Debra Parmley's Blog, page 4

FB fan group Beautiful Day Dreamers: facebook.com/groups/debraparmley/

To Catch An Elf FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/793115644206381/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/debra-parmley

Poems on K0-Fi: ko-fi.com/debraparmley

Articles on Medium: medium.com/@debraparmley1

Writing Classes on Teachable: beautiful-day-dreamers.teachable.com/

Cover Model Corner blog: https://covermodelcorner.wordpress.com/

Debra’s old radio show Book Lights: http://bit.ly/BookLights

Debra’s books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2EsbWsa

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Published on September 16, 2021 23:28

The Beautiful Flowers of Jim and Mary’s RV Park in Missoula, MN

Jim and Mary’s RV Park is a beautiful sight as you drive in. I have never seen so many flowers in an RV Park before. Our stay was only for three nights, July 11th to 14th, as we traveled through, which would include a visit to Glacier National Park. I wish I could have had more time to enjoy all the flowers. Today you can enjoy them here, too. I took so many pictures of the beautifulf flowers to share with you.

They have their own greenhouse.

Even the laundry room is well landscaped.

The front office.

Our RV and truck in our spot.

I hope you have enjoyed the flowers today. Remember, “Every day we are alive is a beautiful day.” – Debra Parmley, Your Beautiful Day Traveler

For Jim and Mary’s RV Park go here: https://www.jimandmarys.com/

To be sure not to miss any of my travel and RV living posts be sure to subscribe to: beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/

And my videos can be seen at: Debra’s Beautiful Day YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC27hTWse4gLJxTETQw6i7xw/

To see the route we have taken on our Go West adventure as well as a list of the RV parks we stayed in, visit this page https://wordpress.com/post/beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/1976

My other links:

Website: debraparmley.com

Newsletter sign up: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/w9s9h0

FB fan group Beautiful Day Dreamers: facebook.com/groups/debraparmley/

To Catch An Elf FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/793115644206381/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/debra-parmley

Poems on K0-Fi: ko-fi.com/debraparmley

Articles on Medium: medium.com/@debraparmley1

Writing Classes on Teachable: beautiful-day-dreamers.teachable.com/

Cover Model Corner blog: https://covermodelcorner.wordpress.com/

Debra’s old radio show Book Lights: http://bit.ly/BookLights

Debra’s books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2EsbWsa

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Published on September 13, 2021 00:45

Clearwater Crossing RV Park in Orofino, Idaho beside the Clearwater River, Helicopters Overhead, Smoke Jumpers, and the Ponderosa

When my husband picked the Clearwater Crossing RV Park in Orofino, Idaho, which is right on the Clearwater River, I was excited about the prospect of being beside a peaceful river. It is beautiful there. But notice the sky in all my pictures. No blue, because of the smoke. Because of the fires.

One evening I had called my mother and was talking to her outside by the river when I heard a helicopter. Mike said he’d seen them dipping into the river with a bucket, to get water to drop on the fires. I reassured my mother that we were not near the fires. (We weren’t and we were safe.) We listened to the helicopters coming and going for a while that night. Even with that excitement, it was peaceful there and we enjoyed our stay. We stayed by the river from July 14th to the 18th, 2021.

As you enter the park, you will see these statues.

Then a mural.

The front office.

Our prime spot by the river. Beautiful and peaceful.

On the other side of the RV, a train that hadn’t moved in over six months. Quiet with almost no neighbors.

We went into town for dinner and found one place open. The Ponderosa. http://www.ponderosacafe.com/ So we ate dinner at The Ponderosa. They had one menu in the whole restaurant for us to look at. No one knew where the others had gotten off to but none of the locals needed one. Our waitress already knew what the couple behind us wanted before they told her. Mike ordered clam chowder just as they had and I took a bite. Delicious. I ordered steak, baked potato, and salad. He got chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. Everything was good.

Each of the booths has these wonderful carvings.

Notice they have huckleberry ice cream on the menu. Oh boy! We’d never heard of it before.

