California Adventure vs Disneyland

Which one do you prefer? My friend Roger Lewis, MD, says CA is a "damned site better" than the big D. After our recent trip to both, I have to agree with Roger. CalifAdv takes the cake for a great getaway. Mark and I spent three days park hopping, but found ourselves more entertained at CA than at D, mostly because of the smaller crowds. We love Soaring Over California, The Maliboomer, California Screamin', and the Aladin Show. Take our advice and avoid Knott's Berry Farm, under new "mis-management" -- we left after an hour.

We're planning on buying a yearlong pass to Disney for 2010 so that we can go back with each of our kids and their kids. After 50 years of enjoying Disneyland resorts, Mark and I are ready to move to the next stage -- enjoying the fun with our grandchildren. The whole time we were there last week, we kept saying, "David's kids would love this!" and "Can you imagine how much fun Naomi and Jocie would have on this ride?"

On the Move

The High Uintah Mountain range in eastern Utah is a camper's paradise. Our latest getaway took us to Duchesne Tunnel, a primitive campground known to the die hards who came equipped for all the joys of outdoors. Situated on the Mirror Lake Highway, this camp area runs parallel to the Provo River. Here the river is shallow and tame, unlike the deeper rapids that run through the Provo Canyon section of the river.

Our Molly learned how to fetch in water during this trip. She just barely learned about swimming in a river in July, and already she's a water retriever. We're all quite proud of our "Irish Retriever."

We joined several other families for the weekend, and enjoyed mixing and matching food items. The dutch oven potatoes were heavenly. I prepared a dutch oven peach cobbler, made from the first harvest of peaches from our young tree. The cobbler was a huge hit. Where are the pictures? you keep asking. I know, I need to upload them onto this site. But with so little time and so many places to go.....

Did you say "$500 Motor Home"?

Why, yes, I did. Mark found a broken down '77 Diplomat for $500. After 20 minutes of tinkering with the wiring, he drove it home. I was overwhelmed with joy when I stepped into a clean and odor-free motor home that had had lots of TLC. Once the snow melted in Utah, we broke out the tool kit and went to work. Mark spent about 6 weeks replacing rotted wood side panels & orange carpet, and rebuilding the front end and brakes. This puppy is cherry: EVERYTHING works. Radio, AC, toilet, shower, bunks, tranny. We dolled her up with new seat covers, new drapes, and new visors.


We spent the July 4th holiday in absolute solitude on Antelope Island, surrounded by a symphony of meadowlarks & chuckers, and a landscape that included a herd of antelope walking above our camp site. This is saying nothing of the breathtaking sunset over that corner of the Great Salt Lake.

So, in the midst of economic downturn, loss, and depression, Mark and I have met another of our goals this year: to get the old gal on the road. (NO, not ME - the motorhome.) Hope your Independence Day was great!

Old People Who Travel are the Bomb

One of our 2008 trips included a great outdoor adventure in Grand Junction, Colorado. Here I am with Molly in Grand Mesa National Park. We enjoyed the vistas, the air show, and the car show. It was our first attempt at using a camp trailer, which put a halt to any thoughts I might have had about buying on of those things.

Instead, my husband bought me a motorhome so salve my wounds after finding out that my dying father was leaving his motorhome and two 5th-wheel trailers (as well as EVERYTHING else) to the American Cancer Society. He's such a dope; he doesn't even realized that the head of the ACS makes more in a single year ($1.5 million) than my dad's entire donation. Ha! Okay, call me bitter. But I'm gonna have fun in my $500 motorhome. Don't laugh -- it's clean, everything works, and will require less than $1500 to get it up to par for a nice vacation.

By April my sweetie and I will be on the road to a family reunion in Sacramento. Then we hope to RV to Dallas for another reunion with my family and some old friends. We'll keep you posted on our RV makeover between now and April. By then I'll be 56 years old. (ouch)