I wanted to add this just as a special one off post.
Doing a road trip across an entire country meant we really saw different landscapes, different weather, different crops, different terrain, different architecture.
I tried to take regular pictures through the windscreen just of the road ahead and thought you might enjoy seeing how the road changed. They are in chronological order as we travelled from the east to the north, then south then west
Today was always going to be a scrap day. I did my chores - house is clean now - and then I scrapped.
I have been working with Simple Stories Autumn Splendour for ATDML. The papers are glorious - they are thick and pretty and easy to use. And I had such fun scrapping as I watched the two new episodes of Vikings and am currently binge-watching the Marvellous Mrs Maisel. I love that show and Series 3 isn't disappointing me.
Anyway - this is what I made. The first page celebrates the Grateful Pumpkins in Wisconsin Dells where we stopped at a local Starbucks.
And we thought we had left fall colours behind as we headed south, but this was so festive int he Old Town Market in San Diego.
Today I am thankful for
The One with the beaches
Breakfast was quieter today – and we were later and had really very little to do. Nigel called this day ‘mop up day’ – a day when we just had to do anything we hadn’t done. Which was clearly very little.
We made our way to the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove first. Well it used to be the Crystal Cathedral – it is now Christ’s Cathedral. It is still being altered and refurbished so was not open but the gardens were still beautiful with lovely sculptures. We enjoyed the visit in the sunshine. We had been inside before and we had also been there, many years ago, to see a truly amazing Passion Play on Maundy Thursday one year, with live animals and truly flying angels (we never did figure out how they did that)
We then called into Walmart for last minute bits to take home – namely honey mustard pringles for Nigel and then took a lovely trip down memory lane driving down Brookhurst to Huntington Beach. We stopped at the Diary Queen for an ice cream and it was actually a good call as it also gave us an hour parking to cross the road and see the beach for a bit.
From there we headed down PCH to Newport Beach and cross the bridge over to Balboa Island. We love Balboa (I went there on my very first day in America ever back in 1983 and fell in love). It is a beautiful little town and we enjoyed wandering, snapping and sitting having a frap.
We then headed to Balboa Pier and Newport Pier to scope out where we wanted to try and catch the sunset. We settled on Newport Pier.
We went and had an early dinner at The Outback (we hadn’t known there was one in Newport so that was a bonus) and then went back to the beach to see the sun set on our last night. We had watched the sun rise over the Atlantic in Maine three and a half weeks ago, and now we watched it set over the Pacific at the end of what had been our best holiday ever. It was an OK sunset. There were no clouds and I think clouds make for a more interesting sunset, but heck – it was still lovely.
The journey back to the hotel was not so lovely. It took for ever as we never went over 5 miles an hour! The land of the car eh!
Once back I packed the remaining cases and we had an early night.
End time 11.35 am the following day – at home!
The one with the journey home
We enjoyed a last breakfast – a nice quiet affair today – and loaded the car. I was quite tearful and we were both sad to leave. Normally we are looking forward to going home in the last couple of days. We are generally tired and ready, but this trip was so exceptional, so diverse, that we were both sad it was over.
Our journey to the airport was uneventful (we always leave early in case we have a problem. And I am right because one year we did – we had a flat on the freeway!) and we checked in and went and made ourselves comfortable in the Virgin lounge. I had been excited to go back there as they served a drink – non alcoholic – that was incredible last time. It was a coconut water, lemon and ginger concoction which was awesome and which I tried to replicate at home. They no longer served this but they did have a kombucha lemon and ginger drink that was equally divine.
We boarded the flight on time and left on time and we soared over the mountains we had been to just two days ago and said farewell to America. I slept a little after dinner (Nigel slept quite a lot) and the flight did go reasonably well. It’s a long flight home and it is tiring and the 8 hour difference messes with your body terribly.
Goodbye LA
Goodbye mountains
sunrise near the UK
England's green and pleasant land - home!
However, we landed very early and we were out in record time, stood on the pavement less than an hour after touchdown waiting for our lift.
I think my happiest moment is when we are home, the house is safe, the cats are back and safe, the luggage has all made it and we have all those memories.
It had been the most amazing holiday ever and we fell into an exhausted jet lagged sleep to dream not of sugar plums but of Route 66, of oceans and cities, of beaches and deserts, prairies and mountains, of sunrise and sunsets.
Today was a craft fair day and it went really well - I sold more than I usually do so was well pleased.
But consequently, I haven't scrapped today (but I will tomorrow!)
I am almost at the end of my holiday posts so thought I would press on with that today - again I apologise if it is boring your rigid. Just a couple more posts to come.
The one with Karen’s Favourites
We love the hotel we are in – our room is beautifully quiet, huge and spacious and a home from home. The breakfast room is not. It is a bit of a zoo with lots of kids and lots of noise. The ‘benefit’ pf being near Disney I guess. I did see something that really made me giggle though. There was a large family group we had seen on other days and they had two young boys who were already fairly excited. (and a very noisy teenage girl cousin who had no idea of the concept of an inside voice!) I watched the uncle (it was quite clear he was the dad’s brother) give the two boys two remote controlled battery cars with such a look of happiness and glee on his face. He was so excited to give it. He then gave Dad the bag with the boxes, the extra batteries etc and the Dad’s face was an absolute picture. His shoulders slumped and you could tell he was thinking’what the heck – like they are not hyped up enough as it is and when they break I am going to have to fix them and you have just made my day ten times harder than it already was’. It was like a scene out of Uncle Buck. Happy Uncle had no idea of the potential headaches he had caused his already stressed and careworn brother! Well it amused me!
Today saw us back on Route 66, our friend we had left behind several days ago after Oatman Arizona. Today we were headed out to San Bernadino, another Route 66 town, on our way to Big Bear Lake.
We headed down Route 66 to the first ever McDonalds. We had already seen the oldest still serving McDonalds. This was the first – no longer a restaurant but a museum and my goodness what a museum. It was absolutely incredible. It was quite literally jam packed with every possible picture, servers uniform, serving box, happy meal toy etc etc. It was just plain incredible and a real labour of love.
