Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Christmas 2006 - Week 019-021

Merry Christmas

We spent Christmas and New Years at home in Atascadero, with a four day trip to Grass Valley to have the motorhome worked on. It was good to see family and friends.

We spent time with our friends, Judy and Jerry,  from Zion RV Resort, and had a wonderful New Years Eve with them at Janet and Brad Arthur's. We had many  gatherings and reunited with many old friends. 

We went to Tony and Lisa home for Tony's 50th. We were able to see their four sons, grand baby, and two daughters-in-law. The kids get older, yet Tony and Lisa seem to get younger. 

 We were especially delighted to see Jim and Traci Hewitt and most of their clan, whom we hadn't seen in quite a while. (sorry no picture)

Our granddaughter Kalonie, with our daughter Melissa in front of the beautiful tree that Michelle (our son Andy's girlfriend)  brought over and helped me decorate. Thanks Michelle.


Emily with our grandsons, Austin and Levi.                     Melissa with her friend Sarah.
  

Janet's birthday in our house with no furniture.(Kathy, Janet, Paula, Janice, and Sandy)


Ellen having lunch with her 2nd cousin Judy and the sisters - Susie, Carla, Janice, and Donnalee 


Lunching at the Custom House in Avila 


Christmas Eve at Ellen's brother Art's house  (Thanks for all your hard work Kelli)




Tony with some of his family at his 50th birthday party. 


Melissa, cousin Shay, cousin Tera, and Emily


Thanks to everyone that squeezed us into your busy schedule. It was good seeing everyone. 

Love, Pete and Ellen

By Pete . Ellen Mattson

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Saturday, May 25, 2013

Catatina Island, California - Week 018

Seasons Greetings from Pete and Ellen, 

The highlights of the week: 

We met up with Wally in Huntington Beach. He was down from Atascadero on business. We had a great visit and dinner with him.


We were drawn back to Huntington Beach where the weather and sunsets were beautiful.


We spent one night in Long Beach and were able to meet up with Ellen's cousins, Dan and Janet . Janet had us all over for dinner. It was a wonderful time of catching up over good food. Thanks Janet!


We spent Thursday and Friday nights on Catalina Island with NCCS basketball teams to watch them in a tournament.

Dining in Catalina with friends.
Pete and the Basketball girls team watching the boys play.


 The girls were the champions of the tournament.


On our way home from Long Beach, we stopped and spent the night at the beach in Ventura.


We are looking forward to getting home to family and friends for the holidays.  May God Bless you all with good health, good friends, and wonderful times with family.

 Love, Pete and Ellen 
By Pete . Ellen Mattson

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Huntington Beach, California - Week 017

Hi from Home and Huntington Beach,

Sunday Nick barbecued a delicious dinner at our campsite in Paso Robles. Tuesday we drove the Motorhome to Santa Monica to visit our friends, David and Marlene, whom we had met in Palm Springs.  Pete dropped Ellen off at their beach house and had to drive 12 miles just to find an illegal spot large enough to park. We will never do that again in the motorhome. They have a beautiful home and Ellen had a lovely visit, once the stress of the drive wore off.

The rest of the week we spent on the beach in Huntington Beach. During the days we went into town to watch NCCS boys and girls play basketball in a tournament. It was good seeing old friends again. On Thursday, Ellen took a break from basketball, and met our granddaughter Kalonie, her mother, Sonya, her sister, Delaney and her other grandmother, Anita at Knotts Berry Farm. We had a lot of fun going on all the rides. 

Nick, John, Levi and Pete having dinner.


David and Marlene's beautiful home in Santa Monica on the beach. 


Several days spent at Huntington Beach.


NCCS girls basketball team that Pete coached last year.


Pete and Ken working together on stats.


Friends Toni and Paul , grandparents of Lady Crusader Brandi.


Anita, Sonya, Kalonie and Delaney met up with Ellen at Knotts Berry Farm


It is now Sunday and we are in Irvine to get the oil changed in the motorhome. Then off to Long Beach to find a place to park and leave the motorhome when we go to Catalina Island to watch NCCS basketball teams play in another tournament on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Then home for Christmas.

Love, Pete and Ellen

Motorhome Q&A:  How do you connect to the Internet?  We use two connections.  1) Verizon AirCard:  This card inserts into our notebook computer and allows connection to the Internet while we are traveling.  It has really been amazing.  We are probably connected 99 out of 100 hours.  For example, early on our trip we we traveling through Arizona on highway 71 from Quartzite to Prescott.  It was dark, we were tired and needed to stop.  Ellen got on the Internet and found Desert Palms RV Resort in Salome.  When we got there, the host Harry, asked "What are you doing here and how did you find us?".  Apparently no one comes in the summer!  The next day as we drove out we could see that Salome, population 1,690 was in the middle of NOWHERE.  And yet we had Internet connection.  The AirCard connection will be one of two speeds: slow and slower.  2) Wifi is faster. At campgrounds or WiFi hotspots we connect by wireless.  The WiFi is faster when it works.  However, more often than not, the WiFi service has been poor or non-existent.  





