Pasadena & The Tournament of Roses

I have lived here in Southern California permanently since 1973 and this is the first time we have traveled to Pasadena to see the floats.  I said floats because we did not brave the freezing temperatures to observe the parade, but visited afterward to just see the floats.  These floats are truly remarkable as they are covered exclusively with flowers, seeds, grass, spices, and crushed and combed bark.  People travel from around the world to see this spectacle.  This was the 126th annual event and also is associated with the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff games.  I am not an avid fan of football or any other sports for that matter and not particularly crazy about parades either.  How un American!!!  That said, if you don't mind mingling with 10,000 or more tourists, this should be on your bucket list.  Each float represents thousands of hours of labor and no two are the same.  I think we walked 2 miles to see them all.  We parked at the Rose Bowl for free and caught a bus to the area where the floats were parked.  The bus was $3 round trip and $10 entrance fee to walk the floats.  Here is a small sampling of what we feasted our eyes on.

Prado Regional Park

On Dec. 31, 2014, we stayed here for 4 nights to close out 2014 with our friends Kathy & Grant.  This park is very nice and the sites are level and many long pull through sites.  Ours was over 100 feet long and had full hookups including 50 amp service.  There is a stocked fishing lake, clubhouse, baseball field available to use for an additional fee.  We paid $45 per night which was a $10 premium per night due to the holiday weekend.  Your camping fee allows entrance to 4 people without an additional fee per person and fishing required a California fishing licence in addition to $8 per person fishing fee.  You are also charged an entrance fee which was $10 this week end.  I did not see anyone catch a fish.  The grounds were well taken care of.  You can rent the clubhouse and ball fields on an hourly basis.  I feel this is a little pricey, but I rate it F**** and would return again.  There were no vacant spaces while we were there so reservations are necessary which is another $5 fee.  My biggest gripe was that our site along with many others had the hookups on the wrong side of the site.  Our site was set up on a one way road and our hookups were on our camping side.  The alternative would be to drive the wrong way into your pull through site and then run your water, sewer, and electrical hoses underneath your rig.

This county park is located in Chino Hills which is in San Bernardino County.  It is within an hour drive to most attractions such as Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Hollywood, Orange county beaches, and Pasadena which is why we selected this site to visit the Rose Parade Floats after the parade.  We woke up to frost on the ground in the mornings as the temps dipped down into the 30's which is cold for us southern Californians.  That said, we spent most of our weekend inside the motorhome with the heater running full time.

Boulder Creek RV Resort

This was our last stop on this trip and we needed to stop to dump our holding tanks as we were dry camping for a full week.  This park is located 2 miles south of Lone Pine on highway 395 and is just south of Diaz Lake.  This is a relatively new park and I remember when they built it.  It may be 15 years old and the trees are mature inside the park.  We had a level pull through site with full hookups including 50 amp electric, sewer, and water.  They had a huge fenced dog park for Buddy and the grounds were natural as this is the desert.  There is a great view of Mount Whitney from this campground.  We paid $36 with our Good Sam discount and I rate this park P****.

Lake Tahoe

We end up here every year and this year is no exception.  We were able to stay at our favorite campground, Fallen leaf campground.  I have rated it before so you can check some of my numerous posts on this campground.  We arrived August 11 for one full week and it was unusually very relaxing as we spent more time than usual inside the campground.  The lake was as low as I have ever seen it and the raft companies were out of business this year as very little water was trickling down the Truckee river.  Shortly after we arrived a thunderstorm came through and pelted us with hail.  We could not get reservations for the full week in one campsite as we did not book until April, so we had to pick up and move to another site one day.  I could not pick up satellite reception at either location and could not get over the air programming either.

We visited many of our usual stops along the lake and did drive around the lake one day which took a little longer than usual as there was some construction going on and they reduced the speed limits around the lake by 5 mph.  We tailgated the Bruno Mars concert at Harvey's Casino one night as we could not afford the $140 per person entry fee.  The concert was basically sold out and people were parking on streets for over a mile away partying.  We were standing just outside the entrance and could partially see one of the overhead screens.  While he put on a good show, we left early to enjoy a Coldstone Creamery ice cream.

99 RV Park

We arrived here in Vancouver, Wa. on July 31 for one full week to visit our son Matt and our grand daughter Danika.  This was the highlight of our trip, but I can't say the same for the campground.  We had a relatively level site with full hookups with 50 amp electric, water, and sewer.  Not all sites are created equal in this park as our site was located parallel to the main street in the resort.  Our awning protruded into the street.  Our site was rock and very messy with Danika playing in the dirt daily.  It appeared to have many full time residents in the park and it is located in the city with shopping centers all around.  It was a clean park, but had no facilities other than rest rooms and a club room which closed at 5PM.  I paid $25 per night with Good Sam Discount and I rate the park P***.  We will try to find a more child friendly park next time we visit here.

We drove down to Coos Bay, Oregon to pick up Danika which was a 4 hour trip in each direction, but it was a beautiful ride.  We visited Jamie's father and step mother (Steve & Melanie) for a short visit and then stopped by Jamie's grandmother for another visit.  Matt had to work so we took Danika and Buddy to city parks during the day while Matt was working.  We took Matt & Danika to the Portland Zoo one day and had a great lobster dinner at Joe's Crab Shack on the Columbia River afterward.  We also visited a State Park one day where Danika and Buddy went for a dip in the river.

Snoqualmie Falls

We took a day trip here while staying at Lake Sawyer in Black Diamond, Wa.  The falls are very powerful and the you could feel the spray 200 yards away.  They generate electricity here and the river, trees, and shrubs are just awesome.  The paths to the river were narrow and it was a challenge as Buddy was very excited.  Our GPS was lost and sent us around in circles until we stumbled upon the park.

Sparks Marina RV Park

We arrived here on Aug. 9, in Sparks Nevada for 2 nights before going to Lake Tahoe.  This is a very clean park.  All sites are level with concrete pad and full hookups including 50 amp electric.  All sites have a picnic table and green imitation grass between sites.  Each site has a single tree which provides a little shade.  All surface driveways are asphalt.  There is a small pool and spa which was very clean and bathrooms were immaculate.  I paid $37.08 per night and rate this campground P****.

There is a small lake accross the street with park like grounds all around the lake.  There is a swimming beach with lifeguards on one side and the other side has a huge fenced area for dogs where they can swim also.  Buddy went for a swim and a much needed bath.  Free admittance and free parking.  California would figure out a way to tax this!