4/26/11

Hollywood, California: The Price Is Right Show

While based in Malibu we took the time to take a few side trips: one to Hollywood and one to Oxnard/Ventura.

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Mary Lynn and our daughter Kasey Lynn are huge fans of “The Price Is Right” show. MLA reserved tickets on-line and bright & early the next morning we drove into Los Angeles. Traffic at 6:30 am was amazingly light and we arrived at CBS’ studios well before the 8:30am requirement.

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After that, you do a lot of waiting. As I said, you had to arrive before 8:30 am however the show did not begin taping until 12:30 pm. No photos (or phones, etc) allowed in studio so all I can show you is a picture of the outside of the CBS studio. And of course the Hollywood sign was visible up on the hill….

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All in all it was a good experience even though we did not get picked to go up on stage. Not a big surprise since we were in regular ‘street clothes’ and most of the people who were picked had dressed up in all kinds of crazy clothes, most with lots of writing on them, like “Pick Me” or “I love Drew”, etc., etc. Very cool to see Drew…

After that we drove up to Oxnard and Ventura… DSC_0343

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See YA!

4/25/11

Malibu, California: Home of “California Dreaming”

Malibu beach stretches for some 27 miles along an amazingly beautiful coastline. Pockets of sun drenched sandy beaches interspersed with rugged, ocean bashed rocks, all combine to create some of the best vista’s southern California has to offer.

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Home to more Beach Boy’s style and 60’s era music than you can count, I think Malibu  personifies the image most folks have when they are “California Dreaming”.

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We stayed for a week perched over the Pacific Ocean where we had an incredible view of Pelicans, Sea Lions, dozens of Dolphins (two pictured above), even a couple of migrating whales.

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We had a distant view of Los Angeles which you can see if you look closely at the picture above. We also had a view of Cher’s estate located about half a mile from where we were camped.  Cher’s estate sits high on a bluff overlooking the Pacific just behind and above these homes on the beach in the picture above. We were going to ‘drop in’ and say ‘hi’ but the week just flew by… maybe next time.

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We stayed at Malibu Beach RV Park and although pricey, it has without a doubt the best ocean views of any RV Park we have stayed in so far. The park sits up on a bluff; we were on the first level perhaps 100 feet above the ocean. Some of their sites are located even higher although further back from the ocean itself. We pulled the RV in so that our front window had a panoramic view of the ocean.

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Mary Lynn and I spent hours sitting outside watching the ocean with its constantly changing light as well as a never ending procession of wildlife. Pelicans at this time of year are extremely plentiful, with large squadrons of them flying in formation. They use the winds uplifts created by the bluffs or flying just above the crest of the wave, again using the uplifts created by the waves themselves to glide almost effortlessly.  In the evening, wave after wave would pass by only feet from our RV.

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The kite surfers above were close by and fascinating to watch as they flew over incoming waves, sometimes letting the kite pull them completely into the air. Soaring above the ocean before splashing down looked like a lot of fun however try as I might, MLA declined my offer to rent a kite and board for the afternoon…

We attended Easter services at the church started by our son Christopher’s friends from ‘GUTS” church in Tulsa Oklahoma. Waveside Church uses an incredible facility located on the beach just south of the famous Zuma Beach.

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Malibu is home to many of Hollywood’s elite for a reason. It really is a spectacular and special place. We were going to stay another week however the RV Park would not honor their discount for staying another week so we voted with our pocketbook and are leaving after only one week. An RV park this beautiful should be full nearly all the time. It still amazes me to see some businesses so poorly run. Oh well, I have better things to spend my time (and money) on these days.

See Ya!

4/20/11

Anaheim: Disneyland – Walt’s First Fantasy Park

Anaheim, California is a suburb of LA. It’s also the home of Walt Disney’s first theme park: Disneyland. Not to be confused with Disneyworld, which is located in Orlando Florida.

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Since we have been to Disneyworld many times I was afraid Mary Lynn would be disappointed with Disneyland however she insisted she wanted to see Disneyland for herself.

