Wednesday, January 30th, 2019

After the kids AM workout we headed to Elmer’s for Breakfast. Elmer’s is apparently a local favorite with an outstanding #1 out of 58 Palm Springs Breakfast spots. It didn’t disappoint! After much discussion as to whether the weather was going to hold, we headed out to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to ride the world largest rotating tram car. It travels 2 1/2 miles and took us through the Chino Canyon up to Mt. San Jacinto State Park. The tram car holds 80 passengers and passes by 5 towers, each with their own little bump. Luckily the conductor warns you ahead of time to watch you balance and hold steady.  It takes about 10 minutes to reach the Mountain Station at 8,516 feet. Once we got to the top we roamed the paths at a metered pace (the air is thinner up there)!

We took a bunch of photos with Ben as our photographer (though lots of folks offered to take pictures for us). Later we popped into the Station for a bite before we headed back down on the tram. It turned out to be a beautiful day and a pretty amazing outing! 

After a short pause for a famous Pomeroy mid-day nap we decided to keep with the Mexican theme and had a late dinner downtown at Maracas. The night was perfect for patio dining and the food and service were great. The statue just outside the patio is Sonny Bono. And suddenly – it was the last night of our rendezvous. 

Side Note: This warning sign was posted on the Observation Deck at the top of the tramway. It lists 3  warnings: CAUTION WET AND ICY, NO SMOKING, HIGH HEELED SHOES ARE DANGEROUS AND USE HAND RAILS. Though I’m not certain who would wear high heels for this adventure, I think it’s sound advice under any circumstances. The sign also seems to work as a “Which one of these statements does not belong?” question.

Tuesday Jan 29th, 2019

We started our day with workouts and walks and then off to Downtown Palm Springs for breakfast and a little shopping. We ate breakfast at my favorite The Broken Yolk and then strolled around town. 

JP picked up a hat, and Ben a couple of shirts. We popped into some art stores and picked up a game for later on. Downtown sports the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. The stars that line the sidewalks honor the “Golden Palm Stars.” Famous folk who have lived in the Palm Springs area. Star below is Truman Capote.

Amanda suggested a visit to the local casino and who am I to argue? Next stop was the Spa Casino which was pretty cool! We each picked up our 10.00 in free play and split into teams and got busy with it. Amanda and I had fun, won a little, lost it back but played for awhile. Ben and JP finished before us and retired to the Players Bar for beers and a chat.

We dined in at the Pomeroy Condo and expanded our Holiday Taco Meal to Taco Salads and Nachos. Amanda and I snuck in a hot tub and we kicked back for the evening.

Monday,  Jan 28th, 2019

It was an early morning workout for the kids so JP and I decided to get some sunshine and a walk before breakfast. We headed downtown for breakfast at Pinocchio’s in the Desert (and why would Pinocchio NOT be in the desert?) a kitschy, busy sidewalk cafe and bar. The hours are 7:30 AM – 2:30 PM and funny enough, that’s the same hours as their happy hour. It was busy, the food was good and plenty so it earned its Trip Advisor rating of # 44 of 243 restaurants. I’m not certain that Marilyn Monroe had a thing about Pinocchio but evidently Pinocchio’s has a thing about her.

After breakfast we decided to check out one of the “top 15 things to do in Palm Springs” so we headed out to the desert to visit Pioneertown.

Pioneertown is an Old West town built as a 1940’s movie set. A bunch of investors (think Roy Rogers and Gene Autry) wanted to create a town that was more dimensional than just the false front buildings of old. They built all kinds of authentic looking buildings and businesses and then actually filled them with real businesses (think bowling alley, ice cream shop, motel, gift shops). In the 1940’s and 50’s over 50 TV shows and movies were filmed there. Its rumored that you can still catch mock gun fights in the streets, that there’s a great place for ribs and a bar where Robert Plant and Leon Russel have played in the past AND that killer ribs are served here. But alas – all this must happen on a day Pioneertown is OPEN. We on the other hand were in town on a Monday when all but 2 shops were closed. So we did what all good tourists do and took photos, meandered around and decided we likely won’t come back to see if the town actually comes to life at other days and times. 

After the kicking back from our western town adventure we decided to eat in. Ben and JP cooked up the traditional Pomeroy Holiday Taco Dinner. Nothing better!

