Bremco resort

February 27, 2010

Another great day of skiing!!! Another day of relaxing for Ms.Deb.......

Bill and Jimbo came home with the biggest smiles on their faces!!! I am jealous, but I am sure I will get my turn once I feel better...patience...patience....I am just so happy to be here relaxing and healing at Jim and Karens and not feeling this way in the trailer.

Went to the hospital and got checked out. It is just going to take some time, I guess it is a bad virus. When we got back to the house Jim had dinner (chicken parmsean) ready for us...It was amazing!!!

Nothing like having 2 guys that know their way around the kitchen to look after me! Bill is really going to have to step it up to keep up to Jim....

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Drop me a note!!

Deb:)

Thanks for sharing your spa goodies Karen

February 26, 2010

Bill and Jim did a little backcountry tour. Looks like they had a good time. I just hung out by the fire and had a bubble bath. Still feeling rough...feverish, sinus headache. Good news is Bill is on the mend. I am really glad to be here at Jims to recover this would have been no fun in the trailer.

Have a great weekend!

Deb

February 25, 2010
Ended up in Emergency last night as Bill's coughing fits were getting real bad. We only had to go one block and the wait was only 10 minutes....How is that for wait time? Wouldn't find that at home eh? We headed there at around 2:00am, they gave him some oxygen and 5 prescriptions. Only 3 days left on our insurance so that worked out well for us. We got back around 3:30 am...Looks like he has bronchitis. I am still not feeling good either, I don't have the cough just full on cold and sinus symptoms. We moved the trailer over to Jim and Karen's, made some homemade chicken noodle soup and laid around all day and kept the fires stoked. They are expecting more snow here in the next couple of days...so lets hope for a speedy recovery!

Hope everyone is staying healthy at home.
Deb:)
Great to talk to you Shannon and Nancy!

February 24, 2010
Headed for Jim's around 6:00am to get a ride up to Kirkwood. We got stuck in the campground parking lot, we can't believe how good the chains. They just take a minute to put on and can get you out of just about anything.

Kirkwood got 7-14 inchs during the night and it snowed pretty much the whole time we skiied...The snow was a little bit wet and heavy...I guess that is why they call it Sierra Cement, but not as heavy as Whistler..I didn't find it too bad other than it is a lot of work. Jim took one run with us and showed us what lifts went where and then he was tied up with photos and filming for the rest of the day. We ended up in one pretty steep area, it was a long run and I was proud when I got to the bottom and Bill said now turn around and look at what you just came down. Of course I was a intimitated at the top, but I saw one other girl in the area and there was no way I was letting her get down it and me wimping out...It is always good to see other girls out there to fire me up!!

We headed home early afternoon and went for a little walk to the lake. We both wish we were feeling better....it is hard with the altitude and exertion when you are not feeling well.

We picked Jim up from work.....Jim did a really nice job tuning our skis and I bet they are going to rock.....Thanks Bremco....We took him out for fish tacos....They were good, but not as good as the ones he makes!

Deb &Bill

February 23, 2010
Better sleep for us last night...Yeah!!
We tried to go on a BC tour this morning and ended up getting stuck at the entrance to the trail...we found out that our chains work great---better than the big 4X4 that was stuck up to his axle in this small parking spot. Just as we were putting the chains on the cell phone rang and it was Jim and he invited to take us on a little tour from his house. What perfect timing as we didn't really know what our plan was next. We drove over to Jim's and he took us on a nice little BC tour. It was perfect conditions for me...I wasn't so sure on the skin up as all I could see where those damn trees again, but then I remembered Hendricks advice not to look at the trees, but where I am going to lay my turns.. We were all surprised at how great the powder was as we thought it would be a little wet and heavy.
We went back to Jims and had a little visit, he invited us to stay there. A storm is moving in and it is snowing right now so we are going to stay at the campground tonight and probably tomorrow night as I can't see us getting out of here with this new snow, but we will take Jim up on his offer Thursday. I am really looking forward to it and going to treat it much like a spa visit. Jim & Karen have a beautiful home with a nice warm fireplace, woodstove and you can literally open up his back door and put your skis on and go touring. Nothing like having your own guide who knows this area like the back of his hand and did I mention he just happens to be an incredible chef...YEAH!!! The only thing missing is his beautiful wife who is working on the Cape right now...We miss you Karen!!!
We are meeting Jim for 7:00am tomorrow morning and he is taking us up to Kirkwood Resort to ski. He has to be there early to shot a ski video if you want to see him (he is an amazing skier) you can google http://www.kirkwood.com/ and he is on February 22nds video and will be on tomorrows also. It was very cool to see all the great ski photos in his house and posters he has been on for movies etc....Maybe he will give me some tips....hehe....always better to hear them from someone other than your husband.....I already received one tip from him as I was frozen stiff for a minute at the beginning of our ski out...I just couldn't make that first turn and he said to me "don't hold on to that for too long" and skiied away and I was ready to go!
We are looking foward to some freshies tomorrow!
D&B

