Pancakes!

Today, girlfriends Peggy and Paula and I took Peggy's new sewing machine back to where she purchased it because it isn't working right.  They are going to take a look at it for her. 

Then we tried a new/old place, DuParr's.  It's down off Sports Arena Blvd. and has been there since 1938 but none of us even knew it was there!  They advertised the "best" pancakes anywhere.  They were good but not like "sweet cream pancakes"! 

After eating we walked off our brunch walking around some shops in the area, got some coffee and now home! 

Tomorrow Ted is taking me to Harrah's casino where I'm meeting my friend Jeri, we will gamble for awhile and have lunch.  Jeri and I are spending the next two nights there and Ted will be heading home to take care of Max!  He is making some plans with friends for dinner so I'm sure he'll be okay!

Trying new pancakes..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Catching up with San Diego friends!

We are still catching up with friends in San Diego and on Thursday had dinner with friends Larry and Carol Wallis.   We had a nice evening and it was topped off with a gift of home grown tomatoes and squash!  Yum, love home grown tomatoes!

On Friday Ted had lunch with David Prime.  We miscommunicated "again" and I was locked out for a few hours!  Max and I were taking a walk and Ted left early for his appointment.  Fortunately the Ranger loaned me a newspaper so I read the paper cover to cover!  I think I need to take my keys with me when Ted has appointments without me!!!

Yesterday we went to a dance recital for Sophie Prime.  We met David at O'sullivans in Escondido for a bite to eat before the recital.  Sophie was the first to do her solo dance and it was beautiful!  We enjoyed and appreciated most of the choreography and the kid's dance abilities.  It was very well done.  Sophie had about six dances and we were really proud of her.  She has really blossomed!

Today Max was getting groomed so we took off to meet our friend Jeri Gutowski and her son Tony, his wife Gina and their kids, Mallorie and Trent for lunch.  They put us in the back room so we sat there talking and catching up for a couple of hours.  Max still wasn't ready so we spent another hour in Tony's back yard by the pool enjoying the sun shine with a Margarita, that is until Trent did a cannon ball and soaked me!  He really did a good job and was proud of himself!

Dance recitals and cannonballs..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Enjoying San Diego!

On Tuesday we attended the promotion from 8th grade of Sophie Prime.  Ted has been friends with her Dad, David for almost 40 years!  Ted and I were married when Sophie was a little girl and it has been fun watching her develop into a lovely young lady!  She went to High-Tech Middle School and will attend High-Tech High School in the fall.  After the ceremony we went to lunch with David and Carol and several of Sophie's friends parents.  The kids had a table all their own and seemed to be having a great time.

 Tuesday evening my "girls night out" friends met at Marcella's for a "special meeting" since I was home.   Marcella had lots of good food for us and Margarita's aplenty!  Marcella made a beautiful rock garden in memory of her mom.  She was a really great lady and a lot of fun to be around.  Marcella and her mom traveled together and just really had a great time doing things with each other.  The garden was really lovely and I was happy to add my rock to her collection.

Yesterday our friends Jeri and Stach brought a picnic out to us! They had sandwiches, fresh fruit, chips and beer! Quite a feast! We sat outside and talked all afternoon long!We have traveled with Jeri and Stach and of course the subject of Paris and/or a cruise came up.  Looking ahead to 2012!   And, finally about 7:30 we realized we better have dinner. We tried a barbeque place in Eastlake that was so-so.

Planning trips..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Pio Pico - Jamul, California!

We are in Jamul, east of San Diego.  We have very unstable wi-fi.  Some days it works (like right now) and most days it doesn't!  I feel like I have to type fast before it goes away!

