Holidays in Chula Vista

Last post of 2007..... Here we are all "ELFED" up for the xmas pot luck dinner at the resort- surely you are green with envy over these sweet costumes..... We continue to do our camphost duties which include BINGO CALLING, game nights, karaoke nights and other things. Visited with Jess and Gary for the xmas eve and xmas day dinners. All and all, a very tranquil transition to a new year which follows an entire year of incredible adventure!!! Happy Holidays to all!!

Hey Hon - How 'bout before we do that Red Eye flight across the continent, we stop first in Vegas and Paris??

As we were calmly preparing for our eastbound airplane trip from San Diego to Orlando BOY DID WE GET SOME NEWS .... It seems that Jessica and Gary were going to go to Las Vegas in a few days to TIE THE KNOT!! We had tixs to fly out of San Diego on a Red Eye Sunday night - and they planned a 730pm Saturday Night Elvis style wedding!! We were ecstatic to be among the few privlidged to be able to attend on such short notice. The wedding featured a ride in a antique pink Cadillac (owned by Lucille Ball), chauffered by the King himself, which actually delivers the bride right into the chappel!!! Gary wore his heritage to the event ( his Scottish kilt), while Jess had an astonishing Victoria Secrets -like dress.....



Elvis does the entire deal - he sings, dances, and is the justice of the peace .... Just look at that beaming smile on the new bride!!!! The chappel actually fills with fog during the ceremony ...... you can see more pix of the wedding at this link : http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=3368212 (copy - paste to url and then click 'CONTINUE' button - do not need to log in)




While in Vegas, Jessica and Gary decided that we should all go to Paris ! The Paris hotel, that is - to have the wedding dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant. Quite the exquisite culinary experience, with a spectacular view of Vegas!!



On a pleasant afternoon, Bill cruises the bay of San Diego bordering the Chula Vista campground we currently call home. Out upon these waters, he checked out an abandoned houseboat ... ehh , actually a 'housebrothel' which used to recently be in the babe for hire business. Must have been quite the unique tourist trap.....




Perhaps one of the most anticipated stops of our rv adventure .... a visit back to the Orlando house we purchased to see daughter Caylan !!! It had been almost a year since we saw her last ..... she took us to see the Blue Man Group - who she works with- at Universal Studios. Very entertaining night, preceded by a special dinner at Emeril's for celebration of Caylan's 21st b-day.



While in Florida, stopped by Mom and Dad's in West Palm to celebrate Dad's birthday..They were thrilled not only about Jessica's marriage to Gary, but also because the date they chose - Dec 8th - to get married, is the same day Mom and Dad met 50 years prior!! Lets hear it for the happy couples !!!!

Crying our eyes out in Chula VIsta......

As some sort of unusual hazing ritual , we suspect, we were required to make onion soup at the Chula Vista RV Resort....... this involved peeling and slicing an incredible 100 pounds of raw onions! Admittedly, I cheated by wearing my scuba goggles and was the only one NOT to shed a tear! The weather out here as been "OK" but not as good as we had hoped. It came as a surprise to us that it is NOT always sunny in the San Diego area. In fact, we have had several WEEKS of clouds. At least the temperatures have stayed reasonable in the 70's or so during the day. We helped roast 8 turkeys for thanksgiving dinner #1 this Saturday, and will need to do another 8 next week for the 'real' turkey bird day.

Halloween ......

We dressed up as the guy from the 'Operation Game' and his doctor. The refreshments were especially delicious served up in our urine container. FYI- that really is NOT Bill's actual belly.... it is a blow up bag!!


Jessica as the witch, and Gary as the Grim reaper. As one might imagine, Jessica cast quite a spell on the older crowd at the RV resort with her sexy outfit - BUT, it was Gary who actually WON THE RESORT CONTEST for best costume!!


Had the pleasure of meeting up with NY Cousin Jeff, Elaine (and daughter Erica)while they were visiting the west coast.....


Celebrated our own happy hour at the water's edge with Jessica and Gary.


The San Diego sunsets have been spectacular with all the dust and ash from the fires.


We took a trip up to L.A. to see the new PRICE IS RIGHT with Drew Carey..... An all day affair (3 hr drive each way), we actually became potential contestants, complete with name tags!!! Come on down!! Watch the episode with us in it on Nov 29 in the morning - we are in the third row, absolute center, right behind the podiums where the 4 people guess the prices. As per CBS rules, we can not reveal any details of the show, including whether or not we won that car....

Hell is Burning over in San Diego - Come on Baby, Light my Fire!

