Hubby and the girls headed off to the other side of the island for a snorkeling adventure, which I'll leave him to describe. I stayed at home, having no wish to be tossed around on a small boat or to make my own entertainment for five hours. Luckily the weather today has been glorious. First I walked into the center of Kailua, which took about 30 minutes, to find the bookstore, coffee shop, drug store, and Foodland. Having drunk my latte and chowed down my cake, I returned to the house laden with a new book for me, second hand books for the kids, bread for lunch, chocolate, hair conditioner - Little Starlet washed her hair three times yesterday - and an all important tube of anti-itch cream for bug bites.
After lunch on the lanai, I took my book and lawn chair down to the beach for a happy hour and a half of looking at the sea...until it started to rain again, not heavily, but enough to endanger the integrity of my paperback.
A couple of observations. First, everyone on Oahu seems to own at least one dog, usually a scrappy mutt of indeterminate parentage. Second, there is a serious lack of mailboxes. I've been carrying around a letter to mail since we arrived. And, third, though this house is not directly on the beach, I think it scores highly for being just a couple of minutes away from one of the nicest Hawai'ian beaches we've encountered, all golden sand and calm waves on a gently sloping sea bed. It even gets cleaned every morning.
Tomorrow, a day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Fingers crossed that the weather has turned in our favor.
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
From Sand to Silver
Yesterday afternoon we went back to the sand dunes on Mesquite Flats, near Stovepipe Wells. It was a bit windy, which had obviously put people off because it was much quieter than the last time we’d visited. We walked out to the largest sand dune – according to the Park Service, over 700 feet high. Hubby and the kids walked across the top of the sand dune, a dramatic curve, while I remained on a peak below to take photos. Just like everything else in this area, the scale and colors were amazing. We spent about an hour and a half walking out and back, a distance of about two and a half miles. Going up and down the dunes, up and down, it was pretty good exercise for the old calf muscles.
Overnight it rained a bit. Not enough to make the campground significantly damp, but enough to wake up Deep Thought at 5:00am with the drops drumming on the roof of the cab. There was also a bit of additional dampness inside the tin can: Little Starlet peed in her bed for the second time on this trip. We couldn’t remedy the situation with her still asleep this time, but she is claiming that she had no recollection of us getting her up, fixing her bed, going to the toilet etc. I think the poor little thing was very tired again.
In the morning we saw another road runner scurrying over the sand in front of the RV. (This is the only photo we succeeded in taking of one.) They’re cute. We haven’t seen much other wildlife in Death Valley. A couple of little lizards, ravens at the campsite, hardly any insects (though we did see big black beetles at the sand dunes), an antelope ground squirrel, and we heard the coyotes yapping in the darkness.
We drove away from Death Valley along highway 190. At Death Valley Junction – a sad, derelict community steps away from becoming a ghost town – we turned south on highway 127.
This straight road took us through the bottom end of Death Valley and into Silurian Valley, back into the Mojave Desert. We didn’t see any Joshua trees in this part of Mojave. We did see some spectacular sand dunes in the distance at Dumont Dunes Natural Preserve. They looked even taller than the ones at Stovepipe Wells. We also passed many dry lakes.
The little town of Shoshone was in fairly good shape, with a health center, gas station, motel, café and several houses in good repair. At Baker, we turned west on interstate 15. Baker was most notable for having “the world’s largest thermometer” at the side of the road. It was a very easy drive from every perspective.
Calico Ghost Town is a few minutes from I-15. The campground at the Town is pleasantly laid out. We are in site A25, which has full hookups. This was essential as we ran out of water in the van this morning. Unfortunately it is incredibly windy. The van is rocking from side to side as the wind whistles through and up the canyons. It’s a whole new experience for us (and makes us very glad we aren’t in a tent). This will be the first evening that Hubby and I do not sit out by a campfire. It is just too darned cold – and we’re not even sure we’d be able to light a fire at all. Hubby tried parking the van to shield the fire pit, but there is simply too much wind for that strategy to work.