Mike asked if he could have a huckleberry milkshake. Yes, he could. Oh boy! Well, he shared it with me and that shake was delicious. Let me tell you, if you’ve never had a huckleberry milkshake, you don’t know what you’re missing. I had to go to the local grocery the next day and stock up on huckleberry ice cream before we left. The plan was to try to take some back north to share with our kids and grandkids.

The restaurant was nice and quiet and we enjoyed the food.

Before we left, a woman came in to pick up bunch of to-go orders in big bags and said, “the guys are having their supper delivered by helicopter tonight.”

I’m glad the smokejumpers and firefighters were on the job and being looked after.

Just up the road from our RV park, was the landing pad and storage for the helicopters and they were working to put out/ control the forest fires which had filled the sky with smoke. The fires weren’t close enough for us to be in any danger. So we took a little drive later to see what we could see and here is the landing pad.

Just up the river and around the corner from our RV park.

I zoomed in to get a pic of the helicopter.

After four restful nights here, we moved on to Hells Canyon in Clarkston, WA where we had a river boat excursion on the Snake River planned with friends. But that is a story for another day.

If you’d like more information on Clearwater Crossing, visit here: https://www.clearwatercrossingrvpark.com/ Fishermen would enjoy this park and there’s a fish cleaning station. I’ve never gone fishing so we didn’t try it.

Remember, “Every day we are alive is a beautiful day.” – Debra Parmley, Your Beautiful Day Traveler

To be sure not to miss any of my travel and RV living posts be sure to subscribe to: beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/

And my videos can be seen at: Debra’s Beautiful Day YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC27hTWse4gLJxTETQw6i7xw/

To see the route we have taken on our Go West adventure as well as a list of the RV parks we stayed in, visit this page https://wordpress.com/post/beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/1976

My other links:

Website: debraparmley.com

Newsletter sign up: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/w9s9h0

FB fan group Beautiful Day Dreamers: facebook.com/groups/debraparmley/

To Catch An Elf FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/793115644206381/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/debra-parmley

Poems on K0-Fi: ko-fi.com/debraparmley

Articles on Medium: medium.com/@debraparmley1

Writing Classes on Teachable: beautiful-day-dreamers.teachable.com/

Cover Model Corner blog: https://covermodelcorner.wordpress.com/

Debra’s old radio show Book Lights: http://bit.ly/BookLights

Debra’s books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2EsbWsa

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Published on September 11, 2021 02:07

Clearwater Crossing RV Park in Orofino, Idaho beside the Clearwater River, The Ponderosa, and Helicopters

When my husband picked the Clearwater Crossing RV Park in Orofino, Idaho, which is right on the Clearwater River, I was excited about the prospect of being beside a peaceful river. It is beautiful there. But notice the sky in all my pictures. No blue, because of the smoke. Because of the fires. One evening I had called mother and was talking to her outside by the river when I heard a helicopter. Mike said he’d seen them dipping into the river with a bucket, to get water to drop on the fires. We listened to the helicopters coming and going for a while that night. Even with that excitement it was peaceful there and we enjoyed our stay. We stayed there July 14th to the 18th, 2021.

Right as you enter the park, you’ll see these statues.

Then a mural.

The front office.

Our prime spot by the river. Beautiful and peaceful.

On the other side of the RV, a train that hadn’t moved in over six months. Quiet with almost no neighbors.

We went into town for dinner and found one place open. The Ponderosa. http://www.ponderosacafe.com/ The carved booths were pretty. They had one menu in the whole restaurant. No one knew where the others had gotten off to. It seemed we were the only ones that needed the menu. I suppose locals already know what is on the menu. lol

Notice they have huckleberry ice-cream on the menu. Oh boy! We’d never heard of it before.

Mike asked if he could have a huckleberry milkshake. Yes, he could. Oh boy! Well, he shared it with me and that shake was so delicious I had to go to the local grocery the next day and stock up on huckleberry ice-cream before we left.

It’s a nice place and we enjoyed the food. Before we left, a lady came in and picked up a bunch of to go orders in big bags. She said the guys would be getting their dinner by helicopter tonight. Oh boy!

