless you operate a National Park that depends on the rock formations….like Mt. Rushmore. There, they have to periodically clean the lichen from the rock faces or they will deteriorate faster than normal.

WILDLIFE:

There is considerable wildlife associated with Saguaro Lake. The canyon to our right, Willow Springs Canyon, is a known nesting area for the American Bald Eagle. We normally see some on almost every trip, so you may want to keep a sharp eye, and you may see them sitting on the rock ledges, or flying from ridge to ridge. Other birds we have seen on previous trips include Great Blue Herons, Green Herons, Belted Kingfishers, Osprey, Turkey Vultures, several Grebes, and of course that black bird with a white bill, the American Coot. By the way, the black birds with a brownish head and breast you saw in the ticket area, asking for handouts, were Great-tailed Grackles. I have a bird book with me, so you may want to look up a bird, or you can just ask me and I’ll take a guess at it! That guess, though, comes with a little experience since I spent 30 years with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.Now as we come around this corner, one of the best pictures that you can take (in my humble opinion) is looking up the canyon at the Four Peaks.

SHIP ROCK:

On our left, you can see a rock in the middle of the channel. It is called Ship Rock. To some, this has the appearance of an old sailing ship with all the sails up. But it’s actually the core of an extinct volcano. When it stopped erupting, the lava inside cooled and plugged the opening. Over many years, the softer material surrounding the vent has been slowly eroding away.Today, it’s used as a navigation aid for the boaters. There is a battery powered flashing beacon on top and 2 reflectors down near the water line. When one of those fast, high powered boats come around the corner pulling a skier and not paying attention, they sometimes hit this rock. And at that time we have to temporarily rename the rock “ShipWRECK Rock”.

SAGUAROS ON HILLSIDE:

On the hillside in this cove is a good stand of saguaro cactus, the lake namesake. This is the largest cactus in the US, found only within the Sonoran Desert of the American SW and parts of Mexico. And they are only found below the 3500’ elevation because they are susceptible to freezing. With all that water inside, they will burst open like a frozen pop can and eventually die.It is a very slow growing cactus…only 1 inch per year. And to get started, they need the protection of a “nurse plant” for shade and moisture.They can live more than 250 years and can get as tall as 60’ although the average is 30-40’. After a very wet winter, some of them may weigh as much as 10 tons, soaking up as much as 200 gallons during a storm. They have a shallow root system, but maintain their balance by wrapping their roots around subsurface rocks. They also use their branches, or arms, for balance.They start to form those branches between 65 and 75 years of age and are at least 40 years old before they start producing flowers. The white, waxy flower, which opens between mid April through the end of May, is the state flower of Arizona. The flowers open only at night, remain open through the following afternoon and then close for good. They are pollinated by birds during the day, and by Longnose Bats at night.Sometimes you may see holes in some of the larger saguaros. They were created by woodpeckers and flickers, and then may be used by other birds when abandoned. The temperature inside one of these cavities is normally 15 degrees cooler than the outside temperature. That is quite an advantage on a hot Arizona summer day.

SAGUARO LAKE MARSHES:

Again, Saguaro Lake has a wide variety of habitat. We've gone through the canyon, and now we are entering the marsh habitat. This type of habitat will have a larger variety of waterfowl associated with it. The cove off to our right is a good fishing area protected from fast boat wakes.There are many sport fish in Saguaro lake that include: Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Yellow Bass, Channel Catfish, Walleye Pike, Crappie, Bluegill, Sunfish, Shad, and the Arizona Game & Fish Department stocks Rainbow and Brown Trout during the winter months. I know the fishing is pretty good since I see lots of boats up there, I just don't know how the "catching" is!

BAGLEY FLATS CAMPGROUND:

The boat dock on the right marks the location of Bagley Flats Campground, a facility built and maintained by the US Forest Service for the pleasure of the boating public on Saguaro Lake.The campground includes picnic benches, barbecue pits, rock lined fire pits, a natural com-post-ing restroom, and an emergency telephone system.Camping is permitted along the shores of Saguaro Lake, however, at this campground you have the advantage of boat only campers. There are no roads to this campground. And the dock allows you to tie your boat for the night and have it floating the next morning rather than finding it high and dry at other shoreline locations after they lower the lake level.However, the disadvantages of camping on the lake, even here, include the Diamond-back Rattlesnake and the Bark Scorpion. Two critters you don't want crawling in bed with you!Bagley Flats marks the halfway point of our cruise today. We have gone 5 miles and the lake continues another 5 miles to the Mormon Flats Dam that holds back Canyon Lake. However, due to the narrowness of the canyon and the limited maneuverability of the Desert Belle, the Forest Service requests that we turn around here.

CRESTED SAGUARO:

However, I will go another couple hundred yards, up to that buoy, to show you a very unusual feature here on Saguaro Lake, the Crested Saguaro. Look to your right, about 2:00 when we get up there and you will see a Saguaro with a fan shaped top. It is caused by a damaged growing tip, and rather than forming branches, it forms that crested shape. And that only happens in one out of 200,000 saguaro.

ROCKS OPPOSITE CAMPGROUND:

As we make our slow turn-around, please keep an eye on the rocks across the lake. On previous tours, we have seen Desert Bighorn Sheep on those rocks. Other wildlife we’ve seen at one point or another during our tours include: Mule deer, Javelina, Coyote, Coati, Bobcat, Fox, and Mountain Lions.

SALT RIVER NAME:

You may have wondered how the Salt River got its name since it is fresh water. Well, back in the 16th century, some Spanish explorers were...I guess, exploring...and found salt deposits along the banks. So they called the river Rio Salado, which means “river of salt”.The Salt River has its origin up in the White Mountains on Arizona’s eastern border with New Mexico, and is formed by the joining of the White River and the Black River. Now, call me crazy, but if the White River & Black River came together, I’ld call the resulting stream the “Grey River”! Or at least the “Salt & Pepper River”.

PRICKLY PEAR & CHOLLA CACTUS:

Now we'll head down the Sonoran Desert side of the lake and point out some representative vegetation. Between these large Saguaro cacti, we see a smaller cactus with large flat fleshy pads and large spines. These are Prickly Pear Cacti. There are a dozen varieties of Prickly Pear, and the ones without those large spines are the Beavertail Cactus variety. These varieties are available commercially as jams and jellies, and in restraurant salads.On the open hillside just beyond them you can see another small cactus that is fuzzy-looking. Well, they are anything but fuzzy, although they are called Teddy Bear Cholla. There are 20 species of Cholla and they can be identified their segmented stems and branches, and they all have sheaths over their needles. So if you're carefull, which apparently I wasn't, you can grab one of those needles and pull that sheath off. But you may get stuck by the adjacent spines and when those sheaths break off in your finger, the resulting pain is a lot worse and lasts a lot longer than a normal cactus spine prick.....trust me on that!

SPIDER ROCK:

The rock on the right is known as Spider Rock. If you look on the face of the rock, you’ll see a lacy pattern that looks like cobwebs to some people. It’s actually an example of another type of volcanic formation called "tuff”, which is solidified volcanic ash. This is brecciated ash tuff, meaning the original tuff was broken into angular fragments in a process of folding. Then the fragments were glued together again, over time, as water percolated through the fragments. But you can call them "cobwebs"!The mountains surrounding the lake are called the Gold Mountains. They were the result of volcanic activity from the Superstition Mountains just to the Southwest of here, and are about 15 to 35 million years old. Geologically, that’s a very young formation, since the Four Peaks behind us are 1700 million years old.

BARREL CACTUS:

On the hillside here, you can see a few saguaros and a smaller cactus that looks like a young saguaro. These are actually Barrel Cacti. They can be identified by their cylinder-shaped body, and their reddish hue due to their needles. At a closer look their needles are curved like fish hooks and flat in profile, whereas saguaro needles are straight and round.They are also one of the largest cacti in the Southwest, growing from 5’ to 11’ tall and live up to 130 years. You may see them leaning over and think they are getting heavy or are damaged. But like other plants they grow toward the sun. These cacti, however, always grow toward the south to avoid exposure to the sun, or sunburn. And because of this trait, they are also known as the “compass cactus”.

SAGUARO LAKE TREES;

As we work our way back down the canyon, the lower slope along here, and growing on the rock ahead, you can see a light green shrub with green stems and branches. This is the Palo Verde, or “green stick” in Spanish, and is the Arizona State tree. Yeah, they call those “trees” around here! Since they are drought deciduous, or shed their leaves during extended dry spells, they rely on their green stems and branches to carry on the energy-producing process of photosynthesis. And this tree is also used quite extensively for landscaping and highway beautification projects.There are two other trees I would like to point out along this shoreline. The large tree near the waterline here, is a Mesquite tree. It’s upper branches, or newer growth, are reddish brown in color and have a zigzag pattern. It belongs to the Pea Family, producing long pods, and has a root system that is wide-spreading and deep-reaching, sometimes reaching 150' to 200’ below the surface. The larger tree behind this tree with gray stems & branches, and whose leaves are a darker green with denser foliage, is the Ironwood Tree. This is also a member of the Pea Family. The wood of this tree is very popular for those decorative carvings you see at every wide spot in the road, and is so dense and heavy that if a branch is thrown into the lake, it will sink. These trees are also one the longest lived species in the Sonoran Desert, living up to 1500 years.Now nearly home, we head out of the canyon into the main part of the lake again.