Sunday January  27th – January  30th, 2019

Sunday Jan 27th 

JP and I checked into our timeshare at Oasis Resort Palm Springs and got settled in to wait for the kids. The Oasis is really very nice and in a great location. The grounds, pools and hot tubs are lovely and the condos have fully equipped kitchens so everything you could possibly need was at your fingertips.

The kids rolled in a little later than planned but we managed to find a great burger place called Smokin’ Burgers that totally filled the bill. We did some catching up and planning for our days together. We made it an early night so Ben and Amanda could hit the gym in the early hours of morning. So happy we could swing this little getaway!

January 17th – January 19th, 2019

We finally got to ease on down the road! JP is doing well and I’m looking forward to getting back to the gypsy life again. We launched from Lebanon after a comfy stay with Gwen and a chance to spend a few days catching up with friends in the Valley.

January 20th, 2019

And we’re off! First stop was Applegate outside of Grants Pass. JP’s niece Marisa just bought a 38 acre farm along the Applegate River. She has a cool farm house, some impressive walnut trees, and a huge garden area. It’s really lovely but we’re really looking forward to seeing it in the Spring when it’s in full bloom. We parked Lucky and spent the night to get an early start in the AM.

January 21st, 2019

The pass was a little sketchy but we made it to Corning CA and settled into the Rolling Hills Casino RV Park for the night. We’ve stayed before and love that it’s clean, inexpensive and comes with a casino shuttle. What more could a gal want?

January 22nd, 2019

It didn’t take long to make it to Scott and Toni Marie’s place in Manteca. We caught up over cocktails and sushi and had a good night’s sleep. A hearty breakfast and we headed out. It was great seeing them and we’re hoping to come back through for a longer visit next time. 

January 23rd, 2019

Our next stop was Clovis to see Ann and Mike. They’re the friends who generously lent us their vacation home in Bandon while JP was on the mend. We had a chance to catch up before we headed over to the Table Mountain Casino for dinner and a donation. No big wins but a good time was had by all. Another good night’s sleep and we were off and running.

January 24th – January 27th, 2019

We settled in at Joshua Tree KOA in Desert Hot Springs (outside of Palm Springs). We started out with nice weather but had one hell of a wind storm the second night. The poor tent campers must have been holding on for their life! This KOA is a favorite spot for us. Close enough to Palm Springs, LA and San Diego to plan some side trips and 3 mineral spas and a nice warm pool for lazy afternoons. We settled in for a few days then moved Lucky to the storage section of the park for the main event. Next stop – Palm Springs Oasis Resort for 3 days with the kids!

Side Note: The grey column in the lower left pix is the new rock climbing tower. JP thought it looked inviting, I on the other hand – not the least bit interested. I’m sure it’s safe though, the kids in the attractive harnesses seemed to be having fun and there was adult supervision. I barely hesitated on my way to the pool! 

November 22, 2018

One last post before we break away to focus on the road to recovery and see where our path takes us from here. I’m nestled in at our Bandon gift home watching a storm rage outside. The fireplace is warming JP as he snoozes and I’m thinking about what it is to be truly grateful. 

We are 2 weeks out from surgery with a ways to go for recovery. Our friends and family have reached out, stepped up, offered support and anything else we might need. We’ve heard from our friends and family at the coast, in the Valley, California, Washington, Arizona and BC. We’ve heard from old friends we had been out of touch with for way too long and new friends just made this fall. We hear from you by text, email and phone everyday. Its new to be grateful for things you never thought you’d need and sometimes hard to “let your friends – be your friends”  Yet, there you are – waiting and willing to do just that.

We are so blessed to have family. We’ve been in touch with both sides of our families who have been following us along this unexpected event. We’ve appreciated all the care and concern. It is reassuring to hear “I’m there in a heartbeat if you need me” and to have bases covered for you that you hadn’t even considered while you were figuring out how to navigate surgery.

Ben and Amanda are where we hang our hearts. We were so glad we were able to be together during JP’s surgery week. Even though the kids are in LA we will all be thankful together today (though we won’t be having our traditional TACO Thanksgiving Dinner).We’ve made a habit of moving holidays to whenever we are all together as a family, so if all goes well our family Holidays will be in Palm Springs in late January . 

Thanks for following along with us on our blog. We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving with much to be thankful for too. 

