From the Frigid Cold of Boston to the Bitter Cold of California? (12-10-13)

  Here I was, looking forward to leaving the cold temperatures of New England behind me, but I had forgotten that we were headed to the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California for the weekend.

I’m glad I brought my winter coat with me because temperatures up at Shaver Lake were in the teens.

Lucky us, we also got about 8 inches of snow while we were in the mountains.  It was actually really nice.  Very peaceful and beautiful. It’s nice being in the snow when you know that at soon as you come down off the mountain, you’ll be leaving it behind.

The truck has never seen so much of that white stuff!

Someone was very happy about the cold and the snow!

Our friends, Kirk and Karen, have a cabin up in the mountains and we were up there for the weekend so the guys could do some more work on the master bathroom renovation.

  Of course, the weekend was not all work and no play- we did plenty of eating, as usual. Dinner was particularly fun, since Suzy brought all the makings for fondue with her.

Some of us took advantage of the sunshine to go for a (short) walk.

Paul’s drink of choice, Smirnoff Ice lived up to it’s name for the first time.

Once the weekend was over, it was back down to the city of Fresno for us. That’s where I got to see everything that Paul’s been up to while I was away.  He bought all the fasteners needed to put a truck camper on our F450, and he is adding some switches to the cab of the truck.  We have two horns on our truck.  One is the “baby” horn that came with it, and the other is a set of train horns that Paul installed.  Hearing that horn is an unforgettable experience (the decibel level is incredible).  It’s not a horn that we toot lightly because beeping at an unwary biker, for example, could easily cause them to fall off the bike.  So, having a switch is awesome.  Paul is moving that switch from outside the grill to inside the cab.  We also have an air compressor in the toolbox so we can easily add air to things like the air horns, the air hitch, the air springs, and of course, the tires. He is moving the control for that into the cab as well.

   And of course, once again, life is not all work and no play.  While I was away, Kirk gave Paul a scooter.  Not the kind that’s like a motorcycle, but the kind we grew up with that had no motor. Except this one definitely has a motor. 

It goes so fast, Paul was a blur in every picture.  When I expressed concern as to what purpose this scooter will serve, and where on earth we’ll store it, I got no sympathy.  Karen was just happy to have it out of her garage (traitor!) and the guys suggested I use it to go back and forth while doing laundry. Ha.

We wrapped up our visit to Fresno by having people over for our standard Mexican food and Margarita Fest.  We always have a great time in Fresno, and we plan to be back in the spring.  I think we’ll use this as our jumping off point for our trip to Alaska, moving into our truck camper  and leaving the 5th wheel in storage here.

Coastal California (11-16-13)

After leaving Los Angeles,  we were headed up the coast to Morro Bay to meet up with some friends.  On the way we stopped for 2 nights in Pismo Beach  to check it out because I, for one, had never been there.  Now I am looking forward to getting back there at some point! We could walk to the beach from our RV park, and if we had had time, we could have walked to a cute looking downtown area.  Instead, we chose to hang out with our neighbors.  There were two couples traveling together.  One was parked on one side of us, and the other was on the other side.  They were great people and we hope to catch up with them again!

Dozer stalking his prey

 Dozer was very happy to be rid of the Parking Lot RV park that we had been in while in Los Angeles.  Not only does Pismo have lots of grass, it has lots of wildlife too.

Here's the cat's eye view of the ducks that Dozer spent the afternoon stalking.

sunset at Pismo Beach

 Directly behind our site was a sitting area where people gathered to watch the sunset.  Pretty convenient for us, and a great way to meet new people!
The weather was perfect while we were there- it was even warm enough that I can say I swam in the Pacific Ocean.  Paul can say that he watched me swim in the ocean.  He doesn't like cold water much.

Morro Rock from the house

After a very short stop, we headed up to Morro Bay, which is known for the famous rock- Morro Rock. Once again our RV park was walking distance to the beach but the weather here is much cooler and it was windy so we never actually made it to the beach.

Sigma Chi brothers

 Our friends came up for the weekend and some of them stayed in a nearby house. These guys are Paul's fraternity brothers and trust me, when we get together, it's always a great time!

Most get-togethers tend to revolve around food, and this one was no exception!

 Since the weather wasn't conducive to being at the beach, we did what many Californians do when they need to fill time- we went wine tasting!

With more people arriving for dinner, we decided to cook, instead of going to a restaurant.  Everyone contributed something to the meal.

It was a great idea to do it that way- we got to relax over our dinner and spent the evening laughing and chatting.








The weekend came to an end way too quickly but we left everyone knowing that we'll be seeing them again in the near future, so it's easier to say goodbye.

CA and MI (04-21-12)

We took advantage of the fact that we would be stationary for a while, and also the fact that we had someone to check on the cat (thanks Karen!!) to fly to Michigan to see our daughter and son-in-law.  No matter how long a visit I have with either of the kids, it never feels long enough.  3 days felt particularly short, but we had a lot of fun and got to spend quality time with Jess and David. 

The day that David had to work, Jess took us to a local farm to visit the horses and see if there were any babies around.  Jess is an animal lover and is happiest when she has a horse to pet.

She had an unpleasant surprise, and couldn’t get out of the stall fast enough when she discovered that the miniature horse inside was indeed trying to bite her leg.

We arrived back in California on Friday, the day before the party celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Fresno chapter of Paul’s fraternity, Sigma Chi. 

There was quite a turnout of “Sigs” and their wives at the dinner, including Actives as well as Alumni.

Paul had a great time reminiscing with all of his college buddies, and paid for the fun with a case of laryngitis the next day. At one point in the evening there was a problem with the sound system, and if you’ve met Paul it won’t surprise you to learn that he had a hand in fixing it. What put a grin on my face was hearing so many of the guys comment that “Porter” hadn’t changed at all- he was still  “Mr. Fixit”.   I have always loved the relationship that Paul has with his fraternity brothers. The friendships have survived the years so well that I have become friends with these guys and their wives and we always have a great time when we get together.

  Sunday breakfast at Kirk and Karen’s was well attended and another opportunity to spend time together in a quieter environment.  After filling our faces yet again, the guys tackled the project of installing Karen’s new microwave and oven.  They love having something to focus their attention on!

Question of the day:  How many Sigs does it take to cut a piece of wood?