Salem, OR - Holy Week

Palm Sunday - up early for 7:00 Mass at St. Josephs with G&M.  Had a great breakfast at the Elks Lodge.  Gary decided to join the Elks - they have camping available at many of their Lodge parking lots across the country.  Back home and change - then we all headed for the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival out by Woodburn, OR.  40 acres of tulips in all colors and many different varieties.  Some looked like stars when they were open, others had variegated colors.  Beautiful.  Many of the people there had their little ones dressed up and were having them sit or lay in the rows for pictures.  Cute!  They sell bulbs at the festival and had concessions and kid games and inflatables there for an all afternoon outing.  We could see Mt. Hood in the distance, it was a beautiful clear day.
On the way home, we spied a winery sign, so ended up visiting the St. Joseph Winery.  They had a nice Chardonnay and some nice reds.  Heading home from there, we stopped in Silverton for a late lunch.  Back home, we rested and then went over to G&M's for supper - grilled burgers.

Fields of tulips

Mt. Hood

Little Miss and the tulips

Colorful

Grape stomper in training

Monday - up early for a walk, Marilyn joined us.  Breakfast and then back to work.  Gary went on a job run with Gary F. to Detroit, OR and lunch.  I worked on emails and cleaning the house.  That night we went to the Roadhouse in Salem for supper.  They have yummy fresh rolls with honey butter there too.

Tuesday - Friday  - Walk, work, then to G&M's to do laundry and shower.  Not feeling real well, so back home to rest.  Worked from home these days, except to run some errands for groceries and mending supplies.  Mass Holy Thursday night at St. Joseph's, tri-lingual (readings in Spanish and Vietnamese, Gospel English, Homily in Spanish and English and then Hispanic and Vietnamese choirs..and Latin Mass Propers!) and thenGood Friday night at Queen of Peace Church with Marilyn.  Great music Friday night, we really enjoyed the service.  For the Veneration of the Cross at the end of the service, they invited families, couples and others to come up.  It was very moving to see parents and children, couples and the elderly as they knelt and prayed at the cross.

Saturday -  Gary helped Gary get his camper out and ready to go for the season.  I baked apple pie for Easter dinner and made my pasta salad.  In the afternoon, we went to the house and I baked a rhubarb crunch dessert for Easter and did laundry.  Late afternoon we went over to see Tyler & Jen's new house and color Easter eggs with Nolan and Piper.  40 eggs, Gary had a great time helping Nolan color them all.  Gary F is now famous for creating a camouflage (Duck Dynasty) colored egg.  We had happy hour there and then went to Cafe 22 for supper.  Great prime rib sandwiches.  Home to visit, then to bed early for early Mass. 

The kids coloring eggs

Success!

Easter Sunday - to St. Joseph's for 7:00 Mass.  Breakfast at the pancake house and then home for walks and naps.  We went over to G&M's early afternoon and the boys and their families came about 5:30.  We had put treats in plastic eggs and hid them, so the kids had fun finding them, especially the little girls.  The older kids went out and played softball in the parkway behind the house, it was another beautiful day to be out.  The Easter feast was prime rib, hash brown casserole, pasta salad, deviled eggs - delicious - we all had to let that settle before we could have dessert.  It was very nice to spend Easter with family - our travels have allowed us to be with family on the holidays so far.

Ball player Drake & Umpire

Gary with Scarlett

       Happy Easter to our family and friends.                 

  

Marilyn and her girls.

Bend, Oregon

Sunday - we went to Mass at St. Francis de Sales at 7:30.  After breakfast we put on our walking shoes and went to the Old Mill District of Bend, right along the Deschutes River.  They have a great hiking trail along both sides of the river.  We walked up one side, crossed the bridge at the top and back down the other side.  It was a beautiful day, there were many people out doing the same thing, most of them had one or two dogs.  Back home to rest and clean up, then we drove downtown and looked around.  We ended up at McMenamin's Brewery and Restaurant.  This is in an old Catholic School they have fixed up.  They have a hotel and event area attached.  I took pictures of the stained glass window of St. Francis and the vault door.  We had a nice visit with the server and a local attorney we sat next to.  We had fun with some of the other servers - as we walked in, one waitress coming in at the same time said "Go Jacks" - she was from Rapid City and went to SDSU, then moved to Bend.  Another server came in and said "Michigan", I had my Michigan shirt on and she went to school there.  Then our server said, "so where are you from, you have South Dakota, Michigan and New Mexico on" (Gary had his New Mexico shirt on).  We had fun explaining our traveling lifestyle to him.