February 22, 2010
Lake Tahoe is so beautiful....Bill had a rough night last night...cough, cough, cough......
We went for a morning walk and got our bearings and went for a little backcountry cc. ski. The conditions are very spring like. Blue bird sky! The lake is just so incredible. I can't believe you can walk right up to the lake in the snow and step on to the sand and the ground is not even frozen. You could on almost any given day....go for a stand up paddle, bike, jog, windsurf and ski...too crazy! We are going to call Jim now that we are feeling a little better...don't want to pass on our germs to anyone.

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We wanted to pass our love and thoughts on to Unlce Lorne for a speedy recovery from surgery we didn't know he had until just days ago. We have spoke and thought of him often since we heard the news. I am sure Auntie G is taking great care of him and with a new grandbaby on the way we know he will make a speedy recovery.
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I also wanted to pass along some healing thoughts to Michel (coach) as he took a slapshot to his arm last weekend playing in a hockey tournement and ended up needing surgery with plate & pins ouch...I am sorry you will miss your ski season, but just think you will be all rested up for tri season...
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A big congratulations to the Howards on the arrival of their new baby girl... Bill thinks she was named after him "Willa" What do you think of that Jon? What does Oscar think of the new baby?
Can't wait to see you guys in Hatteras!
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Alcatraz Prison... I think Clint Eastwood was the only guy to ever escape from here until Sean Connery did it in 1996

February 20, 2010
Arrived in San Franciso and decided the best way to get around and see the most was with our bikes. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and found a parking spot. It was funny getting ready because we were both so exhausted and sick, but we really needed to do this..so away we went.
Ok...this was really neat to see, but it was a little windy up there on our bikes (which didn't really help my hibbie-gibbies..don't tell Bill I was scared up there!!)..We got to see Alcatrz which was cool, we also drove by San Quentin (bad boyz there). We did see some surfers under the bridge, a few guys out kiting at Ocean Beach.
Biking in San Francisco was really cool. You know all those high speed chases you see in the movies where the guys go flying down huge hills and get airborn a few times on the way down well all of downtown San Francisco looks like that and you should try it on a bike.....We rode our bikes to the famous Haight/Ashbury corner and saw the last of the hippys still walking around in their barefeet...
I really liked the look and feel of San Francisco as far as a big city goes.
Hope things are going good back home for everyone!

PS CA you are right about this trip fireproofing our marriage. Being with your spouse 24/7 in a small space is a challange no matter how much you love the person. You just can't get away from each other...you are either in the van together or in your 12 feet of living space together. I have really given it some thought and decided that the three most important rules you have to follow are the three C's...
Communicate (as you we not always both on the same page), Compromise(as we both have different things we want to do or see) and Co-operate (we are getting much quicker at setting up and taking down our site and sharing the daily tasks ..mixing it up....I am getting really good at backing up the van to the hitch and hooking things up) and there is a forth C that comes in to play some days...Crap...I can only think of 2 days we have expirenced Crap since we left, so that is not too bad..... Grandma Reid (and Uncle Phil) sent us an email today that said "love each other until your ears fly off....just not while you are driving!"..... sounds like good advice.
Deb:)

February 16 & 17, 2010
Well we spent most of these 2 days getting our rig all fixed up....We finally figured out why our brakes keep going out...we had a short in the power cord going to the van, but that doesn't explain why it only happened when we were making our biggest climbs or declines. We were also having problems with our inverter getting overloaded by our computer so we had it connected directly to our battery rather than use the 12 volt outlet and it seems that problem has been resolved also. We also had a vent cover put on the vent in the bathroom so when it snows or rains it doesn't come in and we can leave the vent open if we want while travelling. The bad news they had for us was that we had a broken leaf spring and we needed to head to San Jose to have that fixed. So we drove directly to San Jose and they told us we would have to replace both sides sides and that they could get the parts first thing in the morning, so we left our trailer there and got a hotel room for the night which was nice...especially with this bug we are fighting...On the 17th we drove back to Santa Cruz.