BUTCHER JONES BEACH RECREATION AREA:

Off to the right, up at the end of the cove is the Butcher Jones Beach Recreation Area, a popular day-use-only site built and maintained by the US Forest Service.It has a nice sandy beach for swimming that is protected from boats and a fishing dock that is handicapped accessible. There are also picnic sites with barbecues, about 10 miles of hiking trails, some of which follow the banks of the lake, and 4WD roads which can take suitable vehicles back to beach areas we passed earlier.You can get to this site by taking the road outside our parking area (the Bush Highway), go north about 1 mile, and turn right at the sign.The Butcher Jones Recreation Area was named after Dr. William J. Jones who was a surgeon in the area. Now how he acquired the nickname “Butcher”, we don't know, and we aren't asking!

SUNSET CLIFFS:

The cliffs ahead of us are the Sunset Cliffs, another example of the volcanic formation of tuff. This is called “welded tuff” formed by volcanic ash from the Superstition Mountains that was so hot when it was deposited that it fused together. This example is about 300 feet thick. If you want to know why they call them the Sunset Cliffs, just come down to the Lakeshore Restaurant for dinner, along about sun down, and watch the sun set on those cliffs. With the right atmospheric conditions, the sight is just awesome.The mountain ahead of us and above the restaurant is Stewart Mountain, that the dam was named after. Stewart was a rancher in the area, and as far as we know, he didn't have a nickname.

SAGUARO DEL NORTE RECREATION SITE:

To our right is the Saguaro Del Norte Recreation Site, another site developed by the US Forest Service for public use. This site has 2 boat launching ramps, picnic areas, fishing docks which are handicap accessible, and swimming areas. This area, under the Sunset Cliffs, is all open 24 hours a days, 7 days a week.

EDITORIAL:

Now the bad news! To park here, or the Butcher Jones site, you need a parking permit. They used to sell them at the booth outside our parking area, but now you have to go back into Mesa to a Circle K or Big 5 Sporting Good store, or down the Bee-Line Highway across from the Casino, to purchase your permit. You can tune to the Forest Service information station, 1610 AM, for details, and there is also a small sign by the Forest Service booth with the purchase locations. Just thought I would give you a heads-up before you got here and wanted to park and have a picnic or do some hiking, and then realized you would have to make a long round trip for a parking permit. The buildling with the brown roof in front of the boat is the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office and First Aid Station.On the left is the Saguaro Lake Marina that we passed on the way out. It has slips for 400 boats ranging in length from 24 to 50 feet. And they have a full service machine shop, and ship’s stores for fuel, fishing supplies, and boat rentals.And of course above our dock is the Lakeshore Restaurant, consistently voted one of the best places in the Phoenix area for outside dinning . It’s open 7 days a week for breakfast & lunch, and 5 nights a week (Wed – Sun) for dinner.

SALUTATION:

Well, on behalf of the management of the Desert Belle, I want to thank you all for sailing with us today. We hope you enjoyed the tour. If you did we want you to tell your friends, and if you didn't we'd rather you kept your opinion to yourself! No, actually we want to here that too, so we can improve the trip as much as possible. Remember, the Desert Belle is available for charters, and the Lakeshore Restaurant is available for catering those charters. Just pick up a brochure and visit our web site or give us a call for more information.Make sure you pick all your valuables. Anything you leave, I get to keep! I would appreciate it if everybody would remain seated as we dock the Desert Belle, attach the lines, and put the ramp back to the boat. On occasion, we make a hard landing and we don't want to through anybody overboard.As we make our approach, you can listen to "Arizona" by Rex Allen Jr. which is the Arizona State song.

Thank you again for coming!

Log 12: Route 66 in '06

2006-09-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

Log of Albion (and other travels)

These are e-mails and letters sent back to family and friends from our trip on Route 66 from Chicago, IL to Santa Monica, CA with friends in two RV's. So it was on to Chicago first!

7/17/06: Our Great American Road Trip

We are embarking on “our great American road trip” heading back to Minnesota before returning west on historic Route 66. We will be keeping our family and friends informed of our whereabouts by sending periodic updates of our travels. We recognize that some of you may not be interested in our journey so if you would prefer not to receive these e-mails, just drop us a reply to this one, and let us know….we won’t bore you with our further updates. It’s now day three of our travels and we have made it all the way to Fort Bridger, Wyoming….having gotten on our way a day ahead of our scheduled departure on Tuesday, 7/10. Rain was predicted for the Portland area later that day and who wants to start an adventure in the rain. A quick stop for breakfast in Cascade Locks served to remind us to check out the parking lot before pulling in. We had to unhook the car to turn around in the limited space! How soon we forget about that tow behind us! Today was what our friends, John and Janet Neal, refer to as a 2 x 2 day---no more than 200 miles and off the road by 2 p.m. We stopped for the day at the casino in Pendleton. Wednesday was an uneventful, but certainly not a 2 x 2 day. Six hours on the road got us to the Wal-Mart in Jerome, Idaho. But today there’s something to write home about! We did leave earlier than Molly usually prefers. Brent has promised me an easy trip and he knows I get cranky when he has the motor running before I have my teeth brushed. But today, we were up and on the road by 7 am. After a fuel stop a few miles down the road in Twin Falls, we continued on and stopped for breakfast just across the Utah border in Snowville. Saw Mollie’s Café and knew we had to try it. It’s quite a colorful spot and so is Mollie herself! It appears Mollie may be spending a good deal of dollars on products to keep her looking as young as she once was, and that may be money spent in vain, but she’s a friendly old gal and serves up pretty good home cooked type meals. Our destination for the day was Fort Bridger, Wyoming. We have no cell phone or internet service at our park here, but needed to make some phone calls for reservations for the next few days, so drove into the next little community of Mt. View. While Brent handled the reservation calls, I browsed the local quilt shop and found some nice projects for Christmas for our girls. Back in Fort Bridger, we toured the historic fort site, well worth the $2/person price of admission. It is well preserved or restored in some cases. It was a major stopping and supply station for most of the covered wagon trails west. We really enjoyed it. In the next week we will be heading towards Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands of South Dakota. We will get this sent once we are in an internet service area sometime tomorrow. Along the way we will send more updates now and then, not every day and hopefully much shorter than this one, but often enough to let you know where we are and how we are doing. Once again, if you aren’t interested, just let us know.

7/18/06: Road Trip part two

There’s just not a lot to write home about crossing Wyoming and the western part of Nebraska. Along the way, we have shared the road with hundreds (maybe thousands) of bikers, many of whom are no doubt en route to the huge annual biker gathering in Sturgis, SD in early August. We’ve gained a lot of respect for our pioneer forefathers who kept going once they got this far. There must have been some really good promises of the green fertile valleys awaiting them across the mountains and plains. In Wyoming we saw lots of antelope, one even right outside our RV in the park in Rawlins. Nebraska’s claim to fame apparently is Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluff, two national monuments memorializing the landmarks the pioneers recognized as signposts marking 1/3 of their journey completed and a reminder of the treacherous mountains that lie ahead of them. Since we’ve crossed the Oregon Trail several times now, we purchased a DVD on the historic trail.We camped in a nice economical RV park down by the river in Scottsbluff. We actually met another couple from Oregon in the Wal-mart parking lot and they were heading for this park down by the river. It turned out to be a great alternative to our planned night in the Wal-mart parking lot and allowed us to have air conditioning for some relief from the 100+ degree heat wave sweeping across the mid-west. During the night, we had a terrific windstorm that kept us awake for several hours. We were quite pleased to be in the RV and not at anchor somewhere in our boat!We are now in the Black Hills area of South Dakota near Mt. Rushmore. The area has changed dramatically from what we remember, having been here years ago. At that time, we had made a whirlwind trip here and back to Oregon in a week and didn’t have nearly enough time to see much besides the Presidential Monument. Neither of us remembers there being nearly so much commercial development in the area, but as with everything, things change. There are many caves in the area. Our priority has been to tour the two that are managed by the national park systems Wind Cave and Jewel Cave) rather than the more commercially developed private ones. These are two of the longest and most complex caves in the world. Other than Mt. Rushmore itself, probably the highlight so far has been touring the actual paleontological dig of the recently discovered (1974) Mammoth Site near Hot Springs. Work continues on the carving of the Crazy Horse Monument and perhaps someday it will be completed. There are so many things to see here, we decided to stay in our Coast to Coast membership RV park for 5 nights. Tomorrow we will probably do Deadwood, another site that we visited several years ago and may again be surprised by the changes. We are still on schedule to meet up with cruising/RV friends in upper Minnesota on or about July 26th.More later as we move forward on our road trip.

7/23/06: Mitchell South Dakota

We finally finished touring the Black Hills and have moved on to the Badlands National Park. In addition to the points of interest mentioned in our last update, we toured Deadwood and then spent a day driving through the lower section of the Badlands N.P. to Wounded Knee. We did some study on the internet before our trip because we were aware that not much development has taken place to identify the site. A hand painted sign at the site of the Black Foot massacre and a mass grave at the top of the hill are the only evidence of the American tragedy in December of 1890. It was the last soldier/Indian conflict and ended the traditional Indian lifestyle.Deadwood, as expected, has become a Disneyland of commercialism. Most of the old rebuilt buildings are still there after several fires in the early years, but most are gift shops and casinos. The saloon where Wild Bill Hickock was shot (holding a poker hand of aces and eights) is still there, and has now turned back into a bar. When we were there many years ago it was a studio for old-time dress-up photos.On our way to our park near the Badlands N.P., we were told we HAD to stop at the Wall Drug Store in Wall, S.D. And yes, it was worth the stop. It is an attraction in itself. If you can't find something, you can always find it at the Wall Drug. We spent a couple hours there exploring and had some home-made pie ala mode…..and yes, bought a few gifts. Yesterday, we drove the loop road through the Badlands after watching the obligatory video at the visitor center. This country is a must see for the beautiful sandstone sculptures. Today, we broke camp again and headed East to Mitchell, S.D. After dinner, we went by the Corn Palace and took some more pictures. Now a few more stops and we will be in Winton, MN at our friends Will and Joann’s for a nice visit and the annual Blueberry Festival.

