April, time to leave Mesa

Hi everyone,
We have had a wonderful winter this year, I know most of you can't say that.  I can't begin to cover everything that has been happening or how wonderful the weather really was.  We got so busy with learning A-2 Square Dancing that we didn't do any updates all winter and only did a few days of geocaching.

We did have a wonderful surprise in January, Ginger and Kim showed up on our doorstep a couple days before my birthday.  We had a wonderful time, visited the Queen Creek Olive Mill where we even got to see the olives growing on the trees.   I didn't take any photos, the girls were taking them with their phones and I just forgot. 

One day we visited the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, below are some of the unusual cactus that we saw there. 

Some were really unusual, don't know the name.

This one looked like an owl.

Eloise decided to take a ride on the gila monster.

It is always surprising to see water in the middle of the desert.

We thought this was interesting, I missed taking a photo of the sign telling about it.

You can read the statistics on the sign, pretty impressive, old Mr. Big.

This is a map of the trails, enjoyed our hike a lot, Gary pooped out on us and took a nap I think.

We visited McDowell Mountain Regional Park to do some geocaching and hiking.  It was a little less than a 5 mile hike but I think everyone was glad when it was over.  Founds lots of geocaches along the way so that breaks it up a little and makes it seem shorter, thank goodness it was a loop trail.

I know you can't see much detail but this was the vista we saw on the trail

Here you can see the citrus groves in the lower part of the view.  I think beyond them must have been nut trees

This is an unusual form on the Saguaro, the ranger told us some statistics, my memory isn't what it used to be, seems like it was one in a 1,000, I assume it is like a burl on a tree.  We have photographed one near Benson in the past but I think that was before we started the blog.  

 The morning of my birthday was the day the girls were scheduled to return home.  We went out to breakfast and we took these snaps.  Thought you might enjoy seeing them too.  Below, Gary and I are at the other side of the table.  We had a great breakfast but while there, Kim learned her flight had been cancelled.  Ginger's went out as planned, then we returned home for a while.  Kim couldn't get a confirmed flight for several days but we returned to the airport that evening and waited in the cell lot to make sure she got on the flight as a standby.  All went well and she arrived home in the wee hours of the morning. 

A

Kim got to pick oranges.  After we dropped Ginger at the airport we stopped by our friends house.  They actually live in Council Bluffs but winter here.  They have been supplying us with oranges all winter.  Thanks Don & Betty!











These are taken from our site in Mesa, just thought you might enjoy seeing some of our sunsets.

Our neighbor had this wonderful little cactus, one morning it had a couple of blooms, the next day several more and soon it looked like this.  I tried to catch the bee in the close up but he wouldn't stay still long enough.  Spring must be over though, all the blooms are gone now. 

 We will be leaving for Benson in just 5 days, where did the winter go?  We will try to keep you better informed but time flies when you are having fun!!!!!

Back in Mesa

Hi everyone.  Sorry for the delay and will try to catch you up on what has been happening.  From Camp Pendleton we went on to a Thousand Trails park called Wilderness Lakes.  It is in the valley about 50 miles from Hemet, CA.  It was a kind of quiet stay, did a little geocaching, a square and round dancing near Riverside and some Line Dancing there in the park.  One day, we took our bikes to go geocaching.  It seemed like a pretty level area but we found out different.  We were glad to get back to the park and from then on we only used our bikes to go from the MH to the Recreation Hall.  

We moved from there to the Thousand Trails park in Palm Desert.  We had an opportunity to have dinner with my nephew Larry Pfander and to see his beautiful new digs.  Did a little geocaching there but before time to move to the Fairgrounds for the Square Dance Festival we have been looking forward to all year, Gary came down with the crud.  I don't know what it was, maybe the flu.  He had such a cough that he had trouble getting his breath and would almost pass out.  Unfortunately he still had it when it was time for the festival and spent the first two days in the motorhome.  I found a partner so got to do a little dancing but was certainly was glad when he was able to join me on the floor.  

We spent one night at a Coast To Coast park near the CA/AZ Border on the way back to Mesa.  With his illness it was a good thing we didn't have far to go that day.  On Monday, Nov 11 we came back to the same spot we had last year.  Of course once we got in I caught the bug Gary had so it was another couple of weeks before we felt much like doing anything.  We did a little dancing once we figured we were no longer contagious but it took a long time to really feel good. 

 These are three different views of our site.  You can understand, when you see them why we like the park so much.  Lots of room all around you. 