February 18, 2010
Both down for the count....we went for a walk, watched some of the surfers and went in to a few shops....Just trying to rest up and fight this bug off....

February 19, 2010
Went for a long walk along the beach and went to see a shipwreck. Bill did go out on his small surf board and SUP at steamers lane in Santa Cruz...the waves were pretty big and he had to paddle out against the current which kind of tired him out as he is under the weather, but he really wanted to check that off his list before we headed out. We are heading to San Francisco next..

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

WE MISS YOU!!

BILL HAD A PIECE OF CAKE TO CELEBRATE!

February 15, 2010
Today we went to the Monterey Aquarium and it was lots of fun! We got to see all kinds of neat jelly fish, sea horses, otters, penguins and sharks!! I have managed to catch a bug in the last couple of days so I will try and rest up and not pass it along to Bill.
We visited Santa Cruz and did some shopping. Hit a great Patagonia outlet and bought some more ski stuff. We are heading up to San Martin to have some work done to our RV before we head back into snow conditions. Bill and I are electronically challenged…everything we buy doesn’t seem to work…drives us crazy. Problems with our new GPS it keeps going out and acting weird we already returned it one, Computer problems, new inverter we bought seems to keep overloading, trailer brakes keep shorting out….the list goes on and on….It doesn’t seem like anyone can answer our questions either which really has us stumped. Wish us luck!
Miss everyone!

February 13, 2010
Drove along Hwy 1…Just incredible views. Part of the drive you are about 600 feet straight up from the ocean. Dad you would love this drive. We headed to Big Sur. We arrived at the ranger station to ask some questions about the hiking and camping and ended up getting so confused by the elderly gentleman volunteer at the desk. I think we might have added to his confusion by asking questions about where to park the trailer and inquiring about some overnight backcountry hikes at the same time…We just kind of scratched our heads and started walking back to the van thinking…. I have no idea where I am or where I am going. Bill saw a gentleman walking across the parking lot with all his hiking gear and decided to ask him as he looked like he knew exactly where he was going. He was very friendly and even offered to bring us back to the ranger station and point out some hikes on the map for us as he was very familiar with all the trails and had been hiking in the area for years.
Once we got back to the ranger station and started talking about the kind of hike we wanted to do. …he quickly asked us “how long do you think it would take you to get ready? You are welcome to join us.” I couldn’t believe our luck. I quickly said “10 minutes for us to get ready.” Although I was thinking this was our day to stop and do laundry and get groceries. I knew we didn’t have much food and for sure didn’t have any clean clothes. We ran to our trailer and pulled out our packs and luckily some of the dry foods we had thrown in our camping bin from home and away we went to meet up with our new friends. They quickly introduced themselves as Bill and Bill…Can you believe this? I am now with 3 Bills and 1 Doug. (one Bill is usually all I can handle.) Bill quickly told us there was a 2 mile hike up the highway and then we would get on the trail for a total of 9 miles (3200 feet up) to the top of Timber Top to camp out for the night.
The hike was so much fun. Bill and Bill had so much to share with us. They do an overnight hike together once a month. They could name every bird, tree, plant life and had great tips on how to lighten your pack etc…One Bill was a marine and had everything you could think of in his pack and the other Bill had made them both down jackets and sleeping bags which really had my Bill thinking this could be his next project (or you mom r). My pack started feeling a little heavy and I am sure I could improve that. I did forget our headlamps and toothbrushes in the rush, but did remember my vanilla flavored lip gloss, so my breath wasn’t too awful..hehe.