The other thing that was astounding was the exterior of the building. It was quite literally covered in the most outstanding murals telling the story of Route 66 in California. The pictures don’t do it justice but trust me it was amazing. We were so pleased we had had the chance to see this iconic Route 66 venue.
We had already seen the Wigwam motel in Holbrook in the bitter cold early morning and we knew there was the only other one in San Bernadino, and it was glorious. The weather was picture perfect – a hot Californian day with a perfect blue sky and the motel was beautiful. The lady in the gift shop was fun to chat to and she gave us a free postcard too. We bought a noxious looking orange drink so we could have the route 66 bottle (Nigel actually drank the stuff – I would have tipped it away!) Some of the wigwams were being cleaned and so we had the chance to see inside and they were actually much nicer than I thought they would be. The Cozy Cone motel was based on this motel and you could see it so clearly – and they even had Radiator Springs signs up.
From there we headed to the hills – well to the mountains actually. Years and years ago, back in 1989, 30 years ago, Nigel’s cousin Maeve and her husband David had taken us to Big Bear and it had always been a stand out memory of mine. I think it was in part the great company – we had such a laugh that day – but also I had never been in real mountains before or seen mountain lakes and they remain, to this day, my favourite sort of scenery. I am a Cancerian, water is what makes me happy, and mix that with crisp mountain air and pine forests and mountains and I am in heaven. I confess I was worried about going back as they say you shouldn’t go back to the perfect place incase it isn’t perfect anymore, but we had made the decision to revisit. And it wasn’t as perfect but it was still a lovely day.
It was a truly beautiful drive as we wound our way up the mountains to 7000 feet with superb views all along the roads. The lake was pretty, though not as stellar as I remember. It was a bit of a disaster on the toilet front as I was desperate for a wee and there isn’t much round the lake other than Big Bear town. We found a trail head and they had trail head toilets but the gate was padlocked and so we carried on and later found another trail head parking lot that was open and they had trail head toilets. I was so relieved and ran out of the car towards the toilets, which were locked! I was disappointed and a little cross. If the lot was open why were the toilets not open. I had to resort to the indignity of bushes! We eventually made our way right round the lake to the town and grabbed a Starbucks and went for a walk through the shopping area we remembered. It had all gotten a little bit tackier than we remembered. When we were there before the stores were all upmarket galleries, now they were gift shops. Apart from one absolutely stunning gallery we spent a while in. It was owned by a lady called Jennifer and she was so interesting to talk to and the work she had on display from so many local artists was stunning. I wished we could have managed to get some of the pieces home.
Satiated with the area, we made our way back down the mountains, enjoying the views at every turn, and headed back to the land where car is king.
We decided we fancied pizza for dinner and so I searched for a pizza hut and there was one nearby in Yorba Linda (which I have to say was a gorgeous area with stunning houses). Sadly the pizza hut was a takeaway so we got back on the freeway and searched again. I found another and we headed there – also a takeaway. When the third Pizza Hut turned out to be takeaway we gave up and had a Denny’s!
After that we had a lovely chilled evening ‘at home’ in our beautiful quiet suite
We had a lovely evening yesterday as we went out with friends. She is a colleague I miss very much - I loved working with her. She was insanely good at her job - and still is - and more importantly, was one of the nicest kindest most genuine people I worked with. It was a joy to spend the evening with her and her husband and we were thoroughly spoilt. Some people make the world a better place just by being in it.
Today we had a reasonably leisurely day after chores this morning. One of the things we had to do was buy a new toaster. We have had a spate of things packing up and as there have been three I hope that is it now. First, my desk lamp, which was 27 years old, went and so we both had new desk lamps - much needed actually.
Then Nigel's bedside lamp broke and he tried to mend it but it couldn;'t be fixed. I guess they had done good service. They were bought in 1993, making them 26 years old and had been painted a different colour over the years too. Not bad for lamps that were probably under a £5 new. Not sure I like the new ones yet - but I am sure they will grow on us.
Finally, our toaster went and he couldn't repair that either, and that was a youngster by comparison, being a mere 12 years old. But I guess things are not built to last these days! I was quite shocked at the price of some of the toasters. Serious money and they all just toast bread. Ours was cheap and cheerful.
This afternoon we went to see Frozen 2 which I really enjoyed, but then Olaf is my hero! I was cross though at how thin Anna and Elsa were, They will be idols of little girls so why they had to draw them so impossibly skinny in this day and age is beyond me. Seriously disappointed in Disney for that one.
I have scrapped too!
I have been itching to scrap some of the trip. This was the moment wew started on our Route 66 part of the trip at Elk City Oklahoma.
Today I am thankful for
The one with Hollywood
Breakfast was a bit of a zoo again, but we were prepared for it this time. It was a little hazy when we set off but by the time we reached our first stop in Downey it was a beautiful blue sky day again. We had gone to Downey as it was on our way up to Burbank and was the home of the longest continually and still serving McDonalds. It was beautiful and one of the iconic double arch architectural designs. And they were serving so we had to buy a diet coke there.
It was a beautiful retro place to visit. After a slight disagreement about one of us vanishing of the face of the earth and the other one of us not knowing where HE was, we popped into the local Walmart for a few supplies we were out of, notably water and tea. Oh and a nice bottle of wine for the evening.
Our next stop was a tricky one to find. I am a huge fan of Grey’s anatomy and not much of it is Seattle based in reality. Nigel found out that the atrium which is such a feature of Grey’s, was actually the Ambulatory Care centre at Supulveda and was kind of on our way. Well, we found the hospital grounds but no joy on the atrium. In the end, we found someone – this campus was huge and was also deserted – and asked and we must almost have passed it on our way in. We stopped for the inevitable photos and felt a sense of achievement.
