Traveling Through California (Desert Palms, CA)

Okay, it has been a month since my last post.  Time to get everyone caught up.  We are happy to be back on the road again.  After leaving Sutherlin, we spent 10 days in Valley of the Rogue State Park.  Weather was starting to cooperate with warmer days and less rain.

So nice to be able to sit outside and go for walks without spending 15 minutes layering up!  

Walking path inside state park

Dusty was in grass heaven!  Wandering around, meowing "so much grass, so little time!".

Dusty and Hitch (front)

Our neighbor did not know he was hosting a squirrel.  This little guy spent most of the day sitting on the tire.  A perfect spot to watch the cats, eat lunch with a view, and cool enough for naps.

After having perfect weather during our state park stay, a cold front had to show up just in time for our travel day with wind and rain.  Northern California was already giving flood warnings.  Fingers crossed, we hoped for the best and kept going.

Siskiyou Pass

As we moved further south the storm front had move on and the weather cleared.  I couldn't get my usual photo of Mt Shasta this time, so I opted for Lake Shasta instead.

Lake Shasta

Yes!  It finally looks like we have found Spring!  I actually blew the dust off of my t-shirts!  I rarely wore them last summer.

Once again, the weather had us worried about traveling with a forecast of high winds.  We decided to leave a day early and get to Lancaster, CA a day early.  The reason for being in a hurry to settle in Lancaster was because I was signed up for RV School.  Yep, I took a driving course with our motorcoach that is 40' long, 8.5' wide, 11.7' tall, over 34,000 pounds with a beam steering axle, max turn cut is 38 degrees plus with tow car attached (car and tow bar) we are near 60' long.

We had a great instructor from RVSchool.com.  He showed up at our site and immediately put me at ease as he explained how we would start the day and what I would accomplish by the time we were finished.  With Dan riding along as an observer and also as my spotter for parking/backing the coach, we learned quite a bit about our coach's ability.

2 days of 4 hours per day instruction for $495 (plus a tip)was more than worth it. I can now safely maneuver in tight spaces, on narrow roads, city traffic, ascents, and descents.  With our aging, and possibility of illness or medical issues, we felt it was imperative for me to be able to safely drive the coach. I'm tired, but feeling a lot more confident about driving down road!

To celebrate my completion, we found an excellent little restaurant called Don Gus Mexican & Seafood.  The veggie burrito was delicious, but it was the cherry filled Chimichanga that I really loved!

On our way home, we stopped for a few groceries at a store we had never visited or seen before.  We were pleasantly surprised at how cheerful and colorful the store's presentation was to shoppers.  If we had not been so tired after our long day, we probably would have spent more time looking around.

Vallarta Supermarket

We are now settled in Desert Palms, CA near Palm Springs.  This is our first time visiting the area, so we will be busy exploring the surrounding area.  BTW, I did the parking while Dan directed.  We did it once without pulling forward!👍👍

Tight site

The cats were impressed....😎

Max and Dusty

On The Cutting Board

I have been working on my quilt tops.  I finished appliquéing this quilt with clipart paw prints and a dog from P.S. I Love You Two! A Sequel by Nancy J. Smith & Linda S. Milligan.  

I did not like the quilt in the book, but I do love this little guy.  I think I will call him Cosmos.

 I'm almost done with the Zoo panel.

 I just need to finish the embroidery and I can move on to the next top.

 I sort of goofed on the elephant.  I did not realize the mistake I had made until I was ready to embroidery the face.  If you haven't noticed, the face is a little lopsided.

 Oh well.. I think he still looks cute.  Okay, so I'm sort of caught up, but I am going to wait to show you photos from the Palm Springs area.  Back to the cutting board!
Happy Quilting!

Yosemite National Park (Tucson, AZ)

We are settled in Tucson for a few more days.  We have been busy shopping and getting prepared for our winter stay in Patagonia.  We plan to move to the preserve on Monday.  

I finally finished editing my photos from Yosemite National Park.  The scenic views were breath-taking and hard to capture with a camera.  We visited during the off-season and the place was still busy.  

Yosemite National Park - Valley

Traffic in Yosemite was almost as bad as being downtown.  They say this national park is one of the most visited parks.  I think that is an understatement.

Yosemite National Park - Valley

I did manage to get quite a few shots with no people in it.  Timing is everything!

Yosemite National Park - Valley

Yosemite National Park - Valley

Yosemite National Park - Valley

We had lunch at The Awhahnee in Yosemite Valley.  A little pricey, but my Waldorf Chicken Croissant was delicious!  Sitting outdoors on such a beautiful day was so relaxing.

 The Awhahnee

We had entertainment too.  This is just one of many squirrels that were running around under our chairs and tables.  Snooping for dropped food and every once in a while looking up at people to see if they would take pity on them.  One even tried to go inside except one of the staff saw him coming and scared him away.  

Got lunch?

Funny, he doesn't look like he is starving.  Oh, there were "Do Not Feed" signs up everywhere so it must be all those acorns he has been eating.

After lunch, we went to Glacier Point to see El Capitan and Yosemite Valley.

Yosemite National Park - Glacier Point

Now that's quite a view!

Yosemite National Park - Glacier Point

There was a B&W photo of women posing on this over hanging.  I guess they have no fear of heights.  I'll stay behind the railing, thank you!

Yosemite National Park - Glacier Point

Happy Trails!

Heatwave? but I See Snowmen everyWhere (Coarsegold, CA)

Western Scrub Jay - Hanging out near our site

We are near Coarsegold, CA staying in an Escapees SKP RV Park called Park Sierra.  We are about 25 miles south of Yosemite National Park's south gate.  The park's sites are tiered with mature trees and seem to give a little more privacy to each one, but we are close to a busy highway which is very noisy.  Not noisy enough to keep us awake at night just that the sound of cars is always present when we go outside.

Quite a difference between here and Oregon.  It is certainly a lot hotter.  I admit that I was looking forward to some warmer weather around 80 degrees, but here, it is so hot and dry that everything crunches.  Well, except for the cats...they just wilt when we take them outside.

A lot of quails

There are birds everywhere along with lots of squirrels and other little critters.  I hope to get a photo of an Acorn Woodpecker.  They are everywhere, but a little shy.

 

On The Cutting Board

Trying to think cool, I decided to work on my snowman collector's block.  I finished embroidering the second block.  Ha! I am seeing snowmen.  I haven't been working on this block much so I thought with 600 miles of road travel, it was a good time to pull this block out and get it done.

I gave the scarves a little more texture using the Portuguese Stem stitch.

So far, I have finished two blocks.  I think there is something like 25 blocks to do.  Maybe, I'll cut the amount in half and make a smaller quilt.  Yep, sounds like a plan.....

We are off to Yosemite Valley this morning.  I should get some great shots of El Capitan.  We plan on two to three visits.  This park is so big and the roads are so windy that it takes a long time to get anywhere.

Happy Quilting!