Wander 008 - Old Lewiston Bridge RV Resort (Lewiston, CA)

September 13-16, 2013

Brian has wanted to take his dad fishing for years.  Now that we have a trailer he felt that it was time to make it happen.  So he went online, researched the best places and times of years to fish.  He settled on Trinity River and Lewiston Lake.  He found an RV park that also had RV's for rent so that his folks would be comfortable (our trailer doesn't exactly have room for extra guests).  We had a GREAT time.  Not a single fish was caught, but good memories were made (As it turned out, we were about one week too early to catch any fish... oh well!).  I hope we make it happen again someday.

The view from our front window:

The trailer on the right is the rental that Brian's folks stayed in.

Our set up:

Nancy & Dick's setup:

Fishing on the Trinity River:

Fishing on Lewiston Lake:

Funny memory:  Even though Brian had bought fishing licenses before the trip, we couldn't find them once we arrived at the RV park.  Apparently the rangers have no way of looking them up electronically so you're required to carry them with you at all times while fishing.  There weren't any problems when we were fishing on the remote Trinity River locations... but not so much on Lewiston Lake.  At one point Brian spotted the Ranger driving up... Brian and his dad hilariously packed up all the fishing gear at top speed and then proceeded to sit back in their chairs on the dock as though they had just been enjoying the view.  The Ranger pulled into the parking lot, emptied some trash cans and left without even coming anywhere near the dock.


Nancy and I spent a day in Weaverville hunting down antiques

The RV park itself actually had a pretty nice collection of antiques:

Great group shot:

What a great trip!!!  Special thanks to Nancy for all of the fabulous pictures she took on the trip!

Wander 007 - High Sierra Music Festival (Quincy, CA)

July 4-7, 2013

Sing it with me... "Aaatttt laaaaaassst, my love has come along"

Finally, FINALLY!  We find ourselves back at High Sierra Music Festival.

This festival is one of our original traditions as a couple, it's one of the major times and places where our relationship was solidified.  Sadly, nursing school and relative's weddings kept us away for the last two years.  But, in 2013, we're back!  And this time, we're doing it trailer style!!!

The view from the front window:

Our set up:

We arrived a day later than we'd planned, so we were too late to get into the official RV area, but we had plenty of space to set up a cozy little home.

I never get sick of listening to music and looking at this view:

A few of our fellow festival goers' campsites:

General festivities:

One of the musical highlights... Lukas Nelson (Willie's son is making a great name for himself on the jam circuit)

The view from our campsite:

Our neighbors' teenage kids had some time on their hands:

Until next year High Sierra!!!

Oh... and here is the alternate "view from the front window" (our neighbor decided to have a very public outdoor afternoon shower, ha!):

Trailerlove - The Solar Edition

One of the problems we've encountered while dry camping, is running out of power.  We don't require a lot of power, but the basic functions of the trailer (the clock, the monitors) in addition to a few luxuries (charging cell phones, watching the occasional movie on the iPad) were really running our battery dry.  We had to cut our Gualala trip short because we'd drained our battery almost completely.

First, we bought a generator.  It works great, but it's inconvenient.  It's loud (which bothers our neighbors) and it requires gas (which is inconvenient because gas is not shelf stable so you either use it or lose it)

So Brian started researching solar options.  He is far braver than I am, so he even suggested that we instal it ourselves.  I was nervous, but we did it!  It involved drilling holes, wiring, and mounting a panel onto the top of the trailer, but we did it.

And, to be honest, it was fun...

Wander 006 - Yosemite (Hallelujah!)

May 24-27, 2013

My brother and his family camp at Yosemite every year.  They meet up with several other families and have a big 'ol kid-loaded beautiful vacation in paradise.  This is the first time they made the trip in their new trailer (did I mention that my brother bought a trailer too?  He did!  A week before we bought our trailer he bought the exact same trailer in the 24"box), and this year they invited us to join them!

The view from the front window:

Very few words required... I'll mostly let the photos speak for themselves:

Quick happy selfie:

Kiddos playing in the river...

Rock tower building:

Half dome:

Fun back at camp:

Notice my brother's trailer in the background.  Same company and series as ours, just a longer/larger layout:

Roasting marshmallows in the New Orleans souvenirs from Aunt Carrie:

Ahwahnee Hotel (and chocolates!):

Some quiet time to relax by the cold cold cold river:

Enjoying the amazing trails:

Yosemite falls:

Quick lunch break before driving home:

A summary of my favorite memories from this trip:

* Playing Ladder Ball with the Olivia, Theo and Natalie.  Natalie and I were on the same team and she threw an EPIC winning shot right at the end.  

* Ridding my bike with Brian on trails in the midst of some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever EVER seen.

*Enjoying cinnamon apples cooked in the fire.  It's a dessert my mother used to make at our Thanksgiving dessert camp outs and it was a great memory to re-live.

*Laying on a hammock next to Olivia and chatting about boys.

*Walking up to Yosemite falls with my mom.