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.