So here we sit. Deep Thought is writing something creative on one computer, I am blogging, Little Starlet is reading (and eating chocolate), and Hubby is in the RV shower! When he gets out, we’ll play a game.
Now to reflect on Calico Ghost Town. Calico was founded as a silver mining town in 1881. The boom years continued till the end of the 1890s when the price of silver fell dramatically and the population fell rapidly from its peak of twelve hundred (1887) to three hundred (1893) and down to only ten in 1951. During its active years, over $86 million of silver was extracted from the hills around here. The population also supported twenty-two saloons, a China Town (for washing and laundry), and a red light district. The town fell into decay until 1951 when Walter Knott, the founder of Knott’s Berry Farm near to Los Angele (a theme park precursor to Disneyland), decided to spend a bunch of money purchasing and “restoring” it. He donated the town to the County of Bernardino in 1966.
That’s the history lesson. The town today is basically a middle-grade tourist attraction. The entry fee is included in the camping charge, which was a good thing, or it might have offended Hubby’s Scottish sensibilities. The town consists of two main streets, with a short walk up to a school house, a mine, and a railway. The mine and the railway have separate charges.
The railway takes a short loop around the top of a hill, allowing a view of some derelict miners’ houses built into the rocks. (In its previous life the train hauled materials away from the mines.)
“Maggie’s Mine” is a genuine silver mine. Interestingly for those of us experienced in passing through mining exhibits in the UK, this one allows everyone to stand upright (and they didn’t insist on us wearing safety helmets, which they would have in the UK). It was fairly interesting to walk through the mine for a few minutes, though there was a minimum of interpretation – not even an arrow saying “Look, silver ore here”.
The kids wanted to pan for gold, but that exhibit was closed. We ate lunch in the Calico House Restaurant (burgers) and dessert in the Miners’ Café (ice cream). We also went into all the different shops, of which there were many, all selling the most bizarre things….like teddies with wings, cowboy statues, dream catchers labeled “Not an Indian Product”, a piggy bank dressed flamboyantly in feathers and sparkles, frilly toilet roll covers, scoop-your-own bath salts and, our absolutely favorite thing, a singing deer’s head which opened and closed its mouth and also told jokes. Honestly.
Deep Thought’s rating out of ten: five, because it was strange and it was a bit too touristy. She’d have liked it to look a bit more like a real ghost town. Little Starlet also rates it at five, because the stuff in the stores didn’t seem like it would ever have been in the town when people lived there. Hubby rates it more generously at six because all the effort at Disneyfication hadn’t completely hidden the mining town atmosphere. I’d rate it at seven, because I like the look of the rugged frontier town architecture (some of which was even real and not a 1950s pastiche).
Overnight it rained a bit. Not enough to make the campground significantly damp, but enough to wake up Deep Thought at 5:00am with the drops drumming on the roof of the cab. There was also a bit of additional dampness inside the tin can: Little Starlet peed in her bed for the second time on this trip. We couldn’t remedy the situation with her still asleep this time, but she is claiming that she had no recollection of us getting her up, fixing her bed, going to the toilet etc. I think the poor little thing was very tired again.
In the morning we saw another road runner scurrying over the sand in front of the RV. (This is the only photo we succeeded in taking of one.) They’re cute. We haven’t seen much other wildlife in Death Valley. A couple of little lizards, ravens at the campsite, hardly any insects (though we did see big black beetles at the sand dunes), an antelope ground squirrel, and we heard the coyotes yapping in the darkness.We drove away from Death Valley along highway 190. At Death Valley Junction – a sad, derelict community steps away from becoming a ghost town – we turned south on highway 127.
This straight road took us through the bottom end of Death Valley and into Silurian Valley, back into the Mojave Desert. We didn’t see any Joshua trees in this part of Mojave. We did see some spectacular sand dunes in the distance at Dumont Dunes Natural Preserve. They looked even taller than the ones at Stovepipe Wells. We also passed many dry lakes.
