Cars, Cabrillo and the Del

Another several nice days here in the San Diego area.  The weather has been in the low 70's, which for us Southeast Alaskans is pretty darn nice.  Also nice to be here next to the marina and the boats.  On Sunday, we (and a whole bunch of San Diegans) went to Balboa Park to look around and check out a couple of the museums. Since it was a bit late in the afternoon, we decided not to go into the air and space museum because we did not have enough time to see it all, and elected to go to the automobile museum next door.

Blackbird Spy Plane in Front of Air and Space Museum

The auto museum was small but worth the price of admission as it had several unique cars such as a Tucker, some early Pierce Arrows, and the like.  We also saw the Cadillac that a guy built for non stop travel across the US.  They could actually change the oil and change tires without stopping!

Want to Parallel Park this One?

A Nice Little Rolls, Perhaps?

After the auto museum, we made a stop at Whole Foods and came back to the Chula Vista RV Park in time for a nice dinner, a movie and some TV watching.  Here in the RV Park we met a couple from Huntington Beach, California who have a fifth wheel as well.  Ian and Susan are a transplanted English couple who now live and work in the US.  There are certainly some nice people in RV parks!

Ian, Julie and Pamela at Chula Vista

On Monday, we decided to go the the Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma instead of spending $70 each to go to Sea World.  After all, we get pretty darn close to humpback whales, sea lions, seals and porpoise from our boat in Alaska.  

We drove to the monument and used our Federal Lands Annual Pass for the first time to get in to the park.  We had both been to Cabrillo National Monument about site twenty years ago as part of a National Interpreters workshop.  That was mostly a reception, and this time we were able to watch the movie, see the exhibits and see the views from the high point overlooking San Diego Bay.

Entrance to San Diego Harbor from Point Loma

Cabrillo National Monument Statute

While we were at Cabrillo, we also visited the Point Loma Lighthouse and were able to get into the tower and see the exhibits on the light house keepers and the technology of the lights.  It gives us great appreciation for the large Fresnel cut-glass lens that Neil's father rescued from a watery grave in Maine and restored into a coffee table.  

Point Loma Light Was Replaced with a Light  Lower on the Point Due to Fog

On the way back to Chula Vista, south of San Diego, we diverted to Coronado Island to visit the Hotel del Coronado, or "The Del" as it is also known.  It is the site where Hollywood Director Billy Wilder filmed "Some Like it Hot", one of our favorite films with Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis in drag and a great performance by Marilyn Monroe.  If you haven't seen the film, you should rent it.

The Hotel del Coronado Opened in 1888 and Still Stands

We had a couple of drinks in the bar and some appetizers before taking the coast road south along the Pacific to National City and then on up to Chula Vista.  It turned out to be another wonderful day of retirement.

The "Del" Is a Place Worth Coming Back To

On Wednesday afternoon, we leave Chula Vista and begin the start of our trip North to Alaska.  It will be about 1700 miles of driving to Port Hardy, British Columbia where we put our Fiver on a BC ferry to Prince Rupert.  We will park the rig in Norco, California with Neil's niece Shannon's home for several days while we visit family.  Our current plan is to begin the trip north to Oregon on Monday, March 21st.

Thanks for visiting,  

Neil and Pamela

Sunshine, Basketball and Thoughts for Japan

We are liking our stay here in Chula Vista and the green landscapes and ocean scenes.  It is not as warm as the Arizona and California deserts, but it suits us a bit better.

Today was a stay at home day here in the RV park.  Neil got interested in several NCAA basketball games and spent the morning watching some ACC and Big East games.  In the afternoon, we took a walk along the marina, and decided to have drinks and dinner at the nearby restaurant overlooking the marina.

Another Wonderful West Coast Sunset in Chula Vista

We also have been watching the tremendous damage in Japan caused by the Great Quake there.  Our prayers are with all of the survivors and their families.  

Tomorrow (after the ACC basketball championship game), we will probably go to Balboa Park for the rest of the day.  Monday we think that we will go to Sea World, and we haven't decided on Tuesday yet--one of the advantages of being retired.  Life is good.  Thanks for visiting, 

Neil and Pamela

Back on the West Coast and Loving It!

Our Last Sunset at Desert Hot Springs on Wednesday Night

After several very warm days in Desert Hot Springs, we decided to move west and south a bit to Chula Vista, California just south of San Diego.  We had an easy drive through Temecua and some traffic, but had an easy exit to the Chula Vista Marina and RV Park.  We got here in early afternoon and were able to back in to a nice level spot and get everything set up.  After a sandwich and relaxing outside under the awning, we took a walk to the marina.  It was good to be back near the water and see boats and the waterfront.

