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We loved California so much we decided to stick around a little longer! Lake Tahoe was on our must see list so we decided that it would be the perfect spot to spend my birthday, and it was! Having a summer birthday and growing up in Texas I found it very strange to be celebrating while wearing sweaters in the mountains instead of bikinis at the lake. Lake Tahoe is unlike any lake that I had ever seen, to see the tall pine trees right next to water was a surprise.
It was the first time I had ever seen pine cones in the beach.



We got the pleasure of riding a couple of horses through the woods and getting a different perspective of our surroundings. The ranch had over 60 horses and I think we got the only hungry ones, we kept getting into trouble when they would stay behind and eat flowers. My horse was part quarter horse & part thoroughbred (quaterbred)so she liked to run! There were a few times that I second guessed my decision to opt out on the helmet. Chad kept looking back at me just shaking his head and laughing, after all we are from Texas we should be good at this!

We loved the Mariposa grove in Yosemite so much that we couldn't pass up going to the National Redwood forest; it is in the very northwest corner of California just 10 miles south of Oregon. The redwood trees get almost as big as some of the sequoia trees in the mariposa grove but they are taller and more abundant. The trees were bigger than our car!
We stayed at a park on the beach that was less than 5 miles from this enormous forest so we found a great trail of the beaten path that we visited almost every day. We would just park the car & wonder around the trails in awe of the backdrop & of course look for critters.

We should have been careful what we wished for though. The three of us (Lucas too) went hiking and to appease our curiosity went down to a near by creek & in the middle of our peaceful discovery Chad says to me in a very steady serious voice “grab your dog- and walk away slowly”. I was so stunned by his abrupt demeanor that I scooped little Lucas boy under my arm & bolted practically straight uphill to the nearest road. Once we caught our breath & got up the hill Chad informed me that within 20 yards from us stood a mountain lion scoping us out. Chad just so happen to be looking into a void of trees above the creek & saw two huge golden eyes staring back at him. He was eyeing Lucas like he was some kind of marshmallow dessert I am sure. Needless to say as much as he likes to go everywhere that was Lucas’s last hiking trip of the beaten path!
It was so nice to park Humpy Dumpty less than 50 feet from the beach, we really enjoyed just cooking out & relaxing as we watched the boats come into the harbor and listened to the ocean. Then when we got sleepy we could just take a short walk home. We sat at a cozy restaurant for lunch and watched the sea lions flop around the docks and enjoyed one of our new favorite dishes; clam chowder and naturally fish and chips mate! You know what they say, “when in Rome…..




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As much as we didn’t want to say good bye to California we left out of Crescent City and ended up in various short stays in Oregon and Washington including Mount St. Helen. The mountain as it stands now is a result of the 1980 eruption that wiped out entire cities amongst miles and miles of natural wilderness.The eruption blew off over 2,000 feet of mountainside!



Even today the evidence of Mother Nature’s damage is still apparent. The logs that lay on the ground are forever as the eye can see, but what I loved about this spot was all of the new growth. Various pine trees were replanted just a few years after the devastation all by HAND. The community came together and had to plant them one by one. It was crucial that the seedlings be buried a certain distance beneath all the volcanic ash and this could not be done by massive amounts of machine. Since all of the trees were planted at the same time it was neat to look at a forest where all the trees were pretty much the same age and size. The trees were a parfect highlight to the ups and downs to the mountains. We spent a whole day going to museums, observatories dedicated to the victims and learning about the unity of the town that came together to give back to nature.



After a long day we had a classic camping meal of hot dogs and smores! Yummy!

Onward to Canada!!
here is the link to many more pictures!
http://tamispictures28.shutterfly.com/

We fell down a rabbit hole & woke up in Wonderland!

California is the perfect place to come after the desert. We left Las Vegas with so much momentum behind us that we decided to drive all the way to Yosemite which was about 8 hours away. We passed through miles & miles of orchards & vineyards. As we drove in the sun was setting and the hills were just beaming the most beautiful golden hue that I have ever seen, there were horses & cows just grazing in the pasture & the trees were just starting to fruit; as you can imagine….we were in love & this was just the drive in!


