Vacation II: The First and Second Days

As I said before, FabGrandpa was sick for the first 24 hours of our vacation. I tried to get him to let me change our reservation because he was sick before we left home, but he was ready to go. So, for the first day there, he was in the bed, and I was on my own. I did a lot of this:




Yeah, sitting around with my feet propped up, but the scenery was gorgeous! This is the back of the inn:



This is the stair way to the beach:



There is a swimming pool and a hot tub, but it was a little too cool for me to get in the water. And there were beautiful flowers growing everywhere:


The carpet was old and stained, but that bed was soooo comfortable. That was a good thing as FabGrandpa spent so much time there. There was a clock radio, a TV with cable, a dresser, and a sofa in there. Those drapes open all the way up so you have a fabulous view of the Pacific.


The kitchen is fully furnished, with a microwave, coffe maker, pots and pans, dishes, a stove and refrigerator. The only thing this place does not have in the kitchenette suite is a bathtub. But the shower was great.


The only thing I cooked in here, though, was the chicken noodle soup for FabGrandpa, and the coffee in the mornings. The rest of the time, we ate at one of the many restaurants in the area. The day that he was sick, I was buying him a bowl of chicken noodle soup from the Wave Restaurant across the street every three hours, but I was on my own for the rest of the time. I went to the Wave Restaurant for breakfast, then to Aroma Thai for a lunch of Shrimp Fried Rice. Later, for dinner, I walked to the end of the pier to the Tin Fish, and ordered take out of grilled fish and shrimp for my dinner. It included grilled salmon, haddock, scallops, and shrimp with red and green bell peppers and onions. It was soooo good!


This is also at the back of the inn, looking up to the "penthouse suite". It is a three bedroom unit that sleeps 12 people on the third floor. I wish they weren't going to tear this place down, and if for any reason they don't, we are going there again next year.


The first day there were no clouds in the sky all day, so when it was time for sunset, it was just blue sky and big red sun. But the second day, there were enough clouds to give the sunset some awesome color:


I love this little bird on the beach, all by himself:

And just because I like this picture, I am sharing it with you. I took so many, I can't share them all but sometimes I just have to put in just one more:

Vacation I: Signs Of Imperial Beach, California

While Imperial Beach, California is a great vacation destination, the main reason we go there is because it is where FabGrandpa grew up. His Dad was in the Navy and was stationed in the San Diego area for many years. One of the things I love about going there is that while we are driving down I-5 to Palm Avenue, there is a subtle transformation going on over there on FabGrandpa's face. The closer we get, the happier he seems to become. By the time we see this sign, he is grinning from ear to ear. I can almost see his brain whirling with memories.


He is always shocked at first to see how much the area has grown and changed since he was a kid here.


He has a running narrative about how that place used to be a Piggly Wiggly store, and that place over there was where they went to the movies, and how it is hard to remember exactly where such and such was. But, it is still Palm Avenue, and Lydia's Mexican Restaurant is still there.


The biggest grin of all is when we see this sign. It is the one where the road forks, and if you go to the right, you wind up in Coronado, and if you go to the left, you wind up on Seacoast Boulevard, at the beach. He loves this sign, because to him it means he is home.

I love to see this sign, because it means we are at our destination. We found this little motel the first time he brought me here in 1994. I do not know when it was built, but it was not there when FabGrandpa was growing up here. It was built on the beach where he used to play with his brothers and friends, about a hundred yards from the pier where they spent many days and nights fishing. It is the only motel in Imperial Beach that is right on the beach. We love it, and hope the new they build will be a place we love as much as we love this one.



This is the park at the entrance to the Imperial Beach Pier. I don't know who designed it, but it always looks sort of like McDonald's arches to me. There are several arches in different colors that light up at night. On warm nights we usually walk over to the pier and go all the way to the end. There are always a lot of people on the pier, fishing, strolling, walking, hanging out. It is the place to be in Imperial Beach.

Welcome home, FabGrandpa.

A Preview: Sunset at Imperial Beach

I Had A totally Fabulous Post Planned But Then Things Went To Shit...

So I was planning to write all about our vacation every night but then... We got to the inn, which I still love so much, but they do not have wireless internet, AND my Verizon Wireless card does not get a signal in the room here. AND my cellphone says I am roaming--In MEXICO!!! Which I am not because I am still in California.