Chula Vista Marina near the RV Park

We heard that there was a happy hour over at the restaurant overlooking the marina, so went over there and had an appetizer of steamed clams and a couple of margaritas to celebrate our return to the coast.  Then it was back to the Fiver to work more on taxes and a spaghetti dinner.  Not terribly exciting, but it was a good day for us.

We will be here until Wednesday, when we drive up to Norco to park the Fiver at Neil's niece's place while we visit his brother Bruce and Sandi.  We are planning to start our drive north to Oregon around March 21st and plan to be in Molalla at Pamela's brother around the 31st.

View from Our Table at the Restaurant

We really like the feel of this park and plan on visits to Sea World, Old Town San Diego, and Balboa Park while we are here.  Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

A Calm, Warm Day in Desert Hot Springs

Yea!  The winds died down today and it was a nice warm day in the park.  A perfect day to be retired.  We worked on getting some tax paperwork ready, and Neil made a trip to get some propane tanks filled.  It was a fine day and it was nice to be able to have some windows open and not have to worry about sand getting into the RV.

It will be warming up the rest of this week, into the 80's, and we will be leaving on Thursday to south of San Diego.  All is well with us--hope you are all doing well,

Neil and Pamela

Rock and Roll Monday in Desert Hot Springs

We had a very windy night with gusts to 60 mph here in the RV park, and it continued today with blowing sand and winds.  We decided to brave the winds and take a trip down to Cathredral City and Jessup GMC to have the air conditioner serviced and to balance the tires on the truck.  As often happens with these things, they found something else--a leaking water pump.  I guess that explains the slow coolant loss we have noticed over the last couple of months.  At any rate, wound up spending several hours in the waiting room and spending more money than intended, but we didn't want to have a water pump failure on a steep grade on our way north.  Everything should be now ready for our next travels.

After we got the truck back, we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, made a stop at Trader Joe's (those bacon-wrapped scallops are wonderful!) and came back up the hill to the RV park and into the wind.  The wind should be dying out tonight and it should be warm and sunny for the rest of the week.

We Found these Home Made Plywood Tire Covers Interesting

Pamela with Tank at George S. Patton Museum

We will be here in Desert Hot Springs until Thursday of this week when we leave for the coast at Chula Vista.  Here's hoping that you are staying out of the wind and or cold where ever you are.

Neil and Pamela

Catching Up with Neil and Pamela

Well, it has been over a week since our last post, so we will try to catch you up on where we have been and where we are going.  Before we left Benson, Arizona we took a side trip to Bisbee, Arizona where we visited with Fred and Suzi Dow, saw some of the sights of Bisbee and had a nice dinner.

Shortly afterwards, we traveled back to Brenda, Arizona where we celebrated Pamela's birthday with her cousin Gordon and Sandy at the Desert Gold RV Park.

Desert Gold RV Park

We had a great dinner of elk and halibut, followed by a wonderful chocolate cake and ice cream.   It was a great meal, followed by three games of Pinochle (the men won, two to one).   The next day, we drove down to Yuma and visited the Yuma Territorial Prison.  It was a long drive but worth the time and a very scenic drive.

Yuma Territorial Prison Cell Block

On Saturday, we "pulled up stakes" and drove back into California to Desert Hot Springs, with a stop at the General Patton Museum at the Chiricahua Summit near where Camp Young and the desert where General George S. Patton opened a tank warfare training center in 1942.  It was a great museum with a good movie and lots of exhibits.  It also has a "tank yard" with lots of tanks and other equipment.  Put it on your list for your travels on I-10 east of Palm Springs.

General George S. Patton Museum

One of the exhibits at the museum was on "trench art" which showed artillery shells that soldiers turned into vases and lamp stands.  It looked identical to the shells that Neil's Dad made out of artillery shells used by the US Coast Guard.  Neil still has a couple of these that his Dad and Grandfather made.

"Trench Art" Displayed at the Museum

We had a good trip across the border and into California with calm winds and sunny skies.  It was good that we traveled on Saturday, because Sunday was a VERY windy day, with winds in the 40 mph range and higher gusts forecast for tonight.  All we did today is go into Desert Hot Springs for brunch, shopping at a Stater Brothers grocery, and getting the oil changed on the GMC truck.

We will be here in Desert Hot Springs for several days, when we will be traveling south and west to Chula Vista (south of San Diego) to a nice RV park on the water.

Well, that gets us caught up for a while.  Thanks for visiting,


NEIL and PAMELA