Jan 29 - Diamond Valley Lake, Hemet, CA

  We spent the day at Diamond Valley Lake, in Hemet, CA.  They have a Science Center and Museum, which showed all of the fossils they uncovered while digging the space for the dams.  There are three dams on this lake.  And, it turns out, there are almost as many fossils uncovered as in the LaBraia Tar Pits.  It holds over a million prehistoric fossils, including mammoths, mastodons, and giant long-horned bison.  They had a movie of the digging of the lake and the coordination with the archaeologists to dig up all of the fossils.  Very interesting.
  The lake has a 21 mile trail rimming the coast of the lake.  We walked the first 2 miles out and then back.  The weather was great, mid-sixties.  Warm in the sun, cool in the shade and wind.  The lake is surrounded by mountains, with a view of the snow-covered mountains in the background.  Walking the trail, I felt so exhilarated!  Sun, water, wind, and mountains.  The air was so crisp and clear.  The energy so expansive and delightful.  Very enjoyable walk.  And, for the entire walk, we were the only ones on the trail.  Go figure.

Diamond Valley Lake photos:

Jan 28 - "Home" day at Wilderness Lakes RV Resort, Menifee, CA

  We needed a "home" day.  So, this morning I washed the front half of the RV.  When we were in Wyoming and Montana, the RV got a lot of tarry like dirt all over the front.  The site we are at has a good water hose set-up, and allows you to use it, unlike many other water restricted areas.
  After that, I went to the swimming pool and Jacuzzi.   It was warm in the sun, and the pool was heated, so it was really delightful.  Then a nice soak in the Jacuzzi.  Chatted with some interesting folks.  Peter, of course, was "working".  Oh well.
  Read for a bit, did the blog, made dinner, and just had a relaxing day!

No photos today.

Jan 27 - Simpson Park, Hemet, California

  I spent the morning doing laundry, but after lunch, we drove east, over to the next town of Hemet.  This area is the San Jacinto Valley, surrounded by mountains, west of Mt. San Jacinto, a tall, snow covered majestic mountain.  The Valley is densely populated with lots of new subdivisions.  It is a very pretty area, with all of the mountain views. 
  We were looking for a nice place to hike, so we first drove over to the Diamond Valley Lake. To our surprise, this is the location of the newest big dam in California.  It has a large visitor center, Museum, and the Western Science Center.  Along with a marina, and many hiking trails.  Unfortunately, it was all closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  So, we'll go back again on Wednesday.
  Since we just wanted a nice place to hike, I put "parks near me" into the GPS, and came up with Simpson Park, a few miles away.  I'm really glad we went there!  The Park has a main road that climbs up into the mountains, and has many vistas overlooking the city below, the snow-covered mountains nearby, and the Diamond Valley Lake.  We drove to the top, which had a picnic area and wonderful vistas.  We walked a bit, but the gate and park closed a 5pm, so we couldn't spend much time hiking.  Oh well.  I loved the views.

Simpson Park, Hemet, California photos:

Jan 26 - Horseback ride tour of wine country and Wine Tasting, Temecula, CA

  We relaxed this morning, then headed out to Temecula wine country for a 2 hours horse back ride tour and wine tasting.  I haven't been on a horse in probably 25 years, and I have never been to an official wine tasting.  So, both were on my bucket list.  What fun.  Although, I guess I should say that I probably had more fun than Peter.  Even though he looked a little stiff and uncomfortable on the horse, he did great.  What a good sport to join me in my many adventures. 
  Our tour guide was a very interesting young woman.  An ex-marine helicopter pilot, a professional horse trainer and rider, and she runs a horse rescue /tour business.  Very knowledgeable about wineries and horses.  She had a lot of interesting stories, and she told me she really appreciated all of my questions--that it made it more fun for her.  After the horseback ride around the vineyard, and surrounding mountain area, we went into the Leoness Winery for the wine-tasting.  As part of the tour price, we had a tasting that included 6 samples of various wines, both red and white, dry and sweet.  We picked ours out from a list, and ended with a desert wine and a chocolate drop.
  The wine country around Temecula is extremely popular and well known.  There are many wineries.  The area is really pretty, with lots of small mountains, large vineyards, and big, beautiful estates and houses. 

Horseback ride tour photos:

TJ, our tour guide

Leoness Winery photos:

Jan 25 - Temecula, CA

  Another beautiful, warm, sunny day.  I really enjoy just sitting out in the sun and appreciating the weather.  It's perfect.  I did another walk around the grounds.  Then, we drove into nearby Temecula.  There is a "Historic Downtown" area, with lots of touristy restaurants, and retail stores of all varieties.  We spent a couple of hours walking around.  I particularly enjoyed the garden sculpture shop, the huge antique store, the local olive oil with tasting store, and the "Plant-based Feel Good Store" (CBD products).
  We went to the AMC cinemas and sat in their reserved seating, fully reclining upholstered chairs, and watched the Little Women (2019) movie.  We really enjoyed it.  Went to Chili's next door for dinner.

Temecula, CA photos:

Local wall mural by the parking lot

Garden Sculpture shop in Temecula

Jan 24 - Lou's and Claire's birthdays. Hanging out at Wilderness Resort RV campground, Menifee, CA.