Then, on top of that, FabGrandpa is sick--he has been making good use of the bathroom here at the inn. Throwing up, and, yeah, that other end stuff, too. I know if he doesn't make it there the motel maid is sooooo going to be doing the clean-up. He is hoping that it is only a 24 hour virus bug and that he will be better tomorrow. And I am hoping like crazy that is something he ate so I won't get sick next.

So, since I have to walk two blocks down to the internet cafe to get online, and they are charging a heft $3.00 PER HOUR, I won't be posting vacation blogs until we get home. For now, though, since I already paid the $3.00 to get online, here are some pictures from the trip yesterday, and the beach:

Harvesting Broccoki in Yuma, Arizona

The Sand Dunes in California along I-8

Highway 94 in Southern California Mountains

Part of that fence along the border
Imperial Beach last night. Ahhhhhh.....

Living Harvest Hempmilk

I have never thought that I was lactose intolerant, just that I hate milk. Ok, HATE is a very harsh work, so let me just say that I am not very fond of milk. It has always made my stomach hurt, and my throat to feel icky. The only way I have been willing to drink milk since I was very young has been as part of a chocolate milkshake. And then not very often. I even eat my cereal dry, because I don't like the taste of milk, either.

I have, however, cooked with milk, everything from French toast to puddings, gravy, and everything in between. If the recipe called for milk, I used milk in it. I had never thought about using a dairy alternative, but I was willing to try it when I received some Living Harvest Hempmilk in the mail. The package i got had three containers--one each of Original, Unsweetened Original, and Chocolate. I decided to use these dairy alternative products in place of regular cow's milk in everything I made until it was gone.

I did lots of cooking with both the Original and the Unsweetened Original flavors. I made my Eggplant Parmesean, using the hempmilk to dip the eggplant slices in before dredging in gluten free flour. I made biscuits and pancakes with my Pamela's Gluten Free Baking Mix. Cornbread with Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread Mix. Home made raspberry cobbler from scratch. And that gravy with my fried chicken livers.

All of the things I cooked using the hempmilk instead of cow's milk came out great, with no strange taste, and by the way, no strange or funny "feeling". It says right on the box that it contains "No THC--Never had it, Never will."

I was most impressed with the cobbler and the gravy. The cobbler cooked up nice and golden brown, which is often a hard thing to achieve with gluten free flours. It had a very nice texture, too. But by far, to me, the best thing I made was the gravy. As gravy is usually mostly milk, it was a very good test for this product.

I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Mix for the flour part. I added it to the skillet with some of the oil left over from frying my chicken livers. When I added the hempmilk, it thickened up just like it does when I use cow's milk. There was no "taste" or flavor of hemp that I could detect. And the best part of it, my stomach didn't hurt after eating that gravy like it usually does when I use cow's milk. That was nice.

Hempmilk is healthy for you, too. Here is what it says on their website:

"Living Harvest Hempmilk is a delicious and nutty non-dairy beverage that provides essential and balanced nutrition for the whole family. A fantastic alternative to soymilk or dairy, our Hempmilk provides the perfect balance of naturally occurring Omega-3 and Omega-6 Essential Fatty Acids, all 10 essential amino acids with digestible protein, 15 essential vitamins and minerals, including 40% of your daily value of calcium. Hemp seeds are also free of the common allergens associated with soy, dairy, and tree-nuts. Try all our refreshing and delicious flavors and then ask yourself - "How could something this healthy taste so good?"

I did find it to taste good, and to not cause me to have the dairy stomach ache. It acted like regular cow's milk in baking and cooking, too, so I will probably buy this next time instead of milk.

For Those Who Pray

If you are someone who prays, please keep Charmaine in yours. She has Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, and has been admitted to Emory Hospital in Atlanta for chemotherapy treatments. It will be a long road.

I don't know Charmaine very well, but she has been a wonderful mentor and friend to my stepdaughter, Becky. She hired Becky to work in her shop when Becky was right out of high school. Charmaine taught Becky many things about doing hair and running a business. When Charmaine was ready to retire, she sold the business to Becky and her friends, Sam and Andy.