Deschutes River in Bend

Beautiful day on the river walk

St Francis window at McMenamin's Brewery

Old safe door at former Catholic School

at McMenaims'

Monday - out and about to make sales calls.  We were successful making a couple appointments for later in the week.  Gary and Marilyn called from Salem and said they were driving over to spend the night in Bend.  They joined us for Happy Hour when we met up with a couple we had met on RVillage from Bend.  We met at the Deschutes Brewery pub downtown and had a great visit.  A fun couple, they are hoping to full time soon.  Then we and Gary and Marilyn went to the Pine Tavern for supper.  We were celebrating their anniversary with them.  The Pine Tavern is famous for its fresh, hot scones and honey butter.  Yumm.

Tuesday - More sales calls - the weather is beautiful this week in Bend.  Everyone is out and about, enjoying the sun and warm temps.  We went for a walk later in the day to pick up a few groceries at the Fred Mayer store down the street.  Home to eat all our yummy leftovers for supper.  Then we went over to the RV parks' fire pit/fireplace and had a camp fire!  It was a cooler evening, but warm by the fire.  The campground maintenance man came by with more wood for us and we visited with the neighbors when they came back from supper.

Campfire

Wednesday - Late afternoon we went to the Deschutes Brewery for taste testing and to check out the store.  We were too late for the tour, but had a nice visit with the other visitors there.

Thursday - Today we were to have our bedroom window fixed.  The long dual pane window in the back has had moisture in it and Gary found someone in Bend to fix it.  The guys came and looked, but needed to order parts, so we rescheduled for Monday, Apr. 28.  We will come back to Bend before heading to our job.
In the afternoon, we had a special treat.  Bret at The Bend Tour Company invited us to take his tour of Bend on his Segways!  We never have done that before and probably never would have.  He showed us how easy it is to ride them - you go forward by putting pressure on your toes and you stop by putting pressure back to your heels.  The steering is just by turning the handle bars to the side.  It really was easier than we imagined, I always thought you really had to balance yourself on them.  Bret took us around and told us the history of Bend as we stopped at many different places.  It was so much fun!
http://thebendtourcompany.com/2014/04/rvillagers/

This night, Gary had invited another new friend from RVillage to come over to a campfire.  After we got home midafternoon, we watched the campers next to the firepit set up chairs and tables for a big party!  We figured we would just ask if we could join them at the campfire, until 8 couples showed up for their supper party.  No room for us, for sure.  But RG was fine with visiting us in our motorhome.  We are meeting some really great people, she writes articles for the camping magazines.

Segway ride for the Captain

Friday - work as usual in the morning and then we drove to nearby Redmond for the RV Dealers show.  We looked at many of the motorhomes - still have not found one we would give ours up for.  We visited with some of the salesmen and told them about RVillage and handed out information.  Back home, supper and another campfire.  Both neighbors had left and no one else joined us.  Another beautiful evening.

Our campsite at Scandia RV Park, Bend

Saturday - we pack up and head for Salem.  We went north on Hwy 20, then Hwy 126 over the Santiam Pass.  There was snow along the road, but not on the road.  It was a long grade down then, the Captain said we will have to unhook the car when we travel back this way to Bend.  then Hwy 22 took us rest of the way to Salem.  The further we came down from the pass, we saw trees budding out and then leaves, blooming trees and flowers as we arrived in Salem.  The yards were just colorful with the tulips and blooming bushes.  Spring!  Amazing to see all this green and color after our time spent in Arizona.  We drove into the housing community where Gary and Marilyn (G&M) live.  Salemtowne has three electrical hookups for motorhomes in the parking lot of the clubhouse - for guests of the residents.  We can get water at their house and there is a dump station down below in the camper storage area.  Perfect setup for us for the next two weeks!
After we were all setup, we went to G&M's and visited.  We decided to drive over to see their grandson's baseball game, there we saw all of Nick's family.  The kids have grown and little Scarlett is adorable.  We went to the favorite pizza place for supper, all Nick and Tyler's family joined us.  A great family reunion time.

