Fast forward - Oklahoma!

We wrapped up skiing in Arizona and high-tailed it across New Mexico to Amarillo. After a quick detour to Abilene, we returned to the panhandle to find we had a lapse in judgment. We had left the trailer in an RV park during our trip to drop off Christmas decorations, etc. in the storage unit and celebrate a couple of family birthdays. During our absence, Amarillo had received 10" of snow and had had temperatures well below freezing. We had left the furnace on, but had not left the automatic switch over feature on the propane tanks - so the propane had run out sometime before our return. We also had disconnected the water hose, but didn't drain the lines. The housing around the water filter had completely exploded, incapacitating our water systems. Fortunately, Craig was able to handily replace it and everything else was fine. Whew! Lesson learned with a very inexpensive consequence - less than $20!

We also took advantage of an on-site RV tech to coat the rubber roof for continued UV and water protection. The techs scrubbed the whole roof, brushed on the coating and had it returned in one afternoon. We feel like we're in good shape to continue our trek to the eastern states.

First stop - Oklahoma!

This RV park is centrally located in Oklahoma City, but has an attractive appeal with the beautiful trees. We parked well out of the limbs' reach, however, with recent ice storms on our mind! No falling branches for us! The club house features a huge sitting area with a large fireplace and several large screen TV's, a pool table, ping-pong, game tables and huge puzzles.

The park is within a mile of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, so that was our first stop. We forgot our camera on this outing, but more than 1/2 of the museum doesn't allow photos anyway. We enjoyed touring thousands of square feet of paintings, sculptures and exhibits for the entire afternoon.

The next day was a much more sober activity with a visit to the Oklahoma City National Memorial, paying tribute to victims of the horrendous April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P Murrah Federal building.

The inscription reads 'Welcome here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort strength, peace, hope and serenity.'


The memorial is framed by the Gates of Time. Mounted over the former crosswalks on NW 5th street, completely destroyed along with the building, the monuments display 9:01 and 9:03 - marking the time of destruction 9:02 am on April 19.

The Reflecting Pool spans the width and length of the former street with a serene flow of very shallow water and gentle sounds.

The Field of Empty Chairs pays tribute to those killed in the blast and collapse of the building. Arranged in rows reflecting the 9 story building, smaller chairs represent the 19 children killed in the day care center.

Opposite the chairs stands The Survivor Tree, a 90+ year-old American Elm that withstood the horrific blast. The inscription for visitors reads 'The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated, our deeply rooted faith sustains us'.

At the entrance to the indoor museum is a precious wall, decorated with tiles created by hundreds of children in the aftermath of the bombing. One side of the wall is simple handprints while the other side reflects simple drawings and messages of hope and comfort - expressed as only children can!

Alongside the Survivor Tree, the Rescuers' Orchard was planted with nut and flower bearing trees to honor the thousands of helpers that rushed to aid the victims and their families.

We did not realize or remember that over 300 buildings were damaged within a 16 block perimeter of the Murrah building. Directly across the street from the blast stood a rectory for the oldest Catholic church in OKC, St. Joseph's. The rectory was so severely damaged that it had to be torn down. The church erected this statue, entitled 'Jesus Wept' in it's place. The church also sustained much damage, but has been restored.

As said before, this was a very sobering experience for us all - along the lines of visiting Mount St. Helens. This day was much more grievous since it was caused through human hands and the violence delivered with such callousness. We hold deep respect for the Oklahoma City community for their resilience and determination to recover from the tragedy and also to provide an appropriate remembrance of the victims. We can only hope that someday a fitting tribute for the 9/11 tragedy will be in place.

The sunny day did not stop a very cold wind from chilling us all, so after leaving the memorial, we sought out a Starbucks for coffee and hot chocolate at nearby Bricktown.

We enjoyed seeing the unique buildings and beautiful landscaping, but were not up for the water taxi ride!

Developed primiarily for night life, things were very quiet during our visit - suited us fine!

Warmed up, we returned to the RV for a quiet dinner - everyone seemed very reflective, as it should be.

Powder...courtesy of El Nino!

OK - after the third wave of big snowstorms passed through Arizona, here's a photo of the 5th wheel... Just kidding! We couldn't resist taking this photo on our way to the Elk Ridge Ski area after waiting through the snows. Williams didn't get anywhere near the depth that piled up in Flagstaff and the RV park plowed us out nicely. So, on the firsst day that the roads were clear up the mountain, we piled on the snow clothes again for one more day of skiing and snowboarding.

