Moving to Florida

At the end of 2018, Susan, Jennifer, and I decided to leave Oregon and move to Florida. In early December, we packed up a moving truck and two cars and headed out. We headed east to Burns then turned south and drove through Nevada to Las Vegas. Then we turned east onto I-40 and continued east until we reached Mississippi, then proceeded southeast to Winter Garden. 

We pretty much drove all day for five days, stopping only to eat and get gas and sleep. This was the eleventh time I had driven across the country. We unloaded everything into our rental house and turned in the moving truck.

After a couple of days to unpack and rest, we spent a day at the two Universal parks. On my last night we enjoyed dinner at Boma at Animal Kindgom Lodge, then I flew back to Oregon until the house sold. Susan and Jenn began working at Walt Disney World.

Pinnacles National Park

We left San Diego Monday morning and headed north to San Luis Obispo, where we had dinner with friends. The next day we continued up 101 to a KOA near Prunedale and dropped the trailer, then turned east to Pinnacles National Park. The road was narrow and windy enough that I was glad I didn't try to camp in the park.

We checked out the Visitor Center and hiked up a trail, then headed back to our trailer for the night. Pinnacles used to be a National Monument and just recently became a National Park, so there's not a whole lot there unless you are a dedicated hiker.

Yesterday we drove back to Oregon.

San Diego

Friday morning we drove down to the San Diego KOA and dropped the trailer, then headed to Sea World, where we enjoyed the dolphin show and their Christmas decorations.

We returned the next day to enjoy more shows, animal exhibits, and some attractions. Bryan flew down and joined us, along with some friends. The kids especially enjoyed Manta, the park's family roller coaster. We bought the All Day Dining deal, so we stopped often for food, and that kept us pretty busy from park open to close.  

Our last day in San Diego was spent at Cabrillo National Monument. Located on a peninsula west of downtown, it commemorates the landing of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay, which began the European exploration and eventual settlement of the West Coast. 

It also contains an old light house, and a former army building which hosts an exhibit that tells the military history of Point Loma. There are also great views of San Diego Bay.

Disneyland Resort

We spent Wednesday at Disneyland park. We enjoyed seeing the Christmas decorations and experiencing some of our favorite attractions.  

We rode the train, and, as in January, I tried to take photos of the future Star Wars land.

Thursday night we attended a DVC Moonlight Magic event at California Adventure. We weren't too impressed. It was pretty crowded and not very well organized.

I wanted to check out the new Incredicoaster overlay of California Screaming, but the line was very long all night.

Universal Hollywood

On Tuesday we headed down to Southern California. We stopped at Universal Hollywood and enjoyed the tram tour, the Special Effects show, and a few other attractions.

I was a little disappointed that the Hollywood version of the Mummy roller coaster wasn't as good the one in Orlando, but we enjoyed looking around the Harry Potter area and seeing the new Kung Fu Panda show.  

I would have liked to have gone on the Jurassic Park ride, but it was being updated into Jurassic World. In the afternoon we drove further south to a campground in Anaheim, near Disneyland.

Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Parks

Last week Susan, Jenn, and I embarked on a trip in our trailer down to California. We headed south on US 97, then down I-5 and 99 to a KOA outside Visalia. The next day, having detached the trailer in a campsite, we headed up to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. My mom joined us.

Our first stop was at the Kings Canyon Visitor Center. We looked around then headed to the Grant Grove and walked the trail out to the General Grant Tree.  

From there we headed south into Sequoia National Park. We stopped to walk down to the General Sherman Tree, the largest known living tree on Earth.  

After that we continued south and stopped at the Giant Forest Museum and the Foothills Visitor Center, then headed back to the KOA. 

Maryhill

 

This weekend we drove up to the Seattle area for a friend's birthday party. On the way back we stopped at World War I memorial at Maryhill, Washington. The memorial is a recreation of Stonehenge, and has a lot of information about why it was placed as a WWI Memorial and how it can be used as a seasonal sun chart.

