Category Archives: General

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St Maarten – Great trip!

We had the great pleasure of going to St Maarten for a week (7 days on St Maarten) with Scott and Diana Cross…We had a great time! Weather was nice….beaches nice…great friends…Here is the first over view of the trip and there will be two more post for the special day trips we took while on the island.

We took our time traveling which was great…no pressure. Our trip started Wednesday night. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, Burlingame for an early flight on Thursday morning. We shared a room…they said the beds were queens size…I’m not sure I agreed..the beds seemed very small…It was hard to sleep because we were all excited to go. We went to dinner at Steelhead Brewery in Burllingame…it was a great start.

First night dinner at Steelhead Brewery in Burlingame

Took the hotel shuttle to the airport and bright and early Thursday morning. Made it to Miami Florida with no problems. We had separate rooms at Miami Hilton…we had the Hilton Honors status and had a room on the 12th floor…very nice view.

Hilton Honors room at Miami…we each had our own room…nice

Our view from our room in Miami Florida

We found this great restaurant called the 94th Aero Squadron, it was set up like a Normandy Farm from World War 2 with military equipment..it was right across the street from Miami Airport…we had a great food and a really good time..

Dinner at the 94th Aero Squardon..excellent place to have dinner

Kelly, Diana and Scott – 94th Aero Squadron restaurant

Awwww – Scott and Diana stealing a kiss at dinner

Watching the clouds during dinner

No problems on our flight from Miami, to Saint Maarten…We made it….Views from the plane and our room and from the bar on the beach…

Flying to St Maarten…what a view on the plane

Welcome to St Maarten

View of pool from our room

The bar in the pool..nice….just down the elevator

View from the balcony

View from the balcony…Simpson Bay

View from our balcony…Simpson Bay

Diana….feet in the water…we are sitting at the bar at the hotel…..nice, we made it!

Sott….feet in the water…we are sitting at the bar at the hotel…..nice, we made it!

 

June….feet in the water…we are sitting at the bar at the hotel…..nice, we made it!

Diana & Kelly….feet in the water…I’m not sure how we didn’t get a solo photo of Kelly…must have been one to many drinks?? or we must have relaxed really well.

We did get Kelly relaxing in the pool.

We hopped on the local bus system and took a day trip to Philipsburg…definitely toursist central…….but a fun day wandering through the shops and having lunch..

We are in Philipsburg..the usual sign board photo..you just have to do it! This is Scott and Diana

Ok, so now it was our turn in the sign board photo..whoo hoo.

Interesting Bar…it wasn’t open yet, when we went through town.

Beach at Philipsburg, St Maarten

We went across the street from our hotel and had dinner at Skip Jack’s restaurant….

Kelly and Diana picking their dinner at Skip Jack’s restaurant

Dinner selected…

Dinner served…

These are photos as we wandered about St Maarten…

This is Saba Island….view from our room

Recycled anchor balls ..into art, at one of the many beach bars

Can’t help myself…you have to try for the artist photo…

Nice paint job on a scooter on the French side of St Maarten

Nice paint job on a scooter on the French side of St Maarten

One evening we went over to the Sunset Bar and Grill which is literally at the end of St Maarten Airport runway. I saw it when we flew into St Maarten..this resturaunt is on one side of the runway…you watch the planes come in and land and take off..you can watch and see the jet wash rough up the ocean…it is really a sight to see…the planes coming right at you..there are a lot of signs posted about the jet wash and not standing on the road…of course there are always people who don’t have a clue and will stand there…it was a great place to watch the sun set and the flights come and go…

Watching the planes at Sunset Bar and Grill

Watching a flight leave St Maarten…sitting at Sunset Bar & Grill

Photos on our last day…it is always so hard to leave..but you also get excited to go home and be in your own bed..and see your pets and family…had a great time..would do the trip again!! Thank you Scott and Diana for sharing your trip with us..we enjoyed it very much!!! Whoo Hooo…Kelly and I also got two stamps in our Passports!…simple things can make us so happy..

