Monthly Archives: April 2022
Black Bears and Gray Squirrels . . .
First off, some of our readers are reporting problems viewing our site from different areas around the country, but it doesn’t seem to be consistent. I’ve got Godaddy looking at the problem, so stay tuned.
Today was our monthly get-together with our Alvin Opry friends, this time at the Black Bear Diner down near us.
Jan and I have been eating at Black Bear Diners since 2011 when we discovered them out west. So we were real happy when they started to show up in Texas.
And as with our past visits, everything was delicious.
Jan and I both got the Bacon Cheeseburger Salad,
with their really good, homemade, Bacon Ranch.
Then after getting our hugs and saying our goodbyes, Jan and I headed across the Interstate to pick up a few things at WalMart.
But of course, before we split up, we scheduled our get-together for next month.
More from our first visit to the Park of the Sierras in Coursegold, CA, at the entrance to Yosemite National Park.
April 28, 2010
Sitting out the bad weather . . .
It was supposed to be cold and rainy today so we decided to wait until tomorrow before visiting Yosemite National Park, and although we saw one burst of sunlight, the forecast turned out to be pretty accurate.
So about 12:30 we headed out to get some lunch and some groceries afterwards.
As we were leaving the park we saw a squirrel standing sentry on a rock right outside the gate. We tried to get a picture but he spooked before we could get the camera out.
Maybe when we come back.
We ended up going back to El Cid because we liked it so much last night. I wanted to have another bowl of their albondigas, Mexican meatball soup. We had some last night as an appetizer to our combo platters, but it was so good I decided to have just a bowl of it for lunch. And we got some more cactus pictures while we were there.
We also saw a pair of woodpeckers that, at first glance, I thought were red-headed woodpeckers. But after looking closer at the pictures, I realized they were something I hadn’t seen before. It turns out they are Acorn Woodpeckers.
Heading back home we stopped off at Von’s to pick up some groceries.
Coming back into the park, we found our squirrel standing guard on his rock again.
Although it looks kind of brown in this picture, it’s a Western Gray Squirrel. And he was there almost every time we left or entered the park. Don’t know if he was the lookout, or just watching the traffic.
Tomorrow we’re going to drive up into Yosemite National Park. If we make the entire loop, it will be about a 200 mile trip.
And more Grand Canyon
April 29, 2011
Grand Canyon – Part II . . .
Here’s Part II of our Grand Canyon visit yesterday.
Today we visited the Bearizona Wildlife Park here in Williams, but I’ll save it for tomorrow’s blog since we’ll be traveling and won’t have much that is blog-worthy.
We walked further along the rim, just taking in the fantastic scenery.
This is a view of the legendary El Tovar Hotel looking back from Fred Harvey’s Lookout Studio.
More great views.
Around 1 pm we headed back around the rim to the Bright Angel Dining Room to have lunch. Unfortunately, the place was busy so we didn’t get a table by the window overlooking the canyon, but in consolation, the food was delicious.
I had the BBQ Sampler Plate with chicken, ribs, and pulled pork, with two very tasty BBQ sauces, including a Prickly Pear Honey sauce.
Jan had a Pistachio Chicken Salad Sandwich on Ciabatta bread.
These people are heading down one of the many hiking trails. They start out along the rim,
then work their way thru the tunnel.
You can take the trail all the way to the bottom of the Canyon and on to the fabled Phantom Ranch
The beginning of the bright green strip is where the Phantom Ranch is located.
Up close, it looks like this. It’s a 12 mile hike down here.
And then another 4 miles along here, out to the edge of the bottom canyon.
I was really surprised Jan was able to do this. She has a real fear of heights so this was a feat for her. I’m really proud of her.
I, on the other hand, am more like this guy. The higher, the scarier, the better. Jan calls it ‘riding that ragged edge”
I call it fun.
Heading back to the train depot, we took a quick detour into the El Tovar Hotel. While Jan was checking out the gift shop, I stuck my head in the main dining room. Talk about nice!
Finally, about 3:15, we boarded our train car for the trip home.
We pulled back into the Williams Train Depot about 5:45 and made our way back to the RV park a few minutes away.
A fantastic day!
April 28, 2014
High Road to China . . .
As we’ve done for the last several days, Jan and I sat outside this morning with our coffee and muffins, but not for very long. The last several mornings have either been partly cloudy or even overcast, but there was not a cloud in the sky today, and the sun was hot. In fact today was our high for the year with 92 degrees.
