Almost Home! Stopped for Lunch

On the way south, Joan had lunch picnics available for each day but coming north, it was not the case.  So we stopped at Burger King yesterday in Williams where she had a great gardenburger and then today in Albany OR, we found an A&W (in a gas station no less) which turned out the have the usual frosty mug for Ron’s A&W root beer.  He’s happy.

 Last night in Medford, we hurried over to our [now] favorite Korean restaurant, Soo Rah in Medford.  Ron was looking forward to the bulgolgi and Joan to the sticky white rice.  The owner recognized us and we had a relaxing meal.

   A stone had been added to the small paneled screen on the table next to us.  

It had fossils in it!  It was actually relaxing to sit beside it, plus the beautiful paintings in the panels.

Please see http://ronandjoanjourney.blogspot.com/2016/04/driving-to-california-april-5-7.html for more photos of the Medford restaurant and how different the scenery was going south, from north.

We Found It! The "Lost World"

Here it is!  In southern Oregon!

Joan saw this plateau as we came into southern Oregon and got quite excited! 

 “Look!  There’s where Arthur Conan Doyle’s Lost World is!”  

She wrote to several friends about it:

Joan to friends:  Remember the "Lost World?"  Here's the plateau where 

there are dinosaurs!!!!! Right here in southern Oregon!!

Friend: We've been there so many times!  Did you see the mistletoe in the trees?

Joan:  I knew you had. No, I was concentrating trying to see the dinosaurs. 

Son Andy:  Uhhhhh, those are horses.

Joan: Are you sure? They must be dinosaurs.

Friend 2: I agree with Andy---horses, yes horses! No dinosaurs visible.  

 By the way do you have a glass of wine as you ride down the road. .. 

Or maybe more than one?  Just asking.. . 

Joan:  Uhhhh, actually I didn't have any .. It might have helped me see the dinosaurs!!!!!

Friend 3:   Duh, I don’t even know the Lost World story! 

So you could have made me believe there are/were dinosaurs there.

Joan: Yes, Look carefully on top of the mesa for them!

What do you all think?

Driving North To Return to Renton

      We left our friends in Salinas and chose to drive SR152 from US 101 over the mountain to get on I-5 sooner than going up onto I-680 and through more of a trafficked area, nearer San Francisco.  This would mean that we would be going through Stockton and Sacramento, but as we left at 10 a.m., when we got to those towns, there was absolutely no traffic to speak of.  We easily continued north and then through the mountains to Medford, staying again at the Gold Awarded Quality Inn.

Our first glimpse of Mt. Shasta.  Where is she?

But we do see Black Butte on the way north

And it gets a lot closer to the road!

Beautiful cloud formations

Howard Prairie Reservoir in southern Oregon

It’s Good To Be Short!

April 28 It’s Good To Be Short! We are visiting Zibby ( Elizabeth) and Bobby in Salinas, CA and Joan hit her head on this cabinet twice the first day we were here .. When Zibby saw her hit her head, she said, “How did you hit your head?  I never have!”  (in 42 years living in that house)

      Joan looked at her and said, “Let me show you.”  And put her over by the cabinet.  Her head was several inches below the cabinet.  She looked up at Joan, “Oh, I see.”

Sister-in-law Linda:  It's good to be short except when you need something from the top shelves!!

Some people complain.  They complain that they can’t reach the top shelves in their kitchen.

>>Solution to the problem:  don't use top shelves ...

 If you’ve ever stayed in a timeshare that only has service for four, you find you don’t need top shelves anyway.  (Except in Wyndham Nashville, where ALL the dishes are on the top shelves except the delicate wine glasses which are on the bottom shelves in the kitchen island, right when you come in the door and so easy to knock off.)

Note:  The first time we went timesharing for five weeks, we came home and opened the kitchen cupboards and looked with amazement.  “Why do we have all these dishes?”

Leaving LA, Driving North

Today Shun-Lee, the son of wonderful friends (in NE) visited us on campus .  He is living and working in Hollywood.  We had lunch at Panera and then went to the Sacred Music Concert at BIOLA at 4 p.m.  We had such a great visit together, catching up (after 12 years).

Shun-Lee Fong

But today, we have to leave to drive back to Seattle.  We said “Goodbye” to Seong and started up US 101  since we are going to visit friends in Santa Maria and staying in Pismo Beach for the first night back.

Seong Kim and Ron.,  He was our airbnb host!

 The route along the ocean is so beautiful.

Reagan Ranch Center, Santa Barbara

Ron wanted to visit the Reagan Ranch and we had called and email ahead of time, but no one answered.  There is an office about it in Santa Barbara, so we stopped by there and saw the little museum there about it.  You have to reserve ahead of time, more than a moth, to get a tour of the Ranch.

Below are photos from the museum

We loved stopping in Santa Maria, CA and visiting Shun-Yenn and her family (Shun-Lee’s sister) and catching up (after 18 years!)  Her husband is stationed at Vandenberg AFB.

After visiting some hours, and a great dinner, we went on north to the motel in Pismo Beach.