8/2/06: Adult Summer Camp

After the Badlands, we were happy to see the green trees of Minnesota. It started to look a lot more like Oregon, especially when it rained! A terrific thunder and lightning storm moved right over the top of us….we think we know rain in Oregon, but this was something else. It was like adult summer camp once we all got together in Minnesota. Our friends, Dan and Cathy and Horst and Bea were traveling from Wisconsin as we were heading up through Minnesota and we managed to be at our planned meeting place within fifteen minutes of each other. Will and Joann were there to lead us all back into the woods to their summer home on the lake. It was like adult summer camp and I am sure the neighbors thought Will had gone into the RV park business with us all camped in his front yard. The girls did their best to keep the local economy booming with several shopping forays. The big event was the Blueberry Festival and while it was unseasonably hot and crowded, they managed to see it all, twice! The days were filled with lots to eat and drink and great times with good friends. On Sunday, we, along with Dan and Cathy bid the others farewell and headed off towards the Chicago area to start our Route 66 trip. In Wisconsin, we stopped for a night to visit with cruising friends of Dan and Cathy’s. Their air-conditioned home was a welcomed respite from the unseasonably high temperatures we are finding everywhere. We are now in the Chicago area having a chance to meet Cathy’s family and having a guided tour of the windy city. Route 66 starts here. So the adventure begins!

8/8/06: Chicago and beyond......

Chicago….not nearly enough time to do and see everything, even though we tried….guess we will have to come back another time. We toured Chicago via the free trolley that runs during the summer months and spent extra hours visiting the tall ships, Millennium Park, Navy Pier, and the Art Institute. Thanks to my sister JoAnn, I had an idea of some of the highlights in the Institute that we shouldn’t miss in our limited time there. We also had a chance to see parts of Indiana and Michigan for a few days while visiting with some of Cathy’s and Dan’s family.Fortunately, the hot weather has moved on and we have been quite comfortable lately. Not only were we dealing with record high temps in the area, but here in the mid-west, they have this stuff called humidity. Back in the northwest we call that much moisture rain, but umbrellas don't help much here!We drove the first 50 or so miles of Route 66 out of Chicago to our camping spot in Joliet, but today our tour started officially traveling down to Bloomington, IL. We confess to a few wrong turns along the way, but all in all, we are having a great time seeing the old icons of the “Mother Road”. To be continued……………

8/14/06: Branson, Missouri

After traveling across Illinois and most of Missouri, we are taking a few days off with a side trip to Branson, MO. In Bloomington, Illinois, we sampled Beer Nuts at the only place in the world they are made; in Funk's Grove, Gladis Funk saw us coming and opened early so we could try her wonderful maple “sirup” (syrup); and no route 66 trip would be complete in Springfield without Cozy Dog (aka corn dogs) where they were invented. In Springfield, one is hard pressed to find anything not related to Abraham Lincoln. We toured his home and visited the cemetery where he and most of his family is buried. But the real highlight in Springfield was the opportunity to tour a Frank Lloyd Wright house; the unique Dana-Thomas House. Later that day we also toured the now closed Route 66 Chain of Rocks Bridge across the Mississippi River with the distinctive curve halfway across.In St. Louis, it was mandatory that we tour the Anheuser Busch Brewery. Have to say, those Clydesdales have pretty fancy digs and hospitality room is pretty nice too! Later that day we made connections with cruiser/RV friends, Tom and Kathy Edwards, who joined us for a memorable evening at the Luna Cafe, an apparent route 66 icon, once reported to be a hangout for Al Capone and fellow gangsters. Today it is a favorite watering hole of the locals. What they lacked in teeth, they made up for in hospitality. It was “free hot wings” night and then we were foolish enough to take the owners advice and order tacos, which were gigantic. We will never forget our time at the Luna!Coincidentally, the next day we all managed to meet up in town to tour the St. Louis Arch. Tom and Kathy were traveling from the west and we came from the east and we entered the parking garage at exactly the same time! It was a gray morning, so we put off our trip to the top of the arch until after the sun broke through for better viewing. The park has some excellent displays as well as movies on the construction of the arch and Lewis and Clarks’ journey west. It was great to see Tom and Kathy again as we had not seen them since we were in Mazatlan earlier this spring. After lunch, we said goodbye as they were headed to the old courthouse and we were looking for Ulysses S. Grant's home. We were misled to Grant’s Farm which was a rip-off, but we did finally find his hard-to-see home across the street. One more “must do” stop on route 66 was Ted Drew's Frozen Custard. I counted it as dinner and a fine dinner it was--hot fudge raspberry sundae!On our way south and west of St. Louis, we stopped at the Meremec Caverns. They have some of the most impressive formations we have seen in any caves here. At the winery in St. James, we encountered a first. The wine bottles were all lined up and we were told to taste as many as we wanted and pour our own! In Branson, we are taking some time to relax and catch our breath while we take in some shows and exhibits.

8/21/06: Oklahoma City....where the wind comes sweeping down the plain

Branson, Mo afforded lots to do and see, and although we tried, we couldn't do it all. At the new Titanic Museum everyone is given a passport with the name of an actual passenger and you get to find out if you survived or not. Brent, Cathy and I did, but Dan didn't make it. We enjoyed the museum but there is never enough time to read and take in everything. The only show we saw was Jim Stafford who we remember from the old Smothers Brothers Show. Had never heard of most of the others, but then it is the off season, so there aren't too many big names here right now. We tried to see the American Presidents Museum but it has moved several times and didn't seem quite ready for visitors when we finally did find it. Cathy and I did our best to shop ‘til we dropped at all the outlet malls and quilt shops. Five days in Branson was a nice respite with a view from our RV park and not being on the road every day, but finally it was time to move on and get going. Kansas has just a short section of Route 66 crossing the southeast corner of the state. In Baxter Springs, Kansas, we happened upon a nice County Park next to the river to camp in, but nobody ever showed up to collect the night fee so it was quite a bargain. Few of us think of Kansas for its Civil War sites, but apparently there are about 13 sites in this little corner of the state. Or so they say; the locals don't seem to know anything about it. Brent and Dan went looking for a map they had read was available and nobody seemed to know anything about it, not the Chamber of Commerce, not City Hall, and not the local Route 66 icon cafe. Finally someone suggested they check with the police department who also were in the dark about it all, but summoned a lady to come open up the museum and there they finally got the map. Of course, much of it seemed to be in error and they found only some of the sites!Entering Oklahoma, we parked the RVs and drove the car over some of the "ribbon roads” some very narrow original sections (8 feet wide) of the Route 66. We’re glad to have some very good guides advising us not to take the RVs over these sections. The Will Rogers Museum in Claremore was a very impressive display, but again, not nearly enough time to see it all. We would have liked to spend the whole afternoon there.We stopped for the night at the Tulsa Elks Club and were welcomed by a very friendly group preparing a Hawaiian luau for the membership that night. They asked us back later after the sold out event for a free dinner of all the leftovers. Later that night a tremendous thunder and lightning storm roared through the area. Several strikes were very close and must have hit the parking lot we were in because it set off all the car alarms and knocked out one of our air conditioning units. In this 100+ heat, that’s serious. We were lucky to get an appointment at Camping World the next day here in Oklahoma City. There are several things we want to see here so don't mind stopping for a couple days. Again, we're staying at a very friendly Elks club with hookups, right near town....and more thunder & lightning!!!

8/30/06: Half-way and more!

We spent a couple nights at the Oklahoma City Elks to get the RV into Camping world for the A/C repair. The stop allowed for a visit to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and Museum, very impressive. The next day was a mostly freeway day as the actual route 66 is a very narrow frontage road right along side the freeway. We stopped at the General Thomas P. Stafford Air and Space Museum. It is on his old property in Weatherford, OK and we thought it would be a quick look, but it turned out to be a real find. The museum houses much of the memorabilia of his life as a fighter pilot and astronaut as well as lots from the NASA space program. General Stafford’s mother came to Oklahoma in a covered wagon and lived to see her son fly to the moon. The three-time astronaut still lives nearby and frequents the museum often. He had been there only days earlier along with some Russian Cosmonauts he had once flown with.
We were a little disappointed with the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, OK as there wasn’t much actual Route 66 stuff, but the entire Elk City Museum campus was well laid out. We finished the day on the Oklahoma/Texas border in Texola. As we continued on into Texas, it was again mostly a freeway drive as the route follows along on the very narrow frontage roads alongside or is actually Rt 66. Dan and Cathy’s new refrigerator was giving them problems so we stopped in Amarillo at the Elks for two nights for repairs again. We took some time to see the infamous Cadillac Ranch they do strange things here in Texas. Several models of Cadillac buried nose down out in a field become the object of extensive graffiti painting. Finally we reached the halfway point with a lunch stop at the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, TX. This quaint little spot was the inspiration for the café depicted in the recent Disney film Cars. Several of the employees were invited to attend and given the royal red carpet treatment at the premier of the film. We enjoyed hearing all about it from the very informative owner, Fran. We ended the day with a stop at the Tumcumcari Elks enjoying the evening meal there. Our next stop was in Santa Fe, NM. on the old pre-1932 Rt 66 alignment, once again at the Elks. It seems we are making our way across country via the Elks. Many of the clubs have RV facilities for members and we are taking advantage of them whenever possible. Santa Fe is a beautiful town where among the many upscale shopping areas, one can also find the oldest church, oldest Government building, and highest State Capitol in the nation. Leaving there the next day, we encountered problems with our starting batteries. High fuel prices have not been our only major expense of the trip, but we felt fortunate to find a Freightliner shop just down the road from our next stop in Albuquerque. Early the next morning, we got brand new power and were on the road once again. We left Route 66 for a side trip along a scenic route past The Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano, and stopping at El Morro National Monument. Here Inscription Rock is the site of many early travelers leaving their names carved into the sandstone rock monolith. Many dates are from the early 1600’s when the Spaniards occupied the area. After an overnight stop in Gallup, NM we traveled off Route 66 again to the Canyon De Chelly National Monument in Northern Arizona. While the canyons here are not as massive as the Copper Canyon in Mexico, or our own Grand Canyon, the scenery certainly rivals both. There are far fewer tourists here and it makes exploring and seeing the numerous ancient Indian ruins a rewarding experience. Since there was so much to see, we spent another two nights here, and Brent got to hike the 2.5 miles to the bottom of the canyon and back, at one point, to view some of the ruins up close.

