Soledad Canyon, Acton, CA March 2019

          CLICK HERE TO SEE THE RONALD REAGAN MUSEUM AND POMPEII EXHIBIT
                                  CLICK HERE TO SEE PICTURES AROUND ACTON CA.


Twelve days have flown by during this stay at Soledad Canyon RV.

Len has been shooting some pool in the afternoons and also on Wednesday night, the roving tournament in the parks starts after we leave so he will miss shooting in the tournament.

One day we took the Metrolink into Los Angeles, the ride into Union Station was about an hour and forty minutes. 
Los Angeles Union Station is the main railway station in Los Angeles, California, and the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States.  It opened in May 1939 as the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, replacing La Grande Station and Central Station.
Approved in a controversial ballot measure in 1926 and built in the 1930s, it served to consolidate rail services from the Union Pacific, Santa Fe, and Southern Pacific Railroads into one terminal station. Conceived on a grand scale, Union Station became known as the "Last of the Great Railway Stations" built in the United States. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Today, the station is a major transportation hub for Southern California, serving almost 110,000 passengers a day.   Amtrak's fifth-busiest station, and by far the busiest in the Western United States and the tenth-busiest in the entire country.
From Union Station it is a short walk to Olvera Street, one of the oldest streets in LA. The oldest house in the city is Avila Adobe. The Avila Adobe, built in 1818 by Francisco Avila, is the oldest standing residence in Los Angeles, California.  Avila Adobe is located in the paseo of historical Olvera Street, a part of Los Angeles Plaza Historic District, a California State Historic Park. We also visited the Plaza Firehouse. The Plaza Firehouse was the first building to be constructed by the City of Los Angeles for housing fire fighting equipment and personnel. The City Council hired architect William Boring to design the structure which was built by Dennis Hennessy. Boring's design followed closely a fashion then current in his native Illinois, with the horses stabled inside the station as was the custom in colder climates. A unique turntable in the floor made it unnecessary to back the horses in or out. Construction began in May, 1884 and was completed by mid-August. Firehouse No. 1 opened for business in September that same year. There is no admission charge at any of the museums.  We also stopped in the Chinese American Museum and the had lunch at one of the local restaurants.  It was a long day but had a good time exploring the area, so much more to see, hope to return when we are in the area again.

We wanted to visit Regan's library and were lucky enough to visit while the Pompeii exhibit was on display.  The extra charge was well worth it. 
Around mid-morning on August 24, 79 A.D., Mount Vesuvius erupted.  Molten rock and pumice was expelled from Mt. Vesuvius at a rate of 1.5 million tons per second.  Rocks and volcanic ash filled the atmosphere, turning day into night.  Within 24 hours, the Roman city of Pompeii lay destroyed – and perfectly preserved – under 15 feet of ash and volcanic debris.  It is estimated that about 16,000 people died in the eruption.

In 1748 when explorers examined the site, they found that the volcanic ash had acted as a preservative, and many of the buildings and even the skeletons and remnants of city life were still intact. This city frozen in time provided historians with a glimpse into what life was like in ancient Rome.   These are not replicas, but rather original, 2,000-year-old objects that were preserved in the ash.  These artifacts include wall-sized frescos, marble and bronze sculptures, jewelry, ancient Roman coins, and full body casts of the volcano’s victims.

From Pompeii it was onto the library.  We walked onboard the actual Air Force One aircraft, tail number 27000, which flew seven U.S. presidents. The volunteers were a wealth of information.

We also viewed a full-size replica of the White House Oval Office, the office in which President Reagan never took off his suit jacket.  Len even stepped up to the podium and threw his hat in the ring for the next president. We also ate lunch at the Regan Country Café, good burgers and garlic fries, while we were visiting the library.