I know this is as hard on Becky as it is on Charmaine's family. I know Charmaine was there for Becky when FabGrandpa went through his cancer radiation treatments in 2001. Please go over and show support for Charmaine's family and friends, and if you are so inclined, please add Charmaine and her family to your prayer list.

Thank you.

Book Em', Dano!

After sitting here in the desert with not much to do since the end of December, things are starting to hop here at the Fab household. This week, I received my paperwork from the dream job to fill out for going back to work. I also had to go to Parker, a 100 mile round trip, to get fingerprinted. I had to do this last year, too, and I think it is too funny that I, a gray haired old grandma, has to go to the sheriff's office to get fingerprinted for this job. But off we went to take care of business. While we were there, I also stopped in at the DMV to get the date of birth corrected on my drivers license. So, now after only 40 years, I have a correct drivers license. Yay!

We have booked a room in Imperial Beach for our long awaited vacation at the beach. Yeah, we live in a travel trailer, and camp all the time, so when we do take an "official" vacation, we stay at a motel. This particular place, The Seacoast Inn, is a special place for us. It is where we stayed for our first vacation together in 1994.

We still lived in a house in Georgia at that time, and I was still working at a "real" job. I took 17 days off, and we drove from Atlanta to San Diego and back, spending 5 days at the beach. Our reservation was for a swanky hotel in La Jolla, that said in their brochure that they had a "beach view". Well, they did, IF you stood on your tip toes and leaned over as far to the left as you could, you could see a little bit of sand from the room. I was so disappointed with that.

The first day we were there, we drove down to Imperial Beach, which is where FabGrandpa grew up. And right there on the beach where he spent his childhood, was this incredible little inn, very intimate looking, and quaint. They had been closed for renovations and had just re-opened that day when we showed up. We booked a room there for the remainder of our stay, went back to that crap hole in La Jolla, and moved down there. It was so nice. All I had to do was open my patio door and put my feet into the Pacific sand. This is one of the highlights of our first trip there. I took this picture from our patio:



Then, in 2004, ten years later, we went back for our summer vacation. We emailed all the kids, and gave them a link to the inn's website, and told them, "If you want to come and meet us there, here is the website and the dates we'll be there." Three out of the four of them showed up, and we had so much fun! We went to Old Towne, the San Diego Zoo, downtown San Diego, Tijuana, and just relaxed on the beach. The grunion were running while we were there, and our grandson, Michael, who was 7 at the time, had a blast staying up til 3 in the morning, chasing little fish on the beach with a flashlight. This is my favorite picture from that vacation. It's Michael holding a lobster he and his Dad caught on the pier:


The sad part is, this will probably be the last time we get to stay there. They are tearing it down after this summer, and building a new hotel. I don't know if they are going to rebuild in the same style of little suites with kitchenettes, or not, but I hope so.

Then, as soon as we get back from San Diego, we will be moving. I have made a reservation for a month at a campground on the other side of Wickenburg from where we are now, about umm, maybe 85 miles east of here. The rent is a little cheaper than it is here, and the electricity rate is 11 cents per khw, as opposed to being 18 cents per kwh here. And it is beginning to be hot here: today was 90 degrees. We'll need to run the air conditioner more, so that difference in the electric rate will make a big difference.

We'll also be closer to town. We have enjoyed being in a remote area, but I am ready to be closer in. Being 85 miles from Wal-Mart and 55 miles from a decent grocery store saves you when you need to stay on a budget, but it can get pretty old. Yeah, I said it! I am tired of this place!

Another "booking" I have made is an appointment for FabGrandpa to get his annual physical at the VA Medical Center in Prescott. And to answer the question I know must be on The Original FabGrandpa's, my father-in-law's, mind at this point is "No, there is nothing wrong, he just needs to get his bloodwork done for his thyroid medication." We usually do this at the doctor in Atlanta, but since we didn't go to Atlanta this year, he is going to the VA to take care of that. And because he has never been to this particular VA facility, they are going to do the in depth "intake" physical. Everything from looking down his throat to a finger in the Whooo Hoooo! He should have a lot of fun that day.

So, Prescott is about a two hour drive from where we will be at the time of his appointment. We'll go up and spend the night with Gaelyn of Geogypsy, then go for the day in Prescott. There is a health food store there where I can find some of the things I can eat, as well as my dishwashing liquid.