 It wasn't long after we arrived before we had some rain, and lots of it.  Then had another rain a couple of weeks later.  The desert is really green now.  Sorry these pictures showed the clouds instead of the sunshine we are seeing now. 

With all this space we have lots of room for company to park.  Come see us!










With the holiday weeks we have finally found some time to do more than dance.  This was our first really strenuous hike.  On the right you will notice the saddle in the mountains.  That turned out to be our goal.  It was a mile and a half with an 800 ft elevation change and lots of rocky paths.  We were so glad, at the end to see this trail that was no longer rocky.  

Here is the saddle again as we moved along the trail.  We found geocaches all along the way and when we got to the saddle Gary went to one on the left, up quite a ways and around the side of the mountain.  I went to one on the right that was about half way up the mountain on the right, then we met at the saddle to make our descent. 

 On our right was this view.  It was a beautiful day and as you can see from the pictures the desert is really green right now.  I just realized, with this size picture it looks like there is a little lake in the photo.  It isn't, if you click on any of the pictures you will see larger ones. That was a water tank in the middle. 
I'm not sure why Gary is pointing that direction except that the car was down there.  We are heading up the Lost Goldmine Trail.  Another good geocaching route. 

The rabbit ears were kind of cute, see his nose too?  Pretty rugged terrain in the background.

I love me!

 




 Just a view along the way.

Do you see the animal face up there?  Don't know what it would be but thought it kind of cute.

We thought this was really unusual, how the sagauros were right on top of the mountain.  First of all it seemed like it would be too cool for them to grow, secondly the birds must have carried the seed up unless it was an uplift?  Who knows?

This guy was running up as we came down, then he was back by the time we got back, ran all the way. 

Here we are, almost back to the car.  Did more than 6 miles this day, not nearly so steep as the other hike.

This was the turn around point for our hike and cache hunt yesterday.  It looks like someone had a good time after the rains.  Yesterday was  slightly over 2 miles each way.  Found 7 caches.  As you can see from the sky, it was a beautiful day.  Some of the hike was trails, some was just across the desert.  It is really unusual to see the desert so green. 

We may not be updating the blog again until we begin to move again in April.  The dancing here in Mesa keeps us busy with only a down day now and then for caching. 

SEAL BEACH & CAMP PENDLETON

We drove 105 miles from Lake Casitas to the Naval Weapons Station, Seal Beach, CA.  The installation is very clear that there can be no pictures taken without prior approval of the commander.  This memorial to the lost submariners is located outside the station, at the entrance. 







Of the 52 submarines lost during WWII, there were 374 officers and 3,131 on board. 
This is a touching memorial, and is likely little frequented by residents of the vicinity.  It is well-kept and touches the heart.  I have the sense that WWII is so far in the past as to not be relevant to present generations.  In fact, I believe the Vietnam ‘war’ is a dim memory for many today.  Lots of people now travel to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on vacations, seems to me a slap in the face of all the lost GIs and civilians who fought to the death in that war.  Now that I am reflecting on that issue, I can’t say just when it is that we should let bygones be bygones.  Personally, later for me.


Even though photos weren't allowed, I took this one from the doorway anyway.  The RV park was in excellent condition…full-hookups, 50A service, totally paved with lots of room and quiet except for the mower and weed eaters!  They really do a bang up job of keeping everything neat and tidy.  A Par Course runs behind there where you can see it.  There was a small BX on site, no commissary.   An excellent place to stay to see Disneyland and other attractions in the LA/Long Beach area. 
One notable thing about the station is that there was an RV/car wash at the entrance to the RV park.  Having been down the coast from Astoria, OR to here, none of the parks allowed vehicle washing.  I took advantage of it for the car and the rig.  The car took $2.00 and I had extra time left.  The rig took $5.00 and we shut off the timer with some time remaining.  Try getting by that cheaply in a civilian operated wash!

Actually, not so sure it was the right thing to do unless you wipe the vehicle down after.  I did it on our way out of the park so didn’t wipe it down.  Now there are spots all over everywhere!  They use recycled/filtered water of course.  I simply didn’t think! 
This is the Lorna (E’s sister) & Dick Hall house in Long Beach.  When they owned an RV it was parked on the concrete slab, that’s why it’s there in case you were asking yourself.  When we had a shorter rig we parked there too.   It’s a pretty old house, but seems to suit their needs since they put in all new windows a few years ago.  We visited two separate times, the first time we had a nice visit with a niece, we were really happy to get to see Nancy.   The second visit we timed so we would be there when they got home from church and we went out to lunch, here:

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Know where this was? 
Wrong, it’s Marie Callenders.  Yummy pies.  I had the brunch buffet that included champagne.  After the dinner I asked why I hadn’t been served any champagne.  They told me that I had to ask for it.  Hmmm, that just don’t sound right to me! 



