End of another year...

Here it is almost the end of December, another year gone, another decade really.  We are about to enter 2020...and I for one, am ready!  How about you?  This has been an interesting year for me...a transitioning one, and one of a number of personal "happenings" that makes one take a step back.

This is our first full year of being a "part-time" RVer.  Six months on the road and six months here in Arizona.  I like it, but it takes some getting used to after being on the road full-time for over seven years.  Once again it's a different life style.  For one thing, you've got the "packing & un-packing" thing to deal with.  How much double "stuff" to you keep in the RV and in the house?  It seemed to take days to load, as I was always remembering one more thing to load...and even then as we traveled, I would discover something I left at home!  Once we arrived home, I'm forever trapezing back over to the RV for something that's still in the RV!  Thank goodness it's parked right next to us!

Even planning the trip was different, as it was for only six months instead of a year.  Where to go and how long to stay at each location?  We had decided to go to an RV Rally this year as we hadn't been to a Tiffin one in years, so that became our focal point, from there we determined the rest of the trip.  We then decided to head to Canada, and since we've only really visited the area around Calgary, we decided to explore further east, then head on over to Calgary to visit our friends again before coming back down into Washington to spend time with family.

Looking back over the summer, I have to say that the highlight of the trip, for me was our time in Canada, especially the last part through the Okanagan Valley.  I really had no idea that Canada had a "wine valley" and that it was so good!  It was such a delightful experience, one I hope to repeat someday.  Spraining my ankle early on made sight-seeing difficult for most of the summer, but this little surprise at the end our our Canadian visit made up for it!

Since we've been back home, we've been BUSY!

I have been trying to finish putting my house in order by completing the "change-over" from the Southwestern look it came with to my Country look I want.  I started by repainting a couple of patio chairs I had purchased last spring, to match the other turquoise ones I already have.  Then I also repainted a window frame I had, to turquoise and filled it with some of my photos and hung it on the porch wall, added a couple of pillows, completing the porch!

While we were outside...we got tired of being poked!  All around the yard were very large Agave plants (these people loved the Southwest, I'm telling you!).  Well, after so many pokes, we said "enough already!"  So, we dug them all up, and went to our friendly nursery and bought "pretty plants"!  Two purple fountain grasses that are kind to the legs when we walk by the RV and two Texas Sage (Salvia) with a Tecoma Stans Yellow Bells in between.  So much nicer now.  Yea!

I then moved into the house...I have been collecting a variety of old style wood chairs to go around our butcher block dining table, so now I needed to sand and paint them, along with matching seat pillows (of course!)  I wanted each one to be different, and to go along with my Fiesta ware dishes!  That turned out to be quite a job, but looks really cool.  Once that was done (4 chairs later), on to our built-in buffet.  It had a Southwest color scheme...ugh, had to go!  Now, it's white (like the walls, with blue edging to match the opposite wall.  Phew!

Jack has joined a couple of HOA committees, along with a couple of fun clubs, so that is keeping him out of trouble too!

We also were able to fit in a couple of fast trips...one to Las Vegas for the Thanksgiving holiday to my niece's.  My sister flew down, and now Jack's nephew and family has also moved there, so now along with my cousin, we have quite a gathering living in Las Vegas!  We stayed for four days and had a lovely time...even got in a little hiking into the Red Rock Canyon Park!

My most favorite boss ever, the CEO of the San Diego Zoo Global retired recently and they gave him a couple of surprise send-offs (one at the Zoo and another at the Safari Park).  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to say good-bye and get one last hug from him, so we drove down that morning and attended the afternoon one at the Safari Park in Escondido.  It was a happy/sad occasion.  He is one of the finest gentlemen I have ever had the privilege of knowing...and will be greatly missed by many.

The Theater Group has already started for the season, and I've been assigned one lead number, six back-up numbers, and two all cast numbers!  I'm either going to be exhausted and thin or dead by the end of February!!  Wish me luck! 

I've even managed to decorate for the holidays this year!  Drug out all our decorations from the shed, rummaged through them and figured out what I could scale down to fit into our tiny house (from our large house we used to have), and not look to "over done"!  Having another "tradition" too...our Annual Holiday Soup Party!  We used to hold one every year for our friends when we lived in Escondido.  I would make about five different soups and about eight different breads and have around forty to fifty family and friends over for the evening.  It was quite festive.  It will never, ever get that big here, my tiny house could never, ever hold so many!  I'm starting out with a dozen people and two soups and four breads!  We shall see how that goes!

As I always do, on my last blog of the year, here are the stats from our travels....

