Just no time......

Sorry it has been a while. I have been so busy with work that I haven't had time to catch you guys up on anything. We made it to Jacksonville, FL and are staying at the Flamingo Lake RV Resort. Poor Buddy has been really sick with diarrhea. We took him to the vet on Monday and he was dehydrated and had to stay for most of the day to have an IV, blood work, etc. Couldn't really find anything wrong with him other than the bladder stones that he has had for a while. They gave him some meds and new food for a few days and he seems to be feeling better. We really didn't go anywhere. Just got too busy. We got ready to leave for Savannah, GA this morning (Saturday) and woke up to a thunderstorm. Never stopped raining.. We had to break down the trailer in the pouring rain, drive it to Georgia and set it up again in the rain.  Well.... that's a story for the next blog.


You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

Up close and personal

So... a couple of days ago, I put Buddy in his bike carrier and road over to St. Andrews State Park. It is about 2 blocks from the trailer park. We were on a nice little ride through the park when I saw a sign that said Gator Lake. I didn't think anything about it then, but last night I looked it up and apparently there are Alligators in the lake. Well my curiosity got the best of me and I had to go back and look. This time I went by myself, just in case there were some... didn't want Buddy to be gator food. hehehehe

It really is a neat place. They have a couple of piers that are in the Jetty area. They also have a marina that goes into the Lagoon. Then there is Gator Lake. Its a lake with what I want to call a bird island. Literally an island full of birds. There is a wilderness trail that runs along side the lake and a lookout over the lake. I went to the lookout and got a good view of the lake. After about 10 minutes I saw it.... an alligator on the other side of the lake. I decided to take the trail... that is a scary thing... every noise you hear makes you jump. Along the trail, I saw a turtle. By the time I got to the other side, the gator was gone. I waited for a while hoping he would surface, but he never did. I looked back to where the lookout is and saw some black in the lake. I walked back to the lookout and here is what I saw.....

After a little while he went back under. I stuck around for about 15 minutes, but he never came back up, so I left to go home and make me some dinner. On my way out of the park, I saw a white-tail mule deer. What an adventurous day. 

Well I don't have any other sightseeing plans, so you may not see me post until we take off again this weekend.... 

You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

What a week.... and its only Tuesday

Wow... what a difference a couple of days make. Saturday, we took off from Foley, AL to Panama City Beach, FL. It was a beautiful drive, nice and sunny.  We chose to come here a few weeks ago while Delbert had to fly to California for work. We thought it would be a nice place for me to be..... well we didn't know it would be spring break. We get up on Sunday morning to take Delbert to the airport and I had a missed call from Dennis. Well it was Kimberly calling to tell me that she had to take Dennis to the Emergency Room. He was sick and in pain. Turns out that he needed to have his appendix out. Boy, I had never felt so far away until then. Luckily it hadn't burst and the surgery only took about an hour and he got to go home the next day. So I dropped Del off at the airport and headed to Walmart. I had no idea there were so many people at the Walmart.... lines all the way to the back of the store. Luckily, I was able to get into the 20 items line.. I figured if they made me, I could put back a couple of items. Well as I was thinking that, a clerk opened a new line so I jumped in it before everyone did and got out of there. Del made it to California... lots of turbulence and snow in Arizona, but made it safely.

I looked around for things to do and really couldn't find alot. I guess I could get out and drive around, but with Spring Break going on, probably won't be doing too much of that... just too many people and cars.

Anyways... if I go anywhere I will keep you guys in mind... Sure hope the rest of the week goes smoother.


You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

Surf's Up

All I can say is WOW... didn't know that the dolphins could surf. LOL  My brother-in-law suggested that we take this dolphin cruise that they went on, so we did it today. They took two boats out into the bay. Once one of the boats spotted some dolphins, they would stop and move closer together so that the pod is between the two boats. Then they started going and low and behold... they actually start playing in the wake. I don't know how to describe it. They only thing I can say is to watch the video: Dolphin Cruise... again... all I can say is WOW.... Let me know your thoughts...

