Sunny September in Placerville, CA

 

California
September

We once again make our way from Arizona to Southern California.  We spent one night at the Lancaster Elks and 2 nights at the Santa Barbara Elks Lodge.

Rita has been living here for the past year to help out with her first grandson's birth but is now moving to Florida.  Lucky me I got to visit with her and help her pack before she drove off.  It was so good to see her again.  We celebrated with some margaritas when we finished.

Atascadero, California

Elks Lodge

This is another nice lodge along Hwy 101.  #35 for FHU.  My only complaint is how close the spacing is and the location of the septic. 

That's the septic right in front of our stairs.  Yuck!  Luckily there was hardly anyone here.

Another 2 1/2 hour drive and we are back in Monterey and Meatball Territory!

We stayed for 3 days and had a blast as usual.  Jaxon is 1 1/2 now and it's been 6 months since we've seen him last.  That's the longest time apart so far since he's been born.

We enjoyed playing and watching him.  So did Hurley.

My sweet daughter-in-law, Diana, got this fridge magnet for me!

On Saturday we went to Cannery Row and rented a group bike to ride on the path that goes along the coast.  We had taken our kids on this when they were small too.

View of the back of the wharf in the marina.

Then we all went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  It's a quick trip through with a young toddler so not many pictures.  I just love the jellyfish though!

Touch Tank

Me, Ryan, Jaxon, Diana & Steve

That night our middle son, Shane and his girlfriend Lindsay came over for the football game.

Someone loves his teddy bears.

Our last evening they took us out to Pebble Beach for an outdoor dinner overlooking the famous 18th hole.

The famous 18th green.

Maybe a golfer or a caddy in his future?

Placerville, California

Elks Lodge

Bell Tower in the center of town.

Love our cute Gold Mining town.

Our first couple of nights we stopped by my parents to wish my Dad a Happy 84th Birthday then went out for our anniversary.

One of my hiking girlfriends I've known since high school came up for a visit before she retires and moves to Colorado next month.  I wanted to see if we could drive to my favorite trail but I figured with the Caldor Fire still going it would be closed.  It was.  So we drove to the nearby lake at Sly Park and had lunch.

I'm sure you all heard of the Caldor fire which burned about 1/5th of our entire county.  This was the second largest fire in CA this year behind the Dixie fire.  Our county is about 1/2  National Forest and Wilderness area.  In the above picture the red area was the evacuated area and the yellow was on warning.  Our ranch was in the middle left just 2 miles from the yellow.

This was the total area that was burned.  You can see Lake Tahoe in the far upper right corner. It was just within a couple miles of the famous tourist/casino/ski resort areas.  Such a shame.  So much beautiful wild forest burned.  You can't see too much of the burned area near the lake at Sly Park but it came quite close to some of the homes and road.  Our county is known for mining, timber and agriculture.

No hiking probably for the rest of the year unfortunately.

The lake level was also very low.  At the time I'm writing this one month later, that crazy rain event brought the level up quite a bit more.

It was nice to see all the signs thanking the firefighters.

We had one more dinner together on the patio then I wished Chris good luck on her upcoming move.  I will surely miss my friend but we will visit whenever we make it to Colorado.

More of the kids came back up and we got to celebrate another September birthday.  This time our daughter, Kaylee.

We also got to meet the youngest son, Brennan and his wife Alex's, puppy, Rocco.  He's young but so smart already.  Brennan has been doing a great job training him as he's a hunting dog.

Rocco's first pheasant hunt and he did a great job retrieving already!

Jax was still sleeping from his long car ride and looking so cute with his teddy.

  

His first waffle and he wasn't sure what to do with it at first but dug right in!

Coloma, California

Ponderosa Resort

Afte the first week at the Elks we do our usual shuffle.  One week there, then 2 weeks at Coloma at the Thousand Trails then repeat.  The reason we got it was for the 2 months we visit.  It comes out to $10 a night for those 6 weeks and free any other time we use it during the year.  Not our favorite way to stay but it works great here.  Thankfully we have this and the Elks options as there aren't many campgrounds except a couple expensive private parks that are $75 a night.  We'd boondock or stay in the many forest areas but of course they are covered in snow this time of year.

This particular part of the park is cramped but right on the American River.

  

We got some great full moon shots on the bridge and over the river.

An upgrade for us was this WeBoost RV Drive Reach Booster.  Steve mounted it on the wall behind the couch.  It works great and it's much easier with it set up permanently.  It has spacers to keep it about 1/2 inch from the wall.  $500 but much needed when you work from the rig.

We also visited with some friends and spend a couple nights each week with my parents.  It's only been 1 month but busy already.  Next month will be busy with the usual doctor, dentist, eye appts.