A Selanne Weekend and onto Mexico

We are in Tucson at the Pima Fairgrounds and will be traveling into Mexico with the Escapees Mexican Connectioin in the morning. Earlier this month we stayed at Bolsa Chica State Park in Huntington Beach to celebrate the retirement of Teemu Selanne's number. We had boght a 6 game Hockey pass especially to be able to go to the game where the ceremony was to take place. We read about some other things going on related to this and so decided to make a weekend of it. We arrived at Bolsa Chica on Thursday.the 8th.

Thursday night there was a documentary on Teemu at the Newport Beach Cinema. It was an interesting film about his early home life in Finland and his early days of hockey up to his retirement. He was also there for a question and answer section which was fun.


Teemu Ilmari Selänne (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈteːmu ˈilmɑri ˈselænːe]), nicknamed "The Finnish Flash" (born July 3, 1970), is a Finnishformer professional ice hockey winger. He began his professional career in 1989–90 with Jokerit of the SM-liiga and played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Winnipeg Jets, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche. Selänne is the highest scoring Finn in NHL history, and one of the highest overall; he retired in 2014 11th all-time with 684 goals and 15th with 1,457 points. He holds numerous team scoring records for both the Winnipeg/Arizona franchise and the Anaheim Ducks  Per Wiikipedia
He has two brothers, one his twin and an older brother. As a rookie playing for the Winnipeg Jets he scored 76 goals, a league record to this day.

 Friday night we went to Selanne Steak Tavern in Laguna Beach. It is a great restaurant with great service and wonderful food. It is a steakhouse and so Joe had a steak and I had short ribs with polenta. We had a side of Teemu's Mac and Cheese which we hear was very good and it was delicious. We even had some leftover to take home to enjoy for lunch the next day. We also had some scallops for an appetizer which were excellent. A little pricey but well worth it for a special night out. 
Saturday we went over to the South Coast Plaza area where they had a room set up with all his trophies and some jerseys and other hockey items from his career. The Stanley Cup was there also as he was a big part of the Ducks Win in 2007.

Then the big night on Sunday. We met Kristi and Brock at the Honda Center for the big game. They had a large tent in the parking area where we bought some souvenirs including some tee shirts. When we entered the Center everyone got a little clip on light that blinked when you turned it on. This made for an awesome effect when the ceremony for Teemu started and there were little blinking lights all over. -There were many former Ducks on the stage, including Scott Niedermayer, Saka  Koivu, Chris Pronger and Jean-Sebastien Giguere who got lots of applause.

-Former Duck George Parros narrated a video which was nicely done.. Kariya appeared in the video, to cheers from fans. He was out of the country and couldn't attend, A great moment was when Ducks owner Henry Samueli said it was a strange summer not having Teenu informing him that he was coming back again as he had talked about retiring every year after the Ducks won the Stanley Cup. All the fans chanted One More Year.All the Ducks came out and shook his hand. Finally the Jersey was raised to the rafters as Selanne and his family looked on. What a wonderful ceremony and tribute to one of the great Hockey Players of all time. Lots of tears were shed that night. Another nice touch was when the Ducks and the Jets did their practice before the game they all had on jerseys with Teemu' name and number(13 for the Jets players as that was his number when on that team and number 8 his number for the Ducks. It was a good game with the Ducks winning which was another great moment.

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It was a great weekend. We went back to Jojoba for a short while and then headed down to Silver Strand in San Diego for the weekend. We planned to take the MH in for service and then head towards Tucson, which we did. Our weekend had a sad ending as that was when we got word that my Dad had passed away. We are going to have a Celebration of Life for him when we get back from Mexico. We miss him a lot.

We got the MH serviced and headed out to the Yuma area where we boondocked on American Girl Mine Rd where we stayed last year for awhile. It was a nice relaxing time with just a little rain. We are now in Tucson. I probably won't be able to do any blogs until we get back from Mexico but hope we will have some nice stories and pictures to share.

We end the Year with Snow at Jojoba Hills

Yes, the new Blog Header picture is of New Year's Eve morning. Savannah got us up when it was just starting to get light and we looked out the window to see everything covered with snow. What a beautiful way to end a great year. We got dressed and took Savannah out for a walk around the Park taking the camera to take a lot of pictures.

When we got back I had to put Savannah in the shower to melt some of the snow off her paws. She had a bunch of snow ball clumps attached to her fur. The picture below didn't come out very good but you might get the idea. I think she had fun in the snow. I let her off lease for awhile to run around.

There was a New Year's Eve party but we just decided to stay home and had a quiet evening. Joe has been on a very low carb diet for his diabetes for a few weeks or so and no alcohol and a lot of food restrictions. Christmas Eve and Christmas were the only days he went off it as far as food goes and his levels have been much better. I have had some stomach issues and so I have been trying to be careful of what I eat and drink as well.
We have been having a good time here in So Cal. We have been attending Ducks games and are down to our last two games including one tonight. There was a big Thanksgiving dinner in the park but we ended up getting together with three other couples for a small dinner as the Ranch House. The Ranch House has a living area with couches and chairs, a big screen tv, tables for dining and a large kitchen that anyone in the park can sign up for for gatherings. Pat and Kathy Vicks brought several turkeys that Pat smoked on his large barbeque grill. It was wonderful as well as all the other food everyone brought. We had a great time. Then we got a second Thankgivng on the following Saturday with the family. It was at my niece Kori's and husband Nick's house this time. All the family was there plus George and Felicia and her daughter and son in law. Our grand nieces, Kayla and Amber are just adorable. It was fun to see them. They are great little girls.

Of course more delicious food and just enjoying each other's company.

