2009 was an eventful year the Gomez Family. John entered the year with the sudden realization he was going to be… a 50 Year Old Man! The fact of being more than half dead created a Mid-Life Crisis panic. So what do most men do when they find themselves in the midst of a mid-life crisis? Buy a Corvette and have an affair!
It was an option, but instead, “I bought an RV and created a Bucket List which included spending more time with my family”. John’s Bucket List set the stage for numerous Gomez Adventures in 2009.
More about John’s Mid-Life Crisis and his Bucket List of Adventures at www.gomezadventures.com/midlifecrisis
In January, John decided it would probably make more "family" sense to not buy the Mid-life Crisis Corvette so instead we splurged on a new RV. With the country being in the worst financial disaster since we all can remember, we figured if the economy got any worse, we could always sell the home and move into the RV!
Hence, the entire year was filled with excuses to pack up and hit the road. Below are some of our roadtrip adventures.
(Click each photo to enlarge)
San Diego: In May, John’s goddaughter, Crystal and nephew, Andrew proudly graduated from University San Diego, so we decided to make it down for their celebrations. We looked forward to our first trip in the RV and broke up the 9 hour drive by spending our first night in a Wal-Mart parking lot. What a place to lose your RV virginity! We slept well though and when we woke up, we took our first RV shower and continued on our journey fresh and ready to roll. Tacky but great!
We took advantage of being in San Diego and crammed in Wild Animal Park the day before the ceremonies. While Joey liked the animals and was happy to see them not in a caged prison, he preferred to play in a little water park exhibit. He wanted to stay there the entire day so we agreed to an hour while John and Michelle picnic'd in the shade.
The next morning we went to Crystal's ceremony and then dashed to John's old stomping grounds, Pacific Beach, for a couple hours to be back in time for Andrew's and Crystal's celebration that night. The Davis' met us there and it was great catching up with good friends. Joey hung out on the beach and couldn’t be happier running to and from the waves. We think that kid is part seal.
Of course on the way home we had to stop off at Schat's Bakery, Joey's favorite place to get his dinosaur cookie and Michelle could buy all of Lake Tahoe their bread.
Yosemite: Our first true RV camping trip was to Yosemite in June. Michelle has been wanting to go every year but with reservations so hard to get, we just never could get there. The waterfalls and rivers were at full splendor, deer and bears were everywhere, and weather was great. Yosemite is not to be missed.
Our close friends, Hanna & John and family joined us along with our neighbor Odd Job Bob and we had a great time drinking wine, roasting dogs and marshmallows, and chasing bears off our campground. Joey, not being afraid of anything other than the Grim Reaper, practiced his bear scaring technique.
John checked off a Bucket List item by hiking to the top of Half Dome which is a story in itself on his blog.
We took bike rides throughout the valley and hiked to some spectacular waterfalls. Yosemite is an absolutely stunning place and never gets old!
While RV camping doesn't quite have the same feeling as tent camping, it rained the last day and at that point we developed a quick appreciation of a dry sleeping quarters and an indoor stove. We watched some tent campers scurry to cover their tents and gear while Michelle lectured John on the consequences of schadenfreude.
Independence, CA: Marcus’ family and Nana Boop (John’s mom) joined us to celebrate Independence Day in Independence, CA. How novel. We towed the Jeep down and stayed at the famous Winnedumah Hotel on HWY 395. It was as much of a small town Mayberry USA celebration as one could get.
The Winnedumah Hotel was an adventure of it's own. Frank was a great host as we pretty much took over the hotel and turned it into a bar while he scared the dickens out of the kids with his haunted house tour.
Given it was well over 100 degrees, we were shocked to find out the only pool in the entire town was the elementary school pool. So we decided to take over the pool as well. It was fun to get to know some of the locals hang out there and Joey was a hit with several of the teenage girls. Joe was in heaven when Tio Marcus taught Joey how to leap with faith.
Click on the photo to view movie clip (It may take 2 minutes to load the first time)
We were able to get into the local parade by decorating the Jeep from head to toe in flags and banners. John was able to "convince" Michelle and Lourdes to put on their most "American" bikini tops to hopefully win the Most Patriotic Award. Unfortunately all we got was a lot of cheering and several men in the audience got hit by their wives. We did get a dozen kids running up yelling, "Michelle! Michelle!". We had only been in town one day and already Michelle had met 75% of the population of Independence. Is there any place in the world Michelle does not make new friends?
Later that day, we joined the town picnic which really was a great experience and a reminder of how life was in the simple days. They had local bands play while everyone danced on the grass. They buried we don't know how many pounds of tri-tip in a pit and it was phenomenal!
The Pie Eating contest and Frog Jumping contest topped off a great day. Joey’s frog, which he immediately named Froggy, unfortunately took a hard left turn just after the starting line and leaped through the cheering crowd and into the river. (Unfortunately we found out these frogs can't swim so as far as Joe knows, Froggy lived happily ever after!)
That evening was topped off with a local fireworks display at the airport and of course, Marcus and John had their own fireworks display afterwards and Tio Marcus taught Joey and Christian why you should not jump through the Spectacular Volcano.
If you ever have a whim to step back and experience good old fashioned fun, we suggest Independence Day in Independence, CA.
Don't forget to enter the parade!
Shasta Lake: Anxious to experience new lakes, we towed the boat to Shasta and not only experienced a great lake, but also the wrath of their heat! It was so hot; the birds used potholders to pull worms out of the ground! We saw two trees fight over a dog and a chicken laid a fried egg!
Fortunately, John had plenty of beer in the boat and we commandeered an abandoned tent on the lake to hide from the sun. The next day we were treated to a patio boat and some of John’s peers at American Express joined us for another great day on the lake.
We also spent a day at Lake Siskiyou which we highly recommend visiting. It has more trees and forestry and much cooler than Shasta Lake. They also have Splash Park which can entertain kids, and adults, for a long time. Watch the movie to the right -->
Miscellaneous Adventures: In addition to our summer adventures, we were able to further justify our big splurge with comfortable weekend trips to visit our moms in Southern California, family in the East Bay, Loon Lake in Desolation Wilderness, and a Dodger game to meet Tommy Lasorda. But John & Michelle’s highlight of the year was getting invited to a party at the Playboy Mansion. It has been one of John's Bucket List item for many years. We will forever owe the Kribels for that connection!!!