Finally, we headed to our real destination of the day – Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank where we had booked to do the StudioTour. We had done it before back in the early 90s but knew it would be very different these days. I was especially interested in the Friends and Big Bang Theory things.
We were very early – now come on … if you know me you can’t be surprised by that surely! And wit some persistence we managed to get on an earlier tour which was fabulous as we did make a bit of an error and booked a tour a little too late.
The tour was fascinating as always. You ride in a small tram with just 15 people and a guide. Our guide was exceptional – really enthusiastic and very knowledgeable. You never know quite what you will see as it depends on filming as it is very much a working studio, but she did say going on the weekend was the best time as there were more areas open since they were not usually filming. We drove round backlots and had their uses explained and we saw the two special sound stages where Friends and Big Bang Theory were filmed. They have names on the sound stages as there were so many episodes filmed.
We saw lots of props areas with things from the Avengers, Aquaman, Harry Potter etc. Our tour also wasn’t meant to include the props stores but she said we had time and took us anyway and they were huge and so interesting and absolutely stuffed with every prop imaginable.
We then went inside and saw things I had been waiting to see, namely Central Perk and the sets from Big Bang Theory. The Friends stuff was great but we have been to Friendsfest and so we had seen more there, but the Big Bang stuff was fabulous. I started watching Big Bang Theory in prep for this trip and binge watched all 12 series and loved them. So to knock on Penny’s door and sit on Sheldon’s spot was great. We also had the change to hold a real genuine Oscar (we even had to remove our rings if we wanted to hold it properly as it was so valuable which is why Nigel couldn’t grasp it – his rings don’t come off (well not without surgery anyway)
It had been a great trip which we had really enjoyed. We grabbed a Starbucks (they have one on site of course) and headed off into Hollywood. We have read about the Hollywood Forever cemetery and decided to go take a look. In keeping with the theme of the trip, they had had a special event on and so the area was filled with crews taking down seating, lighting rigs etc. However, we did enjoy a walk in the sunshine. We didn’t buy the map so didn’t find all of the celebrities that were buried there though we did find Tonto and Douglas Fairbanks amongst others.
We drove through Hollywood, cathing the sign and Graumanns and then headed to our final stop. This meant travelling all the way down St Monica Blvd to the beach and it wasn’t the easiest drive. We played counting sets of lights (all of them on red) but got bored and stopped at 40!
Eventually, lights not withstanding, we reached the beach and managed to pull up right by the end of the road Route 66 sign – a key point for us. The pulling up might not have been completely legal but it was right there. We had done it – more than half of Route 66 and all of it fun.
We decided on TGI Friday for dinner and we felt like we had robbed them. We always have the appetizer Sesame Jack strips each and fries each and it was happy hour and the chips were on silly price and we ended up paying less that $18 for the entire meal and drinks! We even stopped off at The Cheesecake Factory to buy take out dessert.
It had been a packed Hollywood kind of day and great fun.
When I retired I thought I would never again have the fun of breaking up for Christmas, but thankfully I still do. Last exam today I have broken up for Christmas. And I am soooooo happy.
I can scrap now ... it has been killing me not having time to do that.
Last night we went to the Christmas party for my Art Club which was great. They are such a lovely group of people and we had a lovely time.
I have some new digital scrapping to share There is a stuff the stocking event over at Pickleberrypop and there is a chance to get lots of great mini kits. Get this and 23 other mini kits FREE during PBP's Stuff Your Stockings Event. See this thread in the PBP Forum for dates and details! You need to check out this link here
This was made with Fayette's mini kit and is my cousin's adorable little girl.
This was made with Jumpstart's mini
and this was made with Turamisu's mini kit
Today I am thankful for
The one with Familiar territory
Being in Anaheim was like being home. We had first visited in 1983 and had been back many many times and so it was all very familiar which is lovely at the end of a trip.
We noticed a huge difference at breakfast though. Whilst on the road most of the hotels had been filled with people like us … older retired couples or businessmen. We were now near Disney and so the hotel was full of families who bring their own enjoyment to a holiday along with excitement, noise and chaos! Breakfast was a bit of a zoo, but heck, it was included, they had food and it was OK.
We decided some retail therapy was needed first and so headed to Westminster Mall and to Buena Park where we did some pretty serious damage in reduced things in Penny’s and Sears. We then headed off to Angel Stadium so Nigel could buy team stuff, but it was all a bit disappointing. They had a corporate event on so you couldn’t take photos of the front of the stadium and he felt the prices for shirts and things were stupidly expensive – so he just got socks.
and after a couple of weeks of quiet roads we were back in the land where the car is King - big time!
We then meandered our way through Laguna Hill and then down to PCH 1 through Laguna and to dana Point. We stopped for fuel and noticed the difference big time. We had kept a not of all of our fuel charges, just our of interest. In Kansas, the lowest priced fuel, we had paid $2.29 a gallon. In Laguna it was $4.68 – twice the price.
Finally we headed to Dana Point to meet with a friend and idol. Nigel has been a speedway fan all of his life. The first meeting he ever went to was at Poole in 1966 and Barry Briggs won the first race Nigel ever saw that night. One of the first big events he ever went to was the World Speedway final at Wembly Stadium in 1967 and Barry Briggs was racing. He is a multiple time World Speedway champion and a long time idol of Nigel’s. He did a huge charity ride in 2010 across the UK and after being introduced to him Nigel helped with it, doing the PR, the web site, the publicity, etc and even got to introduce Barry at the new Wembly Stadium and Barry is still the only speedway rider to ever have ridden a bike there – and will probably be the only one ever. He and Barry have become good friends and so it was wonderful to go visit him in his beautiful home in California. What an amazing view he has. He is an incredible man – so knowledgeable about so many things and he has done so many incredible things in his life. He taught Steve McQueen to ride a motor bike for the Great Escape for example. He is a real charmer and such good company and we enjoyed chatting with him and then going out to dinner with him. It was a wonderful afternoon and evening.
Ok so it is a great internet joke. I am sure you have all seen it but in case not ... here you go
Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.
Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.
Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.
Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.
Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse from garden.
Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat's throat vigorously.
Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for glueing later.
Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil, and blow down drinking straw.
Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink 1 beer to take taste away. Apply Band-Aid to spouse's forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.
Retrieve cat from neighbour's shed. Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard, and close door onto neck, to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with an elastic band.
Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of Scotch. Pour shot, drink. Apply a cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another shot. Throw T-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.
Call fire department to retrieve the damn cat from tree across the road. Apologize to neighbour who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take the last pill from foil-wrap.
Tie the little @!!@#@#$%'s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table, find heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of steak filet. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour 2 pints of water down throat to wash pill down.
Consume remainder of Scotch. Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and remove pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on the way home to order new table.
Well we have usually been very good at giving pills. We had one cat who had to have a pill plus 5ml of liquid paraffin every day for 12 years - no problem. We had another on thyroid medication for 2 years. Then we had a Fiki. The vet wanted him to have probiotics. It's very palatible she said. Put it on his food, she said. well we knew that wouldn't work. He is so finicky. Tried it - nope! So the other option was - as t is in a syringe dispenser - just squirt it in his mouth. Well, it is thick, brown and gloopy and Fiki was having none of it. He is a big cat and we have never wrestled with him before. He is seriously strong. And he WON! We wore quite a lot of it but what we had left I smeared over my fingers and then stuffed them in his mouth and I think he possibly ingested some of it!
Deep joy - that was dose one. We have three days of this. Consider there won't be scrapping from a girl with no fingers left.
However, no diarrhoea today so that at least is good.
I do have some new scrapping to share though from a kit due to be released tonight by Cheryl Day Designs - it is a series of circle templates and I also used her Strut Your Stuff collection. You can find her store here
It was apt to share this page as it is from the zoo - which is today's holiday journal.
today I am thankful for
The one with Cats!
We were up early and I think that was in part because we wanted to get out of a depressing hotel room. The Sun was just starting to rise as we left and so I stopped to take some sunrise pictures which I think turned out better than the sunset pictures.
We had already discovered a nearby Dennys in readiness as we knew the hotel didn’t provide breakfast. It was nice to have a treat of French toast which I confess is my absolute favourite and most hotels do not have it on the menu. Because we were early, we were able to linger over breakfast and have a relaxing start to our day. Today was the day we have both been looking forward to as it involves animals. San Diego Zoo is world renowned and we had been before and absolutely loved it. We arrived before the zoo opened, but they let you go in to the entrance area where we could sit and enjoy the early morning sunshine. It was a beautiful day and boded well.
One of the things that we loved last time was the chance to see animals that you never see in the UK such as bears of all kinds and so as soon as the zoo opened we made our way over to the smallest bears of all, the koalas. In my view they are not particularly attractive bears facially, but they are so cute and furry and we were able to watch them at close quarters for a long time. One of them was sounding out and it was a most peculiar honking noise that we didn’t expect koala bears to make.
We also stopped by the enclosure for the giraffes and watch them for ages. They were very unusual giraffe As they were a completely different colour than you normally see. Instead of orange and black they were more of a grey with orange manes where you would normally see the darker.
We walked back to the entrance area and hopped on the bus to do a loop around the park which was narrated by an excellent guide who stopped whenever he saw something interesting, gave plenty of time for photographs and explained what we were looking at. We stopped for ages by the monkeys who were making the most incredible sound. The guide explained that you didn’t often hear this and that we were really lucky to get the complete show. We couldn’t help but compare it to the safari ride in the animal kingdom which appears to be designed to be deliberately bumpy so that your photographs are absolutely dreadful. We spent a fair bit of the day comparing the zoo to a Disney park as it was so incredibly quiet, a little like Disney used to be in the good old days. There were no crowds, no dashing from place to place it was just a very relaxing visit.
We wandered around a little more and then decided to take the skyway to the far part of the zoo to the polar bear area and then make our way round from there.
Before we got to the polar bears we decided to check out another animal that you do not see in UK zoos, the puma, Cougar or mountain lion. This was to be our most memorable part of the day and was absolutely incredible. As we got to the enclosure, knowing from the guided tour that the cougars were likely to be asleep in the shade during the day, one of the cougars came out of the shaded part of the enclosure and fixed their eyes firmly on us. That isn’t wishful thinking or imagination, there was no doubt that this beautiful big cat was staring straight at us. And remarkably at me as well as Nigel. The cat Proceeded to walk along the enclosure until she was directly opposite us, never taking her eyes off us and she stopped. She remained there for almost a quarter of an hour as we watched and she watched. Other people at the enclosure were commenting on how she was staring at us and were fascinated by the interaction between us and the cat. I was not the slightest bit surprised and told the other people it was because Nigel was the cat whisperer. I had seen him do it before with cats where he an affinity with cats which is incredible and this was perhaps one of the clearest demonstrations of that. As Nigel moved slightly to the left the cat followed never breaking eye contact and came right up to the enclosure to be close to him. It was really hard to tear ourselves away from this beautiful beautiful animal and as we walked away the cat followed us around her enclosure. It was an experience neither of us will ever forget.
In a bit of shock at the experience we had had we made our way round to the polar bears. The polar bear enclosure was beautiful and we were able to watch a sleepy bear for ages.
This is great for showing the size of the bears - they are seriously huge
We continued our way around the zoo – it was beautifully landscaped, the animals were well cared for and they have great enrichment programmes for them all. We stopped for a while to see the bears but they were largely hiding and so it was hard to get decent photos of them. You don't see bears in UK zoos.
The merekats are always a firm favourite and they were fun to watch.
Not many zoos in the UK have elephants and so we enjoyed watching them and one of them was being ‘trained’ by a keeper to lift up his trunk so that his mouth could be checked.
We saw camels and llamas and all kinds of deer.
The lions were awake which was amazing in the middle of the day and we enjoyed just watching them, They are not Nigel’s favourite big cat but they are one of mine. I love them.