Coming down from the Santiam Pass, OR

Spring color in Salem

Oregon or Bust!

Wed. - April 2 -  Gary was up early and rode his bike around the marina area.  I went for a walk too before breakfast.  There were numerous motorhomes and campers, some people were cooking breakfast outside, it smelled yummy.  We cleaned up and packed, then said our goodbyes to Curtis, and headed out.  Hwy 74 from Lake Pleasant to Hwy 60, up through Wickenburg, where we caught Hwy 93.  That took us up to I-40, over to Kingman, back on #93.  Many different types of terrain, especially as we got up to the Hoover Dam area.  We were having a little rain as we went along, we had not seen that for a long time.  We crossed the bridges over Hoover Dam and the lake, very impressive construction.  Finally arrived at Sin City, Las Vegas.  We drove into the Las Vegas RV Resort, right in the middle of town.  We are staying here so we can visit with friends. They came over late afternoon and we had a great time catching up.  We had supper and relaxed before bed.

Thursday - up and breakfast, then got everything ready to leave.  We took the car and ran to the Hobby Lobby store to get small strings of clear Christmas type lights.  I use the small strings, 20 or 35 lights, to make the decorative lighted wine bottles I give for gifts.  Hobby Lobby always has them and when I did my research, I found that Oregon does not have any stores.  So get them now or would have to order them on line.  Mission accomplished - thank you to my understanding Captain. Back at the RV park, we hooked up the car and were on our way.  On Hwy 93 again, we headed northwest which goes around the west side of Nellis Air Force base and range.  We were in the valley between mountain ranges, it was beautiful scenery around us, bare and scruffy along the roadway. We went by the two roads leading to Death Valley, we decided we will have to see it another time.  After four hours travel, we arrive at Tonopah, NV.  Out in the middle of nowhere.  (As we traveled this day, we kept losing internet signal - finally just turned our devices off so they were not roaming all the time.)  Once in town, we checked the internet to see what our options were for RV parks.  There were two - a small crowded parking lot on a slope behind the casino (not good) and a very small, not neat, looking park on the edge of town, so I looked at boondocking options, Nevada has a lot of BLM land, Bureau of Land Management owned.
The BLM allows people to camp on their properties in some areas.  At Tonopah, my research shows there was a BLM camp area near the Tonopah airport.  We drove outside of town to the airport area. We could not seem to find the camp area, but nearby was the Tonopah Raceway with a large empty parking lot.  The sign said the races were on Saturday nights, so we knew we were not intruding on that.  We decided to stay there, a large open area off the highway with beautiful mountain ranges all around.  We took the motorhome back in to town to get fuel and propane, then went back to the raceway lot and set up.  It was a nice day, we sat outside and enjoyed the scenery, did a walking workout around the parking lot, and sat outside again until it started cooling down at dusk.  Inside, we watched the sunset on the mountain range toward Tonopah.  We had great internet signal there, so we worked on the computers after supper.  Before going to bed, I stepped out and looked at the stars.  It was very dark there, no lights except the beacon light occasionally from the airport.  Wow - very dark!   We brought the bed slide and living room slides in to help keep things warmer through the night. We, of course, were a little wary about being safe, but all was well and we slept good.

The beauty around us on the road.