Just up the road from our RV park, was the landing pad and storage for the helicopters and they were working to put out/ control the forest fires which had filled the sky with smoke. The fires weren’t close enough for us to be in any danger. So we took a little drive later to see what we could see and here is the landing pad.

Just up the river and around the corner from our RV park.

I zoomed in to get a pic of the helicopter.

After four restful nights here, we moved on to Hells Canyon in Clarkston, WA where we had an exciting river excursion planned with friends. But that is a story for another day.

If you’d like more information on Clearwater Crossing, visit here: https://www.clearwatercrossingrvpark.com/ Fishermen would enjoy this park and there’s a fish cleaning station. I’ve never gone fishing so we didn’t try it.

Remember, “Every day we are alive is a beautiful day.” – Debra Parmley, Your Beautiful Day Traveler

To be sure not to miss any of my travel and RV living posts be sure to subscribe to: beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/

And my videos can be seen at: Debra’s Beautiful Day YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC27hTWse4gLJxTETQw6i7xw/

To see the route we have taken on our Go West adventure as well as a list of the RV parks we stayed in, visit this page https://wordpress.com/post/beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/1976

My other links:

Website: debraparmley.com

Newsletter sign up: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/w9s9h0

FB fan group Beautiful Day Dreamers: facebook.com/groups/debraparmley/

To Catch An Elf FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/793115644206381/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/debra-parmley

Poems on K0-Fi: ko-fi.com/debraparmley

Articles on Medium: medium.com/@debraparmley1

Writing Classes on Teachable: beautiful-day-dreamers.teachable.com/

Cover Model Corner blog: https://covermodelcorner.wordpress.com/

Debra’s old radio show Book Lights: http://bit.ly/BookLights

Debra’s books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2EsbWsa

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Published on September 11, 2021 02:07

Mount Rushmore

June 23rd, 2021, we drove from Elkhorn Ridge RV Resort to Mount Rushmore. We could tell we were getting closer when we went through the town of Keystone, South Dakota.

We didn’t want to park and get out of line to take a selfie at this sign, so I just snapped a pic of the sign. We’d been hearing how crowded all the parks are, so we just wanted to get there and get in.

Avenue of flags. This is really the only place where we saw a crowd. But even then, you didn’t have to be in a crowd if you didn’t want to. There’s plenty of room to walk around, which is what we did.

You could take good pictures from the theater seating without having to hike around. We opted to do both.

Inside the museum is equipment used to carve the monument and an explanation of how it was done.

None of the workers were killed working on the monument, though one was struck by lightning!

After the museum we opted to hike around the base of the monument.

In this picture, I’m pretty sure I was saying, “Woah,” at this moment. By the look on my face it was a woah moment.

Here’s what we saw through there.

With the zoom. Why I said woah.

They looked a bit different from our hike below them and that view would change as we walked around.

The hike was a lot of fun, and we finally got our selfie.

The sculptors studio and the models.

We said goodbye to the presidents and then headed to the Crazy Horse Monument.

Crazy Horse will be a separate post so stay tuned for that!

Remember, “Every day we are alive is a beautiful day.” – Debra Parmley, Your Beautiful Day Traveler

To be sure not to miss any of my travel and RV living posts be sure to subscribe to: beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/

And my videos can be seen at: Debra’s Beautiful Day YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC27hTWse4gLJxTETQw6i7xw/

To see the route we have taken on our Go West adventure as well as a list of the RV parks we stayed in, visit this page https://wordpress.com/post/beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/1976

My other links:

Website: debraparmley.com

Newsletter sign up: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/w9s9h0

FB fan group Beautiful Day Dreamers: facebook.com/groups/debraparmley/

To Catch An Elf FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/793115644206381/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/debra-parmley

Poems on K0-Fi: ko-fi.com/debraparmley

Articles on Medium: medium.com/@debraparmley1

Writing Classes on Teachable: beautiful-day-dreamers.teachable.com/

Cover Model Corner blog: https://covermodelcorner.wordpress.com/

Debra’s old radio show Book Lights: http://bit.ly/BookLights

Debra’s books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2EsbWsa

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Published on September 10, 2021 01:57

Driftwater Dry Camping in Cameron, Montana

When no RV spots with hookups were available on the west side of Yellowstone on our route to the CA coast, we opted to dry camp for a couple of nights. We would be camping for two nights, July 9th to the 11th, 2021 at Driftwater RV Park in Cameron, Montana. On the 10th we planned to go into Yellowstone from the west side.

