2019 Winter Trip

 I haven't been very diligent this year in keeping the blogs coming. I hope in the next few weeks to get a few out showing our adventures this year so far.

We usually leave for a winter trip right around New Years. This year we thought we leave a little earlier, shortly after Christmas. Honestly, that wasn't such a good idea. We both felt really rushed trying to get ready.  We decided need to wind down after the Christmas celebrations.  In the future I think we will leave right after New Years.

 

  As you can guess, we got some pretty funny looks driving with the kayaks on top of the truck with snow on them.  We were on our way to pick up the trailer that we had parked at a friend's house for a few weeks.  We moved the trailer there in order not to have to worry about getting it down the driveway when the snow comes and turns the driveway to ice.

  I haven't been very good at taking pictures of the people we visit and meet along the way. I'm going to try and be better at that. Here we are with Kyle, Mona nephew who lives in Portland.

Most of the time heading south we like to go down the Oregon coast and especially stay and a campground near Yachats Oregon. This trip we were lucky in that we got not only into our favorite Campground but also our favorite campsite which is right on the coast with a great view of the ocean.

 Whenever we are passing through Crescent City we like to go for hikes in the Redwoods especially on the Boy Scout Trail. It's always enchanting any season of the year but I think especially in winter when it's really misty and everything is moist. The Boy Scout tree is a favorite destination.  It is one of the largest in the world.

 This year we planned to visit some of Mona's friends and my brother in Oakland and the northern Bay area.  Some friends just bought a new home near Santa Rosa with room for our trailer next to the house.  Well, there was lots of room if only we could back the trailer in.  Their access drive was very narrow and lined with shrubs and there was no way we could negotiate the trailer around the turn-a-round in front of the house.  They said they didn't like the shrubs in the turn-a-round anyway and started to hack away at them so we could just drive over the turn-a-round.  After a while though it was clear that this was going to be a major effort so we decided to check out Bodega Bay State Park.  It really was a good decision in the end since now we wouldn't be bothering our friends as we went about visiting others in the area.

Usually the Bodega Bay State requires reservations months in advance but since it was winter we got right in.  Here is view from our campsite.  On a side note, I really like how I redid the table area converting it from a U-shape to a more traditional configuration which allowed for a larger table.

Remember how I said I need to get pictures of the folks we meet and/or visit along the way.  Here is proof that I'm trying.  This is Joseph and Rosie who live in Oakland.  Not too far from my brother actually.  We visited two other couples and my brother while in the area.  Pictures of one out of three is a start.  You know what?  I need to get Mona to write the text for this blog, like she did on our trip to Alaska.  She is a much better writer.

Our next stop was Lake Havasu City where we like to camp just north of the city on BLM land.  South of town we heard of a slot canyon we though we might explore.  It was an easy hike until we reached this section of the canyon that required us to slide down a rock face.  Fortunately there was a knotted rope so you could lower yourself safely down.

It had rained recently so we needed to wade through several puddles.  At the beginning of one I couldn't tell how long it was since it wrapped around a corner in the canyon.  To make matters worse, right at the edge I could not feel the bottom with my hiking sticks.  Since we didn't want to go swimming we turned around.  That of course meant we had to go back up the slide.  Along the way we met a couple who had just slid down the face.  Let just say they were a little larger and less fit than Mona and I.  Using me as a ladder and pushing them up over our heads we got them back up.  Then Mona likewise climbed over me and the couple was able to reach down and pull her the rest of the way.  I think I had the easiest as I just held onto the rope and the three of them just pulled me up.

Just up the road from where we were camped a couple pulled in with a pop-up camper on their pickup.  Mona and I have been talking about getting something similar when we noticed from their license plate that they were from the same area where I live in North Idaho.  In talking with them, they had just purchased some land just a short distance from me.  They also were VW enthusiast and said there was a big VW event at the fairgrounds that weekend.  Since Mona's first car was a VW bug, we had to addend.

Mona and her husband also had a Vanagon.  There were hundreds of them at the event.

My daughter and her husband are in the process of buying a Pop-Up camper van.  I wonder if it is going to be like this red one.  I will admit thought that there were several there that were really,  I mean REALLY nice!!!  One even had a matching trailer.

Then it was onto the annual amateur radio event I like going to call "Quartzfest".  There are lots of presentations at this event.  For several years my friend Marilyn and I ran a seminar on Geocaching.  This year Marilyn showed Mona and I how to pan for gold.  We even found a few flakes.

 

Then it was onto Yuma where we spent all of February at the Carefree Village Resort.  We were there last year for a week while the truck was being repaired and enjoyed it so we thought we would tray it out for a month.  One day we went kayaking among the reeds alongside the Colorado river just north of town.  It is a great place to explore.

I think there are more Canadians in Yuma and Americans.  This is Pepee, one of our Canadian friends.  I put this in because I love his t-shirt.  I hope you can read it.  It says

Yuma, Arizona

Canada's Most Southern City

It seems appropriate

On of the attractions for us is the very active Pickle Ball community.  It was here that we were introduced to the game and have learned to enjoy it.  I think this was the Valentine's Day Tournament.

The people there, all of whom look like our parents, really know how to enjoy themselves.  It's weird to us to realize that we probably look like our parents too.

And this is how we ended the trip, back at our friends house to drop off the trailer at our friends house.  It was the first week of March and there was no way we going to get the trailer up to the house in Rose Lake.  After dropping off the trailer we made a bee-line to Seattle for the birth of Christine and Clint's second child.  A boy, named Lincoln.