Munday's the Arizona Roadrunners

We are currently at the SKP park in Coarsegold, Ca. This is off Hwy 41 NE of Fresno and the south entrance to Yosemite National Park. This is one of our favorite SKP parks and this is our 3rd stop here. Each time has been at this same time of year so we are fortunate to witness the hillsides everywhere covered with carpets of various colors of wildflowers. Absolutely beautiful to see and each time is such a joy. We both grew up in California and this state can be more gold (dead grass on hillsides)! Today we set out to take a ride along the "Sierra Vista National Scenic byway". We did not quite make it but did find the very small town of North Fork which is knows as the "Exact Geographical Center of California"... and we found the very pretty Bass lake. This lake does offer a few national forest campgrounds as well as a few resorts and one section with many houses... we were told this lake is down quite a bit and usually is low like this until about June when the ru

To our delight we were able to spend a delightful afternoon including lunch with Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Tootie. Laughs galore and good food.. what more could you ask for .... We had a lovely afternoon topped off by seeing Fran too later at Uncle Jimmy's. Our time in Acton was short but we were very fortunate to run into some friends that we met last summer while at the FMCA rally in Oregon. Jerry & Viv were work camping at the Thousand Trails park and we just lucked out running into them. So much fun to catch up on the goings on with each of us traveling about as we do. That park has gone through quite a bit up upgrading and much needed painting that has left Viv and Jerry a little tired of the color brown. ha! Glad to see the changes as it really spruces up the place.

Another day took us down to San Diego for a wonderful pre-Easter dinner with nephew Spencer and family. It is amazing how quickly the children seen to grow up! They have a great family and it was so nice to see them all again. A group of very busy little boys.

It was wonderful to see little Noah on St Patrick's Day while visiting with his folks and sister Mary. They have been undergoing a major remodeling job to their house and will soon be moving in. Little Noah is very strong on his feet running everywhere at 10 1/2 months old. He is very observant too... never can under estimate these little people.

Murray was the magician on board who provided entertainment twice. He was quite a character. The grands were enthralled with his magic! It was fun being able to see him afterwards too. Other picture here is of home port San Pedro at sunrise. It was so pretty that morning... we pulled into port about 7 am - then back to getting our feet on firm ground...

The water was so gorgeous! After our shopping trip we came back to our ship and just enjoyed being on the water in such lovely surroundings. Not sure this is a port we would really care to visit again but glad we came and were glad when ship fired up to head for home.

Here are a few pictures after we had gone back to ship to head for home... There were so many parasailors out on water as well as fishing boats and other recreational vehicles on the water -

Our last stop was in this lovely bay and what a day. Couldn't have asked for a more picture perfect day! Absolutely lovely! Family went ashore and headed for one of the more obsure beaches. Earl and I took to wandering through the shops in and around the marina. Lovely marina with sealions barking and iguanas on peoples shoulders - some with small sombraros.. you could have a picture if you wanted to pay for it.... we declined... Lovely spot but then this is a very popular spot so a bit pricey and very congested. The hillsides look like the housing explosion has hit there too.

A few pictures from town.. an unusual tree and this man riding through town on the sidewalk on his donkey. He couldn't ride in the street or he would likely have been killed along with is donkey and dog... crazy drivers in that town.

Back at the ship it was all play time.. here Earl and Jason are having a very heated game of ping pong while grands are enjoying the pool!

At this port we all stayed together most of the day! First off we took tenders into shore as again there were other ships ahead of us already in port. Then we caught a city bus for a ride up town to the market place. After getting off crazy bus ride we walked along this beach front to the local Starbucks and then on to marketplace. What a day filled with all sorts of shopping and sights. Again, this is a big city and a bit much for us. Jason and Mary used to own a time share here and after a long day they took kids and friends for a look at old place and to play in the pool for a while. We old folks grabbed another city bus and went back to ship to relax.

This is a picture of the lovely beach we visited and a picture from the tender looking up at our ship. It is quite a ways down there - 13 stories on ship - of course the 13th story is only a partial deck - Our room was on the 8th deck near the bow on the starboard side.

There is nothing quite so charming as the water sparkling in the sun! Here daughter Mary and granddaughter Bekah are getting ready to take a water taxi to another beach along with rest of family. We stayed behind to investigate area since we had never been here before. This truly was a very pretty port.

Our next stop was the smaller town of Ixtapa. This town is nestled in a pretty little bay and because there were other ships ahead of us we had to anchor out and go to shore aboard the "tenders". This was great since it was a lovely day and as it turned out our favorite of the 4 ports of call! We walked all through town along the beach and enjoyed it very much. So many shops and we did find the best prices here as well - closer to United States more expensive the same merchandise became...

