Wednesday/Thursday, March 9 /10 -- Dish TV/Tour of Park (Coarsegold, CA)

 

WEDNESDAY

After coffee this morning we spent time trying to set-up the Dish TV, but we were not successful.

Jesse called Dish and was informed that they will not send a technician out to service a system in a RV.

The local technician didn’t want to come out to our location because Dish only reimburses them $15 for a service call and his cost would be more then that.

With all the trouble shooting from his conversations it was thought that the LNB might be defective.

So Jesse and I took off to Fresno which is about 40 minutes away to pick up a new LNB. We paid out share of the cost which was $20.

Here are pictures of all the snow still on the mountains:

We also stopped at Chick-fil-A for a late lunch. Yum!.

After we returned home we tried again to get it set-up, but still was not able to do so.

Jesse is still not sure what our problem is, maybe a tree???

We are happy that this park has cable and we are able to get most of the stations we watch. The bad part is we are not able to record any shows because we gave the kids all our equipment because we have the DVR.

 

THURSDAY

Today at 10am we scheduled to have a tour of the park. Pat one of the members came by in a golf cart and took us through the park. She told us that this park is 90% designed and built by members. It is maintained by the members and they also work it, all 254 spacious lots on winding hilly roads.

We started our tour at the maintenance shop that members and guest are welcome to use:

There are 4 water towers that store the water for the park.

There is a casino just a few minutes from the park and here is a view of it from the park:

Coarsegold Creek runs through the park, and the back forty has a lot of walking and hiking trails.

This is a picture of the stain glass that is located on the 15,000-square-foot clubhouse. They have a library, laundry, crafts room, billiards room, and a mezzanine with computers, Wi-Fi, TV area, and exercise equipment.

It was a great tour and a beautiful park.

Afterward we drove into Oakhurst where I got my nails done and went to the food store and got home in time to watch “Days of our Lives” since I can not record it.

We decided to drive over to the casino to take a look around and donate a few dollars. We also purchased tickets to see a show tomorrow night called “Legends in Concert”.

We came home and we grilled some potatoes and onions along with turkey burgers for Jesse and a Turkey Minion for me.

Monday &Tuesday, March 7&8 -- Travel and Setup (Coarsegold, CA)

 

Monday we traveled 204 miles leaving at 9:30 and arriving Park of the Sierras in Coarsegold, CA Escapees Park at 1:30.

We were escorted to our site by John who was very helpful, giving us a brief description of what there is around us.

We got set-up and then Jesse tried to get the Dish Satellite set-up. We worked on it for almost 2 hours but were unable to get it to work. Luckily they have an extensive cable TV system here that we were able to connect to.

I prepared us some salmon cakes for dinner and we relaxed for the rest of the evening.

 

Tuesday we did our usual coffee, Today Show and computers.

Then we decided to try the Dish again.  I kept telling Jesse that something was wrong and I didn’t think it had anything to do with his ability to point the dish correctly.

He called Dish and they went through some steps with no solution other then to call a repair person. Jesse put a call into one of the places the representative gave him and they promised to call in the morning.

Then we took a drive into the towns of Coarsegold and Oakhurst just to look around and see what was there. They are both very small towns, but have a grocery store and a few places to eat.

We stopped at Todds Bar-B-Que (recommended by John) and brought a platter home. It was very good Jesse and I both said we will go back.

Back at the Kram-a-lot we had our dinner and just hung-out for the rest of the evening.

Sunday, March 6 - Weekend with Brian (Napa, CA)

On Friday Jesse and I were out the door by 9am. He dropped me at Walmart and took the truck next door to Jiffy Lube to have the oil changed.

I did my shopping making sure I got the refrigerated items last then headed for the check out. We had great timing because Jesse came walking in while I was in the check out. He helped me put the supplies in the truck and we headed home.

Brian called to say that he would be out of class at 11am, which meant we had time to go put the groceries away then head back over to the base to pick him up, he was staying the weekend with us.

Just like the other day he was standing outside the visitors center waiting for us. We picked him up and and headed to Subway for lunch.

Then we went to the Jelly Belly factory and took a tour.

They wouldn’t let us take pictures in the factory itself but here are a few I took before.

The following are all made from Jelly Beans.

When we finished with our tour we went home. It was such a nice day, the warmest we have had since we came to Napa, that we all sat outside and enjoyed a few cocktails and some snacks.

I grilled some chicken and roasted some seasoned white and sweet potatoes, made a salad and that was dinner. After dinner we watched movies until bed time.

Saturday we were up and showered and out the door by 9:30, all of us including the boys. Brian and Bayer have really bonded. We were taking a ride to Armstrong State Forest to see the giant redwoods.

We headed north to Calistoga, then took some back roads to Guerneville to the Forest. We all took a potty break then walked to the visitors center for a map and instructions.

We hiked through the forest a little over 2 miles and this is what we saw.

Mushrooms

More Pics

After our hike through the forest we were hungry so we followed the Russian River to the Sonoma coast

Here we got some awesome pictures.

Then we went south along the coast to Bodega Bay where we had lunch. Look at this picture of houses that have slid into the ocean.

It was a great day we drove about 147 miles and had a great time. Before going home we stopped at the Tasty Freeze ice cream shop for a treat. After we got home we all got in our comfy clothes and watched movies. Jesse went out and got us a pizza for a late dinner.

Today, Sunday, we got up and had coffee and and just relaxed. I made us breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast. After breakfast we just hung out.

Then in the afternoon Brian gathered his belongings and he wanted to go to the ice cream shop again before we took him home.

We stopped at Target on the way home for a few things one of which was a vacuum cleaner. I have never liked the central system we had in the Montana and this one is the same and we have much more carpet in this one.

I will let you know how I like it.

It was a great weekend and spending time with Brian made it even better...