FIRE ALL AROUND US - but we are safe in San Diego! As you have seen on the news, a firestorm has raged in our area. Out on the water bordering our RV park, you can see all the soot on top of the water in this picture. We have our Kayak blown up and ready to go if that darn line of fire should threaten us here! The fire actually creeped up to within a few miles of our daughter, Jessica's condo - but for now seems to have veered away.



On our car, each day there is an accumulation of fallen ash which needs to be cleaned off....


Blending in with the local surfer boys, Bill engages in a fierce episode of "in your face" competitive volleyball......... (FOOT NOTE -please pardon the pun- check out the huge "Big Foot" sized sandals in the picture, which belong to Bill & compare them with the others nearby!)


Help!! I have fallen and I can't get up!! As an outstanding athlete, Bill made a diving attempt to return a volley.


At the Chula Vista RV Resort we are staying at, Ilea visits with some fine feathered friends..... it is a $20,000 fine to feed them!!

San Diego Part 2 - Blown away by a Chopper & Air Supply

Jessica's guy, Gary is the commander in chief of a United States Coast Guard ship. He invited us out on the vessel one night, for some helicopter manuevers and it literally blew you away!! Bill was up for the 'total experience' of being on deck, but Ilea chose the less intimidating view from the enclosed captain's bridge. After getting suited up in official Coast Guard attire- 20 miles offshore, Bill proceeded to the deck where hurricane force winds generated from a helicopter hovering several yards above actually pushed the skin on his face back like the g-forces from a launch on the space shuttle would. Water was violently kicked up simulating a water spout. Later we learned that the chopper pilot was 'new' and he came quite a bit closer to the ship than 'normal'.... living life on the edge, oh yeah!


Out on the dangerous waters near the Mexican border, Ilea gets into combat pose, ready to take down any illegal drug trafficers we may encounter while patrolling the pacific.........


We finally caught up with the most awesome music group in the world - our old friends, Graham and Russell of the group AIR SUPPLY! We had hoped to see them in Mexico earlier in the year, but RV repairs slowed us down. This concert was as usual, FANTASTIC! Timing was amazing as we pulled up just as their tour bus arrived. We watched their sound check too. After the show, we stayed around a bit to talk with them.


We all had plans of doing a bit of apple picking while we toured the countryside together - that is , until we learned what they charged! All we wanted was one bags worth of apples. That was expensive enough at $10 - B U T - in order to walk thru the orchard, EACH PERSON WAS REQUIRED TO PAY $10, even if they did not pick, nor want any apples!!! The owner explained that its "Not so much about just the apples, but about the EXPERIENCE." So, as $40 for a single bag of apples was obviously ridiculous, we bid Jessica a fond farewell as she ventured off to pick - ALONE !


Jessica and Gary after a grueling mission of picking the perfect pumpkin during our trip into the surrounding California hillsides.

Dying to get to DEATH VALLEY ...... yawn in Yosemite..

A drive down the main road of Death Valley took us to this predator. Mr. Coyote was actually trolling the CENTER YELLOW LINE of the highway for FOOD (hand outs!) It is a real problem in the parks, so much so that the caretakers of Scotty's Castle has a rodent problem - they claim- because the coyotes have gotten lazy and instead of hunting rats, just beg off tourists! This particular guy actually circled our car over a DOZEN TIMES, a mere 2 feet away AND, when we started to drive away, RAN AFTER OUR CAR!!! He must have smelled the beef jerky we had with us!!


Within the Death Valley park, this is SCOTTY'S CASTLE, which is a top attraction. Seems this guy, Scotty, scammed some people in the early 1900's to think he discovered a secret gold mine in Death Valley - they invested in it even though no one ever saw it.... one of the investors became good friends with Scotty, and built this place as a vacation home.


View from bottom of Death Valley.....


View from the bottom of Death Valley - notice the thick SALT on the ground.....


One thing to emphasize about Death Valley : IT IS HUGE!!!! This is a view from way above, looking down 2000 ft.

The day before we drove to Death Valley, there was a rare rain storm which left numerous stretches of flooded roadways. This area was not quite knee deep - 24 hours after the rains! We made it through alright.....



Yosemite is yet another spectacular national park ..... we have seen SO MANY that it is now more difficult to 'wow us'..... we spent most of our day there riding our bikes down around Yosemite Valley, gazing up at El Capitan, Half Dome and other well known landmarks. Our next destination is the San Diego area to visit daughter Jessica and future son-in-law Gary....

Can U say C O P P E R F I E L D ????

