The grand finally

Our 14th RV trip started “surprise ” exactly form the place we left the rig a year before –Salida CO,and from there we made our way to North Colorado-Utah-Nevada and the East side of the High Sierras ending the trip near L.A.

On the way we hiked,soaked,sailed,danced,made friends , had a lot of fun and took it easy enjoying every minute (see previous posts).

We stored the rig and spend 2 weeks with family and friends in L.A.

 

On the way home we spend 2 weeks with our youngest son’s family in Toronto waiting for a birth of their second child and our 7th grandchild (great sex life-every year a grandkid…)

We made it before the “birth date” and had a great time with our kid ,wife and their 1 year and 10 months old(young) daughter.

It was the time that Ellie got used to us in case we have to stay with her when her parents have to go to the hospital,and it sure was a good idea…at 3AM the unborn did not want to wait and we were with Ellie till after the birth, except few minutes she was just perfect and we had no problem playing and enjoying the time with her.

At noon after the birth we took her to the hospital to meet her brother and parents,she understood that the big belly of her mom will actually become a baby and she took it as the big sister.

It was a great finally the cherry on the top of the cake ,a huge pleasure to end this summer trip like this,the mother and the child were realised from the hospital after a day healthy and happy and so was Grandma

 

We have a tradition going : every grand daughter at the age of 12 and every grandson at the age of 13 joins us RVing for one month , now we have to be in shape to do it for another 13 years…..we will try our best.

As we “shut down” our RV travels till the next summer we wish you all a great winter wherever you are – in Arizona,Florida,Alabama as snow birds or wintering at your brick house with the stove light up.

We are going home but will do some trips during the winter (not RVing) ,stay tuned.

See ya all down the road.

Winter storage in Palmdale CA

One of the most difficult things in our RV life style is leaving the truck and trailer for the winter at the end of our RV summer trip and not seeing it till the next summer.

We have to leave it close to an International Airport from where we can fly out/in and it is always a great issue.

As I do my planning in the winter for the next RV summer trip I usually try to find a RV campground that also has an outside  storage area ,they are way cheaper than a regular Boat/RV storage places .

Some times one that owns a RV and has place on his property invites us to to store the rig next to his and that was the case this time.

Fred answered my post on the RV forum simply saying “ come and store your rig next to mine” …wow I thought the guy does not know anything about us but still is ready to invite strangers to his home…well not only we were able to store our rig in a safe place but were blessed to meet Fred & Carol , great real people.

Before leaving Palmdale to Los Angeles Airport Fred took us to visit the Air Force Museum ,his joy and pride and although I am a Navy man I enjoyed the visit very much.

  

Thank you Fred & Carol it was a pleasure meeting you both and it will be again when we come in the summer to pick the rig, stay safe and have a great winter.

I wish there were more people like them to make world  a much better place.

Good time with family & friends in Los Angeles

We are all Older,balder,fatter ,have “senior” moments often and we did not see each other for more years than I want to remember BUT we are old friends from High School and the Navy.

So this was a great opportunity to get together  with my 3 “old palls” that live in Los Angeles, two are from the same High School and know each other ,Sam on the left,Dan on the right and our host

 

The TRIO on Dan’s boat in Lake Forest CA.

Shula that was my girlfriend in High School and knows Sam & Dan since the good old times was of course with us too,we just had a great time correcting the world and wondering how fast did 50 years fly by.

My navy friend Samuel lives in the valley ,has a nice house and a great family , we were lucky to meet them all celebrating “Sukkot” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot in their yard.

      

While the trailer was stored in Palmdale (it will be there during the winter) we stayed with Ron (Shula’s cousin) & Sara , they were perfect hosts and made us instantly feel at home ,we went our for dinners,movie and a Regatta .

   

So after a great RV summer trip that covered N.Colorado-Utah-Nevada and East Sierras we had fantastic time with family and friends in the City.

Thank you all for your kind hospitality ,will see you all again in the next summer and not after 50 years ….

Long Beach & Rancho Los Alamitos CA

We are still in L.A only with the truck and are taking every opportunity to visit the area,this time to Long Beach,Naples and Rancho Los Alamitos, they are close by but anyone that is familiar with the traffic knows that it takes time to get from one place to another and find a PARKING spot.

Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the United States and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257.In addition, Long Beach is the second largest city in the Greater Los Angeles Area (after Los Angeles) and a principal city of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The Port of Long Beach is the United States' second busiest container port and one of the world's largest shipping ports. The city also maintains a large oil industry with wells located both underground and offshore. Manufacturing sectors include those in aircraft, car parts, electronic and audio-visual equipment, and home furnishings.

