Sequoia National Park and King Canyon NP

We had moved from Santa Maria to Atascadaro Elks Lodge to visit Hearst Castle and to see the Elephant Seals. Now we moved to the Visilia Elks Lodge so we could spend the day at Sequoia National Park and the Kings Canyon NP. As we were visiting in the winter months, the hiking trails were closed but we were still able to feel the beauty of both parks while driving along the General Highway. We learned a lot about the Sequoia tree and the difference between it and the Redwood tree. We are looking forward to seeing the Rocky Mountains in Canada as we hear they are awesome. It is hard to believe anything could be more beautiful than what we saw today. Every mile on this journey, which took from 9 am to 5 pm, was breathtaking.

Hearst Castle

Hearst Castle is built on the ranch, Rancho Piedro Blanca, which was purchased by George Hearst in 1865. His only child, William R. Hearst, started construction in the 1920s and spent the next 18+ years building and changing what resulted today in a 90,000 sq ft "Casa Grande". William's mother, a school teacher, took William, at age 10, on an 18 mos world tour. It is believed that his impressions of homes, churches, palaces and castles in Germany, Sweden, Italy, England and the Mediteranian played a part in the artitecture of this home in California. This 'moorish' castle has 165 rooms incl 56 bedrooms and 61 bathrooms. The castle has 3 guest houses that hosted such guests as Pres. Calvin Coolidge, Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw, Charlie Chaplin, David Niven and Cary Grant to name just a few. During times that Wm. Hearst lived here the grounds included a zoo with many exotic animals (incl polar bears, giraffes, zebras and tigers). William lived here with his girlfriend, Marion Davies, an actress who stared in many movies produced by a production company owned by Hearst.

It is said that movies such as Citizen Kane and The Cat's Meow are based on his life. Although the castle has been donated to the State of California, the Hearst family has maintained rights to some areas of the castle. The Hearst family ranches the land around the castle.

When you arrive at the Visitor Center, your guided tour begins with a bus ride for 5 miles up the hill to the castle.

The oldest artifact is the 18th Egyptian statue of Sekhmet, one of the oldest known deities at 3,600 years and from the time of King Tut.

California

After leaving the Madonna Inn, we moved on to the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. When we were in California a few years ago, I had wanted to check out some of the old missions but it didn't work out. I enjoyed this stop. This mission was founded by Father Juniper Serra September 1, 1772. It is named after Saint Louis Bishop of Toulouse France. In 1769, Fr. Serra, a member of the Order of Franciscan Minors received orders from Spain to bring the Catholic Faith to the Natives of Alto California. This area had an abundance of Grizzly Bear meat in the 'Valley of the Bears" and Fr. Serra decided to make 'La Canada de Los Osos" the ideal place for a fifth mission.

California

While in Santa Maria we drove up
to San Luis Obispo to do some touring. Tony and Barb had suggested that we stop at the Madonna Inn. Barb said it had been built by Mrs. Madonna and is approx. 50 years old. She said to def go in to the restrooms. This Inn was well worth the stop. Hot pink is the main color, but tasteful. The Inn is know for it's cakes (which we avoided looking at) and has an interesting restaurant as well as a beautiful formal dining room. Think if we hadn't been in the the rv, we would have stayed there for a night. Check it out at www.madonnainn.com

California

On the 18th, we left the Indio, Palm Springs area and drove over to the Elks Lodge at Garden Grove to be near our friends, Barb and Tony. Barb has been sick with the flu and Tony got called up to Jury Duty plus they were busy with plans for the Easter weekend. We were able to spend Wednesday with them before moving on north. We enjoy their company and it was a good visit. Ate at the Five Guys Burger joint. We really like In N Out and think their burgers are just as good for half the price. Fried mushrooms and onions on the Five Guys burgers are good tho. Fries at Five Guys are better. We left the area Thurs morning and drove up the coast to the Elks Lodge at Santa Maria. We were pretty impressed with the rv parking at this lodge. Full hook up, very clean and good 50 amp service at only $25 per nite. We understand the parking at Santa Barbara is nice too but didn't see it.