  It is both Lou's and Claire's birthdays today, just 44 years apart!  Called them both and wished them a Happy Birthday.
  It was a beautiful, sunny 70's day.  We decided to just hang out here in the campgrounds and catch up a bit.  I went for a bit of a walk, over to the swimming pool area, and sat in their lounge chairs, in the sun and read.  We blogged, I wrote bills, started retrieving tax documents, and worked on the blog, since I hadn't done any blogging while at Robbie's.  Peter and I went for another longer walk about.  There are several canals throughout the park, that many of the RV sites are along.  I think the water is very brown, and not that appealing, but water is water.  Not sure where the "Lakes" in the resort name are, but hey.
  I made dinner, and we watched the first episode of StarTrek-Deep Space Nine. 

Wilderness Lakes Resort RV photos:

Jan 23 - Peter's birthday. Hanging out at Wilderness Lakes RV Resort.

Peter's birthday!  We lazed around in the morning, enjoying the warm, sunny day.  We are here for 8 days, before leaving the RV here and going to Robbie's for the sibling/cousin get together for a week, then back here for 3 more nights.  Upon arrival, we read that the RV must be attended each night by the owners, and that you can't leave it for more than 24 hours.  This would be a problem.  So we chatted with the Site Manager, who agreed to let us leave for the week--just "have the rangers put it in the log".  Yeh!
   We walked the loop around the campgrounds--a mile loop.  Nice walk.  I spent time starting to catch up on the blog, Peter with his Forbes blog and Margaret Fuller documentary work. 
  Since it was Peter's birthday, I gave him the choice of whatever dinner he wanted.  He chose to go out for a steak dinner (go figure).  We ended up going back to the brewery/restaurant from last night, and he enjoyed his dinner very much.  He also got one of their beer flights, all of which were good.  I sampled his and picked one to get.  Let's hear it for craft breweries.

Wilderness Lakes RV resort photo:

Peter's birthday dinner photo:

Jan 22 - Retrieve the RV from Lancaster, CA and move on to Menifee, CA

  We did some grocery shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, both right near Robbie's, as the RV refrigerator was empty.  But only for those items that I couldn't get at a regular grocery store, since we had a ways to travel.  We picked up the now serviced RV, pulled over to the roadside and had lunch (purchased from Subway on the way there), and traveled south, down a highway further east than the main ones by the coast.  MUCH less traffic. 
   The campground in Menifee, CA is considered by those staying here a destination RV resort.  There are 500 spots, some cabins, two pools, with Jacuzzi, tennis, minigolf, horseshoes, two lodges with games, TV etc.  The exit for the town off the main highway has been developed into a huge shopping area, with lots of grocery stores, restaurants, and retails stores.  There is a lot of fairly new subdivisions all up and down this San Bernadino valley.  We are 18 miles from Temecula.  Apparently, it is wine country.  There are small mountain ranges in the vista, and the weather is mild. 
   We set up camp, then went into the shopping district and did the rest of the grocery shopping.  Finally, fairly exhausted after a long day, we had dinner at one of the local restaurant/breweries.  It actually had a really good Quinoa/rice/black bean/veggie/guacamole bowl. 

No photos today.

Jan 21 - Robbie and Joe's birthday, and Point Vincent, Palos Verdes, CA

  Today was Robbie's and Joe's birthdays.  Joe is 70!  We had a Zoom call with our siblings and cousins to wish them Happy Birthdays.
  Robbie, Ann and I went to explore another possible destination for our group gathering.  We went to Palos Verdes, CA to the Point Vincent Lighthouse and Interpretive Center.  We hiked along the ocean cliffside, and saw the lighthouse (from a distance).  In the Interpretive Center, Robbie and Ann bought a beautiful statue, to place in one of their art niches in their living room.  They were thrilled with the piece, and it fit perfectly.
  For happy hour, and to celebrate Robbie's birthday, we walked to the nearby cocktail bar, and met up with some friends of theirs, and spent a few hours chatting and celebrating.  Well, and drinking.  Peter actually had three cocktails--whiskey sours!  He talked up a storm the whole evening!  Fun time!  And Robbie is now a year older!

Point Vincent photos:

Art sculpture photo:

Robbie's birthday photos:

Jan 19 and 20 - Hanging out at Robbie's, Naples Canal

  Sunday, Robbie had a meeting of the block captains planning the emergency responses in case of disaster, at her house.  They held the meeting on the boat, with Ann as captain of the boat, and I as on-looker.  In the afternoon, we hung out on the patio, around the fire pit, by the canal. Several of their friends came by and spent a nice time chatting.  Finished the jigsaw puzzle!  Robbie & Ann's friend, Annie, came over for dinner and to spend the night.
  Monday, was another day hanging out.  We took Annie over to Costco's to buy a bed Memory Foam topper, and enjoyed her company.  We watched the Ruth Bader Ginsberg movie --On the Basis of Sex.  How relaxing.

Finished puzzle photo:

Jan 17 - Naples canal, Long Beach, CA and Crystal Cove State Park, Laguna Beach, CA

  Robbie went to her gym in the morning, so Peter and I walked a loop around the Naples canal and nearby marina.  I was particularly impressed with some of the gardens of the large homes along the ocean canal.  Really neat succulents.  A very nice walk.
 In the afternoon, Robbie and I went to explore Crystal Cove State Park, in Laguna Beach.  We were checking it out as a possible destination for when the siblings/cousins get together at the end of the month.  There was a little "historic town" area, with a few shops, but the nicest area was the hike we took along the ocean bluffs, over to a vista point.  We were able to watch some surfers almost crash onto the rocks--or at least that's how it looked to me.  Great place to go.
  Dinner in town, and spent the evening working another jigsaw puzzle.

Naples canal walk photos:

Crystal Cove State Park photos:

Jigsaw puzzle in process photo:

Dinner in Long Beach photos: