Here is a video of the Waimea Canyon in west Kauai
Lets us know if the above link does not work for you.
November 15, 2014 Kauai, Hawaii Part 3 (lets try this again & again)
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November 15, 2014 Kauai, Hawaii Part 3 (lets try this again)
Here is a video of the Waimea Canyon in west Kauai
Lets us know if the above link does not work for you.
November 15, 2014 Kauai, Hawaii Part 2
Wow, Kauai is a beautiful place! One of the highlights of our time there was driving to Waimea Canyon State Park. The Waimea Canyon, located on the west side of Kauai, is also known as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”. While it is not as big or as old as the Arizona one, we were awestruck by its beauty. It is 14 miles long, one mile wide and 3,600 feet deep. The canyon was
The canyon was full of mist
Waipoo Falls
Closer view of Waipoo Falls
Waimea Canyon
Waimea Canyon with helicopter
Waimea Canyon with Waipoo Falls on the right
Waimea Canyon
formed by the collapse of the volcano that created Kauai, as well as erosion caused by the Waimea River arising from extreme rainfall from Mount Wai’ale’ale, one of the wettest places on earth.
This sign point to a nearby peak
Kalalau lookout
Kalepa Ridge from Kalalau Lookout
While viewing the canyon we heard the faint bleating of a mountain goat. We had to wait awhile but eventually caught a brief glimpse of him before he disappeared. Amazing how they can keep their footing on the canyon walls!
Another day we drove to Wailua Falls a popular tourist attraction, the falls drop 80 feet into a pool of water. The falls was used in the opening credits of “Fantasy Island”.
Wailua falls of Kauai
We loved going to restaurants with tropical settings.
Duke’s Restaurant with a tropical interior
Captain Cook landed two ships in Kauai in 1778 and called the islands “Sandwich Islands”.
Replica of statue in Whitby, England of Captain James Cook 1728 – 1779
Our five nights in Kauai came to an end much too soon. We packed our bags and headed to the airport, but we weren’t ready to fly back to San Diego just yet. Stay tuned!
November 12, 2014 Kauai, Hawaii Part 1
Aloha from Hawaii! Yes you read that right. We are on the island of Kauai. After a six hour flight from San Diego, and a short flight from Honolulu, we arrived on Kauai also known as the
Our first view from the aircraft of Oahu Island and Waikiki Beach
Garden Isle. Like the other Hawaiian Islands, Kauai is the top of an enormous volcano rising from the ocean floor. Kauai is the fourth largest island, the northernmost island, the oldest and the first to be free of volcanic activity. It is 33 miles long and 25 miles wide with a population of around 63,000. It is believed that this island was the first inhabited. While we were able to drive around most of the perimeter of the island, the interior is mostly inaccessible. The temperature averages between 69 and 84 degrees year round. One of the first things we noticed when stepping off the plane was the humidity the likes of which we hadn’t felt since leaving Florida eighteen months ago. The Hawaiian trade winds help somewhat with making the humidity more tolerable.
With ocean temperatures of between 72 and 80 degrees year round we enjoyed snorkeling at two beaches while on the island. Kauai is known for roosters and chickens roaming free, so it is common to see them everywhere you go on the island, even sunbathing with Bill on the beach.
These roosters where everywhere
We were also awakened every morning by the sound of roosters crowing. While driving to one beach we came upon a blowhole.
Spouting Horn
Spouting Horn
We stayed at a beautiful condo we booked through Vacation Rentals By Owner. We enjoyed watching cruise ships coming in from our balcony. Electricity is very expensive on the island and it is very common to see solar panels on most of the roofs of buildings including our condo.
View from our balcony
We rented a jeep and set off to explore the island during our five night stay.
One day we drove to the North Shore of the island on Highway 50 to the “End of the Road”. This part of the island is known for its gorgeous scenery, amazing beaches, dry and wet caves, waterfalls and many one lane bridges where you had to stop and wait your turn to cross. The movie ” South Pacific ” was filmed here as well as Elvis Presley’s “Blue Hawaii”. We also
Left view of Lumahai Beach part of South Pacific movie
Right view of Lumahai Beach part of South Pacific movie
stopped at an overlook with taro fields, which is widely grown in Hawaii. This valley was used during the filming of the movie “Uncommon Valor” starring Gene Hackman.
Hanalei Wildlife Refuse
Haena park
Haena park
Haena park
Haena park
November 9, 2014 San Diego, California
We have been staying at the Admiral Baker RV Park outside of San Diego for almost ten days now. In the past you had to be past or current military to stay here but now it is open to the general public. We have enjoyed our stay here which included an unexpected fireworks display one night from the nearby San Diego Stadium. We later learned it was one of the biggest fireworks shows west of the Mississippi and a San Diego tradition which includes a musical soundtrack synchronized to fireworks from all over the world.
