Sacramento

We arrived in Sacramento on Thursday, December 15^th and got settled in at the Cal Expo RV Park. It’s very convenient if you’re visiting the Sacramento area and its right at the state fair grounds.

We went to a surprise retirement party for my sister Janet at her house the day we arrived. It was very nice with about 40 of her friends and co-workers in attendance. She retired from Sacramento County where she was an architect and construction project manager.

We visited friends of Janet and Nancy on Saturday night. Their friend Falcon Lee creates a special Christmas tree every year with hundreds of handmade ornaments. This year’s tree is his “Angel” tree and the ornaments were crafted using cotton balls and lots of gold ribbon. The Sacramento Bee wrote an article last week about Falcon and the special Christmas trees he’s created over the past 40 years.

 

 

On Monday we enjoyed cocktails and dinner with Julie’s cousin Sandy and her partner Brian. They live nearby and are both retired and travel a lot.    

We took a day trip on Tuesday to the small town of Sutter Creek, about 45-miles east of Sacramento and centered in California’s gold country. We enjoyed lunch in nearby Jackson at Mel’s Diner.

 

My sister Marcia and brother-in-law Mike arrived on Wednesday afternoon after a cross country flight from Washington Dulles. My niece Stephanie from Virginia also flew in from Washington Dulles on Friday night.

On Monday December 26^th, we all went to Ken & Franc’s house for brunch. Then we took a drive to up near Placerville and several local wineries. I saw a couple of signs in one winery’s gift shop that I thought were funny.        

 

Tomorrow we towards San Dimas, California where we join a Winnebego tour group to see some sights in the Los Angeles area and attend the Rose Parade in Pasadena.

Steve & Julie Cornelius

Paso Robles

After a short drive on Sunday, we arrived at Wine Country RV Resort. They had a Santa’s helper also staying there in a camping trailer.

 

On Monday we visited two local wineries. We learned that the Paso Robles area planted their first grapes back in the 1800s – Zinfandel. There are more than 140 wineries in the area growing more than 40 varieties of grapes.

The first winery we visited was Eberle Winery, just a short distance from the RV resort. Several people recommended Eberle to us. It is an award winning winery and yes, the wines were very good.

Next, we drove west of Paso Robles to Croad Vineyards. They had great hilltop views overlooking the Templeton Gap. Their wine was excellent as well. We were the only people tasting the wine on a Monday afternoon and enjoyed talking with the lady giving us samples.

 

Tuesday we headed west to the coast and then north up California Highway 1 to San Simeon to tour Hearst Castle. From the Visitor’s Center, we rode a bus up the hill to the mansion and went on a guided tour of the Grand Rooms on the first level.

 

After lunch, we rode the bus back up the hill again and went on a guided tour of The Upstairs Suites, on the second and third levels. The tour was even more interesting as we got see all the bedrooms, library, office and other rooms.

It was our first visit to Hearst Castle and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We were surprised to learn that the tours used to only cost $5 but recently were raised to $25 because all California State Parks now have to be self-supporting.

We head next to Sacramento for Christmas and we’ll be there for almost two weeks.       

Steve & Julie Cornelius

Lompoc, California

We got settled in at the Vandenberg Air Force Base FamCamp last Sunday. The campsites are paved with asphalt, but definitely are not level. Our motorhome is tilting a little to the left.

On Monday we headed to nearby Buellton to Andersen’s Pea Soup restaurant for lunch. We enjoyed sandwiches and a bowl of split pea soup. Andersen’s have been in business since 1924 and serve over 2 million bowls of spilt pea soup each year.

 

 

Tuesday we drove south of Lompoc along California Hwy 1 and US101 to El Capitan State Beach. Julie used to go with her family camping here when her Dad was stationed at Vandenberg. It’s a very nice state park with great views of the Pacific Ocean. We saw seals, dolphins and a grey whale just off shore while we were there. The weather was perfect, sunny and temperatures in the mid to upper 60s.

 

On Wednesday we went to The Hitching Post restaurant in nearby Casmalia for dinner. We went early, around 5PM, and it surprised us how busy it was so early in the evening. The restaurant specializes in Santa Maria style barbeque which is slow cooking with indirect heat over an open wood fire. The restaurant meals reminded us of an old style steak house where each meal included a relish tray, shrimp cocktail, salad, garlic bread, main course and dessert. The steaks we enjoyed were the absolute best we’ve ever had anywhere and they had a nice smoky flavor to them.

 

Thursday we drove about 28 miles over to Solvang. We enjoyed a late breakfast at Paula’s Pancake House in Solvang. I had the Danish pancakes which were thin, like crepes. There are many Danish Bakeries in Solvang and our mission was to find the best petit-fours (small two bite cakes filled with buttercream). The Solvang Bakery had a very nice selection of holiday petit-fours.

 

 

We head to Paso Robles on Sunday where we’re staying at the Wine Country RV Resort for 4 nights. We plan to visit a few wineries while we’re there. On Tuesday we will tour Hearst Castle, a National Historic Landmark and California Historical Landmark mansion near San Simeon on California Hwy 1.   

Steve & Julie Cornelius

Seal Beach, California

We arrived at Seabreeze RV Park last Monday with no problems. We last visited Seabreeze RV Park in February 2015 and it is a very nice, well maintained campground. We were surprised to see them mowing the grass in December.

 

The seaside town of Seal Beach is very interesting, especially the downtown area with its quaint shops and restaurants. We enjoyed eating at “The Hangout” grill, right across the street from the city beaches and its pier.

On Friday we went to Universal Studios Hollywood, driving north through central Los Angeles to get there. It was a fun day and we went to the Walking Dead attraction first. It was similar to a haunted house and I jumped when a zombie came from my side and surprised me in the dark. We also enjoyed the Universal Animal Actors show, the Special Effects show, the Jurassic Park ride, the hour-long Universal Studios tour on a tram, and finally the Harry Potter village.

 

We left Universal Studios around 5:30PM and it took us over 2-hours to drive the 37-miles back to Seal Beach.

 

We left Seal Beach this morning and headed up the infamous I-405, west to US101 through Ventura and Santa Barbara to Lompoc and Vandenberg AFB. The 190-mile drive wasn’t too bad on a Sunday morning. The 6-lane wide I-405 is always a sea of headlights and brake lights during the week.

Our only concern was finding a truck stop or gas station along the way big enough to pull into and refuel. We finally found a place in Lompoc. It was the first time we’d bought fuel in 5-weeks as we were leaving Nevada. We’re here at Vandenberg for a week.

Steve & Julie Cornelius