Before we left Wilderness Lakes, my washer stopped working.  It started making a funny noise and then it would only wash, no draining, no spinning!  So we set up an appt. for Friday at Pio Pico.  The washer is only 4 years old and the rear gear prematurely stopped working along with the pump.  The pump would be covered under our extended warranty but with our $200 deductible, we would receive back $10!  The gear is $900, kid you not.  The washer was a Whirlpool but made in Italy and you can't get the part for over a month and is too expensive.  So we bought a new washer yesterday.  I made the appt. with Sears and if we had gotten the 1-yr warranty for $319, part would have been covered but we would still have to wait a long time.  So a new washer is coming on Monday.

We stopped by Webb's RV on our way down to Jamul on Wednesday to have the toilet fixed.  They replaced the part but it still isn't working right.  When I called they said it was my fault because I told them what the part is that wasn't working and so that's what they replaced!  WHAT!  We will take it back to make it right but will not deal with them again!  I also told them that when they resealed our roof, instead of the one small leak we went in for, we had two bigger leaks when we went through our first rain storm in Texas!

All I can say is that our repair woes continue!  I'm thankful we have our health and that it's only mechanical, but come on!

On a happier note, we had dinner with our friend Peggy Price Wednesday night and caught up with her. 

Thursday I had my nails done by the best nail person ever (and I've been with a lot of nail people while traveling), Kim and my friend Jeri got hers done at the same time so we had Starbucks and were happily chit-chatting while we got our nails done (it's a girl thing)!  Then Thursday night we had dinner with Ted's H.S. classmate, Rusty Coole up in Escondido to catch up with him. 

Yesterday after buying a washer, we had dinner at Ted's classmate's; Jim and Della Crownover.  Jim barbecued chicken, Della made homemade potato salad and coleslaw, delicious white corn on the cob and fresh melon.  We brought dessert, a recipe that I found in Parade magazine to cut up peaches, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon and wrap each person's batch in tin foil and put on the grill.  You grill for 15 mins. and then put over ice cream and drizzle with caramel sauce!  It was pretty good too!  Then we played a card game of Phase 10.  Jim was the big winner.  Ted almost came from last, last place to win but Jim pulled it off at the last second!

Back in San Diego visiting with friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"

A day in Old Town Temecula

Yesterday we met our friends Jeri and Stan (Stach) Gutowski in Old Town Temecula!

We had a delicious lunch at The Edge Restaurant.  Jeri and I led the way through the shops while the guys found the "husband benches"!  Jeri and I bought a couple of yard flags and talked and talked and talked some more!  We needed to catch up on almost six months (even though we keep in touch by text and phone)!

You can certainly tell we've had spring this year.  On our trip we have seen bird eggs, baby birds, baby quail, baby bison, baby cows, baby geese and driving through our campground, more baby geese!

Visiting, shopping and eating..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Wilderness Lakes!

We arrived back in San Diego County on Thursday afternoon.  We've been having a computer glitch, we think from a virus.  It mostly is affecting our AOL email.  We are probably going to have to get it looked at.

Last night we had dinner with our friends Bill and Jany Staley.  I used to work with Bill at the CPA firm.  We worked together 18 years.  We went to BJ's Brewhouse in Escondido.  It's a fun place and the prices are pretty good too.  The pizza looked great but none of us tried it.  Bill and Jany both had stuffed baked potatoes and they both thought they were delicious!  I enjoyed a pasta dish with grilled shrimp, tomatoes and feta cheese and Ted had a chicken parmesan.  After dinner we sat and talked over a Starbucks!

The weather in central California was pretty hot so we are enjoying the cooler temperatures here in San Diego County!

Near home..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sunny Bakersfield!

They have been working on one of the wells at the campground and yesterday the backhoe struck the power line and cut the power to the park.  Ted and I went through that when we were remodeling the house.  They were digging a new area for our septic and hit the electrical, telephone and water!  Boy was that a mess.  When SDG&E came out they said the lines were pulled out of the box and they were worried about PCB's so they had their hazmet team out.  Our contractor had to pay a LOT of money to fix that mess!  Our power came back on in the park about 2:00 a.m.

We went out in the afternoon to fuel up before leaving today.  We are now in Bakersfield.  When we came out of the campground the Bison were wandering around so I took their picture!

