Hey, remember me?   It’s been a while since we moved the RV for a fun trip so my writing went into hibernation.   It’s Spring-ish now in Las Vegas, and we’ve just returned from a week on the road.  The writer in me is waking up, rubbing her eyes and mumbling something about coffee while flexing her typing fingers.

The first part of the trip took us to Temecula California for a little wine. The word “little” is used with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek.   There was nothing little about the amount of wine consumed in the three days we spent there.  We traveled with a group of friends from LVMR ( our home, the Las Vegas Motor Coach Resort).   It was the first time we’d made a caravan type trip, and it was so much fun. I can’t wait to do it again.  Because after all…..

These people are my kind of crazy.

Temecula is home to over 40 wineries.   On Tuesday, I planned a limo tour for the eight of us, using a casino perk I had earned.  It was not what I expected ( here comes my wine whine), and we were all pretty disappointed in the whole experience.  The wineries we visited were subpar and the entire day was poorly planned by the limo company.  We did have a fairly nice lunch at the Mount Palomar Winery, but we all felt that we could have planned a much nicer day on our own.

On Wednesday,  we did just that.  We had lunch in old town Temecula and then visited the Wiens Winery.

The wines at Wiens were good, and the service during the tasting was great.   Dave and I headed back to the Pechanga RV park after the Weins visit to take care of Dallas, but the rest of the group continued on to several more wineries.   We joined them later at Thornton Winery for a great dinner for our last night adulting.

The most amazing part of the whole trip was that we were right in the middle of the Painted Lady butterfly migration.  Everywhere you looked there were thousands of orange butterflies.   Unfortunately, Bella-Box-on-Wheels murdered quite a few with her giant windshield despite me waving my arms and screaming “FLY AWAY! FLY AWAY”  like they could hear me.

Thursday morning we made the 78 mile trip to Newport Beach to see the kids and grandkids.

The drive was enhanced by the beautiful blooming wildflowers on the hills.

We were only able to book two nights at Newport Dunes and weren’t able to get one of the pull-in spots we normally do.   This ended up being a little bit of an adventure when we discovered our back in spot was in an area where other people had illegally parked on the street making it nearly impossible to maneuver Bella-BOW into the tight spot.    With the help of security and a nice neighbor, Driving Dave finally got her backed in.  I’m not sure why this particular RV resort ( which is the only game in town) doesn’t enforce their stated rules, but it’s the same every single time we go.

After getting set up, we met our daughter in law and the two grands at In-N-Out Burger for lunch.  The next day we did a beach walk and some playground time, and then I made dinner for all of us in the “house-bus” ( Sunny’s term for Bella-BOW).

Because it was windy, we made the planned ‘smores in the microwave, not quite as much fun except for the extra stickiness as evidenced by the photo below.

We made the most of the short visit and got the much-needed grandkid love and hugs in.  Spending time with them always lifts my spirits and renews my energy.   I’m so glad we are close enough to see them regularly.

The travel week was a lot of fun.   We enjoyed the people we traveled with and can’t wait to do it again.    We are really looking forward to a trip planned in the fall to the Alburqueque Balloon Festival with the same group of my kind of crazy people.

Stay tuned…..