The drive was magical with the still fresh snow and gorgeous blue skies!

Linda's favorite house needed some help with the driveway, but isn't it nice? On about 10 acres, backed up to national forest land...hmm...out of our price range but nice to dream about!

The main road from Williams to the ski area was cleared nicely and didn't have any packed ice.

The drive up the mountain on the forestry service raod wasn't as clear, but our 4 wheel drive made it just fine.

It took a little while for the ski area staff to arrive to issue our equipment, but soon we were on the fresh powder - really fun!

The Snow Bowl at Flagstaff wasn't open as yet and quite a few college students arrived, but we still enjoyed the mountain until the lift closed at the end of the day.

We were very glad we stayed for the extra snow, but watched for a break between the storms to head back to the east. We've got more states to explore yet!

Ski Arizona

That's right...ski in Arizona! Part of our family Christmas present was to take some time and some of our vacation funds for some playing in the snow. Flagstaff has the Snow Bowl, but we decided to seek out something with easier access and hopefully fewer skiers and snowboarders. So we left sunny southern California and the beautiful Escapee Resort to drive long and hard across the Mojave Desert to Williams, AZ.

We did well on the drive, although it was at least 150 miles further than we normally tackle in a days' journey. We even left CA a day early to try to miss the forecasted high winds across the desert. We did miss the winds and skirted an eastern-bound front with rain. Nine miles from Williams, however, the light showers turned to a fairly dense snow. At first, it was no problem as the temperature (38 F) prevented any sticking. As we climbed in elevation, however, the snow began to stick and eventually we found ourselves in a huge traffic jam. A couple of trucks slid in the slushy snow on the incline and jack-knifed ahead of us on the highway. We were stuck in the mess for 2 1/2 hours and were beginning to wonder how we could fare overnight. The most beautiful big snowplow arrived and finally worked its' way to the front of the jammed trucks and made a wonderful path for all of us to work our way up the incline, past the stalled trucks and one broken down car. We arrived at the RV park only 10 minutes later, thankful to be in one piece and able to hook up our connections for a warm night's sleep! With our early arrival, we took a day to do laundry, clean house, review lessons and prepare our snow clothes for a day of skiing. We had spied the Elk Ridge Ski Area, just 3 miles south of Williams during the spring trip to the Grand Canyon. Because of it's proximity to the RV park, we could leave the dogs in the trailer and enjoy the day on the mountain. We knew nothing of the ski area other than it's location and that it advertised itself as a family friendly, beginner friendly ski facility - sounded great for us and it was! The first chore was getting our ski beginner into his boots while our older son tested snowboarding boots. We signed the kids up for lessons with their respective snow equipment and found ourselves to be almost alone on the mountain. We paid for group lessons, but received private instruction!Cory's snowboarding instructor, Erin, was a former snowboard racing champ.Will's ski instructor, Nancy, had only recently joined the staff, coming from Park City, Utah.Of course, learning has a few tumbles...But, as you can see, persistence and determination has it's rewards...We didn't know until we arrived that the ski area had only one lift and it was a rope tow. We had a few tumbles figuring that out, but eventually everyone was gliding smoothly up the slope.Linda got a little skiing in on the first two days, but did so carefully. Only one serious tumble and it was on the tow rope!Another feature of the area is a couple of tubing runs...And even football knee injury Craig could participate in that activity.As a matter of fact, he was the long distance champ on those runs - outdistancing even the boys!On the first day, the tow rope was broken down, so we all got extra exercise by hiking up the runs in order to come down. Because the ski area was not busy, near the end of the day when we were quite worn out from hiking, the manager gave each of us a ride to the top of the run on the SkiDoo. He even took Linda up to the top of the mountain beyond the tow rope lift to see the view and take photos of the Grand Canyon. That far line of blue is the north rim. Magnificent! The owners of the facility hope to have a chair lift in place by next season to have better access to the blue and black runs from the top. We considered this place to be a gem and absolutely perfect for our needs! We loved not having crowds of more advanced skiers and snowboarders having to put up with our beginners and the staff was the most friendly we've ever seen!