We also went to see the USS Midway aircraft carrier located in San Diego. The Midway was one of America’s longest-serving aircraft carriers with over sixty exhibits, 29 restored aircraft, and two flight simulators. Over 225,000 sailors served aboard this vessel during her time in service.
USS Midway was an aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, the lead ship of her class. Commissioned a week after the end of World War II, Midway was the largest ship in the world until 1955,
She was commissioned in 1945 at the end of World War 2 and was decommissioned in 1992, serving during the Vietnam War and was the Persian Gulf flagship during Operation Desert Storm.
F-4 Phantom II fighter, this is the first aircraft that I built training simulators for
F-4 Phantom II
Midway could launch a massive aircraft about every 60 seconds
The control room for launching and landing planes
Officer quarters
Enlisted rank quarters
Just like in an RV when you need to save water: get wet, soap up then rinse off.
Unconditional Surrender is a three-dimensional interpretation of a photo taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt of a Sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square, New York City on Aug. 14, 1945, following the announcement of V-J Day.
October 27, 2014 San Clemente, California
We left San Juan Capistrano and the coyotes behind and headed back to the beach for a five night stay at San Clemente Beach State Park. We didn’t know what to expect after our stay at Huntington Beach in the cramped and noisy state park there. We were pleasantly surprised to find a nice park with fairly spacious sites and best of all, the park was practically empty. The campground is located on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean with train tracks at the bottom of the cliff running right along the beach, and I-5, the busy freeway on the other side. To our relief, neither the train noise or freeway noise was a problem. There was a nice buffer of trees and the freeway was far enough away to not be a problem, and since the trains did not blow their whistles, we could sleep at night with the windows open with no problems.
It was a bit of a hike down to the beach from the campground, but there was a nice paved trail and we saw some beautiful sunsets from the bluffs.
Sunset from San Clemente
Sunset from San Clemente
While here in San Clemente we made the jaunt two hours north to Castaic to see Bill’s Aunt Emily. She flew from her home in Illinois to spend the winter with her son in California. We saw Aunt Emily last year when we traveled through Illinois and we so happy to have another chance to see her.
Aunt Emily, Bill and George Selph
October 25, 2014 San Juan Capistrano
We left Huntington Beach and drove the short distance inland to Caspers Wilderness Regional Park in San Juan Capistrano. It is hard to find a campground with available space on the weekend, so we settled on this campground for a three night weekend stay. It turned out to be a great campground at a reasonable price with spacious sites where we could hear coyotes howling at night.
On Saturday we drove into town to the Mission San Juan Capstistrano. This mission was founded on All Saints Day, November 1, 1776 by Spanish Catholics. 
It is a beautiful mission and is the oldest building in California, the site of the oldest ironworks in the state, the oldest winery in the state. 
In 1812 a massive earthquake destroyed the Great Stone Church and the ruins of the church are visible today. Ruins such as these are usually only seen in Europe and these are the only such ruins in the United States. Because of the Great Stone Church’s decay the walls and ceiling were not rebuilt. Today there is a new chapel and school next door.
A close-up view of the ruins of Mission San Juan Capistrano’s “Great Stone Church,” destroyed by earthquake in 1812
A view of the ruins of Mission San Juan Capistrano’s “Great Stone Church,” destroyed by earthquake in 1812. These bells are located where the bell tower stood.
The two original small bells and copies of the large bells from the destroyed bell tower
The two original small bells and copies of the large bells from the destroyed bell tower
Located in the Serra Chapel is its spectacular retablo, a masterpiece of Baroque art, the altarpiece was hand-carved of 396 individual pieces of cherry wood and overlaid in gold leaf in Barcelona and is estimated to be 400 years old. It was originally imported from Barcelona in 1806 for the Los Angeles cathedral but was never used and was installed in the Serra Chapel around 1924. This chapel is still being used today.