What is dry camping? It’s camping without electric, water and sewer hookups. Your rig has to supply you with everything you need. Fortunately we are prepared for that. We’ve been pretty lucky this whole trip finding spots in RV parks and hadn’t booked any place more than a month out for most of the trip. This was the first time we had trouble finding a spot.

On our way to Driftwater Dry Camp we followed a road which had pretty lake views.

And mountains.

Then it flattened out again.

Finally we found Driftwater RV Park. The mountains in the distance and a large flat area.

We’d finally reached the front office. They also had a restaurant inside and indoor and outdoor dining.

The front office and the restaurant are in this building.

Finally in our spot as the sun was setting. We could basically put the motorhome where we wanted as it wouldn’t be hooked up to anything. So we got a front window view of the sunsets.

The RV park has a nice restaurant and we had dinner there the first night, watching the sunset, and listening to live music. The food was good too. I had shrimp and hubby had pizza.

We enjoyed watching the sunsets here. The views were stunning.

This was a perfect spot to drive into Yellowstone from the west side, and we did that on July 10th, 2021. I’ll share pics from that day in another post.

Remember, “Every day we are alive is a beautiful day.” – Debra Parmley, Your Beautiful Day Traveler

To be sure not to miss any of my travel and RV living posts be sure to subscribe to: beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/

And my videos can be seen at: Debra’s Beautiful Day YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC27hTWse4gLJxTETQw6i7xw/

To see the route we have taken on our Go West adventure as well as a list of the RV parks we stayed in, visit this page https://wordpress.com/post/beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/1976

My other links:

Website: debraparmley.com

Newsletter sign up: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/w9s9h0

FB fan group Beautiful Day Dreamers: facebook.com/groups/debraparmley/

To Catch An Elf FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/793115644206381/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/debra-parmley

Poems on K0-Fi: ko-fi.com/debraparmley

Articles on Medium: medium.com/@debraparmley1

Writing Classes on Teachable: beautiful-day-dreamers.teachable.com/

Cover Model Corner blog: https://covermodelcorner.wordpress.com/

Debra’s old radio show Book Lights: http://bit.ly/BookLights

Debra’s books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2EsbWsa

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Published on September 09, 2021 01:54

The Goldendale Observatory in Goldendale, WA

The Goldendale Observatory in Goldendale, CA, is home to one of the world’s largest public telescopes. We stayed at the Stargazer RV Park in Goldendale, WA, for a few days and had plans to go to the observatory to see the sun.

To view the skies through the telescope, either in the afternoon show when you see the sun, or the evening show when you see the stars, you must have reservations and tickets. The evening shows were booked but my husband got us tickets to the 2:00 pm sun event. (Order your tickets online as soon as possible.)

I was excited because my paternal grandfather, the Reverend Kermit J. Bishop, used to let me look through his telescope in his backyard. So I knew how much fun it could be. My grandpa used to say, “The sun is always shining somewhere.”

When the day arrived, my husband was not feeling up to it, so he stayed home to get rid of his headache. This was a good choice as sun gazing, especially when we did it outside, was hot and a bit challenging. Since he wasn’t able to go, I tried to take as many pictures as I could. I’ve picked out a few to share with you today.

First you must drive up a long hill to get to the observatory.

On top of the hill you can see pretty far.

The human sundial was interesting.

The building has blackened wood on the outside on purpose. That blackened wood is much more difficult to burn.

The path all the way around the outside of the building.

It was hot and very dry here.

There is some equipment behind the building.

This smaller one is not in use because it is awaiting repairs.

The big indoor telescope.

This is a filter for the telescope.

Guiding it out the open window.

The computer that runs the telescope.

We each got a turn at looking through the telescope. Through this telescope I saw sun spots on the sun. The looked like little black dots. The sun looked like this slide.

