Christmas at Santee Lakes 2012

With the Christmas season here again, we set off to spend a few days at one of our favorite campgrounds, Santee Lakes.  I am off work until Jan 2, 2013 but Robin had to be back to work after Christmas. 

We checked into the campground on the Saturday before Christmas and we were staying until Christmas day. A friend of ours who winters in Quartzsite joined us for the stay and celebrate the Christmas holiday  The weather was on the cool side and we did get some rain on the morning before Christmas.  But otherwise it was all good. 

The dogs, as always, enjoyed being out and about and Buddee enjoyed long walks around the lakes. We always like spending time watching all the ducks that are always on the lake and they are always looking for a free meal.

The Christmas Eve dinner consisted of Prime Rib that was slowed roasted in Karen's slow roaster/BBQ.  This was a test for a Prime Rib in the roaster and it passed with flying colors.
Along with the Prime Rib were side dishes of mashed potatoes, green beans, candied carrots and a perfect ending of pumpkin pie.

On Christmas day we leisurely packed up and headed back home.  Robin back to work and me to do some chores.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and wishing everyone,

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We spent our annual Thanksgiving weekend at the Lakeside RV Park in Pahrump, NV.  The weather was perfect, lots of sunshine and no wind.  We stay at the same campground every year, I really like the fall colors and if we don't feel like cooking the restaurant is pretty good.
Saturday night is prime rib buffet....YUM!.

A friend from Quartzside came to enjoy the weekend with us.  For T-day dinner we had a Honey Baked Ham w/mashed potatoes and candied carrots....another YUM!

On Friday we took a drive into Death Valley to take a tour of Scottys Castle only to find out that is really was never Scotty's Castle. Info on Scottys Castle.

One the way back to the RV park we took a little detour on the Borax Canyon road.

Saturday we stayed in town and went to a couple of small swap meets and stopped at the local Winery.  We relaxed at the campsite and enjoyed the sunshine.

It was a great weekend and can't wait to get out again.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Big Bear, Serrano NF Campground

We had the pleasure of spending last weekend at Serrano NF campground, next to Big Bear Lake.  We took the day off on Friday to get an early start up the "Big Hill" before the temps got to hot.  It was also Robin's birthday so we wanted to enjoy the weekend for as long as we could.

We arrived before noon on Friday and our site wasn't available yet so we parked off to the side and waited to get the signal that it was ready.  We waited about half an hour and we were waved into the campground.

The loop we were in didn't have any hookups but the sites were large with lots of space between campsites.  There were mostly tenters around us. It was in the mid 80"s and humid but we had lots of shade.  The evening cooled off nicely so we had good sleeping.

Saturday we woke up early, Buddee (dog) wanted to get the day started with his walk, so off we went to explore the area.  There is a bike trail the goes along the campground with the lake nearby so Buddee got this walk and back to the campsite for their breakfast, Buddee and Liz.  About 10am it clouded over and the T-Storms started.  Nothing scary, just a nice rain that pretty much continued off and on for the rest of the day.  Weather cooled down to mid 70's, we could sit under the awning and watch the rain. After the heat and dry weather we were experiencing at home it really felt great.

About 3pm the sun came out for awhile.  There was a big classic car show in Big Bear for the weekend, I am sure they didn't appreciate the rain like we did.  There was a caravan of all the cars making a trip around the lake, which brought them right past the campground.  We went down to the road and watched as all shapes and sizes of custom autos drove by.
It started raining again shortly after the drive by. The night was dry and sleeping was good with the cool temps. Here is sampling of the cars in the show.


Sunday morning it was time to pack up and head home again.....another great camping weekend.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Guajome Campground, Oceanside, Ca

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Get your own

We worked a half day on Friday and took off for a weekend campout at a local campground.  This campground is located east of Oceanside and is part of the San Diego County Park Sytem.  This little park has 35 campsites.  W/E with a dump station located at the exit.

We got to the campground about 2pm, traffic sucked.  We had reserved site#18 for our stay.  The site was great, long and plenty of camp space.  We relaxed the rest of the afternoon, maybe even dozed off a little bit.  Dinner were cheeseburgers and salad and baked beans.

Buddee and I spent some of the weekend exploring the lake area and the little hiking trails.  This area has lots of birds and different vegetation.  We had lot's of little walks enjoying the area.

It was a very relaxing weekend.  We are going to come back to this campground, it is within an hours drive of home and doable over a weekend.  It must be popular as it was booked all weekend.

Kings Canyon-Memorial Weekend

This is our third year that we have taken an extended weekend and went camping in Kings Canyon NP.  We were still as amazed by its beauty as we were the first time we camped in the canyon.  We stayed in the Moraine campground in the Cedar Grove area of the canyon.  The campground is mostly tenters with a few trailers and a couple of motorhomes so we kind of stick out.

We arrived on Thursday early afternoon, the weather was nice and sunny, probably in the mid 60's.  It took us a while to get level (not very level sites) and set up.  All was good.  A couple of friends joined us with their Westie (VW camper).  Friday was forecast with a 40% chance of rain in the evening so we put the rugs and chairs up in the afternoon so they wouldn't get wet.  We would get a little sprinkle once in a while.

