MARCH 2011

Time certainly flies when you’re having fun! It’s March already!

We’ve had some more visitors over the last 2 months but I can’t say it has ever been very busy. So far our first camp host job has been fairly ‘easy’, not that we can compare it to anything off course. We like it that we can pretty much fill in our days as we like as long as the work gets done and there’s nobody constantly watching ‘over our shoulder’. The rangers who come by once or twice every day to check on us are all great to work with and are very supportive and appreciative of all we do which makes us feel we’re really part of the team.

This month was greatly overshadowed by a very sad occasion though. Our cat, ‘big boy’, Felix started to lose a lot of weight and was diagnosed with kidney failure after which he died within a couple of weeks. It happened so fast, we still can’t believe it, he was (only) 11 years old.

We’re so sad, I cried for days. We burry him at Vallecito in a nice spot on a hill overlooking the desert. We’re going to miss him so much!

                                                    

From the day of our formal ’introduction’ in San Diego by Cheryl Wegner we have been looking forward to the 5^th annual ‘Vallecito Days’ that she told us about. This year they take place on March 25-27 and will celebrate the role of the Southern Overland Trail 150 years ago at the outbreak of the Civil War.

We’re all drafted to be ‘on duty’ during all 3 days since we’re going to have a full campsite and lots of day-visitors to take care off. The bathrooms will need a lot of attention and the guys will be busy directing parking.

 On Saturday I’m in the Stage Station telling people about its history together with a group of re-enactors who will be showing how the travelers in those days arrived at the Station and how the family that lived there lived their daily lives by demonstrating cooking, laundry, sewing, spinning and various other daily chores.

Since I own a spinning wheel and know how to use it I am participating in the demonstrations on Sunday too!

                                                           

The ‘Mountain Man’, another group of re-enactors, are here and have set up an overland traveler’s camp with demonstrations and exhibits of historic firearms, outdoor cooking, and frontier equipment. The public is invited to try their hand at some of the skills needed in the 1860’s.

At the same time we’re visited by yet another group, a squad of Civil War Infantry scouting the Southern Overland Trail. They’ll camp here Friday night and continue their 32 mile historic march on Saturday morning.

                                                           

On Sunday the Backcountry Horseman of San Diego, who are camping here with their horses for 2 nights, are riding from Vallecito to the old Campbell Ranch House, as cowboys did in bygone days, all dressed up in period clothing.

                                                           

We’re invited to join the groups for breakfasts, dinners and campfires and for an evening at the Station where guest speakers share the history of the area by lantern light.

We all have a blast although the weather isn’t really participating. The wind is relentless and it is very cold but at least the sun is shining so we huddle at the campfires and drink spiked coffee and hot chocolate!

One little calamity takes place in our own RV when on Saturday the black tank decided to overflow! Somehow the water kept running after we flushed so it filled up the tank and eventually the bowl! Fortunately we only use our toilet for 'liquid waste' so it could have been worse but it wasn’t pretty! Oh well…

We did some work on the RV this month although not as much as we had wanted. James just didn’t have the time with all the hours he spent on the job in Lake Arrowhead.

He did manage to re-caulk one site with the 2 slides though and put new rubber on them so we’re making some progress.

FEBRUARY 2011

Early February brought some real cold weather, especially at night, when the temperature fell below freezing which caused our water faucet to freeze and crack!
The days were still beautiful though, clear and sunny, and we were outside most of the day. Later this month we had some huge storms passing through our area. They brought us a few good down pours and when the clouds disappeared we discovered snow on the mountains towards Julian.
The view was gorgeous!

                                                     

San Diego and Los Angeles flood and even Borrego Springs have some good rain. Hopefully this will give us some good wild flowers this spring.

We took another trip in the area and visited ‘Ghost Mountain’ in Blair Valley.
On top of its summit, Marshall South, a writer and an artist, built a cabin in 1932 and began ‘an original experiment in desert self-sufficiency’. He lived here for 14 years with his family, ‘of the grid’ and ‘off the land’ and lived as close to ‘nature’s universal code’ as they could, which also meant they wore little to no clothes.
They wrote about their experiment and were published in various magazines.
There’s little more than some ruins left now and it’s a rather strenuous hike up a steep slope. The view is great from the top though and we could actually see our campground far down below!

                                                           

In the same valley we found some ruins of the Kumeyaay Indian villages and a few pictographs.

                                                           

James and I are both working on his next project which is to restore the wildlife drinking fountain/waterfall that has stopped flowing because of a possible leak ‘somewhere’. He’s also replacing the old stone pond, which is also leaking, with a plastic one and re-’scapes’ the landscape around the whole feature.

                                                       

I’m also thrilled to announce that this month I got my much awaited washer and dryer! It took me all this time to find one on Craigslist that was stackable, 110 Volt and not wider than 32”, but I finally did!
James brought it back with him from one of his, unfortunately rather too frequent, client-trips to Lake Arrowhead. Bye, bye, Laundromat!

We also got a generator and James installed a wrench on the truck so he can lift his heavy tools in and out without breaking his back.
We’re both very happy campers!

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We’re spending a lot of enjoyable hours with Joe and Deanna. We got them hooked on ‘coffee time’ in the mornings and somewhere around the weekend we’re always having a BBQ followed by a campfire made by Joe who is the absolute master of campfire-makers. These times are certainly the most memorable and precious of our stay here!
We learn so much from them and they're just great people to be with!

                                                           

JANUARY 2011

 Happy New Year!

We celebrated the New Year at coffee time with Joe and Dianna and a Dutch delicacy called ‘oliebollen’. That would translate to ‘oil balls’ what really doesn’t sound too good but I’d say they’re sort of a doughnut or fritter and traditionally eaten on New Years day. James learned to make them from my Dad and he’s gotten pretty good at it over the years. They were delicious!

                                

The weather so far has been pretty good. We discover it can be very windy in the desert and it does rain but practically every day starts out beautifully sunny.

We had a few downpours which are normal for this time of the year but overall it has been cooler than normal, which is something that’s been going on all over the west-coast for the last 2 years or so. We’re very happy with our roof structure; we can still be outside even when it rains!

Since this campsite is listed as being horse friendly but wasn’t really set up for it, students from the Americorps installed some horse corrals this month and James worked on 2 bins for the manure.

                                       

We’ve been taking some trips in the area during our days off. We went to Julian, a little town about 40 minutes from here at about 4000 feet in the Mountains east of San Diego. 

It’s known for its ‘world famous Julian apple pie’ from its many apple orchards and has a cute historical center with beautiful old houses from it’s heydays during the short gold-rush in the 1860’s.

Off course we have to try 2 different pieces of pie! 

After touring some of the scenic mountain roads we did a little wine tasting at 2 of the vineyards for which this area is also known. 
The weather was gorgeous and we can sit outside in the late afternoon sun overlooking the vineyards on the hills. Not a bad life!

This winery was called: 'the blue door' (surprise, surprise)

                                                           

We also brought a visit to the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. It is the largest State Park of California and home to the Bighorn (or desert) Sheep and many other desert critters and is famous for its big display of wildflowers in the spring.

It has a beautiful visitor center and the short video they show about the park is well worth watching to learn a little about this beautiful area.

It is close to Borrego Springs, California’s first Dark Sky Community. There are no big box or chain stores. It is a wonderful quaint, quiet home for many ‘snowbirds’, people from colder climates that stay here for the winter. 
Personally I’d much rather be here than in busy Palm Springs for instance, where so many snow-birders seem to go.

Oh, ...and James celebrated another Birthday this month!

Are those some grey chest hairs honey  .....?