One direction from our boondocking site

Our campsite at the raceway

Happy Captain

Sunset toward Tonopah

Sunset colors in Nevada

Friday - A beautiful morning, Gary was up to see the sunrise.  We packed up and headed north again. We had been parked just east of the Hwy 376 junction and that was our first road.  Today we were driving in the valley between the Toiyabe Range and the Toquima Ranges.  At the turnoff to the Peavine campground, a good size antelope crossed the road in front of us, without looking for oncoming traffic.  We were in one lane, a car coming toward us in the other - luckily he hustled himself off the road quickly when we laid on the horn.  This is the first time we have ever seen an antelope that close to the highway.
When we got to the junction of Hwy 50/85, we stopped and unhooked the car before driving to Austin through the twelve miles of mountain pass there.  A smart move, there were a lot of S curves going down the six and seven percent grades.  We hooked the car up again and drove north on Hwy 305 to Battle Mountain.  The beauty is amazing with the mountain ranges, even though the terrain by the highway is scruffy, but still beautiful in its' barrenness.  We stopped for gas in Battle Mountain before getting on I-80 for the 53 miles to Winnemucca.  It was going to be cooler that night, so we decided to stay at a RV park - there was some selection, we picked the Hi-Desert RV park.  They gave us a nice spot and we got hooked up and settled.  I ran a load of laundry before we went to the Catholic Church there, St. Paul's, for Stations of the Cross.  They led each station first in Spanish and then in English.  Then back home for supper and TV, we had free cable TV at this park.

There is snow!

Winnemucca, NV - from campground

Winnemucca, NV

Saturday - Our last day in Nevada, finally reaching Oregon.  We start up Hwy 95, again along mountains, the Santa Rosa Range.  Not quite as pretty as the days before.  Seventy-four miles to the border, McDermitt is the last town in Nevada.  As we cross into Oregon, there are still a few mountains around, but we leave those behind and then we are in a huge valley area.  The foilage has changed, more scruffy looking tree types, instead of bushes.  A lot of the fence lines are lined with tumbleweeds that have been caught, they look golden in the light.  Again we drive through a little rain as we travel.  Cooler temps, different from where we have come from.  We get to Burns Junction, where we had planned to stay for the night, but it was just before three o'clock and there is not much to see in Burns Junction.  The Captain decided that we would drive on rest of the way to Bend, where we plan to stay for a week.  There is a lot more to do and choose from in Bend.
So, on we go on Hwy 78.  The terrain is the same, until we get closer to Bend where we start to see mountains again.  We called ahead and got a reservation for the Scandia RV Park in Bend and arrived about 5:30 PM.  On the way, I was reading about Bend and discovered there are 18 breweries in this town of 80,000+, interesting!   We are ready to get out of the rig for awhile after riding for four days, so we headed out to find our first brewery and supper.  We found our way to the Old Mill District, a shopping and park area and found the Rat Hole brewery and grill.  We sat down and were soon visiting with one of the owners.  She was very interested in our full-timing lifestyle, as she and her husband hope to be on the road some day.  We told her about Rvillage and about Workamper.com. It was a good meal and they had great brews and it was fun to visit.  We slept well that night, safely arrived from our many miles of travel.

Oregon high desert views

Closer to Bend, OR

Brewery # 1

 

Leaving Arizona - Goodbye March

Wednesday -  today we had appointments with possible advertisers for RVillage.com. Tonight we had Saddlebrooke friends over, Dianne and Marshall - friends of Dan's and ours.  They came over for Happy Hour and then we went to Lupe's for dinner.  Today was a cloudy and windy day and when they were with us, our motorhome was actually rocking from the wind.  They loved it, it reminded them of their times on their boat in Tennessee.  We had a great visit - they used to be in advertising and shared alot with us as we talked about our new job.  They also have been to Cancun, where we stay, so we shared memories about our fun times there.

Thursday -  Up early to get to Tucson for an early advertiser appointment.  We had a RV park appointment at 10:00, so we stopped in at another park on the way.  The manager understood the benefits of claiming their park and we signed them up to Rvillage.  The next two parks wanted to think about it, so we will get back to them.  As we left the last park, someone saw our car with our new RVillage magnets and commented on the website.  Cool!  That afternoon we stopped in to a fantastic Italian restaurant in Catalina and signed them up for RVillage as well.  Be sure to eat there if you are in Catalina and tell them you saw it on Rvillage.  Tonight we went to Deb & Joe's for supper - our last time together with just them at their house.  Just before getting together, we had some bad news about Connie's brother Gerry.  Please pray for Gerry and Harriet and healing for his cancer.

