Home for the holidays

Time to "wrap up " 2018. We leave Joshua Tree on December 14th and start our journey back to Sacramento for the holidays. Stops along the way are:

1. Indian Waters RV Resort & Cabins. We've been here before (refer to our March 2018 post for any pictures of the place). This time of year, it's pretty quite here. It's one of Tom's favorite pickleball stops. However, most of the snowbirds that play don't show up until January. Fortunately or unfortunately, this won't affect Tom because he is suffering from a shoulder injury and would have to forgo playing anyway.

2. The next stop is on 12/17 at the Bakersfield RV Resort. We haven't stayed here before. It is nice to start seeing a little Christmas cheer!

3. On 12/19, we make a stopover at the Lakes RV Resort in Chowchilla. We've been here before. Not much to see here, but it's a comfortable stop on the long drive up and down California.

4.  12/20 is Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort. Once again, we've been here before, but it is one of my favorite places to stay. I didn't get may pictures this time, but they made the ground feel Christmasy.

5. Finally, on 12/22, we arrive at the Nevada County Fairgrounds. This will be our home base for the holiday season.

To get ready for Christmas, Cathy (Tom's sister) and Dave (her significant other) take us to the Victorian Christmas fair, a tradition in Nevada City, to shop for Christmas gifts.

For Christmas this year, our son Andrew hosted us for breakfast and the opening of gifts. Christmas dinner was with Tom's family in Grass Valley. Wendy's family opted to save themselves the drive and instead relax and spend this Christmas in Southern California. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives!

Our breakfast hostess Crystal, guest Matthew, and host Andrew

Our dinner hosts, Dave and Cathy

Brad, Danielle, Ricky, Matthew, Olivia, Tom, Wendy's chair, Dave, Cathy, Andrew, Phil, Easton, Vicki, and Ben

For Christmas this year, Santa brings Wendy a new ELECTRIC, bike. It works with pedal assist, (no throttle like some electrics), so when she pedals harder, the motor senses more torque and supplies more power. The result of this is she just "motors" up big hills, leaving her poor husband behind spinning slowly and sucking air.

Joshua Tree National Park

After driving through parts of the California desert near Adelanto and Victorville, I was a little skeptical about camping at Joshua Tree. But the national park is on our way back home, and we do need a camping spot. Looking at the campsites, there are some available at Jumbo Rocks campground. However, it's a bit of a guess whether or not our rig and car will actually fit. I reserve the largest campsite available and cross my fingers.


We get to Joshua Tree and hallelujah we fit! The one odd thing I notice when we are there a couple of days is that there are a lot of sites that are marked "reserved" and yet no one shows up to camp. Come to find out all the campsites are always marked as reserved; they don't allow walk-ups at this campground. Good thing we made reservations...

All that aside, Joshua Tree is not the flat, barren desert I imagined. It has striking boulder formations that are reminiscent of Alabama Hills, a beautiful place.

We see rock climbers 




and big horn sheep,













and of course Joshua Trees.

Lake Havasu, AZ

It's now early December, and Christmas is only a couple of weeks away. We need to start heading back to California if we are going to make it in time for the holidays. Having just gone from Yuma, Arizona to San Diego, California for Thanksgiving, we plan a slightly more northern route back. Our next stop will be at Lake Havasu State Park in Lake Havasu City, AZ.

Now that we're in Lake Havasu, Tom keeps talking about London Bridge. What the heck is he talking about??? The answer is that in 1967, London Bridge was purchased from the city of London and moved to Lake Havasu, AZ, so it now spans the Colorado River.

They've done a nice job of creating a little London around the bridge. We're a little short on time, but it would be nice to spend some time exploring the shops here.

 

Prescott, AZ

The focus of this trip has been to see and explore the mountains of central Arizona, specifically Prescott. We met a super nice couple, Joseph and Randy, during our stay at Dead Horse Ranch State Park before Thanksgiving, and they have offered to show us around Prescott.

Our home base during this visit is the Point of Rocks Campground in northeastern Prescott. Point of Rocks is a more "rustic" RV park. Campsites are a little close, but this time of year, the park is not crowded. Our site is up the hill and overlooks Prescott. I also love the rocky outcroppings in the park.

Point of Rocks is right next to Watson Lake, and it is one of the first places we visit. Watson Lake is surrounded by the stunning rock formations that are found in the area.

During the drive around, we sighted a javelina (aka peccary). It looks like a cute version of a pig, but we were told they have tusks and can be quite dangerous. On top of that, they stink.

We do hit Prescott during the holiday season, and they do get into the spirit by decorating their town square.

Our friends - Randy and Joseph

Loved doing the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and fudge tastings while we were downtown! Got some gravenstein apple balsamic for ourselves and can't wait to try it on a salad! The one regret was that we didn't make it back to the meadery to do a mead tasting.

We did checked out a couple of the trails in the area. Below is the Constellation Trail, one of several hiking trails that are actually just on the outskirts of town.