Time to head north.
On another front, my great nieces, Darby
and Stahlie Calvin
are going to be traveling to China in the next few weeks. These two beautiful young ladies are going to be volunteering at an American-run Special Needs Orphanage outside of Beijing for the summer, and then spend some time touring the country.
Our part in this comes about because the Chinese Consulate here in Houston is where you go to get your visas, so Jan and I are going to expedite things by handling it on this end.
Darby is overnighting the paperwork that should be here tomorrow. Then on Wednesday, Jan and I will take it down to the Consulate. If we get it in before 11:30, then we should be able to pick it up before 3pm.
One of my chores today was to install an additional support on the rig’s tailpipe. I noticed recently that the tailpipe that comes out of the muffler was loose at the joint. So I got some pipe hanging strap and ran a loop from the chassis down around the pipe and back up. I then put a bolt through the strapping to tighten it down around the pipe.
The pipe is now solid and doesn’t move anymore, so this should take care of the problem.
Tomorrow we’re going down to the Clear Lake area to take care of some errands and get together with Chris, Linda, and Piper for a last dinner before we hit the road on Friday. Jan and Piper are also going to get mani/pedi’s.
What Happens In Vegas . . .
April 28, 2015
Off To See The Aliens . . .
or It’s A Small World After All.
We did pretty much nothing this morning, until we headed out for the afternoon. As we were leaving about 3pm, we started talking to the couple in 5’ver on our driver’s side. Turns out we knew each other. They were parked next to us at the Colorado River Thousand Trails when we were there with Nick and Terry this past January. It definitely is a small world, at least the RV part of it.
We first drove west on Flamingo over to the High Roller Observation Wheel to pick up our tickets for tomorrow night. They have to be picked up at least one hour before our 8pm ride, and we didn’t want to have to rush our dinner at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville beforehand.
Leaving there we were heading east on Tropicana and overhead we saw an Alien Airlines flight coming in to land at the Las Vegas airport.
I didn’t have time to get my camera up so I got this photo off the Web. Officially called a JANET flight, it’s nicknamed Alien Airlines because it’s these planes that shuttle about a thousand workers back and forth to Area 51 every day. Notice there is no name on the plane, jus the red stripe. (Cue the Twilight Zone theme)
Leaving there we stopped off at the Sam’s Club over on Pecos Blvd. to pick up our prescriptions and a few other things. I also got a new set of frames for my eyeglasses. All I needed was a new earpiece, but they don’t sell them separately anymore, but I was able to buy a complete new frame for only $47, and the optometrist transferred my lenses to the new frames for me.
Then we headed back over to the Boulder Station Casino near the RV park for a visit to the buffet. Unfortunately we were running about 30 minutes later than we had planned, so we had a 40 minute wait in line before we got seated. But as usual, both the meal and the service were really good.
Finishing up our meal, and on our way out. we stopped off to put $20 in the Megabuck’s Progressive Slot. That’s our normal gambling limit when we’re here in Vegas, but usually we try out the regular slots. But we figured that if we’re going to blow $20, why not have a chance at megabucks, instead of a few thousand.
In fact, two weeks ago, someone won over $10 million on one of these Megabucks slots here in Las Vegas So why not us?
But unfortunately, it was not to be.
But there’s always next time.
From Budapest, Hungry
April 28, 2019
I Made A Boo-Boo . . .
In preparing for our trip, I’ve been making checklists for months, I.e. what we’re going to take, what we need to buy, what we need to do in the rig right before we leave, etc. And even checklists for what gets packed in carry-on and what gets packed in our checked bags.
However, what I didn’t do was have an item on one of my many checklists that would remind me to grab up my computer bag, containing my laptop, tablet, and Kindle Fire, and my Panasonic Lumix camera that I was just going to carry with me.
So they’re still sitting on the passenger seat in the rig, right where I can see them on one of my 3 Wyze security cams that I set up in the rig. And which is why this is the first blog I’ve posted since we left.
This morning after a fantastic (and free) breakfast at the hotel, we took a taxi over to the Mammut Mall. Mammut means ‘Mammoth’, and it is. And it even has one out front.
It’s made up of two LARGE buildings on opposite sides of the street, and connected by a glass walkway on the 2nd level. And there are about six levels, including the large SPAR grocery store in the basement.