As I post this blog, it is still difficult to believe FOR OURSELVES what I am about to share...... A few years back, while I was doing my star show
( www.bigdipperbill.com ) at Little Palm Island in the Florida Keys, one of the guests - David Copperfield ( http://www.dcopperfield.com/ ), watched my performance. Several days ago, while we were in the peaceful tranquility of Zion National Park, I recieved a phone call from David's agent requesting to purchase several of the green laser astronomy pointers that I use in my show in addition to complete sets of the special constellation prints that I produce. The incredible TIMING of this ( we were planning to BE IN LAS VEGAS in several days - which is where David is currently performing) led ME to suggest a 'barter', that is a trade of 2 of my $100 lasers for 2 tickets to his show. Copperfield 'one upped' the barter, instead saying we could have tickets to his show FOR 'FREE" in equal exchange for INSTEAD, A PERSONAL STAR SHOWING by me while we're in town! I agreed on one condition - that he NOT MAKE ANY OF MY CONSTELLATIONS IN THE SKY DISAPPEAR! Soooo, we went to great lengths to accomodate his request (long story - ask us sometime!), and after seeing his AWESOME SHOW last night, he and 6 of his 'associates' met us in the desert at 1 AM for my show! All went very well - details too much to list here... (incidentally - I don't see any stars in the sky in our picture!!!)

Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks

Within the campground at Zion Nat Park, we were completely surrounded by cliffs towering 1000 ft + high..... probably one of the best places we've camped at during our trip!


At Zion Nat Park, 'Weeping Rock' is a short trek up a hill to a 300 ft overhang rock formation that 'weeps' , that is- constantly has dripping water over its edge. As usual, pix does not capture magnitude of moment.


After spending so much time in the wild west, we finally let loose!

Unfortunately, Ilea got a little too carried away when she wrestled a rifle away from the local sheriff ..... she was incarcerated. We did need some 'alone time' as it does get a bit cramped living in an RV full time - guess I'll bail her out in a couple days..........



Looking up from down BELOW in Bryce Canyon - you get an idea of the 'Fin' formations, which are a couple hundred feet high.


Viewing Bryce Canyon from ABOVE, Ilea psyches herself up for the 3 mile hike down into the canyon below.....


At the Cafe Diablo, as usual - Ilea could not separate her own attractiveness from the surrounding flowers.... the camera was overwelmed, and needed repair after this shot!


One of the many fantastic views along the roads in Utah.


Pausing to absorb the magnitude of the natural beauty surrounding us during a hike at Capitol Reef, we hope to be discovered by a modeling company so that we may be able to further finance our adventures.....


Not able to contain his excitement, Bill sets off to see some REAL HISTORY.


Canyonlands was awesome! You can see HUGE canyons way down below which were inside of yet further HUMONGOUS canyons that spanned for miles in front of you.... for perspective, this view is from a cliff, looking down a couple thousand feet. To celebrate these unusual hikes, Bill indulged in a dinner of RATTLESNAKE at Cafe Diablo (Devil's Cafe)....


At Arches Nat Park, we went on a ranger led walk thru 'Fiery Furnace'... Ilea negotiates a tight spot- there were many where you could barely fit! As we hiked thru , there were cliffs hundreds of feet high on both sides of the 2 foot wide path!

Blown away by Balloons...... then off to Utah!

In Colorado Springs, we stayed with our wonderful Aunt Helen, and had some incredible times during three visits to their annual Balloon festival.
There were over 80 up in the air, and we actually saw one LAND in the middle of a 4 lane HIGHWAY!!!! As you can see, they launch near a lake, then they skim on the top of the lake, and finally go up. One evening, we went to see the "Balloon Glow" where the balloons are filled with hot air, and, without actually launching, flare their flames- causing them to glow. Sadly, it was too windy and they canceled that... many people were leaving due to the high winds and recent lightning (oh-FYI, nearby a hiker had been killed by a lightning strike! ....anyway) what they DID DO instead was set up the balloons without the balloons - that is, just the baskets with their propane flares. THAT WAS AWESOME! About 25 of these powerful flamethrowers going off at once .... it felt like we had landed in some ancient ceremony ( or were having a thrilling date with the devil !!!!!) Note the cool picture with the MOON.... notice how the sun lights up a side of the moon AND amazingly, also lights up the same side of the balloon........

Uhhh...do we really need to say anything about this store in Colorado?




Took a day trip to the far NW corner of Colorado to the Dinosaur National Monument , where we were supposed to be able to see an actual active quarry of dinosaur bones (one of the worlds largest).....sadly, the building built over this quarry has structural damage and has been closed for over a year!! Did not know - DUH... We at least got to walk a path to see a few bones embedded in the rock. Pic shows a dino femur.

On to UTAH!! This is the scene after a significant hike uphill to the "Delicate Arch" in the Arches National Park. The view here is phenomenal!!