PHOTO GALLERY 2023

At the left is a composite photo of some of recent adventures from the past year or so. See the complete 2023 photo gallery featuring photos such as these as well as many many more great photos. Left to right and top to bottom those thumbnail photos are Vilano 5th Wheel, MG adventures, Miramar Motorcoach, Joe sailing, Anne Marie sailing, Libby & Taffy, MGB travels, Taffy + Poe, and the Blokart I tried while over at the Washington coast.

Previous Photo Galleries 2012-2023:
Select another Windseeker gallery from the dropdown menu  :   2023:  Windseeker VI  Miramar - Western Travels 2023 2022:  Windseeker VI  Miramar - Western Travels 2022 2021:  Windseeker VI  Miramar - Western Travels 2021 2020:  Windseeker V  Forester - Western Travels 2020 2019:  Windseeker V  Forester - Western Travels 2019 2018:  Windseeker V  Forester - Western Travels 2017-18 2016:  Windseeker III  Allegro Bus - Eastern Tour - PART II 2016:  Windseeker III  Allegro Bus - Eastern Tour - PART I 2015:  Windseeker III  Allegro Bus - National Tour - PART II 2015:  Windseeker III  Allegro Bus - National Tour - PART I 2014:  Windseeker III  Allegro Bus - Western Tour 2013:  Windseeker II  Country Coach - Western Tour 2012:  Windseeker I  Gulf Stream - Northwest Tour 2010:  our first RV - Ford F250 with Lance Camper --------------------------------- 

Spring Trip to California and the American Southwest - beginning March 2023

Just as we were closing in our planned spring RV trip Libby spotted this little guy in the paper under pups for sale from a local breeder. We should probably have oour heads examined being this close to a major trip, but who could resist this little face? Libby agonized over it for days and finally we went over there "just to look". Yeah Right. So now Taffy has a little brother to train. Since she was a mother herself at a very early age, she's an old hang at handling puppies. She taught him to use the doggie door in two days at home. He's really smart but at 3 1/2 months old he's also a real handful.

Here's the little guy with his litter mates at a couple weeks old. Awwww. his breeder shared some early puppy photos of him. Riley is the one in the middle sitting up. He is an alert little bugger, but fortunately he does tire himself out and takes regular naps.

On March 14, we kicked off our long planned spring trip to California and the Utah National Parks. It has been a very wet, snowy and inclement winter, so we have been watching weather reports and waiting for favorable conditions to head south. Finally Old Man Winter seems to be chilling out and Friday of this week finally provided an excellent opportunity to cross thru the Siskiyous and down into California.

Our first stop on our 3200 mile spring trip is Eugene. We reserved a spot at Premier RV Park over along I-5 where we have stayed before, an ideal place to test all the motorhome systems before leaving on the road. Half mile away is Camping World where any supplies or repair parts we might need are readily available. We also went over to Fern Ridge where we have our Vilano 5th Wheel. It is still winterized so we won't stay there yet. But we have the sailboat on its trailer covered next to Vilano (in blue) and we moved our Sun Tracker pontoon boat over to our space. It's been undercover until now but we affixed the excellent factory cover now so it can sit outside until summer.

We were over working on the boat and gathering up things for the trip so we left the dogs back in the motorhome at Premier RV Park where we are staying for a couple days while we test all the coach systems. Taffy is an old hand at waiting in the RV but this was a first time for our new pup Riley, a white mini Schnauzer we just got recently. He is not yet quite 4 months old and is cute as a button but he can also be a little devil. I call him a little hooligan, so it's best to leave him in his wire crate while we're gone. We started crate training right after we got him 2 weeks ago and he's adapted quite well. He sleeps in it over night and we can leave him in there when we need to contain him and keep him from getting into any mischief. The words 'puppy' and 'mischief' are synonymous! Fortunately, so are the words 'puppy' and 'adorable'!

Just watched a recent Frontline special Age of Easy Money about recent bank failures and the state of the economy. This incredible 15 year synopsis is a must watch! It covers everything from the 2008 Financial crisis all the way thru Bernanke and QE to the various market corrections to asset bubble speculation (including of course real estate) all the way thru the Pandemic, right on up to "transitory" inflation where the fed said they would not have to intervene further, right on up to the major intervention (ongoing?) with SVB and the other recent bank failures.

The Frontline special was epic and prophetic. It also pointed to the unparalleled wealth gap as one of the primary causes. Ya think there might be an issue with wealth inequality in the U.S. today? At the time this article was written in Forbes Magazine in November 2017, the 3 Richest Americans - Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Jeff Bezos - collectively hold more wealth than the bottom 50% of the domestic population, "a total of 160 million people or 63 million American households." Wealth inequality? Hmmmm.... ya think?

Here we are in Pea Soup Andersens restaurant enjoying the "Traveler's Special", bottomless bowls of their famous pea soup and tasty onion rolls... all you can eat. One of Libby's favorite memories as a kid was her family trips to Pea Soup Andersens. On the wall are their trademark characters Hap-pea and Pea-wee. There are two locations - one in the Danish town of Solvang in southern California and the other in Santa Nella in central Cal. We chose Santa Nella for a layover on our way south and of course we had to pay homage to Pea Soup Andersens.

Life on the road with these two is definitely not boring! Taffy is such a sweetheart and is tolerating the puppy pretty well. Riley is now 4 months old and he's a little hooligan, cute as hell but definitely a handful. Today, Thursday, March 23, we drove down from Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield where we sat out the storms the last three days and arrived at MPTF - Motion Picture & Television Fund, in Woodland Hills, California, a 3-stage retirement home for seniors in the Motion Picture and Television Industry. Just checking it out as a possible future option should we need it.

I applied and was accepted for residence at the MPTF. It's probably not the most likely scenario for the future, but I am looking at it just as a kind of backup option down the road. Unlikely that I would chose to move here, but nice to have options. They invited us come by the facility for a tour. So we drove down on Thursday and will take the tour on Friday. They gave us permission to park our motorhome in the back lot for a couple nights. They strung out an electric cord for us and it's a nice quiet spot to park for a couple nights, and conveniently right next to the doggie park.

Here's Libby and the two dogs at "Doggywood", an appropriate name for the dog park for Hollywood Folks and their dogs. What great accomodations!

After spending two delightful nights at the MPTF campus we headed over to Dockweiler State Beach RV Park in Playa Del Rey for one night. It is right at the beach but noisy between all the party people and close proximity to LAX airport with planes 24/7. But we were lucky to get a spot on short notice on a Saturday night before we moved over to our 3 night reservations at Golden Shore RV Park in Long Beach where we have stayed before. While at Playa Del Rey, I buzzed over see an old girlfriend from the 1970's, Jil, who has become a good friend of the family. Jil and I drove up to Bel Aire to visit her mom Buffy.

Jil's mom, Buffy, and I were always close so she was so happy to have me visit and I always enjoy seeing her. Buffy is now 97 and still sharp as a tack. She is an inspiration!

NOTE: Buffy passed away peacefully on July 9, 2023 at age 97 after a brief struggle with her health.

