Test

I am testing my new documents app to see how well it will work for creating my blog on the road.  Here is another font to try. Or Georgia. Now to see if it will copy and paste.

A Teenager

This fall, God led a wonderful young lady into our home. She was in need of a loving Christian family to nourish her soul and we obeyed God's calling to be that family to her.

This young lady spends the weekends with us, attending Youth at church and Sunday School and Worship Service on Sunday morning. We have been blessed with her presence in our lives and pray that we can be God in the flesh to her on this earth.

Thank you Lord for leading us to her, may we both continue to be a blessing to each other.

Anxiety

Anxiety. Do I suffer from it? Yes. All the time - not really. Occasionally - ya. How do I deal with it? 

Well there are a few ways. One is a natural product called L-Theanine. It works and it works well. The more anxiety I have the more I take. Normally I only take one capsule (100mg) per night but when things are causing me to have anxious thoughts I take more.

Music is another way. Songs like Que Sera Sera by Doris Day

"Que Sera, Sera,

Whatever will be, will be

The future's not ours, to see

Que Sera, Sera

What will be, will be."

A Christian chorus "I have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart, down in my heart, I have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart to stay.

Another Christian chorus "the joy of the Lord is my strength (4x)"

From the musical Annie "the sun will come out tomorrow...."

A Christian chorus: Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone), Jesus is the Answer. Actually the list of chorus' could go on and on as music does touch my soul.

God. God is the way! God is my strength. Without God I would not be where I am today.

I truly believe that anxiety is a medical condition and not everyone suffers from it. Some people will feel anxious at times but not something that lasts for a long period. People with true anxiety often have thoughts in their head that they cannot explain, they have no idea why they would even think things like that. I have had those kinds of thoughts. Thoughts of "maybe I should just stop my car on the tracks" but as soon as these kinds of thoughts came into my mind I knew they were "crazy" or "wrong" and that I would (hopefully not) ever consider them. But why? Why did they even come into my head? These things I cannot explain but I do know that with God's help, with the help of L-Theanine (a natural "drug") I do not have those kinds of thoughts.

Do I have any anxiety these days? Sometimes. We are in the beginning of a kitchen reno so that might cause some. People have caused some. But through it all I am trusting that God will see me through one day at a time. 

(another old chorus just came to mind) 

I'm only human; I'm just a man

Help me believe in what I could be and all that I am
Show me the stairway
I have to climb
Lord for my sake
Teach me to take
One day at a time

One day at a time, sweet Jesus
That's all I'm asking from you
Give me the strength to do everything that I have to do
Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus
And tomorrow may never be mine
Help me today
Show me the way
One day at a time.

Could you remember
When you walked among men
Jesus, you know when you're looking below
It's worse now than then
Pushin' and shovin' crowd in your mind
Lord for my sake
Teach me to take
One day at a time

Have I cured my anxiety? No. Is is much better? Yes. Will I continue to suffer from it? Probably. Have I learned how to ease it? Yes.

I pray that these songs, my words, God's words, medical help (not only natural "drugs" but good counselling) would help anyone who might come across this page. 

Depend on God

While cleaning up this afternoon in preparation for some renovations I came upon an old song from the 80's. I tried to find the music online to no avail but nonetheless I will post the words here.

Depend on Me – Jonathan Michaels, Robert Mason

When the hope you had has disappeared
And you have lost your will to try,
And you think your ship has just come in
But it keeps on passing by;
When you have almost gained the victory,
And you have left the rest behind,
And the marathon has slowed its pace
As you reached the finish line,
And you round the final corner, but you fall,
Depend on Me

When your life is filled with emptiness
And your friends have said goodbye,
And the hill becomes a mountain
As your troubles multiply;
When your trials get too much to bear,
And you are standing all alone,
And the feeling way down deep inside
Is the worst you have ever known,
And you need someone to count on,
But no one’s there,
Depend on Me

Depend on Me,
When the world has let you down
Depend on Me,
When you feel you are losing ground
Depend on Me,
When your love has been denied,
When you have lost your earthly pride,
You can depend on Me.

God is good, no matter what stuff gets thrown at you, He is always there to carry you through.

Apparently I have been neglecting my blog, so here goes...


