Back in LA

In our last post, we talked about frozen water lines but we were lucky and did not suffer any damage. Our second night of the trip down, we stayed in a Walmart in Clanton Alabama. It was a few miles off I65 and was not a super store but they allowed us to stay anyway and it was warm and quiet, what a treat! From here, it was a short run down to the Plantation. We arrived just before the annual Christmas tractor parade – we prefer to think they were having the parade just to welcome us back! Since many of our Plantation friends did not expect to see us this year, we had many of them stop by to greet and welcome us back. It was a very warming arrival.

Now that we are all set up in our site, we try to tend to things that are becoming routine – raking the gardens, washing the roof of the rig and then the sides and of course, digging the shorts out of the cabinets! It took us a couple of days to catch our breath from the escape from Ontario, the long drive down and acclimatizing ourselves to the temps here. But once back on our feet, we’re back into the swing of the activities in the campground.

With Christmas looming and since we have already celebrated with our kids back home, it is kinda anticlimactic now but we’re celebrating with a clubhouse full of other campers with a Christmas eve party and then dinner on Christmas day. To help get us in the mood, we went shopping and bought ourselves new bikes. When we decided to drive to California for our cruise, we stored our bikes, thinking we were not going to be stopped anywhere long enough to use them so why drag ‘em around. Once we changed plans not to drive west, it was too late to retrieve them – does that sound reasonable? Anyway, new bikes for Christmas, just like when we were kids. I’m sure you also know our Christmas card ritual – we take the camera and exchange cards in the isle at Walmart and take pictures of the occasion – this way, we can ‘spend’ as much as we want to for the card without spending our hard earned cash!

One event we try not to miss is the Fish River Santa Claus boat parade which was on Dec 21st. So using last years memory of timing for the parade, we went for dinner with Simon & Sandy at the Old 27 Grill and planned to be at our usual viewing point at the boat launch by 7PM. Well, not a lot of good things to say about my memory here….. after dinner, we arrived at the boat launch and were surprised at the number of available parking spots – this was a hint! Oppssss….. the parade has already gone by! We got the refreshments out anyway and met a nice couple from Silverhill, a town just north of the Plantation. We did manage to get a few pictures of some boats on their way back to where they launched from so not all was lost – we saw a few decorated boats and met nice folks too.

It must be Christmas, it has turned cooler to get us in the mood. On Christmas eve, we went to the Christmas party at the clubhouse. There was a Plantation music group to lead us in some carolling and after, we had our usual ‘secret Santa’ ritual. Everyone with a gift sits somewhat in a circle and a ‘host’ reads a short story and when she says right, you pass your gift to the right, left you pass your gift to the left. There are many instances of right and left so some times you might get a little lost and that makes some fun. You are in an Escapee park so you know there is lots food available. Everyone had to bring a finger food for the buffet table – wow, so much great treats! We even had Mr & Mrs Claus there checking who were being naught and nice. You notice I wasn’t in the picture!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas day brings us back to the clubhouse for our Christmas dinner at 2PM. We were with 10 others and it was a great time – lots to eat, plenty of wine around and the desserts were over the top. Our table stayed after clean up to carry on with the chatter and of course, we were the last to leave – turning out the lights as we departed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hoping all is well wherever you are and all the best in 2014….