The Sun Sets on Our LA Stay with a Whale of an Experience

After a long day at The Getty on Sunday, we decided we would take Monday to pack for our Tuesday departure. BUT that evening the local news reported several large fin and gray whales had been spotted off the coast near Santa Catalina Island. We called Valerie and Richard and, after an Internet search, they found a whale watching trip out of Redondo Beach for only $15. Oh well, it really does not take us that long to pack and since we were only traveling to San Diego we decided to go for it. We just love the flexibility of this lifestyle.

Monday dawned with partly cloudy skies and warm temps. We boarded the Voyager with much anticipation and as we sailed out of the harbor the guides pointed out the usual assortment of seals, sea lions and birds. Next, was the largest pod of dolphins we have ever seen who jumped, porpoised, and surfed in the water while being pushed along by the boat. Real nice but we have seen lots of dolphins over the years and thought we were in for a disappointing trip as the boat circled.

Nanc and Val on the Pacific looking for whales with the s**w covered mountains in the far background. On shore the temperature was warm but being on the water made it feel a lot cooler.
Three dolphins enjoy a ride at the bow of the boat. The water was so clear you could see them below the surface.

Suddenly, off in the distance toward Santa Catalina Island a "small" dark form broke the surface.

As we moved closer it became apparent that this was the biggest creature we have ever seen.

It was not possible to capture the entire whale in one picture. It would first announce its presence with the sound of blowing air. (See Video below)

The front would then disappear and the fin would break the surface. The tail never came out of the water but everyone agreed it was between 50 and 60 feet. The guides identified it as a fin whale, the second largest in the whale family. Here is a site with info on the fin whale. Notice how far it is from the blow hole to the fin and then to the fluke. This should help give you an idea of the size of this whale.

At one point, as the boat idled, the whale slowly circled us as if it was giving us the once over. You could clearly see its massive shape. One of the swimming fins was about as long as I am tall. It surfaced less than 25 feet of the boat. People always ask what is the best thing we have done while fulltiming and this day has to be right up there near the top of the list. As a disclaimer, none of these photos have been enlarged beyond the original. We were really close!!!

After seeing the whale we relaxed and enjoyed the other animals on our return to port. This pair of brown pelicans was just gliding along with the boat.

A sea lion on its back basking in the sun.

The sea lions were rocking the buoy so much they were ringing the bell.

After a great day to end our stay in LA LA Land, we celebrated with a drink while watching the sun set into the Pacific. We swear we could hear it sizzle as it dropped into the water :) A wonderful ending to a wonderful stay.

Below is a short video that Richard shot. Listen carefully at the beginning and you can hear the whale's "thar she blows" moment and some woman's comment may sum up what we saw and felt.

Celebrating the Holidays in Sunny SoCal

Celebrating Christmas brunch with the Frayers.
Nanc with the Christmas table and the food for brunch.

Hillbilly Golf

The New Years Eve crowd.

This is how we start the new year in the warm climes.

Even though this is our third holiday season on the road, it is still very strange to celebrate Christmas and New Years in warm weather. That said, we DO NOT miss the cold and s**w. We decorated the motorhome and even purchased a live pine wreath for our door. We had a great Christmas brunch with our friends, Valerie and Richard Frayer, followed by a tournament of hillbilly golf in the warm California sunshine where the girls handily beat the guys :)

Our New Year's celebration with our SKP mates was an early one as we celebrated with the east coast crowd because we had a very early wake up call in order to be on the bus at 6:30 AM to see the Rose Parade. This was a record for us, in bed before midnight in our time zone and getting up at 4:45 AM on New Year's Day. We had a great catered dinner in the RV park club house and celebrated as the ball dropped in Time Square ushering in the New Year at 9 PM. Thanks to all for your holiday good wishes and we send our wishes for a very Happy, Healthy and Safe 2010!!

Getty Center

The beautiful Getty Center
Nanc's favorites are always the Impressionists.

I was impressed with the brilliant colors of the illuminated manuscripts.

Nanc reflects on a bit of decorative art.

A room from a 19th century French mansion.

Notice these four happy, smiling and WARM travellers have shed their jackets in the LA sunshine.

A reflection of the courtyard and buildings.

Looking at LA across the cactus garden.

An ocean view from the central garden.

Flowers, art, LA and s**w covered mountains in the distance.

The HOP ended Saturday morning with a farewell breakfast. We had a great time and would recommend this HOP to anyone as an easy and excellent way to see the parade and enjoy all the related activities. As with any Escapees event, we ran into old friends and met many new ones whom we are planning to meet up with again somewhere down the road. We were not leaving until Tuesday and were just going to kick back and unwind after a busy week of HOPping but after seeing pictures of the Getty Center a fellow SKP had taken, we decided that a visit was in order.

