Travels with Edna and Papi: Election Day, Butterflies, The Treasure Hunter and a NASA Turkey?!

November 8th thru early December

Tuesday, November 8th, 2016

For the majority of the nation, this day was a very important day. Who would be elected President;Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? This day was more than election day, it would have been my Mom's birthday but it was also travel day from Three Rivers to Paso Robles. I was anxious to get there knowing I'd be seeing David, Taylor and Kaylyn. Perry kept reminding me of our patriotic duty, obligation and birth given right to vote, but for the first time since I was eighteen I had thought of NOT voting. My conscience got the better of me and after settling into our RV park, we found a polling booth in Paso not far from where we were staying and did our civic duty! Ah democracy....! After casting our votes it was off to find a place for our traditional, travel day pizza.

Butterflies and the Treasure Hunter!

The next day we were ready to venture towards Cambria and San Simeon, driving past green, rolling hills. We packed the binoculars in hopes of finding elephant seals but after several stops and a little research we realized we were a few weeks early in the season. Continuing down HWY 1, we took in the most scenic and breathtaking views of the ocean on the left and Hearst Castle zebras on the right. The Hearst park and winery were beckoning and the dogs needed to get out for a walk. We sat outside on a warm sunny fall afternoon drinking a glass of red wine when we spotted thousands of monarch butterflies. One actually flew in front of my face but I welcomed it with a smile. My Mom always said after she was gone, to let us know she was okay she'd give us a sign of a butterfly. At her funeral we released dozens of monarchs and now the day after her birthday, I took these beautiful winged multi-colored creatures as a sign.
We ran the dogs along the beach with no one in sight until we came across an interesting man in his thirties with a metal detector. We asked if he found anything which sparked a good forty-five minute conversation about treasure hunting. He introduced himself as Ty and said he works on shipwreck sites (e.g. The Beeswax and Wallula) sunk off the coast of Oregon and Washington state. This well educated professional treasure hunter went on to tell us of a find with his metal detector which was a revolutionary coin worth $9,000. He fascinated Perry and I with his many stories of his "ancient" finds and worldwide excavations. We referred to him as a professional treasure hunter but yet with his many stories reminded me of a modern day Indiana Jones. The tide quickly moved in so we said our "goodbyes" and moved on.

The beautiful rolling green hills and fine wineries beckoned us for the next couple of days before the kids arrived. David was to surprise Taylor for her birthday by bringing her to Paso Robles not knowing we'd be there. In the meantime, we visited four small wineries (where dogs were allowed) and agreed this beautiful countryside is a place we could picture ourselves living for a year or two while figuring out our place of permanent residence. Perry has a knack for picking great wines and Paso has just that! David surprised Taylor at Opolo Winery where Perry and I were and not much later, Kaylyn had driven to Paso. Ahhh.....life is good! Almost my entire family (Brandon still in college) , beautiful countryside and fabulous wines! The next day, we took advantage of Rover.com and brought the dogs to a sitter for the day. Off we went back to Cambria, San Simeon and the cute town of Harmony (pop.16)a finale was sunset at Daou a mountain top winery Our fun time at Paso was coming to a close and hating to see the kids leave, we knew we'd be seeing them the following week as we worked our way to southern California (NAS Point Mugu) for Thanksgiving.

Perry being retired Navy allows us to stay on all military bases which I like because they're well kept and safe. Our next stay was at a National Guard Base in San Luis Obispo where the only sign of any sort of activity were the new recruits singing as they ran in unison. The beauty of Paso Robles was amazing and I didn't think our next stay could measure up. I was wrong because the Pacific Ocean, especially Morro Bay were breathtaking (I mean this literally). It was so cold and windy, a nice cup of hot clam chowder were beckoning. Earlier, we were walking the dogs near the ocean and struck up a conversation with a nice gal who was also walking her dog. She mentioned a beach a mile down the road where you could take dogs off their leashes. Gracie and Daisy were so happy to run freely and we always hope this will tire them out so we can leave them for an hour or two at night with hopes of a little "dog parental freedom"! We love our dogs but to them, the four of us are all a pack and they're not happy unless we're all together. Before long, there was a young family on the beach with two Great Danes off their leashes and because of their intimidating size, Perry decided to put Gracie on her leash. She doesn't tolerate other dogs as well as Daisy. One of the dogs became aggressive with her and picked her up in his mouth off the ground, shaking her vigorously by her back hips. I was nearly in tears and eventually the owner was able to free her. Thankfully she was okay, just a little sore. After our soup, we walked past a bakery that advertised "fresh baked dog cookies". They deserved a little love and care and a nice baked biscuit after Gracie's ordeal!
San Luis Obispo has their own share of fine wineries and one of them is Edna Valley (our fifth-wheels namesake and one of our favorite chardonnays). The day before we were to drive to Ventura County for Thanksgiving, we visited Edna Valley(and a few others) and enjoyed a glass of their chardonnay.

