On South to California

We are continuing on our travel south ... California is our next destination. We will be in California from August 10th to October 10th. We have all types of fun planned and some nostalgia as well so here we go!

Our first stop was an overnight in Redding at the Redding Elks Lodge. It was clean, had a pool and a playground. This was just a stop on our way to the Thousand Trails Lake Minden RV Resort located in Nicolaus, CA.

Lake Minden RV Resort is a Thousand Trails that we will never visit again. It was dusty, the lake was green and gross they only had 30 amp electrical service and it was HOT! Like 108 degrees outside and 102 degrees inside! I hate to talk bad about Thousand Trails, because we love the program and have enjoyed most of the campgrounds we have stayed in, but not this one!

My Mom's birthday was the day we got there. She is in Holland and sent me a picture herself with some beautiful flowers she received for her birthday. Three days later my birthday came as well. I had a wonderful birthday! My lovely sister-in-love sent me roses and fruit and Brent and Grace got me the board games Catan and Ticket To Ride. Especially nice was that Grace and I got to meet up with my first step daughter, Nikki and her mom Dee Dee. They live about 2 hours from where we were staying so we met half way and had a nice lunch and catch up visit. Nikki has grown up into quite a wonderful young woman. She hasn't had it easy, but she is strong. She has a great job, a beautiful daughter and a nice relationship with her mother. I am so happy for all of them. Keep up the great work Nikki! You make me so proud!

The next day we left for Scotts Valley, CA. We stayed at the Santa Cruz Ranch RV park in Scotts Valley. We really enjoyed this park. The weather was a dream! The spaces were close together, but the park was clean, the staff was nice and the pool was a lot of fun.

Now what some of you won't know is when I was a teenager I lived in Almaden Valley in San Jose, CA. I went to college my first two years in Scotts Valley, CA at Bethany Bible College and I was married there at the chapel. The college unfortunately closed a few years ago. A conference center has been built there now. It is beautiful. It's amazing what money can do for a campus. My old dorm, Harp Hall, is still there ... but they have fixed it up. Scotts Valley is in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains and Santa Cruz is just a few miles away. We took several trips down memory lane during the 8 nights we stayed there.

One of my friends from my time living in Scotts Valley as a young adult was Sam. I was there when her two sons were born. I babysat for the oldest one. She and I were able to reconnect and have breakfast while we were in Scotts Valley. We have been Facebook friends and have kept up with each other that way, but I haven't seen her in probably 30 years. We sure did have a nice time catching up. We will see each other again on this trip while we are in Morgan Hill. She is going to come over to meet Grace and Brent. I even get to meet her granddaughter who is just a year or so younger than Grace.

We went to San Jose. We had lunch at one of my mom and my favorite places, Taiwan Restaurant, in Willow Glen. It was amazing as usual. Only thing that seemed changed was they used to have these amazing tropical flower arrangements that they don't have anymore. Willow Glen is still the cute little town it has always been. From there we drove by the McDonald's that was my first "real" job at the corner of Meridian Ave and Blossom Hill Rd in Princeton Plaza. At some point, during the last 35 years, they tore down the original building and put up a new one ... so no photo was taken. Then our next stop was our home on Anjou Creek Circle in Almaden Valley, a drive by my high school, Leland High and back to Scotts Valley. The house looked the same ... so did the high school ... except they have these carport looking structures in the parking lot with solar panels on them. All in all it was a fun day.

A few days later we went to Los Gatos to visit with my college roommate Liz and her sweet family. She has 2 boys, Anthony and Will. We have gotten together a few times over the years. During the summer of  2020, they took an RV trip and we camped together a couple of nights in Washington. Anthony and Grace have kept in touch on Messenger Kids and the boys and Grace get along great. We had a nice visit and the kids even got a chance to swim together. Liz loves to cook. She made us yummy homemade pizza for lunch and a great salmon dinner.

Another adventure was to Capitola Beach. We went to Margaritaville and then drove back to Santa Cruz to look at a few more beaches from my past as well as for ice cream at Marianne's Ice Cream. Marianne's Ice Cream is pretty popular in the general area. They have lots of flavors. They even formulated the Garlic Ice Cream for the Gilroy Garlic Festival ... more to come on that when we get to Gilroy. LOL!

This is definitely a park and area we will come back to!