The Getty Center, one of two museums endowed by J. Paul Getty, is located on the side of the Santa Monica Mountains with a spectacular view of the entire Los Angeles basin and the Pacific Ocean. The buildings and grounds, designed by Richard Meier, are worth a visit in their own right even if you are not interested in the collection of European art and American and European photographs. It is also one of the best deals in town with free admission and parking only $15. The uniqueness of the place starts with the tram (really a horizontal elevator) that carries you the last 3/4 of a mile up the hill riding on a cushion of air. You arrive in a large plaza and are surrounded by art everywhere you go. You then walk through the Entrance Hall into the Museum Courtyard of trees and fountains among the five separate art pavilions. The plaza level has sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, and decorative arts including one building with several complete rooms from a number of French mansions. Most of the sketches and paintings are on the upper levels in rooms that allow natural light from skylights that are controlled with louvers. There is an area for kids to draw, a sketch room with pieces for artists to sketch and photography is allowed in most galleries. There is not an overwhelming amount of art in each room and, even with the large number of people, the galleries were never really crowded. For me the buildings themselves were the most outstanding thing with the plazas, grounds, fountains, gardens and spectacular architecture. Unlike most museums, there is access to many outdoor terraces from ever building. Each one offers a different view of the complex and the city below. This is an outstanding place and a must see while visiting LA.

Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade

Some of the pre-parade activity.

(top) Nanc gives the "queen" wave to the crowd as the bus drives down Colorado Ave.

A band & equestrian group preparing to march.

A vendor works the crowd.

(bottom) The parade route an hour before the start.

SKPs parade down the street.

High wheel bikers.

Grand Marshal Sulley Sullenberger
Burgettstown's Union High School Class of 1964 alumni and Rose Bowl Game Hall of Fame Inductee Barry Alvarez (right rear).

Several of the equestrian units with essential back up.

The FA-18F flyover and the Marine Corps West Coast Composite Band

A close up of the Cal Poly float after the parade. View what it looked like 48 hours earlier in the previous post.

Close ups of some of the fantastic floral work.

Bottom middle is the branch we decorated :)

A close look at one of our favorites, "Jewel of the Pacific"

While watching the Rose Parade as juniors in high school, my cousin Sandy and I decided we would go to the parade when we were seniors. Little did I know that for me it would be when I was a senior (citizen) 46 years later. It was worth the wait!!! Once again, we were on the road at 6:30 AM and as we approached Pasadena lanes of the freeway were closed to park the horse trailers and band buses. We were happy when the bus actually turned down Colorado Boulevard and dropped us off within a half block of our seats. The streets were lined with thousands of people while others walked, jogged, rode bikes and sold souvenirs in the middle of the street. To get an idea just how big the parade is, it started on time at 8AM and the pace car passed our spot a little after nine. Leading the way was the Grand Marshal, the Hero of the Hudson, US Airways pilot Captain Sully Sullenberger. From there it continued to get better with 41 floats, 22 bands and 22 equestrian groups accompanied by an equal number of pooper scoopers. The ones following the Arizona Mini Mystiques surely had the easiest job. There were additional cars carrying various dignitaries including the 2009 Rose Bowl Game Hall of Fame inductees. To my surprise, riding in that car was my high school classmate, Barry Alvarez, former Wisconsin football coach and current athletic director. Seeing all the floats with sooooo many beautiful plants and flowers being used in so many creative ways was, of course, the highlight. Having the chance to do just a small bit of work on one of the floats really gave us a better understanding of how much goes into each float. It is hard to pick a favorite because they were all so spectacular. Of course, we are a little biased toward the China Air Guardian of Taiwan float since it was the one we helped decorate. I am trying something different with the photos this time with a link here to a web album of all the floats. We loved ever aspect of the parade, including the FA-18F flyover by the The Fighting Redcoats of the US Navy. We could go on and on, but since a picture is worth a thousand words, we have already said too much.

Our day was not over after the parade ended, as we boarded the bus and headed to the float viewing area to get an up close look. Getting really close allows you to see the detailed work that goes into this parade. We think we saw the exact branch we worked on when we were decorating:) Overall, the parade and the HOP gets an A++. This is a great way to see all the events related to the parade without the hassles of driving the LA freeways.

It (almost) Never Rains in Southern California

Another busy day of the HOP was scheduled with a visit to two different float decorating areas and the Bandfest featuring most of the 22 marching units in the parade. The day started early with a 6:30 AM departure. As the sun rose, the overcast became apparent and the forecast of clearing skies turned out to be wrong. Fortunately, the float viewing was in a building and under a huge tent near the Rose Bowl. Even though this was a different company from the one we had volunteered at, it was easy to see on the one hand, that much progress had been made toward completing the floats on time. On the other hand, it was hard to believe they would be done and ready to roll only 36 hours after our visit. Our first stop at the Phoenix Decorating Company was in a large building where they were working on at least nine different floats. There were people everywhere doing all kinds of jobs to get a huge variety of flowers on to each float by the deadline. I am sure they work continuously right up to the time for the judging on the afternoon of the 31st. In the tent they were getting a few of the official parade cars ready and two non-commercial floats, Cal Poly University and the city of West Covina, were getting their final touches. Since these two were by non profits, they were raising money to cover their costs by selling t-shirts, charging a dollar to sign a bud vial or a postcard that would then be on their float in the parade.

