Big Sur Coastal Drive

The drive up the California Coast was amazing....a warm sunny day with a cloudless blue sky...one of the most beautiful drives on our trip. It was challenging to keep my eyes on the twisting road that lay in front of me and not keep gazing at the spectacular view of the Pacific ... it was magical.  

Along the way we passed the famous Hearst Castle...we stopped for a closer look but the tours were pretty booked up and we didn't want to waste such a wonderful day inside the castle.

View of the Hearst Castle

We stopped for lunch at a cliffside cafe on the Big Sur....and we're blessed by seeing a gray humpback whale breaching...wow! We enjoyed some world famous fish and chips...very yummy. Then continuing down the highway we discovered a pull off view point which was hosted by some rather friendly...furry 'marmots' - I think. They really loved the flax crackers we had.

We spent 3 days in Monterey California, enjoying more sunny days and leisurely walks on Fisherman's Wharf. We then made our way further north over the Golden Gate bridge and on to our most anticipated destination to date.... Redding California.

My new friends are hungry

Olive checking out another lighthouse

beautiful ocean view

San Diego

Ok... it's been a while and I apologize. So I'll bring you up to speed on current events...

1) we left Vegas and headed to San Diego

2) we had some transmission issues... not serious... but I got on it before it got serious. So we had it rebuilt and did some other repairs.

3) the mechanic we found was a good christian guy and after the work we went out into the country to his place as he offered us a shooting lesson. Fired off some arrows from his bows also crossbows and a few clips from a 9mm. Man was that loud!

Lunch Time!

4) We had to pop into the San Diego Zoo before we left and it was quickly apparent why it was a world famous zoo. We saw loads of exotic animals in a comfortable stroll around the park. The best part I suppose was the Mountain Gorilla's. After the walkabout, we were ready to leave but wanted to see the Gorilla's once more before we left. One last memory before we hit the road. We had a great view as the majestic animal paraded past the glass. He walked in front of us and had a seat only a few feet away. Unfortunately he had some business to attend to and we had a front row seat. Well, that was ok... he had to go. So it was a natural function. No problem. Then he reached behind him and finished pulling out .... "a snack"... he popped it into his mouth... and we almost lost our lunch. People ran in horror, the screams, the tears, children crying, mother's covering the faces of their babies and then the crowd began to stampede away from the awful image at the glass, trampling the elderly underfoot, ---- it was a terrible sight... oh the humanity!!!!  .... Ok... so I exaggerated a bit. But it was just gross. We stopped a worker in the park and made sure they heard our disappointment that they were not feeding the animals any better, as the creatures felt the need to have seconds.... of what they already had! ... Ok enough of that... we left San Diego.

Can you name the animals below? Email us if you think you got them all.

And now for something completely different....Vegas!

MGM Grand

It was with mixed feeling that we ventured into Las Vegas...big city....bright lights...not a place on my top ten list to visit, but it was on the way and I have to say that we were pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't as big as we thought. The strip is just a small part of this city. It was very clean and aside from the corners that had the peddlers trying to hand you illicit cards, it was nice to walk the streets....totally safe. The weather was great...sunny every day high 70's hitting almost 80. We enjoyed people watching...and prayed as we walked. We found out too that two of our kids.. Haley and Chris were there somewhere but we couldn't get ahold of them...we kept an eye out but no luck...ha ha...no luck in Vegas...oh well.

Bellagio lobby with Chinese New Year display

The one thing we did do while we were there was OD on cirque du soleil shows. We watched "O" which was great... "The Beatles" which was inspiring .... and "KA" which was spectacular! I think we need to do  the story of Christ in a cirque du soleil mode...it would be indescribable : )

Caesar's Palace

Bellagio water display to music...was great!

Waiting to get into the Beatles Cirque Show

They Died to Make the Desert Bloom

These are the words on the Oskar Hansen's memorial honouring the 112 men that lost their lives.