One day we took a drive to the Devil's Punchbowl, The most conspicuous features of the park are geological. The Punchbowl is a deep canyon cut by the runoff of large quantities of water from the higher San Gabriel Mountains occurring over a long period of time. These mountain peaks above the park are 8,000 feet in elevation while the Nature Center is located at 4,740 feet above sea level. The Punchbowl Canyon is 300 feet deep at the vista point. The peculiar up tilted rock formations to be seen in the entire area are layers of sedimentary rocks that were formed long ago by the depositing of loose material in horizontal layers by water. Later they were squeezed into their present steeply-tilted form by the continuing action of uplift along the Punchbowl and Pinyon Faults and pressures along the San Andreas Fault. The Punchbowl Fault is to the south of the rock formation while the Pinyon and San Andreas Faults are to the north.

Along the way we stop to view the Joshua's trees that were in bloom, there is a totally different look to the desert when it is in bloom. I find it beautiful.

Tuesday will be another moving day, stay tune to our next stop.

Palm Springs, CA - March 2019

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Another fun stay at Palm Springs has come to an end.  Enjoy this area with so much to see and do.  Our first meal out was so Len could enjoy the all you can eat lobster buffet at Augustine's casino.  Just so proud of him, he managed to tie his old record of 7 lobster tails, plus some prime rib and crab legs.  He thought of going for the 8th lobster tail to break his old record, but the ice cream got the best of him.  While the buffet is pricey at $34.99, Len did get his monies worth.  I ordered the fish-n-chips off the menu, (not a lobster fan).

We visited the Coachella Valley History Museum in Indio. It is a historical campus which contains the 1926 adobe Smiley-Tyler House - housing our main exhibits - the historic 1909 Indio Schoolhouse and the world's only Date Museum.  Other highlights include the Desert Submarine, a Blacksmith's shop, pioneer farming implements and the archives for the Historical Society.  Also, the spacious grounds hold a variety of gardens which include a Memorial Date Garden, Japanese Garden, the Geissler Rose Garden, the Jardin del Desierto (Desert Garden)  and our Liberty Tree - the oldest Cork Tree in the Coachella Valley.

One day we took a drive down to the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in the U.S. state of California's Imperial and Coachella valleys. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Its surface is 236.0 ft below sea level as of January 2018. The deepest point of the sea is 5 ft higher than the lowest point of Death Valley.

From Salton Sea we drove on down to Salvation Mountain.  We were concerned on how we would find the condition since Leonard Knight, who built this, has since passed away.  Very pleased to see the mountain is being cared for. Salvation Mountain is located in the lower desert of Southern California in Imperial County just east of the Salton Sea and about a hour and a half from Palm Springs. Salvation Mountain is Leonard's tribute to God and his gift to the world with its simple yet powerful message: "God Is Love." Leonard's passion has lovingly created this brilliant "outsider art " masterpiece resplendent with not only biblical and religious scripture such as the Lord's Prayer, John 3:16, and the Sinner's Prayer, but also including flowers, trees, waterfalls, suns, bluebirds, and many other fascinating and colorful objects. Salvation Mountain must be seen to be fully appreciated as those who have made the journey will attest. Its 50 foot height and 150 foot breadth is made totally of local adobe clay and donated paint and is truly unique in the United States and probably the world. From its Sea of Galilee at the bottom, to the big red heart in the middle, to the cross at the very top, the reoccurring theme of "Love" is everywhere at Salvation Mountain.

Onto Slab City, also called The Slabs, is largely a snowbird community in the Sonoran Desert located in Imperial County, California, 100 miles northeast of San Diego and 169 miles southeast of Los Angeles within the California Badlands, and used by recreational vehicle owners and squatters from across North America. It took its name from concrete slabs that remained from the abandoned World War II Marine Corps barracks of Camp Dunlap. Several thousand campers, many of them retired, use the site during  the winter months. The "snowbirds" stay only for the winter before migrating north in spring to cooler climates. The temperatures during summer are as high as 120 °F (48 °C); nonetheless, there is a group of around 150 permanent residents who live in "The Slabs" year round. Some of these "Slabbers" derive their living from government programs and have been driven to "The Slabs" by poverty. Others have moved to "The Slabs" to learn how to live off the grid and be left alone. Still others have moved there to stretch their retirement income.
The site is both decommissioned and uncontrolled, and there is no charge for parking. The site has no official electricity, running water, sewers, toilets or trash pickup service.^[3] Many residents use generators or solar panels to generate electricity. The closest body of civilization with proper law enforcement is approximately four miles southwest of Slab City in Niland where the residents often go to do basic shopping. 

