Month: March 2018

Help! Were drowning. OK just kidding, but it feels that way. Heavy rains today, and not likely to dry up until tonight. No Universal Studios today so we decided to see the John Paul Getty Villa instead. We thought the Villa would a mansion tour but it really is a museum of Getty’s art collection. The collection was mostly early Greece and Roman artifacts. After the museum I decided to stay around the Coach and do my taxes.

Today we traveled to Malibu Beach RV Park. As the name implies the park is overlooking the beach in Malibu. We can see the ocean crashing on the shore from inside the RV. Very nice. The drive was about 2 hours, nearly double what you might expect due to LA traffic and steady rain. Once setup we went to Dukes for fish and chips and a lovely view of the ocean for lunch. Afterwards we explored a little of the Malibu area before settling in at the RV. The rain kind of puts a damper on things. I worked on the computer while Donna sat under the awning to read.

This morning we repeated the early morning arrival, but this time for the Disney California Adventure theme park. Instead of the shuttle we decided we were close enough to walk and so we did. This park is adjacent to Disneyland but themed more towards the movie side of Disney. By 10am we had hit the most popular attractions and were already running out of things that interested us. At 10:30 we started the walk back to the RV park. By the way, my favorite ride of either park was the Guardians of the Galaxy. This ride is a reboot of the old Tower of Terror ride that was my favorite many years ago in Disney World/MGM. Donna’s favorite and a really fun ride was the Cars Radiator Springs Racer ride.

This morning we were up before dawn to take Maverick to day care and get back to the park so we could take the shuttle to Disney. The shuttle was pretty painless and we hit Disneyland right after it opened. I highly recommend arriving by opening. We enjoyed many of the most popular attractions by 10am. By noon it was a different story. Super crowded and the popular attractions had wait times greater than an hour. By a little after 3pm we had enough and took the shuttle back out to the RV park. Maverick was really beat from day care and Donna and I were really beat from all of the walking.

We departed Rancho Jurupa this morning about 11am. It took about an hour to get to Anaheim Harbor RV Park. We are staying here to enjoy the Disneyland parks for a couple of days. Yes the old folks had to do Disneyland. This park is expensive but has location. There is a shuttle just outside the park that takes you straight to the Disney drop off.

We got here early and started looking for lunch. I did Trip Advisor and picked a Mexican restaurant. Just after we left the park I realized the restaurant is part of the Disney downtown. I wanted to abort but Donna was quite excited to see Disney Downtown. After struggling briefly with parking we had lunch in the heart of the Disney Downtown. As you might guess the food was only fair with a pretty hefty price. We were pleased to get to see the downtown area.

Today we just explored the Riverside area. We saw the California State Citrus State Park where they explained the origin of citrus fruit in North America (mostly from China). It is a really lovely park with many varieties of ripe citrus trees. Afterwards we saw the world’s largest paper cup at a closed Dixie Cup plant. Finally we saw Flabob airport. I didn’t realize that our RV park was only about 1/2 mile from it. While it wouldn’t mean much to most, it is the home of Experimental Aviation Association (EAA) Chapter 1. A lot of cool civil experimental activity grew from this airport. Doesn’t look like much but there are some cool old aircraft operating from here. We saw a super nice Travelaire biplane land while we were there.

Today we chose to go to the March Air Reserve Base to the March Aviation Museum. A really nice collection with mostly WW2 through modern times. It provided interesting history of the base that started during WW1 to train pilots for that war. It has a really nice SR-71 on display. Many aircraft are outside and are some of the better maintained outside exhibits we have seen. We took a tram tour of the outside exhibits. The older lady tour guide couldn’t quite keep her facts straight but you have to forgive her. She has been a pilot since age 17 and has been flying for over 70 years! WOW!

This morning we departed San Diego. We were very sad to leave it behind. We had such a great time and could have explored for another week. Our destination today is the Riverside County Rancho Jurupa Park. I only picked it because I couldn’t get anything closer to Disneyland over the weekend. What a cool place. The park is beautifully maintained and has many affordable RV camping options. The park is located very close to historic downtown Riverside.

We got to the RV park pretty early due to the short drive and we immediately left the park for lunch and chose the Mission Inn downtown Riverside. Another great find! The Mission Inn is very historic and started taking in paying guests in 1880. Many presidents have stayed here including Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush. Many celebrities has stayed here as well. The architecture is really neat and my favorite feature is the “Famous Fliers Wall”. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia…

In 1932, Frank Miller opened the St. Francis Atrio. The “Famous Fliers’ Wall”, added by Miller’s son-in-law DeWitt Hutchings, was used to recognize notable aviators, including Amelia Earhart. On March 20, 1942, World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker was honored at the Inn, becoming the fifty-seventh flier added to the monument. Today, 151 fliers or groups of fliers are honored by having their signatures etched onto 10-inch-wide (250 mm) copper wings attached to the wall.

As a pilot you know I dig this. The walll includes dedications starting in 1932. Names include famous aviators you might know like Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindberg, Amelia Earhart, and Chuck Yeager. The dates on the wall are when they were honored not at a particular event.

This morning we dropped Maverick off at day care again and headed out for a Whale Watching tour. The tour left the downtown San Diego harbor and we quickly found some juvenile California Gray Whales off of Point Loma. We followed them for probably 30 minutes before heading off in search of other marine life. We saw White Side Dolphins, common Bottlenose Dolphins, and harbor seals. We repeated a late lunch at the Fish Market restaurant next to the Midway. Like before we enjoyed fantastic weather and outside dining on the water. Next we walked down and explored the Maritime Museum. The museum has a great collection of old sailing ships, a Russian submarine, and an old steam Ferry. The Ferry was very cool because the giant Steam engine and engine compartment was beautifully restored.

Today we drove to Carlsbad to see the Flower Fields. Really beautiful and very much a favorite of Donna’s. This is where they raise and display Ranunculus flowers. They also had a greenhouse of beautiful Orchids. Afterwards we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway to Crepes and Corks in Del Mar for lunch. We ate outside in beautiful weather and Donna had a fantastic crepe and I had an disappointing turkey sandwich. After lunch we let Maverick run the Del Mar dog beach. He had a great time and so did we.