Rose Parade Wind Up

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Thursday morning, after breakfast sandwiches, fruit and coffee courtesy of Wagon master Shirley Newton, we boarded the bus for a guided tour of LA highlights. First stop was Alvaro street, L.A.'s original settlement by the Spanish, and then the La Brea Tar Pits, where many prehistoric animal bones have emerged from nature's own rising natural gas and asphalt. Then it was on to the Farmer's Market, where we enjoyed lunch and touring The Grove high end shopping area. The Market has become gentrified from the old days, according to locals, with supermarket and boutique style food stores along with souvenir and other types of shops. The food court is upscale with complete lunches along with the usual burger and ice cream emporiums. Next we visited the old Kodak theater, now the Dolby Theater, where they used to award the Oscars, and the Grumman’s Chinese Theater where stars saluted the owner, Sid Grumman, by putting their prints in wet cement. It was fun to see reminders of the stars of old from the 40's, 50's and 60's when men wore guns and women were singers. Here we also got a picture of the famous “Hollywood” sign, an artifact that was created for a movie and became an institution. Finally, we got a first hand experience of the L.A. rush hour traffic, requiring two hours of travel even with expedited bus lane, to return to our RV Park. It was a full day of sightseeing in preparation for our “free day” tomorrow.

Friday we braved the LA traffic and went to two National Parks – Santa Monica Mountains and Channel Islands to get indici stamps for our NPS Passport and enjoy a little less of the human population. The Santa Monica Mountains rise above LA, widen to meet the curve of Santa Monica Bay, and reach their greatest height facing the ocean, forming a beautiful and sparsely occupied landscape. A former ranch house has been modified into an attractive museum and visitor center. The Channel Islands are off shore wild animal habitats available for nature preserving outdoor activities. The NPS at Channel Islands Visitor Center had helped those of us not visiting the islands, only the onshore center, by bringing some of the stamps ashore so we were able to capture six of them in one stop. Our return to Pomona was hampered by the infamous traffic congestion but we enjoyed a nice dinner at Marie Calendar’s Restaurant and then to a happy hour gathering with the group. Saturday we visited the Aquarium of the Pacific, harboring fish, aquatic mammals, sharks, sea turtles and octopi. We then moved a short distance away to have a fine lunch aboard the Queen Mary and an opportunity to tour this stately vessel of a bygone era. The highlights included mock ups of the three classes of state rooms, including the war time bunks of its troop transport function. The Diana Exhibit shared memorabilia of the Windsors with many personal mementos of Diana.

Sunday we bid our friends goodby over coffee and donuts and head out to Tuscon, arriving at Davis Montham AFB Agave Gulch FamCamp in time for a quick commissary run and gas fill up at the station. The next day we head out to El Paso's Ft Bliss Fam Camp, arriving by mid afternoon. This speed run home is assisted by several fellow campers who advise us on our next stop in the middle of West Texas. A Good Sam park in Ft Stockton has received good reviews. It's quality concerns us since the satellite weather showing storms over our destination could reek swamp disaster on a poorly designed site. True to our advice the campground has solid sites, very helpful since the rain begins 30 miles out and continues throughout the evening. The on-site restaurant serves up a nice meal so Mary doesn't have to dip into our larder again. Tomorrow we have to search for a campground since our first choice, Ft Sam Houston, is full.

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