Enjoying the view..our last day…and our last drink at the bar at the hotel

Good bye St Maarten..that is our hotel right at our wing tip…

Heading home…farewell…St Maarten..hope to see you again

Flying to Miami…tail end clouds from Sandy…

 
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Lake Minden…..one more time

Back at Lake Minden again. This time we stayed on the other side of the lake, which is much nicer…there is a little more room in each space…and people just seemed more friendly…We just hung out this time…Kelly went golfing a few times and then went golfing again with Larry and Mike…they had a good day. I love when he comes home happy. We did dinner this time at Larry and Jan DeZonia’s and of course Mike and Debbie Dobson were there too…love seeing them all.

We also found a micro brewery in Yuba City….it is called Sutter Buttes…both the beer and food was good….we went back a few times…..yummy 🙂

Our next destination…Ron and Diane Vodenik’s home, lovingly called…”Green Acres”…we will be staying there until the end of the month…They are so generous they will be taking care of our motor home and Julia (the cat) while we are in St. Maarten for a week with Scott and Diana Cross…so excited. Photos and stories when we get back…stay tuned.

So here are a few general pictures from Lake Minden….enjoy.

October Harvest Moon

Heron hanging around the lake

I love sunsets…

Colorful berries or grapes…?

Tree lined road…in the park

Mr Duck….

So with the changing of vehicles…sold the Jeep and bought the Mercedes…it is a very expensive way to haul waste water in the campgrounds….nicest looking ride at the dump station…..and it does work….so you got to do…what you got to do…to get the job done…safely.  haha

Expensive way to haul waste water…

getting the job done

Sutter Buttes Brewery

Sutter Buttes Brewery…yummy

Kaigan Sushi- Vallejo / Our favorite place…it is like home…

Sunny our favorite Sushi Chef…Kaigan Sushi..our home away from home

One of our favorite rolls…

Halloween…and Julia

Our little Halloween decorations outside

Chef Larry preparing dinner

Deliicious dinner is served

June and Jan having a good time…it must have been funny

June, Larry and Jan…what a group

Sunset at Lake Minden

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Delta Shores…visiting our old stomping grounds…and long time friends.

We spent the last two weeks at Delta Shores Campgrounds…and some of our old stomping grounds from our boating days…It was great….two weeks went by so fast. We got to the campground on Sunday…

Monday….Kelly played golf at Rio Vista, and had to work hard due to the delta breezes…we remembered we haven’t really missed the delta breezes…

Tuesday…went to the Bay Area and took care of business and visited Mom and Dad…love you guys so much…

Wednesday…we had dinner at Dick and Jane Boone’s new little place over in Tower Park…nice place, so happy for you guys..

Thursday…we had to go to Mumms and pick up my current club shipment…and of course have Champagne, fruit and cheese on the Oak Terrace….oh darn, I guess some one has to do it…then a funny thing happened on the way home…we came home with a 2013 Mercedes-Benz 250 Sports Coupe…love it.

Friday….Kelly went golfing with Larry DeZonia and Mike Dobson…and I got to spend the day with the Jan DeZonia and Debbie Dobson…we ladies had a wonderful breakfast and then went on an adventure to old town Lodi…it is really cute in old town…guys came back from golfing and we all hung out on the DeZonia’s boat…we do remember those days…and they were great. Larry and Jan let Kelly and I take their dinghy out for a quick ride…loved it…and what a beautiful delta sunset..those we do miss! We all went to dinner at Tower Park…It was a great day and we love spending time with our friends.

Saturday…Linam family (my Mom’s side of the family) get together at Willow Berm Marina…which was right down the street…it was great to see my Uncle Richard and Aunt Barbara and my cousins Kim, Brad and Greg…I also got to visit with my nephews Kevin and Eddie and Kevin’s wife Shanna and my new great niece…

Sunday…Kelly and I went to Old Lodi and we had lunch at Lodi brewery…GREAT place…highly recommend a stop at their place…good food and good beer…later that afternoon we went and visited Bob and Cheryl Dudley on their boat…it was great to see them and visit…miss you guys!