In the last month our middle son, Matt decided to give up his career as a helicopter pilot and return to farming. At first I was torn, not wanting him to give up something that I thought he had really wanted but the thought of him working far away - forever, as opposed to coming come to farm where he would always be near by. Well, I am sure as a mother you could see my dilemma. I suggested that  he pray about  it and we would do the same. God said to come back to his roots. So on April 21we moved Matt home from Yorkton, Sk back to Manitoba much to the dismay of the Robertson family who had come to know and love Matt and will miss him very much. 


Matt had purchased a fifth wheel camper a few weeks back which he picked up from the dealership on the following Monday. We think it was a top of the line camper when it was built back in 1993?, it was made by Triple E so it is well insulated and has lots of storage space. It has taken a couple of weeks to get all settled in, mostly because Matt was busy planting grains. He seems to have taken well to driving the planter and figured out the computer, GPS, etc. No longer is driving a tractor a simple thing with all the technology these days. He has also volunteered with the Senior Youth group and is getting involved in a college and career group. We/I am so pleased at how God has worked in Matt's life and has given him a desire to serve. 


Nick is enjoying working as a server at a restaurant in Portage La Prairie, he really enjoys the tip money.


Jord & Michelle also enoy their jobs in Winnipeg.


On Mother's Day, Tim, myself, Matt, Jord & Michelle went biking in the city. For us country folk, riding on pavement is such a treat, I wish I could enjoy it more often.


Matt has applied and been accepted to the School of Agriculture Diploma Program at the U of M! He will be starting this fall.


God has been taking me through a personal difficulty which will not be shared in this forum. But, if you feel so led, please remember me in your prayers.


God is good, ALL the time. He loves me and He love you too.

Feeling Better

It is such a relief to be feeling better than I have all week. It was a joy to watch Nick and his basketball team win two games yesterday. Nick has greatly improved his skills from last season and it was a feeling of pride to see your son do well. We look forward to today's game, knowing that this one will be tougher (final game - winner of tournament).

Was able to get my bulletins completed this morning, two loads of laundry (almost done), and hoping to get some cleaning done before we leave. My parents are coming for a visit tomorrow which will be great since we have not seen them for a couple of months.

God has been good and has answered a couple of our prayers this week and we trust that He will answer more in the days to come.

Guess What

You will never belive it, but I have thrush (in my mouth). I thought that was something only babies got, but apparently after taking antibiotics you too can aquire this painful, although not normally painful - so maybe I have something else as well, infection.

My mouth/throat/left inner ear is all quite sore, thankful pain killers are killing the pain. I am trying to drink lots of fluid like ginger beer and hot tea with honey. Hopefully it will clear up soon and I will be back to normal.

While I sit and wait to feel better I am looking and editing the over 1000 photos we took on our adventure. I might be here awhile.

Being Back

It has been good to be back home, to see our family, although we have not yet seen Matt (hoping to this month) and some of our friends. We are hoping we can catch up with more friends soon.

Some stuff has been happening around here while we were gone that is causing us great sadness. Please pray that God will give us wisdom and peace and that he will comfort those that are hurting.

For me, I have been able to complete my housekeeping duties (laundry, cleaning up everything from our trip) but have yet to file, both in the filing cabinet and the computer, some of the mail regarding banking stuff. This morning, despite feeling sick (sore throat and ear), I was able to update the church website, complete two loads of laundry and begin with blog stuff. I am planning to go back and update with pictures the blog pages from our adventure. Please check back in the near future to see if I completed what I am setting out to do.

Day 57

LAST DAY! Left at 6:30 a.m. just because we were awake and may as well get going. Drove for awhile till we found a McD's for breakfast and wifi. Drove as far as Minot for lunch, Applebee's - yay! Oriental chicken salad for lunch, Tim had a rueben sandwich. Filled up with fuel and headed for home.

Made it safely and quickly through the border and into Manitoba. Felt good to be driving on familiar roads. Tim had to stop at Tim's for his ice cap with a shot of espresso, he was so happy! Once we were on the #1 I moved into the back of the camper and started packing up. I took a few little breaks but ended up getting almost everything packed up by time we got home. Drove the camper into the shop brought the car in and transferred our stuff over and headed home-home. Was so good to be home, too bad Nick was not there, he was at a basketball game. We had most stuff unpacked and a few loads of laundry done and were just settling down to watch TV when Nick came home. He was very happy to see us, we even got big hugs. We were very happy to see him too. Glad to be home!