After one night at Dockweiler State Beach we moved to Golden Shore RV Resort in Long Beach by the harbor where we have stayed before. It's a very nice RV Park when the weather is good, however we hit another of Southern California's endless atmospheric rivers this year and the park is prone to flooding and is pretty messy in the rain. It is a real challenge with two dogs that hate the rain. We will be glad to move on to San Diego and drier weather today, April 29.

This is our space after it rained most of the night... what a mess. The dogs hate the rain and it is nasty dragging all this mudand sand into the RV or the car. Time to move on!

Today I want to take a moment to wish a very Happy Birthday to my hero Secretariat. On March 29, a few years back in the spring of 2015 we visited Claiborne Farm in Lexington, KY. Owned by the Hancock Family, Claiborne Farm has been a leading Thoroughbred farm for generations. Claiborne is where the greatest racehorse of all time, Secretariat, my favorite athlete of all time, stood at stud and is buried. Tens of thousands visit the gravesite every year. I brought my own treasured bronze racehorse statue to the gravesite to physically imbue it with Secretariat's spirit.

Secretariat was born March 30, 1970, and was named Thoroughbred Racing's Horse of the year as a two year old, the first time a two year old ever won that honor. He became the first Triple Crown Winner in 50 years in 1973, breaking track records for the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and the Belmont, where he won the race by a record 31 lengths, a record which still stands today. He retired after the season as a three year old and stood at Stud until age nineteen at Claiborne Farms in Lexington, KY. You can watch this video of the gorgeous stallion running free in his paddock.... and this special tribute to the racing legend. Called by some "The greatest athlete the world has ever seen", I watch this touching tribute every year on his birthday... R.I.P. Big Red".

This is a historic time that we are living through on this road trip. This is after all the first time in US history that a former president of the United States has been indicted for criminal activity. This is the case brought by Manhatten District Attorney Alvin Bragg. It was certainly not unexpected. Donald Trump managed to avoid prosecution while he was president thanks to the legal maneuverings of William Barr as Attorney General. But even he has turned against Trump and now we have not one but 6-8 legal proceedings in progress against the twice impeached former president. This informative graphic shown on MSNBC really makes it clear the insurmountable web of criminal and civil prosecution facing Trump.

Taffy, like all our three westies, always draws comments that she is the Cesar's Dog Food dog. Yep she is... as was Corey and Gracie before him. Westies have been the logo pet for Cesar's for many years. They are just so cute!

Not quite as well known as Cesar's but as we were driving down the freeway today we saw this delivery truck for Centinela Feed and Pet Supplies with a picture of a white Schnauzer like Riley on it! So darn cute! Riley was very proud!

We arrived on 4/29 at Admiral Baker RV Campground where we have stayed before back in 2019. It is primarily a RV camp for active duty and retired military but 30 days prior to arrival the public can check availability. This is a very nice quiet RV Park which borders on a golf course. The dogs also love it here because of the park-like grounds.

Admiral Baker RV Campground is also located very close to where the grandkids are staying this spring, so they could come over and play in the park and on the play structures. That is Emery and Oliver playing at the play structure and sandpit across from our RV space.

We left San Diego and moved on to Las Vegas. We got checked into our space at Las Vegas RV Resort on Nellis Ave in East LV, our home for the next three days. As I was attempting to connect to services, the thin plastic riser for the fresh water snapped off creating a 40' geyser beside the rig. Libby called the front desk and maintenance was out in flash. They got the water shut off and repaired the pipe pretty quickly. Meanwhile Libby sent the photo to a friend who remarked, gee what a beautiful fountain next to your rig! Uh not....

From Las Vegas we headed NW on I-15 out of Nevada, crossed thru the NW corner of Arizona enroute to Kanab, Utah. There was some major construction on I-15 just past Mesquite, AZ so our GPS directed us onto Hwy 91 for about 20 miles and this wound its way through some pretty rocky country.

We passed through some beautiful terrain in Northwestern Arizona on the Virgin River Gorge scenic highway. Just eye-popping views around every turn.

The first town of any size we came to in Utah was St George. The breathtaking views of the Pine Valley Mountains really make this place. Easy to see why a lot of people want to live here! We cruised along another 75 miles to Kanab, where we are stopping for 4 days to take in some of the many sights around here.

Certainly no first time visit to this part of Utah would be complete without a visit to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. We visited those two world famous sites some years ago and both are seared into our memories... both are fantastic and should not be missed. And this blog would be incomplete without at least an honorable mention of these two Utah highlights. But this trip was focused on other parts of southwestern Utah we had not visited before. Readers of this blog planning a trip to Utah should definitely plan to include both Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks on their itinerary. Both are fabulous and are uniquely different experiences.

We arrived at Grand Plateau RV Resort in Kanab Utah and settled into our RV space here. We have a nice view of some of the classic rock formations in this area just above us. We'll be here four nites which gives us 3 full days to visit a few of many popular attractions in the area.

The dog park at Grand Plateau RV Resort might be the most scenic dog park we have ever used. Not sure if the dogs appreciate the views but it offers a large enclosed space with nice pea gravel and is kept very clean.

This impressive rock face is the key landmark to our RV Park... the Grand Plateau. This turret type rock face is just gorgeous in the late afternoon sun.

We made our first stop to the Visitor Center in Kanab. It is called the Grand Staircase-Escalante Visitor Center. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is located here covering some two million acres, an area the size of Delaware. It is separated into three distinct districts, the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau and the Escalante Canyons. This wall display in the visitor center provides some information on this remarkable area. The guy at the desk told us to be sure and stop into the Parry Lodge.

Here I am seated in the lobby of the historic Parry Lodge in Kanab Utah. Starting in 1924 with the filming of Deadwood Coach, The Parry Lodge became a home away from home for countless film casts and crews, including golden age Hollywood royalty like John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Clint Eastwood, Maureen O’Hara, Rhonda Fleming, Roy Rogers and Ronald Reagan, to name just a few.. Over the past century, the hotel has housed crews for over 100 films, including The Lone Ranger and The Outlaw Josey Wales, earning Kanab the title of "Little Hollywood." I posed for a photo with my old buddy The Duke. Howdy Puilgrim!

We also made a stop at the Little Hollywood Museum and Trading Post in downtown Kanab, where they have on display many artifacts of movie history from the hundreds of films shot in the area, plus a number of crumbling old movie sets on the back lot that you can walk around and thru.

Here's Libby wandering around the back lot reliving a bit of movie history as she looks thru old western movie sets

Here I am sitting on the front porch of an old move set cabin in a crude rocking chair from the era. Howdy Stranger... Eh-yep... the sheriff's office is that-a-way...

On our second full day in Kanab, Utah we took the drive up Johnson Canyon Road which turns off Hwy 89 just a few miles east of our RV Park. This picturesque quiet back road meanders up 20 miles into the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, as suggested to us at the Grand Staircase-Escalante Visitor Center where we stopped our first day in Kanab. The national monument covers an area the size of the state of Delaware and so we can only take a tiny section of it our brief stop here, and Johnson Canyon Road is an excellent way to do it.

Here's just a sample of some of many Kodak moments afforded to us as we drove up Johnson Canyon Road into the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Besides the photo at the left, I have posted more than a dozen additional photos I took today on our Grand Staircase gallery page.