Well we are leaving Alabama tomorrow and heading to Panama City Beach, FL. Come see my adventures in the next post.

You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

To Mobile and beyond

What a day.....I always hate the time change. We got up this morning and headed out to Mobile, AL for our weekend excursion. We drove out as far as Dauphin Island. Really neat place. Went to a place called Fort Gaines. As we were getting out to explore the fort, Delbert says... "Nancy, wait" and he was looking at my butt... As a woman, all I could think of was I had blood on my pants, but I knew it couldn't be that because that hadn't happened in about 8 years... he then continues... "You have busted out your pants"... Good thing I had on a long T-Shirt to cover it. When I finally got home and looked, it was a huge area.... 

Anyways, we drove around a bit and then went to the Battleship Memorial Park, home of the USS Alabama. They were closed already, but you could drive in and see the items. They had all kinds of things: War memorials, planes, tanks and of course the USS Alabama battleship.

From there, we headed back home to Foley, AL. We were going to have dinner at a place called Lambert's Cafe, home of the throwed rolls.... and yes, they really do throw the rolls at you. They also come around with practical jokes. The way it works is you get your meal and then there are certain things on the side that they walk around and bring to your table: Fried Okra, Black Eyed Peas, Apple Butter, and Fried Potatoes. Every once in a while they will try to fool you.... ie... tell you it is fried okra and when they reach in they pull out a stuffed squirrel or the one that got Delbert was she was bringing him a refill on his sweet tea and she pretended to trip and spill it on him... now mind you... this is just a made up pitcher like they would use to decorate a model home... not real but he sure jumped... I laughed so hard. Now I have never seen so much food in my life... This was just a plate of food. This was Pork Steak, Country Ham and Hog Jowl, which is like a really thick bacon. It was really good and we brought home a lot of leftovers and this was just my plate. Maybe this is why my pants are splitting... HEHEHEHE

Well I moaned my way back to the car and we headed home. As I took Buddy out for his walk tonight and the stars were shining so bright, I was reminded that it really is the simple things in life that make it all worth it.

You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Catch ya next time... I'm on the run

On the road again.... to Alabama

Woke up this morning and went over to the Jefferson Davis house in Biloxi, MS called Beauvoir, which means Beautiful View and it sure was. Jefferson Davis is the President of the Confederate States of America. When the civil war was over, the confederate soldiers were allowed to become citizens of the United States with the exception of him. Once he and his daughter died, his wife sold the property to the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans for use as a home for the veterans and their widows. Once all of the veterans and widows passed away, it was to be used as a memorial to Jefferson Davis. It contains the Presidential Library and museum, a Confederate cemetery and several buildings. It was heavily damaged during Hurricane Katrina and they are having to rebuild the library and some of the other buildings. We toured the main house. What a neat place. When you walk in you can see their entertaining rooms, bedrooms and dining rooms. There were 2 dining rooms, one for the adults and one for the children. The rooms that they entertain in had rounded ceilings and walls... I had never seen that before. Also, when you look in their bedrooms, and they did have separate bedrooms, their "bathtubs" were no bigger than a washtub.

When we finished touring Beauvoir, we packed up the trailer and headed to Foley, AL. We had a very uneventful trip. We are staying at Anchors Aweigh RV Park. The have a restaurant here called Lambert's where apparently they throw rolls at you... I will keep you posted on that when we go there. They also have a Krystal's... for anyone who doesn't know what Krystal is, think sliders and White Castle... now you know what Krystal is. Delbert was so excited that he absolutely had to have some today when we got here. We got the trailer all set up and Delbert sat in the jacuzzi.

Once he was all nice and wrinkled, he got out and we took off for a ride for dinner. It was already getting dark but he apparently had a mission on his mind. We drove to Florida for dinner...wasn't far.... 10-15 miles or so. We ate at a place called the Shrimp Basket... great food. On our way back, we stopped by his brothers RV and then we all went to another place to sit and chit chat.