I’ll  post on FB to let you know once we are back to blogging on luckyontheloose.blog  . Until then . . . 

Wishing you Holiday Season full of things to be truly grateful for! 

November 21, 2018

Hello again! I haven’t posted since we signed out for JP to recover from his illness, so let’s catch up!

We headed from Lebanon to Bandon in mid-September. JP was still a bit under the weather but anxious to get back on the water. He was happy to get in some bass fishing with Ben (which is his newest fish fascination) and looking forward to that being a yearly seasonal event all on its own.

Salmon fishing was not so good this year but there was good ocean fishing! JP went out with his buddies and they got ling cod, black bass, quillback, crab and halibut. That’s a lot of fish packin’! Even though JP only had a short window of time to fish this go round he did have some fun, some luck and a great time with his friends. Above is his new fishing buddy Randy Lackey who loves to fish as much as JP

We got incredibly Lucky.  JP started having the occasional little chest tightness and burning. It seemed to only be when he was pulling up a fish or carrying his gear to the boat. We had been writing off his occasional fatigue to having been ill in the not too distant past, but he decided to check it out. A doctor’s appointment led to a stress test, then onto a cardiologist, quick trip for a cardiac catheterization (which we hoped would solve the problem – but alas didn’t) then onto the the cardiac surgeon. Our friends Rick and Debbie offered us their place while they were away while we nervously waited for the surgery date. A couple worrisome weeks and JP was at Peace Health Sacred Heart having open heart surgery. As scary as it was –  it’s not lost on us how truly lucky we were.

The kids and JP’s brother came into town before the surgery and the kids were able to stay until JP was stable afterward. JP had excellent care in a kind and compassionate hospital and after 2 days in ICU and 4 days in the cardiac unit he was discharged. This is us goofing around a few days before surgery.

We are now 2 weeks out from surgery and settled into our friend’s Ann and Mike’s home in Bandon. JP’s boat is tucked into their garage and Lucky is safely parked in their driveway. They are away for the winter season and made their home – our home while we need it. Our other friends Robert (“the fish whisperer”) and Sue live across the street. They’ve had our back, shared their home-cooking and  Sue’s nursing skills and helped so much. We are amazingly lucky aren’t we?Our travel plans are on a indefinite hold until JP is back his to his old self and we decide what the future holds for us. Our plan right now is not to have a plan! We are just traveling through the “one day at a  time” zone for time being!

August 1st – August 14th 2018 

We moved from Gills Landing in Lebanon to Waterloo Park outside of Lebanon (and actually no too far from our Sodaville house). We settled in and made some changes to our itinerary since JP is still fighting a bug and not feeling great. We had to cancel some plans with family and our Las Vegas Pomeroy Palooza which was disappointing – but we are hoping to reschedule things once JP is feeling better.  

Waterloo has always been a fav of JP’s for fly-fishing from the bank. Its a lovely park with lots of shade trees. The days have been super hot but the evenings are awesome. JP has had his fly pole out at dusk a few times. 

Our friend Mike and his family camped here for a long weekend too. His little girl Samantha is a charmer. She called me “Miss Cheri” (I called her Princess Sam) and she couldn’t be sweeter! It was nice meet Sam’s mom Sabrina and her Auntie Doris too. I know JP enjoyed having some time with Mike – it had been a long time! Sam posed for a few pics and gave me bubble blowing lessons to boot!

I had a chance to see a couple of friends while we we’ve been here. I missed seeing some of my other gal pals but Ill be back on and off through November so Ill catch them on the flip side. 

The plan was to be back in the Bandon today on Aug 15th but we decided to wait out JP’s recovery in the Valley since we are closer to his doctors here. Last year while we were wheels down in Oregon I suspended luckyontheloose.blog until we were back on the road again. So I’m signing off for now – the plan is to hit the road mid November. So! We will catch you then or see you in person in between. 

July 19th  – July 31st, 2018

When we’re back in Oregon I don’t usually post much. Mostly because we are happy to be with the our friends (who are generally are the ones reading the blog). Since I’m using our blog as a Travel Diary as well I’ll post here and there. 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday: We pulled into our friend Gwen’s driveway to visit for a few days.  JP washed the truck and trailer and we had our traditional arrival night dinner with Gwen from Ming Wings Chinese. We used Friday to run some errands in Albany  and saw Ant Man and the Wasp then onto Panda Express.