Since this is a holiday weekend (Easter) we decided to celebrate and go out for dinner. We chose a little Cuban restaurant in Kanab called Havana Cubana. We had a tasty pulled pork dish with rice and savory black beans. We also had a side of Maduros, sweet ripe plantains, fried until caramelized, a cuban specialty which I always loved when I lived in Key West, Florida 50+ years ago. They were as good as I remember. Who'da thunk you would come all the way up to 5000' elevation small town Kanab, Utah to get excellent cuban food!

After leaving Kanab we crossed back into Arizona enroute to the city of Page for our next stop on the Grand Southwest Tour. We passed just north of the Grand Canyon. We won't get there this trip, as our focus is Utah this time. This was the roadsign welcoming us to Arizona.

We arrived in Page, Arizona on Monday afternoon and checked in to and Antelope Point RV Park & Marina, a brand new RV park in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Our space #31 (circled in yellow) backs right up to a scenic overlook featured on the Travelogue page and mirrored here. Down below is a parking lot which is pretty empty this week.. and then beyond that is a finger of the lake and the marina where we will catch a boat tour on Wednesday.

Today we drove into the town of Page. We visited the Chamber of Commerce / Visitor's Center and got some information on how and what to do in Page this week. Then We drove over to the Glen Canyon Dam. We parked just this side of the bridge above the dam which afforded some excellent views of the Colorado River... this shot from the bridge looks south showing the water below the dam

This is the view from the other side of the bridge looking at the high side of the dam and the water in the Colorado held back by the dam which creates Lake Powell. Lake Powell is only 13% of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, but is one of the largest man-made lakes in North America, some 186 miles in length.

Due to the ongoing drought, the current water level at Lake Powell is 3,533.3 feet elevation, 179.82 feet below Full Pool. By content, Lake Powell is at 21.67% of Full Pool. The dead pool level is 3,370 feet, the point at which water from the Colorado River would no longer flow past the dam, causing hydropower operations to cease. The power plant has a total capacity of 1,320 megawatts and is a major power source making five billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power annually distributed by the Western Area Power Administration to Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Nebraska.

Margaritas at sunset... is there anything better? After visiting Glen Canyon Dam this afternoon, we stopped into a liquor store, bought some tequila, triple sec and limes and came back to the coach where I fixed some of our favorite margaritas and we sat out on the patio by the coach and watched the sun set on the distant rock formations. Our campsite space #31, (circled in yellow), backs right up to a great view. The dogs sat outside with us and enjoyed the quiet solitude of the late afternoon in Antelope Canyon.

This is a 20 degree sliver of the 100 degree distant view we have from our patio. I posted a wide angle photo of the larger view but it is impossible to see much detail in a small photo. This sliver gives a better idea of what we sat out looking at over our margarita sunset.

Today, April 12, we took a one hour boat tour up into the narrow end of Antelope Canyon on Lake Powell. We sat on covered pontoon boat which carried about 35 tourists. The lake is down about 190 feet from full pool, but while this is getting to dangerous levels for hydropower generation, the lake is still plenty deep for boating... it just makes the canyon walls that much taller. This photo is taken alongside the boat with its vinyl side curtain on the left.

We drove over to Horseshoe Bend on the south side of Page. This famous horseshoe-shaped landmark was formed by the Colorado River, just downstream from Glen Canyon Dam and about 9 miles from Lake Powell. Sometimes referred to as the 'east rim of the Grand Canyon', this is a very popular tourist stop and there were hundreds of tourists hiking the .7 mile path down from the parking lot to the scenic overlook point.

We hiked out to the overlook point with the two dogs. Dogs are welcome on the path. Here's a shot of Libby and 1100' below her is the Colorado River at Horseshoe Bend.

I managed to make the .7 mile hike, a gradual downhill slope down to the overlook... a 380' change in elevation. The photo at the left is taken from about halfway down the path to the scenic overlook point. The yellow line in the photo traces the path as it winds down the hill. In the 4000' elevation I got pretty winded on the hike back up to the parking lot. I had to stop several times and catch my breath, But I was glad I made the effort!

We are halfway thru our long-awaited two month spring adventure and Gouldings Campground in Monument Valley will be our home for six nights. This outrageous view is from our windshield as parked in our campsite.

Our campsite at Gouldings sits nestled in a small canyon surrounded by the beautiful sandstone cliffs of Monument Valley. Behind the coach is the east wall towards late afternoon. Monument Valley on the Arizona - Utah state line is known as "John Wayne Country." The Duke made 5 movies here with director John Ford including "Stagecoach" (1939), "Fort Apache" (1948), "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949), "Rio Grande" (1950), and "The Searchers" (1956).

After getting settled, we drove a mile or so down the road to capture this magnificent view of this slice of Monument Valley as sunset approaches. Hard to capture the vastness in much detail. Here is a tighter shot in a larger format for more detail.

Monday morning we awoke to clear sunny warm day in Monument Valley - just across from our campsite is a trail which winds up into to the rocks on the west side of the canyon. The photo is zoomed in on little Libby standing in front of the vast rock formation.

Here's Libby... same photo as above except no zoom on the camera showing the full scope of this enormous rock formation.

Monday afternoon we drove over to the Monument Valley Tribal Park Visitor Center where The View Hotel and Restaurant is also located. Amazingly we had to pay $8/person for a daily pass just to drive over there. I snapped this photo while we were waiting in line. Taffy was hoping to spot some groundhogs.

Lots of great photo opps up at the Monument Valley Tribal Park Visitor Center. Libby snapped this photo of me, the birthday boy, with his early birthday present, another mini Schnauzer - Riley. Behind us are East and West Mitten Butte (note the shape is something like a mitten). Here's the same photo closein of me and Riley.

This is Libby and I at a scenic overlook called John Wayne's Point with several icon Monument Valley rock formations in the background including West Mitten Butte and Merrick Butte. As the sign explains The Duke made 5 movies with director John Ford here in Monument Valley including "Fort Apache" (1948), "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949), "Rio Grande" (1950), "The Searchers" (1956), and the first of his major films "Stagecoach" (1939) which we watched on my DVR again last night.

While up at the Monument Valley Tribal Park Visitor Center we confirmed our reservations for tomorrow for a jeep tour that is run daily by Navajo locals of the famed 17 mile loop through the Monument Valley floor. One can drive it themselves, but they say the road is pretty rough so we decided to sign up for a jeep tour and save the wear and tear on our Durango.

Tonite, for my birthday, we went out to dinner at the Goulding's Restaurant. I ordered a steak and a "loaded" baked potato... Libby had the roast chicken. Tasty meal.

We poked our heads into John Wayne's Cabin as seen in the John Ford classic film "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon". The plaque on the door reads "Nathan Brittles Capt. Cav. USA"

This is the view from the restaurant out across Monument Valley at several iconic monoliths. That is the magnificent Eagle Mesa on the left/

Today we took a 17 mile scenic guided tour through the Valley floor. The loop starts up at the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. While visitors can choose to drive their own car on the loop, the road is pretty rough and we elected to take a guided Jeep tour with a local Navajo guide, Paul with Monument Valley Tours who took us on the loop in his red Jeep Wrangler. Besides the tour narration and saving wear and tear on our own car, Paul took us to see many sights on the drive which are ONLY accessible to tribal members and not to the general public.