Our day in Alcapulco was fun however we wouldn't make the trip again for this city. Too large for us and too congested but it was interesting and glad we came. By the way, we figured out what happened to all those little VW bugs that were in excess at one time. They are now the official taxi cab for Alcapulco! We saw them everywhere - swarms of them .

It was nice watching us dock in Alcapulco especially since that was the only port we were able to dock. The taxi drivers stood on shore waving at us and the ship did dock across the street from a fort that was built in the 1600's. Unfortunately for us the fort was closed the day we were there (so what else is new)... instead Early and I took off on foot to see what we would in town and found Mario. Mario spoke very good english and informed us he was paid by the government to be friendly to us and show us the market place. He walked with us to the market place and after we thought we lost him - no, he kept turning up and wanted to show us his brothers store and where we could get very good deals. We ended up buying nothing and walking back to the beach where we found the magnificent frigate birds diving at the fishing boats along with the seagulls; that was more to our liking. Mario did inform us upon return to the ship's area that he never refuses a tip. Never... good

The 1st two days were spent at sea... working our way farthest south to Alcapulco (our 1st stop) - from we stopped each day at a new port with the exception of the last day which was spent at sea. Early had a good window view from the prominade deck and we preferred sitting the balcony for the evening entertainment. They did have some good family entertainment which we enjoyed very much!

The public pool was set amid ship with this wild looking water slide and 4 hottubs - this pool was filled with salt water and not heated so needless to say it was never really full... - they did have a grill going out here for breakfast and lunch each day as well as special bbq lunchs on some days. There was a bar out here too and lounge chairs and well as some covered seating too.

There was generally a nice atmosphere in the atrium of the ship. There were window elevators that traveled on the edge to provide a nice view and a combo playing in the evenings as well as other activities going on... One of the restuarants was situated around the atrium too which afforded nice views of the water as well. This are opened up to other nightclubs and shopping too.

After getting somewhat settled we all met for supper at one of the "free" restaurants on the ship. They did have a buffet three times a day as well as one 24 hour snack type restaurant and a few others that were "free" and a few that charged a cover fee. We preferred this one with a view out the aft of the ship if you were fortunate enough to get a window seat. 1st come 1st serve with no reservations... food varied each day and service was good too.

The grandchildren did not have any difficulty finding some entertainment before we were even settled with luggage in our staterooms... the back section of ship was set up for young children with a few ping pong tables thrown in... 3 small pools with slides and teeter totters as well as other misc forms of things to provide entertainment ...

After finding rooms, it was time to get acquainted and find way around ship which was to be our new home for the next 7 days. This ship had 13 floors with 13 being a partial deck with a few sports courts set up and a track for jogging. We preferred to use the prominade deck for our daily walk but climbed the stairs and became very familiar with the entire top decks.

March 7th was boarding day for the Norweigan Star in San Pedro, CA. We met up with daughter Mary and son-in-law Jason and all boarded at same time. Pretty exciting as you can imagine. We didn't know it but they also had their good friends joining us on the cruise with 2 children same ages so this was quite a group. Although we were all on same deck our room was at other end of ship.

They Murphy's arrived and the Number 1 thing to do was CUT HAIR!! Okay except my hair has not reached the required 10" ponytail. However, granddaughter Bekah's hair is well past that length and she as been anxiously waiting and waiting to get her hair cut before the cruise! So, we went ahead and had her hair cut and I am still waiting until my hair reaches that extra inch and a half I need... Locks of Love is worth it but guess when you get to be older your hair doesn't grow quite as fast... Anyway, Rebekah finally was able to say goodbye to those lovely locks of hers and I am now in possession of her ponytail to send in along with mine when I am finally able to do the chopping thing too. ha! You would think she loved her new hair do or something.. what a ham...

After leaving Palm Desert we came over to Menifee which is very close to Riverside/Temecula area. We wanted to get settled before Murphy family arrived from Washington and had plans to store RV while on cruise. Wanted to see niece Chantal and her darling baby Noah and sister Mary who now lives in Cardiff by the Sea. Lovely place and we had a great day chuming around together.

Friends from Washington down for a short visit of fun in the sun... had a great time hiking around Joshua tree and meeting with other friends for supper... This place is lovely when the sun is out and the wind is in check... I did get bitten by a red ant just day of arrival so that was something... sort of like a bee sting and hung around for a while and left it's mark for a few weeks. Learning experience...

After leaving AZ we headed west on to Palm Desert for a few days. We were happy to able to meet up with friends from N/W. Timing is everything and we were able to see the desert floor in full bloom at this lovely park. The actual joshua trees were not blooming yet but had blossoms ready to burst within days of our visit. So many lovely flowers we were all amazed.