The first week went so fast…week two…Monday…we stopped and visited Dave and Lisa Heller on their boat…miss you guys too!…

Tuesday….Kelly was packing his bag to go to Pascagoula Mississippi…he was working for Texas A&M as an adjunct instructor teaching a fire course at Chevron Pascagoula…I took him to the airport early Wednesday morning…..and picked him up Saturday afternoon…I had control of the TV remote for a few days…haha… 🙂 of course I missed him a bunch.

When we got home Saturday afternoon we loaded the Jeep in the trailer to move on Sunday…and then just relaxed the rest of the day…it was a great two weeks..here are a few photos from Delta Shores…enjoy..

Dick and Jane Boone…having dinner at their new home

Mumms…large group coming in…beautiful table

Our new ride…I guess it is Champange taste

Debbie and Jan and me behind the camera…old town Lodi..girls day out…guys are golfing

Larry, Mike, Jan and Debbie…the gang

I love the delta clouds

Delta Clouds…

Mike, Jan and Larry…Tower Park

Larry and Jan DeZonia

Larry and Mike…goofing around..

Delta sunset…beautiful…nice way to end the day

Lodi Brewery…great food and beer

Delta Watertower..highway 12

Hmmm…not a good sign

Docks at Delta Shores

Nice campsite…love the decorations

Now that is a cat nap..Julia is relaxed…

Very reative campsite decoration…cute

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Lake of the Springs – Oregon House, Ca

We spent the last three weeks at Lake of the Springs, which is located about 30 miles from Marysville. We had little to no cell signal, so the internet was not easily available. It did help make it a quiet month. The weather was beautiful…so many stars out each night.. a lot of deers. I knew the deers would eat my flowers…which of course they did. They didn’t touch my basil plants until the end of the second week…but my plants are slowing coming back…yeah!!!

Jonathan came and spent Labor Day weekend with us…what a great treat…we went kayaking and took a 10 mile hike to Feather Falls…love spending time with family!

Kelly did get to play golf a few times…everything is some distance away…We really just relaxed at this park…it was nice. Here are the photos from around the park…enjoy..

Our campsite at Lake of the Springs

The view from my campsite…I always like interesting trees.

Julia enjoying the great out doors.

So, I managed to teach Julia a bad habit. One night I was drinking water from the blue glass…she was looking at my glass, so I titled it over and she started drinking from it…it was funny and we had a good laugh…now she thinks she it is her glass and she won’t drink out of her water bowl…so the glass sits in the sink always full of water for her…my mistake…whoops.

Julia drinking from a cup…

Enjoying the day kayaking on the lake

Enjoying the end of the day…perfect

We had the pleasure of Jon spending Labor day weekend with us…one of the days we took a great 10 mile hike to Feather Falls…it was a good hike…the lower loop of the trail was closed due to a bridge that was broken, but it was still a great hike….love it!

One of the trail markers for the Feather Falls hike

A great photo opportunity along the trail…thanks Jon for making your Mom happy

Feather Falls

We made it to the falls…yeah!

Kelly and I were playing a round of mini golf…on hole #5 there was a ramp that went into a pipe to drop on another green…I hit my golf ball up the ramp and into the hole….it never came out the other end…so of course we had to solve the problem…it turned out the pipe was full of rocks, sticks and all these golf balls……pipe cleared…game back on 🙂

A lot of recovered golf balls…

Some of the many deers in the park….of course the deers enjoyed the gourmet flowers and plants…from my campsite…another lesson learned…

Fawns cruising past camp

Small buck…he still has the felt

Another buck…this one is a little bigger…

The first set of flowers the deer enjoyed…these ones won’t recover.