The little town of Shoshone was in fairly good shape, with a health center, gas station, motel, café and several houses in good repair. At Baker, we turned west on interstate 15. Baker was most notable for having “the world’s largest thermometer” at the side of the road. It was a very easy drive from every perspective.
Calico Ghost Town is a few minutes from I-15. The campground at the Town is pleasantly laid out. We are in site A25, which has full hookups. This was essential as we ran out of water in the van this morning. Unfortunately it is incredibly windy. The van is rocking from side to side as the wind whistles through and up the canyons. It’s a whole new experience for us (and makes us very glad we aren’t in a tent). This will be the first evening that Hubby and I do not sit out by a campfire. It is just too darned cold – and we’re not even sure we’d be able to light a fire at all. Hubby tried parking the van to shield the fire pit, but there is simply too much wind for that strategy to work.So here we sit. Deep Thought is writing something creative on one computer, I am blogging, Little Starlet is reading (and eating chocolate), and Hubby is in the RV shower! When he gets out, we’ll play a game.
Now to reflect on Calico Ghost Town. Calico was founded as a silver mining town in 1881. The boom years continued till the end of the 1890s when the price of silver fell dramatically and the population fell rapidly from its peak of twelve hundred (1887) to three hundred (1893) and down to only ten in 1951. During its active years, over $86 million of silver was extracted from the hills around here. The population also supported twenty-two saloons, a China Town (for washing and laundry), and a red light district. The town fell into decay until 1951 when Walter Knott, the founder of Knott’s Berry Farm near to Los Angele (a theme park precursor to Disneyland), decided to spend a bunch of money purchasing and “restoring” it. He donated the town to the County of Bernardino in 1966.
That’s the history lesson. The town today is basically a middle-grade tourist attraction. The entry fee is included in the camping charge, which was a good thing, or it might have offended Hubby’s Scottish sensibilities. The town consists of two main streets, with a short walk up to a school house, a mine, and a railway. The mine and the railway have separate charges.
The railway takes a short loop around the top of a hill, allowing a view of some derelict miners’ houses built into the rocks. (In its previous life the train hauled materials away from the mines.)
“Maggie’s Mine” is a genuine silver mine. Interestingly for those of us experienced in passing through mining exhibits in the UK, this one allows everyone to stand upright (and they didn’t insist on us wearing safety helmets, which they would have in the UK). It was fairly interesting to walk through the mine for a few minutes, though there was a minimum of interpretation – not even an arrow saying “Look, silver ore here”.
The kids wanted to pan for gold, but that exhibit was closed. We ate lunch in the Calico House Restaurant (burgers) and dessert in the Miners’ Café (ice cream). We also went into all the different shops, of which there were many, all selling the most bizarre things….like teddies with wings, cowboy statues, dream catchers labeled “Not an Indian Product”, a piggy bank dressed flamboyantly in feathers and sparkles, frilly toilet roll covers, scoop-your-own bath salts and, our absolutely favorite thing, a singing deer’s head which opened and closed its mouth and also told jokes. Honestly.
Deep Thought’s rating out of ten: five, because it was strange and it was a bit too touristy. She’d have liked it to look a bit more like a real ghost town. Little Starlet also rates it at five, because the stuff in the stores didn’t seem like it would ever have been in the town when people lived there. Hubby rates it more generously at six because all the effort at Disneyfication hadn’t completely hidden the mining town atmosphere. I’d rate it at seven, because I like the look of the rugged frontier town architecture (some of which was even real and not a 1950s pastiche).
Monday, August 31, 2009
Best Discussion So Far
Dr Mom: “Do you think we could get an RV onto our driveway?”
Hubby: “Shall we send an email to Judith [the architect] and ask if we can modify the garage roof so we can park one on the side of the house?”
Deep Thought: “Next time, can we fly somewhere and get an RV? I want to go to Mount Rushmore.”
Hubby: “Shall we send an email to Judith [the architect] and ask if we can modify the garage roof so we can park one on the side of the house?”
Deep Thought: “Next time, can we fly somewhere and get an RV? I want to go to Mount Rushmore.”