This last month before starting back to work is going to be busy. I'll probably also do my annual cleaning out of things we don't need. I hate to do it, but it has got to be done. Everything that comes in weighs us down, and we sure don't need too much weight when we go back over those mountains towards Flagstaff!

Rescued From Boredom!

I was lolling about on my bed this afternoon, while talking on the phone with my oldest daughter, Becca, about words--how people use them incorrectly, or pronounce them incorrectly, and how some people use high dollar words when a cheap word would do--in other words, talking about words. The conversation was going somewhere about why in heck anyone would use "consternation'" when "fear" or "panic" would suffice. Yeah, we are word nerds, I guess.

(that's Becca on the left, Emily on the right, with my son, Seth, in the middle)

This whole conversation started because she is preparing for taking the GRE on Saturday, because she is, like, a perpetual student. She had a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Alabama, and went to graduate school at Old Dominion in Norfolk. Now she wants to be a library lady like Parker Posey in Party Girl, so she is going back to school. OK, ok, she wants to get a degree in Library Science, or something like that. She wants to be near books is all I'm saying.

So we were having this great intellectual conversation, with me remembering that when she was four, she, her sister, and I were standing in the kitchen one day. Emily, my youngest, who was three at the time, was putting a on a pretty good temper tantrum. Becca stood there, hands on hips, and said "Emily is certainly being obstinate today." I sort of shook my head in a double take, as she not only pronounced it correctly, she used it correctly in a sentence. At four years old.


Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, which startled me, because I don't know anyone out here in the freaking middle of nowhere in the desert who would come calling without calling me first. And there, at the door, we found our friend, Gaelyn, of Geogypsy fame. She had been to Quartzsite to visit some friends there, and to purchase a new slide in camper for her pick-up truck. She stopped by to show it to us. She was very excited, as I would have been if it had been mine.

We went outside to see it, and climbed in to look at the inside. It is a marvelous bargain that she got for $450! Now she can go camping in the desert, or go anywhere her heart takes her without the worry of where to lay her head at night. What freedom!

We spent the rest of the afternoon talking and laughing. It was so much fun to catch up with her. Fabgrandpa finally started talking about his hunger, and Gaelyn suggested a restaurant out on I-10 about 8 or so miles away. We said our goodbyes to her, and got ready to go. When we got to the restaurant, guesss who was already there! She said she got to thinking that her cupboard was bare in the new camper, so we got to chat a little more at dinner.

It was so much fun today! We made plans to go up to Yarnell and spend the night with her in about 3 weeks. Can't wait to go!

Tuna Salad With Avocado

In my opinion, anything is better with avocado. Tonight I made a fairly simple dinner of tuna salad, and made it just a bit better by serving it with sliced avocado and some of those yummo corn tortillas I got at the restaurant in Parker the other day.

Tuna Salad:

1 large can tuna, drained
2 boiled eggs, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
12 cherry tomatoes, cut in quarters
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup mayonnaise

Mix all together well and serve on a bed of lettuce. If you like avocado, put some slices on top.


Here I am, a new self portrait, to show you how long my hair is getting. I let it air dry instead of using a hair dryer. I think it still has some natural curl left in it.

Pork Roast Two Times

Yesterday was a little warm here, with the temperature going up to 86 degrees. I was glad for the sunny warmth, but to keep the trailer from heating up too much, I got out the crock pot.

I had a pork roast in the freezer from our last shopping trip. I thawed it out, and seasoned it and put in the bottom of the crock pot. Then I got out my last pumpkin that I have been saving since November.

Those little sugar pumpkins are really good, either made into a sweet pie or souffle, or a savory vegetable dish. I decided to cook it along with the pork roast in my crock pot yesterday.

Here is what I did with it: Cut the pumpkin in four or five pieces, and clean out all the seeds, then scrape the inside of each piece to remove the stringy part:




Spray or brush each piece with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Arrange the pieces on top of the roast in the crock pot so that they sort of just sit there and lean against the sides of the crock pot. You don't want them sitting in the juices from the roast later on:



Cover and cook three to four hours on high. Take the pumpkin pieces out and put them in a serving dish. Then, take out the roast, and slice. We had steamed green beans to round out the meal. Yum, and yum.