Home now and exhausted... Loosing an hour sleep tonight... Heading to Battlefield Park back in Mobile tomorrow and down into Gulf Shores. Check back to read all about that. Also, I will upload some pictures once I bring my camera in from the car.


You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

We are on our way to Mississippi... Biloxi, MS. I was really beginning to wonder if Louisiana was going to let us go... First off, we got caught up in the Rock 'n' Roll marathon when we got off the ship and had to try to find a way around it. Then as we are leaving with the trailer, we hit a large patch on the freeway where it was not as paved and it sent us bouncing like crazy. I was surprised that the trailer was still attached. Then we hit another rut right before the border.... almost like it was saying... "No, Don't Go", but we made it to Biloxi... We are staying in Cajun RV Park which is literally across the street from the ocean.... soooo cool... 

We have been out exploring Gulfport, Ocean Springs, Biloxi, and the rest of the Gulf here. Pretty cool place especially when you think about how much was destroyed by Katrina in 2005. The lighthouse in Biloxi is really neat. It is actually in the middle of the road. 

We have had great weather while we have been here up until last night (Thursday). It rained all night, but we are at least drying out now. We are getting ready to move on to Alabama tomorrow, but we are going to hit the Jefferson Davis house tomorrow (Saturday) before leaving to Foley, AL. For those who do not know... Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederate States of America and his house is called Beauvoir. Check out tomorrows blog for details.

OK... I am finally caught up to where we are now. Check back tomorrow for details about Beauvoir and our trip to Alabama.

You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.

Gotta run.....

Jamaica man.... and the rest of the Carribean

It's the end of February and we are off on our Carribean cruise on the Carnival Conquest heading to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Getting onto the ship was pretty smooth, but it was raining and cool. We were looking forward to getting into the warmer weather. The ship was really nice. The decor was very artsy looking and there were even murals on the ceiling of the elevators. We had an interior room. We have previously had a balcony and an outside room, but don't see any reason to pay more for those rooms when you don't spend much time in them.


We left on Sunday and our first port, Jamaica, wasn't until Wednesday.which gave me lots of time to play trivia games... never won any but had fun playing anyways... Wednesday comes and we awake to the beautiful island of Jamaica.... Montego Bay, Jamaica. We lathered up with sunscreen, grabbed our suits and took off on the hop on hop off bus. We "hopped off" at Doctor Caves Beach and hung out for a while. The water was great and beautiful. So blue and clear that I could actually see fish swimming in it. Once we got our fill, as if that would ever really happen, we hopped back on the bus and rode it down to Margaritaville.... Del got an order of nachos that could have fed the entire family and I got a chicken sandwich... Both were very good, but can you please that Delbert saw a couple next to us eating lobster and decided he had to have that too... I guess he didn't see it on the menu when he looked...  It was really good, but that sent him into a search at every port's Margaritavilles for that lobster. We once again hopped back on the bus and made it back to the ship, exhausted.


Thursday brings us to Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. We had to ride a tender into port and realized that we were there with about 5 other ships, including another Carnival one. Cayman definitely doesn't look as underprivileged as Jamaica and Mexico. They even have a Dunkin Donuts there. We decided that we had so much fun at the beach yesterday that we took an excursion to Tiki Beach on Seven Mile Beach. It was nice, but the reef was really close to the shore which made it tough doing much in the water. We did enjoy a little of the sun when it popped through the clouds. When we got back to port, we walked over to the Margaritaville in Grand Cayman.... Nope, they didn't have Lobster, but we had a great lunch anyways. We headed back to the tender that took us back to the ship and off we go to Cozumel.


By the time we got to Cozumel, it was overcast and we were exhausted... Don't know that we like these back to back to back ports. We did get off the ship, but only long enough to take a taxi to the Margaritaville in Cozumel for lunch, and by the way... No Lobster... :-(   While there, it started to drizzle and by the time we got back to port, it was a full blown rain, but it left as quickly as it came in. We got back on the ship and just took some down time.