9/5/06: Ft. Mojave, AZ; one more state to go!

Highlights of the last few days include the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. Much of the Painted Desert reminded us of areas around the John Day Fossil Beds in Oregon. Then we left Route 66 once again to make a side trip to Show Low AZ, to visit cruising friends we had met in Mazatlan, Lou and Irene (Hi-Fin). They are building a house in the area and joined us for a fish fry at the Show Low Elks. The next day we made the “must do” stop in Winslow, Arizona to “take it easy and stand on the corner” as per the Eagles hit song. It is indeed a tourist stop as Dan and Cathy were barely out of their RV when a local cab driver stopped to ask if they needed directions to “the corner.” We spent that evening at Meteor Crater National Landmark—quite a big hole in the ground and an interesting museum. Route 66 leaves 1-40 at Winona and heads to Flagstaff. Although the song says “don’t forget Winona” apparently somewhere along the way someone did, because there’s nothing there to mark the spot other than an old trailer house, or else we missed it. We had lunch in Flagstaff and dessert at the “must stop and see” Snow Cap Drive In in Seligman. Then we drove the longest unbroken portion of Route 66 (Seligman - Kingman) to Peach Spings to finish the day with a tour of the Grand Canyon Caverns and spent the night all by ourselves in the their campground. Temperatures started to warm up as we headed down the valley into Kingman. Our planned stop at the Hackberry General Store (another Rt 66 icon) was thwarted when we found it inundated by a huge group of bikers (motor kind) leaving no room for a couple of RVs with tows to pull over. By the time we reached Laughlin, NV, our destination for the day, the valley was downright hot (106 degrees). Our plan to dry camp in a casino parking area was quickly abandoned for a RV park to plug in and run the A/C and enjoy some cold refreshments. Today we traveled by car back to Kingman to meet more cruising and RV friends, Wayne and Glenda (KIVA) and see the progress on their new home under construction. The trip by car was less of a challenge for the travel over the Sitgreaves Pass from Kingman to Oatman, a very curvy, hilly section of Rt. 66 not recommended for RV passages. We spent some time shopping the tourist traps in Oatman, and cooled off with a cold drink in what appears to be the last remaining liquor establishment where once there were more than twenty along main street. Other cruising/RV friends, Tom and Sue Stose, had taken us to Oatman a couple years ago and it was that trip that first inspired us to make this whole Route 66 trip. We ended our day with a great prime rib dinner back in Laughlin and tomorrow will head for California and the last few days of our trip along historic route 66!

9/8/06: Route 66 Completed!

It took three days to complete the rest of the trip across California to Santa Monica. We started out in 100+ degree heat so didn’t put in long days. Most of the way was on the old National Trails Highway (Route 66). We ended the first day in Newberry Springs at the Twin Lakes RV park. Kind of ironic since there isn’t any “springs” and only two small man-made lakes (ponds) at the park. We ended the day with another thunder and lightning storm and a bit of rain.The last day of RV-ing started out early to avoid over-heating going over the El Cajon pass. We stopped at the Route 66 museum in Barstow to drop off a note from the gift shop attendant at the Joliet Route 66 museum. But the Barstow museum was closed so we just left it in the door jam. We then stopped at the original, very first, McDonalds restaurant. in San Bernardino that is only a museum now. Oh well, lunch later! We, again, stopped at an Elks in Ontario, CA for our last stay.The last segment of the Mother Road was done in the car to avoid the Los Angeles traffic. There were few points of interest on this last leg, and nothing really to stop and tour. The end of Route 66 was located at the end of Santa Monica Blvd. and Ocean Ave. were a plaque commemorates the “Will Roger’s Highway.” Then we celebrated by walking out the Santa Monica Pier and having lunch and a toast to the end of a fine trip. The other un-offical end of Route 66 was supposed to be located at the Olympic Park a few blocks up from the pier, but we could not find any trace of a marker, an “END” banner, or even the park! So we headed back to the RV’s in Ontario and again celebrated by opening a long-chilled bottle of champagne.The trek is complete! We had a great six weeks with several side trips that added some depth to the trip, visited with friends along the way, and met new friends. Thanks for caring enough to read about our great adventure.

Brent

Heading Home from Mexico Season 7--'06

2006-05-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

This is a summary of our trip heading home from La Paz Mexico before doing our Route 66 trip in the summer of 2006.

After a great time in LaPaz Mexico for the ’05 – ’06 winter season, meeting new friends and visits from other friends and Jeanette, we made our way back up the inside of the Baja to Santa Rosalia. We made several stops for the night at Isla San Francisco, Aqua Verde, Puerto Escondido, and San Juanico. After arriving at Santa Rosalia, we took the bus back to La Paz and brought our car back. On the way back up the Baja with the car, we stopped in Loreto to visit Tom & Sue in their motor home. Molly took the car back Guaymas in the ferry and I sail Albion back to San Carlos. We spent the next week getting Albion put away for the summer and hauled her on March 30.

In Tucson, we got the RV out of storage and then stayed in the Desert Pueblo Mobil Home Park along side of our friend and cruising buddy Cathy Fleming. We stayed there for one month. While in Tucson, we visited with friends Nada and Dorsey and Molly’s classmate and wife Larry and Sheryl Beach. A few of the things we did while there included a guided tour of the Pima Air Museum by Larry (who is a very knowledgeable member there), the county fair, the Botanical Gardens, and Sabino Canyon Park.

When we head North, back to Oregon, we decided to take our time and see a few things along the way. We spent several days camped at the Camp Verde RV park and visited the old mining town of Jerome that is built on the side of a very steep hill and is now an artist colony. It’s a site that should not be missed if you are in the area. At the base of Jerome are several ancient Indian ruins including Tuzigoot National Monument, Montezuma’s Castle National Monument, and Montezuma’s Well National Monument. These are all very close together and well worth the visit.

When we left Camp Verde, we were waiting for Dan Hardwick (Cathy’s significant other) to help deliver a boat through the Miraflores Lock in the Panama Canal. Cathy told us that he would be approaching the lock at a certain time and we were watching a web cam at the lock. Finally we couldn’t wait any longer and started North on the freeway while Molly watched the web cam on the computer. When she saw their boat approaching, we pulled off into a rest area and made several screen saves of the boat’s transit. It was exciting to watch our friend 2500 miles away bring a boat into the Panama Canal.

Then we were off to Fredonia, Arizona where we were going to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon the next day. But we found out it doesn’t open until the 15th, and it was only the 10th. So the next day we drove back down toward Page to check out a steep hill that we bypassed via a northern route, and we got to visit the Vermilion Cliffs, Marble Canyon and the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry. We arrived back in Gresham at Jeanette’s on May 16th.

We spend 10 days at our new Coast to Coast "Home Park" in Neskowin. It is an ok place to get away from the hustle and bustle, but that’s not what we wanted at this time. We’ve already been away for eight months. It’s now time to see friends and family and Neskowin was just too far away. So we moved back to the Salem Elks for a month and a half with a short trip to Albany for the FMCA Northwest Region Rally. There were lots of stuff there to buy and have repaired, as well as learning from many of the seminars.

Log 11 Hawaii & Mexico Season 7--'05-'06

2006-03-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

Log of Albion (and other travels)

These are e-mails and letters or summaries sent back to family and friends from our travels on a Hawaii Vacation and seventh season in Mexico, 2005 -2006

2005 Summer Summary

It's starting to get a little wet in Oregon, so it's time to start heading South again. Therefore, it's also time to write a little about what we did this summer. Well, not much! The fuel prices were so high this summer that we decided to stick pretty close to home. We only made one simi-long trip with the RV up to Dosewallips State Park on the Hood Canal up in Washington. We traveled up there to visit our friends from Tucson, Nada and Dorsey, who were volunteer hosts for the month of August. While there, some other friends from Whidbey Island, came down for a lunch visit. The weather was just wonderful. Our big trip for the summer was a two week trip to the island of Hawaii. Molly had enough air miles to get both of us a free flight and we found a nice Bed & Breakfast right on the water. We spend several months searching the internet for points of interest and activities for the Big Island. We arranged several tours; snorkelling in Kealakekua Bay next to Capt. Cook's Monument, a birding and 4x4 trip to the top of Mauna Kea at 13,800 feet, and a wagontrain trip down into Waipi'o Valley on the Hamakua Coast. Only the wagontrain trip was cancelled because of rain and fog. We did a lot of traveling around the island and probably drove every road. The first three days were tough because of heavy rain. Flood warnings were up on the Hilo side and several roads were closed. Overall, the trip was great. We saw many new birds for our life list, toured many musceums, rain forests, botanical gardens, and beaches. The only mistake we made was staying on the Hilo side (we called it the "dark side") for the full two weeks. It rained at least once every day, and there were several hurricanes in the Eastern Pacific that were influencing the weather and surf. When ever we traveled over to the Kona side, it was sunny and warm. The B&B, however, was nice eventhough it didn't have TV...hurrican Katrina cleanup was on-going at the time and it would have been nice to keep up on the progress....or lack of!Another short trip we made this summer was to Seattle to visit Grand-daughter Brianna. She graduated from high school in Thousand Oaks California and was accepted at the Pacific Northwest Ballet's training program on full scholorship and some living expenses. She played the principal role last year of Swanhilda in Coppelia. This Spring she performed as Giselle in Giselle and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker last winter. Her prospects look good as a professional ballerina.On October 29, we headed south with an unscheduled stop in Reno for minor diesel engine repair (althought the price wasn't minor!). An aclimation stop for a week in Bullhead City was made in conjuction with our RV/ex-cruising buddies Tom & Sue (X-Ta-Sea) being there also. Then it was on to Tucson again for more aclimation, see friends, and Molly's "Hen Fest" with Cathy, Bea, and Joann. We stored the RV with Cathy's, as she head off to Panama, and we headed for San Carlos, Mexico in the car with boat stuff.

