Ahhhh- My home town of San Diego! It feels so good and so right to be back in the city where I grew up. I have only the fondest memories of my childhood and well into adulthood. This is the city where a kind, family oriented Navy man met a young beautiful transplant from Massachusetts. San Diego is where they married and settled down to raise four children.
Perry and I met here and bought our first house in Santee (a suburb of San Diego), just two blocks from the very active Santee Lakes. We now are back after all these years in our fifth wheel at a site directly on the water where Perry is excited to go fishing in the newly stocked lakes. I leave him to his manly fishing duties while I spend some long overdue time with my sister, Jean. She owns a children's theater who would be performing a holiday show the first weekend we were there. These amazing talented performers brought me to tears as their finale of the Holiday Show was "Let There Be Peace On Earth." Sung with such purity and innocence and thinking how we need more of this in our world. Thanks Jean.....beautiful (as always) production, making me feel so proud of your dedication to these kids! Perry continued to fish as I visited with my best friend, after attending to the necessary Christmas shopping. One night we went to watch my brother sing and play guitar with his band. They were awesome playing songs from the early 70's to fairly current rock and roll. Perry decided this night that we needed to sharpen our dancing skills by hitting the dance floor and show our lack of coordination. We hit the dance floor and suddenly others joined us, mostly likely out of sympathy. We DID have fun dancing, listening to great rock-n-roll and visiting with my nieces that were there. Our grand finale in San Diego, was enjoying the Laguna Mountains with Jeanie and Jeff . Staying the night in their house heated by a wood burning stove, we played a competitive game of corn hole followed by a walk on the dirt road trying to avoid ice and snow. Daisy and Gracie were worn out after much needed mountainous freedom!
Mean Green and Fiery Red!
The rain continued to pour on this Thursday that I was to meet a good friend for lunch in a soon to be crowded and popular mall. It was one week before Christmas and I wanted to be sure to get a parking spot, so I got there in plenty of time and was one of three cars in a lot of about twenty five spaces. As I sat in the parking lot waiting for my friend to arrive, I felt my rental car slightly move. As I looked over I saw as woman in a neon green car stare at me as she continued to pull into her narrow space. She was no more than three inches from my car and I was unable to open my door. I rolled down my window as she continued to stare at me and I mentioned that it felt like she hit my car. She screamed expletives at me and told me to show her where she hit me. The scrape was on my rented Jeep side door but continued to deny it was because of her. I explained that the car had been inspected by the rental agency and it wasn't there before. She continued to scream as I stood there in disbelief. Perry has said in the past to treat hostility with kindness and keeping that in mind, I wished her a "Merry Christmas". She was infuriated and continued with her expletives. At this, I decided (with fear of retaliation) to move my car. Upset and somewhat shaken, I told myself I wouldn't let his miserable person try to ruin my day much less a holiday that I love. Her colors of red and green weren't my Christmas colors of red and green. Her neon green car and bright red face were soon a distant memory with no financial consequence for the superficial scrape on the rental car.
We spent a lot of time with immediate family, and friends that were like family but our amazing time in my hometown was coming to an end. I felt fortunate to spend time with my two aunts, many other family members, friends and especially my sister and brother. We hugged them and said our goodbyes knowing we most likely wouldn't be back to my hometown of San Diego for at least a year. It was time to head to Joshua Tree to join our kids and Taylor for Christmas!
Christmas in Joshua Tree
Joshua Tree was a place we all decided to spend our Christmas together. It wasn't too far from where everyone lives and convenient for Perry and I to hop on Interstate 10 to head out of California. We found the R.V. park in the high desert with no one around us. The site we hooked up at had no power so we were told to try another site. It seemed to work but we wouldn't be spending more than two nights there due to the fact we rented a house for the next four days. Ahhh.....the house! Following our GPS, we decided to find the house prior to checking in which took us up a dirt, rough road. Of course we should have learned by now that a GPS usually takes you the fastest route. The house was about what we expected, plopped in the middle of the desert with a chain link fence. This fence later proved to be a life saver as we could let the dogs have room to roam freely. We weren't checking in until the next day and being a travel day we looked for a pizza place. The few that we found were either closed or didn't look to desirable. We stopped at the local saloon and enjoyed a great meal. Joshua Tree is considered somewhat "eclectic" and "hippyish" but it wouldn't take long for us to embrace this town. Back at the RV park , once again we were at a site where the electricity didn't work and speaking to an employee there, he had informed us they were "obviously" having problems. It was a cold, rainy night but Perry got creative running an extension cord to an 110 amp outlet which provided us with heat from a space heater.
The next morning we packed up wanting to get to the house long before the kids. They were leaving after work which meant they wouldn't arrive until long after dark and it was raining. There are no words to describe the house, other than "eclectic". The family room room was decorated from the 70's; a yellow floral couch, bright orange shag rug, skulls, clown faces and many antiques. One bedroom had a mannequin shag lamp, sad clown face and creepy dolls (this would be Kaylyn's room), another room had more 70's decorations and more clown faces made with bones and a lot of amazing antiques. This place was strange but yet warm and endearing. We embraced it and it turned out to be the most memorable Christmas! We got there in time to stock the refrigerator, unpack, put up some Christmas decorations and start the wood burning fireplace. The kids surprised us arriving two hours earlier than expected which I was happy about since the rain and cold were about to arrive. In all the excitement, Daisy somehow ran into a cactus so David pulled the needles out with pliers. No worse for the wear, she continued to enjoy her open space and run freely. That night we enjoyed catching up over a nice spaghetti dinner.