Here I am standing at a designated viewpoint with a good view across the valley floor. A group of other tourists are visible over my shoulder on the mesa behind me. Monument Valley just takes your breath away!

I cannot recall the name of this formation but the hole in rocks at the top lets the sunlight through. There's also a cool echo if you shout towards it. The jeep parked in front gives a good idea of the scale of this formation.

We stopped here on the jeep tour to snap this photo of a rock formation called the Three Ssters, also often referred to as "W V" or "Welcome Visitors." There are so many remarkable sights we viewed on the 17 mile loop, created a special page of large format photos to display some of the many wondrous sights in Monument Valley.

On Thursday we drove about 30 minutes from the campground to Valley of the Gods, another fascinating geological wonderland here in San Juan County in southwestern Utah. There is 17 mile graded dirt road which meanders all through the Valley. It is a free entry and reasonable well maintained, so we opted to drive it ourselves and took the dogs. Pictured is our Dodge Durango AWD is the turnoff from Hwy 163 just north of Mexican Hat, another remarkable rock formation. In the photo at the left, that is the first major formation, 'Seven Sailors' you can see after entering Valley of the Gods.

As you first enter the Valley of the Gods you are treated to many sweeping vistas like this one which includes many monolithic rock formations. Some of these are shown individually below with their names.

This oft photographed formation is named Castle Butte... and it is easy to see how it got this name.

This formation is called Rooster Butte and located just 3 miles inside the entrance to Valley of the Gods.

This rock formation located around the far side of Valley of the Gods looked like a seated Buddha to me.

This last formation located on the far side of the Valley of the Gods.is known as 'Lady in a bathub.'

After we left Monument Valley, our next important stop was Santa Fe, New Mexico. I've always wanted to visit this legendary town, and end point of the Santa Fe Trail, a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. We reserved a picturesque spot at the Santa Fe Skies RV Park for our 4 days visit. Santa Fe is known for its history, architecture, culture, SW art and fine dining. They say they are located on a windy ridge... they were not kidding!

While visiting Santa Fe, Mew Mexico, we took a hour and a half guided tram tour of Old Santa Fe with Loretto Line Tours. This provided an excellent overview of the city and its high points and history.

We caught the Loretto Line tram tour directly across from the historic La Fonda Hotel on the Plaza (left), a highly rated hotel and an excellent example of Pueblo Revival architecture which is the dominant architectural theme in Santa Fe. La Fonda sits on the site of the town's first inn, established when the city was founded by Spaniards in 1607, The structure that guests enjoy today was built in 1922. It was acquired by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway.and leased to Fred Harvey, who made the inn a "Harvey House", a hotel chain noted for its high standards, fine dining and the signature "Harvey Girls."

On our tram tour we passed this sculpture known as the 'Monument to American Settlers' on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, a lifesize sculpture dedicated to the end of the Santa Fe Wagon Train Trail. As diehard fans of old western movies, this sculpture had special meaning for us. It includes a lifesize bronze covered wagon pulled by a team of six mules with a cowboy on horseback showing them the way.

On our final day in the afternoon we droveover to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in downtown Santa Fe, near the Plaza. Born in 1887, Georgia O'Keeffe was an American artist who painted nature in a way that showed how it made her feel. She is best known for her paintings of flowers and desert landscapes. A pair of her famous Calia Lily paintings are pictured at left with an inset of the Santa Fe Museum building.

On Friday we bid farewell to Santa Fe and drove an hour SW to Albuquerque to attend the Gathering of Nations Festival on Saturday. The Gathering of Nations is the largest pow-wow in North America. Pow wows are Native American gatherings in which American Indians sing, dance, reconnect with old friends and celebrate their rich ancestral histories. Over 565 tribes from around the U.S. and 220 from Canada travel to Albuquerque to participate in the Gathering of Nations which is held annually on the fourth weekend in April, on the Powwow Grounds at Tingley Cooliseum, Expo NM, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Tingley Coliseum seats 11,500 people and the place was packed including hundreds and hundreds of people on the main floor. Most attendees were Native American but there were quite a few white folks like us in attendance as well. The dancing competitions were held on the main floor with both men and women competing in separate events. In addition there were any number of songs or chants accompanied by drums.

In addition to the main events inside the coliseum, there were small events scattered around the fairgrounds outside with colorful costumes, drumbeats and chanting. Plenty of food stands around the grounds as well, all with long lines.

We topped off our brief visit to Albuquerque with dinner at Freddy's Steakburger, home of the tastiest frozen custard on thr planet.

After Albuquerque we drove about an hour west to the Sky City Hotel & Casino which also has an RV park which just 20 minutes from the Sky City Cultural Center and Haak'u Museum located in the Acoma Pueblo.

Libby and I are standing in the courtyard behind the museum and above our heads along the ridge are the ancient pueblos, Dating back to 1150 A.D. the Acoma Pueblo is the oldest continuously inhabited community in North America. The Acoma Pueblo itself is not open to visitors due to continuing Covid restrictions to protect the indigenous elders. But we visited the cultural center and museum. And we also got to watch some of the descendants of these ancient Puebloans do some native dancing with drum accompaniment,

We watched a video presentation about the making of Acoma Pottery. Featured was Lucy Lewis, one of the great Matriarch potters of the past century. She learned to make pottery independently and revived the pottery-making process at Acoma Pueblo. This picture of Lucy hangs in the Acoma Village Sky City Cultural Center and Haak'u Museum. Alongside is an example of a traditional Acoma pottery jar

On the way back out I took another shot of the ancient pueblos up on the mesa ridge.

The Cultural Center and Pueblos are in a very remote area. On the 20 mile drive back to the RV Park we passed the "Mesa Encantada" or Enchanted Mesa. Centuries ago, the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico built one of the strongest settlements in the Southwest high in the sky on this mesa. It was located atop a sandstone butte 430 feet high, 400 feet wide and 1,250 feet long. Eventually they migrated down to what is now the Acoma Pueblo. No one lives atop the Enchanted Mesa any more but it still stands proudly as a monument to these ancient inhabitants.

Today May 2, we arrived in Moab, Utah. This place is billed as Adventure Capital of the USA and *the* place for outdoor enthusiasts. Options include hiking, fishing, rafting, horseback riding, mountain biking. ATV and dirt bikes, canyoneering, ballooning, and skydiving just to name a few. See this page for 59 Fun Things to Do in Moab, Utah.

We arrived in Moab, Utah yesterday afternoon and got set up at Sun Outdoors Canyonlands Gateway RV Resort. We have a whole week here to take in the sights including Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, etc ... dogs are allowed :-) Here's Riley and me resting up for our big week!

Today we took the 36 miles scenic drive (roundtrip) through Arches. We pulled into numerous scenic overlooks and vista points along the route to view many famous sites like the overlook at "Park Avenue" just a few miles inside the park entrance. The wind was howling at this stop, almost blowing Libby over! Fortunately it was not so strong once we got further into the Park.

Just a little further down the road we passed the "Courthouse Towers" and across the road the "Three Gossips"

I snapped this impressive photo looking straight up at one of the rock formations.

As we wound our way through Arches National Park we got some excellent views of the picturesque La Sal Mountains named for the Spanish word for salt. The maximum elevation of the La Sals is at Mount Peale, reaching 12,721 feet. The compact range is only 15 miles long and six miles wide, but are popular with outdoor enthusiasts for hiking, biking, off-roading, camping, photography, trout fishing and more.

The photo at the left is of Libby and me standing at the scenic overlook at a spot called Balanced Rock. The top rock stands 55 feet above the base it appears to be balanced on top of, and has an estimated weight of more than 3000 tons.

Next place we pulled over was at "The Windows" which features numerous well known stone arches including this one at the start of the trail. We did not hike back in but contented ourselves with the view from the parking lot.

One of the best known arches in the park is called Double Arch" which is out by the Windows overlook. We learned there is an interesting distinction between an arch and a bridge. A rock bridge is formed by a stream or river which over time wears a hole through the rock. An arch's hole is worn over time by wind, rain and the elements.

Another well known arch is "Delicate Arch" which stands out on a hillside all by itself. We didn't get this close... it's camera zoom doing the work.

This was one of our last stops inside Arches National Park - this spot is called "Devil's Garden" and that is our Dodge Durango in the foreground.

On Friday we took a drive down to Dead Horse Point State Park. Towering 2,000 feet above the Colorado River, Dead Horse Point State Park provides an awesome overlook of the canyons below where the river makes a steep bend similar to Horseshoe Bend at Lake Powell.

Here I am also standing at the same overlook at Dead Horse Point State Park with the 2000 deep Colorado River Canyon below.

Here's Libby standing at the main overlook at Dead Horse Point State Park.

We continued on down the same road into the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. The Island in the Sky Road offers a seniors-friendly way to take in the Natonal Park. You can pull off into numerous scenic overlooks and gaze across deep canyons, often resembling the Grand Canyon in their depth and scope with the Colorado River far below.

At most scenic overlooks, there are trails leading down to even more spectacular viewpoints, but sadly with old age catching up to me, I leave these trails to the younger folks.

Here's another photo taken this time from the Buck Canyon Overlook along the Island in the Sky road in Canyonlands National Park.

One final photo from Canyonlands National Park I must include here is that of the Candlestick Tower accessed from Murphy Point.

On Saturday we signed up for a 2 1/2 hour off road adventure through Hell's Revenge so named, as we found out, for good reason. Our capable verhicle was called a UTV, a Utilty Terrain Vehicle. It was a Can Am Commander, a most impressive extreme off road vehicle. Off Road thrashing and bashing is avery popular in this area, and the Hell's Revenge Trail gave us a pretty good taste of what it is all about.

Just on the outskirts of Moab the Hell's Revenge takes off up some steep inclines aand then traverses through some prettty rugged territory. I'd never driven anything like this and I don't think I would have had the nerve to tackle terrain like this without an experienced guide who bobbed and weaved his way through it all. I figured, well, if he can get through then so can I. We tackled some uphill climbs that were probably a 60 degree angle! The one at the left was probably only a mild 40 degrees.

I never imagined you could drive over some of the extreme terrain our guide led us through. But these rugged Can Am UTVs dispatched even the most impassable terrain with ease.

Here's a one minute video Libby took during our tour of Hell's Revenge. This is actually a relatively tame section of the trail where she could actually hold the camera kind of steady. Most of the ride was much too rough to be filming.

It seems to me if God had intended us to drive on this kind of terrain, he never would have invented highways!

We glimpsed some pretty impressive views as we wound our way along the Hell's Revenge Trail - like this view of the snow-capped La Sal Mountains.

Our last stop on our trip along Hell's Revenge Trail was to view some dinosaur tracks left here many millions of years ago when dinosaurs roamed the hills.

We had a fun time enjoying our extreme off road adventure, but I think we were both relieved as we started our descent back down to Moab. Some people make a life style of this kind of thing. I think we are one and done! We had a good time, we survived, now back to tamer adventures. See how clear the air is in Moab. Having lived in Southern California for so long, the clarity is remarkable to us.

On Sunday we continued our string of high adventure days with a jet boat tour on the Colorado River run by Moab Jett. Our guide raced up the Colorado as it winds its way at speeds as high as 40 mph through the magnificent scenery of central Utah and turns around at Red Cliffs Ranch.

We were provided with waterproof windbreaker jackets and life jackets and departed around 11 am from a sandy beach launch area near downtown Moab.

This is the jet boat we rode in. They are sturdy aluminum craft built to resist damage as the water level drops in the summer. Right now the water is high due to snow melt, the current is swift at about 8 or 9 mph, and there are lots of rapids. The boats draw just 4" on a plane and the experienced driver knows how to work the throttle to minimize the bumps of the rapids and still stay on a plane as we cruise along at speeds as high as 40 mph.

The Colorado River has cut its way through the colorful sandstone rock in central Utah across millions of years leaving us with breath taking scenery which can best be appreciated as you ride right down the middle of these magnificent stone canyons in a boat.

Moab Jett runs several concurrent jet boat tours depending on the number of customers they have. Here's one of their other boats cruising along close to us at one point, which is exactly what we look like zipping along the river surface.

We had a front row seat to the high speed action. We wore waterproof windbreakers provided by the tour company as well as the required life preservers.

Every turn of the 15 mile tour offers endless photo opportunities. I've just snapped a few representative shots to give some idea of the magnificence of this section of the Colorado River. Besides jet boats we encountered any number of rafters as well.

At the left is another scenic bend of the river as we near the point, about 15 miles down the river, where the boat turns around and heads back to the launch beach.

Sharp eyes may eventually spot wild bighorn sheep which live in these canyons. We saw several groups of them high above the water hanging out on the ledges.

The sheer rock walls offer many interesting alcoves and indentations. This is a prime example of an arch in the midst if its formation process. As the recessed area gets deeper and deeper, water seepage, freezing and thawing, wind and other weather changes gradually erode the center section eventually resulting in the formation of a new arch like the many we saw in Arches Natonal Park. The black stains on the rock walls is referred to as 'varnish' which is created by a natural process, attributed to a combination of dripping water and bacterial fixation of manganese onto the rock faces.

Be sure to visit our large format photo gallery for all our Moab Adventures...

Everything about Moab, it seems, is just wonderful... the amazing scenery, the clean air, the friendly people, the restaurants, the weather... even the downtown park. The dogs loved it... first real grass they have had to romp in in weeks. A suitable last afternoon activity for the whole family! Tomorrow we'll be moving on!

Our final major scenic stop on our spring National Parks tour is the fabulous Colorado National Monument located in Grand Junction, Colorado just over the state line from Utah in western Colorado. First explored by John Otto, who settled in Grand Junction in the early 20th century, it was established as Colorado National Monument on May 24, 1911 by President William Howard Taft and is managed by the National Park Service today. This was the first of many excellent photo opps as we drove the scenic Rim Rock Drive which winds for 22 miles along the plateau - one of the grandest scenic drives in the American West.

We entered the park through the East Grand Junction entrance. This was one of the first of many scenic turnouts and scenic viewpoints. That is the city of Grand Junction in the distance far below.

Here's the happy couple sitting at a scenic overlook along the Rim Rock Road.

Another tourist took this photo but it was not nearly as impressive as the same shot which I took. This is why I don't often ask others to take our photo.