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Cultural Interlude in Ashland
Today we caught the number 10 bus on Highway 99 outside the campground and five minutes later found ourselves on the main street of downtown Ashland (cost a very reasonable $.50 each). After a quick snifter at Starbucks, and a trip to the box office to pick up our theater tickets, we sauntered through part of Lithia Park to the duck pond and playground. As we left the park later, we discovered that we'd hardly discovered any of it - at 93 acres, it rivals Golden Gate Park and was, in fact, landscaped by the same man, John McLaren. (See, this blog is educational as well as entertaining...!)
We pottered along East Main Street, popping into a couple of art galleries and mystic goods stores. Little Starlet bought more rocks, while Deep Thought bought a pink dragon emerging from an egg. The store keeper of "Tibetan Friends" (Ashland has a fair number of Tibetan-themed stores) showed us how the dragon bowl worked - we had mistaken it for a water dish for his dog, and he wanted to set us right. Dampening the palms of his hands, he rubbed the handles of the bowl till the metal vibrated with weird shrieking sounds, and the water jumped in little jets. The kids declined to have a go.
We walked down to the old railroad district of Ashland, which a guidebook assured us was an artists' area, and could find nothing more exciting than Ace Hardware. But the walk along the side streets allowed us to see many lovely little Victorian houses. It reminded me a bit of Los Gatos, with more services for your chakra. It is a very picturesque town. Cheap too - there were a number of very pretty houses for sale with 4+ beds, some with land, at $800k or less. Hubby's eye was caught by a Tuscan estate (clearly it had taken a wrong turning at the cross roads in Milan) on offer for $3.5 million that would definitely have been $12m or more in Atherton or Woodside.
Anyway.
We ate lunch at the Larks Restaurant next to the Ashland Springs Hotel. That looks like it might be a nice place to stay for an adult only visit to the town. Larks provided us with tasty fish and chips, a steelhead fish salad, and charcuterie plate for lunch. Yum.
The object of the day was to go to see "All's Well That Ends Well" at the New Theater, one of the Shakespeare Festival's productions. We had been facing this with some trepidation, wondering what the kids would make of it. Turned out that they enjoyed the experience. We debriefed the kids at intermission, getting them to tell the story back to us, and they were separately able to explain exactly what was going on and who was who (and why). We were impressed, especially with Little Starlet's ability to judge what was happening when two scenes were essentially playing at the same time (e.g. when Helena is in Rosillion worrying about what is happening to Bertram at the war, while Bertram is talking to his fellow soldiers at their camp in Florence). The production values were high, the performances were good, and the theater was excellent - clear sight lines everywhere. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
We pottered along East Main Street, popping into a couple of art galleries and mystic goods stores. Little Starlet bought more rocks, while Deep Thought bought a pink dragon emerging from an egg. The store keeper of "Tibetan Friends" (Ashland has a fair number of Tibetan-themed stores) showed us how the dragon bowl worked - we had mistaken it for a water dish for his dog, and he wanted to set us right. Dampening the palms of his hands, he rubbed the handles of the bowl till the metal vibrated with weird shrieking sounds, and the water jumped in little jets. The kids declined to have a go.
We walked down to the old railroad district of Ashland, which a guidebook assured us was an artists' area, and could find nothing more exciting than Ace Hardware. But the walk along the side streets allowed us to see many lovely little Victorian houses. It reminded me a bit of Los Gatos, with more services for your chakra. It is a very picturesque town. Cheap too - there were a number of very pretty houses for sale with 4+ beds, some with land, at $800k or less. Hubby's eye was caught by a Tuscan estate (clearly it had taken a wrong turning at the cross roads in Milan) on offer for $3.5 million that would definitely have been $12m or more in Atherton or Woodside.
Anyway.
We ate lunch at the Larks Restaurant next to the Ashland Springs Hotel. That looks like it might be a nice place to stay for an adult only visit to the town. Larks provided us with tasty fish and chips, a steelhead fish salad, and charcuterie plate for lunch. Yum.