The sun looked like this. With black dots on it. A cluster of four black dots.

Then we went outside to look at the sun through a different kind of telescope. The sun looked different through it.

The sun looked like the image on the left through the second telescope. You can see black sunspots on the image on the right.

A meteor made this crater.

Me holding a piece of that meteor in my hand.

This is what a sun spot looks like.

Birth of a star.

Stars being born, similar but unique.

There were a lot more slides. The first half of the program is the telescope viewing and the second half is the slide show and talk. I didn’t know much about stars or the sun so it was a fascinating afternoon and I learned a lot.

If you want to learn more about the observatory, or go there to view the sun or stars, go to this link: https://www.goldendaleobservatory.com/

Thank you for reading my travel blog! Wishing you a beautiful day!

“Every day we are alive is a beautiful day,” – Debra Parmley, your Beautiful Day Traveler

Follow Debra’s RV Living and Travel Adventures: beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/

And Debra’s Beautiful Day YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC27hTWse4gLJxTETQw6i7xw/

Website: debraparmley.com

Newsletter sign up: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/w9s9h0

FB fan group Beautiful Day Dreamers: facebook.com/groups/debraparmley/

To Catch An Elf FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/793115644206381/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/debra-parmley

Poems on K0-Fi: ko-fi.com/debraparmley

Articles on Medium: medium.com/@debraparmley1

Writing Classes on Teachable: beautiful-day-dreamers.teachable.com/

Cover Model Corner blog: https://covermodelcorner.wordpress.com/

Debra’s old radio show Book Lights: http://bit.ly/BookLights

Debra’s books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2EsbWsa

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Published on August 30, 2021 02:41

Supper at The Silver Dollar Saloon in Marysville, CA, a Town and a Saloon Full of History

After enjoying the wine tasting at the Sicilia Vineyards, in Yuba City, we drove to Marysville, the oldest city in Northern California, to have supper at The Silver Dollar Saloon, one of Marysville’s oldest historical landmarks. Marysville was named after Mary Murphy, a girl who survived the Donner Party.

Built in 1851, on the corner of first and D Streets, the Silver Dollar Saloon served as both a saloon and hotel. It was the first stop for many of the men going to the gold mines in the 1800’s. This was as far up the Yuba River as steamers from San Francisco could go.

Right behind this historic building runs the Yuba River where schooners came from San Francisco and Sacramento to drop off supplies and miners headed to the gold fields in the nearby foothills. It was a booming town.

The saloon ran a brothel on its second floor and that upstairs brothel was one of the last of its kind in California, closing in 1972. I can just imagine the stories, for this brothel had been in place for over 100 years. If the walls could talk would they tell us of jealousy, of violence and death? Of love, and marriage? Anything is possible.

As we entered, we were greeted by a cute young woman who said, “Come on in, honey.” I could imagine her back in the 1800’s dressed in the garb of the time and welcoming us to the saloon and hotel. As we were seated not far from the door, I was able to hear two of the girls welcoming customers the same way.

Once we had ordered our food, I started to look around, taking in the details of the past. The old wooden bar, the western items decorating the walls. As it got busier, a security guard in a cowboy hat stood near the entrance and kept an eye on the bar to make sure nothing got out of hand. I wonder how many cowboys have stood guard near that door over the years.

This was one of over forty brothels in the town, once upon a time, so you might think the neighborhood was seedy. But this brothel was right next to a temple.

The saloon is next door to the Bok Kai Temple, built in 1854, one of the country’s oldest continuously operating Taoist temples. Here is the portal to the temple. Quite a different feel standing in front of it than standing inside the saloon. Real life is often not like a Hollywood movie set and can be much more fascinating.

This area is just full of history. From the influx of men coming to the mines, the Chinese immigrants, the local businessmen and women, and the working girls. Stagecoach robbers and stagecoach drivers. There are the facts as we know them and there are the stories. Sometimes stories contain truth.