To BIOLA Again and Beautiful Parks in the Middle of Town

    We sadly left Laguna Shores on Friday and returned to our Airbnb place in LaMirada near BIOLA for 3 more days to see Clayton again.  Yesterday, we walked in the adjoining park and then decided to walk on over to BIOLA.   Our host, Seong, said they often walk over to the campus library. 

   

The park adjacent to Seongs house.

 

 Then a short walk down the bridle path (there are homes with horses all along the park, and we go through a tunnel and come out on the other wide to another large expanse of green park.

We see the BIOLA sign

with another tunnel to walk through

On the other side of the tunnel, a bridge over to the campus

 It was very enjoyable.  All green, two tunnels to go through to go under the streets; amazing to see this in the middle of town.  We had a hamburger at the student snack bar and then walked back.

Later we drove over to hear Clayton practice and then have dinner together  at the cafeteria.

     

Hotel Laguna: Happy hour = half price appetizers ”

This was delightful! Someone told us about this hotel, that it had a lot of historic photos and a great oceanview restaurant.  We saw it when we took the town “tour” on the [free] weekend trolley so today we walked down to it to enjoy some happy hour specials. We had the coconut shrimp, which was good, a little extra crispy from what we've had before. But such a wonderful atmosphere and view of the ocean! We really enjoyed it.

Famous neon sign , taken down in 1966 as illegal

1918 Pacific Coast Highway

1898 The new Laguna Hotel with 30 rooms and 2 baths.  Composite of 3 buildings

About 1905

Late 1920's.  Shady parking on Laguna Ave, next to the Laguna Beach Hotel

BIOLA Orchestra Concert Tonight

Last week, we were able to see a rehearsal of the BIOLA Orchestra and then the concert was tonight.  We had not known it was this night when we planned the trip (we had just known about the band concert, but our plans included staying a couple of weeks down here in two timeshares).  We drove in from Laguna Beach midday and then back after the concert, so had no traffic slow-downs. 

       Clayton kept apologizing that he only played in one piece in the concert since all the rest did not include the low brass.  BUT…. The piece they played!  How great it was, with the deep bass part.  And we loved it:  “The Montagues and Capulets” (“Dance of the Knights”) from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, (1935) and that deep deep sound is Clayton on the tuba!  

Hear a short excerpt here:

https://www.facebook.com/joan.dungey/posts/10153755313019005?notif_t=like&notif_id=1462365727671574

Laguna Shores Resort Studio Units

       When we arrived early on Friday, we parked on Cliff Street and walked along the ocean side of the resort.  Joan saw the ocean front units and wished we could get one, but knew as exchangers, we never could.  So what a surprise to know, when we checked in, that we did indeed have one of those units, even if it was

the smallest in the resort.   We had known we would have a studio, and we also knew there were different sizes of the studios.  We asked at the desk about upgrading to the larger size since they have the full-sized refrigerators.  Mark, the manager, said we could go to one on Sunday but it would not have the ocean view.  We elected to keep the view!

The First Studio Unit

      Yes, the unit was small, probably the size of a hotel room, but things were arranged so cleverly.  There was a small closet for storage with another chest of drawers which enabled us to unpack the suitcases, and the partial kitchen still had service for 6 and a 2 burner stove and a garbage disposal.  All that is unheard of normally in a small studio unit.  The hardest part was the need to keep a lot of food in the icechest and buy ice every day, since the little freezer in the small refrigerator was totally iced over.  Another drawback was that when the Murphy bed was down, the door was difficult to open so Joan could not open the curtain nor the sliding patio door without bothering Ron when she got up earlier.  Despite that, it was very livable and the ocean view well made up for it.  We could sit on the porch and enjoy the weather and the views.

     The staff was so nice and came to the unit everyday to exchange towels and also a midweek cleaning with new sheets too.  Laundry was free on site.  A nice pool and hot tub was there but Joan had fallen down and scraped her knee so could not swim.  The greatest thing was the ocean view and the oceanfront park across the street as well as being so close to town to walk downtown.

So elegant looking upon arrival, how table was set

Nice appliances except fridge was small

 

Murphy bed

Perfect porch, looks to ocean

The view from the porch, across the street

The Second Studio Unit

It's the lower unit

      Everyone we met owned multiple weeks here and had been owners for along time and were usually from the greater LA area.  They would often come down here for a short “get-a-way”.  Owners are allowed to “split” weeks so it is very nice for those that live nearby.  We met the couple next door (he happened to be a Board member) who were shocked that we were in the smallest unit and felt that exchangers should get the BEST units (we’ve never heard that before)!  They were leaving mid-week and wondered if we would like to move over to their unit – they had the large studio, still ocean view with a larger porch too.  We were honored that they would think of this and since we were having quite a time with the food and the small fridge, we happily agreed.  The resort charged $35 for the extra cleaning fee and we felt that was a great deal.  Since it was just next door, it was easy to move.

      It was really nice!  We felt more relaxed in the larger space too.

Larger porch, still ocean front

Lots of light in the dining area

Couch instead of 2 chairs

Full kitchen

Murphy bed

Ocean across the street and umbrella for sun