Author: Ed Armstrong

Charcuterie Queen!!

/ Ed Armstrong
Rachel is the charcuterie queen!! She is talented to create gorgeous charcuterie boards! She includes a range of fruits, cheeses, meats, and breads. What was most impressive to me were the two flowers designed using a series of meat slices. Everything tasted wonderful!!

Wine Tasting!!

/ Ed Armstrong
Rachel was superb in recommending and tasting wine. She was excellent in identifying and describing the tastes with different wines.

There were many wonderful wines to try. These wines are some of the favorites where Elizabeth and Dennis are wine club members.

Rachel graciously allowed me to photograph her next to this unique statue. Look closely and it can be seen that the limbs have joints and the arms can be moved. I have never before seen a statue there the arms were movable.

I thought it would be quite interesting to share a bottle of wine with this gentleman.

Children walking by enjoyed climbing on this dolphin for a ride.

It is amazing how long ago Santa Barbara was an important community.

The Spanish influence in Santa Barbara has existed for a very long time!!

I loved the textures of this very tall, weathered wooden door!

Santa Barbara!!

/ Ed Armstrong
Early this morning, Elizabeth and I went to the fish market!!

“This spiney lobster, only found on the west coast. Unlike the east coast these spiney lobsters do not have claws. This guy was walking around the pool. I think it might have been saying “Pick me, pick me.”

This rock crab was giving us “the eye.” These are native to the Santa Barbara area.

This spiney creature is called “uni.” It is a spiney sea urchin. These friendly lady cracked the creature open, scooped out the “black stuff” and we ate the yellow slimy contents. It was weird because the still had movement as we were scooping out and eating the yellow sea food.

Elizabeth was digging into breakfast.

I was not quite sure what to think about eating the yellow contents that were quite slimy while there was movement of the creature in my hand.

This is freshly caught vermilion rock fish caught near Santa Barbara. This guy is ready to be someone’s wonderful dinner.

We almost bought this wonderful fish for dinner from this friendly guy.

This is a wonderful sole.

For a reasonable fee, this woman will clean and slice your freshly purchased fish.

After going to the fish market, we drove to the Santa Barbara farmer’s market. It was amazing to see so many colorful and tasty fruits and vegetables!!

The carrots were incredible!!

I wanted to buy everything on this table!!

I have never seen so many different types of carrots!!

These oranges were especially flavorful!!

This girl said I could take her photo with the peppers they were selling.

These strings of dried flowers were amazing!!

We bought this jar of honey!!

These sugar snap peas tasted wonderful!!

This is strangest plant I have ever seen. I have no idea what it tastes like.

I absolutely love all the berries!!

This is an oyster mushroom that can be used in sauces. It is excellent for dinner!!

This is a trumpet mushroom. We ate some of these at dinner last night.

These lavender flowers were so aromatic!! They made me feel peaceful!!

This display of carrots was amazing!!

I feel in love with all the citrus!!

These strawberries were wonderful!!

Bird of paradise are one of my favorite flowers!!

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library!!

/ Ed Armstrong

This presidential library was extremely impressive!! I spent over 4 hours going through all the exhibits. Several times I found my eyes watering with some of the displays.

This great sculpture was right at the entrance. It was complete with cowboy hat and boots!

I liked this description of President Reagan.

This is a very famous portrait of President Reagan.

This couple had a huge worldwide impact!

This is a replica of the Oval Office. The cushions are the same as used when Ronald Reagan was president.

This is the actual Air Force One plane that President Reagan used to fly not only all over the U.S., but also many international trips. It is now 50 year old.

This is President Reagan’s motorcade.

This is Marine One used to fly to and from the White House.

The presidential seal recognized worldwide.

Statutes of President Reagan negotiating with Mikhail Gorbachev, from Russia.

T-shirt design used in the famous 1984 election.

A section of the Berlin Wall that finally came down in 1989!

President and Nance Reagan are buried here.

The Granddaddy of Them All!!

/ Ed Armstrong
I got up before sunrise to take a photo of the famous Rose Bowl sign above the main entrance to the Rose Bowl stadium!

I visited the Rose Bowl today!! I cannot guess how many times I have watched football games on TV that were played in this stadium. It is amazing to see such a famous sports stadium!

I loved seeing the actual Rose Bowl for the first time!!

I found a place to park the motorhome right across the street from the Rose Bowl! I loved seeing the lighted Rose Bowl sign during the night!

Sports announcer Keith Jackson was famous for describing the Rose Bowl football game as “The Granddaddy of Them All.”

This is another famous phrase Keith Jackson would say at the beginning of each Rose Bowl game.

There is this amazing sculpture of famous athlete Jackie Robinson in front of the Rose Bowl!

Quartzsite is Fun in January!!

/ Ed Armstrong
We climbed Q Mountain and had a great view of Quartzsite, Arizona and the surrounding area.