The next day was full of adventure by first off finding a brewery that David read up on. It was in the middle of nowhere (pretty much like everything else). The place was called Landers Brew Company and it was the first time we were to be with our youngest legally drinking his first beer. I joked with the bartender to "please" check his ID since he just recently turned 21. Oh, that bartender....(Phil) quite the character! He was from U.K. and we weren't quite sure if he was bored, drinking the day away or if this was part of his personality (he was full of personality)! He talked our ears off and we're thinking he was just happy to have people there, especially six of us at once. It was a pretty rough and rustic place with an old honky-tonk style piano and a guitar. Brandon enjoys playing the piano so he entertained us while David strummed the guitar. It's hard to describe this unique experience other than to say this was the beginning of a different and interesting stay here in Joshua Tree. Our next stop, (also in the town of Landers) was at a unique dome like structure called "The Integratron". It was built in 1959 for the purpose of rejuvenation and time travel and is now used for relaxation and for a fee you can enjoy a "perfect sound bath". It peaked our curiosity so we had to see this popular structure visited by many musicians for its perfect sound. Moving on, we went to see the a large 5800 square foot boulder called of all things "Giant Rock" which is known to be the largest free standing boulder in the world. Of course our outdoor grown kids couldn't wait to do some boulder climbing.
The next day was Christmas Eve and we had to find our Christmas Tree which we all agreed should be something small and simple and we found just that.....a cute little 31/2 ft. tree and it looked even smaller once we placed on top of the truck. We attended Church that evening at a very small but beautifully decorated church with the priest being quite the character. It seems like everyone here never lacked character and the priest was no different as he processed out at the end of mass with his dogs. Well......it IS Joshua Tree and we were ready to take on our next long-awaited adventure......Pappy's and Harriets! We had heard so much about this unique venue mostly because Paul McCartney had a surprise concert there two months earlier. Pappy's and Harriets is a restaurant that has well known artists on occasion and it's quirky "hippyish" style, so this was on all of our "to do" lists. Perry surprised all of us with gifts of matching Bomba socks and bee-emoji t-shirts for the girls and bee-keeper shirts for the guys. My husband, had to make sure we didn't feel out of place?! We lovingly all wore our thoughtful gifts and went to the famous restaurant. Unfortunately, being Christmas Eve there were no performers scheduled but we got our pictures taken on the stage where Paul McCartney played. Later, the traditional Christmas Eve traditional PJ's (this year they were matching) were distributed and welcomed on this cold night. The rest of Christmas Eve was spent visiting and enjoying each others company.
Christmas Day we hiked and later drove into Joshua Tree National Park. Joshua Trees are by far the most unique but yet beautiful trees scattered throughout the desert and with all the recent rain, in the distance were the snow covered San Bernadino mountains. It was such a beautiful sight! That night we played games and built gingerbread houses in teams. Brandon and I were on the same team and building them was a lot harder than I thought (all part of the fun)!
December 26th- I wasn't looking forward to this day after Christmas when our kids and Taylor were leaving for home. After packing up our belongings, we went to a pizza place before heading our separate ways. One of the owners of 2 Guys Pies told us what it was like attending the Paul McCartney performance at Pappy's and Harriets and how Paul McCartney requested all animal heads be covered since he's vegan. The day we pulled away from our house and said our "good-byes" to our kids and Taylor was not easy, but somehow I knew this "good-bye" was going to be harder since we were leaving California for a year. It was! David and Taylor (our wine and back-yard buddies); these two that have a beautiful future ahead of them with David our loving oldest, hugging with tears in his eyes. Kaylyn, our sweet loving daughter who now directs her attention to her horse, Bandit, hugged also with teary eyes, knowing our unbreakable mother-daughter bond will always be there! Brandon (our youngest) who has such a beautiful spirit, gave me a hug of a lifetime that I will never forget! Our memories, our love, our family!! I cried as we said our good-byes asking God to keep them safe and healthy. We hope to see one another throughout the year!
Perry and I returned to the fifth wheel with temperatures nearing 32 degrees and still no power, we gathered up every jacket and blanket necessary to stay warm.
Joshua Tree will go down in the Schmidt Family History as a memorable place and now it's time for us to start our adventures across America!
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| My sister and founder/director of Young Actors' Theater |
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| My brother's band "Virtual Image" |
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| Family friends |
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| Dinner with my friend Debbie and her husband |
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| Yes-a selfie while having fun in the Laguna Mountains |
Christmas in Joshua Tree
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| Our traditional Christmas Tree (minus several feet) |
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| Our first night together |
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| Landers Brewery with Phil (rt.) and a local (far left) |
Landers' Brewery with Phil The Bartender
The Integratron
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| In front of the worlds' largest free standing boulder |
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| Christmas Eve Mass |
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| Matching socks for Pappy's and Harriets |
Christmas Day
Boulder climbing
Teaming up for Gingerbread House Building
Thank You for reading this blog and viewing our fun Joshua Tree pictures!
Next- The Mojave Desert, a sick Coonhound, Prong-horned antelope, Tombstone and the OK Corral, wine tasting and Mel!
