Los Angeles

After leaving Arizona, we went to Los Angeles for a week of totally being tourists.  We had our list of what we wanted to see and actually managed to see it!  The first very special event was a chance to get together with Mark and Seema.  Mark is a college friend of Robin's and lives in LA so it was a great chance for us to have an opportunity to connect.  Thanks for the lovely lunch and time together!   

Then we walked along the Seal Beach Pier and enjoyed our first look at the Pacific Ocean.

Another Presidential Library, Nixon's, was on the next days agenda.  

Anyone our age remember these dresses and the beautiful brides that wore them?

Downtown Disney was a lot of fun one evening.

 

A Hollywood Tour was high on the list of must do's.  

This is the Dolby Theatre where the Oscars are held.  

Oh look!  Here I am with my Oscar!  

Next we went to the LA Farmers Market for a lunch.

Then on to Santa Monica Beach and Pier.  

After all the pictures of Route 66 that we have posted, we have finally come to 'end of the trail' in Santa Monica.  It has provided a lot of enjoyment as we traveled along.  

Venice Beach ended a great day touring LA!

Another terrific day was spent at the Getty Center.  J Paul Getty used his resources to give the public an opportunity to enjoy his eclectic collection at this beautiful center for the arts.  

One of Alan's favorite TV shows from a couple of years back was "Overhauling.." with Chip Foose. So we took the Foose tour at his shop with his general manager.  Excellent!

A stroll along Newport Beach

Then onto The Mission at San Juan Capistrano.  It is one of 21 missions built by the Spanish along the California coast.  It was built in 1775.  It is now a museum and beautiful chapel.  This is the mission where the world famous swallows return every year.  

Dana Point Harbor

Tall Ship Pilgrim

Our last night in LA, we went to Orange Hill

known for its amazing sunsets.  We think they have never been to AZ!!  

Now we have moved on to San Diego and are enjoying this lovely city and the lovely weather.  We will try in the next couple of weeks to blog about our adventures here!  Thanks for reading along!

January 2017 Bend and Bullhead

January has been a good month for exploring the area around Bullhead City, AZ.  Plus we took a ten day trip to Bend, Oregon to see Mike.  Of course we were traveling during all the recent bad weather in California and snow in Oregon!!  Timing is everything!  We drove from here to Bakersfield, CA then up CA route 5.  What we didn't know was we would go through the Central Valley which is this 60 mile wide and 450 mile long area of agricultural land that apparently grows fruits to nuts with cattle on the side.  Amazing!!

We stayed overnight in Sacramento, CA and then continued the next day up into northern CA and into Oregon.

Sierra Nevada Mountains,

Mt Shasta

Everyone takes a picture in Weed, CA!

BEND!  We actually had to buy chains to get through the passes and while in Bend, we needed them as the roads were so incredibly bad.  They only plow main roads.  

Alan with grand animals!!

Leaving the snow and rain behind and headed for the AZ sunshine!

After we rested up from our adventurous ten day trip, we started again exploring the AZ desert.  

These are the ancient petroglyphs Just about five miles or so out of town.

They are said to be sacred to the people who created them.  

Katherine's Landing, Lake Mohave, part of the Colorado River, was created when Davis Dam was built in the 1950's.

Telephone Cove

 Davis Dam

Laughlin/ Bullhead City

While this is not the prettiest area we have been in, we certainly enjoyed the rugged desert and being near my sweet sister and her great husband.  We thank them for putting up with us for three months.  Their hospitality has been wonderful.  After seeing her several times every week, it will be hard to leave and say good bye.

Here are several other activities we have been doing. 

We've been attending a nice small local church with a lovely group of folks who have been warm and welcoming to us.  Our thanks to Valley Christian Church.

Golfing with new friends once a week has been a lot of fun!

We visited Hoover Dam and saw the "new" bridge so that most traffic doesn't cross over the dam anymore after 9/11.  This is still a most amazing sight.  What a feat of engineering!

 Other things we like to do!

Baskin Robbins!!

Hanging around the RV park and watching the beautiful AZ sunsets.

Thanks for reading along with us.  We will be in Southern California from the 18th of February until

March 20th.  I'll write again during that time with the next chapter.