The World Famous San Diego Zoo

Mama Panda eating bamboo

Orangs "gettin' it on"

Scarlet Ibis

White egret

South Dakota Badger - Check out the CLAWS!!!

(They can dig faster than a man with a shovel).

Camel

Koala - they sleep 18-20 hours/day

Flamingos trying to cool off

Mama giraffe - due any day

Polar bear (my favorite)

THREE Polar Bears

Since today (Tuesday) was our 30th Anniversary and we were not lucky enough to get tickets for the Tonight Show (I guess we'd have an easier time getting tickets to see Jay Leno in Michigan right now), we spent the day at the San Diego Zoo. It was an awesome experience and I really had a hard time choosing which pictures to post here. The giraffe shown here is due to have her baby at any time. I was amazed to hear that it will weigh about 150 lbs. and be 6 ft. tall at birth. OUCH!!! The orangutans put on quite a show for the adults! :-) It was a beautiful day, although a bit on the HOT side. Bob kept saying, "Dry heat...my ass!" :-) We will be going to the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park later this week.

Menifee, California

California Sunset

Wind turbines near Palm Springs

We arrived at our campsite at Wilderness Lakes Resort in Menifee, CA on Friday. It is a nice resort with lots of ducks, geese and other water birds. There is a huge dairy farm nearby, but fortunately our site is on the other side of the park, so we don't have to endure the smell. Yesterday we drove down to Temucula and then we drove to the Palm Springs area to check out the Desert Pools Resort that we will be going to when we leave here in 2 weeks. Bob wanted to make sure the drive through the mountain areas will be OK when we pull the trailer there. We tried 2 different routes and they both seemed fine. The Palm Springs area has over 4,000 wind turbines which power the entire area. They cost up to $300,000 each to install. It's almost mesmerizing to drive through there when they are all turning. On the way back we watched a beautiful California sunset.

Our Site at Mountain Lakes Resort

The Everest at Mountain Lakes


View from our site at Mountain Lakes


Mountain Lakes Resort in Lytle Creek, CA is such a beautiful park! We were supposed to leave here last Friday and go to another of our membership parks in Menifee, CA, but on Thursday our truck was acting up and we took it to the dealer. The dealer paid for our rental car, but there was no way to pull the trailer, so this park was nice enough to let us stay 2 weeks straight. We will leave this Friday for Menifee and are hopeful that the park there will as nice as this one. Mountain Lakes is definitely our favorite membership (Resorts of Distinction) park that we have stayed at.

On Sunday we met my cousin, Gwen & her husband, Jim and their daughter and granddaughter at The Cheesecake Factory for lunch. We had a wonderful visit with them and they are going to come down to a campground near Menifee on the 18th so we can spend some time together there. Tomorrow we are meeting Paul & Cheryl and Gwen & Jim at the Outback Steakhouse for dinner. This has been such a wonderful visit with my cousins and we are going to be very sad to leave California in a few weeks!

Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace

He just can't resist a photo op with the King!


The Nixon Birthplace


Reflecting Pool at the Library



Since visiting the 13 Presidential Libraries & Museums was on the "Bucket List" I created when we began full-time RVing 2 years ago, we went to the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, CA yesterday. It is at the exact site where the house he was born in was originally located. His parents bought 8 acres of land and his father built the house from a kit. It was a beautiful setting and very interesting.

Real Time with Bill Maher

Yesterday we went back to Hollywood...this time to CBS Studios for the live taping of "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO. It was quite an experience to see how a live TV show is produced. This is the same studio where the Carol Burnett Show and Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour were taped. Free parking and free tickets made it even better! We are still hoping to get tickets for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". This was a great evening and one that we hope to repeat, if possible. We had tickets for "Jimmy Kimmel Live" for Thursday, but when Real Time called on Wednesday and said we could get into Real Time on Friday, we cancelled the Jimmy Kimmel tickets. If we lived in this area, I'm sure we would spend a lot of time going to TV shows. We may even try to get into The Price Is Right before we leave California.

Hollywood!

The Hollywood Sign


Our Limo


Cheryl & Michelle in the limo


On Rodeo Drive

The Playboy Mansion

Paul's 1952 Chevy truck

On Thursday we went to Hollywood. Mike & Paul had business to take care of so they could not join us. So, once again, Bob had a harem. Bob, Cheryl, Michelle & I were off to our tour of Hollywood in a 1923 Ford T Roadster Limo. It just doesn't get any cooler than that! We went through Bel Air, Holmby Hills and Beverly Hills, as well as down Rodeo Drive. Our driver pointed out nearly 50 stars homes, including the Playboy Mansion and Aaron Spelling's huge mansion. We parked in the Kodak Theatre garage (where the Academy Awards were on Sunday) and walked out onto Hollywood Blvd. Right across the street is the Jimmy Kimmel Live theater. We could have had free tickets to the taping of Bill Maher's show and Jimmy Kimmel Live, but we were not sure what time we would be back from our tour. Bob & I are planning to go back to Hollywood next Thursday in hopes of seeing those shows. We're still trying to get tickets for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. After Hollywood we met Mike, Paul & Paul's son Andrew at the Elephant Bar for dinner. They were going back to Paul's to work on Paul's 1952 Chevy Truck he is restoring. Bob wanted to go watch, but of course he was right in there helping before it was over. Yesterday we moved from Yucaipa Regional Park to Mountain Lakes Resort in Lytle Creek, CA. We will be here a week and then move to another of our "free" ROD parks for a week and then back here for a week. We're not sure after that, but we will be in this area for at least another month. We are camped right on the lake, our large rear windows look out at the lake and the mountains beyond that. Nice view!

Universal Studios - Hollywood

Universal Studios fountain


Bob, Paul & Mike with Shrek & Fiona


Bob at the Hollywood sign


Part of a spectacular plane crash scene


Michelle with Beetlejuice (he wanted a kiss, but she politely declined) :-)

On Wednesday, we went to Universal Studios - Hollywood. I went here 40 years ago when we were in California, Bob & I have been to Universal Studios - Orlando and to Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando. This one is by far the best! We had a great time here and then we went to dinner at the North Woods Inn in Covina, which is a restaurant we went to in 1969 when I was here with my parents and sister. What a blast from the past! In the first picture - the guy on the right is real, although I had no idea when I took the picture!