The object of the day was to go to see "All's Well That Ends Well" at the New Theater, one of the Shakespeare Festival's productions. We had been facing this with some trepidation, wondering what the kids would make of it. Turned out that they enjoyed the experience. We debriefed the kids at intermission, getting them to tell the story back to us, and they were separately able to explain exactly what was going on and who was who (and why). We were impressed, especially with Little Starlet's ability to judge what was happening when two scenes were essentially playing at the same time (e.g. when Helena is in Rosillion worrying about what is happening to Bertram at the war, while Bertram is talking to his fellow soldiers at their camp in Florence). The production values were high, the performances were good, and the theater was excellent - clear sight lines everywhere. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Ursine Pleasures
Eureka was a curious mix of big box stores and run down Mom and Pop operations, at once bustling and depressed. It was clearly the hub of the local area with plenty of people about and almost congested with cars (but only almost). We had planned to stop at one of the State Beaches along the coast just north of Eureka, possibly around Trinidad, but the coastal fog was still rolling in from the ocean at 10:30am, so we decided to give it a miss and press on. The freeway at this point is a twisty road with one lane in each direction, and we were delayed a couple of times by road works. (101 is getting a lot of widening and resurfacing in this northern area – given how little traffic we have seen, we have to question whether this is really the best use of our tax dollars!)
Along the redwood coast, the main industry is clearly carving. Of course there is some logging to provide the wood, and the enormous piles of planks here and there betray the existence of a couple of lumber mills, but most people are involved in the business of turning out models of bears made from redwood logs. The town of Orick seems to consist solely of purveyors of fine statues of bears, hawks, bears, Native Americans in feather head dresses, and bears; plus windmills in a variety of sizes. The good people of Orick can also provide a selection of redwood clocks. I guess even wood carvers need to know the time. I wonder if any of them have ever seen a real bear?
Along the redwood coast, the main industry is clearly carving. Of course there is some logging to provide the wood, and the enormous piles of planks here and there betray the existence of a couple of lumber mills, but most people are involved in the business of turning out models of bears made from redwood logs. The town of Orick seems to consist solely of purveyors of fine statues of bears, hawks, bears, Native Americans in feather head dresses, and bears; plus windmills in a variety of sizes. The good people of Orick can also provide a selection of redwood clocks. I guess even wood carvers need to know the time. I wonder if any of them have ever seen a real bear?
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Dumping Heaven
Our neighbors are having their house remodeled. Yesterday, Little Starlet and I paused to watch the man empty the workers' mobile toilet ("porta-potty"). With eyebrows in her hairline and a flamboyant toss of the head, she declared that she NEVER wanted to be that man.
So it was with mobile poo on my mind that I discovered a wonderful website designed to put all your sanitary fears to rest, www.RVdumps.com, a noble website created by something called Roundabout Publications. Yes, listed in one easy directory state by state, all the dump stations available for your "black water" tanks, complete with reviews. "This one might be a bit tight for large units" says one reviewer. "Nice people, but it's all self service," sighs another. "This one provides a clean hose and everything," enthuses a third. Gosh, I can hardly wait.
Fees for getting rid of your sewage seem to range from about $2 to $20 per dump, with most commentators feeling anything over $10 is extortion (especially if it doesn't include a free refill of the water tank or another RV specific service).
And that reminds me, must remember to put "rubber gloves" on the final shopping list for tomorrow. Little Starlet might not be planning to be the Porta-Potty Man, but I know a man who is.
So it was with mobile poo on my mind that I discovered a wonderful website designed to put all your sanitary fears to rest, www.RVdumps.com, a noble website created by something called Roundabout Publications. Yes, listed in one easy directory state by state, all the dump stations available for your "black water" tanks, complete with reviews. "This one might be a bit tight for large units" says one reviewer. "Nice people, but it's all self service," sighs another. "This one provides a clean hose and everything," enthuses a third. Gosh, I can hardly wait.
Fees for getting rid of your sewage seem to range from about $2 to $20 per dump, with most commentators feeling anything over $10 is extortion (especially if it doesn't include a free refill of the water tank or another RV specific service).