Finally, we spent ages watching the snow leaopards before catching the flamingos as we left. It had been a great trip to a fabulous zoo. It had been warm but not humid, very quiet and totally beautiful.
We left San Diego and headed to our final stop of the holiday – our base in Anaheim for five nights. On the way we stopped for dinner at a California Pizza Kitchen in Tustin and then finally called in to my favourite ever Joann store on Baranca. I always get amazing thinsg there and this was no exception. They had all of the American Crafts and Pink Paislee papers – the really thick double sided quality papers like Paige Evans, Maggie Holmes etc as 12 sheets for $2!!!! I also had a money off coupon and I bought so much stuff for just over $40 that I said to Nigel we had better high tail it out of there as I was sure we must have stolen it!
We joined the freeway and drove to our final hotel and, as it was for 5 nights, we hoped it would be good. It wasn’t just good it was fabulous. It looked NOTHING from outside but our room – well suite – was awesome with a bedroom with 2 queens, a nice bathroom, a lounge, dining room and kitchen. Just what we needed to unwind at the end of our travels.
We had a fab day yesterday visiting with my folks up in the Midlands - it was our early Christmas and it was a lovely day. I love them to bits and am so blessed to have them in my life. Pauline is -a nd always has been - my other Mom, and Sam is everything I could ever have wanted in a goddaughter. I am very very lucky.
I also have a new page to share made with
the Mystery Box that is free for the December Mojo Challenge at Pickleberrypop. Do check out the challenges over there this month - there are great perks
And I wrote my Christmas cards today (have scaled those right down as we are trying to save the environment and so doing e cards and visits where we can. Plus I think I finished my Christmas shopping. Phew.
Today I am thankful for
Day 17 Blythe to San Diego
31st October 2019
Start miles 5879
Start time 7.30
End miles 6100
End time 5.30
The one with the disappointing room
Today was going to be an easy day as we were just going to drive to San Diego and then spend the day looking around as things took our fancy. After breakfast, which was in a very odd area as the hotel was being refurbished, we headed off for what turned out to be a beautiful drive through a part of California we had not visited. We were surprised to see cotton growing in the fields and then we hit the mountains.
The road was extremely bumpy as we climbed and climbed quite steadily up to 4000 feet, but it was beautiful scenery and we saw some very odd things. When you drive through parts of America where there is nothing around you begin to realise that the government could hide anything in this vast expanses of uninhabited land and no one would ever know. Heck , there really could be arcs built ready for any eventuality. We also saw an amazing area of sand dunes at the top of the mountains where people came to use sand buggies and were all you could see was this perfect fine sand. It was quite amazing and we had to pull off and take it all in.
More mountains and then we eventually began to drop down into San Diego. One of the first things we did because it was on our way into the city was calling to Hobby Lobby. I always think America is the land of great service but clearly the staff at this hobby lobby didn’t hold the same view. I took very little to the checkout… Some paintbrushes that were on offer and a few papers that were reduced. It is important to note that the papers were 4 for a dollar… That becomes key in the story. I went to the checkout and the young man serving wasn’t the friendliest from the outset. He pointed out that the brushes were not half price because the small print said they had to be over $4.99 to qualify… It was in the small print. That was fair enough but his attitude over the papers was not. I thought I had counted them carefully and had 20 papers, but obviously ,I can’t count well and only had 19. He told me quite briefly that I would have to pay full price of $.90 each for the three odd papers. I said can’t you just scan one of them twice and pretend I have 20 I don’t mind paying for one that I don’t have. He said no I could either go and get another sheet of paper or pay full price for three of them. It seemed totally pedantic to me but, holding up an entire line of people at the checkout, I schlepped across to the far back corner of the store and picked up one extra sheet of paper. I confess I wasn’t happy at this point. He rang through my order and when I said I was paying by credit card he said ‘oh that’s been acting up this morning but let’s try it.’ I put my card into the chip and pin reader and it didn’t work. He told me to try to gain and when that didn’t work suggested I try to 3rd time. After the third failed attempt he told me to swipe the card and I said that never works because I’m out of the country. He said try it so I did and it said the card was declined. He said I’m sorry, but your card is declined. I can’t do the transaction. I questioned the credit card terminal that wasn’t working and said can you try another card reader he said no. I asked if he could transfer my purchase to another check out he said no. I asked if I could try again with the Chip and pin and he sighed and said yes. Of course ,it failed again and I asked to speak to a manager. When the manager came over he said to her loudly, ‘This lady’s card has been declined twice.’ She only had part of the story and so she said,’ I’m sorry ma’am unless you have another means of payment we can’t serve you.’ This was in full view and hearing of everyone and she said again your card is declined you can’t buy this.’ I was furious because the reason my card was declined was their faulty machine and she had pretty much announced to the store that I had no money. I told her that the machine was faulty and she said no it’s not. I told her that the gentleman had told me it was faulty before I started my transaction. She did have the good grace to ask him if this was true and he said well it hasn’t been working very well. She suggested I try the next check out over which I did and it worked perfectly. She just shrugged which was when I finally lost my good grace. I told her that the gentleman had been offhand from the outset and that I had been humiliated in front of a lot of people with the implication that I did not have the funds to pay for my products and that the situation was my fault, and that having my card declined was embarrassing. I said that it was some of the worst customer service I had experienced because they knew there was an issue and allowed it to continue. Nigel was concerned as I was a long time in store, but by the time I had poured out my woes to him I had moved on. It wasn’t going to spoil my day!
Our first stop in San Diego after that was the old town that we had never visited before and looked interesting. We were very impressed that there was free parking all day and we toyed with the idea of taking a bus tour from there. In the end we decided that might be a bit limiting for us and so opted to do our own thing. It was definitely the right decision. We wandered around the market, which was very pretty and very much Mexican, and then we headed into the historic area which was wonderful.