12/10/05 Subject: Hola from La Paz

Wanted to let you all know we have arrived in La Paz. We left San Carlos on Thursday (12/1), I took the car on the ferry and Brent made the passage across on Albion. I couldn't imagine why I had to be there 3 hours before sailing time, but then I remembered, it's Mexico! It took a while just to get checked in. I had made my reservations with an English-speaking man and was informed the price for the car included the driver, but when I checked in, the non-English speaking agent seemed to want me to buy a ticket for myself also. My Spanish is limited, but "no" is the same in both languages. We went back and for a while and at one time I think he was trying to sell me a discounted senior citizen fare, but I stood my ground and finally he accepted the price I had originally been quoted. Two other Americans behind me had the same problem, but since I had prevailed, they weren't about to pay the extra either! The ferry is not a very big one and as we all waited we wondered how they intended to get us all on there....there was a semi with a huge load of logs that looked as if it would fill the whole thing up by itself. Finally, they started loading; we all had to back on. I was first and was lucky to have a good spot for the car....I had met a retired cop from San Diego and he ended up right next to the load of logs...he had asked earlier about staying in his vehicle for the trip....was told it would be much too dangerous especially with that load of logs! He worried all night about it, but we all made it fine. They advertise the ferry as being as comfortable as an airplane....probably because they have airline seating! Apparently before they leave the dock, the lights in the restroom don't work. At least it was small like on a plane so was hard to miss and make a mistake! All in all the trip worked out well....Brent had left the marina shortly after I left for the ferry, but I had a long wait until the ferry left, so he had a good head start....we both arrived in Santa Rosalia shortly after dawn. We jumped in the car and drove to La Paz (six hour drive). Tom and Sue, we will be interested to hear what you think of the drive down the Baja....don't know about the northern part, but the southern part, after you leave the coast, is a whole lot of nothing! We got to La Paz in time to arrange with the marina for a parking spot for the car. We found the bus depot and learned there would be a bus heading back in the morning at 7 AM. We found an inexpensive hotel in the same block (except for the fact that the hot water was just not as cold as the cold water, it was okay), we had a quick dinner and went to bed. We had no alarm clock, but managed to wake up about 6:30 and got to the bus in time. We were back to the boat by 3 PM that afternoon. Heavy winds were predicted for several days so we sat it out in Santa Rosalia. I managed to come down with some sort of bug....by Wednesday, the weather had improved and I thought I was feeling better so we left. The winds were down but the seas were still rocky and so was I, so we didn't go as far as planned that day (30mi, to Punto Chivato). Had a nice quiet anchorage and got a good rest that night. The next day was still rougher than we liked so didn't go as far that day either (55mi, to San Juanico). Finally on Friday, it was flat calm and little wind so we planned to make it a long day....I was still not feeling well so spent the entire passage in bed. Brent is a real trooper and since the weather was good, went all night to get us here (160 mi) Saturday morning! Actually we got here so early (still dark) we anchored in a little cove nearby for a few hours rest before we headed into the marina. It is good to be at the dock again and we both slept real good last night (12 hrs) so maybe I am on the mend finally. The check-in/check-out procedures are definitely changed. It's gone from one extreme to the other. Checking out in San Carlos was just a matter of filling out a slip of paper with the boat information on it, crew list and destination and leaving it with the marina. In Santa Rosalia, Brent filled out a similar paper upon arrival and departure. Here in La Paz we just wrote the info in the marina's log book. What a change. Wonder how long it will last? We have WiFi here on the docks and are enjoying being able to connect whenever and best of all, we don't have to pack up the computer and go somewhere just to check e-mails. Brent's priority upon arrival was to get the satellite set up for the TV....and just in time for me to enjoy football today and the Survivor final tonight! We are looking forward to exploring La Paz and the surrounding areas. Hope you will all be enjoying a happy holiday season and staying warm wherever you are. So far, it's pretty comfortable here and not as cold as other cruisers have indicated it would be. Hope the weather holds! Take care.
Molly

12/22/05 Subject: Life in La Paz

I am still not up to par, so taking it pretty easy here in La Paz. There was a nice classical guitar concert last week just across the street from the marina and we also went to an "open mike" session at a local restaurant. A friend of ours was singing, so we went to listen to her. Other than that we have stayed pretty close to the boat and haven't ventured out to try any new restaurants. It is Christmas week and things get pretty crazy so it's best to just stay home. Maybe after Christmas, we may take a trip down to the Los Cabos airport to check it out so when Jeanette comes we don't get too confused. Bought a kilo of shrimp today....will probably be eating shrimp for the next three days! We had our satellite dish on the dock and were waiting for the marina to move us to a permanent slip to put it on a pile, but finally the marina decided we could stay where we were so we bought a mount and now we have it more stabilized on the pile....much better....don't lose the signal every time someone walks down the finger pier! But we were told Direct TV has changed their satellites and so we don't get all the channels we used to.....guess there is no reception change in the states, but here in Mexico (where we really aren't supposed to be getting reception anyway) we aren't getting the New York networks and a lot of the other stations....it's a bummer to have to stay up later to watch the LA networks (we're an hour later than their broadcast)....have started taping any late programs. We only get about a 70% signal strength, so some of channels we like to watch occasionally stop and studder, or are just on in the morning not in the evening.
Molly

1/2/06

I am finally beginning to feel like I may be getting better. We ventured out for dinner on New Years Eve. There's a very nice restaurant right around the corner from the marina. It is overlooking the bay and it was a very nice evening with no wind, so very enjoyable. We had a great dinner. We got back early and have to admit that we didn't stay up to ring in the new year....cruisers midnight seems to come around 9 pm! We drove to Cabo last week just to make sure we would know where the airport is when Jeanette comes. Cabo is bigger and more hectic than it was in 1999 when we came through on the boat! We had a difficult time finding Latitude 22 Road House restaurant for lunch since it burned down after we were here last. The drive along the coast was very pleasant. I did a small quilting project. Hated all the measuring and cutting, but was fun once I got to the sewing part. Think I have a lot to learn about it.
Molly

1/11/06

We started our Spanish class this week and at times it was a little overwhelming. It does feel a bit like having a job, as we have to be up early every day. Class starts at 8:30 and goes til 12:30. It is easier for me since I have had some Spanish classes in the past, but Brent is doing well and studying a lot more than me so it probably won't be long before he passes me up. We will meet Tom and Sue on Monday to get our mail. They will be on their way to Cabo and not stopping in LaPaz with their RV Caravan. We will drive to Todos Santos where they will be staying that night. They wanted us to spend the night with them, but we would hate to miss our class the next morning, so will have to pass on that. We will see more of them when they come back this way later. I am going to a ladies luncheon tomorrow after class. Apparently it used to be just a marina ladies thing, but many of them have sold their boats and now have homes here so it's a mixture of marina and town folks. I had heard of it on the net last month but didn't feel up to going and also didn't want to go alone. One of the ladies in the Spanish class told me about it so will go with her tomorrow. Guess this month it's at Applebee's...can you believe that....come to Mexico and eat at Applebee's!
Molly

2/8/06

We like LaPaz a lot....the weather is just about perfect...not too hot, a little cool at night, but the days are usually sunny and warm. We did have one day of rain a couple of weeks ago. We are planning a ferry trip to Mazatlan where we have more friends and it will be nice to see all of them again. We've had lots of boat projects lately. First the water heater started leaking again...explored getting it replaced. It's $875 not including freight from the east coast and who knows how long it might be in customs here. Carlos, from the shop here at the marina, took it and had a new heat exchanger portal made and rewelded; then after Brent got it back in, the gasket for the heat exchanger insert was leaking, but he was able to replace it without taking the whole thing out again. Of course just getting it out in the first place meant taking the stove out....and when the repair was finally complete, we had a leak in a propane line in the stove! Once again it was Carlos to the rescue. Brent took the copper tube to him and he was back that afternoon with a new one. In the meantime our four house batteries finally turned toes up and we had to replace them. We can't complain as the old ones were the ones we left Portland with in '99. Then we thought we had a leak in the drinking water pump but it seems to have healed itself, so we are just watching it for now. Today we are going to start cleaning and lubricating the winches....what fun! Other than all that, we finished the Spanish class....can't say we are anywhere near fluent for sure, but I think we learned more than we think we did. It was a good review for me, having had it in high school and a couple classes since then. Brent was frustrated most of time, but has worked very hard at it. He's much too studious and typed up his notes every night. Most of the rest of the class got to depending on him to pass those out the next day! We did go to dinner the other night and spoke Spanish through it all. Brent was even able to ask if it was alright that he had parked the car in front of the restaurant next door. She didn't speak English but understood exactly what he said because she went ouside and checked it out, came back and said it was ok where it was. And I learned that a glass of water is not the same as a glass of wine. A glass of water is "vaso" de agua and a glass of wine is "copa" de vino, or stemmed glass. After all that, we decided we needed some time off, so when another cruising couple needed a ride to the Cabo airport, we offered to give them a lift and took the opportunity to spend a few days with our friends Tom and Sue (ex-X-Ta-Sea) who are there in their RV. Had a good visit with them. They are making the most of their time here, spending over a month in the San Jose del Cabo area before heading north. They will be here sometime around the first of March. While we were there we checked out a few hotels so we could spend a day there with Jeanette before she flies back after her visit here in March. Cabo is about two and a half hours from here, so driving down the day of her flight would make a long day for her by the time she got back to Portland. And it will give her a chance to see the Cabo area. Yesterday we bought our tickets to go to Mazatlan next week. I am sure the night passage on the ferry will be better than any we have done on Albion. It's an eighteen hour trip, so we got a cabin for an extra $40....am sure it will be worth it! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there. Art and Rose (Summer Rose) are there this month staying in the same condo as Will and Joann (ex-Tica). We have a reservation there also. Joann and Will have already reserved the place for five months next year and Art is saying maybe they will do two months next year. I think they are enjoying it very much. There is a restaurant at the condo, so Will doesn't ever have to worry about getting something to eat if Joann is off somewhere! Joann also made an appointment with our dentist so we can get our teeth cleaned by someone we know and trust. There is a monthly ladies luncheon here that originally was mostly cruisers but now a lot of them have moved ashore, so it's a mixture of cruisers and landlubbers now. I went last month with one of the ladies from the Spanish class and plan to go again this Thursday to Los Magueyes restaurant. It does give me a chance to find out about some of the local restaurants and make some new friends. This activity has been going on for over ten years I guess.
Molly