Perry retired from NAS Point Mugu in 2003 but Ventura County is where we continued to raise our kids. There are so many memories here and so happy to be back in our own neighborhood, ready to see our kids and friends A little over a month into our adventures (so many to date), we are finally getting faster at the hitching, take down process. Perry's true skills were tested when we were assigned our spot on base near the ocean. Space number 124 was "a stones throw" from the ocean but it proved a little tricky to back into because there wasn't room to maneuver. Thankfully, a kind neighbor helped direct us in ......let the fun begin here at Pt. Mugu!
There were many walks on the beach,. A large group not far from us gathered for the Thanksgiving holiday and sang every night around campfires. David and Taylor were anxious to have us at their place in Woodland Hills and to see their new patio set, and of course Perry and I wanted to visit Kaylyn and her new young horse "Bandit". Brandon flew in for Thanksgiving the Friday before and finally we were all together spending family time together.
On one of our many walks along the beach, we came across a memorial for Alaska Air Flight 261 that crashed (nearest point was the location at Pt. Mugu) in 2000 where 88 people lost their lives. There was an estuary close by where daily we spotted over a hundred sea lions, cranes, egrets, pelicans and herons. Not a bad thing to wake up to each day not to mention the beautiful sunsets each night!

Thanksgiving

We rented a room in the hotel on base so the kids could stay nearby for Thanksgiving. I was excited to prepare dinner for my family and this was going to be a true "cook" test in the fifth wheel oven. I love shopping at the base commissary because the selection and the prices are great. Here you don't pay for grocery bags like other grocery stores in California. I found my turkey and its brining bag which read "made for the U.S military by NASA". I was excited knowing I was using an official thick, fool-proof bag for my small 13 pound stuffed turkey. Here we go, the turkey was stuffed and into the NASA bag it went! My timing seemed to be okay considering I had all the other sides to prepare while the turkey cooked. In it went at 350` on an unstable aluminum pan that BARELY fit into the tiny oven but I was excited to think I was cooking an entire Thanksgiving meal for my family in this tiny kitchen. In years gone by, we would have a traditional dinner at a lovely decorated table but this year but it would be at a picnic table! Our view of the ocean and knowing we were all together made it all worthwhile. After an hour of the turkey being in the oven, I figured I'd better check it and boy I'm glad I did! The plastic bag had melted to the sides of the oven and looked like shrink wrap against the 13lb. bird. I panicked and quickly (not that quickly) tried to remove it from the oven but the flimsy aluminum pan wasn't cooperating. It took three of us to carefully remove the bird and painstakingly remove the plastic. Thankfully all plastic was removed but had I not checked it when I did, it would have been a vegetarian Thanksgiving. It took me over a week to clean the oven! In the future, I know now not to confuse a brining bag with a cooking bag! David brought pies and the rest of the food was delicious and we were ALL together. Friends joined us later that night for desert around the campfire.

What I will miss about Point Mugu-

Each day on base at 8:00am we were awakened by reveille and a blasted version of "The Star Spangled Banner" and throughout the day various jets including E2C Hawkeyes flying overhead practicing their touch and gos. Kaylyn and I walked the dogs one afternoon and spotted something in the ocean. It turns out there were several sea lions with their heads popping out looking at us (it appeared that way) that reminded me of periscopes. We also enjoyed pods of dolphins putting on a show for us almost daily.
When we first arrived on base, I was informed by the security guard at the entrance that my military ID had expired and to "get it renewed immediately". I referred to my new "friend" as "ol cranky pants". Each time we passed through the entrance he had such a mean, stern face but a couple times we were able to make him smile.....my personal challenge! To drive off base at Point Mugu and go anywhere took you along miles of farmland. Such a peaceful drive, although the air was not always pleasant due to the fertilizer.
We visited the Huntington Library in Pasadena and got to see paintings by Renoir and Van Gogh and original paintings of Blue Boy and Pinky. The original Gutenberg Bible was on display as well. I highly recommend visiting this beautiful place. I couldn't resist showing a picture of Perry at the museum with his arm carefully surrounding a Madagascar palm.

(side-note)-In 1994 Perry purchased a three inch Madagascar palm at K-Mart and over the years watched it grow taller than he is but he had to donate it to Apricot Lane Farms after we moved. I'm sure he misses his little gem!

This completed our trip before heading to San Diego for Christmas.