The front part was like visiting a very small colonial Williamsburg and the back part was all decorated for Dia de Muertos, the Festival of the dead. I am not a huge Halloween fan, but I do like the Festival of the dead because honouring those loved ones you have lost seems such a good thing to celebrate. The area was beautifully decorated and very photogenic and we had a wonderful time. I was so pleased we were visiting on the 31st of October.
We decided to grab a quick ice cream at a sonic and then thought we would see if we could head over to Coronado to see the hotel that the Grand Floridian was based on. We hadn’t appreciated we would go across such an amazing bridge with great views to get there. Coronado was clearly a very affluent area and beautiful to drive around but we doubted we would be able to get anywhere near the hotel. We saw the hotel ahead and took a sidestreet where extensive roadworks were taking place, but there was one precious parking space, free of charge, right by the beach. We were so incredibly lucky to find a space just where we wanted to be. This was such a defining moment for us on our coast-to-coast tour as this was the other coast.
We walked across the sand and stepped into the Pacific Ocean, so much warmer than the Atlantic had been some three weeks ago. The Coronado Del mar was behind us, the sea was beautiful, the sand was soft and we felt such a sense of achievement. We had set out to drive across America and it had been a truly incredible journey and now we had fulfilled the second part of our promise to ourselves. We took loads and loads of photos and there was a couple sat on the sand watching us. As we finally pulled ourselves away from the water Nigel stopped tell them what we had been doing and why. I think both of us just felt the need for someone to know what we had achieved. It was a truly euphoric moment.
We cross back over the bridge and decided to go to Point Loma which we had read about and looked like it had great views. It was on a naval base and we drove past acres and acres of uniform white marked cemeteries which was quite sobering. On pulling up at the entrance gate we realised there was a fee to pay and we were not sure it would be worth our while as we didn’t plan a long visit just a quick look. We were debating the worthiness of this when Nigel said I think I can see a national park sign up there, get the park pass out in case. When we pulled up to the kiosk Nigel said can we use this and the man replied of course would you like a map. The park pass had saved us another $20.
The views up there were amazing looking back over San Diego and we also enjoyed seeing the monument and the Lighthouse which was in the distance.
We had done a great deal in San Diego and were ready for food, so headed to the Cheesecake Factory for a wonderful meal. I was quite keen to get to our hotel on Shelter Island before sunset as we had a room with a Marina view. It had been a hotel I was looking forward to and one of the more expensive, although cheap by San Diego standards. Sometimes when you really look forward to things they’re a bit of a letdown and this certainly fitted that category. The lobby of the hotel was beautiful, but our room was hidden round the back with hardly a view at all and it was the wrong side of the building for any view of the sunset. The room was tiny with the door just about missing the bed and it was dingy, dated and disappointing. We did go out the front of the hotel to see sunset over the bay, but it was kind of disappointing A Nigel stayed longer than I did. I was just glad we were only there for one night.
So today I have scrapped. And the bad news is that a lot of it I cannot share. I have made three lovely - well I think lovely - pages for ATDML for the December cyber crop so obviously I cannot share those - and I have made pages for new releases for PBP and cannot share those either. Not doing well really am I!
However, I can share this one made with Warm Memories by Tiramisu designs
Today I am thankful for
Day 16 flagstaff to Blythe
30th October 2019
Start miles 5534
Start time 7.40
End miles 5879
End time 6.00
The one with the burros
The whole of our holiday had been amazing and we had looked forward to every bit of it, but I confess that today was the day we were particularly excited about. Today we would drive the longest continuous stretch of Route 66 still in existence and we would take in many iconic sites including Seligman, which is the town where it all started to be saved. We were up earlier than we expected and when we went out to the car we were stunned by how cold it was. The car temperature gauge read 16, which in our world is about -9 and it was bitter. The desert air was so dry however that there was no ice on the car and no frost to be seen. Our first stop was the small town of Ashfork, where we looked at several of the old motels although our looks were a little brief as it really was incredibly cold.
The next town was Seligman, the home of Angel Delgadillo who was the man who had fought to have Seligman put back on the map when it had been totally removed. He launched a 10 year campaign and saved his town and inspired others along the Mother Road to do the same. He is in his 90s but still regularly in his store and is still inspiring people to love Route 66.
It was a fascinating town with much to see and we enjoyed spending time in Angel’s own shop and buying interesting souvenirs. It was lovely to see a hand drawn image of Angel and his wife drawn by John Lassiter when he visited Seligman when researching for the movie, Cars.
Seligman is now so well known that it is a stopping off point for coach parties and the shop sadly became swamped with a coach full of French-Canadians and so we bid farewell and checked out the other amazing places along this lively stretch of Route 66.
I loved this guy who ran a shop in the town - his cash register was part of an old car and he was such a character and seemed to sum up many of the people we met travelling Route 66. He was very happy to pose for the picture!
One place I really wanted to go was the Roadkill Café. We had had breakfast, but I said to Nigel that we really must have something to eat just so that we could go in there and check it out properly. I was quite surprised that it was so lovely inside as I expected somewhere very tacky and very rundown… It was neither. The waitress was lovely and very happy for us to order some French toast and a diet Coke to share and even offered to top it up in a to-go cup. The menu was amazing and very funny and I’m so pleased that we went in and had something to eat. Like so many of the Route 66 businesses it was family run and still run by the original family. That is pretty special. As we left Seligman we were able to follow the old route 66 where they had even restored the Burma-Shave adverts. I had read about these in Bill Bryson‘s books as he used to look for them on road trips when he was a child but I didn’t really understand what they were. They come in groups of four and a short poems with amusing phrases that you read as you go by. They were great fun to see.
We took it in turns driving this iconic stretch of the road until we got to Kingman, where we stopped for gas and a sonic as you do. Kingman is another important route 66 town with many things to see and a lovely historic district.
On leaving Kingman we started on part of the route we had really been looking forward to… the Oatman Highway. This road winds up through the mountains and is supposed to be one of the best drives on Route 66 as it twists and turns through beautiful scenery towards the town of Oatman itself. Our expectations were fully met on this trip. The drive was beautiful and we stopped several times to take photos and then we dropped down into the town of Oatman. To call it a town is a bit of an exaggeration but it has quite a history.
