California, here we come...

(Longest travelogue by far. Groups of photos are in the form of slide shows for your viewing pleasure.)

California, here we come in our 30 ft. Cruise America RV. This is the 2nd time we've rented one. It's not fancy, but we enjoy it. We stay seat-belted the whole time unless someone needs to use the bathroom, but it's nice to have everything you need within reach. We ate all of our meals in the RV, even coming out of Sea World & Magic Mountain to eat lunch. Except for the first night, we stayed each night at a KOA camp. Everything went quite smoothly.
After loading up the RV, we left Monday afternoon (July 20) and drove to Mesquite, NV. We got in quite late, found the spare key, went in and slept in G'ma's house. Sweet G'ma O had the table set and was waiting to cook us breakfast when we woke up. Yes, this is the same amazing 94 year-old grandma I wrote about recently. She wanted to come out and check out our "outfit."
I love having a timer on my camera. Quick group shot and we were on the road.
First stop: Mojave National Preserve. Every summer we try to visit a different national park. This one was less exciting than Yellowstone or Mesa Verde, but still beautiful scenery and a few stops at some very small "towns" (if you can call one building a town).

Slide Show #1: Mojave National Preserve

From there we drove to Barstow, thinking we'd check out the outlet malls. Half of the shops were empty and there were very few people. You could definitely see the direct effect of the poor economy. It felt almost eery. We were hungry and tired so we passed up shopping (and since none of us had money) and drove to the KOA. After dinner we played foosball (which incidentally is a word that can be spelled multiple correct ways) and ping pong. Quite entertaining.

We got up Wednesday morning and headed to our next stop: the San Diego Zoo.
I'm not sure how many miles we walked, but it was a lot. I think we checked out almost every animal in the park. We especially loved the flamingos, orangutangs, koalas, lions, and camels. We rode the sky tram across the zoo. It was quite an enjoyable day at the zoo.

Slide Show #2: San Diego Zoo

That night we stayed at the San Diego KOA. Thursday's destination: Sea World.
This was my favorite day of the trip. I LOVED the Shamu and dolphin shows. They are just incredible animals! I also enjoyed the few rides. The weather was perfect. A great day from start to finish.

Slide Show #3: Sea World

We stayed at the San Diego KOA again that night. Friday morning we got up and drove to Long Beach. We got on the Catalina Express ferry. It took just over an hour to get to Catalina Island. We sat at the back of the boat and enjoyed the view.
We spent our time in Avalon. While there were a few cars, the main mode of transportation is by golf cart. We rented one for an hour and took a scenic drive. Jake found a scenic spot for some fun photos. After an ice cream break, the boys played on the beach. We forgot to bring Jyson's ear plugs so he couldn't get in very deep, but they had a good time. Another enjoyable day with beautiful weather.

Slide Show #4: Catalina Island

After getting back from the island, we headed to the L.A. KOA. It took us forever. We were caught in the Friday rush hour and it was ugly. John was so happy to get out of that! Saturday morning we got up and made it to our final stop in California: Six Flags Magic Mountain:We, along with a gazillion other people, spent the day waiting in line and going on rides. Jyson wasn't tall enough for several of the biggest rides so John went with Jake on a few and Jake went by himself on a few. Jyson and I rode several water rides together. With all the separation that day, we didn't get any group shots. Here's all I have:After a full day at Magic Mountain, we drove to the Barstow KOA and spent the night. (This was the first KOA we had stayed at on Tuesday night.) They had a cool train so we got one last group photo on Sunday morning before the long drive home.We stopped in Mesquite on the way back and got to see my mom for a few minutes - always a treat. Dad was still at church. We were sad that McKelle wasn't able to join us, but alll in all, it was another great family vacation. We'll definitely rent an RV again, but probably not for a few years.

There are just a few more pics I must include. Yes, they are almost all of Jyson, but let's face it - he enjoys being photographed the most.

Each morning Jyson & I tried to do a little reading together:The nasty part of the RV experience - emptying the waste & water tanks. Thanks for doing that job Johnny!Almost every night we made s'mores over the stove. Pretty tasty!And last but not least: Jyson in his many sleep positions. Good night.