California

We went to the Palm Springs Aerial Tram with every intention of going up the 8500 feet to the top but,,,,,, John has had an ear problem since returning from Florida (and I'm afraid of heights) so we opted to just take a couple of pictures in the parking lot. Maybe I'll start with a ski lift at Collingwood. Beautiful countryside tho and it's obvious why poeple fall in love with California.

California

Yesterday, after the Nascar race of course, we toured Joshua Tree National Park. What a difference to what we have see before in our travels. Because it was 100F here, we didn't dress to hike. As we drove up the mountains into the park, we watched the temperature drop to a comfortable 79. Def could have hiked but saw a lot of the park which was breathtaking. John is standing in the Cholla Cactus Garden and Sheila with the Joshua Tree forest behind her.

California

We arrived at the Elks Lodge in Indio, CA on April 15th to some VERY hot weather. Has been up in the high 90s during the day and high 60s at night. But we are still touring. We went to the Palm Desert street market Sat. morning and sweat off some lbs. More of a designer type flea market. All new. While driving there we were on hwy 111 going west thru Indian Wells. What a beautiful area. It was actually 100 degrees F (40 C) but we could see the snow on the mountains. These mountains are between us and the California coast. It is beautiful here and John thinks now he may like California better than Florida. Still going to FL for the winter and will decide from there.

On the Road Again

We were sure lucky on our return to the Foothills. Cool (high 60s) and rain. It was great weather to get our Spring cleaning done and get ready to roll. We got back Thurs and on Fri morning John wanted to go to Best Buy just in case they had received any Ipad2s. Well they had just gotten two. Both were sold immediately with John getting one of them. He loves it. It is much easier to take with us when we go somewhere and we can Skype the kids anytime. We just take our little Mifi with us for internet access. Before leaving the Foothills, we stopped in at the In & Out for one last burger. Because of the rain, the trees were in bloom at the mall. It was beautiful. Then on the 15th we hit the road traveling west.

Disneyworld Florida

We just had time to get ready when the kids started to arrive at DisneyWorld. Michelle, Tim, Ty and Tate arrived on the 28th. Dione, Bob, Abby, Grace, Jack and Sarah arrived on the 29th. We celebrated John's 65th birthday on the 29th (whoo hoo,,,, now we got Medicare). On April 1st, we all went to Magic Kingdom and celebrated Jack's 6th birthday. He has been cancer free for almost a year now and it was wonderful to celebrate this birthday in the most fun place in the world. It was great that Ty and Tate spent the day at Magic Kingdom with us as a family even tho they would probably have enjoyed another theme park that offered rides for the older kids. Of course, we did 'it's a small world' that has been a tradition since Michelle and Dione were little. We stayed at the Disney resort 'Old Key West' and we were treated royally. You can't beat the friendly service that the Disney Cast Members offer their guests. The kids loved the water slide there along with all the daily pool activities. 'Just the best place for the magic to begin'. Michelle and her gang went home on the 4th followed by Dione and her gang on the 5th. Laura, her daughter Stacy, her sister Lynne, sister in law Dee and our mutual friend Barb all landed in at OKW on the 6th for a fast tour of Disneyworld. We took them to a few of the resorts followed by shopping Downtown Disney and then dinner at Planet Hollywood. We enjoyed some downtime before flying home to Yuma on the 7th. As you can see by the Picasa steam on photos, we all had an awesome time. We are so very fortunate that we invested in Disney Vacation Club when we first moved to the States in 97. Otherwise we would not be able to afford to show our family and friends the quality of vacation time at Disney that DVC allows us to do. Someday Michelle and Dione will be bringing their grandchildren to Disney to watch them grow up with the same 'magic' that these kids are enjoying. Life is good. When we get back to Yuma, we'll chill (right ! at a temp of 105) for a few days before moving on to Huntington Beach, CA to visit Tony and Barb as we start our trip North. Looking forward to some more sightseeing in California and to visiting Oregon and Washington for the first time.