Oatman started life over 100 years ago as a mining tent camp and quickly became a flourishing gold-mining centre. In 1915, two miners struck a $10 million gold find, and within a year, the town's population grew to more than 3,500.
Oatman was named in honour of Olive Oatman, who as a young girl, was kidnapped by an Apache tribe, sold to Mojave Indians and later rescued in a trade-in 1857 near the current site of the town. Oatman was served by a narrow-gauge rail line between 1903 and 1905 that ran 17 miles to the Colorado River near Needles, California.
But both the population and mining booms were short-lived. In 1921, a fire burned down many of the smaller shacks in town, and three years later, the main mining company, United Eastern Mines, shut down operations for good. Oatman survived by catering to travellers on old U.S. Route 66. But in the 1960s, when the route became what is now Interstate 40, Oatman almost died.
Oatman is a fun place to visit -- an authentic old western town with burros roaming the streets and gunfights staged on weekends. The burros are tame and can be hand-fed.
It was one of the most fascinating places I have ever visited. It was incredibly tacky yet looked like a western town like something out of the films we used to watch when we were growing up. It was clearly geared up totally for tourists but you have to admire the spirit that gets people to keep the town going in this way. I was fascinated by the borrowers And we bought food from one of the stores to feed them. I feel it was a little on just that even though I was feeding them one of them decided to kick me as clearly I wasn’t feeding fast enough. It was still bitterly cold but we walked up and down the streets from time gone by thoroughly enjoying our visit. Eventually, we forced ourselves to leave and headed to our last tourist spot of the day.
We said farewell to Route 66, although we would pick up sections of it later in California. We headed through the desert and to Lake Havasu City.
Lake Havasu City is a fascinating place created in the 1960s and so is a true New town. The entrepreneur who created it was also the man who bought London Bridge when the City of London was selling it as it was no longer fit for purpose in London. He felt it was just the statement piece that would help him create a desirable place for people to live and he was right. From nothing, an incredible city has grown and it was lovely to visit. We headed for London Bridge and it was much nicer than we expected. The English village behind was a little off but the area itself was clean and attractive and London Bridge looked superb. We then decided to catch something to eat before heading off to our final stop for the night and so we went into a Denny’s near London Bridge. We got chatting to a couple at the next table who were ranchers from Oregon who had moved to Lake Havasu City a couple of years previously. They were very interesting to talk to and had also visited cattle in the UK.
We headed off to our final destination and indeed our final state of the holiday as we were staying in Blyth California. It was a pleasant drive but it took longer than we anticipated and by the time we crossed into the border the Sun had gone and we arrived in the dark. We had had an incredible day and slept well dreaming of burros no doubt.
Today - as with so many other places - there is a huge Black Friday sale on at Pickleberrypop with some fab bargains, including new releases. I was lucky to work with two of those, despite having so little time. The links are in the collection images
This is Hey Sunshine by Bellisae
and it is a digi page of Nigel getting his birthday treat at Milestones restaurant in Niagara
And this is Pink Christmas by Pavlinka Designs and I couldn't wait to scrap my cousin's beautiful grand-daughter with it
Today I am thankful for
Day 15 Grand Canyon
29th October 2019
Start miles 5324
Start time 8.00
End miles 5534
End time 4.30
The one with the big hole in the ground
We had a bit of a lie in this morning as it was an easy travel day and we enjoyed the ambience, if not the food, of the breakfast room. We set off for the Grand Canyon and it was another lovely drive with scenery all around to enjoy. We had opted to go the route that took us to Desert view first as we wanted to come home via Williams.
When we got to the entrance station we decided to ask if they sold America the beautiful passes as we wanted one for next year and it would be nicer to get it in person then risk having it posted. Not only did they sell them, but we could use them today and save the entry fee as well. So for $80 we bought our pass which would be good for next year as well and would probably save us over $300.
We parked in the desert tower parking lot and Nigel got out to see how far it was to walk. The answer was a long way but more importantly he discovered how cold it was. The car gauge read 16° which in our world was -9 and there was a strong wind. I was wearing a jumper under my new fleecy hard-rock sweatshirt under my Hoody and it was bitter. Nigel had laughed at me when I packed gloves. He wasn’t laughing now! We both put hats on to try and retain a little warmth. The walk was long when you hobble, but the sky was brilliant blue, the air was clear and the view was incredible. We had been lucky to visit the Grand Canyon before and so I wasn’t that excited about going. Clearly I had forgotten what an impressive view it was and it wasn’t long before the cameras were working overtime again.
At this point I was wearing a t shirt, a jumper, a sweatshirt and a hoodie - and gloves!
We drove to all of the view points and enjoyed taking more pictures and even managing to pull off the occasional selfie. I found that the more I walked the more it stretched the hamstring which seemed to ease it, so painful as it was walking a little was good. We drove round Grand Canyon Village to see the lodge where we had stayed back in the early 90s and then we headed out of The Grand Canyon to Williams.
And the layers are gradually getting less!
As we were pulling away from a viewpoint, I spotted a couple standing near the rim and it looked good I went to take a picture. They saw me and were so sweet and said let us move out of the way. I explained I actually liked it with them in it and they would be immortalised in a scrapbook back in England - they laughed and posed perfectly for me.
On this trip we would visit many many of the route 66 towns, but I think both of us would say that Williams was perhaps our favourite. It was the last town to be bypassed by the interstate and they had done an amazing job of restoring buildings and keeping that historical district looking fabulous. We parked the car and even hopalong enjoyed walking the streets in the historical loop and experiencing what 66 must’ve been like. It was a beautiful town and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit soaking up that history.
Finally leaving 66 behind we headed back to Flagstaff and grab dinner at a Pizza Hut before a chilled evening in our room.