Black Bart was rumored to frequent the Silver Dollar Saloon. Have you heard of him? Black Bart became a legend, earning himself the title of “Gentleman Bandit.” The Civil War vet had a vendetta against Wells Fargo, and targeted their stagecoaches, making away with money and mail. He was one of California’s most infamous stagecoach robbers. The famous stagecoach driver that shot Black Bart is buried at the nearby Marysville Cemetery. So I think this rumor has the ring of truth and likely he did frequent the saloon.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Silver Dollar Saloon was the Guadalajara Cafe, owned by Natividad Corona, the gay half-brother of serial killer, Juan Corona.

Early on the morning of February 25, 1970, Juan Corona attacked a young man named José Romero Raya with a machete in the restroom of the cafe. He was discovered by customers at 1:00 a.m., hacked about the head and face, and Natividad called the police. Raya filed a lawsuit against Natividad, and won a judgment of $250,000. Instead of paying, Natividad Corona sold his business and returned to Mexico.

Corona’s killings of at least 25 local migrant workers and homeless men were, at the time, the largest case of serial killings attributed to one man in the United States. It is said that the phrase “serial killer” was coined in Juan’s honor.

As a result of this and other events in its past, (in the mid-1970s, Anna Lucille ”Bobbie” Allan, was the victim of a murder-suicide) it is said that the Silver Dollar Saloon is haunted. If ever a place might host a ghost or two, I’d think this one would.

I wonder, do the Victorian lights ever flicker? There are beautiful Victorian lights throughout the saloon.

And an ornate carved wooden bar.

The bar top has $1,014 in authentic silver dollars and Indian head pennies embedded throughout.

They also have memorabilia on display from the famous Mustang Ranch in Nevada, which was another famous brothel. Though I’m not sure which pieces are from there. As more people had come in, I wasn’t able to get closer to see and it was time to go.

We ended our visit in Marysville, saying goodbye to The Silver Dollar Saloon and took a slow drive back to the vineyards where we would be spending the night.

Thank you for reading my travel blog! Wishing you a beautiful day!

“Every day we are alive is a beautiful day,” – Debra Parmley, your Beautiful Day Traveler

For more about The Silver Dollar Saloon, visit https://www.facebook.com/silverdollarmsvl/

Follow Debra’s RV Living and Travel Adventures: beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/

And Debra’s Beautiful Day YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC27hTWse4gLJxTETQw6i7xw/

Website: debraparmley.com

Newsletter sign up: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/w9s9h0

FB fan group Beautiful Day Dreamers: facebook.com/groups/debraparmley/

To Catch An Elf FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/793115644206381/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/debra-parmley

Poems on K0-Fi: ko-fi.com/debraparmley

Articles on Medium: medium.com/@debraparmley1

Writing Classes on Teachable: beautiful-day-dreamers.teachable.com/

Cover Model Corner blog: https://covermodelcorner.wordpress.com/

Debra’s old radio show Book Lights: http://bit.ly/BookLights

Debra’s books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2EsbWsa

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Published on August 24, 2021 00:45

At The Sicilia Vineyards in Yuba City, CA, with Our First Harvest Hosts

Sicilia Vineyards is located at the foot of the Sutter Buttes in Yuba City, California and is owned and operated by David Smith and Sandie Adams. I found them through the Harvest Hosts program as I was looking for a California winery to visit and stay overnight at in our motorhome. Sicilia Vineyards is a modeled after Italian vineyards and is a lovely setting to overnight in. As we pulled into the front driveway, vineyards were to the right and left of us. There was an unfolding of sorts as we went down the drive, as if a curtain were being pulled back to show us the beauties on the stage.

Nearer to the house we were able to see more and I began to get even more excited. It does indeed look like a vineyards you would see in Italy.

This welcome sight directed us to the tasting room.

And then a friendly welcome sign. So nice after hours on the road. Sandie met us and we determined that we should unhook our truck from the back of the motorhome. Once we did that I drove the truck behind my husband to get to our parking spot.

We unhooked and backed up so the motorhome could make the turn/curve. Then we headed to our spot.

We were able to park right next to the vineyards. A peaceful, quiet spot.

Our stay at the Sicilia Winery in CA was our first time to use the Harvest Hosts Program.