Now … Time for Extended Family Fun

Leaving Seaside we headed to stay 2 nights in Keizer, OR at the Keizer Elks Club. What a nice Elks Club … they have a really nice club house, pool, hot tub, and playground. It is located just a few miles from Brent’s favorite restaurant … In-N-Out! That is the closest In-N-Out to Moses Lake and he was super happy to get his first Double Double of the trip!

My maiden name is Amberg! We have a big extended family. My grandparents had 5 children and each of them have had multiple children. Now there are great and great great grandchildren! Quite a bit of my extended family live in Oregon. I have never lived in Oregon but I have a lot of fun memories and lots of family to visit when I go there! 

My Dad and Mom met in Grants Pass, OR when they were in high school. My Dad is the 2nd of the 5 kids and the only one who really went far from home when he became an adult. When they graduated high school my dad took the train all the way to Ithaca, NY and attended Cornell University. My mom went to Corvallis, OR to attend Oregon State University. As so often happens with young love they couldn’t see how they could live 4 long years away from each other and after just 1.5 yrs of college they got married and went back to Ithaca so my Dad could finish his degree. Mom made this possible for him working and adulting while he finished his degree and moved on to get his Masters Degree. I digress … but that is probably why we never lived in Oregon … they chose to have their life adventures far away from “home”.

While we were in Keizer, I was lucky enough to have my cousin Suzy come visit. She lives outside of Portland. Suzy is the 1st grandchild and I am the 3rd on the Amberg side of the family. We were close growing up and used to write each other letters since we lived so far apart. We enjoyed each others company and got caught up on life. She just changed careers so that was fun to hear about and also has a beautiful little granddaughter named Ruth. As a matter of fact when she left me she was headed up for some baby Ruth time.

Our next stop was the Deerwood RV Park in Eugene. We hosted a fun get together at our campsite and got to see my Grandma, Aunt Bonnie, Dad, cousin Jamie and 2 of her kids Hunter and Lucy. My Dad just happened to be visiting the area to help my Grandma, house sit and dog sit for my Aunt Bonnie while she goes on a trip. My Grandma is 98 years old and will be 99 in November. She is an amazing Matriarch of the Amberg family. She still lives on her own and drives. We had a nice visit about what next year would look like for her 100th year birthday and a summer family reunion. My Grandma is amazing! She sends all her kids, grandkids, great grandkids and even her great great grandkids birthday and anniversary cards. She cross stitches each new baby a gift, plays games and enjoys receiving letters and pictures.

We got to play Mexican Train Dominoes and an Amberg Family favorite, Hand and Foot, with my Grandma, Aunt Bonnie and Dad. Playing games has always been a big part of the Amberg Family culture and it was fun to carry that on this visit. Grace loves to play games with GG, my Grandma, and I love that she sees the importance of taking this time with GG.

While we were in Eugene we also had a visit from my Aunt Janelle. She lives in Corvallis and brought us some Crumbl Cookies which we enjoyed very much. It was nice to visit with her and get caught up. We found some wonderful sourdough bread at the Creswell Bakery in Creswell, OR. I thought one of my cousins worked at their Chamber of Commerce so I stopped in for a hug, but he doesn’t work there anymore. LOL!

The rest of my family that lives in the area were busy or gone but I got a chance to think about them and the fun things we used to do when we would visit Grandma and Grandpa’s ranch. My Grandpa died at 69 from a heart attack. He was so many things - a wonderful dad, grandpa, and husband. He raised cattle and grew hay. He was a carpenter at different times in his life. We had the chance to go to his grave and put flowers on it. It was a nice time to think of him and remember his life and the influence he has had on us.

When we left Eugene we went to Grants Pass. Here we celebrated my Mom’s side of the family. We toured where my Granddaddy Pete and Nana Grace Cudd lived when my mom was growing up. My mom’s favorite place to live was at Paradise Ranch just outside Grants Pass.

Over the years different people have tried to make it into a dude ranch, wedding venue (my cousin Suzy got married there), golf course retreat and most recently a subdivision. The last owners went bankrupt back in 2008 and it’s in pretty bad repair, but we still go there and swing on Nana Grace’s swing and remember what it once was for my mom, her brother and parents. It’s where Mom feels closest to them. So of course we went there … for our picture and a visit. We even found the Grants Pass soda fountain and had a phosphate just like mom used to in her teens.