We met up with a young couple part way up the trail who were just day hiking and the girl asked if she could try my pack as she had never carried a pack before. I was feeling like a girly, girl with my 4 guy pals until I met her. She was definately a girly, girl she was born and raised in Manhattan. She put my pack on and couldn’t believe I was going to carry this pack up hill 9 miles which kind of made me feel good.
We arrived at camp about 4:30 after 5 hours of hiking and the view was amazing. I realized half way up the trail that I hadn’t had my morning coffee either, but no way was I going to complain to any of the guys about this. We started setting up camp and one of the Bills yells “Deb would you like a coffee we are just making some.” Seems almost too good to be true. They even had individual packets of starbucks coffee. I think that is the best cup of coffee I have ever had. We had a nice dinner together and enjoyed a fire as it cooled off quite quickly after sunset. We really enjoyed the conversation and time with new friends. I could really feel the special friendship that the 2 Bills shared and enjoyed watching them interact with each other. We also enjoyed our time with Doug around the fire.
Had a pretty good night sleep and when I woke up in the morning one of the Bills delivered me a hot starbucks coffee right to the tent. I didn’t expect room service! We sat and just enjoyed the views and our time together . The hike back seemed to go by so quickly. I guess going all downhill and chatting along the way really helped. Marine Bill even had me be brave and eat some wild flowers.
We got back to our rig and were really happy we hadn’t been towed away or ticketed. We decided to go out for a big lunch together. We met at a great hamburger joint and had no problem cleaning up our plates. Biggest hamburger I have ever eaten! The guys lead us into a nice campground as we were worried about not being able to find a spot with it being Presidents Day here. One of the Bills said we could stay at his place if need be. We did find a spot and said our good-byes. It is funny really how hard it can be to say good-bye to friends you have just met, but I really felt we made a connection on this trip and really hated to see it end. Who knows maybe we will be back this way in May or June and can meet up again with our new friends. I guess I have a soft spot for Bill’s….
Thank you for the offer of your aquarium guess passes Bill, but we didn’t want to bother you on your day off to deliver the tickets to us and I felt you had both already given us so much….don’t know too many people who would share their starbucks or last snicker bars…and most of all their time and stories!! Thank you! Love D&B.

I forgot about seeing the elephant seals right down the highway from the Hearst Castle!

February 12, 2010
Walked around Pismo beach this morning..very pretty beach.
We decided it might be a good day to see the Hearst Castle. We drove there and parked in the big parking lot and caught the tour bus up to the castle (5 mile ride). We signed up for Tour 1, there are 4 different tours. We were told by some locals to go for #1 your first visit.

I truly felt as though I stepped into another world. I have never seen anything like it, nor will I ever again in this lifetime I am sure. I will just give you a short history as I knew nothing about the Hearst family (other than Patty Heart's story) before our tour.
Mr. G. Hearst was a very weathly silver miner and he purchsed 40, 000 acres of ranchland (we were told the California piece he only paid $30,000..hard to believe). His only son William R. Hearst inherited the land from his mother. By then the ranch had grown to encompass 250,000 imagine that for a backyard...with the most incredible views you will ever see. William R. Hearst as you can well imagine was a little spoiled...he was sent to Europe for 18 months for his 10th Birthday and that is where his love for collecting began. His first purchses were some kids German books and a persian rug....William R. Hearst became a very successful business man also and owned many magazines (still owned today by the Hearst family), broadcasting stations etc..By 1947 Hearst and Morgan (the lady architect) had created an estate of 165 rooms and 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways. 3 guest houses. With an art and antique collection like you wouldn't believe. We had a tour of the neptune pool, the roman pool, the large guest house, entertainment room, dining room, games room, theatre.. The table in the dining room was so long and they told us about the movie stars, politians etc that were always invited (Clark Gable, Howard Huges, Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Cary Grant, Winston Churchill...etc..)..At one time there was even an elaborate zoo on the property.

One of the tour guides who found out we were from Canada told us that Dan Ackroyd and James Belushi and one of the Hearst grandchildren just had a tour 4 months ago and Dan and James took off all their clothes down to their boxers and jumped off the diving platform in the roman pool too funny...it is all mosiac tiles with gold. Anyway if you have a chance to google this castle take a quick look....This was only 1 of his 7 vacation homes and I thought Oprah had a lot of money...

We are really enjoying the drive up Hwy 1. This coast line is just amazing!
Deb & Bill

February 9, 2010

Got up organized-hit the road....today was a day to get organized with gas, propane, groceries and we are heading to Jalama County Park (Ireland). On the drive I just could not believe all the GREEN beautiful rolling hills...it definately made both Bill and I think of Ireland. It was so cool.