There was a rugged trail we climbed up to reach the top of the “mountain.”

From the top of Q Mountain, we could see the group of motorhomes attending the Winnebago View/Navion rally. It was very fun!!

Circled is red in the lower left corner is our motorhome. People park all over the flat ground. The fire ring is in the center of the photo and we gather there for a campfire each evening. Different rally sessions are also held in that general area. We are simply living in the desert of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land for $40 for two weeks. There are no RV connections such as water and electricity (called boondocking or dry camping). We are simply enjoying living in self-contained motorhomes in the “middle of nowhere,” just south of Intersate-10 near the Arizona – California border.

The large white tent on the left hand side of the photo is where the RV show will be held. It opens tomorrow and runs for just over a week. We are walking distance from the large tent.

The roads in the desert a great for walking or riding mountain bikes. The terrain can be rough and steep at times!!

All kinds of all-terrain vehicles and jeeps drive in the desert all around Quartzsite!!

There is not much vegetation around Quartzsite, but the desert is beautiful in January!!

Here is an old mine overlooking Quartzsite. Someone in our group thought it was an old silver mine.

Disneyland at Christmas Time!!

/ Ed Armstrong
We had a wonderful time at Disneyland with the entire family. It was very fun to be with 3 grandsons is a magical place decorated for Christmas! We had a total of 9 people (6 adults and 3 grandsons). We started the morning when the “rope was dropped” at the opening of the park and went full-steam until 9:00 pm. It was a wonderful fun-filled day!!

This lady looked exactly like Mary Poppins!!

Disneyland is especially amazing when decorated for Christmas!!

The characters come to life in the parade!!

These cute guys were fun to watch dancing to the music!!

The kids already knew the characters!!

These guys looked absolutely delicious!!

These dogs were “grooving to the music”!!

The amazing Snow White!!

Images from childhood come to life in the Disneyland parade!!

Beauty and the Beast!!

This cowboy was a crowd favorite!!

These guys could really dance!!

This guy was the popular end of the parade!!

Maui is Awesome!!

/ Ed Armstrong
It is illegal to touch the turtles in Hawaii, so Charlene posed with this turtle and stayed at a safe distance to keep the turtle comfortable.

It is fun to watch the powerful force of the water on the beach!!

This is a popular area for people to enjoy the waves!!

It is beautiful to see the contrasting colors of the lava rock, the waves, and the water!!

The waves and lava rock are beautiful!!

Many sea turtles enjoy the beach too!!

For me, this is the largest number of sea turtles I have seen in one place!!

This relaxed guy seemed to enjoy having his photo taken!!

I loved the ruggedness of these sections of the beach!!

Charlene is celebrating life on the beach!!

I love the colors of Maui!!

Just after this photo was taken, Charlene received a cooling shower!!

I really liked the colors of this fence that was made up of old surfboards!!

This describes many of the feelings in Hawaii!!

Turtles Enjoying the Morning!!

/ Ed Armstrong
John and I went on a walk to enjoy the cool temperatures along the beach. We say some people looking down and discovered that they were watching these two large turtles!!

The turtles were enjoying the day and soon after this photo they moved back into the water.

We found this Aloha in the shape of a heart. I think a romantic person wanted to say hello.

Helicopter Tour of Hawaii!!

/ Ed Armstrong
Janie, Charlene, Neal, John, Sis, and myself had a wonderful helicopter tour over several islands!!

Hawaii is simply beautiful! There is no other way to say it. One view is more gorgeous than the next. It is an amazing treasure. It was wonderful to share the helicopter ride with such wonderful people. The sites were spectacular!!

The colors were amazing!!

The rock is supposed to be an elephant laying down. Maybe use your imagination??

Helicopter views are amazing!!

Gorgeous waterfalls!!

Vibrant green valleys!!

The coastlines are amazing!!

This was my favorite waterfall!!

The green foliage and blue water are spectacular!!

The ruggedness and beauty are amazing to see!!

The rich greenery is gorgeous!!

I loved how the sun broke through the clouds to shine brightly on this one spot!!

Mountainsides of intense green!!

Turn in a slightly different direction and there is another amazing view!!

Steep and green cliffs!!

It is difficult to capture the beauty with a camera!!

It was fun to fly over these mountains in a helicopter!! They seemed quite high to me, but our pilot Christina guided over them with no problem!!

Coming down on the other side you could see the reefs in different colors near the land.

The water colors with the different depths of the reefs were spectacular!!

It was fun to see where a past lava flow ended as it reached the water!!

The island of Maui is so amazing and beautiful!!

I love to see the contrasting colors along the water’s edge!!

Beautiful Maui!!

I simply stare at the amazing places in Maui!!

It is fun to end the series of photos from our helicopter ride with this silly rooster. I have forgotten how there are chickens and roosters walking all over Maui. This fellow was walking along the parking lot of the helipad and he stopped to say hello.