Harvest Hosts is a program which RVers can join for a once a year fee of $99. Sometimes they run specials. For instance, this August you can sign up for 15% off. Through Harvest Hosts you can stay at wineries, breweries, farms, and other interesting places throughout the U.SA. Though the one night stay is free, they ask that you make a purchase of at least $20.00. Usually the hosts have produce, or wine, or other items to purchase.

You must have a self contained RV with toilet, water, and indoor cooking. This is called dry docking, when you stay and do not use water, electric or sewer hookup. You can park anywhere and be self sufficient. We have a generator so we have air conditioning when it is hot.

Sicilia Winery has wine tasting on the weekends, and we had purchased tickets for the tasting that day. So after we parked and get everything set up, we freshened up and then met our hosts at the wine tasting.

Here I am with Sandie and Dave at the wine tasting. There were six selections to sample. Pictured are the 2017 & 2018 Primitivo, the 2016 & 2017 Teroldego and the 2017 & 2018 Barbera selections of wine. They also have a Rose which is a blend of their Greco, Barbera & Primitivo available.

Now before I continue, let me reassure my readers who have been with me for a long time, and know about my previous hospitalizations, that I am very careful not to drink alcohol, for medical reasons. So there’s no need for alarm. Instead, I enjoyed learning about the wines and the winery. My husband sampled the wines and said they were all very good.

Isn’t this a lovely setting for a wine tasting? Imagine a fire in the fireplace during the fall months.

After the tasting, Dave took us on a tour of the grounds and the vinyards. The formal garden is beautiful. I love the statues.

I was excited to see the grapes on the vine, and I was able to sample the different varieties. They were delicious! This gave me an idea of what the wines taste like.

They grow warm weather Italian varietal grapes. Greco, Fiano, Coda di Volpe, Primitivo, Barbera, Negro Amaro, and Teroldego.

Aren’t these grapes beautiful?

They grow white grapes as well.

I got to try several different kinds of grapes and learned about vineyards and making wine. Dave did a great job explaining everything to me. This was my first time visiting a vineyard and it was fascinating.

They also have olives growing on the one side of the vineyards.

On the other side of the vineyards you can see the mountains. I tried to get a picture of them but there was a lot of smoke in the sky from fires in California. There were no fires near Yuba City, CA so we were in no danger. I hoped the smoke would move on by the next morning and decided to try taking more photos then.

After our vineyard tour, my husband and I went out to dinner in Marysville, CA at The Silver Dollar Saloon, which I’ll share in a separate post. After dinner we spent a quiet evening at home in the vineyard.

Imagine waking up to this view in the morning.

The next morning, as I’d hoped, the smoke had started clearing and I took a few more pictures. This time you can see the mountains.

In the front of the house, the vineyards have nets to protect the grapes. These are the ones we drove past, when we drove in.

We saw Dave before we headed out. He had just picked some grapes to test their sugar content.

Our first stay with our first Harvest Hosts was wonderful, thanks to Dave and Sandie. I highly recommend a visit to their winery and a Harvest Host stay.

I did learn two things about the program which I must pass on to my RVing friends.

1.) Harvest Host didn’t notify our hosts that I had requested a stay and when I didn’t hear back from them I cancelled the request. The cancellation was the first they heard of us wanting to stay. They contacted us and had availability so we set up a stay with no problems. To prevent this situation, I suggest sending an email to the hosts at the same time you put in your request in the Harvest Hosts system instead of counting on the system to contact them for you.

2.) Harvest Hosts program has a place for you to fill out information on your rig, such as size, type, age, etc. We drive a 43 foot 2010 Tiffin Allegro diesel bus and we tow our truck behind it, so size can be an issue. Our hosts didn’t know how large our RV was until we arrived. Now it wasn’t a problem, but other places it might have been. So when you send your hosts the email, include that information as well to help them know where to place you.

As with any relationship, good communication is key, so doing these two things will make everything go more smoothly.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would return again. I highly recommend a stay at Sicilia Vineyards. (I have not received any compensation for this visit or this article/blog post.)

For more about Sicilia Vineyards visit: https://www.siciliavineyards.com/

For more about the Harvest Hosts program visit: https://harvesthosts.com/

Thank you for reading my travel blog! Wishing you a beautiful day!