Day 56

Woke up to a clear morning with a beautiful view of snow covered mountains. Our current elevation is 1442 m, yesterday we reached over 1900 m. Today we reached 2096 m (6870 ft) as we crossed into Montana. Had lunch at Perkins, thankful once again for wifi to keep us in touch with our boys. Drove past Manhattan, MN home to our friends Art & Brenda during the summer months. Stopped in Billings to eat supper. Spent the night at another Flying J near Glendive. Have been thankful for these free nights since we did not need any service. 

Looking forward to coming home.

Day 55

Cloudy with a bit of rain. Winterized the camper after breakfast and began our journey home. Made a quick pit stop at Gold and Silver Pawn Shop - the home of Pawn Stars, and took a look around. Matt was wanting us to stop and check it out since it was so close to where we were staying. We saw a couple of Peter Liks photos and the price on the one we noticed, with the damaged frame, we felt was way over priced. Well, now we have been there, so it was time to get back on the road.

Soon we were out of Nevada and into Arizona for a brief drive through the beautiful red mountains following a small river. It was very beautiful. Did I mention that I was driving through these mountains, up and down and around? I drove as far as George where we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch. On the road again, we drove a short way stopping at a Love's to try to add some DEF fluid. This was not a simple task since the positioning of the neck of the tank made it almost impossible for the nozzle to reach. And the nozzle was too big as well, so Tim feels that he was able to get a little bit of the DEF fluid into the tank but to make sure he bought a container of the fluid just in case. Now for those of you unfamiliar with DEF fluid, if you have a vehicle that needs it and if you run out of it you cannot start or drive your car/truck. So  it is very important that you make sure that you have some.

At this point Tim took over the driving, as he had had his nap in the morning. I was very glad for this since it started to snow/rain, snow/rain, repeat. The rain was fine but the snow made it messy and slower and when a semi passed you had better make sure you have your wipers going on full speed if you want to see any of the road. We continued right on through Utah and into Idaho before stopping for the night at a Flying J just south of Pocatello.

Day 54

Woke up early than I thought we would, was hoping to sleep in. Oh well. Before we left Circus Circus we headed over to the midway area and caught a circus act with two brothers. The larger one would lie on his shoulders, on a special chair and would flip his smaller brother around in the air with his feet. It is hard to explain but they did a great job, one time he flipped him over and over 21 times, pretty amazing and they seemed like fairly young guys.

Got on the Duece bus and headed south, getting off at the Imperial Palace. They have a large collection of collector autos that Tim wanted to see. I sped through while Tim took his time enjoying the cars. We had no real plans today since we were both a little tired and Tim felt like he was coming down with something so we rode the bus down the strip and back up the strip. We got off a bit at Freemont station to look around and then took the bus back.

We headed back for the Chinese foot massage people and Tim ended up getting a foot massage as well as myself. Felt good, for me though massages can always be longer. For supper we had prime rib and spare ribs, you can guess who had which. Came back home and relaxed. Plan is to head home tomorrow.

Day 53

Leaving Primm we headed for the Hoover Dam, which only took about an hour. It was quite windy the closer we got to the damn. We first stopped to walk up unto the new bypass bridge that was just completed in October 2010. From here we could get a good view of the dam, but it was very windy up here today.

Drove down towards the dam having to stop for inspection (you know, since 9/11). We drove over the dam and found a place to park and then walked down towards to the dam. It is amazing to see and marvel over and to think it was built in the 1930's. We took many pictures and visited the visitor center to read more about the building of the dam. From the dam you also get a good view of the new bypass bridge which is also amazing in it's design. God has blessed many people with the talents for math and science giving them the ability to come up with these man made creations. It was a sight to see and if you are ever in the area you should check it out for yourself.

Making our drive back to Vegas was a little scary with the winds gusting up to 89 km/hr and even when we reached our destination of the KOA campground at Circus Circus it was still quite windy. Settled in, planned our evening and took a nap (Vegas is all about night time, you know). We walked through Circus Circus and once outside eventually found the ticket machine to purchase a 24 hour bus ticket. These buses stop at the various casinos thereby saving you miles of walking outside, of course once you enter a casino you will have to walk and walk some more.

