On the Road Again ... to LA and ...

It’s been over five months since we’ve been back to LA, and with a few good reasons to go, off we went. 

First good reason was my niece, Ann, was having a baby shower and it is the first grandchild in their family.  This made it a very special event.  Baby Janes is due in January, and we can’t wait for the new addition to the clan.

Second reason was a wine and food pairing hosted by our financial advisor.  Who can refuse a wine and food pairing?  Certainly not us!  We had a great time catching up with a number of Toyota retirees and associates who also take advantage of her financial expertise.

Third (and final) reason was getting back together with our couples group for dinner.  We had a fabulous potluck dinner with wonderful friends.  It seemed like no time had passed while we enjoyed each other’s company once again.  It was sad to say “goodbye” when the evening was over.

Now, back to our travels.  The photo below was taken on our drive to LA. The photo below was taken while traveling on Highway 395.  Half of this drive is just simply beautiful (the other half is all desert—monotonous and boring).  We used to do this drive every Christmas and it almost always had snow.  This time we were in November and there was no snow on the ground (yet!).  When there’s snow, it is a wonderful white winter wonderland.

 

We stopped overnight in Lone Pine.  The RV is at the bottom of the picture and the beautiful Sierras are at the top.  Lovely, don’t you think?

 

When we arrived in LA, we stayed at Dockweiler State Beach (once again) which happens to sit right underneath the take-off flight path for LAX!  This time, however, we bought ear plugs and slept beautifully!!  This is the sunset the first night of our stay.

 

That wasn’t the only lovely sunset we experienced.  Here are a series of sunset shots from different evenings.  Enjoy the loveliness. 

And to make that one sunset even more impressive for your viewing enjoyment, I took a video panning the horizon.  To view the video you need to click on the title link of this blog which will take you directly to the blog on the Internet. (That’s a free viewing hint J.)

I couldn't resist this shot of the bird tracks on the sand.  I tried to get a shot of the Sandpipers, but they were just too fast for me and all my pictures were blurry so you'll have to settle for their tracks only!

After our weeklong stay in LA, we took off and drove up the coast highway to Atascadero to enjoy Thanksgiving week with our family.  It was a gorgeous day and the ocean looked lovely.

We stayed overnight at Flying Flags RV Park in Buellton, home of Anderson's Split Pea Soup.  Here are some photos of the campground.

 

Here's our "old" RV in our spot at the park.  Yes, I said "old!"  When we were in LA we took a drive to Mike Thompson's RV Super Center in Santa Fe Springs (where we've bought our last three RVs including two trailers).  I'll provide more details about our new rig in another blog.  But let me just say, it's 5' longer and has an additional slide for a total of three giving us much more living space.

The coolest thing about our stay at this RV park was the collection of antique trailers including a ginormous selection of Airstreams.  They RV park is completely remodeling the trailers so they can rent them out to campers!  We got a peek inside one and they are doing an amazing job making them look retro even in their interior decoration.  This photo is looking down only one of the two rows of antique trailers.

Now, here are a bunch of photos of the individual trailers.  Enjoy!  And even if you don't own a RV and would like to go camping, think about contacting Flying Flags and making a reservation to stay in one of these.  This is a great RV park with a swimming pool and a kids play area ... very kid friendly!  Check out these beauties ... and picture yourself sitting on one of the decks, sipping a cold one, and enjoying the great outdoors!

Psalms 65:5-8 // By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; Who establishes the mountains by His strength, being girded with might; Who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples.  They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.