We stayed at 36 campgrounds, for a total of 138 nights on the road
Total campground fees: $5,238.02 (including the rally and Colorado State Park Pass for the year)
(That averages about $37.96 a night, which is pretty typical for us.  We stayed a week with our friends in Calgary and another one in Washington with family, which is also typical.  If you factor those in, that would raise the per night stay up to $42.24.  But for being in Canada most of the time, you have to also adjust the dollar rate too, back down that comes!  ;-) 

Mileage for the RV: 7,000
Mileage for the toad: 8,687 (all of 2019)
Gasoline for the RV: $3,480
Gasoline for the toad: $1,256
Propane: $24

...kicking back in sunny Arizona,  Marie

From the Mountains to the Valleys…

After we left the Canadian Rockies we drove down to they beautiful valleys where they grow all their fabulous fruit, veggies and wine grapes! 

Okanagan Valley BC was truly a hidden gem to me.  I had no idea it even existed, let alone how truly magnificent it’s riches are! 

The Valley itself reaches from Vernon to the boarder of Osoyoos.  We stayed in the middle in Kelowna, with our campground in West Kelowna, making it easy to visit up and down the Valley.  We were told that they have over 280 wineries, but we saw more going in and I would venture that that is a low number. 

Now I wouldn’t say I’m a “wine snob”, but I am very picky in what I drink.  For one thing, wine with tannins  and sulfates give me migraines, so I try and stay away from them.  I’ve also found that California and Oregon whites have gotten either very “oaky” in their Chardonnay wines, or overly dry, and overly “fruity” in their Riesling wines.  So, I have stopped buying anything from North America all together.  To be honest, I didn’t even know Canada made wine (sorry Canada). 

But, here we were, five days in what was touted to be “the best wine country ever” - so I thought “why not spend a day tasting?””  Wow, was I blown away!!  Let me share here, I used to be in the event business, and I have had my share of wine tastings from all over the world.  Lovely wines, at all price levels.  But when I was served a Chardonnay here - it wasn’t dry, or “oaky” it was light, clean, crisp, smooth and buttery - the way a Chardonnay should be - in my opinion, anyway.   My biggest surprise was a Riesling from a winery called Spearhead.  Rieslings are usually to sweet - not this one.  Beautiful - light, gentle, yet crisp, clear, smooth with just the right amount of soft fruit.   So good.   I had to buy several bottles!  Truly amazing.

Another fun wine from The View, a sparkling wine in a can.  Kind of like a wine cooler without having to mix it.  Fun and refreshing.  They had both red and white.  They sold it in a six-pack like beer!

Because of the climate, Kelowna can make Ice Wine, and one winery does, Kalala.  We had a very informative visit there, learning all about how that is done.  It's an arduous process, and expensive.  I had to have a taste.  Because it sits on the vine so long, it's rather sweet, like Brandy.

The last tasting we ventured to was at the Indigenous World Winery.  The only Native American (or First Nation People, as the Canadians prefer) Winery.  They had a beautiful restaurant (that’s why we saved it for last) that we went to afterward for lunch.  We were intrigued  by the write-ups  describing how the chief was committed to indigenous flavors  using local ingredients.  When the waitress seated us, she shared that the sandwiches were made with bannock (a thick bread) and the portions were large).  The menu was indeed intriguing  and sounded wonderful.  We weren’t disappointed!

On Saturdays Kelowna has a huge (over 200 vendors) Farmer’s Market that I was so anxious to go to.  I had been holding off shopping for fruits and veggies knowing I would find it all here.  I was right!  We brought our own coffee with us, and started out with freshly made danish and cinnamon rolls and slowly walked row after row of beautiful fruits, veggies, honey and hand crafted items.  All wonderful.  I had hoped the Goat Cheese Farm folks would be there, but no such luck, so I stocked up on my goodies and Jack and I headed out to the Goat Farm on our own.  Interesting drive, but well worth it.  Wow, such wonderful cheeses!  After I left, I kept kicking myself for not buying more.

Our last day there, we decided to make it a fun, lazy day and “go floating”!  About an hour away, in Penticton, they have a company that will rent you floats and then a bus brings you back.  You float down a five mile river channel from the mouth of Okanagan Lake to Skaha Lake.  It was a bright sunny day, the water was cool and refreshing, about waist deep and tons of people of all ages were doing it!  So fun.  We were on it for about three hours, and at mid-point we decided we had enough, so we took the bus back.  Good thing too, as we discovered later, we were both sunburned, me more than Jack.  ;-)

We drove around the cute little town a bit and had lunch along the beach watching everyone enjoying the beautiful day, then came back to relax some more. Such a lovely way to end our stay in Canada.