Besides wanting to see the place that everyone was talking about, one of the guys at the Viking Concierge Desk said that Notebook.hu was a good place to buy a laptop, and it was, and it’s what I’m typing on now.
I got a good deal on an ASUS model, and the deal got even better when I mentioned that the Viking guy had sent me.
Afterwards we spent a couple of hours walking around, checking the many shops and stores. And it seems KFC and BK translate into any language.
While got a Strawberry gelato, made with fresh strawberries, I got a Caramel Coffee at Starbucks right next door.
And over here it seems if your not getting your coffee to go, it comes in a nice porcelain mug. Much more elegant.
So I’ll spend the next couple of days catching up the blog on how we got to this point.
When the bellhop got us a taxi at the hotel, we knew we would be OK, since they’ve vetted by the hotel and know if they gouge the hotel’s guests, they won’t be allowed to pick up passengers there any longer. But at the Mall you’re on your own, and apparently it’s real easy to get screwed on the fare, even to the point of being physically threatened if you don’t pay up.
The taxi service in Hungary has been referred to as ‘Mafia-like’ and has even managed to have ride services like Uber and Lyft completely banned throughout the entire country.
So, coming back to the hotel, we decide to try the bus system. And with Google’s help, we had no real problems, and even got to ride for free, since apparently most people use passes. The website says it costs 450 HUF (about $1.56) for a single ride without a transfer. But when Jan and I held out our 500 HUF notes he just waved us in. Probably didn’t want to fool with making change.
The bus dropped us off right in front of Matthias Church,
and across from the Fisherman’s Bastion,
which is just half a block from our hotel.
Hungary’s money takes a little getting used to. It’s called the Forint, as in Hungarian Forint, or HUF. And the exchange is kind of interesting.
1000 HUF is about $3.46, so you end with some very large numbers in prices. According to placard in our room. it cost 160,000 HUF a night. And if we wanted a view of the Danube, it would be 180,000 a night. And that’s $553 and $622 respectively. Though I doubt Viking is paying that much a night.
But for your $500+ a night you do get a great room,
and a fantastic breakfast. And this not some typical hotel fare of do-it-yourself waffles and stale cereal in little boxes. No, this is pretty much every thing you can think of for breakfast, and even more. But I’ll have more on this tomorrow as I catch up.
This evening Jan and I again had dinner at the LANG Bistro & Grill, the hotel’s main restaurant. And not only is the décor very elegant,
but the closeup view of the Fisherman’s Bastion out our window
was very picturesque as well.
For dinner Jan had the same Paprika Chicken that I had last night,
which is a rolled Chicken Breast in a delicious sauce, on top of gnocchi noodles, all covered in sour cream. It also came with a Cold Pickled Cucumber Salad made with very thinly sliced cucumbers, topped with, what else, Paprika, which seems to the the National Spice of Hungary, since it’s in pretty much everything,
I figured that since I was in Hungary I should try a bowl of Hungarian Goulash.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was pretty much just Beef Stew, with tender chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, and, I think, parsnips, in a spicy (paprika?) sauce. But very, very good anyway.
For dessert we had coffee, and split a delicious Crème Brule. We felt as much as we had walked today, we deserved it.
Wrapping up, early tomorrow afternoon we’ll board the Skirnir, our Viking cruise ship, but we won’t actually sail until Tuesday night, after a day of excursions here. Then our next stop is Vienna, Austria.
Thought For The Day:
Lifehack: you can’t do anything wrong if you don’t do anything at all.
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Hollywood and Hooters . . .
Thanks to everyone for their kind messages about my wasp sting. Though my hand is still red and swollen, it’s not itchy. Which was the big problem to start with.
Tomorrow is another get-together with our Alvin Opry group, and it sounds like we’re going to have two new members. Well, new to our group, but not new to us. They’re also long-time Opry attendees, and we’re looking forward to seeing them again.
And here’s some more reminiscing of our travels on this date.
April 27, 2010
High in the Sierras . . .
We decided to go out for breakfast about 9 am while we were waiting to see if our new site was open yet. Noting that the site was on the way out, we drove by to check it out and found that it was already empty. But there was a problem.
Although it was a pull-thru, the site was kind of short and rolled off down the hill in the front. By the time I had pulled far enough into the site to setup I’d be tilted downhill too much to get leveled. I thought I’d talk with the Park office when we got back.