The entire canyon as viewed from the plateau is called Monument Canyon. And one of the more impressive views in Monument Canyon is called Coke Ovens Overlook. These pillars were so named because the rounded shape resembles beehive coke ovens that were used in the 18th century to convert bituminous coal into coke, which was then used for smelting iron

Too many fabulous scenic photos from Colorado National Monument to share on this page so I created this large format photo gallery

It's a relatively long run from Grand Junction, Colorado to Boise Idaho, our final purposeful stop on this 10 week trip. We decided to break it into three equal legs, the first of which took us out to Richfield Utah and the second which takes us north past Salt Lake City, UT to Tremonton, UT. The snow capped mountains of Utah which border Interstate 15 heading north provided a scenic itinerary.

Our second stop enroute to Boise, Idaho is in Tremonton, Utah, just a little noth of Salt Lake City and Ogden. The same breathtaking snow capped mountains that accompanied us most of the day are readily visible from our campsite at Aspen Grove RV Park. You can see from the photo what a great looking RV Park this is and the scenery is top notch!

Our final purposeful stop on this trip was Boise, Idaho. A very close old friend of mine from my days in Hollywood lives in Boise now. Eiji is a Japanese fellow about my age with whom I worked many years ago. And then I accompanied him on a trip to Japan in 1984, a very memorable trip for me. Eiji moved with his wife Myriam to the city of Nampa, adjacent to Boise, when he fully retired some 5 years ago. I had been threatening to visit him for several years now and we finally made it. He showed us around the area. He and I visited Ste Chappelle Winery in nearby Caldwell for a lovely afternoon of wine tasting. Myriam was away during our visit, so the first night Eiji cooked us a traditional Japanese meal called Shabu-shabu. Eiji worked a great deal in animation and helped produce Little Nemo among many other films and TV shows.

On Tuesday we hooked up with Eiji late morning and he drove us around Nampa and Lawlor Lake and then over to Boise for quick city tour. We stopped at the picturesque Esther Simplot Park. The have a marvelous little lake in the park enjoyed by kayakers, fishermen and geese.

We stopped for lunch at Freddy's Steakburger and Frozen Custard. We introduced Eiji to these delicious burgers and incomparable frozen custard. This will be our last opportunity until our next trip since Freddy's does not have any restaurants in the PNW.

We finally made it back home on May 19 after 10 weeks on the road. It was a great trip. But like the song by Frank Sinatra goes, "It's oh, so nice to go trav'ling But it's so much nicer to come home." Certainly the dogs would agree. They are both thrilled to have their beautiful grassy back yard and their doggy door back. Taffy is back on squirrel watch! We took them both in for grooming, first time in three months, and little Riley got his first "big boy" haircut and looks like the little stud he is. One cute puppy! We'll be home for about a week before we head for the lake to launch our sailboat for summer.

We were thrilled to find an almost new pontoon boat last December and drove down to Medford, OR to pick it up. It was a fun adventure and we visited some friends in Medford while we were there. But as the saying goes, "The best way to make God laugh is to make plans for yourself", and as summer rolled around, we decided that we would not really get much use out of it after all, so we decided to sell the pontoon and just stick to sailing our sailboat. So I placed an ad on Facebook Marketplace and sold it in a single day for $3000 more than I paid for it. No complaints there! We also placed another ad and sold our little Sun Slider pedalboat, since it was just too small, the dogs didn't like it as hoped, and we barely used it last summer.

We came home for a week so Libby could make a summer trip down to San Diego to see her son Tim and wife Kristin and the grandkids. I stayed home with the two dogs. That's much easier for me to do at home where the dogs can amuse themselves in the backyard with the squirrels and can relieve themselves at will thanks to the doggie door. The photo at the left is Oliver, Tim and Emery. Both kids are growing like weeds and Libby wants to maintain her rapport with them as they mature. She returns Monday and we head back to the lake on Wednesday.

We are back in Veneta and enjoyed sailing yesterday, Thursday, June 15. The dogs meanwhile are enjoying lake life as well... they both enjoy sunning on the deck when it is not too hot. Here they are sleeping side by side in the warm sunshine. Riley, especially, has really become the number one Deck Dude, and hangs out on the deck a good bit of the day. When we're home and do not need to use the A/C, we leave the doggie door available so he can come inside and go out on the deck whenever he likes. Our nice little fenced yard with the cedar chips provides ample opportunity to relieve themselves whenever nature calls.

The wind has been very good lately... We have sailed the last three days in a row and will likely sail today and tomorrow as well with winds predicted in the 12-15 range. At the left is the Windfinder forecast, my primary reference for the most reliable wind conditions here at Fern Ridge Lake.

July 9 - perfect summer sailing conditions... temps around 80, clear skies, steady west winds in the 12-14 range for a great late afternoon sail... our 11th sailing day since early June. You can also watch a brief one minute video of today's sailing action on Youtube.

On a sunny weekend in mid July, we decided to attend the Western Washington All British Field Meet. As the name implies these annual meets are open to all British car owners who want to display their pride and joy and hang out with other British car enthusiasts. We have attended Portland All British Field Meet a couple times in the past, but this is the first time we have attended the Seattle event. The venue chosen for the meet is Saint Edward State Park, a 326-acre-park in Kenmore, WA located right on Lake Washington and fitting location for the event with the stately Lodge as the backdrop.

Another angle of the MG section from above. In the foreground there is a red MGB identical to my old one and down below a line up of some gorgeous MGA's, the model which was my very first car, a black 1958 MGA, when I was in college. This is just a small sampling of the more than 500 British cars of all marques parked on the field, including also Triumphs, Jaguars, Austin Healeys, and Sunbeams to name just a few.

I have created a special WWABFM web page showing some of the amazing British sports cars on display at the Western Washington All British Field Meet this year.

Alas the photos above will be the last photos of my beloved MG on this blog. We slipped up and did not get it into neutral when we left Seattle on Monday with the MG secured on its dolly. We did not get very far before somebody motioned me off to the side where I discovered the disaster. The transmission in gear had the engine was spinning much too fast; it threw a rod and blew up the engine. I have put in a claim with the insurance company, but no matter the outcome, we decided it was time to sell the car and bought a new sports car which fits me much better, a Ford Mustang GT Premium Convertible. For more, visit our special Mustang photo gallery.

We did what we should have done years ago, and what many others here at Fern Ridge Shores RV Park have done... we erected a 10x20' carport/canopy to garage the Mustang. Took us a few hours and we have not put the front panel on right away. But it is mostly complete and my Mustang is happily parked out of the weather now and protected from bird droppings. Not only do I fit in the Mustang better, it has a backseat so the dogs can go with us on our adventures. The top goes up and down in a flash with the push of a button, and of course this air-conditioned car has a full factory warranty which we extended out to 2028 with the Ford ESP warranty

I was nosing around in the trunk of my new Mustang and lifted up the flap in the trunk and what to my wondering eyes did appear... but a farcical little tire inflator kit where the spare tire should be. I was shocked. I've owned a lot of cars and never seen one without a spare tire before. I called the dealer, figuring they goofed. No, I was told... Ford in their infinite wisdom decided this would cover most flat tire situations, otherwise "you can call for roadside assistance". Uh no, folks... no roadside assistance guy is going to show up with the correct replacement tire and mount if for you. Plus many flats cannot be fixed with this goopy sealant plus it will probably ruin your tire pressure sensor. A spare tire is essential IMHO. I ordered a complete spare tire kit from Modern Spare. Don't settle for less!