It was kind of late by the time we got all set up, so we just had time to walk along the beach which was very pretty with high cliffs and rocky shore. Great for exploring.

We played cards tonight for the first time on this adventure and mom you are never going to believe it...I beat Bill (and you are right he trys to cheat with the rules). If anybody out there has heard about the 5 of diamonds in crazy eights let me know...I have never heard of this....

Final score Deb 10 Bill 9....rematch set for later in the week...

February 10, 2010

Today we went on the most beautiful bike ride I have ever been on through those green hills. I am amazed at the beauty. Michel you would soooo love this ride. It was a BIG climb, but the payoff was incredible! 8km downhill. Bill kept telling me don't break at all and you will make it up the next hill....too scary...too much speed for me. When we got back to the park the ranger talked to us for awhile and I told him that was the best bike ride I have ever been on and he said "yeh well I hope you were carefull a lot of people eat shit on that road..I have seen guys been flown out of here before" and I thought to myself have you ever seen anybody ride the downhill with no hands arms straight out flying like a bird.....because I have and screamed at him the whole way to stop doing that!!!

We got back to the campground had a good lunch and found a nice sunny spot to relax for a bit and listen to the waves..it was too messy for Bill to surf and not quite windy enough to windsurf or kite...We walked the beach again and just explored...we saw lots of starfish, clams, and believe it or not this beach is known for tar bubbling up from the ocean...kind of weird eh? What do you think Ted?

Feb 11, 2010

Got up and did the ride again....so much fun! Bill got out for a little SUP and then we packed up and headed out. The drive was very pretty. We got stopped by a police officier on the way out the road who told us to be careful as a cow got out and was standing on the middle of the road and sure enough we saw him. It was so peaceful at Jalama we hated to leave..but more to see!

We drove to Pismo Beach and we will see what tommorrow brings....

February 7, 2010
Got up this morning and hit the road around 9:00. The drive was very pretty up the coast. The traffic and people are starting to mellow out which is nice. The coast keeps changing its appearance. We stopped in Ventura and Bill went windsurfing. Jerry…we ran into Glenn Dubock and Kevin MacGillvrey. Glenn told us we should head up to Jalama that it looks like Ireland up there. He is the second person to say this to us, so we might have to stop and check that out.
Drove through Santa Barbara, it was absolutely beautiful! The mountains are just so pretty. Stopped at El Capitan State Park. It was kind of late in the day so we just walked the beach and took some photos of the surfers that were out. We have a nice campsite with a little section out front to set up chairs or the hammock on a cliff that looks out over the ocean. We had a nice campfire and took a walk out near the ocean once it got real dark. We spent some time just checking out the stars seeing what we could find. You could really hear the waves during the night which was nice.

February 8, 2010
Got up and went down to the beach while Bill surfed I took some photos. We went for a good hike today. It was on the opposite side of the Hwy from us. It was a pretty good climb. Of course when we stopped at the trailhead I was checking out all the articles they had posted and you guessed Mary I have to know ARE THERE SNAKES HERE…..NEVER MIND THAT THEY HAVE A WARNING AND INSTRUCTIONS ON WHAT TO DO IF YOU ENCOUNTER A MOUNTAIN LION…I AM STILL STUCK IN OUR FRENCH RIVER SNAKEMARE..Ok…….it says the rattlesnakes hibernate for about 6 months, so I am feeling pretty good about that until I reach the part that says if you come across a snake den there are usually about 100 snakes together…..now I have a visual… and flashbacks of our encounter with a snake nest and what can happen if you disturb it. I managed to let it go somewhere along the hike, but didn’t like that I could not always see my feet…
I also did a little body bar workout back at our campsite overlooking the ocean and just sat and enjoyed the scenery for a bit and then Bill and I drove to Refugio State Park and Bill went for a little sunset surf.
Mark a man that Bill met at the beach this morning stopped by our campsite to have a look at the photos I took as I got a couple of him. He told us that him and his son who is 31 took a month off and are travelling the entire California coast surfing together. I thought this was very special that a father would do this with his son….and I am sure they will make some great memories together! We might hook up with them again later as we are hitting some of the same campgrounds.
Talked to mom and dad tonight and they sound like they are having a good time!