2/11/06

Met some nice people in our Spanish class. We visited one couple today, Phil and Yvonne, where they are building their new house. Later we took them for a cruise on Albion We had a really great time. Another lady from the class, Leah, also is building in the same neighborhood so got to see her house also. Then we went to an open house at a new business nearby and ended up going for fish tacos with a group from the neighborhood. It was fun. We really haven't done much socializing here so it was a welcomed change. We also visited another couple from class, Mike and Laurie, camping out at Playa Tecolote in their 5th wheel, nice beach-front property.
Molly

2/24/06

We just got back from a week in Mazatlan seeing friends and all the new building going on around the marina. We stayed in a condo on the beach, but with the average age of most of the folks there and having a restaurant right there, it felt a lot like assisted living! But all in all a good place to stay. We had enough Sauvie Island Yacht Club members there in their boats and just visiting, to hold a meeting. We had pot luck snacks in Art and Rose's room and then all posed for a Yacht Club photo. We took the ferry over and back. It was great, only 16 hours....and the night watches were a piece of cake! The ferry was pretty basic, without any frills, but comfortable. We had a small inside cabina on the way over, so reserved an outside cabina on the way back with a forward facing window....much better! The meals, provided, were also basic....rice, beans, and chicken or shredded beef. Breakfast was potatoes, beans, and eggs or shredded beef. Good enough so that we didn't starve! Met some nice people on the way over and back, a Mexican couple from Mexico City and a couple from Colorado who were renovating a house in Mazatlan. We later bought return ferry tickets and reserved our old cabina for them since they couldn't get them early and they were in Cabo for a wedding.
Brent

3/9/06

Jeanette, our daughter, came for a week long visit and just left. We were looking forward to it for months, and it seems a little depressing now that she's gone. We drove down to San Jose del Cabo to deliver the ferry tickets to Joe and Kerry Haska (the Colorado couple we met on the ferry). Even though we didn't get them our old cabin, we did throw a fit and got them a window cabin (they don't sell outside cabins on the way "to" Mazatlan, only "from" Mazatlan.....no reason....it's just Mexico!). Anyway, after we dropped the tickets off, we headed for the airport to get Jeanette. We got there a few minutes late and waited and waited and waited. I checked with the ticket counter and they said her flight had arrived and departed already. After about an hour, she finally walked through the turn-style. Apparently about 5 planes arrived at the same time and there was quite a line for the customs check-in. During her stay, we did a lot of exploring by driving out to Playa Tecolote, Playa Balandra, the mining town of San Juan de la Costa, snorkeling along a rock outcropping near there, and walking the beach of the Peninsula el Mogote (looking for Nuatilus shells). We also visited some of our friends in the area, went to a local youth musician concert at the Cio Molino restaurant across the street, shopped down town La Paz, toured the aquarium, toured the La Paz malecon monuments, and laid on the beach. Of course we had to take her to several of our favorite restaurants, so she probably ate more than normal. To work that off, she went jogging, walking, or did exercises every morning.We decided to take her to the airport a day early and spend the night in Cabo so it wouldn't be such a long day on her way home. San Jose del Cabo is 2.5 hours from La Paz. On the way, we stopped at the artist community of Totos Santos and browsed the shops. Then it was off to Cabo and fight the crowds from two cruise ships wondering around town. The place we stayed, Marbella Suites, was a very nice with a great view of Cabo's "land's end" and the anchored ships. Jeanette even got to lounge at the pool. The morning of her departure, we drove to San Jose and did some additional shopping along Blvd. Antonio Mijares. WE HAD A GREAT TIME!

Now it's time to get the boat ready for a fast trip back up the Baja and across the Sea to San Carlos for an April 12 scheduled haul-out.

Log 10: Mexico--Season 6--'04-'05

2005-04-01T11:42:00.000-08:00

Log 10 of Albion (and other travels)

These are e-mails and letters sent back to family and friends from our travels to and in Mexico for the fifth cruising season and sixth season in Mexico, 2004 - 2005. This log starts out with a summary of the summer and includes some "other travels" within Mexico.

2004 Summer Summary

We are headed back to Mexico, so thought I would write a summer summary for this Log. As we closed Log 9 last year, we were putting Albion away for the hot summer in Mazatlan and going to leave her in-water for the first time since the summer of 2000. Another Portland Cruising friend (Tom of X-Ta-Sea) and I made a yacht delivery from Mazatlan to Ensenada, Mexico on a 58' power boat. Other that loosing the auto-pilot about three hours out and having to hand steer the entire 900 miles, and spending two days in Magdalena Bay for weather, the trip was fine. After flying to Tucson and picking Molly up, we drove the car back to Mazatlan and put the final touches to Albion. After getting the new RV out of storage at the Tucson Elks, we drove to Thousand Oaks for the purpose of watching our granddaughter's starring performance in the ballet "Coppelia". It was a wonderful performance and we were very impressed with the professionalism of our 16-year-old ballerina. We have showed the DVD to friends and family many times. This was all happening the same weekend our daughter was in the process of moving...a trying time for her.The only downside of the Thousand Oaks trip, was that I contracted "Valley Fever". I had never heard of it and it wasn't diagnosed for several months after we got back to Portland. But apparently it's fairly common in the Southwest states and a fungus in the soil causes it.Once back home, we checked in with family and friends, and was lucky enough to see my dad a couple more times before he died in early June at the age of nearly 93. We didn't do much RVing this summer due to the fuel prices. We made one week long trip to the coast to watch our friends Bud and Lisa fly their competition kites in Seaside, and we spent another week in Redmond at an FMCA RV rally. The RV rally was attended by several of our cruising/RV friends so we had a great time after the seminars and entertainment shows.In July, we teamed up again with Dan & Cathy (Perceptions) in Portland, just in time for Dan and I to make another yacht delivery of a 76' power boat from Ensenada, Mexico to Vancouver, B.C. (I used a photo of it on my Northwest Yacht Delivery introduction page). It was a great trip except for a blowing gale off Point Conception, CA, and a fuel spill in Newport, OR. What made the trip really great was the resident engineer/cook that came with the vessel. What a way to travel!In October, Molly flew to L.A. for a week to have a "hen party" (as Dan called it) with three other cruising women (Cathy-Perceptions, Joann-Tica, and Bea-Seadater). They had a great time shopping, reminiscing, playing cards, and ...oh yeah, shopping. This year, we stayed in the Northwest a little longer than normal to vote. What a frustrating, unbelievable, disappointment!!! We left the country shortly after the results.

11/12/04 Subject: Back in Mexico!

Just wanted to let you all know we are back in Mexico for the winter...had no problems with the trip down and found Albion in good shape....but very dirty with lots of summer Mazatlan dust and grime. Of course we both have our priorities....Molly first wants to know that the head (i.e. toilet for you landlubbers) is working, next she is concerned that the refrigeration will function properly and then she wants hot water.....Brent is more concerned with the engine and the rigging....happy to report we are both satisfied that everything seems to be working fine. It is hot and humid here....the first time we drove into town for dinner, we had to have the windshield wipers going because there was so much moisture in the air! We thought by now it would have cooled a bit down here, but guess we are still too early. As warm as it is, we are glad to be here rather than some of colder climates we encountered on the way down. The motor home decided to act up a bit and we spent three nights in Burely Idaho at 32 degrees....brrr!It is election time here in Mexico and what a difference from the states. Down here, you'd never know there was a opponent, distinguished, heinous or otherwise. The TV ads and campaign literature dwell mostly on how much the candidate loves his family, his home, his children, the land he humbly grew up in, his parents, his wife, her family, your family and everybody's family in general. Policies and plans are vague, but no matter who wins, family love will rule. Another interesting twist is no alcoholic beverages are available anywhere during the entire weekend of the election. Here in Mexico, they take their hard won democracy seriously! We brought our satellite receiver from the RV down this year and bought a larger dish required for viewing US stations in Mexico. So now we will be able to keep up on the news, football, and our favorite shows.We plan to be here in Mazatlan until at least late January with a trip back to Portland in early December for Molly's ex-director's retirement party. Perhaps we will stay here for Carnival which is in early February this year. Then we will head across the Sea to La Paz and spend some time there, before working our way up the Baja side of the Sea and cross back over to San Carlos where we will leave the boat sometime in April. We are planning to house sit (actually dog sit) for some friends in Tucson in early May, then we will be back to Oregon hopefully about the time it stops raining for the summer. All for now from here....hope all is well with each of you. We love to hear from you and get our e-mail on a regular basis, so please keep in touch.
Brent & Molly