Oh yeah... forgot to mention that I won a $500 Bingo... YEAH.... that really helps with the bill. We got back to New Orleans on Sunday and drove back to the trailer... Now before we left, my husband thought he should unplug us from the power. For those of you who do not know, the fridge runs off of electricity or propane gas when not plugged in, so normally not an issue.... but he forgot that we hadn't changed over the propane tank to the full tank, soooooo I had a nice little mess to clean up as everything in the fridge/freezer went bad... FUN   Once all cleaned up and picking up the dog from boarding, we took off for Mississippi.



You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

New Awlins

Don't call it N'Awlins or New OR-Leans.... the locals call it New Awlins. What a great city. We couldn't spend enough time to see it all. 


We got there on the Saturday before Mardi Gras day and it poured down rain all day, but we were able to go down on Sunday to see a few parades and Bourbon Street. Some of these parades had some really awesome floats in them. Jason and Carol came down to do Mardi Gras with us. Carol and I came back with a huge bag of beads, BUT you haven't seen anything until you have seen the French Quarter during Mardi Gras at night. Oh my gosh.... wall to wall people.... women and men both flashing, but only on Bourbon Street. I don't think that I have seen people so drunk before in my life. Enormous parades floats and bands of all kinds. We brought back another bag of beads that night too. We tried to walk back up Bourbon Street after the last parade and it was just a blockade. There were so many people that I was starting to have a panic attack. By this time, my back hurt, my knee hurt and my feet were killing me.... we had to park about a mile away and walking back was horrendous. It was soooo bad, I almost flagged down a motorcycle to ask for a ride.. LOL

We stopped by Jax's Brewery, near were we parked and grabbed something to eat and finally made it home. We were so exhausted that we didn't make it down to the parades on Mardi Gras day. We did enjoy having Jason and Carol with us. They stayed with us and the first night, they tried the couch... my couch is horrible... you can feel all of the springs in it. I felt so bad for them. The rest of the time they slept on the table. I know that sounds weird, but our dining table in the RV collapses down into a full size bed. 

The Friday after Mardi Gras, some of our friends came into town to go on the Carribean Cruise with us. We spent most of the day on Saturday sight seeing and then packed for the cruise.

Can't wait for next year......


You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

Baton Rogue

We met up with some friends of ours while we were in Baton Rogue... didn't do a whole lot. We did our usual drive the town and see whats there. We did go out to dinner where I tried oysters... not sure what you would call it, broiled or grilled, but they were not raw... some butter and cheese and broiled under the grill... They were good.... 

One of the things we did was check out some Plantations along the Mississippi River. We toured Oak Alley Plantation as it seemed to be the best one. It was sure beautiful. 

Still can't escape the rain... I swear it seems like it has rained 80% of the time we have been in Louisiana. Lets head down to New Orleans.....


You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

Ribbit.... Ribbit.... Ribbit....

OK... We are staying at Frog City RV Park, in Duson, LA about 10 miles west of Lafayette and 5 mile east of Rayne, LA, Frog Capital of the World. They hold the Frog Festival here and they have all these murals on the side of some of the buildings with frogs in them.

When I took Buddy for his walk in the morning, I looked out at the field and saw all kinds of these mound like things... some where just mounds of dirt, others looked harder, almost like a bee hive upside down on the ground. When I asked, I found out the the loose dirt mounds were fire ants and the others were crawfish mounds. REALLY... they are all over the place... in peoples front yards, fields... EVERYWHERE..... And it rained there almost the entire time we were there. Another strange sight was to see the cemeteries above ground... the water table is too high to dig a proper grave in most places.

I did, however, get to go into my first Piggly Wiggly... never have been in one. We also took a drive out to Avery Island where the Tabasco factory is. We got to see a video as the factory floor wasn't operating on the weekend. I also got to try all the different flavors of Tabasco, which for anyone who knows me, is not my style, but some of them were pretty good. I even had ice cream made with the sweet and spicy Tabasco. It was really good. Another thing that I tried for the first time was crawfish.... Not the "break off the heads and suck them out" ones... the ones that were already out and prepared in an Etouffee... basically crawfish stew over rice... It was ok.. I would eat it again, but probably not if there was other stuff on the menu. 