Today July 30 as we reached about the midpoint of our sailing season with our 14th day of sailing so far. We had crystal clear blue skies, no clouds at all, temp peaked about 80 degrees, and winds in the late afternoon were 8-10 mph. Very enjoyable conditions. Libby was enjoying the warm breeze in her face. At the peak of the afternoon we shared the lake with just 9 other sailboats and a couple odd skiboats.

Riley is still too young to take out on the sailboat... he has a hard time sitting quietly and we can't be playing tugger or fetch on the sailboat. Taffy is a very calm and relaxed sailing dog, but Riley is a little wildman. Maybe next year. But the two of them seem to enjoy staying back in the air conditioned RV for several hours while we go catch some wind. We throw a big quilt on the bed and it becomes their kingsized playground.

After much deliberation, we could not resist the opportunity to take over the RV space directly across the road from our current space. This space #5 and is a covered space with a 50 x 20 metal carport. We have been storing our motorhome in Vancouver in a covered storage space and this space here in Veneta will cost a little more than twice the monthy fee, BUT now our motorhome is right across the street and we can pull out any time for an impromptu trip to the coast or anywhere else we like. It was not at all convenient to first drive the 2.5 hours home just to take a brief trip. Now we are consolidated all in one spot, with a secure, protected storage space for the motorhome and we have the convenience of having it close at hand, plus we can also utilize the motorhome for guest quarters when the kids come to visit.

In the last week of August on our way to dinner in Eugene a careless woman whipped sudden a U-turn right in front of us I hit her doing substantial damage to our beloved Dodge Durango. Estimates ranged from 6 weeks to 6 months to get repairs done with supply issues and so on, so we decided to simply buy a new one, get ours repaired and when finally finished, sell it on Craigslist. We drove home to Vancouver, got an estimate at our favorite body shop nearby, and decided to replace it with another Dodge Durango R/T. I was looking to find a used one a couple years old but there were no good low mileage used ones around, so Thursday moring 8/31, we headed off to Ron Tonkin Chrysler-Dodge in Portland to look at a new one.

We decided on this stunning 2023 Dodge Durango R/T in Chrysler's brilliant glossy "White Knuckle" paint. We learned that 2023 is the last year Chrysler Motors will be building any passenger vehicles with the legendary 5.7 liter HEMI V-8. We'll see how long that decision lasts, but that is what we wanted for its road performance and massive towing capacity, plus with the 2 speed transfer case it can be flat towed behind our motorhome. Here's a photo of the happy couple with their new Durango alongside their sad-faced 2016 Durango. Sorry, old friend! We love you. For more photos of our new Durango, see my special photo gallery

We returned to Veneta today Saturday 9/3 in the new Dodge Durango. It drives like a dream. The winds were up late afternoon, so we went out for a couple hours of sailing late afternoon. We had steady west winds 10-12 most of the time. Here's Libby walking back down C Dock at Richardson Park Marina where we keep our boat after doing the final lockup. It's about 7:15 pm and you can see the marina is very quiet... a classic fall afternoon, temperature around 70 degrees. Our Catalina 22 sailboat, Anne Marie, is tied about about 3/4 of the way out the dock on the right in Slip #34.

Today, Sept 13, we had 7 yards of gravel delivered so I could have space #5, our second RV space across the way, leveled for ease of storing our motorhome there under cover.

I found a guy named Daniel Cruz who is a pro at grading and leveling, and he brought his Kubota loader to scrape the high side of the space, spread the gravel, and smooth and level our space. Dan did a great job and it turned out really nice.

We ended the season a week early with one final day of sailing on the lake, today Sept 21, since this year with the fall equinox we are about to see a major shift in the weather patterns and after no rain all summer, on Saturday its starts 8 straight days of rain. So.... time to pull out the sailboat, and derig it for winter storage. We were blessed with an excellent afternoon on the water, a real blessing since we have had almost no sailable wind for 10 days. We sailed along in 10-13mph winds for several hours this afternoon. I was grinning ear to ear, drinking it all in one last time for the year. We were out with about a dozen other sailboats and several windsurfers taking advantage of the fine conditions. We bid the lake farewell until April next year.

As we headed in toward the marina, we were treated to one last sunset on the water on beautiful Fern Ridge Lake. Gotta love this place! Surrounded by natural landscape, trees, foothills and distant mountains, clean water, few powerboats and lots of fellow sailors! We'll see ya next year, Fern!

We have a beautiful stretch of weather this first week of October with rain due to return next week, so we thought we would take advantage of it. We decided to take one final road trip for the season down the Oregon Coast as far as Eureka where we'll visit with friends for several days before turning around and heading back north. This was our lunch stop today... beautiful coastline along 101 here. This was our first adventure towing the new Dodge Durango. Everything going smoothly.

Here we are at our seaside bistro enjoying a leisurely lunch while gazing out the window at the sand and surf. Taffy was more intent on gazing at the lunch spread. Riley remained in his travel crate or he would have been all over this scene.

Of course Taffy was not the only moocher... any time you stop along the coast you can always count on seagulls to be hovering nearby. Here's JJonathan Livingston Seagull sitting right outside the coach hoping for some scraps.

From the southern Oregon coast we crossed into California after Brookings, OR and stopped in Eureka for 3 days to visit my old friend Gary Rooney who moved to Eureka from Portland area 25 years ago with his wife Kate. Gary and Kate took us on a tour of Old Town Eureka including the old Carson Mansion now home to The Ingomar Club, a private club that owns and maintains the Carson Mansion. This is one of the most written about, and photographed Victorian houses in California, and perhaps in the United States. We walked through Old Town, stopped down at the waterfront which is in the process of redevelopment, and had lunch a little outdoor cafe.

We also took the dogs and the four of us went over to the beach. Riley had a good time playing with Gertie, Gary's big black lab at the beach. Labs love the water and Gertie was in an out of the surf... but Riley steered clear of the waves.

Eureka is going through a revitalization and prides itself on its many marvelous building murals. This is the splendid Performing Arts Center with this impressive 3D Mural on the facade.

Meanwhile while we're in Eureka, Pat and his wife Linjia are in Asia... these are a couple selfies they took shortly after arrival in Hong Kong. Next they will head on to Shanghai, China where Linjia's family is from. They took the 14 hour flight over to Hong Kong and China where they'll spend a couple weeks. Pat's first trip to Asia... lots of photos

We returned to Veneta on the weekend, dropped off the motorhome and then drove home in our car back to Vancouver for a few weeks. We'll go back down to Veneta later this month to close everything up to prepare for winter. The dogs are very happy to be home and are intently watching the squirrels on the back fence. They are racing in and out 50 times a day!

Patrick and wife Linjia are enjoying their visit to China... shown here in a selfie by a picturesque canal with her parents in a central district of china

Patrick and wife Linjia spent some time getting dressed in traditional Hanfu clothing to pose for photos. Hanfu comprises traditional clothing classifications of the Han Dynasty with a recorded history of more than three millennia.