Friday -   We stayed home and did follow up work for our ads and parks.  Then we worked on packing up the outside bays and inside closets.  We sat outside to enjoy the sun, as we are at the end of the stay in Arizona.  This night we went to St. Helen's for the KC fish fry supper and Stations of the Cross.  The fish was delicious, but we were early for stations, so we ended up driving over to San Manuel for the stations.  The Lord had that planned for us, the scenery driving over was unbelievable with the sun on the mountains.  So many different views of scenery in Arizona and all beautiful.

Saturday -  This morning's project was to defrost the refrigerator/freezer.  Wally and Jan had a cooler we could borrow and we used the water cooler for the condiments.  While that was thawing, I brought out the sewing machine and mended our laundry bag and some clothes.  I also shook all the rugs and vacuumed - might as well clean before hitting the road.  Tonight Dan and Connie came over and we went to Lupe's to supper.  We watched the Arizona/Wisconsin basketball game afterward - Wisconsin won and Connie was happy with that.

Sunday -  Mass for the last time at St. Helen's.  Home for breakfast and spent the day working on getting ready to move.  Tonight we are going to the Cadillac Chapparal for supper for farewell with the group.  We are leaving Tuesday and Krista and Brian on Thursday.  Deb, Doris and Krista came over early to see our place, Lisa and Jeff joined us too.  The other boys were golfing and met us at the Chapparal.  We had a great time, great meal and sadly, said our goodbyes to each other.

Our great friends in Arizona!

Monday - spent the morning washing clothes, hung the sheets and bedspread out to dry on the clothes lines at our park.  We went over and said our goodbyes to Wally and Jan - they were leaving this afternoon for California to see their granddaughter.  We ran a couple errands for last minute groceries and to drop off our unneeded items at the thrift store, the Goose.  Home again, we put all the outside things away, Gary unhooked the hoses and we got things ready inside to leave in the morning.

The new leaves

One week later - our tree

Tuesday - up early and packed it all up.  Gary left to take the motorhome to the shop - they were looking at our hydralic leak today and I stopped by Deb & Joe's for some last minute mail that had arrived.  Said my goodbyes to Deb - we had a wonderful time these three months together - she always makes me laugh.  By the time I got to the shop, they had determined that we could get by without repairs now, so we hooked the car up to the motorhome and headed north.  We drove up through Phoenix on I-10 and then on I-17 - luckily in the middle of the day - the traffic was not terrible.  North of Phoenix on I-17 we exited on #223 and went to Pleasant Harbor RV Park - a nice park next to a lake where our RVillage boss was staying.  We ended up staying in the site right next to him and had a great visit.  That night we joined him and some friends for supper at the marina restaurant.  A beautiful night next to the lake - the view was beautiful.

Lake Pleasant, Arizona

Sunset at the lake

Campsites by the lake - grass patches for picnics and dogs

Parked by Lake Pleasant

Getting in the Groove - Selling

Wednesday -  Work day.  At the park potluck on Monday, we met a couple that invited us to come over tonight for Happy Hour and a fire in their fire ring.  Wally and Jan came over too, and we had a nice evening getting to know Bob and Leslie and some of their neighbors.  When the sun went down, they lit the fire and we even had to move back from it's heat.  It was really nice to be around a fire again, reminded us of our camping trips to the state parks in South Dakota.