11/25/04 Subject: Happy Thanksgiving

Hoping you are enjoying a great day with lots of good things to eat. We are having dinner at the RV park with Tom and Sue and Will and Joann and their daughter Kristen and her boyfriend. [photo of dinner] We opted out of the marina festivities this year. We decided we had done that for several years and they keep raising the price until it is out of sight, $27 US this year, and that's mostly because they insist on doing fireworks, having a big dance band and having a priest come to do mass in the AM. They bill it as a traditional American Thanksgiving celebration. We try to tell them we don't do fireworks, dance, and go to mass on Thanksgiving, but they don't listen...oh well. We will have a good dinner with friends and enjoy that.There are lots of Portland folks here in Marina Mazatlan; Will and Joann (Tica), Art and Rose (Summer Rose), and Tom and Cathy (Awanhee) are all on the same dock. Pat and Susan (Perpetua) are here but staying in their RV at the park until they get their tri-hull back in shape. Tom and Sue (X-Ta-Sea) sold their boat last year but are also here in their RV in the same park as Pat and Susan. They both have VHF radios so we can call each other and they can listen to the morning net. Several other Portland Tomahawk Bay/Sauvie Island Y.C. boaters have arrived (Dream Chaser, Anthea, and Transendence), but we don't know them as well. The marina put in a high speed Internet DSL line, so e-mail has been a lot easier this year. Although Brent still goes into town to the mall where free WIFI is available and he can surf to his hearts content.We have satellite TV on the boat this year. We brought our Direct TV receiver down and acquired a larger dish from a fellow boater (needed for receiving the US signal here). I am enjoying having football on the weekends and Brent is keeping up on the news, although not much of it is good.El Cid had their annual Christmas bazaar which Molly and other cruising ladies attended. It was earlier than usual this year but still had a full crowd. There was one empty seat at our table and that was dedicated to Cathy (Perceptions) who was sailing south to Costa Rica this year. We went out to dinner the other night at a sports bar and they had the OSU/UO game on. It was great! There was a UO guy at the bar and he would yell whenever UO made a good play, and we would yell back whenever OSU made a good play. Eventually he came over and we exchanged pleasantries. We left before the game was over, but when we were well ahead. When we got to the boat, we looked up the channel it was on (FoxNW), and to our surprise, we got the signal and was able to watch the rest of the game here at the boat. We had a hell of storm shortly after we arrived in Mazatlan. We woke up in the middle of night to thunder and lightning very close! Everyone was up getting their electronics unplugged, then the wind blew and it rained really hard. It's like being back home on a stormy night, except we are still in shorts at 80 degrees. The rain lasted a couple of days and made everything very muddy. Things are back to normal now, but the bugs are still bad. I have almost gone through a half a tube of itch cream already and my legs look like a pincushion. The No-See-Ums and mosquitoes don't seem to go after Molly as much. The marina has put in new "security" locks on the gates. They are like hotel room cards, but the locks on our gate only worked for a couple of days. Now it's unlocked all the time. That's okay by us as the cards were a real pain, but we still have to have them in case we want to go to another dock. One weekend the local boy/girl scout troops had a camp out here at the marina. They had a raft construction contest for both small toy-like size and bigger ones that they actually raced. They had some of the marina folk judge them and I was one of the judges. Then the boys and girls raced them across the marina. They had a great time and it was good entertainment for us. We went to the Angela Peralta Theater the other night to hear the Sinoloa Symphony perform. It was a very enjoyable night. We had dinner at a little "hole in the wall" restaurant that Will and Joann knew of where the shrimp were great for only about $9 a dinner. So long for now. Happy Thanksgiving!
Molly

12/17/04 Subject: Back in Mexico, again!

Hi guys! Hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. I thought I would try to keep in touch and let you know of our latest travels. We joined Tom and Sue Stose (and their dog, Arvey) for an inland trip to Durango in the state of Durango. Durango is about 200 miles inland, high in the Sierra Madre Mountains. The drive was a real e-ticket trip. It took us seven hours with many photo stops for the spectacular scenery! It is a very narrow, curvy, winding mountain road, called the "Devil's Backbone", and there are lots of trucks going both ways. It is not uncommon to come around a bend and find one heading right for you in your lane! Durango is a town probably about the size of Salem and certainly not a tourist destination. We spend four nights there and never once saw another gringo-looking person the entire time, and met very few that speak English. We found a nice hotel right in the center of town across the street from the main cathedral and town plaza. The location of our hotel made it very convenient to spend time just walking around town, seeing the sights. At one time, Durango was the filming location of many movies, over 200 were filmed there, mostly westerns, and most of those were John Wayne's. If he wasn't shooting a picture in Monument Valley, Utah, he was shooting one here. There are remnants of some of the sets and we visited three of them. One (the set of Fat Man and Little Boy) was almost completely destroyed, but the other two were western town sets that were in a little better shape. It was a great trip!We were back to the boat one day before our scheduled trip back to Portland for an early Christmas with our family and bid my former boss, Robin, a happy retirement. The association put on a gala celebration for her and I really enjoyed seeing a lot of folks I worked with for many years. It was pretty rewarding when they would ask, "Weren't you planning to go off sailing after retirement?" And Molly could answer "Yes, we ARE sailing, and we just flew back from our boat in Mazatlan for this event!" She was also recognized from the podium as one of the distinguished guests here tonight and asked to stand for applause. It was wet and rainy in Portland and makes us appreciate the warmer (albeit humid) weather we have here. The day we returned to Mazatlan, the marina had arranged a traditional Mexican Christmas celebration here. First, one of the local schools presented a play based on the Christmas story. They were terrific. Then we all took part in the Posada, depicting Mary and Joseph's trials trying to find room at the inn. Then it was time for piñatas, one for the children and one for the adults. After all that, we had a meal of tamales, beans, and a Christmas punch, traditionally served in Mexican households for Christmas. Last night we went to the Peralta Theater again, this time for the ballet Nutcracker. We were very impressed by the local performers. We first saw them five years ago and they have come a long way in that time. Last night's performance was truly spectacular. I paid close attention as our granddaughter, Brianna, had danced the Sugarplum Fairy role in her company's production in Thousand Oaks. I will look forward to getting the DVD of that performance. We found a great new restaurant, run by a Canadian woman named Heather, with great home-cooking style meals. We ate there last night. The specials were chicken potpie or pot roast, and they were both great and the lemon meringue pie is to die for. It made us forget we were in Mexico. Each night they have different specials and Brent is ready to go back on Wednesday for the meat loaf!The movies are half price on Wednesday and Sundays. The cost is less than $2 those days and the movies are first run in English with Spanish subtitles. On Wednesdays the cruisers are usually the only ones there and often only two or three of us in the whole theater. And the theater is a brand new multi-plex, as nice as any in the states.We are taking our time doing little jobs on the boat here and there. We have plenty of time before we plan to move on across the Sea to La Paz sometime in February. We are having new canvas done for the dodger and bimini. We brought all the materials down from the states and having the work done here. However, several of the zippers I brought were 4 inches too short. To buy them here would cost about $30 each! Ouch! But Pedro, the upholstery man, is going to the states in January and will get the ones he needs for a lot less. Guess that about brings you up to date on our activities. We hope you are all having a great time and will be with family or friends for the holidays. Enjoy.
Molly

1/1/05 Subject: Happy New Year 2005

OK, I will admit that I'm moving a little slow today. Last night was our New Years Eve party at Chili's Pepper. The food was good and the bar was "open". After dinner, dancing, and the fireworks, we headed back to the boat.On Christmas eve day, I climbed the highest operating lighthouse in the world, 515 ft., at the entrance to the main Mazatlan harbor (the only lighthouse that's higher is Gibraltar, but it is abandoned). It takes about a half-hour to hike to the top and the view is breathtaking. From the top you have a great view of Old Mazatlan, the entire harbor, Stone Island, northward along the peninsula, and, of course, the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Our last trip of the year was December 30 to Teacapan. Ten of us took three cars on the 90-mile drive down the coast to a small pueblo located on a large estuary. It is noted for it's birding and the tour books said that they are considering making the area into a bird sanctuary. We made a brief stop at another small town, Rosario, to view their old church and watch as a double funeral was in progress. At Teacapan, Wil (Tica) contacted the Port Captain to see if we could take a panga ride into the estuary and made arrangements with a local guide. But first, we had lunch in a very modest restaurant. They had great chocolate marble cake, however, that we all had to try. We were made aware of the restaurant and their cakes from a friendly Canadian on the beach while Wil was trying to make tour arrangements.The panga tour was great. We all climbed into the boat and headed up the estuary. The guide didn't speak any English or point out any birds, so I had to tell everybody what we were seeing and why it was the bird we were seeing and not another one. They seemed to enjoy the bird identification instructions. The trip lasted about two hours, and then we all headed back to Mazatlan on our own schedule. Wil and Joann and us stopped at Heather's Restaurant again and had dinner to top off a perfect day.That's it for 2004. We'll be updating later when we decide to leave Mazatlan.
Brent

April 1, 2005 Subject: Mazatlan to San Carlos Summaries

3/5 (Saturday): Mazatlan - Bahia de los Muertos (220 miles)

Finally, we left Mazatlan after four months tied to a dock and enjoying the trips and entertainment Mazatlan has to offer. It was difficult saying "so long" to close friends that we may or may not see again, but we wanted to get Albion north to San Carlos and dry storage for the hot Mexican summer. The passage for the most part was very nice. The stars during the dark of the moon night passage were glorious. You could recognize the constellations very easily by looking in the water. By mid-afternoon on the second day, we realized the computer clock was incorrect and we would not be getting into the La Paz area until well after dark. We therefore, decided to head for Bahia de los Muertos and anchor there by late afternoon and go on into La Paz the next day. The anchorage was rolly and during the night, a strong wind switched 180 degrees putting a dangerous rocky-lee shore behind us. Brent was not happy with the anchor set that we had made and decided to sleep in the cockpit to keep an eye on things. We never moved!