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We went early in the day for several hours and then returned to the park in the evening for the great fireworks display.

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A shot of Buzz Light Year for the youngest members of our former neighbors in Maryland:  Dominick, Claire & John.

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In fact, Dominic dressed up as Buzz Light Year for Halloween a few years ago – as you can see, he was terrific.

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Disney’s fireworks display is a lot better than my ability to capture fireworks photos…

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MLA loved the aquatic show held late at night in Frontier Land. Overall we had a terrific time.

See Ya!

4/12/11

San Diego Zoo: World Famous For All The Right Reasons

I’m not really a fan of zoo’s. I used to enjoy taking my kids to the zoo however I always left feeling incredibly sorry for the animals. They usually seemed to be in areas that are fake and much too small for them. Seeing all of the fencing and cages is depressing.

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That said, the San Diego Zoo is one of, if not the best zoo in the country. They do a terrific job of providing natural settings, lots of companionship and a large amount of space for most animals.

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And they do a lot of research into protecting and maintaining species that are threatened with extinction.

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This butterfly was for sale in the Zoo’s gift shop.

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Rick really got into the exhibits….

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This boy’s mom allowed me to take his photo right after he had his face painted. I wonder how many days he went before washing the paint off…

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Mary Lynn has never met a gift shop she didn’t like (and explore). Good thing space is limited in the RV.

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As you can probably tell, I love to take photo’s of birds. The incredible colors combined with the patterns of the feathers really appeal to me. Not to mention the connection to ancient forms of life (think dinosaurs). And some of them seem fairly intelligent, more so than many animals.

See Ya!

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4/11/11

San Diego: Old Town Trolley Tour of San Diego

We have found one of the best ways to get oriented in a new city/location is to take a ‘trolley’ tour. Here in San Diego we took the Old Town Trolley tour which goes all over San Diego including Balboa Park, Old Town, the Waterfront, Coronado Island (Hotel Coronado), etc.

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The best part is you get to ride all day, getting on and off whenever you want. And occasionally the trolley driver is both knowledgeable and funny, but not always.

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This painting was available for sale in Old Town. I loved the colors and would have bought it is we had room for any art in our RV, but we don’t.

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The San Diego skyline taken from the trolley while going across Coronado Bridge. Shots from moving vehicles never have sharp details but I like the shot none the less.

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Our friend Rick couldn’t stand all the excitement, which Anne found amusing….

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This frog reminded all of us of Larry, our friend from Palm Creek…

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A fun kite shop on the San Diego waterfront and a cool looking bird with an old-fashioned ‘rat’s tail’.

See Ya!

4/10/11

Balboa Park – San Diego’s Answer to New York’s Central Park

After spending the winter (5 months) at Palm Creek in Casa Grande, Arizona we have hit the road to begin our West Coast Tour. Our plan is to follow the west coast north through California, Oregon, and Washington State and then head over to Idaho’s Coeur D’Alene and then head south thru Idaho, Nevada, and the western portion of California , including Yosemite and Death Valley. Who knows what will actually happen but that is the ‘plan’.

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We are staying at the Santee Lakes Regional Park about 20 minutes from downtown San Diego. Great park with excellent access to the sights and activities of San Diego.

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For the next week or so we are travelling with Anne & Rick, our friends from Palm Creek. All too soon they will go their separate way as they have a commitment in Canada. We have had a great time with them and will miss their company. No worries though – we will meet them back in Palm Creek next fall.

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Here are some pictures from San Diego’s Balboa Park, a great park created by the founder of San Diego patterned after New York’s Central Park. It has a number of museums and exhibits plus a spectacular rose garden.

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The painted ‘skull’ is from a very good Mexican restaurant (I forget the name, sorry) located at 5th & Maple. The Carousel is a restored antique located between Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo complete with hand carved animals.

See Ya!

2nd Trip: June 2008 through November 2008


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1st Trip -- February 2008 Through April 2008


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Maryland to Arizona to Prince Rupert, BC


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