There are also great views of the Columbia River.

San Antonio

Last week, Susan and I flew out to San Antonio Texas to attend an Air Force graduation ceremony at Lackland Airbase.

While there, we spent some time exploring the RiverWalk. 

We also visited the Alamo and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe.  

We also spent a day at Sea World. San Antonio's Sea World isn't as nice as Orlando's or San Diego's, but it's still a fun day, especially if you like coasters. I was disappointed in its version of Journey to Atlantis, however. It was lightly themed and much shorter than Orlando's. Also, they had removed the flume and raft rides which, while not great, we had enjoyed in 2006. 

I also enjoyed seeing the base. We got to tour the barracks and walk around a field with lots of old aircraft.

Summer in Bend

 

Summer has been going by relatively uneventfully. I've been working fairly long hours, often at night, watching highway construction projects in the Bend area. I've also been working on wiring and sheet rocking our pole barn. Earlier this month, a friend of Jenn's from the DCP came out to Bend to visit for a week. Jenn took her up to see the view from Pilot Butte, and they floated down the Deschutes.

Last weekend we took her to Crater Lake before she flew home. We checked out the view from the Rim and had lunch.

The kids completed the Junior Ranger program. 

This weekend we attended the wedding in Bend of our first Honored Queen of Bethel 11.

Spring at WDW

 

Last week, Bryan was in Florida for training for his new job. Jennifer flew out to WDW to visit him and the parks. Some of their friends from University of Portland were also in the area, so one day when Bryan was free they all hung out at Magic Kingdom.  

Jennifer stayed at Saratoga Springs, so while Bryan was in training she spent time at Disney Springs and took the boat up to the Riverside resort.  

She also visited friends at the other parks, and checked out the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot.

Hollywood

Thursday after work I flew down to Burbank to drive Susan and Jenn back to Oregon after their cruise. Before we left though, we spent most of Friday looking around Hollywood.

We drove up to the Griffith Observatory and looked around, then headed down to Hollywood Boulevard to see the Walk of the Stars and the Chinese Theater.  

We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. This was my 25th HRC. We then headed north, stopping in Monterey and Pacific Grove to visit family.

Mexican Riviera Cruise

Last week, while I worked and looked after the dogs, Susan and Jenn drove down to Los Angeles and boarded a four night Princess cruise down to Mexico. They went with some of the women my wife had met through scrapbooking.

Their first stop was in Solvang in California where they took a tour of the Swedish buildings downtown.

The second port of call was Ensenada Mexico. After a day at sea they returned to Los Angeles.

Diagon Alley

We were also able to spend a day at the Universal Resort. We spent most of our time in the new Harry Potter area at the Studios, Diagon Alley. The shops were well themed, and the restaurant, the Leaky Cauldron, was pretty good. 

 

We really enjoyed the train between the Harry Potter areas in the two parks, as well as the Escape from Gringott's attraction. It's a cross between an indoor roller coaster and an omnimover, shifting you between large 3D screens that tell the story of a tour of Gringott's that goes wrong.  

Over in Islands of Adventure, they had closed the Dragon Challenge coaster (the former Dueling Dragons) and started work on a new Harry Potter attraction.

Orlando

Last week, we flew out to Florida again. The main purpose of our visit was to empty the storage locker of stuff Bryan left behind when he moved back to Oregon, but we also spent a few days in the parks.

We checked out the Flower and Garden festival at Epcot and spent some time in Hollywood Studios, including checking out the entrance to the future Star Wars Land.

We also enjoyed seeing the models for the new Toy Story Land and Star Wars land currently under construction.

We also rode the Peoplemover in the Magic Kingdom, and were able to see inside Space Mountain with the lights on, as it was undergoing refurbishment.

  

We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort, where there was lots of construction going on. The lobby area is being expanded, a new DVC resort is being built north of the resort, and work on a gondola system to connect several resorts and parks had just begun.