We went to their graves and spent some time remembering their contributions to our lives. Grace is named after my Nana Grace. She passed away when I was just 3 years old and my Granddaddy Pete passed away before I was born. My Granddaddy Pete owned grocery stores in his life. This started in Corpus Christi, TX where my Mom was born but they moved to Grants Pass when she was 12 years old. My Granddaddy Pete loved the mountains around Grants Pass. My mom remembers and has shared with us how much my Granddaddy Pete and Nana Grace loved each other. In his later life my Granddaddy Pete became a real estate agent and my Nana Grace owned a nursery in the same strip mall they owned with the grocery store. They were so close. After my Grandaddy passed away my Nana just missed him so much. She died from emphysema, but also a broken heart!

When we were in Grants Pass my dad's brother, my Uncle Larry, Aunt Diane and cousin Cindy came for a BBQ at our campsite. We had a great visit. They are the only part of my mom or dad's family that stayed in Grants Pass. Cindy has two boys, one of which is my Grandma's oldest great grandchild. Cindy is going to be a Grandma soon too! We are growing up! LOL!

We are going to California next. Stay tuned for more adventures.

Finishing Up Our Seaside Visit

Wow! I am so far behind on my blog. Now it seems like an insurmountable task to get caught up … but I am going to break it up into smaller bites and individual blog posts that will be pretty close together!

Grace and I made the trip back to Moses Lake to be with our friends and celebrate the life of LuDeen Earl. The visit was fun! On Friday we got to see our friend Heather and go swimming in her pool. I went to my old office and saw Laura and Cindy. That was fun!

The viewing and the funeral were beautiful. We were so blessed to see so many friends and family of LuDeen and enjoyed hearing their stories about her and her life. We spent the time at Pat and Lori’s house and were surrounded by them, their kids and grandkids. It was nice to spend time with them and eat some of LuDeen’s special spaghetti sauce for dinner one night! Cassidy’s daughter, Haven, calls Grace her Baby … Grace is holding her in the pictures.

The weekend went fast for us but we knew we needed to get back to Brent and the dogs! Brent kept busy doing projects and taking care of the dogs while we were gone. We only had a few more days at Seaside and those were taken up with walks downtown and on the beach, gelato, seafood and other fun touristy things. We even fit in a trip to feed my Thai food cravings at Thai Me Up! It was so good even Grace and Brent who aren’t really Thai fans loved their food!

When we leave Seaside our trip is going to focus on family for about a week before we head south to California.

Seaside Oregon … Fun

We have been here is Seaside for about a week. Seaside holds so many memories for our family and we have made even more this week.

Grace was so excited when she got here to find some friends she had made in Long Beach here as well. They played together hard for days until the other family had to leave. There has been lots of swimming, walking dogs and a few trips to Warrenton for supplies.

We even drove back to Long Beach last Saturday for a fun visit to Sandsations - a sand castle building contest and another excuse to go to Dylan’s Cottage Bakery.

Grace has started doing a little light summer school work … mostly working on her penmanship and letter writing skills. We started reading a book together … Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume. Anyone from my generation remember that book? LOL!

Grace got a cold, which she got over in like 1 day, that she passed on to me and I haven’t been so lucky. It has given me time to listen to my books, lay in my zero gravity chair and rest. All the stress of life has been reduced and now my body seems to want to be sick all the time. I need to build up my immune system. Anyone have ideas for that? 

I finished The Resistance Girl by Mandy Robotham. It was good. I sure wouldn’t have wanted to live during those WW2 times and not sure Norway would ever suit me. It sounds very pretty but very cold and harsh weather. I enjoyed the book and will read more of her books.

I also listened to an audio book called The Shut Away Sisters by Suzanne Goldring. It was set in England during WW1 and present. It was interesting and a good read. It would go back and forth between present time and WW1 time as a young woman was discovering details of her two Aunt’s lives during WW1 and discovering herself as well.

Brent seems happy in his element as caretaker encouraging me to rest and let him take care of me. He has been putting together some dressers we picked up at IKEA for Grace’s clothes, working on his invention, reorganizing the storage on the RV and PU and generally enjoying his retirement.