Golden Hills & green pastures


After the glorious sunset it was dark, really dark & we were in very unfamiliar territory…the mountains. The twists and turns and ups and downs in the motor home had my stomach topsy turvey and my butt puckering up seat cushion the whole way! I didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that it was dark because I wasn’t so sure I wanted to know how far up we were & how far I could see down! The curvature of the roads was making one mile feel like ten. I began to get paranoid and thought that maybe the GPS was trying to play a trick on us or that I had the wrong address. As it turns out the GPS is not some sort of trickster & I did have the right address because we finally arrived at our camp ground outside of Yosemite at about 2 am. It was kind of neat arriving when it was dark & waking up to surprise scenery of mountains & trees.

Lucas panning for gold, he was unsuccesful...


The weather here is the best! There is not one day that it gets over 75 degrees & it is always sunny. Any time I can wear a sweater & sunglasses at the same time I am happy! We had a couple of storms but they only last about 20 minutes, just long enough to settle the dust and cool things off a little more. Since we were staying up in the mountains (6000 ft) we got to do some really great storm watching as the clouds formed and headed our way.
We drove to 20 miles to Yosemite National Park the next day as fast as we could, after all this was one of places that were looking forward to the most. It was of course better than any picture that we had seen or any story that we had heard. The boulders were the size of houses & the trees were as tall as buildings if not bigger. Yosemite is so neat, right in the middle of this there is a little town with a college, a supermarket & a residential area. It was a small community full of people that lived & breathed Yosemite (literally). They even had a post office there! I envied these people because they got to wake up every day in the middle of one of the most untouched areas in the world and they still had the convenience of a coffee shop.








Trying to take in all of the surroundings was almost overwhelming. There were several times we just had to sit down in silence and just listen to the noises and try to take it all in, this was unlike anything we had ever encountered. We walked down to the base of a waterfall that was thousands of feet above us and the water was just gushing with an unbelievable force, it is amazing that this force comes from snow that is melting on top of a mountain somewhere way above that point and that even at the bottom it still has massive strength.






We then drove up to Mariposa Grove, which is still in Yosemite to see the gigantic Sequoia & Redwood trees. Some of these trees were over 3000 years old, they were here before Christ! The pine cones that fell off the trees were bigger than Lucas! They stood hundreds of feet tall and they were wider than most cars, so when I stood next to them I very much felt like Alice in Wonderland especially with all the wildlife running around too.







Thats me in the corner!










We spent 4 days in Yosemite and we still didn’t see it all, but we did see bears! That was one of our goals, we had decided that we were not leaving until we saw a bear & we saw two our last day! Chad & I agree that this was our favorite place that we have seen so far!

Its a bear!!


After the crazy ride up to Yosemite we decided that it would be a good idea to make sure Humpty Dumpty’s brakes were tip top so we dropped her off at the shop again & jumped in the Honda to go to San Francisco. This ended up being a blessing in disguise because there is absolutely no way we could have brought HD through San Francisco. Believe it or not it is worse that driving through downtown Dallas plus most of the parking is below ground and it is much more congested. Walking around Fisherman’s Warf and the rest of the bay area was pretty, but it was so crowded we couldn’t walk straight & poor Lucas almost got stepped on so many times that I had to carry him most of the time. Once we got to the pier area we got a fantastic view of see Alcatraz along with a gang of Sea Lions that were pretty amusing when they talked to each other.Once we got out of down town we got a chance to see the Haight/ Ashbury area that was popular in the “summer of love” since Jerry Garcia lived there. It still seems to be home to most of the world’s population of hippies too. We were inspired to hit the road again!

Arf, arf, arf...


Down Town san Francisco







We were on our way to one of the greatest places ever, wine country my friends! Sonoma was lush with flower gardens in full bloom & vineyards as far as the eye could see, well depending on how much wine you’ve had, ha-ha. We popped into the only winery that was open by the time we got into town, which was about 430 and got to taste some of the best wine that I have ever had. It was so good that Chad didn’t even mind it!






The next day we took a drive along Pacific Coast Highway 1 and once again I was very thankful that we were in the car and not the motor home. We made it to the beach, our furthest point west. I haven’t seen the Pacific since I was little & this was Chad’s first time to see it from the states side,so again we were trying to absorb it all. The way that the sun reflected on the beach was absolutely magical. It was amazing to us how the landscaping transformed around every turn. On one side of the highway was the beach and on the other there were dairy farms and redwood trees, we didn’t know what to expect in the miles to come. We sat on the patio at a lovely restaurant and enjoyed watching the sunset while we talked about where we had been the last couple days & about where we should go next, it was the perfect ending to a perfect day and a perfect chapter!