With that on our minds viewing the Hoover Dam had a new perspective. We often forget all of the planning and striving that goes into engineering such a marvel and look at it as a finished work. Sometimes we need to step back and understand the sacrifice that was given.

The Dam was built between 1931 and 1936 and sits on the Arizona and Nevada borders…so as you walk across the top of the dam you walk from one state to the other and the time zone changes too by one hour. Want to extend your day…just take a walk. After a wonderful hour in the sun it is off to Vegas!

Mark enjoying the view

Beautiful....wish you were here.

Train Robbers at the Grand Canyon!

Mark and I spent the 3 days driving out of Baja Mexico and back to the land of convenience! Through all the military check points no problems...one of the high mountain top check points though the young military men did a inspection through Olives cupboards and found our instant coffee. The young man held it up to the other officer and smiled then the other officer looked at me and said "coffee"... "yes" I said...."instant coffee"...."yes" he said "Coffee" smiling..."ok" he said..."Ok?" I replied... "ahh...you want our coffee?" "Yes" he replied smiling still.... "Sure, why not, you can have the coffee." it was then quickly passed off to another officer. I guess it gets cold in the mountains on their shift and a cup of hot coffee was something to look forward too. With that they waved us on...still smiling!

It really is a breathtaking view

We stopped over in Yuma for a couple of days to enjoy the Holiday Inn hospitality and to sleep in a quiet hotel room with all the comforts of home. After we charged up it was on to the Grand Canyon. My oh my what majesty! This will mostly be photos as we took a few. We are so glad that we went on the day we did as the next day a blizzard hit and it was time for us to move on and get going to the Hoover Dam!

our train that we took up to the canyon

the chilly view...

it just went on forever

"All Aboard"

our on board entertainment....Jessie

a room with a view

Chillin in Los Barriles

My wonderful man taking in the view.

After we spent some time in Cabo we wandered up the coast, on the Sea of Cortez side of the Baja,  to Los Barriles. It was a small town with a great love for music and the home of the international kiteboarding competition....so yes it is a bit windy but only from about 11am until 5pm then it stops.

We met some great people staying at the West Cape RV park. Bridgette is the Yoga and Zumba instructor so I signed up for Zumba and it was great fun. Her husband Peter is a chef and every friday night they put on a dinner outside their RV for about 20 people....wonderful food for only 100 pesos. Mark and I also met a wonderful couple from San Francisco area...Jenny and Joe. We enjoyed evenings in conversation and laughter. After a while with interrupted sleep, listening to the Mexican dogs carry on all night (in the day they were laid out in the sand sleeping but you knew it was only a matter of time). Oh and then there were the Roosters who thought that 3am constituted morning!  We felt the need to move on and get back to high speed internet and a few less dogs!

Sun Surf and Silliness....good times!

A little lunch get together for East Capers'

Our friend Joe...singing at a local venue...he was good!

Getting the Kites ready for competition

Is the Baja really Mexico?

The Flag of Mexico

Well sorry for the absenteeism  on the Blog....but the answer to my question is of course "Yes". And as we were in Mexico I didn't want to scare my Mum and have her worry about us....hence the tardiness : ). But there and back again. We are ok Mum! We drove down to Cabo San Lucas Mexico through the 9 military check points and no trouble at all or any incidents. Most of the time we were waved right through. The roads were the biggest adventure....twists and turns sometimes with no guard rails and little shrines along the way for those who didn't quite make the turn.

Enjoying the visit

We did end up meeting Sensei Kurt and Breanda and had a very nice timing catching up and having a wonderful breakfast before they flew back home.

We spent Christmas down here so we ended up getting some presents for 5 young children and putting our kids names on them. So kids part of your Christmas present was to give to those who had very little.... we took pictures of the gifts so you can see them when we get back!

Sensei Kurt and Brenda, me & Mark and Olive behind

Sensei Kurt and Brenda with Olive