We got off the bus at the Venetian since Tim wanted to walk through the shops by the canals and also to purchase tickets for the Blue Man Group. We got our tickets, had supper at Otto restaurant, an Italian place. We ate in the wine room all by ourselves and Tim had the best lasagne he has ever had, he said it melted in his mouth. If you are up on famous chefs I am sure there were some here, I have heard of Wolfgang Puck and he had a restaurant across from Otto. There were other names but since I do not follow chefs I did not know.

After our supper we walked through the expensive shops in the Venetian and the Palazzo, stopping in at a gallery with three photographers but we still think we like Peter Liks photos better. We crossed the street to take in the free show at Treasure Island which was
OK, would not see it again. Then took the short walk to the Mirage to catch the Volcano erupt, it was alright, the heat felt good though.

Headed back to the Venetian to watch the Blue Man Group. They were good, not quite what we hoped for, too much audience stuff, but hey now we have seen them and it was one of the things on Tim's to do list. Since the show was late, started at 10, we came straight back to the camper to crash for the night. Were unable to locate a church that was close by, do we will just have to do church on our own.

Day 52

Enjoyed some hash browns for breakfast then off to Starbucks for Tim's coffee and wifi. Then we drove over to Joshua Tree National Park. When I first read about the park I thought it sounded boring, after all who wants to look at a bunch of Joshua Trees. Well, I am so glad that we went! We took in two nature trails and a view of the San Andraes Fault. The nature trails were awesome and so was the view. I am not very good at articulating with my words and words are not enough when it comes to describing the trees, shrubs, rocks, etc. God is so amazing and so creative, his creation is so cool.

After visiting the park we drove over to Kelso to check out an old train depo that was built there in the early 1920's. It was quite big for it's day and there are no homes near by. The trains still come by, although I do not know if any passenger trains come by and the old depo has been turned into a museum. Too bad we only had a short time to visit here before they closed.

My foot, the one I broke last summer started causing me some pain after we got in the camper. Not sure why but hoping it will feel better tomorrow. Spending the night in another casino parking lot, but this casino is better than the last one (no smoking). We had supper at a steak restaurant in the casino and we shared a 12oz filet minion which was one of or maybe the best steak we have ever had. It was so tender it almost melted in your mouth. Not sure how they were able to cook such a thick cut of meat, which we ordered medium rare, without it leaving a pile of blood on the plate, which it did not. That was such a delicious steak!

The only things in Primm are three Casinos and some restaurants, no homes, so not sure where all these people come from as we did not see any houses in the surrounding area.

Day 51

After a good nights sleep, for me anyways (in a Wal-Mart parking lot) we headed over to The River shopping center. It was very beautiful with lots of "rivers", or man made water areas. There were not too many shops and some of them were closed down but we did walk into a photo gallery of Peter Lik (www.lik.com) and his photos are amazing and beautiful. Might have to get ourselves one, if we could ever decide which one to choose. We also enjoyed a great lunch at Calfornia Bistro.

Then we drove over to La Posea drive and checked out a whole bunch of art galleries. Some nice stuff and some weird stuff. Once our gallery shopping was complete we headed out towards Yucca Valley. Stopped at the visitor information center to pick up stuff about Joshua Tree National Park where we will go tomorrow. Ate supper at a Sizzler, ewe, although Tm said it was fine. Had I known it was a buffet place we would have kept driving. Oh well, just another experience.

Found a McD's and got caught up on the web. Nick won his basketball game today, way to go Nick! Planning on staying at another Wal-Mart for night.

Day 50

Since checkout time was not too early we decided to have another soak in the mineral pools. It felt really good, of course before that we had gone for a brisk walk while enjoying the mountain views on either side of us. Did a load of laundry and packed up.

Our trip for today was the Palm Springs Arieal Tramway. One of the steepest trams in the world, and one of the few where the tram car slowly rotates so that you can have 360 degree views. It was amazing. You think that when you reach the top it will be all rocks, but not so. There were these beautiful old, tall, majestic Jeffery Pine trees, as well as other trees. It is a national park and they have 54 miles of trails and if you so choose you could tent up there, although that would most likely only be during the summer months. It was not too cold, around 10 degrees and sunny. We took a short trail taking in God's creation, took in the views of Palm Springs and the surrounding towns, the wind farms, the Salton Sea and enjoyed it immensely.