On recommendation of the office we had breakfast at Pete’s Place in Oakhurst and it was really pretty good. The bacon was especially good.
We got back to the park about 10:30 and I stopped off at the office to find out if another site was available. One of their people took me out to look over two other sites and I picked 511.
About 11:30 we moved into our new site and got set up.
This is a really nice area of the park, off the main road so it’s nice and quiet.
But because of all the nice trees it took a while to get a sight line on the satellite, I had to move it three times before I got a signal. Here’s how I ended up finding a hole in the trees.
If I had a roof-mounted sat dish, we’d have been out of luck. As it is, I had to set up the dish about 30 feet behind the coach.
The weather had been overcast and drizzling on and off all day, and it seemed like the perfect time for an afternoon nap.
And it was.
About 4:45 pm we drove into Oakhurst to have dinner at El Cid, a Mexican restaurant that advertised in the park brochure. And it was well worth the trip. The chips were hot, the salsa was cold, the iced tea was good, and the food was great!
And the view wasn’t too shabby either. We sat out on the glassed-in patio that overlooks the High Sierras,
and looks down on a cactus garden with numerous bird feeders. And tulips, too.
Jan was happy to see all the finches since she used to feed them in Houston before we went fulltime. She was surprised to find out that the finches stay here all year, even during the winter with snow on the ground. In Houston they only stay around for a couple of months in the fall.
We saw several of these red headed birds too, but no one knew what they were. A little Googling told me that these are male house finches. We had never seen them before.
Even bluebirds were hanging around. Don’t know how happy they were, though.
We got back to the rig about 6 pm and settled in for the night.
The weather is supposed to be even worse tomorrow, so we’ll probably wait until Thursday before we do any sightseeing, but we’ll see.
April 27, 2011
Wigwams and Pie . . .
We left Show Low about 9:30 this morning heading 170 miles away to Williams, AZ to spend a few days seeing the Grand Canyon and other sights in the area.
Overall the trip was pretty uneventful, with some road construction on SR77 between Show Low and Holbrook and a lot of smoke around Flagstaff.
Holbrook, where we got on I-40W was on the old Route 66, and was also home to one of the 7 Wigwam Motels in the country. My family and I stayed here on a trip out west in 1963.
Built in 1950, it first closed in 1974, but the original owner’s family renovated and reopened it in 1988. And, in fact, the same family still operates it today.
It’s good to see it’s still around. There are only 3 of the original 7 still in existence.
After getting on I-40, our first stop was at the Flying J Truck Stop in Winslow, AZ. Where we wanted to eat breakfast at the adjacent Denny’s.
We finally got back on the road about 1:30 for the hundred mile run to Williams, with Mister spending the whole trip catching rays in the front window.
Sometimes wide awake . . .
Sometimes dozing off . . .
And sometimes, just completely out of it.
Approaching the Flagstaff area we started seeing a lot of smoke in front of us. It turned out to be a Forest Service controlled burn. Although it wasn’t too bad, we did hit several thick patches and you could certainly smell it.
While passing through some of this, we were passed by Kenny Chesney’s tour bus. He’s got an upcoming gig in Vegas and travels in style. Must be nice to have someone to drive the RV for you.
Just as we were pulling into the Canyon Gate RV Park in Williams, our daughter Brandi called to check it and tell us that Landon’s daycare had called and said a little girl in his group had BIT him. We all figured that just as soon as he has some teeth, he’ll bite’r back.
After getting set up, we rested up, and then about 5:30 we headed out for a drive around the area, and dinner.
And as it turned out, dinner was at the Pine Country Café, where we ate last year when we were through here. Our meal was good, but what we really came for were the pies.
They bake 44 different kinds of pie every day, but when a particular flavor is gone, it’s gone for the day.
Jan had this huge slice of Coconut Cream, with enough left over to take home.
And I had this delicious Strawberry Cream Cheese.
I didn’t have any left over.
Tomorrow Jan and I are taking the Grand Canyon Railway train trip to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It leaves about 9:30 and returns to Williams about 5:30 or so.
It’s supposed to get down to 29 degrees here tonight, but it’s just after midnight and it’s already 31.
So I think it might get colder. We’ll see.
April 27, 2014
and Good Food . . .
