Canadian-Traveler

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!


A beautiful day at the Hot Springs 
The fact that nights can be cool or downright cold in the desert is commonly known. But it still amazes me how fast it warms up again after sunrise. I made the morning walk with Molly right around 7:30 and the air felt cool though with a warming sunshine. At 8:00 I went into the pool at the Hot Springs and enjoyed a 30 minutes soak. 


Tomorrow's Thanksgiving Day, and we will have a delicious turkey dinner at the host station with a bonfire afterwards. Bea had made a list of what was still needed and at 9:00 we made the drive over to El Centro for groceries, and it was hot! 
We have been waiting for some mail which was sent to our mail box in Holtville by friends in Saskatchewan, but every day it turned out to be empty. The mail has now been "on-the-road" for 2 full weeks. At least we now know  why the post is called "snail mail".


I will wrap up today's post with another peek into our travel diary from 2005. These were the days before we arrived at the Holtville Hot Springs for the very first time.

November 03 After breakfast we have the mentioned beach walk. And it sure is gorgeous on that long wide beach. We fly off our jackets and shirts and are soon walking in our T-shirts in the bright morning sun and it is only 8.00am!  The dogs enjoy it as much as we do. But we have to go on and so we pack up and hit the road at about 10.30am. Again we ride through a beautiful valley area where vegetables and wine for world export are grown.  At noon we reach the town of Solvang in the Santa Ynez Valley. Since Solvang is known as the Danish town we turn off Hwy 101 and go the three miles n Hwy 246 into town, where they have an RV-Parking lot at the far east end of town. Already on the d rive-through we recognize the danish construction style of the houses. The side walks are flanked with red brick. The houses have a typical Danish style frame construction. The names of the store owners ar mostly danish or at least Scandinavian and there are several Bageri (bakery) and danish flags are hanging out everywhere. On our stroll through town I enter the tourist information office and have a chat with the lady behind the counter. She directs us to the Bethanian Church which is behind the danish-style school. It truly looks like a copy of any church in Denmark and is beautifully maintained. On our round I also buy a few cakes and a nice sourdough-bread.

The Town of SOLVANG

After saying farewell to Solvang we are now heading towards Santa Barbara on the coast. Reaching the Pacific again we discover Refugio Beach State Park down below. Spotting the huge Palm trees and a few RV's make me change plans and spontaneously I decide to look for an overnight campground. And we are lucky, as the park is almost empty. We back the rig into a nice spot and settle in.

Refugio Beach State Park