Remember, “every day we are alive is a beautiful day.” – Debra Parmley, your Beautiful Day Traveler

Here is a list of our “Go West 2021” adventure which lists the cities we’ve stayed in and the RV parks and places we have visited. I add to the list after we leave for safety reasons, so it is still being updated as we go.

To see the route we have taken on our “Go West 2021” adventure as well as a list of the RV parks we stayed in, and the cities and places we have visited, visit this page: https://wordpress.com/post/beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/1976 I add to the page after we leave, for safety reasons.

For more of our RV travels and adventures, follow: beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/

And Debra’s Beautiful Day YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC27hTWse4gLJxTETQw6i7xw/

Website: debraparmley.com

Newsletter sign up: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/w9s9h0

FB fan group Beautiful Day Dreamers: facebook.com/groups/debraparmley/

To Catch An Elf FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/793115644206381/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/debra-parmley

Poems on K0-Fi: ko-fi.com/debraparmley

Articles on Medium: medium.com/@debraparmley1

Writing Classes on Teachable: beautiful-day-dreamers.teachable.com/

Cover Model Corner blog: https://covermodelcorner.wordpress.com/

Debra’s old radio show Book Lights: http://bit.ly/BookLights

Debra’s books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2EsbWsa

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Published on August 23, 2021 18:15

On the Pacific Shoreline at Lighthouse Cove RV Park, in Crescent City, CA

On July 30, 2021 we made it to the farthest point west on our Go West 2021 trip at the Lighthouse RV Park in Crescent City, CA and would stay seven nights before turning to head east again. We had two goals. Reach the Pacific and see the Redwoods. Now we were at the Pacific coast, staying about as close to it as we could get.

Lighthouse RV Park is right next to the beach. Just over this small hill.

For those who keep saying we are traveling and seeing so many people, let me show you just how far from that our experience is. Notice how we had hardly any neighbors at this RV park when we got there. During the week a few more came in, but this park had plenty of empty spots and was far from full.

And if you look through the other pictures here on my blog of all the places we’ve been, you’ll see how few people there are in the pictures.

When people talk about crowded national parks etc., I really don’t know what they are talking about. Traveling in our motorhome, our own isolated bubble, most days the only person I see and talk to is my husband. If you are an introvert you might love this lifestyle. Each day that I walked to the beach to take pictures, I had the beach all to myself. It was peaceful.

Notice the fog through our windows. This is what we would wake to every morning, some days it would clear and then come rolling back in around 4:00 p.m. It kept moisture in the air and temps in the 60’s during the day and down to the 50’s at night.

The Pacific was too cold for me to put my feet in, but I loved listening to the sea lions through the fog and you could hear the foghorn about every ten seconds.

Here is the link to Lighthouse Cove RV Park: https://lhcoverv.crescentcity.org/

Here is the Battery Lighthouse which I will talk more about in a future post. In the first picture you can see the lighthouse in the middle and then I zoomed in for the second picture from the beach by our RV park.

There’s a lovely mural across the street from the entrance to the park.

And over here at the harbor to the left of the park is where you will find the sea lions. You can hear them through the fog.

I’ve created a travel list of towns and RV parks for those who want to see our route and those who might want to travel the same route we have traveled. I update it as we go, after we have left a park. You’ll be able to find this link at the bottom of each of my Go West travel posts:

Thank you for reading my blog and wishing you a beautiful day!

Remember, “Every day we are alive is a beautiful day.” – Debra Parmley, Your Beautiful Day Traveler

To be sure not to miss any of my travel and RV living posts be sure to subscribe to: beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/

And my videos can be seen at: Debra’s Beautiful Day YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC27hTWse4gLJxTETQw6i7xw/

To see the route we have taken on our Go West adventure as well as a list of the RV parks we stayed in, visit this page https://wordpress.com/post/beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/1976

My other links:

Website: debraparmley.com

Newsletter sign up: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/w9s9h0

FB fan group Beautiful Day Dreamers: facebook.com/groups/debraparmley/

To Catch An Elf FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/793115644206381/