And that reminds me, must remember to put "rubber gloves" on the final shopping list for tomorrow. Little Starlet might not be planning to be the Porta-Potty Man, but I know a man who is.
Shop, Shop, Shop!
Today we went shopping for food. We filled up two trolleys and had to have help back to the car. And we still didn't buy everything!
(This is a photo of part of our shopping.)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
I Was Too Far Out All My Life, and Not Camping but Shopping.
I think it's fair to say that we are now in a total frenzy of planning. With the help of numerous books and websites, and with many contributions from Deep Thought, we have at least three lists under construction - gear, food, and clothes, with a lot of focus on gear.
As always, travel, and especially camping, seems to involve a great deal of shopping. I've made trips to REI for water purification tablets and emergency ponchos (in case we get caught up in an earthquake), to Target for plastic bowls and a very important new box of My Littlest Pet Shop gear (Little Starlet's choice), and to Books Inc for many new books. Several new travel games have been bought, including a Klutz book which promises to entertain us with 15 of the best board games ever created. I am about to download a couple of audio books from iTunes (if only I can find some acceptable voices reading the books that the kids want to hear - too many of them make me want to run screaming from the room, and that's before I'm trapped in a tin can with them for 6 hours). I've even purchased a new pair of sneakers today, with special sporty socks. Deep Thought examined them closely and commented "You like these?" - which I took to be approval.
As always, travel, and especially camping, seems to involve a great deal of shopping. I've made trips to REI for water purification tablets and emergency ponchos (in case we get caught up in an earthquake), to Target for plastic bowls and a very important new box of My Littlest Pet Shop gear (Little Starlet's choice), and to Books Inc for many new books. Several new travel games have been bought, including a Klutz book which promises to entertain us with 15 of the best board games ever created. I am about to download a couple of audio books from iTunes (if only I can find some acceptable voices reading the books that the kids want to hear - too many of them make me want to run screaming from the room, and that's before I'm trapped in a tin can with them for 6 hours). I've even purchased a new pair of sneakers today, with special sporty socks. Deep Thought examined them closely and commented "You like these?" - which I took to be approval.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Time To Plan! :-O
We've decided it's time to start thinking about our trip - maybe a little late but oh well. Dr. Mom has bought a kettle and is looking very pleased about it. She's kind of pretending that she did all the planning by buying a kettle. Anyway, wish us luck with the planning!
Oh. I forgot to say Dr. Mom is feeling a lot better.
Oh. I forgot to say Dr. Mom is feeling a lot better.
Trying to Engage the Troops
All the books say that you should make sure to involve your kids in the planning process for any lengthy trips such as the one we are about to do. What the books don't say is how to get them to show any interest at all. I've tried asking what they think will be interesting or surprising, what they're looking forward to or not sure about. I've tried spreading the maps across the living room, and leaving heaps of guide books on the sofa. I've tried saying things like "Gosh, there looks like there might be a good beach here, or do you think we should try to get to there for the lunch stop?" But all to no avail. Little Starlet gives a theatrical sigh and says she really doesn't mind what we do. Deep Thought takes a quick look before going back to her book or whatever is clearly more interesting than interacting with her mother.
Perhaps they'll want to engage more when we are actually on the road, or is that just wishful thinking?
Worryingly, the thing that has fascinated them most so far is choosing a portable DVD player and five brand new DVDs to take on the journey. Not quite what I had in mind.
Perhaps they'll want to engage more when we are actually on the road, or is that just wishful thinking?
Worryingly, the thing that has fascinated them most so far is choosing a portable DVD player and five brand new DVDs to take on the journey. Not quite what I had in mind.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Size is Everything
Hubby and I have been checking back on the size of the RV we've hired. It's the smallest available - we didn't want to be too ambitious on this, our first trip - but the dimensions seem enormous now we really consider them. 25ft long, 8ft wide, 11ft high.
Even so, a quick look at the floorplan so helpfully provided by Camping World makes us wonder where we're going to stash all the stuff that is already on our barely-started packing list. And Little Starlet hasn't even begun to put her extensive Polly Pocket family into a suitcase.