Saturday we hung out with Gwen and got ourselves invited to the Washer Competition next door – which is something I didn’t even know existed.

One of the team players didn’t show (they’re pretty strict for a backyard game – if you don’t show – you’re banned from the games for 5 years!) So JP took the place of the missing player (thus the over-sized tee shirt) where the players threw/tossed round washers into holes in boards created for just that. JP’s team and ended up in the finals (but alas . . . not the winning team).  It was fun watching Gwen and JP compete. I’m not a player but it was still a perfect evening.  There was a great pot luck with a heap of pulled pork and LOTS of people! Its an annual event and really well put together!

Sunday: We settled Lucky into Gill’s Landing in Lebanon. Its a nice park near the river’s boat ramp. There’s trees aplenty for shade but unfortunately we were late to reserve so it was a bit warm. Lucky’s air conditioning isn’t the best so we bought a fan to help it out and made the best of it. Later in the day we drove out to Sweet Home to see Dave and Mary and pick up my car. They’ve been kind enough to house the Blazer while we are on the road. Hopefully we can make a dinner date before we leave to catch up!

Monday: We just kicked back at the park.

Tuesday: I was early to my hair appointment because I was so looking forward to seeing Jean. Luckily she’s a great multi-tasker so she did her magic with my camping hair and we had a chance to visit and make some plans to get together in Sept. at their Crab Camp and to see them again back in AZ in January.  Next stop was my other Jean’s house to curl up and chat on her couch and make some plans for a little Casino Getaway in the not too distant future. Mai Tai’s and Slot Machines and lots of girlfriend time ahead!

Wednesday: JP hung at camp and I headed to Albany to visit with Diane. She made us a lovely lunch and we spent some quality time catching up. We went to see Mama Mia  – Here We Go Again (yep it’s a musical)!  I really think there should be more musicals – maybe that’s why flash mobs were invented – to fill that void? A fun day all around!

Thursday:  JP, Gwen and I decided to do dinner and a movie. So we went to Ixtapa and then on to see Jurassic World. It was action packed and had great effects but I’m sure the ending will lead on to Jurassic Galaxy and then? We’re doing a little house sitting while Gwen is away so her lovely yard won’t wither in the heat. Everybody wins! The yard doesn’t die and we get a comfy cool house to watch a real sized TV and make ourselves at home until she gets back.

Friday and Saturday: Just hung out at the park.

Sunday: We had a date with our old friend Mike, it’s been awhile! We got together at the Conversion Brewing Company downtown in Lebanon (when we lived here it was the Taekwondo Studio). We got to meet Mike’s family too. Mikes 4 year old daughter Sabrina. was a doll and smart as a whip!  

Monday and Tuesday: Just like taxes and bills while we are on the road, life goes on even if you aren’t wheels down and settled in at home. JP hasn’t been well so we are going to take some time to get him back to his old self again.

July 15th – July 18th, 2018

Monday: We settled in late afternoon at Steen Mountain Resort a few miles from the the tiny town of Frenchglen.

We took a drive to look at the Doner Blitzen River and the Steen Mountain area. Today was the  Annual Steen Mountain Run so the gravel road had runners and stragglers most of the way. I didn’t envy them (though I admired their gumption) between the heat and the dust from the cars crawling past them it must have been tough. Its huge open spaces as far as you can see and the blue skies were all dolled up with clouds. Oh so pretty – but oh so remote!

There was a pretty good thunderstorm tonight and what followed  was an onslaught of misquitos! I do believe JP had a bite or two but I on the other hand was the object of their affection. JP spent about a half hour before movie o’clock ridding poor Lucky of the beasts! 

Tuesday:  We packed our lunch and headed to Krumbo Reservoir for the day. We lathered up in sunscreen and took our pontoons out for the day. I caught 3 really nice trout and JP sampled all his new bass tackle and caught some bass. We spent about 6 hours on the water – which was a good idea because it was 96 or so and only the occasional wind to cool things off. 

Wednesday: It was just too hot to fish and there are signs near the river that ask you not to fish when the temperatures are high. JP says its because even if you catch and release the, the stress of the heat kills the fish. So we cranked up the air (which isn’t saying much in Lucky) and hid out from the heat. After it cooled down a bit we did a little pre-packing for our AM departure. We’re headed back to the Valley.