Thursday - today we stayed home to work.  We have a busy schedule.  Gary has a lunch date with a potential customer nearby at Lupe's, the little Mexican restaurant by our RV park.  I stayed home and finally worked on my Ebay box.  When moving out of the apartment, I packed up this box of things I just could not give away - because I was sure I could sell them and make some money.  I took the pictures I needed of the items and got them listed.  In researching the items, like Matchbox cars, I found they were not going to be worth the time to list them, so I will give them away now.  Today I am also putting things away, because we have to take the motorhome in Friday morning to get service done.  This is kind of a big job when you have not moved it for a time period.  We have taken more things out to use while living here and with our work and it all has to be put away.  I also prepared the salad we are taking tonight - we are part of the Sieverding salad stop for the Progressive Dinner we are having with our group.
First stop, Lisa and Jeff's for appetizers, second stop, Joe and Deb's for salads, third course was at Leo and Doris's home for grilled chicken and potato casserole and last, Brian and Krista's for desserts.  Of course, we all ate too much - it is very hard to pace yourself when it is so good.

Friday - up early to get the motorhome on the road for it's service appointment.  The nice thing was we could leave all the outdoor chairs, lights, and hoses at our site, since we are coming back to this park for another two weeks.  And here, you don't have to worry about things blowing away or getting wet.  We drove to Lance's RV Service on I-10, a family owned business we had found the week before, great people to work with. We left it there and took the car to make sales calls.  We stopped for breakfast first at a small Mexican eatery, we had omelets - but they did not have coffee!  So our next stop was for caffeine, we found a small coffee shop, San Giorgio's and enjoyed a cup. While there, we talked to the owner about advertising on RVillage.  Sounds positive, we will check back.  On to more calls, until we received the call that our motorhome was done.  All went well, but they did find a hydraulic leak, so we want to get that fixed before we head to Oregon. We made that appointment for the day we are packed up and the motorhome is ready for travel.
Back home, we hooked everything up again and set up things inside again for living and working.  It was a nice evening to sit outside, Wally joined us for a while.

Saturday - we went back to the Tucson KOA park and helped them get signed up. This is a big park with a lot of activities, so she was excited to have RVillage as a tool to use to talk to the residents. Actually one of the very best things about this new "job" is all the great people we have met here in the Tucson area!
We stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home and picked up groceries, then home again.  We went to Vitello's for an early supper, they have excellent Italian cuisine.  As we were finishing, Dan called and invited us to join them at a house party they were at - a former neighbor of Dan's.  Alan and Suzanne did not know we were still in town so when Dan, Joe & Deb told them we were here, they wanted to see us.  We also saw some of the other neighbors we had met in the years before and caught up with them. Everyone in Saddlebrooke is so friendly, we have met wonderful people from all over.

Sunday - Early mass again, home for breakfast and then we went in to town to get an oil change in the car and run our errands.  After we were home, Gary took a bike ride and I did some housework and then we both relaxed for the day.

Monday - our neighbor, Jan, called and said she was doing haircuts today.  She is teaching me how to cut Gary's hair, I'm finding it is somewhat tricky.  I worked on him while she cut Wally's hair and then she finished up with Gary.  What a blessing she is, I wish we could take them along with us!  It will be very interesting when I have to cut his hair all by myself.  There probably won't be pictures. We did some email work and then Gary took me to Deb's house.  We have Ladies' Day today at the Saddlebrooke Clubhouse - a fundraiser for domestic abuse victims.  They had raffles and cash drawings and then many, many booths of things ladies like.  I, of course, had to be careful what I would buy because of space limitations.  I found a water bottle at the Tupperware booth, some Garlic seasoning at the Tastefully Simple booth and also bought Deb an Oriole bird feeder for her yard.  We ate an early supper with our group of ladies and then ended the day.  Gary closed an ad sale and then had supper with Dan.

Tuesday - Work day and hopefully my last dentist visit for years!  I went in and had them adjust my bite one more time with this new crown.  If another tooth acts up, I 'm just going to go on a liquid diet!  Home again, we went out and made sales calls. When home, we are sending out emails to potential customers, we are finding it helps to let them have a look at the RVillage site before talking to them.  We realized it was supper time when Jan & Wally called and asked us to join them.  Pork cutlets, rice and vegetables, way more healthy than we would have done by that time.
By the way, if any friends want to Join the Network, or just get on the site, let us know! We have a demo sign-in established, but anyone interested in camping or traveling by recreational vehicle should join the site, its FREE!

