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!
Sounds like lots of fun!!!
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