Wander 010 - The Lakes RV Resort (Chowchilla, CA)

November 28-30, 2013

Sad confession... I didn't take a single picture.    You'll just have to trust me that this trip happened.

When Scott and I grew up our family tradition was to camp at Joshua Tree National Monument for Thanksgiving.  I have tons of fabulous memories from these trips.

Last year Scott took his family and trailer all the way to Joshua Tree to recreate the family tradition. Amazing!  I wish we could have joined them, but Joshua Tree is a ridiculously long drive from SF, and, being the newbie at work, I had to work the actual holiday.

Well, this year I had Thanksgiving off so we took both trailers and headed to The Lakes RV Resort in Chowchilla, CA.  It was a strange strange place.  Here's our theory, some developers started building these crazy 4,000 sq ft McMansions out in the middle of nowhere.  Then the economy crashed and they couldn't unload them anymore.  So they decided to turn the end of one of the streets into an RV park that has access to the golf course and other amenities.  The spots in the RV park can be rented or purchased.  Scott got us all a great deal on renting the spots through his RV club.  We had spots right next to each other and we had a great time.

Random highlights:

• Mimosas
• Banana Cream Pie
• Lot's and lot's of ladder ball/corn hole/washer toss/backgammon
• Campfires
• Handmade bracelets from the kids
• Smoked turkey
• Kick the can

Overall, great time!  I hope we can do it again and again.  

PS: Interesting note about Chowchilla, CA.  In 1976 kidnappers abducted an entire bus full of children and hid them underground.  Everyone survived, but it's a crazy story.  Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Chowchilla_kidnapping

Wander 009 - Hangtown Halloween Ball (Placerville, CA)

October 24-28, 2013

Hangtown Halloween Ball by Railroad Earth is quickly becoming one of our favorite events of the year.  A small festival with solid music and a great atmosphere.  What's not to love.

Our set up:

The main stage:

Some very creative advertising:

General festivities:

(bad selfie)

(our neighbors jack o lanterns)

what festival would be complete without a deer turtle?

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!):