The floorplan consists of a driving cab area (lucky, that), with a "cabover bed"; a lounge chair which appears to be bolted to the floor, probably a good idea as we are combining the accident-prone Little Starlet with a twisty road; a "dinette" that converts into a single bed, reminiscent of all those happy holidays spent in fixed caravan sites in Rhyl; a "double bed" designed for two short, svelt sleepers; a shower and sink; the delicately named "toilette"; and a cooking area of small oven, microwave, stovetop, and sink. There is also something enigmatically labelled "Refer", which presumably is some hitherto unknown abbreviation, or perhaps a special technical word known only to RVers, refer-ing to the refrigerator.
Let's hope so, as we plan to take as much food with us as we can load into the van. Though our route follows major highways through delightfully named towns like Eureka, we're not sure that the Formager D'Affinois or Greek olive oil will be so easy to find as it is in the Bay Area. Mind you, the food shopping I've done so far consists of jumbo boxes of Cheezits and multi-packs of tomato sauce, so who am I trying to kid?
Hubby says with a reassuring chuckle that I would have no trouble driving this monster. Well, that's not my plan. Someone needs to commune with the maps, and that seems like my sort of gig.
Even so, a quick look at the floorplan so helpfully provided by Camping World makes us wonder where we're going to stash all the stuff that is already on our barely-started packing list. And Little Starlet hasn't even begun to put her extensive Polly Pocket family into a suitcase.
The floorplan consists of a driving cab area (lucky, that), with a "cabover bed"; a lounge chair which appears to be bolted to the floor, probably a good idea as we are combining the accident-prone Little Starlet with a twisty road; a "dinette" that converts into a single bed, reminiscent of all those happy holidays spent in fixed caravan sites in Rhyl; a "double bed" designed for two short, svelt sleepers; a shower and sink; the delicately named "toilette"; and a cooking area of small oven, microwave, stovetop, and sink. There is also something enigmatically labelled "Refer", which presumably is some hitherto unknown abbreviation, or perhaps a special technical word known only to RVers, refer-ing to the refrigerator.
Let's hope so, as we plan to take as much food with us as we can load into the van. Though our route follows major highways through delightfully named towns like Eureka, we're not sure that the Formager D'Affinois or Greek olive oil will be so easy to find as it is in the Bay Area. Mind you, the food shopping I've done so far consists of jumbo boxes of Cheezits and multi-packs of tomato sauce, so who am I trying to kid?
Hubby says with a reassuring chuckle that I would have no trouble driving this monster. Well, that's not my plan. Someone needs to commune with the maps, and that seems like my sort of gig.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Differing Priorities
While I have started pondering the great food question - just how many times can we feed the kids pasta with tomato sauce over nine days before we get a rebellion? - Hubby's mind has been turning to more important things: Gadgets.
Question 1: Do we need a fancier camera? This from the man who once managed to take a photo of a blank bit of heathery Dartmoor which, upon extreme scrutiny, proved to have my nose on the edge of the frame. Excuse my scepticism, but who exactly will be taking the photos with this fancy new camera? And how will we have time to learn how it works? As it happens, Deep Thought has her birthday next weekend, and we've bought her a point-and-shoot as her gift. I suspect she'll be pretty good with it. Better than her Dad anyway.
Question 2: Should we have a DVD player for the kids in the back of the RV to keep them occupied during the long drives? We could play something on the laptop, but Hubby thinks maybe we should invest in a DVD gizmo. I struggle with this one. On the one hand we like to imagine the kids gazing out of the RV windows taking in the views and enhancing their appreciation of our beautiful state. On the other I know they will be kicking each other under the table and demanding snacks to assuage their boredom.
Question 3: If we want to play an audio book on the iPod, do we need a special player so that we can all hear it? Hubby's suggestion on this one was to take our regular stereo speakers. Given that they are eight year old technology, they're not all that compact. I gently reminded him that we're in an RV.
I foresee a long and expensive trip to Fry's this weekend.