Saw the movie "The Descendants", some of the language was not the best but the story was raw. Tim found some scenes a bit rough since the dying mom's name was Elizabeth. Grabbed a late supper at a Mexican restaurant and Tim's buritto was huge, so huge that he could only eat half of it. Picture will come after we get home. Found a Wal-Mart parking lot, bought some supplies and went to sleep.

Day 49

Another relaxing day. Book reading, sun tanning, swimming, soaking in hot mineral pools. Tomorrow we will do some of the same then head over to the Palms Springs Aerial Tramway and slowly begin our way home.

Day 48

Another relaxing day at Sam's Family Spa. Took a walk in the morning, enjoyed reading by the pool and then swimming in the pool and soaking in the hot mineral pool and a delicious steak supper and then relaxing at home.

Feels good to just relax knowing that when we get home it will be back to work, but actually looking forward to working too.

Day 47

Sunday morning was bright and we enjoyed our breakfast, showered and drove over to Dessert Springs Church for a wonderful service praising and worshiping our God together. Right across the street from the church was a street fair (farmers market) where we walked through and bought some lunch.

Then we drove over to Sam's Family Spa in Desert Hot Springs, a nice family hot water resort. They have a nice pool, hot tub, little lake with ducks and a swan and four hot mineral pools. After settling in with the camper we enjoyed the mineral pools and a nice pork tenderloin barbecue for supper. We will be spending more time enjoying those mineral pools.

Day 46

Left Campland and headed for Palm Springs with a short stop at Ikea along the way. The route we took included some windy roads and steep in places and especially on the way down into Palm Springs. Did not realize how high the mountains were in this area, very pretty views. Where there is no development it is just dessert but where they have made golf courses and private resorts it is very lush.

We drove down Palm Springs "Rodeo" drive and later walked past and even stopped in some do the shops along the way. Ate supper at California Pizza Kitchen and spent a free night at a Casino. Did a walk through the Casino and saw that is was almost all just slot type machines with a few 21 tables. It was very noisy and smokey and not sure what people see as for the attraction. No desire to ever come through this place again.

Day 45

Tim made a delicious breakfast of mango coconut pancakes onto which I poured Saskatoon syrup. It was great! We took a walk around Campland and decided to rent some bikes. We drove all around Mission Bay and stopped near the beach for lunch. We had a wonderful ride and when we got back to the campground we changed into our swimsuits and headed for the pool. After a swim we strolled over to the hot tub for a nice soak. Enjoyed our time relaxing after our three hour bike ride, and visited with a nice couple in the hot tub.

Made some roast beef for supper, did laundry and just relaxed. Planning to head towards the Palm Springs area tomorrow.

Day 44

Spent the day at the San Diego Zoo. It was great, a very large zoo and for most it you feel like you are in a tropical forest. Tim was able to see many things that he missed when he went with the boys. There were many amimals, bugs, snakes, etc., if you want to know more you can check them out online.

Bought some groceries and make steak and potatoes for supper. Yumm. Planning once again for what to do or where to go next.

Ever grateful for God's beautiful creation.

Day 43

Spent the night in a Love's parking lot. Headed out on interstate #5 going south. Very different than the CA1. Passed many more fields of almond trees and a few feed lots, those were not so pleasant. We drove over the Tejon Pass at 4144' and made it nicely through LA, the freeways were not nearly as busy as they had been over Christmas.

Made it safely to Campland on the Bay, a nice campground on Misson Bay. Planning to visit the San Diego Zoo tomorrow.

Day 42

Sun shining again. God is good. Had our breakfast and packed up and drove a short way to Muir Monument park to walk among the huge redwood trees. The first part of the path is a board walk and then well packed dirt. It was absolutely beautiful walk enjoying the trees, the ferns, the little creek and the silence. Windy narrow road to get here and little for RV parking but since we arrived early we were able to park in the first parking lot. If you come to San Francisco you need to come here and check it out. We loved it.

Then, we headed out on the highway once again. This time heading for San Diego, planning to stop on the way for night. Stopped at a In and Out restaurant because we had two people tell us it was really good. Well not sure what they tasted cause it was just OK. They had a very limited menu - three hamburgers, a plain single, a cheese single and a double cheese, one size of fries and pop, also coffee. We will not be eating at one of these establishments again.