As a matter of fact, we extended our stay so that we can enjoy the mountain for another weekend. El Nino rains are bombarding the west coast in a series of storms. In order to travel safely, we either had to cut our time short in Williams and high-tail it for Albuquerque, or 'hunker down' to ride out the predicted heavy snowfall until the storms have passed. Having successfully kept ourselves warm in the previous snows in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, we feel confident we'll be OK. If not, we can always secure the trailer as best we can and take refuge in a local motel. Winter is not a big season for this little tourist town and the RV park obviously has availability....

We'll keep you posted on how this plan works out! Hopefully, it will be enough snow to have more fun with snow play but not so much that we can't make it to the slopes!

Hollywood!

When we travelled through California in May and June, we promised our son that we would come back to visit Los Angeles when the weather wasn't so hot! Craig was born in Santa Monica and remained in the LA area until his early teen years. He didn't have any sentimental memories of his childhood there and I (Linda) have grown to generally despise heavy traffic, crammed parking lots and shoe-horned buildings of big cities. We could have skipped a visit to the city with no regrets; however, Cory's well-made point was that if the purpose of travelling the country was to experience different aspects, we shouldn't skip the big cities along the way. So, we made a short list of 'hot spots' and made our way into the city on a Sunday, so as to avoid as much traffic as possible. First stop - Hollywood Boulevard! We found parking very easily at the Hollywood & Highland Center - a large shopping center with restaurants and a large parking garage. We called ahead and were advised to talk to the garage supervisor for an adequate space for the big dually truck. We did so and were placed in an area reserved for oversize vehicles - no problem! Once parked, we were within easy walking distance to Graumin's Chinese Theater, Kodak Theater, the Walk of Fame and could see the big HOLLYWOOD hillside sign from the centrally located open courtyard of the mall.

Cory found one of his favorite actor's prints - Robert Downey, Jr. next to the entrance. Apparently the premier for 'Sherlock Holmes' had been at the theater and the prints were made then. The HOLLYWOOD sign is waaay in the background to the left of Cory's head. Here...we'll zoom in with a cropped version.... We browsed the footprints and stars for the various famous performers, took in the sights of the various downtown theaters, sidewalk performers and tourist buses, then found a nice little shop serving crepes. The weather was perfect for sitting outside and leisurely enjoying some delicious crepes. The architectural features of the multi-level courtyard were quite spectacular and a large fountain added to the ambiance of the very uncrowded setting.

The cafe validated our parking stub, so with only an investment in breakfast and $2.00, we continued our LA tour. A short drive brought us to Universal City where we took in a movie in a large (19 theater) complex within the shopping area bordering Universal Studios. We had to invest more in parking at this stop, but it was worth it. In addition to the movie, the boys spent some time in the largest Game Stop store they had ever seen. Again, the timing of this visit made for a relaxing time to simply window shop and enjoy the pleasant weather and unique features of the area.

We completed our tour with a drive over to Manhattan Beach Pier. After a few trips around the blocks near the pier, we found a metered parking spot on the street and hoofed it over to the pier and beach. We watched a few surfers and beach volleyball games, let the guys entertain themselves in the edge of the surf (icy cold water) and watched the sunset.

A much more pleasant day with few traffic snarls and truly enjoyable stops along the way, we all contentedly headed back to the RV park.

Speaking of the RV park, we must invest some space here in featuring this very amazingly pleasant resort. The Escapee's Jojoba Hills Co-op was our first experience in an official Escapee park. We arrived on Sunday afternoon when the office was closed, so we had to park in the boondock area. Without a generator, we're not well-equipped for boondocking but the moderate temperatures allowed us to stay for overnight with no problems. When the office opened the following day, we were assigned to a very lovely spot that was nicely landscaped and offered terrific views of the hills and valleys surrounding the resort.

A side benefit for our family were the ponds that dotted the development. Our oldest son happened to need pond samples for a biology experiment and this one came in very handy!

He was able to obtain some terrific samples for his experiment and was even coached by one of the neighbors, a former zoologist! Here's a glimpse of our one room 'school house' with both guys busy with their studies.

The nicest feature of the resort is the clubhouse which includes a very large meeting room, several sewing/hobby rooms, a well stocked library with tons of dvd's, an exercise room, a billiard room, a card room (with several game tables), saunas in the restrooms and this lovely pool with two large spas.

We truly enjoyed spending a little extra time in this lovely spot and felt very welcome amongst the many full-time residents. Every evening offered spectacular sunsets and we enjoyed many bike rides along the driveways amongst the park.

We'll close with one of our favorite views which will explain why the chaise lounge chairs were facing away from the pool in the photo above!