Then today, I had some yellow summer squash and one zucchini that were going to go bad if I didn't use them up. I starting thinking about making squash casserole with them, but I didn't have any bread. I did have this new to me bread mix from kinnikinnick so I thought I would give it a try.



This was the easiest mix, ever! You just measure the mix, then add water, then mix with an electric mixer for 3 minutes, put the batter in greased muffin tins, bake 25 minutes. The result: Some really good rolls that taste like, "BREAD" ! Imagine that! Good gluten free bread from an easy mix! Why oh why have I not tried this mix before???



Here they are, cooling on the stove. A cup and a half of mix and a cup of water makes six large rolls. They rose up over the top of the muffin pans. They smelled good, look good, and taste good. I'll be ordering some more from Amazon.com for sure!



I ate one of these rolls hot from the oven with some butter. OMG! heaven. Then I used one and a half rolls in my squash casserole. The casserole was delicious. We added a tossed salad, diced potatoes, and the rest of the pork roast from yesterday. Same pork, different sides, another day done.


Gluten Free Squash Casserole:

3 yellow squash or zucchini or mixed
1/2 onion
salt and pepper to taste
3 eggs
3 slices gluten free bread or 1 1/2 gluten free rolls
1 stick of butter
1/2 package Glutino Gluten Free crackers

Scrape and cut up the squash. Chop the onion. Put them in a 4 qt pan, cover with water, add salt and pepper to taste, and boil until the squash is tender, about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and add 1/2 stick of butter to the pot.

When the squash is cooled off, break up the bread into small pieces and stir into the pan with the squash. Add the eggs, and mix well. Add salt and pepper if needed. Pour into a greased 8 X 8 inch casserole dish. Break up the gluten free crackers into crumbs. Sprinkle on top of the casserole. Dot with remaining butter. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

I love this squash casserole so much that I eat it for breakfast sometimes. MMMMMM.

The La Paz County Fair

To celebrate FabGrandpa's birthday today, we went to Parker, Arizona. We had a little business to take care of first, then we ate lunch at El Serape' Mexican restaurant. They had the best corn tortillas I have ever eaten. They weren't mushy tasting and wet like a lot of corn tortillas are. When I paid the bill I told them how much I liked the tortillas, so they sold me a bag of them for $2.50. I was so excited that I found something I can eat that tastes so good and that they let me buy some to take home.

(FabGrandpa on the Tilt-A-Whirl)

After lunch, we went to do laundry, then to Basha for some veggies. We wound up spending $65 at Basha, but we got cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, tomatoes, mushrooms, green onions, lettuce, avacados, bananas, strawberries, grapes, green beans, and asparagus. Two cases of water and coffee and we were out of there. So, for what we got for the money we did pretty good.

(The Ferris Wheel)

Then as a treat, we went to the fair! I can't remember the last time I went to a fair, and he said he doesn't think he as been to one since Becky was a little girl and she is, ummm, 34.




I love the animals of the carousel, they are always so pretty. I especially liked this zebra.




Yeah, he tried to get me to ride the Starship 3000, but I am not completely crazy. The last time I got on one of those things I was really sick, and the other riders were not happy. Besides, who in the world thinks that something like the spin cycle on a washing machine could be fun???



I don't remember the name of this one, but it looks like a Ferris Wheel except that the bucket you are in twirls around and upside down. We got in it, but changed our minds before it started. I think it was a good decision.




Here it is from the ground looking up. See those little space capsule looking things. Yeah, right. I'm glad I didn't do that.



This is the more dignified, real and true Ferris Wheel. It was just the right speed for us old folks.


And here I am, with my new longer hair and shades. I got sunburned on my face because the sun was out and not a cloud in the sky.


Well, except for way over there on the horizon. This is the view from the top of the Ferris Wheel. They held this fair out in the middle of the freaking nowhere desert. Way out from town. I wish we could have gone at night, I'll bet the lights are really pretty out there. But is is more than 50 miles over there so...


Oh, and there was lots of "fair food", but since we had already had lunch the only thing we got were these: An orange cream soda float and a root beer float. It was the first thing we did. And after we rode that Tilt-A-Whirl, we were both wishing it had been the last thing we did. Riding that thing was sort of like taking just one toke too much, or one glass of wine too much, (so I am told, as I would NEVER know for sure just what that feels like.)