Sometimes when you don’t live near extended family you develop friends that become the family you choose for yourself. In Moses Lake I met Lori Earl, who has become my sis, and who introduced me to her mother in law, LuDeen Roylance Earl. LuDeen passed away July 19th and was 96 years old. I am sure there was a HUGE party on the other side of the veil as she was greeted by friends and family including her husband, who went before her in 2004, and their daughter, Tami.  LuDeen was an elect lady who loved Heavenly Father and all others around her. Her eyes would light up when you walked in the room and she would smile and invite you to sit with her. She loved to make scones for friends and family. Grace and I will drive back to Moses Lake this week for her funeral. She was such a special woman and was so loving and gracious to us.

Well … my laundry is about done … it’s time for me to go … I think I’ll take a walk on the beach! 

Wish you could all be with me! Have a GREAT day!

Fun in Seaview, WA and Long Beach, WA

We have had some really nice days and nights while we have been at the beach. The WA coast can be unpredictable, but it’s been great! Tuesday we will have been here for 3 weeks. A few misty mornings, a couple rainy days but mostly 70-75 degree days. Of course the wind has been hit and miss but mostly a light breeze.

This retirement thing takes some getting used to … I am still checking my email, responding to messages and chats … calling owners and such …but I’m down to maybe 8-10 hrs per week … at least that’s my perspective … you might hear a different number from Brent! LOL!

This week I took a trip to Seaside for some acupuncture at Healthy Hub Massage and Wellness with Dr. Coke. She was wonderful. I love acupuncture but haven’t had it for years. Then I also went to EarthLight Massage in Long Beach for a massage with Terralar. Wow! I would recommend either of these lovely practitioners with 6 out of 5 stars!

The rest of our week has been spent relaxing. I finished my audio book The Edelweiss Sisters by Kate Hewitt. I really enjoyed it. I really like historical fiction books. This one is set in Austria during WW2. It is about a family with 3 grown daughters. They even sing in a music festival that the Von Trapp Family Singers appeared in prior to Anschluss or annexation of Austria by Germany. I will definitely read/listen to  more books by this author. Do you prefer to hold an actual book/tablet and read or listen to an audio book?

I started a new book called The Resistance Girl by Mandy Robotham. It’s set in Norway during WW2. I have never read any stories from Norway and I am enjoying it.

Grace decided to get wet the other night during our walk on the beach. Here’s a fun picture of her in the setting sun! The outside temperature was about 70 degrees with no wind and the water was a balmy 54 degrees.

We did something kind of fun today. If you are from Moses Lake or have been to visit we have have a hometown pizza place there called Chico’s Pizza Parlor. It’s been there since 1958. Chico’s was a franchise that only has 3 locations left … Moses Lake,WA, Seaview, WA and Lynnwood, CA. Well since we are in Seaview we thought we’d visit it! They make their pizzas a little different than the Moses Lake ones, but they were still really tasty and it was super fun to visit.

Brent’s been trying to solve two logistics problems in our RV. He’s being an inventor … so far he has fixed the problem we were having with the bassets getting out of the pen we use to let them out of the RV to take care of their “business”. He took a trip to Home Depot and came back with parts that would keep them in as they love to wander the park … yes they are microchipped … but still we don’t want them wandering without us and their leashes. LOL! The 2nd issue we are having is keeping the refrigerator and freezer closed when turning corners in the RV. There are some after market items that can be installed, like child locks etc, but they are cumbersome when you live in it full time … so my inventor is working on a solve … this took a trip to Home Depot, Ace Hardware and I’m not sure where else but he’s having fun so that’s what’s important.

Grace has been doing her usual things … swimming, dancing around, walking Honey and her chore … picking up dog “business”.

What are you doing with your summer? 

Long Beach, WA - A Wonderful Place to Enjoy Birthdays … Grace’s 1/2 Birthday, Our Nation’s Birthday and Brent’s Birthday

We have been hanging out at the Thousand Trails Long Beach RV Resort located in Seaview, WA. We really love this campground. It has a quirky old style grouped utility system but it’s a short walk to the beach, has a nice pool and hot tub, activity center with games, laundry, and very nice staff. We have water, sewer and 50 amp power. 

The walk to the beach is clearly marked and easy to find from the beach to get back. We arrived on the 28th of June. Within a day or two the park had filled up … there were so many RVs and Tent Campers alike enjoying the park. It wasn’t overwhelming … the bathrooms stayed free for showers and clean by the staff.