Funny thing... this is cajun country and I forgot... I ordered Pork Chops thinking that they would just be plain pork chops, but they were covered in Slap Your Mama sauce... Woooeeeeee..... Good but spicy.... And Mardi Gras is not just in New Orleans, like I thought. It is the entire state of Louisiana as they were having some parades while we were there.

You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

Howdy Y'all, Welcome to Texas

We made it...seemed like forever. We stayed on the southern route for as long as we could to avoid the snow storm. It was such a welcoming site to pull into our spot at the Vineyards Campground in Grapevine, TX. Our site backed right up to the lake and with the bay window, we had a wonderful view. I loved the area. My only complaint about Texas is what were they smoking when they made the roads. Oh my gosh.... you have to get off the freeway onto a one way access road to make a u-turn to go the other way just to get to dinner. I didn't drive the entire time I was there. Oh and the GPS brought us into town down Main Street, while they were having their Christmas light display... beautiful but tight. We stayed here through the New Year and had such a good time, I don't know where to start. Guess I should have started this blog before then and I could have written as it was happening. Anyways... lets start with .....

Does anyone know what this is.... think hard.... This is the Southfork Ranch. We drove out to see it, but the tours were not running. At least was able to get some pics of the outside. We really drove all over the place while we were out here. We went to Arlington and saw Six Flags, Cowboy stadium and the Ranger ballpark. We went to Plano and visited some friends of ours from work. We drove out to the Fort Worth Stockyards where they use to bring the cattle in. Not sure if they still do or not. Probably the most interesting to me was going to the Texas Book Depository and seeing all the exhibits surrounding the JFK Assassination. I love history and JFK always fascinated me.... While we were in Dallas, I got to see my friend Debbie and her friend Lonnie and we had lunch. It was so nice to see her again. Haven't seen her since we were in Nevada.

Well, after all the fun in Dallas, we went down to the state capitol of Austin, TX. You know for being the capitol, there really wasn't much to do. We did go to the LBJ Presidential Library and looked around town, but that was pretty much it. We were in the middle of a wild storm... thought if the rain and hail didn't get us, the wind would, but we survived.... 

From there, we took off and went to San Antonio, TX and spent a couple of days. We saw the Alamo and the Riverwalk and then took off to College Station... The only reason we went there was to go to the George W Bush Library. I have a goal to see them all. 

From there, headed down to Houston and stayed a couple of weeks. Got to go to the Houston Space Center and take a tour. Really cool... you should do it if you are ever there. 

We tried to go to Galveston 3 times.... the first 2 times it was so overcast and dense fog that you could hardly see in front of you. The third time, we made it... took a car ferry just to do it, saw the ocean and went to Seawolf Park and saw a destroyer and submarine. Worth the trip.... but will be glad to move on to anywhere but Texas.... 

We were going to stay in Port Arthur for our next stop, but then realized it was still in Texas so drove straight to Louisiana.... 

You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

Uneventful trip to Texas

We are heading to Mesa, AZ to visit with his stepmother, Linda before we head over to Texas. With having the holidays off, we can make pretty good time since we were trying to make it in between snow storms. We stopped and saw Linda and Christy and her 2 kids and took Linda out for dinner and then the next morning, headed to the Dallas, TX area. We split the trip into 400 mile trips and drove straight through New Mexico, spending the night in Van Horn, TX. Such a small town... good thing that the KOA had a kitchen that was still open so we could get some dinner. Off to sleep and away we went the next day to Dallas.

You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

Cruisin to the Mexican Riviera

Its December and we are heading out on the Carnival Splendor to Cabo San Lucas and Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. We got to spend 2 days in Cabo, but really only went off the ship the first day. When you go to Cabo, you ride a tender from your ship to the dock. This time when we went, the tender was being followed by a seal. Never saw them do that before. We are not into the jewelry or anything, but do like to see the sites of the town. The last time we were here was with my sister, Pam and brother-in-law, Tim. We went into a bar called the Shrimp Factory and had lunch and my husband got totally wasted to the point I don't think he even knows how he got back to the ship and my brother-in-law decided to try something called No Panties... What a fun time. This trip we played it safe.... hit up Cabo Wabo Cantina for lunch, walked around the shops and headed back to the ship.