Planning our day for tomorrow. Looking forward to another day. It has been wonderful being able to spend all day, every day with Tim my very best friend and to enjoy God's amazing handiwork. The terrain that we have seen is all over the board. Today, for example, we walked through large redwood trees and then drove past hundreds of acres of almond trees with a few orange trees thrown in and even a field of grapes. At least now I know where the almonds for my almond milk comes from. We are missing our friends but are grateful for wifi, FB and Twitter.

Day 41

Woke to the sun shining once again, which apparently is unusual for this time of year. They are needing rain but have not had much. After breakfast we walked over to the Larkspur ferry terminal to catch our ride to San Francisco. The Ferry Terminal was very nice with many nice shops carrying local wares. We walked over to catch another ferry to Alcatraz Island. Our tour of the Island was informative and interesting. Catching another ferry back we then walked over to Pier 39 where there are many restaurants and shops. Had lunch and then did some shopping. We both had one of those water massages, where you keep your clothes on and the water massages you with a protection of plastic to keep from getting wet. It felt good to lie there and relax, it could have been much longer though.

We walked along the pier and headed for the crookested street (look it up on the net). It was a steep walk to get there and the street was very steep and crooked. It was neat to see and I could imagine how beautiful it would be in the summer with the flowers blooming. Continued our walk heading back to the ferry terminal. Had a small bowl of soup for supper, bought a book and headed back to Larkspur on the ferry. Planned our day for tomorrow and headed off to dreamland. Our legs and feet are a bit sore from all the walking but we will recover.

Day 40

Slept in so that we could go to church this morning, and we still got there a half hour early as they only started at 11 am. We attended the Calvary Baptist Church, a conservative baptist church. We sang one chorus and three hymns, which we knew and the message was good. The assistant pastor preached on our created purpose, to serve God. We are only truly happy when we are serving God and we will continue to serve Him in heaven.

Had lunch at KFC, Tim's choice and we were given the seniors discount because we had to wait almost 20 minutes for our chicken. After lunch we headed for San Fransico and located an RV park in Larkspur called Marin Park. Made a good supper and enjoyed it thoroughly. They had wifi so we could plan our day tomorrow. Feels good to be able to make a plan. Even made some jiffy pop popcorn. Yumm. Looking forward to our day.

Day 39

Woke up to the view of the large redwood trees and the sounds of the Big Sur River which was right next to our camper. Took a walk around the campground and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the smell of the pines. Ate breakfast and headed back on the road.

The views were beautiful and I was still finding the windy roads a little too windy and up and down. Took some gravoll and tried to think positive which was difficult but I tried my best. The views were amazing! We drove up towards Monterey and took the 17 mile drive and had lunch next to the Pebble Beach golf course. Did not realize that this area was full of residential homes. You too could live here if you had between 1-10 million dollars. For me, I have no desire to live anywhere near these narrow windy roads.

Next destination was the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It took a little while to find a place to park the RV but once found a spot we walked over to the aquarium. There was many things to see and enjoy and I especially enjoyed the jelly fish. We enjoyed supper at Henry's cafe with beef tips and pork. We headed north and found a place to stay at Marina Dunes Beach Resort. Thankfully they had wifi so I could get caught up.

We had been enjoying our adventure as each day is different and there is so much to see.

Day 38

Hearst Castle day. Picked up some water and a few other groceries and headed up the highway. Had a few leftovers to eat before making out way to the visitor center. We had some time prior to the bus leaving so we browsed the gift shop. You cannot drive your car up to the castle, due to the road being narrow and no place to park at the top, so you park at the bottom and a bus takes you to the top. Takes almost 15 minutes to reach the castle. Upon reaching the top you are lead up the stairs to your tour guide for your particular tour that you have chosen.

Our first tour was the Cottages and Kitchen. There are three cottages, smalles being about 2500 sq ft and the others being larger. Each room had it's own bathroom, the bedrooms were on the outside with a sitting room in the middle. The views from each cottage were different, either the mountains or the ocean. The ceilings in this first cottage were amazing and all had gold leaf covering the plaster. Many of the ceilings were purchased from somewhere in Europe. After touring the cottages we toured the kitchen which was in the Casa Grande (big house). None of the cottages had eating areas as guests were required to come together to eat at the large dining table. We also got to check it the wine cellar. The kitchen was huge, and considering it was built in the 20's and 30's it had real electric refrigerators and all the kitchen gadgets of it's time. William Hearst was a man after my own heart (I also love kitchen gadgets). One of the counters (a precursor to stainless steels, but I cannot remember what it was called) could be heated from underneath in order to keep the plated food hot. If I could figure out how to add photos from my iPad I would.