Saturday morning we awoke to white stuff on the ground and a little chill in the air.  The day progressed to partly sunny and the snow was gone by 10am.  We decided to spend the afternoon around the campfire relaxing.  It was nice to relax and enjoy the beauty of the trees and the smell of pine in the air.  Later on in the evening we were sitting inside enjoying the furnace, playing crazy eight and watched several deer come through the campground.

Sunday morning we got up to sunny skies, it was going to be a nice day.  We, of course, had to pack up and get on the road back to the real world.  We did do an overnight at the Bakersfield RV Resort to get the last of the weekend before heading home on Monday Morning. 

Next year we will probably miss out on Kings Canyon as we are planning on heading for Yellowstone on Memorial Weekend.

It was again a great weekend.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Black Rock Canyon, Joshua Tree

This our first visit to Joshua Tree NP, the price was certainly right. It was $7.50 per night and free enty into the park with our old geezer pass.  Good stuff.

The campground has no hookups, and the sites aren't very level but it was a great place to spend the weekend and visit the NP.  I will say the last half mile into the campground could certainly use some roadwork.  We would stay there again.

The weather was perfect, it was rather windy inside the park when we were siteseeing but the campground was perfect with nice quiet eveings for a campfire.  It amazes me the differences in the desert landscapes, just in this park alone, I think the landscape changed about three times.  It is very differnet than Death Valley.

Anyway it was another successful weekend.

Enjoy the pictures!

Good Sam Rally/Sedona Road Trip

We took in our first Good Sam National Rally in Phoenix Az and as long as we were going to be in the area we decided to take in an Angels Spring Training game and spend a couple of days in the Sedona, Az area.  The weather for the trip turned out to be just about perfect, lot's of sunshine.

We started out for Quartzsite to overnight and pick up a friend with her rig, she was our tail gunner for the trip.  We made a short stop at the Patton Museum at the Chiriaco Summit, CA exit. After breakfast at the local cafe we headed out for our overnight destination.  We stopped at the Flying J on the Az side and gassed up, cheaper than Ca.

The next morning we headed out, with Karen behind us, to Phoenix International Speedway, where the Good Sam Rally was being held.  We arrived mid-morning and got lucky and didn't have to wait in line to get parked.  Parking was tight but we were lucky to have a van beside us so we had some extra space.  After we got all set up we headed out to check out all the vendors.  Oh boy...lot's of stuff.

Every evening we had entertainment, Bowzer, Bill Cosby, Martina McBride.  Great stuff!

On Monday, we packed up and headed across town to Apache Palms RV park in Tempe, Az to catch an Angels Spring Training game.  Great weather and we enjoyed watching the game, even though they lost.  RV park was fine and we would stay there again.

On Tuesday we packed up for a couple of days stay at Distant Drums RV Resort in Campe Verde, Az.  We wanted to do some siteseeing in the Jerome, Sedona area.  Distant Drums is a very nice Resort very well kept and clean. Will stay there again if we are in the area.

Our site seeing took us to Jerome, Az, Montezuma Castle National Monument, Dead Horse Ranch, Sedona and the surrounding area.  Lots of pretty desert scenery to enjoy.
After enjoying a couple of days in the area we had to pack up and head back home.  We overnighted in Quartzsite again and Karen got set up in her winter site again.

We had a great time and I hope you enjoy the pictures, Pictures were taken by Robin, Karen and myself. 

Newport Dunes

Normally we camp by ourselves and enjoy not having to be on any kind of schedule or
have visit with other people.

This weekend we went to a all womens RV rally at Newport Dunes in Newport Beach.  The Rally had a total of 20 rigs of all shapes and all piloted by women.  Some of them on their own and some with companions and friends.  The group was comprised of some retired and some still working.  We had a great time and enjoyed the company of women with some of the same
interests as us. 

The weather was pretty good, Friday night we had a shower and Saturday we had a little drip right as the pot luck was getting started.  The hosts had use of the clubhouse so all was good.

The campground was on the back bay in Newport Beach,  nice campground, but the campsites were pretty tight.  We were surrounded by rally members so it was quiet but if
we had families with a couple of kids on each side of us or a party group, we would not have
been happy.

But it was a great weekend with lots of jokes and laughing and visiting.

Quartzsite 2012

We just got back last weekend from our third annual visit to this sleepy town for their annual RV tent show and many swapmeets.  What Sturgis is to motorcylces, Quartzsite is to motorhomes.  All shapes and sizes for motorhomes and people.

The weather was great, not to warm, chilly evenings and nights. 

The first day we arrived we took a little drive north of town on Hwy 95 out to the BLM land.  Dry camping allowed all along the road.  We managed to find friends camping in the desert, Eldon and Nancy, we stopped and had a nice visit.  They used our campsite to park their car to go shopping at the big tent and swapmeet.

The big tent and surrounding area seemed to have more vendors than last year.  We didn't purchase to much, but we got our friend, Karen, set up with a flag pole and flag that attached to the ladder on her motorhome. 

 Of course we had to check out some of the food vendors as well. Some pretty good BBQ and polish sausages.  Lots of other stuff but the stomach will only hold so much.

I would get up in the morning and Buddee and I would go for a walk, then I would sit outside finish my coffee and watch the traffic so by wishing I had the money that would pass by, motorhomes and motorhomes towing all kinds of toys.  Millions of dollars in vehicles.

Anyway we had a great time as usual and will be going back again next year.

I didn't take to many pictures as it was a "been there done that" kind of weekend.