Kori and Nick Get Married

We spent 4 days at Jojoba Hills in Aguanga, CA at the Escapees Park. Our main reason was to attend our niece's wedding in nearby Temecula on Saturday. We also wanted to check out the park as we hear it was one of the nicer of the Escapee's Parks. Escapees, the RV Organization has what are called SKP Parks where you can lease a spot for your RV. You pay a set amount(Jojoba is the most expensive of the parks at $30,000) and then pay a monthly fee of around $200. The great thing is that if you decide at some point in time to not want to have a spot any more you get your initial investment back. The sites at Jojoba are large and include a 8x12 storage shed and room for any least one and sometimes two cars in addition to your motorhome. The place is beautifully landscaped and terraced so that most sites have great views of the canyon below. There is a large swimming pool and spas and club house with great views and plenty of activities. As it is very hot in this high desert area most people use this as a winter spot to stay and then travel the rest of the year. This is what we were interested in. We are only a few hours from the OC and family which is a bonus. We also have some friends living here, Terry and Nancy, that we met on an Escapees 4 Wheel Drive Hop in Riggins, Idaho about a year and a half ago. It was fun getting together with them. The first night we ended up talking until midnight. We also went out to lunch with them and had them to dinner one night. They took us on a tour of the place and we went to a Friday happy hour. People are very friendly here. Anyway, we did end up putting down some money to get on the list for a site. There actually was one available but we aren't ready yet. We have some traveling to do and would rather get a spot in about 6 to 12 months.

 

There is also a storage unit to the left of the motorhome and car.

Of course, the main reason we are even in this area or state for that matter is the Wedding of our lovely niece Kori and the equally handsome Nick. Saturday was absolutely beautiful, warm with a slight wind and blue skies. Just a perfect day to get married. We arrived at Ponte Winery and were given glasses of wine before the ceremony began. It is a WINERY and so plenty of tasty wine. We found our kids as well as some of our mutual friends such as George and Felicia and their beautiful daughter Barri.

Ryan, our nephew in law, escorted Karol to her seat.

Nice touch with parasols available to keep out of the sun.

 

Here come's the bride with proud papa Brock.

 

The newly married Kori and Nick Johnsen.

A happy mom and dad, Kristi and Brock. Cute hairstyle Sis. :)

 

After some great appetizers, like Ahi and some spicy mushroom puffs and more wine, we went into dinner which included steak and scalloped potatoes. Of course more wine and beer and champagne for a few toasts.

Felicia, Barri and Karol

Chris, Casey and Michael

Kori, Barri, Brock and Nick

First dance

, Heather and Kori

And then there was dancing!!!

With two weddings in less than 2 years, My sis and bro in law are happy they only have 2 daughters. LOL.

It was a wonderful day.

We left Jojoba Hills on Tuesday and spent a few days near Joshua Tree in the same spot we stayed in December. Joe's feet have been bothering him. The swelling has gone down but first his right foot was experiencing muscle pain and as that started feeling better, his left started hurting. So we have just been hanging out hoping he gets better soon. Walks and hiking are in our future so Joe can get healthier and maybe eliminate some of the issues he has been having. We are now in McDowell Mountain Regional Park, east of Phoenix. We spent a few days in White Tank Regional Park, west of Phoenix, which I'll talk about in the next post. Haven't been able to add photos to blog until now and so posts are a little later than normal.

 

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Desert Rats Hit the Beach

Just catching up on the blog. We stayed a week at the same spot we stayed earlier this winter at American Girl Mine, which is in California but the nearest town is Yuma, AZ. We had bought a bag of oranges in Yuma and still had about 6 or 7 when we crossed the border into CA. When we had to stop at the inspection area we declared our oranges and had to cut them up into quarters and the inspector then said they passed and we didn't have to trash them. There were only a few other motorhomes in the area and not that close at that. It is very peaceful here. Well, at least when the wind was not howling which is was for much of our time here. We didn't do a lot but did take a trip over to the Tumco Historical Mine Town. Tumco is an abandoned gold mining town and is also one of the earliest gold mining areas in California. It has a history spanning some 300 years, with several periods of boom and bust. During the boom time of the 1890´s, it had a population of around 500 people and the stamp mills of the mine produced $1,000 per day in gold. It is a little stretch to call it much of a tour as there is not much of anything there but a few walls. It might have been better if they weren't out of the brochures that told what was formerly at each of the numbered sites, but it was a good walk.

 

 

 

 

 

The marker below was added since we were here last. Very sad. I hope their golden had a nice long life before his last adventure where he was lost in the desert.

Another nice time in the Calif desert.

 

 

 

Before heading to the beach, we stopped for another week in one of our fav spots off Rockhouse Rd in Borrego Springs. We had more cold, windy weather and a little rain and some snow on the mountain tops, but still a nice relaxing time. There is our motorhome in the picture below.

 

 

Sunday, the 10th, after spending most of the winter in the desert areas of CA and AZ, we headed to the beach. I made a reservation several months ago but could only get 4 days as their weekends are full up here at Sunset Vista RV Park, which is just south of the Huntington Pier. Sunday was nice and sunny but the rest of the time was typical June (more like all spring) gloom with fog most of the day. Time was mostly spend with Joe going into work for a meeting and doctor and dentist appointments. We also got our taxes done and luckily didn't have to pay and are getting a few hundred back. Of course always some shopping to do, including a trip to Trader Joe's and lunch at one of our favorite spots, Native Foods. We did go out to dinner with the kids at a great little place on Main Street called the Pizza Lounge. A good selection including the pizza I had which had chicken, peaches and gorgonzola cheese on it. Yummy!! We are close enough to walk into town but drove as it was cold and Joe's foot has been bothering him. He is retaining water and his doctor changed some of his meds as he is pretty sure it was a side effect of the drug he had just started taking the last time he was at the doctor. Hopefully he will do better on his new meds. We are onto the Temecula area on Thursday for Kori and Nick's wedding on Saturday. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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