Next stop, Puerta Vallarta. Never have been here before. We got off the ship thinking that we could walk into downtown.... WRONG!!!! Got about 1/2 mile out and found out it was miles and miles down. Grabbed a taxi.... that was a little scary... just the not knowing.... Once we got there though, it was a very nice boardwalk type place. Not quite sure that we made it all the way downtown, but far enough for me. After we got back to the ship, we went up top and looked around.... Guess what.... there really is a Walmart everywhere. hehehehe...


We had a great time while on the ship also. The Splendor's interior decor is pink if you can believe that....  Didn't play any bingo this trip, but did indulge in a head to toe message. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..... Loved it.


When we had to come back to reality, we had to do the laundry and start getting everything ready to pull out the next day. Heading to Arizona to see Del's stepmother.

You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


See ya next time......

Hey California, weee'reee baaaccckkkk

After wiping my tears, we were on our way to see Grandma. She lives in Tracy, CA with her daughter and son-in-law (Aunt Linda and Uncle Johnny). We stayed at a campground in Manteca, CA called French Camp RV Park Resort & Golf Course. Neat place, cool golf course, about 20 minutes or so from Grandmas. We decided to go to Yosimite National Park. As you can see, Buddy likes going anywhere we go. This is him taking in the view. We had a great time visiting everyone.

Next we moved on down to Bakersfield RV Resort and hung out there for a week, visited Uncle Coy and Aunt Marla. Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot to do around there... It was nice to have downtime for a while.

It's November now and time to head over to Pismo Coast Village RV Resort in Pismo Beach, CA. We tried to stay here on our way down during the summer, but they were totally packed. We bought a couple of bicycles while we were here and rode into town and over to the Monarch Butterfly Grove. What a cool place. The Monarch Butterflies come here and form these clusters on the branches.This protects them from the weather. It is pretty interesting that the ones that are there now do not return because their life span is not that long, but every year, thousands of these butterflies come here for the winter.

We continued on down and stayed in Ventura Beach again on our way to Woodland Hills, CA. Delbert had to actually go into the office in Woodland Hills, so we stayed at Birmingham RV Park. Very nice people but very very tight. The nice lady in the office wasn't sure how to park us, so she had us park across 3 sites. It was the funniest thing to see. Delbert went to work and we checked out Universal Studios while we were there before going down to Orange, CA and back to Orangeland RV Resort for a month. We went to Knott's Berry Farm and saw their Christmas shows and displays, and I got to spend more time with my sister, Pam. We also went to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. That was a nice time. It was pretty neat to see his birthplace and the house he was raised in. Also, really neat to see his roots and know the places, like Whittier College.


One of the reasons we stayed here for a month was that we took a cruise to the Mexican Riviera (Cabo San Lucas and Puerta Vallarta).... check out the next blog about the cruise.....

You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

Heading south... watch out Oregon

Our first stop in September was right over the Columbia River in Portland, OR. While staying there we took a trip to Mt Saint Helens. Growing up, I can still remember when the mountain exploded and there was ash as far as you could see. It was such an awesome thing to be able to actually go up and see the mountain and learn more about the eruption and the aftermath. Just to see first hand the destruction that was caused was eerie. You can still see where nothing has grown back from the lava "rivers", trees are still down and the mountain is still smoking. I highly recommend stopping by if anyone is in the area. On our way back to Portland, we stopped by Ft. Vancouver in Vancouver, WA and looked around the old buildings.

Another trip we took was to "chase waterfalls" along the Columbia River Gorge. On this road there are alot of waterfalls. Some of them off the road where you have to hike to see them (didn't do those). We did, however, decide to venture out at one called Bridal Veil. The sign said it was 2/3 a mile round trip so we thought nothing of it....Going down was fine, but coming back up.... poor Buddy was trying to pull me back up those switchbacks. It was sooooo bad that they had a bench at the end of each of the switchbacks. Thought I was going to die before getting back to the top. Needless to say, we didn't venture out to any more that were not visible from the road. They are beautiful though. 