The basil plants the deers enjoyed…they are coming back

Photos from around the park…that I wanted to share…

Blue Moon rising

Wild grapes growing

Crazy cobwebs

Castle birdhouse

Little grey squirrel…enjoying the day

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Lake Minden – Nicolaus, CA

We stayed two weeks at Lake Minden. The best thing about this park, is we were close to the Bay Area and got to spend time with our friends. We have a nice looking spot, the problem is the tree drops a lot of sap…it is like someone spilled soda on everything…it is sticky, it is a steady fine mist of sticky rain…so we won’t park in this spot again…lesson learned….The tree was so bad we couldn’t even sit outside…and there were a lot of mosquitos…yuck…the worst I have seen so far…oh well.

Our campsite with the sticky tree…

One of the good parts of Lake Minden, was going to Vallejo and having sushi at Kaigan Sushi. Of course we got to spend time with Sunny…and Aurora came meet us for dinner. We got her to try raw fish…and she liked it…of course there were Sake-bombs too…whoo…hooo

Sunny our friend and best Sushi Chef…Kaigan Sushi

Aurora and June at Sushi dinner…

We also got to visit with our long time friends, Mike and Debbie Dobson, Larry and Jan Dezonia….it was great to spend an evening together…we miss them so much…

Mike and Debbie Dobson

Jan Dezonia

Larry Dezonia

Friends together…great times!

We also got to spend time with Ron and Diane Vodenik..and their new motorhome…they came and spent the weekend with us at Lake Minden…nice…they also cooked a very nice dinner for us…it is great to spend time with wonderful friends…

Diane and Ron and their new motorhome….nice

Diane and Ron…love the great smiles

Great dinner provided by Ron and Diane…yummm

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Ponderosa….views from around the park

It is amazing how fast four weeks went by. We had a great time at Ponderosa, and it was hard to leave…..but there are many roads in front of us to explore.

We had great neighbors…Jack and Marlene with their dog Poppy. Kelly and Jack played golf a few times…which was great for both of them. Marlene was teaching me about gardening. Between our two campsite, we had a lot of little frogs living in our plants…the frogs were amazing to watch.  Jack and Marlene left the park before we did, so we had a frog round-up from their plants to ours…the frogs were fast. 🙂

It was really HOT, while we were there…it was real easy to be lazy…but so enjoyable. Here are a few photos ….enjoy

Whew….it is HOT

Amazing people….Marlene, Jack and Poppy

Kelly and his new clubs

One of the many little frogs we chased….fast little guys

A gift from Marlene…to remember our frog round-up….so special

Humming bird enjoying my flowers

This guy came into my house…I think he belongs outside

First time we have seen a swan on the river…

what a ride…

The Fisherman and their fish – all different

Fish #1 from the river

Fish #2 from the river

Fish #3 from the river

Fish #4 from the river

This sign says it all!

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Family day in Terra Linda – Great day!

What a great day!!!  The family got together for a barbecue and just to visit….it was a warm day, perfect for hanging out in the backyard…we enjoyed seeing everybody. Here are a few photos from the day, for those who couldn’t be there…we miss you. We love you all!

Enjoy…

Dad looking good

Mom looking great too

Renata, Maura and Kelsea

Jonathan

Kevin, Mom, Jasmine and Stella

Jessie, Andrea and Kenny

Beautiful sunflowers

Rob…cooling off

Brian and the girls

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Motorcycle week with best friends at Ponderosa – American River

Love our annual motorcycle trip with our best friends Scott and Diana Cross. This is our sixth year…we always have a great time.

The weeks adventure started by meeting Scott and Diana at Villa Toscano winery for a pasta lunch and wine tasting.  During the week Scott and Kelly played a round of golf and Diana and I had a pedicure…perfect. We took a few motorcycle rides. One ride was over 200 miles. We rode up to South Lake Tahoe and around Emerald Bay, beautiful. Another ride we went through Georgetown and up past Pollock Pines and stopped at a place called Icehouse. The inside of the restaurant/bar was covered in dollar bills….always something to look at on the walls.