Our second tour was the Grand Rooms, these being the "living room", they called it the assembly room, where the guests would first come while waiting for dinner. The walls were filled with original large tapestries from hundreds of years ago. The dining room, the reflectory, was large with a very long table. After dinner the guests would move on to the billards room to relax and visit and play pool. This was our least favorite tour.

Our third tour, yes we did them all because we wanted to, was the Upstairs tour which included more bedrooms, Williams private room, his office - which was huge, a two story bedroom and the library. We really enjoyed seeing the private areas of their home.

After our tours we walked around the the gardens and checked out the outdoor pool - amazing, and it was heated (when the Hearsts were there) and then before leaving we saw the indoor pool which was beneath the tennis courts. All in all we enjoyed our day on the enchanted hill. If you want to see pictures just check out the Hearst Castle website.

We headed north on California 1 and drove the windy, up and down road as the sun was starting to go down. I was a little difficult driving while the sun was in our eyes but once the sun had set it made it easier. Tim was enjoying all the curves while I was starting to feel a little queasy. We made it safely to Fernwood Resort which was a nice small place down a steep hill. Being nestled in the redwood trees was really quite neat. After settling in we headed up the stairs to the restaurant for a bite to eat. We had nachos with smoked pulled pork, beans and guacamole. We both enjoyed it. Tim fell asleep immediately while I had some difficulty. A hour and half later and some up chuck later, I know, gross, but then I slept sort of but mostly dreaming.

Day 37

Awoke to sunshine and were happy to see that the sea had not swamped us out, although the waves did come within about 8 feet of the camper. Ate our breakfast, said goodbye to our neighbors and drove carefully over to the dune buggy rental guys. They had not yet arrived so we had time to continue reading. Tim had already read the story about the little boy that visited heaven and now it was my turn. Very interesting so far.

Once the Sun Buggie guys showed up we strolled on over, waited for them to unload a buggy from the trailer, filled out and signed all the paperwork, watched the little video and got on our way. It was noisy, bouncy, shaking your bones, sometimes scary (not that bad), a once in a lifetime experience. It was fun, and I even drove some myself. We showered, on the beach, in our camper and headed back out on the road. We didn't go too far since we were headed for the outlet stores but we stopped at Splash restaurant for lunch, a suggestion of our neighbor from the night before. It was good, Tim had the clam chowder and I had fish tacos. We walked a bit on the pier and headed back on the road.

We found a place to stay in Morro Bay at Cypress RV park. Nice small place and the manager gave us more information about the Hearst Castle so, using the free wifi we booked ahead for tomorrow. He also suggested a place to eat called the Galley and it was a very nice place to eat. We took pics for Jordan to show him later. We were able to get our laundry done and catch up on blogging and emails. Looking forward to a peaceful night and maybe we will hear the sea otters, as we heard them while walking along the boardwalk prior to supper.

Day 36

Woke up to beautiful sunshine and a gorgeous view of the mountains. It is amazing that here in a valley they have high speed Internet when we cannot even get it at home. Left the Rancho and headed up Hwy #154 towards Solvang. Popped in at Cachuma Lake to check it out, looked like a nice campground next to the lake. Great if you had a boat and wanted to do some fishing.

Since we were driving through wine country Tim was hoping to be able to do some wine tasting. We were fortunate to find a nice winery that was open for tasting and it was just off the highway, just before the town of Santa Ynez. Gainey Vineyard was the name of the place we chose and it was a very lovely place. Tim got his wine tasting and I sampled a few myself. My taste buds told me that they were almost all exactly the same but they were not so "winey" tasting compared to what I have tasted in the past. Tim was hoping that he would find something that he really liked but found that none of them were worth the money.

Continuing on a few miles we reached the town of Solvang, a quaint little Dutch village where we shopped, bought pastries and had lunch. I had wiener schnitzel with fried potatoes and red cabbage. On we drove to Pismo Beach passing fields of grapes, then vegetables and fruit and even some pasture land. Very beautiful drive.