We also took the opportunity to go see the state capitol in Salem, OR. Those are probably the main highlights of what we saw. We did drive around town and look at the sights and stuff, but these are the main ones.

While in Portand, we got a call from Melissa that she will probably not make it to her due date so we changed around our plans and headed down to Klamath Falls. We stopped overnight in Eugene, OR - Home of the Oregon Ducks and wouldn't you know it, they were playing UNR (University of Nevada, Reno). They really take their football seriously. There was even a "truck and trailer" all decked out, staying at the campground. I am surprised that we escaped without having our tires slashed or windows broken with that big old Nevada license plate on the back. We were only there overnight, but we took advantage of being there to go see some of the Covered Bridges of Lane County.

We made it to Klamath Falls, OR and stayed at the KOA there for a month. We went to Crater Lake while we were there but the best thing that happened while we were there was the birth of our granddaughter, Ashlyn Ryann, September 14, 2012, 5 lbs 4 oz with the longest legs I have seen. We stayed in Klamath Falls for her first month of life and enjoyed every minute of holding her and loving on her and I cried for an hour as we were leaving her to continue heading South. She is such a good baby. Can't wait to see her again. I got to spend a lot of time with my sister, Rhonda and her family.... pretty much went over every day.

You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Gotta run.....

Moving onto Washington

We had to cross this enormous bridge over the Columbia river 

from Astoria, OR and continued up the Washington coast. 

We stayed at Hoquiam River RV Park in Hoquiam, WA. 

We decided to take a "drive", as if we don't do enough of that, through the Olympic National Park to Port Angeles, WA. We could see Canada from there looking over the Salish Sea.

We went over to Seattle, WA and stayed in this town called Issaquah, WA at Issaquah Village RV Park. Went to see Delbert's cousin who lives in Seattle. He has a wonderful HUGE house and the view from it was AWESOME. Wish I would have had my camera with me. They filmed a scene from Sleepless in Seattle in his home. The dinner scene at her parents house was filmed in his dining room. The beach down the street from his house is where Tom Hanks drives his boat to and they fly the kite. Soooooo this sent me on the idea of looking for the different places they used in the movie... Saw the floating houses and the market and the street Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner walked down and Rob checks out Tom's butt. Anyways... saw the Space Needle and other various sights including Microsoft, but it was raining so the pics aren't that great. 

We also decided to go over to Vancouver BC for dinner. Drove around Vancouver for a while and then ended up going back into Washington for dinner.


Our next stop was Rainier View RV Park in Graham, WA. This was the view from our trailer. We actually drove up to the mountain and it was beautiful. You could even see a waterfall from the melting snow at the top. This was our last stay in Washington.



You can view videos at Delbert's Videos on YouTube.


Check out the next state.... Oregon

Ca-li-for-nia, there we were

We all have heard the song, California Here We Come.... well since I am trying to back post where we have been, I thought this title was more appropriate.


We started our travels in Imperial Beach, CA for the 4th of July, 2011. We stayed at Bernardo Shores RV Park and it was a wonderful place to view the fireworks. San Diego had a great firework show where they synchronized 8, I believe, different shows all to the same music and they broadcast it over the radio. It was like we were right there instead of miles away. While we were there we went to the Mexico border just to say that we made it border to border.... We also ordered our new Wingard Satelitte TV Antenna from Camping World. What a blessing... it is automatic... now more trying to find the right satelitte. It does it all for you. I don't know how people use the other ones and stay married.


From San Diego, we drove up to Orange, CA and stayed at one of our favorite RV Parks....Orangeland RV Park. Right across from the Honda Center and down the street from Disneyland and Angel Stadium, but really the best attraction it has is that it is about 15 minutes from my dear sweet sister and her family. 