The centerpiece of the chapel is its spectacular retablo which serves as the backdrop for the altar
The centerpiece of the chapel is its spectacular retablo which serves as the backdrop for the altar
The mission is most famous for the return of the swallows each spring on March 19th, Saint Joseph’s Day. Swallows always return to their nest and they return to the town from March until October when they fly south to Argentina for the winter. Each spring the entire town celebrates the return of the swallows with a parade and celebration. One problem the mission and town are encountering is that during efforts to preserve the mission ruins, some of the swallow nests were destroyed and many swallows stopped coming to Capistrano. The mission has tried various ways to persuade the birds return, including building fake nests, creating mud puddles to provide nesting materials, and throwing ladybug, their favorite food, on the ground to entice them to come back. Nothing has worked. Some swallows do return to the town each spring but are choosing to build their nests in the eaves of downtown buildings, under freeway overpasses and along creek beds. Experts say Southern California is seeing a sharp decline in swallows due to urban sprawl.
In 1939 songwriter Leon Rene wrote a love ballad called “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano” which was later recorded by The Ink Spots, Pat Boone, Glenn Miller and Gene Autry.
San Juan Capistrano was a lovely, quaint town and we enjoyed lunch on a balcony overlooking the town after taking a guided tour of the mission. We had a really nice weekend stay in the area.
October 20, 2014 Huntington Beach, California Part 2
While staying at the Bolsa Chica State Beach campground in Huntington Beach, we decided to make the forty minute drive over to Yorba Linda to tour the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, Museum and Birthplace.
The library is located on the former site of the Nixon family nine acre citrus farm and includes the birthplace our 37th president. We were able to tour the house where Nixon was born and lived as a small child.
Nixon was born and lived as a child in this very house on this very location
The library and museum had many exhibits beginning with his birth and childhood to his years as a lawyer and naval officer as well as his early years in politics. 
There were large exhibits on his years in the White House, including his foreign travels and diplomacy with China and the Middle East, 
as well as space travel including the moon landing. And yes, there was a large exhibit on Watergate. Other presidential libraries had replicas of the Oval Office and how it was decorated during each presidency, but Nixon chose to have a replica of the Lincoln Sitting Room which is where he enjoyed working and spent a lot of his time.
This is the Lincoln sitting room, Nixon’s favorite place to work on the second floor of the White House
We were also able to climb aboard the Marine helicopter used by Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford and was the helicopter Nixon boarded when he departed the White House for the last time.
This is the helicopter that Nixon used when he left the White House for the last time
On display was also the armored limousine used during the Nixon presidency. The grave markers for President and Mrs. Nixon are located near his birthplace. 
It was very interesting to see the library and museum of this complex man during such a tumultuous time in history.
October 18, 2014 Huntington Beach, California
We left our beautiful campsite in Ventura, California after ten wonderful days overlooking the ocean where we could hear the waves crashing against the rocks and watch surfers riding the waves. We drove south to Bolsa Chica State Beach Park in Huntington Beach. While we could see the ocean, this campground was not nearly as nice as the county park at Ventura. The camping sites were similar to a parking lot with sites very close together. The worst part of this campground was its very close proximity to Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway. Traffic noise was constant with only some relief in the early morning hours. We have found that while the beach campgrounds offer beautiful views of the ocean, they are also located close to the Pacific Coast Highway and therefore have traffic noise. The breathtaking views we enjoyed while driving along the coast earlier this year come at a cost to beach campers. We did enjoy a few beautiful sunsets while we were there.
Sunset from the shores of Huntington Beach
Sunset from the shores of Huntington Beach
While in the area we decided to drive to Long Beach to do some sightseeing. Our first stop was the USS Iowa battleship. 
It is known as the Battleship of Presidents and is the only battleship on the West Coast. She was the lead ship in her class of battleship and the fourth in the US Navy. She is the last lead ship of any class of the U.S. battleships and was the only ship of her class to have served in the Atlantic Ocean 
during World War II. During World War II she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Algeria for an important meeting in 1943 in Tehran with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin.
President Roosevelt used the USS Iowa in 1943
They installed a bathtub and elevator on the ship to accommodate Roosevelt. In 1944 she was sent to the Pacific Fleet where she shelled beachheads in advance of Allied amphibious landings. She also served during the Korean War and was reactivated in 1984 in response to an expanded Soviet Navy. The Iowa was decommissioned for the last time in 1990 and was moved to her current location in 2012. 
This is a 2,000 pound 16 inch shell
The USS Iowa guns shot 16 inch shells and six bag of powder
Phalanx system protects the ship with firing 3,000 22 mm rounds per minute
The protected bridge area of the ship is a vault with 16 inch walls
The bridge is enclosed by 16 inch walls
Next we drove seven miles to the RMS Queen Mary where we took a guided tour of the transatlantic ocean liner.