Dick Hall, Eloise’s Brother in law.

Lorna Hall, E’s sister.  She’ll be 90 in February.














We were able to visit our grandson Samuel Sagartz,  who attends USC (University of Southern California) as a Junior on an academic scholarship.  We’re very proud of him.  After a lunch at a place that was very noisy, he took us on a tour of the USC campus.  What a beautiful place to get an education.  His interest is in medical technology.  Also working on an interesting project.  I can’t speak smartly about it, but our understanding is that it is an application for cell phones that will provide access to campus activities.  He and his partners are in the process of signing up various functions operating on the campus.  If you want to know more about this…forget it, it’s way by us.  It started out as a class project and when the class ended his instructor encouraged him and his partner to continue with it and develop it into a business. 

                 Sam Sagartz, grandson extraordinaire



No, Grandma didn’t shrink, we just grow them big in our family. 

Below is a farmers market that was set up right there on campus.  There are lots of fountains around campus, it  makes for peaceful settings.
Here’s the famous mascot.  The Trojan.  Sam takes the ribbing from the other schools very well!




Where we parked we came across these parking meters that accept credit cards.  Never seen them before!  E and I were looking for change and not having success, Sam walked up and swiped his card, which totally amazed us! 

When we left Long Beach we moved about 50 miles south to Camp Pendleton.  Actually San Onofre Recreation Area and also State Beach. There we were parked facing the ocean with the railroad tracks right behind us.  Fortunately, most of the trains there are passenger trains so they are very short and not nearly as noisy as  freights.  The ocean seemed to mute the sound of the trains too and with a view like that, who cares anyway?

San Onofre is famous for its nuclear power plant, that went inactive in January 2012.
A news account at that time:
QUOTE
LOS ANGELES -- The demise of California's San Onofre nuclear power plant began with an attempt to fix it.
A $670 million equipment swap in 2009 and 2010 went haywire, leaving Southern California Edison on Friday with two idle reactors, more than $500 million in bills and a federal decision on a possible restart nowhere in sight.
The company decided to close it, permanently. The announcement triggered a celebration among environmentalists and other critics of the nuclear power industry who argued the plant was too damaged to operate safely. UNQUOTE


That’s the nuclear plant in the background.  The picture was taken on our bicycle ride thru the State Park and on down the coast thru more of Camp Pendleton.  The old highway 1 was closed to motor vehicles, only walkers and bicycles are allowed now.  It was really nice, we did a total of 10 miles that day and were really glad to get home when it was complete.  I guess we aren’t as young as we once were. 

Dana Point was not very far from the camp.  We went mainly because there were several geocaches hidden here.  It was a beautiful day, not much smog or fog, in fact the only day that really had a marine layer was the day we left.  You can’t see it but there was a cache on one of the poles for the sign below. 


Where’s Waldo?  This is only a portion of the marina.  There’s much more and café’s and restaurants and stuff.  A terrific place to walk and find caches!  Too busy for bikes. 


So, where’s the fire hydrant?

 
 Just a few of the elephants spread around the marina.
“The world’s largest open-air exhibition dedicated to saving the Asian Elephant, a species threatened with extinction.  After stops in Milan, London, Singapore and other global destinations the spectacle of culture and creativity makes its American debut at Dana Point.”

While here, we were able to connect with Gary’s niece Becky and husband John Droigk, who live in San Diego. 

We spent a nice afternoon with them, and played some board/card games.  Eloise spent a good deal of the summer making a quilt for the daughter that Becky is due to deliver in November.


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Our site was right on the beach, with full hookups, 50A.  Couldn’t ask for a neater place.  Step out your door and you’re there!  Even as a military park, it was a little pricey, but considering it’s on the beach near San Diego, maybe $40 a nite isn’t so terribly bad.  We spent a week here, and loved every minute. 

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Yes, there was a train right behind us, but it didn’t make much noise, and it was only the Metro link that ran there, no freight.  Hardly knew when it went through!


The view out of our windshield at San Onofre Marine Base Campground, Camp Pendleton, CA


We tried to get a picture of the pelicans but they weren’t nearly as happy to have their pictures taken as the gulls were. 
The last day of our stay they were holding a surfing contest. 


Leaving you with a sunset we saw each evening we were here!