Moving on up the coast, we spent a week in Ventura Beach, CA at Ventura Beach RV Resort. While there we went to the Reagan Presidential Library, Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch (well the front gate anyways), Solvang, Point Magu and of course the beaches. I highly recommend the Reagan Library. It was one of the most awesome things I have seen and the view was gorgeous.

Continuing North on the Coast, we stopped at Morro Bay, CA and stayed at Bay Pines RV. Didn't do a whole lot while we were here. We did go over to Pismo Beach and checked that out and watched the sunset from Morro Rock.

The next place we stopped at was in Aromas, CA at Monterey Vacation RV Park. This was an interesting place... You have to know where it is as the driveway is right off Hwy 101... In other words, you are going 60 mph and then see the driveway, hit the brakes and turn. Not much of a park, but we did get to go to Gilroy, CA, Garlic Capital of the world and over to Big Sur, Monterey and Carmel. While on the 17-mile drive, we saw deer on the golf course and sea lions out on a rock.

In August, we saw Grandma on our way out to Petaluma, CA were we stayed at the Petaluma KOA. What a neat campground. Lots of activities for everyone - Petting Zoo, Pool, Movie Night, Ice Cream social.... just alot of fun. We went into San Francisco and also drove out to the Schultz Museum. What a cool place especially for the generation raised with the Peanuts comic strips.  




Now onto our drive through the Redwoods and to Eureka, CA. While in Eureka, we went to Confusion Hill. Pretty cool abnormalities of trees and such. We were also able to drive up to Klamath River and see the Gray Whale that was stuck there prior to its passing.




After our stop in Eureka, we quickly drove up the Oregon coast staying one night at the Oregon Dunes KOA.... before heading into Washington.


Come back and check out the Washington blog......... See ya......

Here we go.....

At the urging of a few people, I am starting this blog about our travels. For those of you who do not know, my husband (Delbert), my dog (Buddy) and I have decided to take on the US in a 32' Travel Trailer. We left on our journey the beginning of July 2011 and started in San Diego for the 4th of July. We then continued up the west coast through California, Oregon and Washington. We touched our toes into Vancouver, BC and then headed back to Southern California. Along the way, I was present for the birth of our granddaughter, Ashlyn Ryann in September. While in Orange, California, we took a cruise to Cabo San Lucas and Puerta Vallarta on Carnival. Working on getting 10 cruises to get a VIP card and priority boarding.


After the cruise, we hit Arizona, New Mexico and spent a little over a month in Texas. Really liked the BBQ in Texas and got to get together with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. Once we had our fill of Texas, we took our passports and went into Louisiana..... Yes... you need a passport to go there or at least you feel like you do. Started in Lafayette and tried crawfish for the first time, saw HUGE red ant hills and crawfish mounds.... yes... crawfish mounds... look it up.... pretty interesting. Headed to Baton Rouge and then to our goal of New Orleans for Mardi Gras. What a wild time. Caught lots and lots of beads and didn't have to undress to get them. If you have never done Mardi Gras before, I highly recommend it at least once. It is quite a party and boy do they know how to PARTY. If you do decide to do it, make sure that you make your reservations early... 


While in New Orleans, we took another cruise to the Carribean... Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel on Carnival again... only 4 more to get to 10. We had a great time and returned yesterday and drove to Biloxi, MS. Beautiful place across the road from the ocean, but getting here was quite an adventure. First trying to get back to the trailer from the cruise ship was a trying time. They were doing the New Orleans Rock n' Roll Marathon so many of the streets were blocked off. When we got to the trailer, the propane had run out and the food in the refrigerator/freezer was spoiled and leaked onto the floor. Then leaving we hit a HUGE uneven patch on Interstate 10 that just sent us bouncing everywhere. How that trailer stayed attached was a miracle. Then we hit another one on our way out of Louisiana. I think that Louisiana was saying, "No, you cannot leave".... but we made it.


Well, I think that gets you all caught up on our travels so far. I will see if I can figure out how to post some pics of our travels or maybe write up a few blogs about where we have been in a little more detail.


Catch ya next post.