3/7 (Monday): B. Muertos - La Paz (43 mi)

We weighed anchor at 0630, first light, and headed North up San Lorenzo channel. It has a bad reputation for strong winds from the North, so we wanted to hit it early. The channel and the rest of the trip into La Paz was a beautiful, calm, sunny motor-sail. We got into Marina de La Paz at 3:15 pm and checked in. The next week was spent exploring La Paz. We had never stopped there before except to refuel, so it was exciting to see a new port. One day we rented a car just to drive around the city and get a feel where things were. The marina is very new, since it was destroyed during Hurricane Marty two years ago. There is a restaurant at the dock, marine stores very close, and free WIFI on the dock….email from you boat!!! We took some good friends that we hadn't seen in several years, and live on their boat there, to dinner one night to a restaurant a taxi friend of their's suggested. It was off the beaten path, a real find. It was difficult to leave such a fine marina and city, but a possible plan is to make this our home for the majority of next winter's cruising season.

3/14 (Monday): La Paz - El Cardoncita, Isla Partida (24 mi)

After breakfast and refueling, we checked out of La Paz and headed north. Although we did sail for about 2 hours, it was basically a motor-sail day and we anchored for the night in El Cardoncita on Isla Partida. Brent jumped in the water to clean the bottom and check the anchor. In the late afternoon a group of kayakers camped on the beach. This is a beautiful little anchorage with good protection from the north, south, and east, open only to the west. Of course shortly after sunset, a howling westerly blew up and made for a miserable night and with less than 10 feet of water under us.

3/15 (Tuesday): Isla Partida - Isla San Francisco (19 mi)

In the morning the wind had died some, but was still blowing from the west. Once out of the anchorage we headed for the anchorage at San Everesto. Finally the wind died to nothing and we motored along for a while until it switched around from the north. We decided to put up the sails and head instead to Isla San Francisco. It was a beat to weather the last few miles but once inside the anchorage it was calm and protected. We were only the second boat in the anchorage and managed to secure a safe spot in the protected northern area. We were entertained the rest of the afternoon with some interesting anchoring drills. By evening there were ten boats in the anchorage. It was a very comfortable night in flat calm water.

3/16 (Wednesday): Is. San Francisco - Puerto Gato (34 mi)

We rose early and were underway shortly after dawn. The winds had died during the night, but left a heavy sea swell. It wasn't too uncomfortable so we headed for Puerto Gato. About an hour from our anchorage there, the wind filled in from the north again, so the last few miles were again a beat to weather, but not nearly as strong as the previous day. Steve on Seascape, a cruiser Brent had talked with in Isla San Franciso, had left much earlier than us and was already anchored there along with another sailboat. There was a group camped onshore that appeared to be perhaps one of the Eco-Tours that are now so popular in the area. The sea swell refracted a bit into the anchorage making it pretty rocky-and-rolly at times. In the afternoon, a cruise ship anchored nearby and put ashore a large group of kayakers. Brent discovered a leak in a fitting to the hot water heater so our afternoon was spent head-down-butt-up repairing that. Seems like they always put those things in a place that was ever intended to be worked on. Sometime after dark the cruise ship reloaded their passengers and departed.

3/17 (Thursday): Puerto Gato - Puerto Escondido (40 mi)

Again, by the time we were up at dawn, Steve was long gone. We were planning a short day to Agua Verde, but the weather was so good we decided to take advantage of the calm seas and put on some miles. We thought we would head for Honeymoon Cove on Isla Danzante. Steve was ahead of us and radioed that the depth did not look good there and he was continuing on to Puerto Ballandra on Carmen Island. Shortly, we heard other cruisers talking about a lot of bo-bos , or nay-nays, there (small flies that are a real nuisance). That was all it took for Brent to head anyplace else. After considering several options, we went into Puerto Escondido and anchored outside the inner harbor. It was flat calm providing a very peaceful good nights sleep.

3/18 (Friday): Puerto Escondido - Punta San Antonio (49 mi)

We were away again at dawn heading for San Juanico. The seas were flat and no wind, affording another day for putting on some miles. This is the first time we traveled up the shoreline along here, so we got a good look at Loreto. There was an Alaskan Airlines jet sitting on the runway of the airport. Steve reported that he was making good time and was going to go on to Punta Pulpito, a good anchorage for the northers. That sounded good to us as that would put us a few miles further ahead for tomorrow. At the same time, we were contacted by radio by Linda on Frankie L. They were in Marina Real in San Carlos on the other side of the Sea and were picking us up loud and clear that far away. Later in the day we also talked to Sue Stose in her RV in San Carlos. We were amazed to make such good contact over 100 miles across the Sea. The winds were starting to fill in from the south and Steve reported the anchorage at Pulpito was getting very uncomfortable and looking poor for the evening. We both decided to see if there might be better anchorage one mile north on the other side of the next point. We anchored at Punta San Antonio. Don on Summer Passage, the Amigo Net weatherman, reports that by Sunday we will be experiencing some "honkin' northers" so we are anxious to get into Bahia Concepcion and sit it out until we get a good weather window for crossing to San Carlos.

3/19 (Saturday): Punta San Antonio - Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion (45 mi)

The winds blew strong from the south most of the night, but the seas were fairly flat in the anchorage. About 2 am the winds stopped and we got a few hours sleep in a calm anchorage. We arose at 4 am to make an early passage, hoping to get into Bahia Concepcion before the afternoon winds kicked in. We had a very flat calm passage all the way and were rounding Punta Concepcion about 10 am. Brent had experienced some vertigo and dizzy spells when he got up from a nap, and was very happy to have Steve ahead of us to follow down the shoal bay and into Playa Santispac. There were lots of annoying bobo's when we arrived, but they seemed to go away after we were anchored. The wind blew out of the south most of the day and we considered moving to another anchorage. However, this one seemed best suited for the northern winds which were predicted to blow up the next few days.

3/20 (Sunday): Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion

We launched the dingy and went exploring around the bay. There are several anchorages to be tried in the future. We went ashore for lunch and met Pat and Susan, aboard Arrabella, and Steve at Anna's Restaurant. Had a great meal there. Learned that we will have to come back another time for coconut shrimp at Ray's, down the beach. He closes during the Semana Santos week. So next year maybe.

3/21 (Monday): Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion

The way into Mulege, about 15 miles north, is by hitching a ride with anyone going that way. We walked up to the road and waited while many cars came and went; most were headed south. One had room for only one rider so we told Steve to take it and we would meet him in town, hopefully! There was a group of college freshmen from Colorado who were also looking for a ride into town. They had come by bus and were hitchhiking their way along the Baja beaches. We finally got a ride into town but Steve was nowhere around when we arrived. We toured town a bit and found an internet café and there Steve found us. After we both completed our communications we saw a little more of town and asked a local taxi driver for a good place to eat. He directed us to a local restaurant where we enjoyed a great shrimp lunch. We hired a taxi for the trip back to Playa Santispac. The winds had filled in from the north, but we seemed safe and secure in the anchorage. We had heard many stories of anchors dragging here, but never had a problem while we were there.

3/22 (Tuesday): Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion

Don, on Summer Passage, was predicting a short weather window for Wednesday so we started making preparations to leave about mid-day tomorrow. We went ashore for Brent to hike up the road and take some pictures of the area and then met Steve once again at Anna's for lunch. Again, the shrimp dishes were wonderful!

3/23 (Wednesday): Playa Santispac - San Carlos (81 mi)

It was hard waiting until mid-day to leave. It was nice and calm and we wanted to take advantage of the friendly waters before the afternoon winds might kick in. By leaving mid-day, we would still be getting into San Carlos during the night, but the full moon should give sufficient light to get into the harbor anchorage alright. Near the mouth of the bay, the winds were fairly strong from the south, but eased as we got further from shore. We talked with Rick on Glaoch Ne Mara in Santa Rosilia. He was expecting Frankie L to be arriving sometime later that day from San Carlos (actually, they had headed out but turned back because of rough seas). We had fairly calm seas most of the day and were hoping that would last into the night. 'Twas not to be. The evening weather update on the Southbound Net sounded like we could expect some building winds on the mainland side. The winds did pick up from the north and a heavy swell on our beam made the last 25 miles or so, most uncomfortable. It was early morning when we arrived at San Carlos, but the moonlight was bright and we eased our way into the crowded anchorage to find an empty buoy and were safely tied up by 4 am.

3/24 (Thursday) San Carlos

About 7 am we turned loose of the buoy and made our way into the marina to find an available slip. We found one on B dock and attempted to check in with the marina office, but found they had closed for Semana Santos (Easter weekend) until Sunday. We check in on Sunday and were granted the slip until we hauled out to dry storage. Now started the work of cleaning, preparing, and storing everything we had been using for the last five months. Next we will be riding back down to Mazatlan with Horst & Bea, as they head down to check on Seadater, to get our car, drive it back to San Carlos, load it up with stuff to take back to the RV, cross the border, get the RV out of storage and move in. Sounds easy, huh? All this takes about two weeks! Then the other side of our adventures begin.