After a short stop and walk on the beach we succeeded to find a parking spot in Naples, an Island further East and walk along the canals that were loaded with boats and yachts from all kind,I do not know why this place is called Naples,it should be Venice or at least “Paradise”…

It is a difficult life ,imagine going down stairs ,climbing into the boat,cross the canal to visit your friend that lives on the opposite the Canal, it is TOUGH…

Naples is a neighbourhood of Long Beach, California, United States, built on three islands located in Alamitos Bay. The islands are divided by canals which open into the bay.

    

At 1PM looking for a parking spot next to a restaurant  we were lucky again,the sign said “No parking on Friday between 12 and 2PM” we looked around and saw a road cleaning truck approaching the place to do his thing and also saw cars double parking with drivers in the driver’s seat, as the cleaner’s truck finished cleaning the side road they all drove to catch a parking spot –and so did I..

With an Indian Buffet in our bellies we continued to Rancho Los Alamitos ,(no parking problems here).

We took a guided tour to see this Ranch and learn the history of the place.
Rancho Los Alamitos is twice listed on the National Register of Historic Places - once as the sacred Tongva village of Povuu’ngna, the traditional birthplace of the native people of the Los Angeles Basin and, second, for the evolution of its significant historic landscape over time. The site includes traces of the ancestral village, an adobe-core ranch house ca.1800, four acres of lush historic gardens developed during the 1920s and 30s, and the restored working ranch barnyard of the early-mid 20th century. With the opening of the Rancho Center, the film, new exhibits and room environments feature the landscape, the people and the place over time and within the context of the development of the region and the state.

And there is a lot more to see and visit.

The Huntington Library,Art Collection & Botanic Gardens CA

San Marino the small beautiful and rich town is located between L.A and San Gabriel Mountains is hosting The Huntington Library,Art Collections and Botanic Gardens.

As a landowner, a businessman, and a visionary, Henry Edwards Huntington, (1850–1927), played a major role in the growth of southern California. Huntington was born in 1850 in Oneonta, New York, and was the nephew and heir of Collis P. Huntington, (1821–1900), one of the famous "Big Four" railroad tycoons of 19th century California history. In 1892, Huntington relocated to San Francisco with his first wife, Mary Alice Prentice, and their four children. He divorced Mary Alice Prentice in 1906, and in 1913 married his uncle's widow, Arabella Huntington, (1851–1924), relocating from the financial and political center of northern California, San Francisco, to the state's newer southern major metropolis, Los Angeles. He purchased a property of more than 500 acres that was then known as the "San Marino Ranch", and went on to purchase other large tracts of land in the Pasadena and Los Angeles areas of Los Angeles County for urban and suburban development. As president of the Pacific Electric Railway Company, the regional streetcar/public transit system for the Los Angeles metropolitan area and southern California and also of the Los Angeles Railway Company, (later the Southern California Railway), he spearheaded urban and regional transportation efforts to link together far-flung communities, supporting growth of those communities as well as promoting commerce, recreation, and tourism. He was one of the founders of the City of San Marino, incorporated in 1913.

Huntington's interest in art was influenced in large part by his second wife, Arabella Huntington, (1851–1924), and with art experts to guide him, he benefited from a post-World War I European market that was "ready to sell almost anything". Before his death in 1927, Huntington amassed "far and away the greatest group of 18th-century British portraits ever assembled by any one man". In accordance with Huntington's will, the collection, then worth $50 million, was opened to the public in 1928.

(Quote from Wikipedia)

The huge house is surrounded by  beautiful gardens has a great art collection that includes paintings,statues and silverware,there are so many rooms that it is hard to imagine how all of them were used in those days and how one found the other…

The Magna Carta Law and Legend,1215-2015 was presented in one of the rooms to the public and it was the first time for us to see it.

In 1215 Magna Carta was a peace treaty between the King and the rebel barons. In that respect it was a failure, but it provided a new framework for the relationship between the King and his subjects. The 1225 version of Magna Carta, freely issued by Henry III (r.1216-72) in return for a tax granted to him by the whole kingdom, took this idea further and became the definitive version of the text. Three clauses of the 1225 Magna Carta remain on the statute book today. Although most of the clauses of Magna Carta have now been repealed, the many divergent uses that have been made of it since the Middle Ages have shaped its meaning in the modern era, and it has become a potent, international rallying cry against the arbitrary use of power.

 

Leaving the “history” and the Library behind us we strolled to the Japanese Gardens to relax…

     

The small bridges,waterfalls,reflections and the “laud” quietness puts you in the right mode for relaxation..DO NOT MISS this place whenever you are in the area.