Len shot in the annual pool tournament while we were here.  Still some people are shooting from past tournaments he knew, but so many are no longer able to do it for one reason or another.  I walked over one morning to say "hi" to the few that I knew from years back when we both shot in the tournament.

The weather was mostly warm so we took advantage of sitting on the patio and visiting with friends that stopped by.  So good to catch up with Phil and Darlene (they shot the tournament) and we had a couple of visits from Cyndi and Erald.  One night while at Cyndi and Erald's we decided to head to the Spotlight 29 casino and have the prime rib buffet.  Len and I had already taken advantage once before, but why stop at one visit.  Good meal both times and you can't beat the $9.99 for a prime rib buffet.

Met up with my cousin Mike and his wife Janet at Shield's Date Farm for a great lunch, so good catching up with them again.  After our meal we took a stroll through their garden,  In 2011, William and Lillian Vanderzalm contacted Shields Date Gardens with a wonderful opportunity. The Vanderzalm’s owned a biblical garden in Vancouver, Canada. They had recently sold the property and were looking to relocate the statues to the Palm Springs area.
The details were finalized and on March 1, 2011. Shield’s horticulture and landscape team then began construction. The Garden was open on a limited basis October 2012 and fully completed October 2013. The garden path winds through our 17 acre date farm. It depicts 14 scenes and includes 23 statues that chronologized Christ’s life. Such a  pretty place.

We plan on being in California till the end of May before heading into Oregon. 

More after our next stay. 

Quartzsite, AZ March 2019

Our week here went by way too fast.  Had such a fun time with Len's "brother", Al and his lady friend Alta.  Quartzsite is known for their annual Rock and Gem show that happens every January and February, then the RV show follows.  You would be amazed to see the number of RV's that are boon docking in the middle of the desert, all the RV parks are full also. Population of Quartzsite is a little more than 3,000.  During the 9 major rock and gem shows and the 15 general swap meets there are 1.5 million people, mostly during January and February.

We checked out one of the remaining swap meets while we were there.  Only highlight we found was Beer Belly's Bar, aka Adult Day Care Center. Did manage to spend some time there with Al and Alta.

A few places we got together and ate at was Grubstake, good fish-n-chips.  Silly Al's Pizza, guys had calzones, Alta and I had sandwiches, everything was delicious. Breakfast at the Quail Café also.  Also spent time at their place and them at ours. Not sure how those guys are still roaming the earth after hearing some of the stories.

One day we drove over to Parker, AZ to catch up with RV friends Don and Della, such a good visit.

Checked out the local museum in Quartzsite, the location of Tyson Wells Stage Stop.  Small museum with a lot of local area history. The Tyson’s Well Stage Station Museum is housed in the original adobe stagecoach station built in 1866 by Charles Tyson at the present location. The station served as an important watering stop for the stagecoaches and freighters carrying mining equipment and supplies to the mines and the army from the river port at Ehrenberg on the Colorado River.

Also visited the Hi Jolly Monument.  Hi Jolly or Hadji Ali, later known as Philip Tedro, was an Ottoman subject of Syrian and Greek parentage, and in 1856 became one of the first camel drivers ever hired by the US Army to lead the camel driver experiment in the Southwest. Hi Jolly became a living legend until his death in Arizona. Once, insulted because he had not been invited to a German picnic in Los Angeles, he broke up the gathering by driving into it on a yellow cart pulled by two of his pet camels.

Onto our next adventure in California