March 25 - the tree next to us is budding - see picture next week

Mid March - Rvillage

Wednesday - RVillage is on line and we are going to keep busy.  Our schedule now is to listen to the morning team meeting call, then working on sending out emails to potential customers and RV parks. In the afternoons, we drive into Tucson to call on the clients.
Today we sold an ad!  The manager at the National RV Center - inside storage and all your RV needs in one place.  He loved the social network concept and signed on.  He will even use the groups feature to contact his customers about events.  It was fun to visit with him and get him signed on.  He recommended several other RV service businesses we could call on.  We also scheduled service work on our motorhome for next week.  On the way home, we stopped at our favorite refreshment place, San Carlos Grill, talked to them about advertising and had an early supper there. Back home, we finalized paperwork from our day and crashed.

Thursday - Work day schedule.  The weather is warming up, not as cool in the mornings and evenings.  This night, Wally and Jan (our RV neighbors) called and we collaborated together for a supper at our house.  This is fun and we are really enjoying getting to know them.

Friday - More emails and calls.  Today we went to the large KOA park in Tucson.  The activity/rally coordinator was not in, but the ladies at the check in desk thought it was a great tool they could use in their park.  More calls and then home.  We went over to Joe & Deb's to catch up with them and had our favorite crab bite sandwiches for supper.

Saturday - no work today.  We went to Oracle State Park and went hiking on some of the long trails there.  We had a nice breeze and sunny day.  We watched carefully for rattlesnakes, they have been seeing them out with the warmer days we have been having.  No snakes today, thank goodness.  We toured the Kannally Ranch House.  This is a historic house museum with original art and historic photos. The four-level adobe home was constructed between 1929 and 1933, and features Mediterranean and Moorish architectural influences.  The intricately detailed home, built on four levels, is a great, big house and not a single bedroom in it.  Instead, it has separate sleeping cottages. Five brothers and sisters of the family lived there after moving from Illinois.  We really enjoyed touring it.

Overview of Oracle Park and Mountain Range

Kannally Ranch House - top level

Home again, we cleaned up and I made my salad and pies - one pie to take for the evening gathering and the other pie was for Joe's birthday, just a week late.  This evening we went to Brian and Krista's home for supper with the group.  Krista's sister and brother-in-law were visiting and she wanted everyone to meet them.  They live in Winnipeg, so they were really enjoying the warm, sunny weather.  Jeff said they still have six foot snow drifts on each side of their driveway, piled up from clearing the driveway and sidewalks this winter.  He showed us how to locate the star constellations with his Ipad, it was a beautiful evening.  The Saddlebrooke development here does not have street lights, so the night sky is vivid.

Sunday - we have been getting up early each day, so we were up and went to 8:00 Mass today at St. Helen's.  Their priest was back from his sabbatical so we got to meet Monsignor Ambrose, originally from Nigeria.  And we met different members of the parish, the 8:00 crowd.  Very nice.  I went for a walk in the afternoon, Gary rode his bike for his workout.  We tried to relax today and sat outside as much as possible to enjoy the sun.

Monday - We ran errands this morning, went to Sam's Club again for strawberries and I bought cookies to take to our park's St. Patrick's Day lunch today.   We went over at 1:00 and there was quite a gathering and potluck lunch.  Several types of corned beef and cabbage and St. Patrick's Day decorations.  We finally met a lot of the other residents in the park, most of them live here year round in their mobile homes.  A fun group.  The Park Manager introduced Gary and asked  him to tell the residents about RVillage!! And you know Gary..... he warmed to the task!! Then we went to Catalina for sales calls, an Italian restaurant and pet hotel/grooming place.  Home for supper and paperwork.

Tuesday -  work day schedule again.  (Getting to be a boring blog here, sorry)  Deb & Joe called and invited us over for steak on the grill tonight - Yumm.  We had a nice evening visiting with them and Lisa and Jeff.  I took Joe's birthday pie over and we all enjoyed the dessert.