She primarily sailed on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967. She was officially retired in 1967 and has been moored in Long Beach since October 31, 1967. The ship now serves as a tourist attraction with a hotel, museum and restaurants. The ship is on the National Register of Historic Places and is also listed as a part of the Historic Hotels in America. In 2008 the ship was listed by Time Magazine as one of the 10 most haunted places in America. The Queen Mary’s original professionally manned wireless radio room was removed and later an amateur radio room was created and is manned today by volunteers from a local amateur radio club.
Established in 1979, W6RO was the first permanent amateur radio station to be installed aboard a museum ship and is manned most days by volunteers
Bill particularly enjoyed touring this room. We learned during the ship’s tour that legend has it originally the ship was to be named the Queen Victoria but when ship representatives asked King George V if they could name the ship after Britain’s greatest queen, he assumed they were talking about his wife, Queen Mary, and no one had the nerve to tell him otherwise.
The one and only Queen Victoria – SORRY – Queen Mary cruiseliner
It was interesting to hear how the ship had first class sections of the ship that were off limits to non-first class passengers. Each afternoon, while the first class passengers were enjoying high tea, the other passengers were allowed access to one of the ships two swimming pools. Of course each day the water had to be drained and refilled since the first class passengers could never swim in water where other passengers had been swimming!
We enjoyed our time in Long Beach touring these two historic and very different ships.
October 12, 2014 Ventura Beach, California
Hello from beautiful Ventura Beach! We thought we would do a quick blog update to fill you in on what we have been doing since leaving Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park.
We headed first to Santa Maria, California, a farming community about twelve miles from the ocean. We planned on hanging out there for a few days until the beginning of the Winnebago rally we had signed up to attend. While in Santa Maria we stayed at their nice fairgrounds with full hookup sites. Even though the fairgrounds was right across the street from the Santa Maria High School, it was very quiet and peaceful and we certainly enjoyed our stay there.
Craving the beach, we spent a few days at the state park in Pismo Beach enjoying the ocean views and incredible sunsets. 
Next we headed to Paso Robles, in the wine country of central California. We attended a California state Winnebago rally there. We were a bit like fish out of water because everyone else was from California and knew and traveled with each other on a regular basis. We were the strangers from Florida, but everyone was very welcoming and friendly. Each night at dinner we were able to sit at a table with new people so we got to meet a lot of people and learn about their beautiful state. California was having record breaking temperatures while we were there and daytime highs were near 100 each day. The saving grace was it would cool down to the 50’s at night. Even so, we longed to get near the ocean.
Our next stop was Ventura Beach. Bill read where Ventura County had several county parks right on the beach with full hookups. The tricky part was they are first come first serve and you take whatever site is free when you get there. We decided to take a chance since we had a back up plan in case the park was full. As it turned out the first night we had to take a less desirable site but the next morning someone left and we were able to grab a site facing the ocean with full hookups. We fell in love with our site where we could see the ocean all day and go to sleep at time to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. We loved it here so much we decided to cancel our reservation at an RV park in Malibu and stay in Ventura Beach for ten days instead of the scheduled three. 
On Sunday the waves were higher than usual and we watched surfers riding the waves from our front window. 
Suddenly we saw several dolphins swimming along with the surfers, occasionally jumping high out of the water. It was an amazing sight and it was as if the dolphins were showing the surfers how it really should be done. Every time a dolphin would leap from the water the crowd of people standing nearby would cheer. It was all very exciting but unfortunately it all happened too quickly to grab a camera as the dolphins quickly disappeared from sight and continued on their journey.
The beach here at Ventura is different than any we have been to thus far. There are huge piles of rocks which form a barrier between the water and the land. Normally there are steps at the campground which take you down to the beach. But during high tide the waves crash on the
rocks and block access to the beach since the bottom steps are covered with water. Once the water subsides and you can access the beach, the sand is very hard and easy to walk on. You are literally walking on the bottom of the ocean floor. There is no loose sand to walk through to get to the water. We loved it because it made for great beach walking. On Sunday during high tide some campers were standing on the top of the steps fishing and watching the surfers. Suddenly a huge wave came crashing in and splashed water over top of them. It was the first time I had seen the waves that high and it was funny to see the startled looks on their faces. Nobody was hurt but they were drenched and the first thing they all did was check their cell phones to see if they were damaged. That was another one of those times when I wished I had gotten a picture of their startled faces. This is the first beach we have been to that did not have 24 hour beach access, and we did have to plan our beach walks around low tide when the steps and beach were accessible.
We loved, loved, loved our time here at Ventura Beach. We easily could have stayed a month
or longer, but they have a 14 day limit and we had reservations at other parks we didn’t want to change. There have been many places in our sixteen months on the road that have been hard to leave, but leaving this beautiful area was downright painful! 