Our first stop on the 2011 winter trip was in North Bonneville, WA, where we had a good visit with Bill's mother and brother. We stayed at the Lewis and Clark RV Campground. This campground had some very nice antique displays.
There are signs about the local history.
Lots of old tools and logging equipment.
Many of their displays are covered.
We stayed an extra day in North Bonneville because of the snow in the Siskiyou's. This mountain area is on the border of southern OR and northern CA. They had snow storms both the day before and after we went over the pass. We drove for four days to get to Pomona, CA, to visit with Teri's brother and wife, Jeff and Elaine Moeller. The weather as we drove south was crazy - rain, wind and snow - but we made it safely.
It's funny when you see a street direction sign with your name on it.
Here's Jeff and Elaine in front of the Phoenix Garden chinese restaurant where we enjoyed a really great lunch of authentic chinese food.
We made a visit to the Bamboo Teahouse again. We stocked up on some really good teas. We are glad Elaine thought to show us this shop last year.
We visited the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden during our visit. This is an 86-acre garden (naturally we didn't see all of it). Susanna Bixby Bryant founded the garden of native CA plants in 1927 on her ranch in Orange County. The gardens were relocated to Claremont, CA, in 1951. There were water displays and sculptures throughout the gardens.
There were some unusual trees. To get an idea of the size of the burl on this tree, Elaine sat next to it. The branches of this tree were twisted making it look strange.
There was an Indian village depicting the Tongva tribe, a Native American people of California.
As we were looking at the hummingbird sage, we also spotted several hummingbirds flying around but they were too quick to get a picture. It was nice to get this picture of a colorful butterfly.
Some of the plants were blooming. There was a variety of colorful blooms.
The "boys" are taking it easy.
There is a new member of the family. Star is just 4 months old and very smart.
Here's Lucky perching on Jeff's shoulder. He is normally pretty quiet and he seemed to enjoy his free time.
After a nice visit for several days, we headed toward Yuma, AZ.
Every once in a while we spot an exit sign that just makes us scratch our heads. Why is this street named "Avenue 8 1/2 E"? We are pretty sure there must be a logical explanation. Does anyone know?
We enjoyed a nice visit with Jerry and Mary Ann Barth in Yuma, AZ. Jerry worked for Bill at the Eatonville PO before trading with a rural carrier from WI to relocate there. That was in the early 1980's. We always enjoy visiting with them. We also visited with them in WI last year.
They showed us the Sprague's Sports store that is like a mini-Cabela's.
The store specializes in hunting supplies. They had some really awesome mounts.
As we past by the local marine base, we spotted this Boeing 787. Jerry said he had read in the paper that the 787 was at the base for testing. Thought of Teri's sister and her husband, Kay and Lee, who both retired from Boeing.
Jerry drove us to see one of the fun hangouts in the Foothills area near Phoenix.
One side of the building was covered with license plates from all over the U.S., Canada and Mexico. It was fun to find several from WA, an old, old CA plate and one from WI where Jerry and Mary Ann live in the summer.
The other side of the building had all kinds of signs. We have seen a lot of these sayings before but it was neat to see them displayed on the building.
We took a stroll in a wetlands park along the Colorado River. It was a sunny day and we enjoyed being outdoors taking a nice walk.