Of course it was hot up here, so there was swimming in the pool and river. Played hours of dice and a game called “Shut the box”. Scott was able to shut the box…good job! We ate a lot of good food and had amazing company.

Scott and Diana cooling off in the river

Diana cooling off

Scott cooling off

Grilling Veggies for dinne

Red Mutt Wine for dinner…love the label

Beautiful healthy home cooked meal…nice job

Sushi Fish bowl

Sushi dinner

Motorcycle Ride

Getting ready for the ride

Nice…

Stumpy Meadows

Stumpy Meadows….peaceful

Interesting bar decorations….

Icehouse….look at all the money

Icehouse

Icehouse

Icehouse

Lake Tahoe Emerald Bay

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Ponderosa – American River, Lotus CA

Ponderosa is one of our favorite parks to stay at.  When you are in the park you hear the tranquil rumble of the river, you can see the stars, you watch the kayakers and people riding tubes down the river having a great time. It is very quiet in this park, it is also HOT in the summer. It has been a lot of fun to put sandals, shorts and tank tops on everyday. It has been a long time since I have had shoes and socks on….It is hard to get motivated to ride a bicycle in 100 degree weather on small  busy roads…so we walk around the park and visit with other campers and watch the river go by.It is real easy to be lazy here and not want to do much of anything other than read a book and hang out…the river just does that to you…it is great…

The 1st day pulling into the campground we knew we had some tight corners to make with the trailer…well, we managed to scrape the trailer on the sign coming in the gate….oops.

The first dent/scrap on the new trailer…oops

River Photos

American River

The view out my front window

Mini rapids – American River

Rafters coming down the river – this is a daily view

Rafters

Fish Story

Here is a real fish story…..Juan was one of our camping neighbors. He was fishing in the river, and he caught this beautiful fish, which he gave to us. While he was trying to get the fish off of the lure, the fish jumped and he hook is finger with the lure. Juan didn’t want to loose the fish, so he cut the lure and left the barbed part of the hook in his finger. The good news, he went to the local clinic and had the barb safely removed…his finger looked like it just had a little scratch…thank you for the fish Juan…see you soon.

Juan and his fish

Fishing lure – minus one barbed hook

The missing barbed hook in Juan’s finger…ouch

Photos around the campground

Fishing…enjoying some quiet time

Painted rocks

More painted rocks

Making sun tea for Kelly

Beautiful sunset

Julia just chilling…it is hot

Julia’s got the watch….attack cat

Local sign…I am glad we have not seen any…

A lost shoe…

My flowers love the weather here…

Our neighbor Jack and Poppy

Full Moon Rising

Full moon rising

Moon rising

Moon rising

Day trip to old town Placerville

We took a nice day trip to old town Placerville. We had a great lunch at Cascada,  Mexican restaurant. There are a lot of great stores in town, from a used book store, Gothic Antique store and the oldest hardware store in California. We just wandered around town…nice day.

Painted bricks in old town Placerville

Painted bricks – Placerville

Painted bricks – Placerville

Old town Placerville Fire Department

Placerville Fire

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Wonderful time at Morgan Hill

Well, we had a great three weeks at Morgan Hill. We almost didn’t get to leave as schedule because the motor home wouldn’t start…that was a bad feeling. It turned out to be a starting soleniod, we just had to hit a few times with the handle of a screwdriver and then it would start…we will replace it ASAP. While at Morgan hill, we took motorcycle rides to the Santa Cruz, went to Watsonville Race track and watched brother Terry race, our last night in camp the park had a Hawaiian party with a roasted pig…

It was amazing how fast three weeks went by..we felt like we ran out of time…so here are a few photos from our time in the park…enjoy…..next park will be Ponderosa on the American River.

Road to Morgan Hill campgrounds

Our neighbors – Jose and Terri

I liked the tree trunk…

Some type of bug catcher on the winery fence

The roasted pig — it looks ugly…but tasted good  🙂