Back in Jojoba we continued have fun, with get togethers, volunteer work and hand weights and yoga for me. Can't get Joe to those but at least he is getting some exercise by walking in our hilly roads here is the Park. There are many activities and committees and we now even have a Dog Park committee. Below are some pictures of our first meeting at our great Dog Park with many dogs and their humans.

As we were going to spend both Christmas Eve and Christmas in the Orange County area we decided to reserve a spot at San Clemente State Beach and spent 4 nights there. We didn't have an ocean view from our spot but it was a short walk to the overlook of the beach. We had great weather while there.
Christmas Eve we went to Karol and the Boys house. Karol's mother Sharon and her husband Noel, her sister Karen and nephew Nolan were also there. Karol had an Italian theme and there was a ton of good food with lots of pastas. On Christmas we headed to Kristi and Brocks for Christmas dinner. Our nieces and their families were at other members of the family and so it was just Kristi, Brock, my dad and Karol, Casey, Michael and Chris and ourselves. Savannah came also and Lily, Heather and Ryan and Amber's dog was there and those two seem to get along though Lily was the playful one. She could play ball for hours. Didn't get any pictures taken this year for the Christmas holidays. We had a good time at both family get togethers however. Next week we are going to spend 4 days at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach. We have our last Ducks again that is honoring Teemu Selanne and we are also going to a special film about Teemu in which he will be there talking and answering questions after the film. We hope to take the kids out to dinner when we are there as well. We also are having our RV leather furniture redone as the original ultra leather which is so thin is ripped in numerous places. Right now we only have the driver's seat in the motorhome. That will be covered when we go to pick up the other furniture. Looking forward to that. Will have pictures of our "New Furniture" in the next post.
Hope everyone has a great New Year in 2015.

Days at Jojoba Hills

I usually take a break from blogging when we are hanging out in the southland during fall/winter. However, here is a catch up blog on what we have been up to for the last few months. We got back and got back into the routine of volunteer work, such as mailroom, recycling and road crew which Joe will be starting soon. Of course, socializing with our fellow Jojobians along with dinners and breakfasts are part of this life style and we jumped right in to those.  As much as we like spending time here, we probably won't come back so early in the future as the weather is just too hot. We even bought some fans to use in addition to our air conditioners. Fortunately the last week has been much nicer with nice breezes and temperatures in the 70s.
 Kristi and Brock came over one weekend for dinner and we also met them for dinner before we all went to a Ducks game. We bought a hockey pack of seven games which include the Ducks and Winnepeg game in January when Teemu Selanne will be honored and his jersey number retired.  Of course, Joe went into the OC to his work a couple of times and hie got a new doctor whom he really likes.  Jojoba had its famous Yard Sale which was a hugh success. It amazes me how much stuff is collected for the sale. We did our small part in helping out.
We have also been doing some work on our site. Below is a picture of our new addition, a gazebo and roll up blinds which gives us some nice shade on our sunny spot. It was a lot of work to put together but worth it. One of the people on the architectural committee who also put up the same gazebo came over and gave us some ideas on the bet way to assemble it and gave us some help and loan of some tools. We really thank Randy for his help.

We also added a few plants to our site and have been doing some fertilizing which has had good results. Below, see our beautiful roses!!

When we first got our site, our friends Nancy and Terry gave us a little tour of the place. However, we never got the full 3 hour tour that new members get. Joe had been talking to John, one of the main people who does them and one day he did just that. He is the Park's historian and so had a lot of interesting background of Jojoba.
Next week we are taking a short trip to Huntington Beach for about 4 days. We are getting together with our kids and will probably get by to see my Dad. We also have another Ducks game and so will have a shorter drive to that. When we get back, we will be going to the Founders Day dinner to celebrate the Silver Jubilee. Jojoba Hills is 25 years old. Below are a few more pictures which, of course, include some of our beautiful sunsets.

Colorado National Monument

On Saturday morning we headed to the Green River SP but when we got there, the sites open seem a little too tight for us to fit into with our beast. Our next spot was the Colorado National Monument and so we made our way there. When we turned off the 70 we weren't sure we picked the right turn and drove for a little while and happen to see a State Park right off the road. We were told they were full but when I mentioned the National Monument they called ahead and found out there were spots open. It turned out it was a good thing we happen to stop at the State Park first. They told us that we had to go through two tunnels and there was a sign that said it was only 10 foot something height. They said people often saw that sign and turned around but big rigs can actually get through if they stay close to the middle which is over our 12'6" height. We drove the winding road up the hill with beautiful scenery. The campground is lovely as well with lots of trees, great views and spacious sites.

We had a great little sitting area below us but unfortunately didn't get to use it as it was TOO FRIGGING COLD!! One day we even got a little snow showers but not quite cold enough to stick on the ground. This is on the list to return to when the weather is warmer. We still enjoyed our time here though. Rimrock Road is a 23 mile drive through spectacular canyons cut deep into sandstone and granite rock formations. This is an area of desert land high on the Colorado Plateau, with pinion and juniper forests on the plateau. We drove part of it stopping at a number of the overlooks for amazing views of the rock formations.

We came up Rim Rock from Fruita about 7 or 8 miles to the campground. Another day we drove the rest of the road that ends in Grand Junction. We did a little shopping and then went back up the hill through Fruita. Below is one of the tunnels we went through. There were two between Fruita and the campground and one more closer to Grand Junction.

Had a nice sunset one night.

Of course Saturday night found us watching the sixth game of the first round playoffs against Dallas. It looked like there was going to be a game seven up until the last 3 minutes of the game when the Ducks scored twice to tie the game and then won in overtime. Another nail bitter. Ducks are on to the second round which turned out to be against the Kings. This is the first time the cross town rivals play against each other in the Stanley Cup Finals in the 20 years the Ducks have been a team. I took some pictures of the tv as we weren't there in person to see them. Sob sob. GO DUCKS.