Hi folks,
I am so pleased to see that the weather has finally improved for you all back in Blighty - just in time for the summer holidays too! I am crossing my fingers for you all that it continues for a good while longer yet. It seems very odd to be reading about all the kids just breaking up from school this past week when in Arizona the summer holidays are almost over :(
Whilst it may seem like some of us are on a permanent holiday **ahem**, Mr B has had a very hectic schedule over the last few month and since the beginning of April has travelled to Philadelphia, New York (twice), Orlando and Jacksonville in Florida, Dublin, Colorado and Atlanta, Georgia. So when it came round to fitting in a family holiday before Youngest goes back to school in 3 weeks time (I really can't believe how quickly that has gone) the last thing he wanted to do was get on another aeroplane and deal with the whole airport debacle - can't say I blame him.
As you may know, we own a couple of weeks at different time share resorts and generally bank our weeks each year to exchange at a later date. We usually just plug in the dates that we want to go, select a general destination we fancy and see what comes up. For the past 20 years or so this has almost always been somewhere in the US and hence how we have come to visit some random places that we would otherwise never have thought to visit - North Georgia Mountains, Maine, Montana, Oregon. In fact, by the time we moved to Arizona we had already crossed 22 states off our list. We have never had a bad holiday yet and so this summer we set about the same process once more to look for availability somewhere that met all of our criteria:
- had to be within driving distance
- had to be before school started again
- quiet, scenic location where we could chill out and do "absolutely nothing" (Mr B's)
- somewhere not too hot (mine)
- had to have wifi (moody teenager's - and was non negotiable apparently)
So when Stallion Springs Resort in Tehachapi, California popped up for this last week of July, we had never heard of it but thought "why not?" I checked driving time - 7.5 hrs ✔️; average temperatures - mid 70s ✔️; location - small resort of just 21 units set in scenic Tehachapi mountains ✔️; wifi? ✔️. Book it Danno!
On Friday morning we loaded up the car with bags, gadgets, board games, cool box and snacks for the journey and set off, California bound, with the radio tuned to '80s Classics' ... Road Trip! Woohoo!
I don't think we had even got to the first set of traffic lights before Moody Teenager was moaning about the choice of music on the radio and then our singing (rude) as Mr B and I embarked on our own version of Car Pool Karaoke (James Corden eat your heart out). First up ... "You're The One That I Want" from Grease. Tune! More groans from the back as Mr B and I did our best impersonations of Danny and Sandy. Oh dear ... looks like someone is only just learning that once parents discover that something is excruciatingly embarrassing to their kids, they have to do it some more? They're just the rules I'm afraid. Next up, Duran Duran, followed by Foreigner and then another classic by U2. As Mr B and I were belting out the final refrain of "... and I stilllll haven't founnnnnd what I'm looking for...!" I think that was the final straw and the noise cancelling headphones appeared in the back and were clamped firmly over ears for the rest of the journey. Hahahaha! What fun!
After a quick Starbucks pit stop a couple of hours in we continued to make our way along the monotonous I-10 as the temperature continued to rise (and not just in the back seat either, lol).
I think this was the highest it got during the journey (49C in old money) as we approached Palm Springs and even with the A/C blasting it was still roasting as the sun shone through the window straight onto my legs! A good time to stop for lunch I think! As we approached the shopping outlets at Cabazon (sadly no time for shopping today, sniff) we all remembered a diner we had been to on a previous holiday to Palm Springs some 7 years earlier called Ruby's (Ethan particularly remembered it as kids got a toy and a hat with their meal :D). I wonder if it's still there? Yes! There it is! Although it was nothing special (and don't think the menu had changed in 7 years either!), we had to stop there for Lunch and a trip down memory lane (we couldn't convince Ethan to wear the hat this time though).
As we continued on the final leg of our journey (still on the boring I-10) the scenery slowly began to change at last from dusty brown desert to, whilst not exactly green (there is still a major drought here in California), at least less rock and more trees ...
As we finally neared our destination, some 481 miles and 9.5 hrs (including stops) later, we were beginning to wonder where exactly we has come to. It was certainly quiet and peaceful - hardly a soul to be seen - and looked like it would definitely fulfill Mr Bs wish of doing "absolutely nothing"! In fact some of the activities looked downright odd ... (although it is legal in California but I thought you usually smoked it?)
Whilst the resort is a little more 'basic' than we are used to and the condo barely big enough to swing a cat, it is certainly very peaceful and abundant in wildlife. Within half an hour of arriving we had spotted rabbits, squirrels and a family of elk grazing just across the road and last nights view over the mountains as the sun went down was pretty amazing.
Not sure about my requirement of 'not too hot' though. I was really looking forward to being able to do lots of walking (well alright, some ...) and snuggling up in a cozy cardigan during the evening, only to find they are having a heatwave at the moment and temperatures are expected to be in the mid 90s all week. Cosmic. Thanks for that. Still, the high for Phoenix this weekend was 114 degrees so I guess I'll take the 90s for now.
Just attended the 'Welcome Cheese and Wine Social' where the resort manager gave an overview of the area and local Points of Interest. Not sure that communication is perhaps her strongest asset ... "... there's a really cool mine there ... I haven't actually been ... It's like a really big ... er ... hole ..." Funny that. And really selling the local community " ... there's a small town up there too but it's a bit of a dump ..." Ethan and I had to make our excuses and leave quickly afterwards before we dissolved into hysterics as I was pinching my leg hard and he was biting his knuckles. It seems we should have also ensured Mr B left with us as when he followed some 10 minutes later he announced that he had signed us up for a wine tasting trip to a local vineyard tomorrow (clearly I'm up for that) and also a trip to the nearby ostrich farm ... Oh good grief. Clearly they saw him coming. Ethan is particularly thrilled as none of the other guests are under 70 ... hahaha!
Knowing us though there will be plenty more laughs along the way (usually at Mr Bs expense) and we are quite good at making our own entertainment. Thankfully, we are finishing the week off with a couple of days back in civilization in Santa Barbara so looking forward to that.
Come back next week to find out what else we got up to on our California adventure!
TTFN
Bev x
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