More Pictures

Several of you have asked me to include more of my photography. I have selected some of the scenic shots that represent where we have been.

Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens:









We took a ride in the Oso National Forest which is above our campground. There are 6 places where the road goes into the river. We were a little nervous but it really was okay.

This restuarant used to be stopping point for the stage coaches.

Now it is a favorite place for motorcyclists.

They tell us that on Sunday the place is hopping crazy.

So we went on Thursday.

Thanks to all of you for your positive comments and encouragement.


Love and hugs,

Linda and Barb

Our Three Weeks at Rancho Oso

We have spent the past three weeks camped at Rancho Oso Thousand Trails and have totally enjoyed this location. As you can see, we are in the hills and totally surrounded by the Santa Ynez National Forest. If you double click on the picture and enlarge it, you should see us, the brown motorhome, on the back row.

We are about 20 miles from the Santa Barbara beaches and wharfs in one direction and about 20 miles from the wineries of Solvang and Los Olivos. For us, that is best of both worlds.

The weather here has been almost perfect. The nights are cool and the days are warm. I guess I could complain since the nights are almost tooooo cool in the 50's and the days are almost tooooooo warm in the 90's. But that has worked out well for us. Each day we would sit outside drinking coffee while the weather is cool. We would take our walks and relax. And then by around noon we would prepare to go for an outing. And then return by around five'ish when it cools down and we can enjoy our glass of wine outside. And Bailey is loving this schedule, too.

We also took a drive on a windy road into the mountains to view the Chumash Indians wall paintings.

This was a magnificient example of Indian drawings; all of the work in this cave was done in color, mainly red.

We have never seen drawing so clear and well preserved as these.

Solvang is a Danish community with many restuarants serving Danish cuisine. We went to Paula's Pancake house and had these pancakes that were as large as the plate and as thin as paper. We got the ones that were sprinkled with powdered sugar but there were others with syrup, rasberries, sausage, strawberries. They were absolutely delicious. I ordered the Danish sausage on the side. It had a sweet taste. We enjoyed it so much that we purchased some to take home with us.

There are so many wineries in this area that there is no way for us to go to them all. We did discover that some of the wineries were just tasting rooms in Solvang, Los Olivos or Santa Ynez. Each of these are small towns within 10 miles of each other.

We chose not to go to the tasting rooms but to go to the wineries themselves. The entrances and the grounds were beautifully landscaped and were surrounded but what seemed like miles of vineyards. We went to the Firestone winery and the Bridlewood winery. And of course we purchased several bottles of wine from each. What fun that was. By the way, if you get a chance to sample Firestone wine, you may want to try it. We love both the white and the red wines from this winery.

As you can see, I have not mentioned the beaches of Santa Barbara. We went to the beaches several times, took walks along the beaches as well as brought our blanket and spent an afternoon reading and watching the waves. We also went to the wharf and harbor to have a drink and appetizers. And each time we went I did not bring my camera. So no pictures of the water. All that will have to wait until we return.

Tomorrow we leave and head north to Pismo Beach. We will spend two days there at a rv park right on the beach. Really looking forward to that.

Love and hugs. Stay healthy,

Linda and Barb

Pictures from May/June Travels

I thought I would post a few pictures that I have taken as we travel.





Flowers growing at the side of the store at the Las Vegas Thousand Trails Park.








Our motorhome parked on the upper level of the Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails. This campground is in Acton, CA, a little over an hour's drive from Las Angeles. We did not spend much time here; we plan to return here to visit family later in the summer.






At Rancho Oso Thousand Trails there was a demonstration of how young bulls are trained to
become "Bucking Broncos".




If you look closely, you will see the rider is a teddy bear dressed as a cowboy. I loved the fact that I got a shot of the bull with all four feet off the ground.

Rancho Oso is about 45 drive to Santa Barbara. We really like this campground both for its location and for the great people we have met here. It is well maintained and has some neat activities. This afternoon we will be going to a wine tasting, which as you know is right up our alley.

For the first few days here, we drove into Santa Barbara to walk on the beach and check out the shops. Believe it or not, I did not take my camera to the beach. Maybe next week.

Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb

Calico Ghost Town

Calico Ghost Town is about half way between Las Vegas and Acton, CA, where we are heading . I was searching for a place to stay overnight and found this spot on my Streets and Trips program. It is a county park that is part of the San Bernardino Regional park system. The property of the town was owned by Walter Knotts, from the KnottsBerry farm family.

The Rv park is right next to the Ghost Town.

So after we pulled in and hooked up, we walked up the hill to the Ghost Town. It is really quite cute and they have done a good job restoring the buildings. Since it was after 4:00 pm by the time we got there, we just wandered around for a half hour and got the lay of the land. We also purchased cups of ice cream and sat on a patio overlooking the entire area. The ghost town is high up on a hill and overlooks the entire valley. The RV park is down in the valley.

I just like this picture of the posts on one of the porches.

We decided to spend two nights there so we could tour the town in the morning when it was cool and then relax in the afternoon.

So that is what we did and it was really quite enjoyable. Certainly this is a good place to stop and rest and tour for a day or two.

Next stop............Acton , CA, Thousand Trails park in Soledad Canyon.

Love and hugs,

Linda, Barb, and Bailey