Upon reaching Pismo Beach we took a road leading to the beach just to check it out and discovered that you could camp on the beach (only $10) and ride ATV's through the sand dunes. So we decided to "go for it". We did get stuck trying to find a place to park but Tim found a nice guy who came and pulled us out. We parked close to his trailer and ended up spending some time visiting with them at their camp fire. Enjoyed supper in the camper listening to the waves then went back to the camp fire for more visiting. Returned home and spent the night sleeping on the beach (inside our warm camper in our comfy bed) watching the moon and listening to the waves. Definately something we never imagined ourselves doing. It was great!

Day 35

After a not very restful sleep, for me, we got up early so we could enjoy more of the daylight hours. Headed for Carpentria to stop at the Harbor Seal Sanctuary. We saw a one or two day old pup lying on the beach, mom must have been out fishing and the other seals were either sunning themselves or out fishing. It was neat to see.

Found a Starbucks for Tim's coffee and my wifi. Headed to Santa Barbara. Rented bikes so we could see more in a shorter period of time. We peddled along the beach to the wharf where we toured around and then had a delicious fish lunch. I had Maui Maui and Tim had fish sticks, he also enjoyed my clam chowder soup, of which I tasted a spoonful and it tasted great. Too bad I cannot have milk. After lunch we biked some more and then headed up State street to check out the shopping. Our favorite store was Restoration Hardware where we saw chairs and a desk made using airplane aluminum. Tim thought they were super cool. They had other nice stuff there too.

That afternoon was a Farmers Market so we were fortunate enough to be there and we bought some strawberries, yum, and some pichacios, choco walnuts, and sundried olives. The flowers, especially the orchids were beautiful but since we had no place to enjoy them I simply took in their beauty and carried on. We returned our bikes and headed up hwy 154 to Rancho Oso. It seemed like we would never get there as the first road we turned off was curvy and then the next road we turned onto was narrower and curvier and seemed like there was no end. But alas we made it and it opened up to a very beautiful campground in the valley with a river on the one side. They had horseback riding (which we didn't do) but if we had it would have been wonderful to see the country side by horseback or if we had a motorcycle it would have been fun to bike around the curvy roads.

It was so quiet and peaceful with the moon shining in through the skylight. God is so good and his creation is so beautiful that there really is not the words to describe it. We are greatful that we are having the pleasure to take it all in.

Day 34

Woke up to the sound of the the waves crashing on the beach and I loved it. Had our breakfast and headed out to who knows where. We had to stop for Tim's Starbucks coffee which happened to be in a Von store, actually a Safeway where we also picked up some groceries and I even saved some money using my club card (only had my phone number but it worked great).

We decided to head up to a small town called Ojai and check it out. They had lots of little unique shops and one of them had these really cool wood sculpture table things made using various types of wood. They were really nice. We had supper at a little Italian restaurant and ended up spending the night in a grocery parking lot. We had tried a little campground but they had closed their gate at 5:00 pm and it was past that.

Day 33

Happy New Year! It started out foggy this morning but soon cleared up so we headed for a walk along the beach. We had not decided how far we were going to go and eventually we realized that we would need some food but also saw that we would need to keep walking in order to find a place to eat. We ended up at the Malibu Market where there were many shops and a few restaurants. It was very busy since it was Sunday and also busy because some of the restaurants were not open. Tim ended up waiting a long time for his lunch while I was long finished eating mine.

We headed back and soon I knew that it was going to be difficult to do as my legs were getting very tired. It was very slow going but we made it. Along the way we stopped at a realtor open house. The house was built in the 70's and had some updates but could have had lots more and the price was reduced from $8 mil to $5 1/2 mil. Many of the homes in this area that have been fixed up go for $13 mil. We also learned that the weather in Malibu is always cool, so I guess I will not be moving into this local.

Returned to the camper and enjoyed supper and a relaxing evening. Heading up the coast tomorrow.

Day 32

Went for a nice walk on the trail right next to our campground. We saw many different kinds of trees, shrubs and flowers. Also took a walk on the beach, had a terrific nap and then barbecued our marinated steak with baked potatoes and carrots. Enjoyed a nice relaxing evening.