Question 1: Do we need a fancier camera? This from the man who once managed to take a photo of a blank bit of heathery Dartmoor which, upon extreme scrutiny, proved to have my nose on the edge of the frame. Excuse my scepticism, but who exactly will be taking the photos with this fancy new camera? And how will we have time to learn how it works? As it happens, Deep Thought has her birthday next weekend, and we've bought her a point-and-shoot as her gift. I suspect she'll be pretty good with it. Better than her Dad anyway.
Question 2: Should we have a DVD player for the kids in the back of the RV to keep them occupied during the long drives? We could play something on the laptop, but Hubby thinks maybe we should invest in a DVD gizmo. I struggle with this one. On the one hand we like to imagine the kids gazing out of the RV windows taking in the views and enhancing their appreciation of our beautiful state. On the other I know they will be kicking each other under the table and demanding snacks to assuage their boredom.
Question 3: If we want to play an audio book on the iPod, do we need a special player so that we can all hear it? Hubby's suggestion on this one was to take our regular stereo speakers. Given that they are eight year old technology, they're not all that compact. I gently reminded him that we're in an RV.
I foresee a long and expensive trip to Fry's this weekend.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Down the Drain
I rose from my bed today with an important question to answer: Do we need to buy special toilet paper for our trip?
As a family encompassing funny insides and two smallish children, this is clearly a key issue to get right. We don't need any clogged thingies or overflowing wotsits. (I presume I'll learn the correct terminology in due course, though as I am rather planning to leave the toilet department to beloved Hubby, perhaps I'm wrong about that. Which reminds me that I need to buy him a pair of rubber gloves.)
Anyway, to cut a long story short, our friends at Google provided links to a couple of very good RV info sites. Of course there were the usual range of ideas and insights, from "Spend all you've got on special septic tank paper made by this women's collective in Ohio" to "We've been RVing for 30 years and only just moved on from dry leaves to newspaper." But leaving the outliers aside, the general conclusions were:
(1) Don't buy the expensive special RV toilet paper at Camping World etc
(2) Go for single ply over 2-ply. Scotts single ply is much recommended.
(3) Test your paper before you set out, by putting a couple of sheets in a jar of water, shaking it vigorously, waiting 15 minutes, and then seeing whether the sheets have broken down into shreds. If they have, use it. If they haven't, go back to the store.
I couldn't find a jar, but correctly judged that Hubby's capacious Gartner beer mug would do the trick. Having now undertaken a scientific comparison test of the CVS own brand and Seventh Generation recycled toilet papers, I think we'll be going with Seventh Generation, which had shredded almost completely within just a couple of minutes after the vigorous shake. Good. Another problem resolved.
As a family encompassing funny insides and two smallish children, this is clearly a key issue to get right. We don't need any clogged thingies or overflowing wotsits. (I presume I'll learn the correct terminology in due course, though as I am rather planning to leave the toilet department to beloved Hubby, perhaps I'm wrong about that. Which reminds me that I need to buy him a pair of rubber gloves.)
Anyway, to cut a long story short, our friends at Google provided links to a couple of very good RV info sites. Of course there were the usual range of ideas and insights, from "Spend all you've got on special septic tank paper made by this women's collective in Ohio" to "We've been RVing for 30 years and only just moved on from dry leaves to newspaper." But leaving the outliers aside, the general conclusions were:
(1) Don't buy the expensive special RV toilet paper at Camping World etc
(2) Go for single ply over 2-ply. Scotts single ply is much recommended.
(3) Test your paper before you set out, by putting a couple of sheets in a jar of water, shaking it vigorously, waiting 15 minutes, and then seeing whether the sheets have broken down into shreds. If they have, use it. If they haven't, go back to the store.
I couldn't find a jar, but correctly judged that Hubby's capacious Gartner beer mug would do the trick. Having now undertaken a scientific comparison test of the CVS own brand and Seventh Generation recycled toilet papers, I think we'll be going with Seventh Generation, which had shredded almost completely within just a couple of minutes after the vigorous shake. Good. Another problem resolved.
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