Stay tuned for Lake Tahoe and who knows after that!
Here is the link to many many more pictures, Chad and I were channeling Ansel Adams so there are quite a few to look through!
http://tamispictures28.shutterfly.com/

Fear & Loathing in Las Vagas

If I were to tell you that we have had an eventful last couple weeks that would be a huge understatement. From Lake Mojave to Laughlin to Las Vegas we are exhausted!
Lake Mohave was the most gorgeous lake that I have ever seen in my life. The water is as blue as the Caribbean and clear as glass all the way to the bottom. In fact, clear enough that we could see the friendly fish swimming right underneath our feet, so Chad leaned over & caught a Carpe with his bare hands! As if the water isn’t pretty enough, the lake is also surrounded by breath-taking views of mountains. Lake Mojave is fed by the Colorado River so it is also ice cold, which was just fine with us because after all we were in the desert and it is a thousand times hotter than what you hear & that’s coming from a native Texan! At 7:00 in the morning you can get sunburned and sweat completely through your clothes if you are outside for more than 20 minutes. The “dry heat” definitely will take a toll on your body, we could not drink enough water and get enough AC, we even bought a window unit for the motor home so we could get cool enough!

Caught with his bare hands!!

Lucas enjoyed the water too

Laughlin is very much like a mini Las Vegas except a lot cheaper and you can go from to casino to casino by riverboat on the Colorado River! I think we were the youngest people in most of the casinos which made for some great conversations.


Antique Slot machine

Chad was in heavan when we got to eat at the famous In-n-Out Burger that Matt & Kelly told us about


Before we knew it, it was time to pick up Ryan up from the airport for his first trip to Las Vegas. Everything was on track until we got about 20 miles outside of Las Vegas when our Humpty Dumpty (Chad’s latest name for the motor home) ka-put on us! We had it towed to the shop, but of course the holiday weekend put the maintenance on hold so we has to come up with a plan B, quick!

We jumped in the Honda & went on our way to Treasure Island were we had reserved a room & met Ryan just in time to get ready to paint the town red! We had so much fun going to ALL the casinos, gambling, eating great food, going to the craziest clubs every night and of course doing some great people watching! We had to make sure that Ryan got the most out of his vacation so we went all out, but I think the vacation ended up getting the most out of him! The Ghostbar, the Hard Rock Casino & going backstage to visit Ryan’s friends who worked in the show “LOVE” were just of few of our favorite things that we did.


Our Plan B ended up not being so bad afterall!



I think if this was the only thing he got to do in Vegas, he would be just fine.....


One of my favorite artists Dale Chihuly's pieces of blown glass


Bellagio Water Show


By the time the last few days came around we were getting both tired and broke, pretty much at the same rate. We all were thoroughly annoyed by the noises of the casino slot machines, especially because they seemed to be going off for everyone except us! The three of us decided to take a breather and go for a drive. We took a road off the beaten path and found a great honey hole on the Colorado River right outside the Hoover Dam so we decided to rent a boat. Since we were so close to the Dam the water in the river was about 50 degrees, so even though it was scorching hot outside and the water looked super refreshing none of us would even get close to getting in. It was nice and relaxing to be on the water saving money and listening to nothing but our voices echoing off the canyons around us for a little while. I was also glad that my brother got to see such a pretty spot outside of Texas on his trip.






The day Ryan left they called to say that Humpty Dumpy was ready to leave, by this time the feeling was mutual. We had an incredible time when Ryan was visiting us, but it was time to move on.


We got one mile out of the dealership for it to do the exact same thing, no joke….really. We had to get towed back to the dealership & wait until the next morning for them to fix it since they were now closed. The next day was Saturday so they told us that no mechanics would be coming in until Monday. We started to think about the movie Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, & that this town will make you crazy if you spend too much time here. We wanted so bad to be back in the comfort of our house on wheels & away from the noise. Not to mention we wanted to get back the way we spent money before we got to Vegas! Needless to say, after this emotional rollercoaster,we were in dire need for some down time and some cooler weather!

By the grace of god a mechanic came in that day & fixed what they should have fixed in the first place, which ended up just being an electrical wire and we were back on road. So to sum it all up, we fear Las Vegas because it is the city that never sleeps and we loath Las Vegas because of the desert heat.

California here we come!

To see the rest of our pictures go to
http://tamispictures28.shutterfly.com/