Goodbye 2020!

Placerville, CA

Elks Lodge

We are back to Placerville (a 20 minute drive) at the Elks Lodge as we have to be one week out before we can get back in to a Thousand Trails Park (with the zone pass we have).

Lake Tahoe

The weather was fantastic and dry after some snowfall so we took a drive up to Tahoe to do some hiking and check on one of our geocaches.  We started out with a favorite breakfast of Linguica and Eggs.  We can always find this Portuguese sausage when we're back home.

On the way up the hill there was still some fall color left to see.

We climb from 2000 feet in Placerville up to 8000 feet.  The Aspen have long lost their leaves and the sun was warm and bright.

We couldn't take the truck back on this dirt road as the snow was thick and had icy spots.  We watched plenty of other trucks driving back to cut down Christmas trees and they were sliding all around, even in 4 wheel drive.  I'm glad we hiked back.

   

I love how the Aspen look in black and white.

I love these huge trees!

Ice on the Carson River near Rts. 88/89.

We drove through Placerville to see the Christmas Trees that line Hwy 50 and see the decorations along Main St.  Due to Covid the horse and buggy rides were cancelled.  They still had the Hangtown crew though.

We finally got to see our son Brennan & Alex's new house.  It's really cute and has plenty of bedrooms for babies (ha, ha!!)

Really nice home.  Congrats!

Back at the Elks we watched as a tree crew was out to remove part of a large dead oak.  They insisted we didn't need to move our rigs.  I sat out front with my coffee and watched them as they carefully and perfectly dropped the dead branches.

These are the large chunks of the branches they took down and the rest of the tree.

Look how close it was to this vintage trailer.

Coloma, CA

Thousand Trails Resort

Back for our last 2 weeks and we have a real nice spot.  It's the last one next to the premier riverfront sites that cost extra.  We had a nice view out the windows of the river.

We had some really nosey neighbors though  :-)

Twins.  Did they chew out the window?  A little Duct Tape and it's all good!

We had cold but sunny days and morning fog that hung over the hills.

Some die-hards out paddling.

The Family Christmas card with Diana, Jaxon & Ryan.

My Dad and Mom

A favorite Italian Christmas treat is Panettone.  It's a sweet bread that is delicious toasted with butter.  A great way to start the day with some bacon.

Our RV friends Ron & Rene of R and R were in town so we met up for a hike at Folsom Lake.

Wow, the lake level is very, very low.  There are remnants of old roads, buildings and a bridge that are visible if it goes low enough.  Last time it happened was in 2014.

Hurley and Rufus loved running around and exploring.

What a pretty little waterfall we discovered back in the cove.

Those are the boat slips in the marina.  They are sitting on dry ground!  Just a small creek running through what is usually a large cove.

Low water didn't stop this guy fishing from his kayak.  He wasn't catching anything but it sure was a great sunny day to be out.

We came upon this painted rock hiding in some grass.

Someone took a lot of time to design this little homestead out of driftwood.

With our hike all finished we enjoyed some homemade cookies that Rene brought.  Delicious!

We have had a great time back home.  Busy as usual.  We only have our eye appointments, Christmas dinner with my parents then we leave for Arizona with a visit to see our grandson on the way.

Well my eye check went fine the next day but I was beginning to wonder what was taking Steve so long.  I was just about to check on him when he walked out to the truck.  He didn't have good news.  Steve failed his eye test so the doctor did more checking and thought he had a detached retina.  Not good.  This was December 23rd.  He set Steve up with an emergency appointment since the holiday was coming and he is aware of our travels.  He had surgery on December 24th.  No Christmas with my folks.  Instead we spent the  night in a hotel as he wasn't allowed to go above 500ft elevation.  This caused lots of chaos with dog sitting, asking to stay a couple days longer at our current park, finding a new place etc. Once he was settled in I drove up and down, back and forth from Sacramento to the trailer and back.  My Mom sent me with a cooler filled with Christmas Lasagna, garlic bread, etc.  That was nice too! Since it was going to be days, maybe weeks until he could go above 500 feet, we decided I'd move the trailer myself and drive it down to an Elks Lodge closer to Sacramento.  Thankfully our friend, Rick, came down for moral support and to help me out.  So nice as it was 1 1/2 hours round trip, in the rain, on Christmas!  Thankful to have great friends and family!

Rancho Cordova, CA

Elks Lodge

So this is where we spent the next 2 weeks.  It's in the industrial area with a salvage yard directly behind us.  

What a lovely view.  We really didn't care.  We were thankful to have somewhere to stay while Steve recouped and we had more doctor appointments.  His recovery went smooth but took longer than we hoped so we had to push back our Arizona plans.  Two more weeks here.

We spent New Years having Lentils with Sausage (for good luck!). 

We had a little party then called it a night!

I sure hope 2021 is going to be a smoother year!!

Looking forward to seeing this cutie as soon as Steve is released.