This is what we saw when we came out of the first float viewing knowing the Bandfest was an outdoor rain or shine event. As you can see, it does sometimes rain in SoCal and you would have thought it was a huge downpour from the way the people were reacting (including us). It was really only a little drizzle. After touring the big tent we returned to the bus early and the group decided to visit a mall until time for the Bandfest. A number of people decided they wanted to skip the bands and return to the RV park. Luckily, there were enough to fill one bus so we opted to not sit in the rain and headed back for an nap. We did get to see all the bands in the parade on a sunny beautiful day.
These white suited Tournament of Roses volunteers were everywhere helping with parking, people movement and anything else that need attention.

The activity was frantic as people delivered, prepared and mounted flowers for the floats.

Flowers in the foreground with a group preparing them. The green pile in the middle is orange tree branches with the fruit on them and the boxes of flowers at the top are awaiting the final big push to the finish. The organization to pull this off is unbelievable.

The second part of the day's float viewing included several of the vehicles that would carry dignitaries in the parade. This is an old Glacier Park tour bus with floral oasis strapped on the fenders to hold the flowers in place. On the right is the decorated bus covered with roses carrying the president's family.

This is the Cal Poly float designed by the students who also grew most of the flowers. The theme Jungle Cuts had monkeys with scissors doing beauty shop cuts and perms on a number of animals. The flowers in the tent needed to be added in the last 36 hours. The float was the winner of the People's Choice Award.

As part of this year's parade theme, 2010 A Cut Above the Rest, the West Covina float is a tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen, the black WWII pilots. Several airman who were to ride on the float were there signing autographs. Nanc is thanking one of the airmen for his service to the country. Below are the portraits of the airmen done in a mosaic of beans and seeds. The woman was adding pieces with tweezers.

The Honda float was a spectacular sailing ship. On the left is the float 2 days earlier with the scaffolding still in place and the the final flowers being added.

Equestfest and Glory of Christmas

The HOP continued with the Equestfest at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center were many of the 22 entries for the parade performed and showed animals of every size from the 38" Arizona Mini Mystique to the Shire, the worlds tallest horse, at 19 hands tall and weighing over 2000 pounds. Each unit represents a different way horses were used throughout history. Some were just about the joy of riding while others demonstrated the many jobs horses have done.

One of my favorites was the Martinez Family who are riding in their 30th parade. They wear the outfits of the Mexican Charros and in the parade Benny twirls his rope the whole 5.5 miles.

This group of cowgirls, the Painted Ladies, put their horses through their paces with a program of rodeo drills.

This unit from Fort Hood's 1st Calvary Division did drills showing formations that were used in military campaigns. The famous Budweiser Clydesdales executed maneuvers used while working including backing the wagon up to the loading dock. The wagon was not in the parade because they don't want alcohol being showcased, but the horses did pull the Anheuser-Busch float, "Quest for the Best", celebrating the upcoming Vancouver Olympics. The Arizona Mini Mystiques did a routine of spins and figure eights and ended with a suicide charge to the gate. These Appaloosas and their riders are dressed in authentic Nez Perce costumes. Leslie, the marshal, was also in charge of the group of floats being decorated where we volunteered. The Amigo de Anza Equestrian unit did a routine of pinwheels and other maneuvers. The Scripps Mirmar Saddlebreds group had a number of different breeds and the riders and horses were dressed in vintage Barnum and Bailey circus outfits. This riderless Arabian beauty performed tricks while the rest of the group did drills.The Wells Fargo stage is a symbol of the company's California heritage going back to 1852. The Marine Corps Mounted Color Guard was formed in 1967 and they ride Palomino mustangs that are adopted from the Bureau of Land Management wild horse program.The New Buffalo Soldiers reenact the post Civil War 10th Regiment of the U.S. Cavalry and strive to educate and enlighten the world about contributions of black men on America's Western frontier.

These are just a few of the wonderful groups that performed. Others included more cowgirls, mounted police, a medieval tournament, the Victorian Roses Ladies Riding Society and groups featuring the Arabian and Peruvian Paso breeds. The Equestfest is a must see for anyone who loves animals and wants to get a up close look at these beautiful horses.

After the horse show we attended the Glory of Christmas at the Crystal Cathedral. This was an interesting production of the Christmas story with a huge cast, live animals, real fire and angels literally flying through the air. No pics were allowed.

2009 Travels and Campground Reviews

This is a link that shows and reviews the places we stayed in 2009.


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