Once again Jan and I sat outside and enjoyed our coffee and Buc-ee’s muffins. It was more overcast than yesterday, and a little windier, but still very nice. Mister always enjoys us being out there with him, since he can crawl all over us and annoy us. And he really enjoys his work.
After we finally came inside I unbungeed the drawer I repaired yesterday, put it back under the fridge and replaced all the pots and pans. Hopefully it’ll last another 15 years.
Today was a Red Letter Day. I finally finished up the last of the bins and got everything sorted away. We’ll take the empty bins down to our storeroom in Clear Lake later this week. on one of our last trips.
Tuesday night we’re getting together with Chris, Linda, and Piper down in Clear Lake for a last meal together before we leave this coming Friday. Then on Thursday night we’re getting together with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon up here in Katy. Because everyone is so busy it’s hard to get us all together in the middle of the week.
About 4 pm we picked up Maxine and Cliff Phillips next door and headed down to Columbus to have dinner at Los Cabos. This was Maxine and Cliff’s first visit and our 3rd or 4th, and it was as good as before. And they thought it was as good as we do.
It’s always kind of dicey taking friends to a restaurant you really like, and then the place has an off-day. But it was all good tonight.
Maxine and Cliff are leaving for the New Braunfels area tomorrow morning, so hopefully they’ll keep in touch and we can meet up down the road somewhere.
April 27, 2017
Going To Hel . . . Hooters?
Today, our last day to journey down to LA proper, we were on the road by 9:30, heading down to the Hollywood Blvd/TCL Chinese Theater area for our 12:15 TMZ Hollywood Tour.
We were going down early so we could check in for the tour early and then have lunch. I had made our reservations online a couple of days ago so all we had to do was to check in at TMZ’s booth in the Hard Rock Café, get our badges, and then head right across the street to the Hooters.
We had first eaten here in 2010 prior to our last Hollywood Tour, and hoped it was as good as before.
As usual we both went with our favorites, Jan getting her Original Chicken Strip Cheese Sandwich with their new Big Dipper Fries.
Previously they only had Curly Fries, but the Big Dipper’s are more like Steak Fries, but shaped to hold dips/sauces. Very Good.
I of course went with my usual wings, all drums, coated with their Habanero BBQ sauce with side sauces of Chipotle Honey for the sweetness, and Triple Dog Dare, their hottest sauce.
Jan and I both agreed that Hooters has really upped their game, I imagine, due to all the competition with Buffalo Wild Wings and the like. The wings are larger than they used to be, with a lighter breading that forms a slight crispy crust, almost like our absolute favorite wings, the Sweet Tangy Golden Sauce Wings, from the Beeville Diner down in, where else, Beeville, TX, where we ate several times while we were gate guarding down in south Texas.
As we left Hooters we noticed a police car right in front of the door, and two police officers on the sidewalk. Turns out that apparently Jan and I are going to Hell because we ate at Hooters.
At least that’s what the protesters were saying, signs, chanting, and all.
We waited about 15 minutes before our TMZ Tour Bus showed up and we were on our way.
Unlike our last Starline Tour in 2010 (You can read about it here) the TMZ tour is more ‘spot the stars’ type. However the Starline tour was a ‘homes of the stars’ so if that’s your thing, take that one.
Because we were star-spotting, AND didn’t see any, there weren’t really any photos to take. So nothing really from that.
But we were shown the very best viewpoint for the Hollywood Sign, and aptly enough it’s from Hollywood Blvd.
Right down the street from the Hard Rock Café there is an opening between the buildings where they’ve set up a viewing area for the tourists.
We were back at the Hard Rock Café by about 2:15 and quickly got on our way home, wanting to get ahead of the going-home traffic, which we did.
We did fight the winds, forecasted to be in excess of 60mph, all the way home, finally getting back about 3:30pm.
Lucky for us the wind didn’t really pick up until later in the evening when is was rocking the coach back and forth. But according to the news, trees and power lines were blown down all over LA.
New blog readers Rob and Dottie dropped by to say Hi. It’s always good to meet new friends.
Tomorrow we’re having lunch at the Shakey’s Pizza up in Palmdale, then some shopping, and maybe a drive out to the poppy fields.
Thought for the Day:
Newport Oregon Police received a 911 call that there was a cat in a tree armed with an assault rifle. True Story.
Neighbor dogs were relieved to find out that it was just a suspicious-looking branch.
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