We have had great clam chowder at Chowder Stop and Dylan’s Cottage Bakery, wonderful pastries from Dylan’s Cottage Bakery, Boba Lemonade from Beach Bubble Shop and steamer clams at The Depot. We have walk downtown and enjoyed the touristy things, attended church, celebrated birthdays and walked on the beach. We still have about 10 days left here so I am sure there will be much more to share. Let me give some details on a few of fun things we’ve been doing.

The fireworks … oh the fireworks! If you haven’t been to this area, you may not know you can drive out on the beach, set up and spend the day! That’s what a lot of people did all weekend. There were fireworks every night from Friday to Monday. Monday was the finale and boy was it amazing. The amount of money that went up in smoke on beach was amazing. It was beautiful and LOUD! The dogs were not thrilled with the fireworks. We did find some calming chews at Ace Hardware that actually worked well to help them calm down. I did stay in the RV with them while Brent and Grace went out to the fireworks.

Grace’s 1/2 birthday is on the 4th of July and ever since she was a little little we have celebrated it. She always dresses up in RED WHITE and BLUE. She used to think the fireworks were for her birthday … LOL! This year she got walkie talkies! Now she loves to talk on them … what did I do! A few days later it was time for Brent’s Birthday … new sunglasses and dinner out at The Depot were fun for him.

I have enjoyed my daily walks with Scarlett and Hank on the beach. The mosquitos are causing us some issues … I mean they love us all! If you know of any good products to try we would love you to comment below. Grace has made some friends … in the campground they come and go, but she loves playing at the playground walking Honey, swimming and of course her iPad.

What did you do to celebrate the 4th of July? Happy Birthday USA!

Cascade Peaks to Kelso/Longview Elks … It’s Been a Busy Couple of Days

We arrived at the Cascade Peaks campground and were promptly greeted by a grumpy woman who couldn’t find our reservation. I had the confirmation in my phone showing that I had already paid … but she made me pay again. Not the best welcome. They were having a big ABATE Motorcycle Rally on one part of the campground … but other than the music at night, loud motorcycles in the park and hearing a few gunshots … we didn’t even know they were there!

We weren’t very impressed with the park. The water pressure was all over the place … sometimes it was low pressure, sometimes it was normal, sometimes it was high … all I know is it kept slipping past our toilet valves and overflowing our toilets. Our satellite internet worked great. They have 2 pools. One was closed with a need for a heater repair and the other was open. The kids couldn’t even swim in it because the water was freezing. We asked about it and found out it has a leak so cold water continually pours into it.

The hosts of the campground were very nice. Grace enjoyed the zip line and the tree swing. I enjoyed having a place to put together puzzles in the clubhouse that also housed the laundry. Grace and I (mostly I) put 2 puzzles together while we were there. Brent is still doing work on the RV. He installed 2 Max Fans - 1 in each bathroom. Being up on that hot roof doing that work is hard on him, but he wants to get it done so he does it.

We decided to leave 2 days early and travel to Longview. Since we are members of the Elks Lodge in Moses Lake we decided to camp in the Elks Kelso/Longview Lodge’s RV Campground. Brent grew up in Longview and we really enjoy Longview. I went shopping at Fred Meyer to pick up a few things. Today Brent replaced the RV battery and found the problem with the running lights and fixed that. He is such a hard worker! Grace and I did much more fun things today while he worked in the heat wave. We went to the Kelso Catlin Rotary Spray Park. It was so nice! There was a lot of shade, a nice breeze and a bunch of kids for Grace to play and get wet with. I even started listening to a new audio book called The Edelweiss Sisters by Kate Hewitt. My favorite genre of books is historical fiction … what’s yours?

I am trying something new … intermittent fasting. I am eating between 11 am and 7 pm. I just finished my 2nd day and so far I like it a lot. So far it doesn’t feel like dieting because I can eat pretty much anything … think healthy but not restrictive … during my 8 hours of eating time. We shall see if I like it long term. Has anyone else done this? Did you like it? Did you feel better? Of course with 3 dogs, I am walking everyday several times per day. It is so good for me … when I was working sometimes I wouldn’t even get up from my desk to go to the bathroom all day! I know TMI!

We are ready to head to Long Beach tomorrow. We will be staying at the Thousand Trails/Encore Park in Seaview. We have been there before. We will be there for 21 days. I am looking forward to beach walks, riding our bikes on the bike trails, Dylan’s Cottage Bakery and much more.