Tomorrow we head for our Wilderness Lakes Campground in Menifee!

Big and little Bison..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Golfing & Eating!

What a great day, golfing and eating!  What more could you want???  We went and played nine holes at the Bolado Park Golf Club in Tres Pinos!  It was a fun course and Ted beat the socks off of me!  It has been a long time since we played.  I hit just enough good shots to want to play again!

After golf we went to a little cafe in town called Flapjack Country.  They have pumpkin spice flapjacks which I just had to try, and boy are they yummy!  They do rival my sweet cream pancakes!  We were here the last time we stayed at the San Benito campground and remembered they have really good food and service.

I came home ready for a nap but decided to get on the computer instead!

Golf and flapjacks..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Casa de Fruta!

Before I get to the nice day we had yesterday, I have to tell you that our repair woes continue!  Of all things, the flap in the bottom of the toilet started acting up and finally stopped working yesterday.  We took off to Hollister to a RV repair facility and of course, being Saturday, they were closed!  There is a Camping World about 40 miles away so we called them to see if they had the parts and of course, they have to be ordered, and of course, it takes a week to get them!  And of course, we are leaving on Wednesday.  We can still use the toilet so we will wait until we get to San Diego to get it fixed!

Now to the fun part of yesterday!  On the way to Casa de Fruta in Hollister, we noticed a Glider Airport.  Ted used to fly gliders so we checked it out.  They were having some sort of promotional event.  We watched a few planes soaring and then continued on our way.

Casa de Fruta was started in 1908 and is basically a fruit stand!  Yesterday they were having a craft fair so we checked out all the "goods".  They have a fruit and nut shop, sweet shop, restaurant, wine tasting room and deli.  They have a 2-story carousel and a train that gives rides around the park.  They have an RV campground and an Inn.  After having a great lunch and a little shopping, we headed back to the campground.

Around 7:30 it was still nice and warm out, so we went over to the adult pool for some swimming.  We were the only ones there so were able to splash around to our hearts content!  After a little exercise and cooling down, we headed home.

Carousels and trains..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Paicines, California

On Wednesday our friends took us to Old Town Sacramento.  We walked around the shops.  The train station is right next to the Sacramento River and there is a lot of train memorabilia.  The old hardware store is more of a book store and old time toy store.  A lot of the shops are geared toward children and the day we were walking around there were lots of children on field trips in the various museums.  There are souvenir shops and lots and lots of restaurants!

Joel wanted to take us to lunch on the river so we went to the Virgin Sturgeon.  You walk down some steps to an airplane walkway which takes you to the restaurant which sits out over the river on a pier.  We had a good lunch and I had a hot buttered rum!  Some of our entertainment was provided by a mother goose and her babies.  It was fun watching them trying to get up on the pipe or the dock.  They were enjoying eating the grass that was growing on the landing!

We arrived in the tiny (population 204) town of Paicines in San Benito County, near Hollister, California yesterday!  We will be here until June 9th.  We have a Thousand Trails campground here.  The town itself has one country store but we are out in the middle of a farming area.  It looks like they are growing onions, cabbage and lots of grape.  So of course there are several wineries in the area.  We've also seen some Bison across the road from the campground!

After arriving yesterday we went about 5 miles up the road to the town of Tres Pinos, with a population of 500!  They have an ATM, a gas station that sells diesel fuel, a saloon, several Mexican restaurants, a cafe and a big church!

Watching the baby geese..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Minden Lake

We are still in Sacramento and have been hanging out at the campground for the holiday weekend.   Our campground surrounds Minden Lake. There are bass, catfish and carp in the lake.  There were a few people fishing over the weekend.  They have canoes, paddleboats and bumper boats available for rent.  They have several tent areas and two areas for RV's.  Max and I have been walking around the lake once a day, a little over 1 1/4 miles.  Max's tongue is hanging pretty good by the time we get back!

Kickin' back on Minden Lake..."Ain't Life Grand!"