Yey - I have finished work for the week and I have finished the big job at home I was doing that I have been doing solidly for two weeks. Tomorrow is a busy day with doctors and hospitals but Saturday - Saturday I am going to scrap! YEY
I do have 1 last page made from two weeks ago though
The photo was taken on the shore of Lake Erie which was really pretty.
Today I am thankful for
The one with The accident
Some days just begin badly and this was today. The shower over bath tub was the sleepiest place known to mankind. The bottom of the bath was completely smooth and let’s face it I can trip on a shadow so a wet soapy bath was no challenge for me. I slipped and hurt my knee so badly that in trying to get up I slipped again and plummeted to the depths of indignity in having to ask Nigel to come and help me. It would appear that what I had done was pulled my hamstring as well as twisting my knee and the pain was horrible. Apart from the fact it was hard to put weight on the leg the cramping pain in the calf was excruciating. Still, at least I was clean.
Today we received another time gift as Arizona operates on Pacific time and it was a good day again as we had a lot of places we wanted to see. As we left Gallop, in the dark of course, it was snowing gently. Not what we expected on this part of the trip but although it remained very cold the snow didn’t last and it was a beautiful sunny day. We saw another gorgeous sunrise just before we arrived in Holbrook. Holbrook is home to one of only two wigwam motels and we will also get to see the other later in the trip. It was an amazing site to see and it was even better that they had lots of old vehicles parked up in front of the teepees to add to the mood. It was bitterly cold but we braved the wind as it just had to be captured on film.
And some other Route 66 curiosities includingt he Jack Rabbit Trading post
From Holbrook we headed to Winslow as there was something really special we wanted to see. We are great fans of the Eagles and love their music and one of their songs, Take it easy, mentions standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona. They have a tribute on Route 66 with a huge 66 sign and two statues which are standing on the corner. As we pulled up, the shop opposite had speakers outside playing the song and the whole area had a lovely feel. It was lovely to wander around in the sunshine and there were plenty of other people doing the same. Yet again the lady in the gift shop was very friendly and interesting to chat to. We decided a quick snack was in order and found a Sonic which had immediately become one of our favourite snack places. Sadly they had obviously heard we were coming and the ice cream machine was broken and so we were one sonic blaster away from perfect.
From Winslow we followed the road out of town to the Painted Desert country Park. We had not been able to build in time to visit the Painted Desert properly but knew this would afford us a good view of what it was like. And it was stunning. Far gentler than the Grand Canyon, the colours were very similar and it was very pretty.
We had been toying with the idea of going to see Holbrook meteor crater, but it would have meant a reasonable detour and all of the pictures that we had seen was from the air and so we figured it was probably not going to be very impressive from ground level so we decided to miss it from our itinerary. We headed into Flagstaff, where we would be staying that night, but only as a means to getting us on the right road for Sedona. The good news was that the Sonic in Flagstaff did have ice cream… Yay.
One of the places that had devised our route for this trip was Sedona. Nigel had seen pictures of it and decided it was somewhere we absolutely must visit and he was so right. We wanted to make sure that we drove through Sedona the correct way to get the best views, hence the reason for going into Flagstaff and back out again so that we could pick up the road we wanted. Sedona was as beautiful as we anticipated, but it was a salutary reminder as to why the national parks are so important. You had this incredibly majestic scenery equal to anything you would see in Utah with the red rocks against a pure blue sky, but because it was not a National Park it was quite built up. It seems somewhat incongruous to see towns in the middle of such wilderness beauty. Of course people wanted to live there and you could still see the beauty in many places and the towns were very sympathetic in their architecture and colour, but it did make us appreciate what the National Park Service had saved in other places. We enjoyed stopping at the various viewpoints and taking photos. I even bought a new sunscreen hat, a Stetson of course, at the ranger station and store.
We headed towards what we thought would be the highlight of our Sedona trip, the chapel built into the rocks. I was a little worried as I knew you could not drive up to the chapel, but had to park either at the bottom or halfway up the hillside and I didn’t feel that I would be able to make the walk with my latest injury. Nigel was adamant that I would get to see the chapel I had wanted to see so much and so managed to find someone who worked there who found wheelchair and he said he would push me to the top. If I ever doubted his love it was certainly not at that point. The slope was steep and I mean really steep and I’m not exactly a lightweight. He was determined, but a very nice man saw him pushing me and said, ‘hey let’s do this together it’ll be more fun.’ And this stranger helped Nigel negotiate the twisting path up the Slope to the chapel . And it was well worth it. The chapel was beautiful in it simplicity with a huge cross at the window. Whilst I had been sat in the car waiting for Nigel I had been, of course, checking Facebook and Saint Paul’s Church had just posted a beautiful prayer. I took a screenshot and it was the perfect prayer for Nigel and I to read as we sat in the chapel. I don’t believe that these things happen just by chance, we were meant to read that prayer at that moment. The view from the top was stunning and we were fascinated by a large mansion below us. Whilst it does detract from the wilderness and natural beauty, how amazing it must be to live with those views every day. Having been up to the top, we now had to get back down again and I think I was more scared of that then going up. I swear I went the whole way with my hand on the brakes in case Nigel lost control of me, which of course he did not.
We carried on to the town of Sedona and then started our journey back to Flagstaff and we had no idea that that drive would be as beautiful as it was. First we passed through Sedona itself which was a lovely town and very mindful of being in keeping with the environment it was in.
The roads up and down the mountain was glorious as it meandered down mountainsides with twists and turns through pine forests and deciduous trees just changing colour. The light was incredible and we both agreed it was one of the nicest drives that we had done this trip.
We arrived in Flagstaff and called into a Walmart as we were almost out of water and soda. We then decided that I had had enough walking and so went to an IHOP for dinner before checking in to our hotel where we would be based for two nights. The lobby of the hotel was beautiful, quite outstanding, with a real Mountain Lodge feel, although the room was disappointing.
It was nice however to have a base for two days and Nigel did laundry for us.