We returned to Veneta at the end of October to winterize the RV's and prepare everything for winter. Here I am after covering the boat for winter with the help of Kim, my summer sailing buddy. This most excellent cover came with the boat and protects the boat from the vagaries of winter about as well as storing it inside a garage.

Pretty boring stuff for dogs. "We'll just hang out and relax until the work is done. Wake us if anyone wants to play tugger. Our tug toy is right here in case you are looking for it."

The other night, the episode 22 of Season 4 of "The A-Team" finally aired...The Little Town with an Accent 1986 in which I guest starred back in 1986 back in my Hollywood days in the 1970's and 80's. As usual I played a heavy, a hoodlum employed by a mafia don. It aired on the 'Heroes & Icons' cable channel. H&I is carried by Dish Network and I had been waiting for it and was finally able to record it on my DVR. I am told it is also available on Apple TV on iTunes (screenshot of my Android phone). Nice that they use my photo of the character I played in the listing both on Apple TV and IMDB. In the last year I also captured on my DVR the episodes in which I appeared of Rockford Files & Charlie's Angels (when I got to kiss Farrah Fawcett).

We are home for the holidays and will enjoy a nice quiet Thanksgiving holiday far away from the holiday crush of traffic and chaos out there on the highways and in the skies. The dogs are very happy to be spending time at home - they spend a good portion of every day in the fall gazing out the window in the family room (right in front of my recliner) watching for squirrels on the back fence. Any appearance of the squirrels and both dogs go racing out the doggie door and chasing the little critters who seem to enjoy the game. It's great entertainment for us and excellent exercise for the dogs.

On the weekend after Thanksgiving with clear sunny weather and nice fall temps, Libby and I fired up the Mustang and took a back road loop to the town of Mt Angel, Oregon and the Mt Angel Sausage Company. We've been there before in years past and have posted pics to that current blog. They have absolutely the best German sausages anywhere. A German meal is not complete without Bier... first we had the beer sampler with a large German soft pretzel with melted cheese, and then a liter stein of the Paulaner Doppel which we shared. Tasty!

"Ein Prosit, ein Prosit, Der Gemütlichkeit" as the famous German Drinking Song goes... That's a liter stein of Paulaner Doppel which we shared. Yes officer, the wife drove home!

The Bier was excellent but the German Wurst dinner was what we came for... this is the "European Sausage Tour" consisting of the Oktoberfest / Fricadel / Knockwurst / Italian / Bratwurst plus delicious sauerkraut and Kartoffeln. Wunderbar!

Stumbled onto an article online this morning about the lifespan of dogs. It is common knowledge that small breeds live the longest. The average lifespan of a mini Schnauzer like Riley is 12-15 years. My first Schnauzer, Sammy, lived to 14. I am not sure what breed of dog they used for this ad linking to the article, some kind of Terrier, I think. But Sammy looked much like the dog in the ad (far left). It reminded me a lot of a shaggy Riley. Riley got a haircut recently so I was kinda nostalgic for the shaggy look. I found a shot of him a few weeks before his current haircut (below) where he looks like a cleaned up version of the dog in the ad. I juxtaposed both photos in the one to the left. CUTE!

Riley, like all our dogs, looks most adorable when his fur is long, but it is high maintenance to keep him clean and detangled, and ultimately you have to clip him every couple months or it starts to get matted and totally unmanageable. I have always clipped our dogs, and I clip Taffy these days, but as a pup, Riley is still too squiggley, so we are taking him to the groomer... a $60 exercise with bath and nails... and they never do it quite like I like it. Riley just went to the groomer this week (early December) so after I touched up his face a little, I wanted to photograph him for future example shots to give the groomer until he calms down enough for me to clip him myself.. This is a good one at the left... and here he is from the side. We're looking very grown up! I'm a real boy! (Pinocchio)

Today, Saturday, for a little holiday outing, we attended a small Christmas Bazaar as we have done in years past here in our neighborhood at Touchmark at Fairway Village Retirement community. Arts and crafts for sale and a little holiday spirit from the local Northwest Harmony Chorus.

On Sunday we drove back to our old stomping grounds Lake Oswego where we lived for more than 20 years to see the Christmas musical production of Irving Berlin's "Holiday Inn" at the Lakewood Theater. Irving Berlin is one of America's most prolific composers who wrote over 850 songs in the first half of 20th century, many of which are standards today, including iconic songs like God Bless America and White Christmas! This production is a joyous musical featuring Irving Berlin songs, including "Blue Skies," "Easter Parade," "Steppin' Out With My Baby," "Heat Wave," "White Christmas," "Be Careful, It's My Heart," and many more.

Today, we had a Lazyboy repairman out to the house to fix a couple issues with my king size Lazyboy. I was telling him I have a couple more in Eugene which led to a discussion about sailing Fern Ridge Lake and he tipped me to a marvelous video blog on youtube by Garrett and Ruth Jolly and their custom made 35' Cruiser sailboat Rediviva. Their video sailing blog is called is called Salt & Tar And it is also on Youtube. As a hardcore sailor myself (you may recall our months in the Thousand Islands and Georgian Bay in Canada in 2015-16) I have been enjoying their blogging of their exploits. Ruth does most of the videography and editing and she is a pretty cute narrator and first mate. So it is an engaging show. I would recommend it.

The first couple hundred episodes are all about Garrett and Ruth Jolly building this marvelous wood boat 'Rediviva' from scratch. They planned on 4-6 months and it took almost 5 years! The results are pretty spectacular. About episode 200 Garrett and Ruth start in on their sailing adventures first in the SF Bay area and making their way down to coast to Mexico. Their latest episode right now is 269 in the Sea of Cortez off Baja. Salt & Tar on Youtube I highly recommend you check it out.

We had to make a trip down into Portland today, Friday. Weather was nice so we fired up the Mustang and cruised on down, ran an errand or two, then went down to Lake Oswego for brunch at our favorite old eaterie, Millers Homestead, fo a great fajita omlette. We also cruised by our old home in Lake Oswego. This was our last Oregon residence in Mountain Park before we moved across the river to Vancouver. This is the back of the house with the beautiful deck I added in 2004 during the time we lived there from 2000 - 2013

This was the view out the back of our house across a lovely greenspace surrounded by trees. This was definitely one of the highlights of living here... our marvelous west facing view which yielded many gorgeous sunsets over the years. This aerial view on Google maps tells the story of our location

As the sun sets on 2023, we borrowed this photo from our collection of Sunset photos taken from the deck of our home in Lake Oswego where we lived for 13 years before moving to Vancouver. As we look to the sunrise of a new year, let us all say a special prayer for peace around the world. Imagine!

Looking back over 2023... from our monumental trip to Utah and the magnificent national parks like Monument Valley, Canyonlands and Arches, as well as the mind-bending Colorado National Monument, to our time at our beloved Fern Ridge Lake sailing and enjoying the RV life at the Oregon coast, to the changes in our family from visiting the grandchildren to our upgrade to dogs 2.0 with the addition of our new Mini Schnauzer pup, Riley. Start at the top and scroll down to review the entire year from the very beginning to the present day.