By Pete . Ellen Mattson

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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Train Home - Travelogue Week 016


Hello to all,

Sunday night we arrived at the Elks Lodge in Burbank where Pete remained until Friday. He spent the week working with his friends and clients, Tom and Sue. Ellen spent Sunday and Monday there, and then took a train to San Luis Obispo to visit with friends and family. At Burbank a sign indicated that you must have a government-issued ID to ride.  She did not have her driver's license with her. It turned out that the conductor did not require the ID. Her friend Paula picked her up in SLO and they had lunch and then went to visit with Janet and Brad . Ellen met up with her sisters and brothers-in-law for dinner. Unfortunately, Ellen got the stomach flu while on her vacation from her vacation. On Thursday, her sister,  Janice took her for the return train ride to Burbank.  In San Luis Obispo they do require ID and she could not ride "home". Apparently you can only go north without ID. Pete was going to send her license up with his friends, Tom and Sue, who were heading up here. However, he surprised Ellen and drove the motorhome up and we stayed at Wine Country RV Park for a few nights. It was a wonderful surprise. We went to our niece Michelle's 30th birthday dinner at Carla and Ron's. The next day we saw our sons and most of our grandkids. Ellen got to visit with her nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. We went to church Sunday morning with Janice and Renee.

Ellen's good friend Paula met her at the train


Elena, Carla, and Janice at Michelle's dinner


Pete and Nick


Pete, John, and grandkids Cody, Lilly and Kalonie


Nick with his cousin Michelle


Pete and Ken working on the Stats program in the motorhome.


Great nephew and niece, Bronson and Winter


Next week we are off to Huntington Beach and the following week Catalina Island, and then home for Christmas.

Love, Pete and Ellen


By Pete . Ellen Mattson

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Thursday, May 2, 2013

San Diego, California - Travelogue Week 015


Hello from San Diego (again),

We spent most of the week relaxing in Chula Vista RV Resort (recommended).  We spent a little time with Emily before she and Chad headed to Durham for Thanksgiving.   The Chula Vista resort is right on the San Diego Bay.  On Tuesday we took a 25 mile bicycle ride around the bay.  The last final leg of the trip took us from Coronado Island on a ferry to downtown San Diego.  Melissa joined us on Wednesday and stayed in the MH until Sunday.

On Thanksgiving Day we shared dinner with about 60 people at the RV park.  The meal was provided by the park and Melissa made four pies, one to share at the dinner.  On Friday we headed to Outdoor Resorts Rancho CA (located in Aguanga CA).  We had a "two-week reunion" with our new friends from Outdoor Resorts MotorCoach Country Club in Indio CA.  On Sunday morning we headed to the chapel at the RV park.  We expected a small group and were surprised to share the service with about 50 folks.  The service was very inspirational.  About twenty of those there shared why they were thankful.  It was a time of joy and tears and these people really shared from their hearts.

Sunday afternoon we headed back to Point Loma Nazarene University to return Melissa.  We met Emily and Chad for dinner.

The view from Emily's apartment at Point Loma.


This picture was taken on our 25 mile bicycle trip.


A view of the Coronado Bridge seen from the "island".


Downtown San Diego, taken from the ferry boat.


The Midway aircraft carrier, now a museum in San Diego.


Ellen on the last few miles of our bike trip.


Sunset at our Chula Vista campground.


David and Marlene with Snuggles; Ed and Sheryl at our "reunion".


The trip back to San Diego on Interstate 15.


Melissa practicing for her Carnation commercial with Emily and Chad.


Motorhome Q&A:  How far ahead to you plan your route?  We try not to plan the route at all!  We know generally where we will be a few weeks at a time.  But each day we decide where to go and how long to stay.  We have learned from our experience and talking with other full timers that the less you plan, the more you enjoy your time.  Almost every time we have had a deadline, it has caused us to leave somewhere that we wanted to stay longer.  We have developed a few guidelines as we go.  1.  If we arrive after dark, we stay at Walmart or some other free spot.  Then the next day we head out early and get to the campground.  This way we get to enjoy the camp and the facilities for the complete day or days.  2.  We only pay for a single day unless we know for sure that we will like where we are staying.  3. If we only stay one day, we do not unload the chairs, tables, bikes, motorcycle and kayak.  If we are staying longer, we unload it all when we get there and then enjoy the rest of our time there.

That's all for this week.  Next week, off the Los Angeles.

Love, Pete and Ellen


By Pete . Ellen Mattson

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